The superb and rare Second World War Burma “ARTFORCE” prelude to, and withdrawal for, the Battle of Imphal, November 1942 to March 1943 operations British Empire Medal group awarded to Sergeant W.C. Wort, 82nd Light Anti-Aircraft / Anti-Tank Regiment, Royal Artillery. From Christchurch, Hampshire, he was 44 years old when he earned his British Empire Medal when a member of “ARTFORCE”, that was the name for a screen of observation posts manned by his regiment, that covered Tiddim from attack from the east. Despite having had no infantry experience, from the first his cheerfulness and keenness were an inspiration to all, especially to the older men who thought they were too old for this type of work. Many would not have made the grade if it hadn’t been for his magnificent example. He volunteered for and led extensive patrols, and ambush parties, including the reconnaissance of an alternative route back from the forward area, which later enabled the forward troops to escape encirclement from the enemy. In the final withdrawal of sixty miles when rations were short and carrying a full pack his cheerfulness and example inspired the exhausted members of the party. It was largely his brilliant efforts, that made ARTFORCE such a success.’ Wort’s award was recommended April 1945, and was gazetted to hm on 8 February1945, being quite probably a unique award for ARTFORCE.
Group of 5: British Empire Medal, GVI 1st type cypher, Military Division; (1520137. SGT. WILLIAM C. WORT. R.A.); 1939-1945 Star; Burma Star; Defence Medal; War Medal. Mounted swing style as worn.
Condition: Good Very Fine.
William Charles Wort came from Christchurch in Hampshire, and saw service during the Second World War as a Sergeant (No.1520137) with the Royal Artillery, as a member of the 82nd Light Anti-Aircraft / Anti-Tank Regiment. His unit original arrived in Bombay on 9 January 1942, and moved to Jhansi with its 48 2-pounders, and on 30 March it relocated to Ranchi, and was then posted to Imphal on the north-east frontier of India on the border of Burma, where it was at the time of the Japanese invasion of Burma, being placed under the command of the 17th Indian Division. It officially converted to become the 82nd Light Anti-Aircraft / Anti-Tank Regiment on 26 November 1942, with this unit comprising the 87th and 88th Light Anti-Aircraft Batteries from the 24th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, and the 205th and 284th Anti-Tank Batteries. It was stationed at Shillong on 25 May 1943, and then returned to operations against the Japanese, being in action at Imphal and Tiddim on 13 November 1943. Imphal was the location of a major Allied supply hub in Manipur, which if it fell would lead the Japanese into India.
On the Allied side, by the end of November 1943, the 17th Indian Division* had concentrated in the Tiddim area. The 48th Indian Infantry Brigade took its position 6 miles to the south of Tiddim, along with the divisional artillery, except for one battery of 129 Field Regiment, which was taken to Kennedy Peak on jeep axles. 7/10 Baluch took over the defence of Saizang, and 4/12 Frontier Force Rifles was placed at Dimlo and Suangpi. The 63rd Indian Infantry Brigade was concentrated at and near Kennedy Peak. A screen of observation posts manned by the 82nd Anti-Aircraft /Anti-Tank Regiment and known as the "Artforce'', covered Tiddim from attack from the east, and the 1st West Yorkshire Regiment with one company of Frontier Force Rifles was holding Tongzang and positions to the cast of it. It was for his service as a member of ARTFORCE that Wort would be recommended for the award of the British Empire Medal for his service in the period leading immediately up to the Battle of Imphal and during the initial planned withdrawal to Imphal in the face of the Japanese advance.
The Japanese command in Burma had been reorganised. The Japanese force responsible for the central part of the front facing Imphal and Assam, was the Fifteenth Army. Lieutenant-General Renya Mutaguchi was appointed to command this army in March 1943. From the moment he took command, Mutaguchi forcefully advocated an invasion of India. At the start of 1944, the war was going against the Japanese on several fronts. They were being driven back in the central and southwest Pacific, and their merchant ships were under attack by Allied submarines and aircraft. In Southeast Asia, they had held their lines over the preceding year, but the Allies were preparing several offensives from India and the Chinese province of Yunnan into Burma. In particular, the town of Imphal in Manipur on the frontier with Burma was built up to be a substantial Allied logistic base, with airfields, encampments and supply dumps. Mutaguchi intended to exploit his planned capture of Imphal by advancing to the Brahmaputra Valley. This would cut the Allied lines of communication to the front in northern Burma. Mutaguchi intended to block the supply lines to the Allied units in their forward positions, to isolate and destroy them, drawing the Allied reserves into the battle and then capture Imphal. His plan was named U-Go, or Operation C. All of Mutaguchi's divisional commanders disagreed with the plan to some extent. Sato distrusted Mutaguchi's motives, and Yanagida openly derided his abrasive superior as a "blockhead." Yamauchi was already very ill and fatalistic. Their main reservations concerned supply. Mutaguchi had assumed that success would be achieved within three weeks, but adequate supplies after that period could be obtained only if the Japanese captured Allied supply dumps, as the monsoon rains, which usually descended from about the middle of May, would make the supply routes from the Chindwin almost impossible to traverse. Gambles such as Mutaguchi was making had worked in the past, but could no longer be relied upon, given nearly total Allied air superiority in the area and the improvement in morale and training of British and Indian troops.
