Letter

Letter from Auchinleck to Gen. Sir Alan Brooke, Chief of the Imperial General Staff, referring to a report by Gen. N.M.S. [Noel] Irwin (formerly Commander, Eastern Army) on the reasons for the failure of the campaign in Burma in the previous year, attributing it to lack of training and readiness for jungle warfare of troops and commanders, to administrative problems arising from difficulties in communication and transport, to inadequate resources of both trained personnel and material, aggravated by the high incidence of malaria, and to the dislocation caused by Congress disturbances in the autumn. He states that improvements have been effected in the training of troops, and that, as the result of experience, changes have been made in the administrative organization. He expresses his own conviction that, provided that the difficulties imposed by great distances, poor communications and natural obstacles of climate and terrain are appreciated, and plans are laid accordingly on a realistic basis, the troops will not fail their leaders, that they will do all that is asked of them, and that the leaders also are of high calibre and are not likely to fail their troops. Typescript, signed, with a holograph postscript.