The 81st (West African) Division[2] was formed under British control during the Second World War. It took part in the Burma Campaign.
History
The inspiration for the division's formation came from General George Giffard, commander of the British Army's West Africa Command, who subsequently commanded India Command's Eastern Army, facing the Japanese army on the frontier between India and Burma. Giffard had wide experience with African troops, and was eager for them to participate in the war. The framework on which the division was formed was the Royal West African Frontier Force. One of the brigades (the 3rd West African) and several of the supporting units which formed the division had already seen action with the 11th (African) Division, against the Italians in East Africa. The division was established as the 1st (West African) Division on 1 March 1943. Three days later it was renamed the 81st (West African) Division, taking the next vacant number in the list of British infantry divisions. The division's badge was a spider, in black on a yellow circular background. This spider was a reference to Ananse, a cunning character in Ashanti mythology, and drawn so that when a soldier raised his weapon to fire, the spider would appear to be going forwards.
Men of the 81st West African Division mingle with Indian soldiers after their arrival in India for jungle training.
The division arrived in India on 14 August 1943. The movement of the 5th (West African) Brigade was delayed, however, after the troopship which was to carry it was lost in the German attack on Convoy Faith off Portugal on the night of 11/12 July 1943. The 3rd (West African) Brigade was detached to the Chindits, and was intended to garrison jungle bases for the raiding columns. The remainder of the division took part in the second Arakan campaign from February to May, 1944, operating in the Kaladan Valley on the flank of XV Indian Corps. In late March, substantial Japanese reinforcements (with some troops from the Indian National Army) outflanked the division and forced it to retreat over a range of hills out of the Kaladan valley into that of the Kalapanzin. In August, the division re-entered the Kaladan valley, forcing the Japanese and Indian National Army to abandon Mowdok, a few miles east of the India–Burmese frontier. The division then advanced down the valley once again, reaching Myohaung near the mouth of the river on 28 January 1945. The division was withdrawn to India to rest on 22 April 1945. On 31 August, it was returned to West Africa and disbanded.
Character and organisation
Doctors operating on some of the 81st Division's casualties in Burma, August 1944
The division was originally intended to operate on a pack basis, with porters carrying all equipment and supplies. Lieutenant General William Slim, then commanding XV Corps, commented on first inspecting units of the division in late 1943,
Their discipline and smartness were impressive, and they were more obviously at home in the jungle than any troops I had yet seen... I was at once struck by two things. First, by the horde of unarmed porters who were needed to carry supplies, ammunition, baggage and the heavier weapons, and secondly by the large number of white men in a unit, fifty or sixty to a battalion. Accustomed as I was to Indian battalions in the field with usually only seven or eight Europeans, it struck me as an unnecessarily generous supply.[3]
Order of Battle
General Officers Commanding
Major General C G Woolner, from 3 March 1943
Major General Frederick Joseph Loftus-Tottenham, from 3 August 1943 to 31 August 1945
except for
15 to 26 August 1944, Brigadier E Collins
31 January to 2 March 1945, Brigadier A Crook
Formation and North Arakan
From formation to reorganisation during September 1944.
Infantry
Seth Anthony, first non-European from Africa to gain the King's Commission
Notes
^Composed of soldiers who acted as porters and pioneers. Numbering approximately 2,000 men organised into four companies ~550 were armed and acted as the unit's protection.[5]
