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This story was submitted to the People’s War site by Nadine from the People’s War team on behalf of Sir Eric Yarrow and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site’s terms and conditions.

The retreat from Burma in 1942 was the longest retreat in British Military history, extending to nearly one thousand miles. It was a humiliating retreat, but the Japanese took the country by surprise and the Allied forces were ill prepared. The Japanese were well trained having been blooded in action against the Chinese. They were well equipped and used to fighting in the jungle in tropical weather conditions. They had complete air supremacy.

After the fall of Rangoon in the early part of the March 1942 the main objective of the multi-national relatively small Allied force, was to stem the speed of the Japanese advance towards India until the monsoon broke in 2 to 3 months time — this was indeed accomplished.

The main role of the companies of the Royal Engineers was to deny the use of supplies to the Japanese, such as oil, food and water. Orders were also given to sink as many river craft as possible or the Irrawaddy and Chindwin rivers. Ships not sunk would provide a useful form of transport for the advancing Japanese. Explosives were placed on the hull engines. The Japanese were sometimes in close proximity. When sunk some of the ships were completely submerged, and in other cases the funnels could still be seen.

Some of the ships bore the nameplate — Built By Yarrow and Company or The Clyde — a public company where I spent many years after the war. It was very evident that it was much quicker to sink the river craft than build them! After the war an order was received by Yarrow and Company from the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company to replace theirs during the war. I jokingly remarked that I was surely due a commission for the vessels I had sunk. The reply was not unexpected: - Why ever did you not sink more!

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