A British military historian will lead a World War Two-themed tour around Myanmar in March 2020.
Robert Lyman, who has written extensively on the Burma Campaign, will take guests to the sites of major operations and powerful stories.
Hundreds of thousands of troops and civilians died in what was then known as Burma during the conflict, in some of the most brutal fighting seen in the Asia-Pacific threatre.
The Japanese Imperial Army tore through Burma in 1941 as part of its offensives against Europe’s colonial possessions in Southeast Asia.
But Commonwealth victories in northeast India paved the way for the reconquest of Burma in 1945.
Lyman, a former army officer who has published 15 books on the war, has teamed up with Yangon-based Sampan Travel for the 19-day “Forgotten War Tour.”
“The Burma Campaign of the Second World War is often described as the ‘Forgotten War,’ and the soldiers that fought in it, ‘The Forgotten Army,’” said the tour operator’s managing director, Bertie Alexander Lawson.
“Yet the stories that came out of it—stories of courage and audacity—are as great and varied as in any of the other theatres of war. This tour shines a light on those stories.”
Guests will visit the Burma Death Railway of Thanbyuzayat, the sites of the Chindit Operations in Kachin state, and down the Ayeyarwaddy to see the river crossings of the 14th Army at Bagan.
They will learn the stories of pivotal figures during the Burma Campaign, including the onion-munching Orde Wingate, independence hero Aung San, and Field Marshal Bill Slim, who Lyman successfully argued was “Britain’s Greatest General” in a 2011 National Army Museum debate.
The tour also includes a private screening of the documentary “Forgotten Allies,” looking at the men of Myanmar who fought for the British but were forgotten post-Burmese independence. For more information, contact [email protected].
