In 1914 Burma, now named Myanmar, was a British possession
that had been taken by conquest over a 60 year period from the 1820s to the
was made a Province of British India and ruled from Rangoon on the southern coast. Burmese government had been feudal and the
rulers antagonistic towards their neighbours China,
Siam and Assam, but the
Burmese people were culturally advanced and often literate. However there were many ethnic minorities in
the country, mostly based in peripheral locations, and they developed their own
cultures and ways of life, having minimal contact with or reference to the
Burmese government. The Kachins were one
of these minorities. A responsible
aspect of British rule was the interest taken in the minority groups whose
tribal areas were surveyed and administered.
The Kachin tribal
grouping is a collection of sub-groups of which the Jingpo is the dominant
one. The Kachin inhabit the mountainous
north-eastern corner of Burma
that is adjacent to China. They were and still are hill farmers,
teak-foresters and miners of gold and jade, which was easily traded with the
Chinese. The Kachin were warriors and
disciplined fighters, using advanced jungle warfare and survival skills. (Today they are still fighting the central Myanmar
military garrison of Burma
was a two-brigade mixture of British regular army and Indian Army infantry
battalions, plus the Burma Military Police battalions that were permanently
there. All these units formed the Burma
Division that was headquartered at Maymyo.
Some of the regular units rotated in and out of Burma whilst
others were permanently based there. In
late 1914 some Territorial Army battalions arrived from Britain to take over garrison duties from
regular British Army battalions that were then sent to France and Flanders.
The Burma Military Police
Military Police (BMP), a regiment financed by the Burma
authorities, had been raised in 1886 as a low-cost alternative to having Indian
Army units deployed along Burma’s
1,300 kilometre-long land border.
Initially recruits for the BMP came from the Punjab area of north-west India but soon
suitable Burmese hill-tribesmen were also recruited. European Officers were seconded from the
Indian Army for tours with the BMP; Indian and Burmese officers, the backbones
of the battalions, were recruited from the Punjab
or trained and developed within the units.
Each BMP battalion had a mounted detachment and some had obsolescent
muzzle-loading artillery pieces. The BMP
maintained law and order in remote regions of Burma but it was more similar to a
light infantry regiment than a police unit.
During the Great War the BMP supplied reinforcement drafts of men to France and Flanders, East Africa, Mesopotamia, Egypt
and Palestine and Persia.
Very few plains
(lowland) Burmans, the largest and most politically developed ethnic group in
the country, joined Burmese military units before the Great War as they did not
like or want British rule, and the British did not trust them; however
political and military expediency during the war led to the recruitment of some
Right: A steep-sided valley in the Kachin Hills.
The Kachin disturbances
In December 1914
intelligence reports of Kachin disaffection were circulated and an attack was
expected on Myitkyina on the 4th of that month, but it did not occur
possibly because the date was insufficiently auspicious. It appears that four Shan tribesmen had
gained influence amongst the Kachins in the Hukawng Valley
by preaching sedition against British rule.
The four Shans, Nga Po Thaik, Nga Kyi, Nga Ni and Nga Se Bon solidified
their influence by the practice of a few magical tricks and blatant false
claims that amazed the superstitious Kachins.
The Shan leader Nga Po Thaik blew fire from his mouth, and because of
his broad forehead claimed to have been an elephant in a former life. Thus when Nga Po Thaik said that the BMP
units had been withdrawn from Burma to fight elsewhere in the war some but not
all of the Kachins believed him and agreed to rebel. The Kachins had firearms obtained through
cross-border trade that were replacing their traditional cross-bows and
spears. Every tribesman carried a curved
sword named a Dha that was a useful decapitator.
Left: Kachin Dha.
It is quite
possible that the four Shans were in the employ of Germany
as that country had definite plans to destabilise India
and Burma. The Germans had developed strong links with
the expatriate revolutionary Indian Ghadar Movement and German money was being
used to ship arms to India
to be used by revolutionaries. In 1914
German civil engineers were working on a section of the Siam Northern Railway
just across the international border, and it is more than likely that German
military intelligence personnel were part of the railway construction team.
