As featured on World War II Today

WW2 Today

As featured in.

Britain at War

The book is based on a series of interviews with members of the battalion conducted by Peter Hart, an oral historian at the Imperial War Museum. Hart has provided a connecting narrative, but it is the soldier's own voices that dominate the book. Amongst the interviewees was one of the two survivors of the massacre at La Paradis.
The most interesting part of the book covers the fighting in Burma. Here we get a real feel for the difficulties of operating in the jungle, especially when the battalion was sent on a seven mile long march to outflank the Japanese at Kohima that took them two days to complete because of the nature of the terrain.
This is a very valuable piece of work, recording the memories of the remarkable men who fought in France and in Burma, against two very different but equally tenacious opponents.

History of War

My uncle, Fred Wright was in the 2nd Battalion, Royal Norfolks so the book was a must-read.
What made the book stand out was the inclusion of memories recorded by the Imperial War Museum. They were put together in the book by Peter Hart to relay the battle of Kohima perfectly in minute detail.
The hardships of the terrain and battles were breathtakingly real.
From the book:-
"The battalion erected a memorial to their dead between GPT Ridge and Aradura Spur, and another to the whole of the 2nd Division was erected at Kohima. The inscription has since come to epitomize the entire British struggle and the poignant loneliness of their losses deep in the inhospitable jungle. It is known as the Kohima Prayer."

When you go home
Tell them of us and say,
For your tomorrow
We gave our today

Five Victoria Cross were awarded to the Royal Norfolks in WW2, John Niel Randle's was for gallantry at Kohima. The ridge they fought so hard for is now named Norfolk Ridge.
The book is a must-read to all those who are looking for a first-hand account of a battle, so real as at times, I kept my head down..

Ronnie Taylor