WW2 - The war in Burma. The forgotten 14th Army struggling against Japanese "super soldiers" deep in the jungle.

But did you know there was another, completely overlooked aspect to the campaign -Tanks.

Yep, the British and allied troops did deploy them and they proved to be incredibly effective.

Today we are exploring the forgotten role that tanks played in the jungle and on the Indian and Burmese plains.

These are stories that will shock you - a sword fight inside a British tank, the logistics of deploying armour in the mountains above the clouds, and the incredible tale of the 'Thunder Run to Meiktila,' - a battle that set the tone for the use of armour and all-arms tactics through to the present day.

By the way here is the link to Jack's book - https://www.chiselbury.co.uk/bookstore/p/forgotten-armour-tank-warfare-in-burma-by-jack-bowsher and the discount code at checkout is REDCOAT20.

My patreon page is here - https://www.patreon.com/RedcoatHistory

Today on the podcast we are looking at the history of the Royal Yorkshire Regiment…a unit that can trace its roots back to 1685.

We’ll discuss the antecedent regiments that came together to form the modern regiment, look at their battle honours and important dates and then examine the role of the regiment in today’s modern British army.

Put the kettle on guys, cause this is a film for the true military history geek - we are going down another historical rabbit hole and it may take some time.

Please support the show and sign up for my Patreon page. When you sign up you get early access to my podcasts and videos - https://www.patreon.com/c/RedcoatHistory

I bet like me you thought tanks and armoured vehicles had replaced Britain’s horse mounted cavalry after WW1.

Well, we were wrong.

Imagine this: in 1939, Britain still had a number of cavalry regiments that hadn’t been mechanised. . . They still rode horses and carried sabres.

These were territorials with no real place in modern warfare, yet by 1941, they were riding into battle in Syria, leading patrols, swimming rivers under aircraft attack, and somehow rewriting the book on cavalry warfare.

They were actually incredibly important.

Today, we ate joined by the brilliant —Jonathan Washington, former Yeomanry soldier himself and author of “FIGHTING VICHY FROM HORSEBACK” - It’s a cracking book All about A Division that Wasn't Meant to Fight - Britain’s 1st Cavalry Division in World War II.

Here is the link to buy his book - https://amzn.to/4hlkBun

And here is the link to my newsletter - http://bit.ly/redcoathistory