William Slim, 1st Viscount Slim

William Joseph Slim, 1st Viscount Slim KG, GCB, GCMG, GCVO, GBE, DSO, MC (6 August 1897 – 14 December 1970), British military commander and 13th Governor-General of Australia, was born near Bristol, Gloucestershire. At the outbreak of World War I, Slim was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. He was badly wounded at Gallipoli, and later served in France and Mesopotamia.

Burma campaign

:See South-East Asian Theatre of World War II and Burma Campaign

Related Topics:
South-East Asian Theatre of World War II - Burma Campaign

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In March 1942, Slim was given command of BurCorps (consisting of the Indian 17th and Burmese 1st Division) in Burma, which was being attacked by the Japanese. Heavily outnumbered, he was soon forced to withdraw to India.

Related Topics:
1942 - BurCorps - Indian 17th - Burmese 1st Division - Burma - Japanese

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Having successfully brought the majority of his shattered command out of Burma, he took over XV Corps, which covered the coastal approaches from Burma to India, east of Chittagong. During this time he planned for a revolutionary new style of warfare—to negate the advantages the Japanese had in mobility on the offense and depth in defence. He also took to the task of training the rapidly-growing Eastern Army and restoring their confidence and abilities.

Related Topics:
XV Corps - Chittagong - Eastern Army

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However, XV Corps was taken from him by Noel Irwin, the incompetent commander of Eastern Army. Slim had been planning for XV Corps' advance into the Arakan Peninsula for nearly a year. His plan involved indirect approaches, resupply by the air, concentration in the attack and defence and integration at all levels between air and ground forces—Irwin threw all this out of the window and just went for a traditional, direct attack—which went disastrously wrong. Irwin then stepped back and ordered Slim to retake control of XV Corps.

Related Topics:
Noel Irwin - Arakan

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Once again, Slim was thrown in at the deep end with considerable portions of his corps already destroyed by the Japanese. Once again, Slim managed to extricate the majority of his force from a desperate situation.

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Irwin initially blamed Slim for the disastrous Arakan Campaign, but justice was done and Slim was elevated to command the new

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Fourteenth Army—formed from

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IV Corps (Imphal), XV Corps (Arakan) and

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XXXIII Corps (reserve)—later joined by

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XXXIV Corps.

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He quickly got on with the task of training his new army to take the fight to the enemy. The basic premise was that off-road mobility was paramount: Much heavy equipment was exchanged for mule- or air-transported equipment and motor transport was kept to a minimum and restricted to those vehicles that could cope with some of the worst combat terrain on earth. From now on there would be almost no non-combatants: All troops were trained to fight as infantrymen first and foremost. The new doctrine dictated that if the Japanese had cut the lines of communication, then they too were surrounded. All units were to form defensive 'boxes', to be resupplied by air and assisted by integrated close air support and armour. These boxes would then become the anvil, upon which the Japanese would be broken by the hammer coming down from the reserve formations.

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This theory was put to the test in January 1944, when the Second Arakan Offensive was met by a Japanese counter-offensive, which quickly surrounded the Indian 7th Infantry Division and parts of the 5th Indian and West African 81st Divisions. The 7th Division's defence was based largely on the "Admin Box"—formed initially from drivers, cooks, suppliers, etc, who now fought as "Uncle Bill" had told them to do. They were supplied by air—negating the importance of their lost supply lines. The Japanese forces were then almost totally destroyed by the reserve divisions coming down from the north.

Related Topics:
1944 - Indian 7th Infantry Division - 5th Indian - West African 81st Division - Admin Box

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But the real test was now to commence—the Arakan had been a distraction. The main Japanese offensive was heading for Imphal—hundreds of miles to the north. Slim was initially caught off-balance, but rallied incredibly. He airlifted two entire veteran divisions (5th & 7th Indian) from battle in the Arakan, straight into another battle in the north. The Second Arakan Campaign was repeated on a much larger scale—desperate defensive actions were fought at places such as Imphal, Sangshak and Kohima, while the RAF and USAAF kept them resupplied from the air.

Related Topics:
Imphal - Sangshak - Kohima - RAF - USAAF

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Once again, the Japanese were broken upon the anvil by the hammer that Slim brought against them from colossal distances. These were the first major land defeats ever suffered by the IJA.

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In 1945, Slim launched his greatest gamble—a blitzkrieg-style offensive into Burma, with lines of supply stretching almost to breaking point across hundreds of miles of trackless jungle. The Irrawaddy was crossed (with the longest Bailey bridge in the world at the time—most of which had been transported by mule and air) and the city of Meiktila was taken, followed by Mandalay. The Allies then switched to a mobile defence, sallying out and breaking Japanese attacking forces in isolation, maintaining the initiative at all times, backed up by possibly the best air-land co-operation seen in WWII—fully integrated air resupply and close air support, performed by both RAF and USAAF units.

Related Topics:
1945 - Blitzkrieg - Irrawaddy - Bailey bridge - Meiktila - Mandalay

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With virtualy all major Japanese formations in Burma crushed, Rangoon was taken by a textbook combined land/air/sea operation in May 1945.

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