First Joust with Galahad

In its first major operation, the US GALAHAD force of deep penetration "marauders" had flanked the resourceful General Sinichi Tanaka's 18th Division defending against Joe Stilwell’s Chinese push into the Hukawng Valley of northern Burma. Unbeknownst to the Americans, skirmishes …

1944-03-04

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In its first major operation, the US GALAHAD force of deep penetration "marauders" had flanked the resourceful General Sinichi Tanaka's 18th Division defending against Joe Stilwell’s Chinese push into the Hukawng Valley of northern Burma. Unbeknownst to the Americans, skirmishes along the marauder’s route had alerted Tanaka to the movement, and he had already repositioned the bulk of his division southward to meet it. An intelligence and reconnaissance platoon of GALAHAD’S 3rd Battalion, hastily dug in along a dirt road behind the main Japanese position, met the first counterattack by elements of Tanaka’s 56th Infantry Regiment.

Walawbum, Burma

Merrill’s Marauders or Unit Galahad, officially named the 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional), was a United States Army long range penetration special operations jungle warfare unit, which fought in the South-East Asian theatre of World War II, or China-Burma-India Theater (CBI). The unit became famous for its deep-penetration missions behind Japanese lines, often engaging Japanese forces superior in number.

Wikipedia: Merrill's Marauders

Japanese

U.S.