January 1915 a party of Kachins stole some buffaloes at the entrance to the Hukawng Valley near the Kamaing BMP post; the
garrison of this post was part of the Myitkyina BMP Battalion. Six BMP Nepalese sepoys (foot-soldiers) went
out to recover the buffaloes and were captured at Ichi, north-east of
Kamaing. The local Political Officer,
Mr. Baker then went out with a stronger BMP group and found 300 belligerent
Kachins occupying a strongly-built stockade.
Baker’s sepoys skirmished with the Kachins but lost one man killed and
another wounded; Baker withdrew as he could make no impression on the
stockade. News of this Kachin ‘victory’
set the Hukawng Valley ablaze and many previously
hesitant Kachins joined the rebels. The
situation became serious for the British.
Above: Kachin men in the 1890s.
The British response
Police columns marched into rebel areas and started punishing the inhabitants
by shooting armed belligerents, burning down stockades and huts and by
confiscating domestic animals. However
the uprising continued and regular units of the Indian Army were deployed to
the Kachin Hills. The operational area
was split into two sectors. The 64th Pioneers was working on
construction tasks in the Myitkyina area and the commanding officer, Lieutenant
Colonel C.T. Swan, was placed in command of operations north of that town. Indian Army Pioneer Regiments were units capable
of fighting as infantry and defending themselves in hostile territory, with the
advantage that they were trained and equipped to construct basic roads and
bridges, and to perform other light engineering tasks.
Left: Bhamo stockade, south of Myitkyina.
Colonel A.W.H. Lee (1st-7th Gurkha Rifles attached to
Burma Military Police), was placed in charge of operations in the Kamaing and
Mogaung Jurisdictions (territories legally defined for administrative
reasons). Numbers II (Captain J.
Simpson) and IV (Major E.S. Gale) Double Companies of the 1st-10th Gurkha Rifles moved by train from
the battalion permanent base at Maymyo to Myitkyina; Major F.E. Coningham
commanded the Gurkhas, Captain H.R. Williams was his officiating Adjutant and
Captain A.MacD. Dick MB, FRCS, Indian Medical Service, was the Gurkhas’ Medical
Officer. Later the battalion machine gun detachment under Lieutenant E.A.K.
Crossfield, battalion Machine Gun Officer, arrived at Myitkyina. Detachments of Coningham’s men came under
Lee’s command. As the scale of
the military operations increased a wing (half a battalion) of a British
Territorial unit was despatched to Myitkyina, as was a section (two guns) of an
Indian Army mountain artillery battery.
Later in February Major General H.A. Raitt CB, the divisional commander,
proceeded to Myitkyina to direct operations.
Operations in and around the Hukawng Valley
despatched six columns into Kachin areas on punitive missions. Most of these columns were manned by BMP
personnel, and the BMP list of Mentions in Despatches at the end of this
article is very probably a list of BMP column commanders plus Lee. The BMP experienced some stiff fighting over
very rugged and jungle-covered ground, as the accompanying list of eight
recipients of the Indian Distinguished
Service Medal shows.
One BMP sowar
(mounted soldier), No 2519 Sowar Kala Singh, received the higher award of the Indian Order of Merit 2nd
Class. His citation provides a useful
description of the operational conditions:
For conspicuous gallantry,
coolness and resource on the 24th February 1915, when carrying
dispatches with a comrade through jungle country infested by the enemy. During
the journey, they were fired on from an ambuscade and Sowar Kala Singh’s
comrade was severely wounded and rendered unconscious. He was, however, helped to safety by Kala
Singh who thus saved his life.
Gurkhas formed columns with Lee’s men.
One column under Lee was accompanied by Major Gale and 90 Gurkhas plus
Lieutenant Crossfield’s machine gun detachment.
The column left Kamaing in late January and burned down houses at the village of Walapum without encountering
opposition. Concurrently Captain Simpson
with 112 Gurkhas left Kamaing with 63 BMP personnel, six of them mounted, and a
7-pounder muzzle-loading gun. Captain
Porter of the BMP was with the column but was acting in the capacity of a Civil
(political) Officer. This column
destroyed the Mawmwepum stockade, traversed the Jade Mines area and marched
back to Myitkyina. On 30th
January Coningham was ordered to march 139 of his Gurkhas, with Captains
Williams and Dick, to join Swan’s operations to the north.
