04/03/2017
Some true badasses here....what they endured to accomplish their mission is truly astonishing and the stuff of legends!
Today in Infantry History – April 2, 1944 – Merrill’s Marauders were heavily engaged at Nhpum Ga, Burma. The U.S. Army’s 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional) was organized and trained for long-range pe*******on behind enemy lines in Japanese-held Burma. Commanded by BG Frank D. Merrill, its 2,997 officers and men became popularly known as "Merrill's Marauders." From February to May 1944, the operations of the Marauders were closely coordinated with those of the Chinese 22nd and 38th Divisions in a drive to recover northern Burma and clear the way for the construction of the Ledo Road, which was to link the Indian railhead at Ledo with the old Burma Road to China. The Marauders were foot soldiers who marched and fought through jungles and over mountains from the Hukawng Valley in northwestern Burma to Myitkyina on the Irrawaddy River.
– Excerpted from Merrill’s Marauders, February-May 1944. Read more at:
http://www.history.army.mil/html/books/100/100-4/CMH_Pub_100-4.pdf
Photo: Marauders rest during a break along a jungle trail near Nhpum Ga. (Department of the Army photo)
