The Chindits

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 3 September 2025

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

During World War Two, an unconventional special force was formed. Known as the Chindits, they fought behind enemy lines in Burma, now Myanmar during 1943 and 1944 in the war against Japan.

Their leader was the charismatic Orde Wingate, a British Army officer.

This programme is made in collaboration with BBC Archives. It contains outdated and offensive language.

Produced and presented by Gill Kearsley.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina’s Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall’ speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler’s List; and Jacques Derrida, France’s ‘rock star’ philosopher. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal; and the death of one of the world’s oldest languages.

(Photo: The Chindits in 1944. Credit: Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Rory Stewart and I grew up wanting to be a hero and I'm still fascinated by the ideas of heroism.
0:08.9	In my new series, I'm taking in the long sweep of history from Achilles to Zelensky and asking, what is a hero?
0:16.1	Simply doing your job, being a decent human being.
0:20.0	A true hero is someone who just kind of shines by
0:23.1	their own light and that light is to be recognised by others. The Long History of Heroism
0:27.8	with me, Rory Stewart. Listen on BBC Sounds. Hello and welcome to witness history. I'm Jill Kursley. And this is the podcast that takes you back to a key moment in history and we bring it all to live through incredible archive and the amazing memories of a key witness. This program made from archive material contains outdated and offensive language.
0:55.5	I'm taking you back to World War II and the formation and operation of an unconventional special force.
1:02.4	Here they are, for the first time in newsreels, the Chindits.
1:06.7	Take a close look at them.
1:08.2	Not that it'll help you to recognize any of them their own mother
1:11.2	couldn't. Named after the lion-like figures guarding Burmese temples, their leader describes them
1:17.1	as a long-range penetration group. Entirely independent, with mules for transport and silver
1:22.9	rupees for pay, and prove that a large force can fight in the jungle without communications.
1:30.0	The Chindits fought behind enemy lines in northern Burma, now Myanmar, during
1:35.4	1943 and 1944 in the war against Japan. The British feared the Japanese getting a foothold in
1:42.4	Burma that would lead to an invasion of neighbouring British-ruled India.
1:47.0	The leader of the Chindits was the charismatic Ord Windgate, a British army officer who was eventually given the title Major General.
1:55.2	This recording of him from 1943 comes from the BBC archives.
1:59.7	What was it then that made these ordinary typical troops born and trained for the most part to factory and workshop,
2:08.3	capable of feats that would not have disgraced Tarzan, and able on many occasions to punish all enemy attempts at interference,
2:15.6	with a vigour that caused him to draw and hesitate to come again.
2:20.2	And keep listening to find out what the answer is. The Chinditz leader was said to be a very
	...

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