Above: Typical Kachin Hills terrain.
Operations north of Myitkyina
the Hukawng Valley Kachins into revolt the four Shans moved eastwards to Wawang
village in the Mali
Valley. Here a huge and intimidating Kachin named
Pawlum Kron Li had seized the position of local leader, and established a reign
of terror in the area. With Pawlum Kron
Li the four Shans tried to induce the Kachins of Nmaizin Long, further east
across the Mali Valley, to join the uprising; but the
Nmaizin Long Kachins preferred to wait and see how things developed. This resulted in the other non-belligerent
Kachins in the Mali
Valley also waiting to
see what happened, and the village leaders advised the British that if the
trans-Mali Kachins did cross the river to fight then all the villages in the
valley would have to fight or the inhabitants would lose their heads.
The major problem
facing Pawlum Kron Li and the Shans was that they had no surplus food and no
transport, and so a large party of Kachins could not be mobilised for more than
a few days. The Wawan Kachins therefore
decided to raid the Public Works Department food store at Shingboi, 24
kilometres away. A company of the 64th
Pioneers was camped near Shingboi but was not considered to be a problem.
Hearing of the
proposed enemy raid the 64th Pioneers decided to attack first and a
column of 100 men of No 1 Double Company made an extremely difficult night
march to Wawang on 27th January.
The night was moon-less and the men were marching in single file through
dense jungle, over steep ridges and up overhung stream beds. The sepoys carried only their rifles and
fighting equipment as a party of mules followed behind with blankets, water and
rations. Major J.A. Bliss MVO commanded
this column accompanied by Captain E. Marsden and Mr Lowis, the local Executive
Engineer who had been granted the powers of a magistrate.
The foot of the
steep hill on which Wawang stood was reached at dawn and a volley of shots from
the jungle greeted the Pioneers. After a
steep climb up the hill a stockade manned by a few enemy stalwarts was seen and
immediately rushed with the bayonet. The
Kachin defenders withdrew rapidly but not before Major Bliss shot dead the last
one to leave, who turned out to be Pawlum Kron Li. The Pioneers then burned down the stockade
and village without any harassment from the Kachins and the four Shans, who had
all retreated into the jungle.
casualties were two Havildars and one private wounded, and as these men needed
medical attention the column retraced its steps. During the withdrawal one hostile shot was
fired from the jungle. The column
returned fire with a volley that luckily killed the enemy rifleman who turned
out to be the headman from a nearby village.
Colonel Swan took out a larger column to again punish Wawang and adjacent
dissident villages. The infantry troops
used were two companies of the 1st-4th
Battalion the Border Regiment (Territorial Army); two companies of the 1st-10th
Gurkha Rifles under Lieutenant B.R. Mullaly, plus 18 mounted sowars and 10
dismounted sepoys of the BMP. Artillery
support was provided by No I Section of the 22nd Derajat Mountain Battery
(two mule-packed guns whose barrels could be unscrewed into two pieces to make
manageable mule loads). The gunners were commanded by Major K.D. Field who was
accompanied by Captain M.D. Bell, both of the Royal Artillery. Lieutenant F.O.N. Burn of the Pioneers was
the column staff officer and Captain Marsden the Transport Officer; Major S.R.
Godkin FRCSI, Indian Medical Service, was the Medical Officer. Major W.B.T.
Abbey, Deputy Commissioner of Myitkyina marched as a Special Service Officer
representing the civil authority. A
platoon of Pioneers was deployed to make zig-zag tracks over the steep ridges
for the large heavily-burdened artillery mules to follow.
Swan left a
ration post at Darukha with a Gurkha platoon to guard it and marched on to
reach Wawang on 10th February.
The mountain gunners shelled the prominent house of a village leader at
a range of 1,600 metres, after which the infantry occupied the village without
opposition and burned it again. Next day
two columns of 50 men each went out under Captain Williams and Lieutenant Mullaly. Williams destroyed villages adjacent to
Wawang whilst Mullaly went a little further afield to burn down the village of Lengatawang.
