When people think of SOE they primarily think of operations in France. A few think of other European countries (thank you Kate Vigurs!), but very few think of the work the organisation undertook in other parts of the world, such as Burma or Malaya. And yet SOE played an absolute blinder in Burma in 1945, as Richard Duckett has described in his ground breaking book.
Richard is back again with a biography of the man who made Operation Character happen, Colonel Edgar Peacock. Peacock was a quite extraordinary man and I’m delighted that his story is being told. His widow published a substantially redacted account in 1958 (long before the Second World War files were opened after 1976) in The life of a jungle walla; reminiscences in the life of Lieut.-Col. E.H. Peacock: this new book tells the story with all the necessary military detail expertly in place.
Peacock was awarded an MC in 1944 and another one in 1945, the citation which reads:
In March 1945 Lieutenant Colonel Peacock, after having been parachuted into enemy territory, raised and commanded a group of Karen guerrillas operating in the mountainous country NE of Pegu. On 13 April he was warned that a Japanese division was moving along an axis running close to his base. The enemy's objective was to link up with the main enemy forces in order to deny us a vital airfield and communications centre. Within twenty-four hours Colonel Peacock had established a number of roadblocks. During the following ten days, by skilful handling of his guerrilla and a nicely time series of demolitions, he succeeded in preventing the link-up of the Japanese forces. The objective was now in our hands. In this short period his guerrillas killed 114 of the enemy, destroyed a large amount of transport and blew six bridges. Credit for this outstanding performance must go largely to Colonel Peacock whose gallant leadership and sound tactical judgement have been important contributory factors in the success of the main operations.
The citation is actually quite amusing, in the dramatic understatement of what Peacock achieved which, to mind at least, was deserving of several DSOs; for it was Peacock who came up with the idea for raising 12,000 men for Operation Character, and whose Karen Levies killed perhaps 14,000 Japanese and prevented them from congregating for the defence of Toungoo.
The best thing about military history is being able to rescue the memory of men like Edgar Peacock. On this score, Duckett has done us proud.
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