Prisoners of Hope

In 1943, when Orde Wingate made his first stealthy penetration behind Japanese lines in northern Burma, it was an operation evaluated both for its success and its failure. It may have fallen short of military success, but it taught Britihs High Command many useful lessons. It proved the value of air supply, giving distant forces a mobility and freedom of action unknown to those tactically tied to ground communicaitons, and in the hearts of hard-trained men, it paved the way for the final offensive and overthorw of the enemy. Michael Calvert's narrative tells of the training, planning and physical conditions endured by the men who lived and fought vastly superior Japanese forces in the impenetrable, steaming jungles of Bruma. It is a story of courage, willpower, strength of purpose and sheer guts, where officers led from the front - as witnessed by their casualty numbers - encouraging their men to act as team players working toards a common end, and when the occasion arose, acting on their own initiative.