Left: Kachin Tribal Dress
Mr W.A. Hertz,
Deputy Commissioner of Putao (also named Fort Hertz)
joined the column at Wawung followed a few days later by his Assistant Deputy
Commissioner Mr Leonard. The British
administration had decided to deal out severe punishment to the dissident
Kachins to demonstrate to the hill-tribes that rebelliousness during war time
would be harshly and severely punished.
On 13th February two more 50-man columns went out. Captain Williams destroyed houses north of
Wawung and Major Coningham, accompanied by Major Abbey, reconnoitred the Weship
Zup ferry across the Malikha
The uprising ends
The Kachins had
had enough and ceased hostilities; they were resentful of the failed guarantee
made by the Shans that their mystical powers would protect the Kachins. The four Shans had fled eastwards into the
Triangle, an area bounded by the Malikha and Nmaikha
Rivers; this territory was similar to
the Tribal Territory on the Indian North-West
Frontier in that the British chose not to administer it. Kachins from Nkraun village in the Triangle
seized the Shans and handed them over to the British. In September 1915 the Shans pleaded in court
that they were only in the Kachin Hills to buy drugs and were not connected
with the rebellion, but the Mandalay Sessions Judge sentenced them to death and
they were hanged.
Awards of the Indian Distinguished Service Medal for the 1914-1915
Kachin Hills Operations:
Pioneers: No 3661 Havildar
Rahman Sharif and No 4030 Lance Naik Qadar Beg.
Police: No 2831 Grade 1
Havildar Waru Tang; No 2163 Grade 2
Havildar Ranbahadur Khattri; 4508 Sepoy
Sao Tu; No 180 Lance Naik Mohan Lal
Bhaju; No 2839 Sowar Jowahr Sing; No 4205 Sowar Bhagwan Singh; No 4828 Sowar Mastan Singh and No 4912 Mehr
Mentions in Despatches for the 1914-15
Kachin Hills Operations:
Pioneers: Major J.A. Bliss MVO (Member of the Royal Victorian
Order); Captain E. Marsden; Lieutenant
Colonel C.T. Swann; No 3661 Havildar
Rahman Sharif; No 4030 Lance Naik Qadar
Gurkha Rifles: Major E.S.
Military Police: Captain E.
Bird (93rd Burma Infantry); Captain H.W.F. Clive (129th
Duke of Connaught’s Own Baluchis); Captain C.E. Daly (66th
Punjabis); Captain E.M. Hobday (41st Dogras); Lieutenant Colonel
A.W.H. Lee (1st 7th Gurkha Rifles); Captain O.L. Pugh (72nd
Punjabis); Captain W. Thyne (90th
Mr W. Scott, Assistant Superintendent Kachin Hills; Major W.B.T. Abbey,
Indian Army, Deputy Commissioner Myitkyina; Lieutenant Colonel S.L. Aplin,
Indian Army, Commissioner Mandalay Division.
Great War Victory Medal Qualification Operations on the
eastern frontier (Chin, Kuki and Kachin Hills) qualified participants for the
Great War Victory Medal.
Above: North-eastern Burmah
Forty years after
the Kachin Hills operations of 1915, Territorial soldiers of the 4th
Battalion the Border Regiment, some of them no doubt the progeny of the 1915
men, were back amongst the jungles and hills of Burma fighting successfully in a
Chindit Column against Japanese invaders.
London Gazette No 29652 of 4th July
1916, pages 6699, 6670 and 6703. BAILLE-KI-PALTAN
being a history of the 2nd Battalion, Madras Pioneers, 1759 – 1930 by
Lieutenant Colonel H.F. Murland.
History of the 10th
Gurkha Rifles 1890 - 1921 compiled by Captain B.R. Mullaly.
Regiment in the Great War by Colonel H.C. Wylly CB.
of 22nd Derajat Mountain Battery
(Frontier Force) Anonymous.
Reward of Valour.
The Indian Order of Merit 1914-1918 by Peter Ducker.
Distinguished Service Medal by Rana Chhina.
Haj to Utopia.
How the Ghadar Movement Charted Global Radicalism and Attempted to Overthrow
the British Empire by
The Punjab and the War Compiled by M.S.
Leigh OBE, Indian Civil Service.