For the defence of Imphal, the 17th Indian Division under Major-General ‘Punch’ Cowan occupied Tiddim, 243 kilometres south of Imphal, at the end of a long and precarious line of communication. When they received intelligence that a major Japanese offensive was impending, Slim and Scoones planned to withdraw their forward divisions into the Imphal plain and force the Japanese to fight at the end of impossibly long and difficult lines of communication. However, they misjudged the date on which the Japanese were to attack, and the strength they would use against some objectives. The Japanese troops began to cross the Chindwin River on 8 March. Scoones gave his forward divisions orders to withdraw to Imphal only on 13 March. The 17th Indian Division was initially cut off by the Japanese 33rd Division. Patrols from the division and from V Force (an irregular force of locally raised levies and guerrillas) warned Cowan of a Japanese force advancing against the rear of the division as early as 8 March, allowing Cowan to regroup the division to protect its rear. On 13 March, the Japanese 215th Regiment attacked a supply dump at milestone 109, twenty miles behind Cowan's leading outposts, while the Japanese 214th Regiment seized Tongzang and a ridge named Tuitum Saddle across the road a few miles behind the 17th Indian Division's main position.
The 17th Indian division began to withdraw on 14 March. At Tuitum Saddle, the Japanese 214th Regiment were unable to dig in properly before they were attacked by the 48th Indian Infantry Brigade on 15 March. The Japanese suffered heavy casualties and were forced away from the road. Further north, the Japanese captured the depot at Milestone 109 on 18 March, but Indian troops recovered it on 25 March. Cowan had taken steps to secure the most vulnerable point in the rear of his division, the bridge over the Manipur River. The division's rearguard crossed safely on 26 March, demolishing the bridge behind them. The division removed most of the vehicles, food and ammunition from the depot at Milestone 109 before resuming their retreat. Both the Japanese and the Indian division had suffered heavy casualties. Yanagida, the Japanese 33rd Division's commander, was already pessimistic, and was apparently unnerved by a garbled radio message which suggested that one of his regiments had been destroyed at Tongzang. He therefore did not press the pursuit against the 17th Division, and advanced cautiously in spite of reprimands from Mutaguchi. General Scoones had nevertheless been forced to send the bulk of his only reserve, the 23rd Indian Infantry Division, to the aid of the 17th Division. The two divisions, supplied by parachute drops from Allied aircraft, made their way back to the Imphal plain, which they reached on 4 April.
The recommendation reads as follows: ’This NCO is 44 years of age and before the formation of ARTFORCE had no infantry experience. From the first his cheerfulness and keenness were an inspiration to all, especially to the older men who thought they were too old for this type of work. Many would not have made the grade if it hadn’t been for his magnificent example. He volunteered for and led extensive patrols, and ambush parties, including the reconnaissance of an alternative route back from the forward area, which later enabled the forward troops to escape encirclement from the enemy. In the final withdrawal of sixty miles when rations were short and carrying a full pack his cheerfulness and example inspired the exhausted members of the party. It was largely his brilliant efforts, outstanding example, leadership and consideration for others that made ARTFORCE such a success.’
In the aftermath of the successful and tactical withdrawal, Wort was recommended for his award of the British Empire Medal on 22 April 1944, and it would be eventually published in the London Gazette for 8 February 1945 ‘in recognition of gallant and distinguished services in Burma and he North Eastern frontier of India’.
After this, the regiment was re-organised as a purely Anti-Tank Regiment when at Ranchi on 25 September 1944, and with the reconquest of Burma operations, was back at Imphal as of 16 January 1945, and crossed the Irrawaddy on 21 February, and then advanced to Meikula where it was as of 1 April 1945, and then re-organised with three troops of 30 inch mortars and then moved to Pyawbwe and then to Pegu where it was disbanded on 28 June 1945.
Wort was discharged on 25 October 1945, and subsequently claimed the 1939-1945 Star, Burma Star, Defence Medal and War Medal on 11 March 1949 when back living in Christchurch, Hampshire.
