Field Marshall Slim
Shawn P. Steele (US Army) on Field Marshall Slim:
‘Field Marshall Viscount Slim holds a special place in modern military history. He soundly defeated the Imperial Japanese Army in Burma in 1945 ( actually 1944–5), retaking the strategically important Burma Road, and safeguarding the Chinese Theater from sure culmination.
By all accounts, Slim is a military genius,
having achieved this notable victory even after the Japanese 15th Army pushed Allied troops all the way back to India.
The historical records attribute Slim’s success to his superior ability to lead soldiers in combat, but they tell only half the story. By tracing Slim’s implicit process of theoretical thinking, using an observe, interpret, hypothesize, test, and prescribe action framework, this story demonstrates that Slim’s genius came from combining his abilities to lead and think theoretically.
Specifically, Slim’s ability to think theoretically allowed him to develop a new operational approach—a paradigm shift of sorts—and his leadership enabled him to motivate his men to employ that approach.
The author asserts that the presence of these two abilities in a single man makes him a superior military commander.’
Under his command, the British Indian Army gave the Japanese Imperial Army their biggest defeat of the war, to that date, at Imphal and Kohima where the IJA suffered 65% fatalities (note: this is not 65% casualties, it is 65% fatalities).
They were then driven out of Burma losing another 185,000 men dead. At some of these battles eg Sittang the Japanese lost over 15,000 men to the Indian/British/Gurkha losing less than 100.
Why is this not given the recognition it deserves?
The 14th was known as the ‘Forgotten Army’, its exploits and achievements are still mainly forgotten today.
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