Merrill’s Marauders

I do not believe that you can find a more gripping story in World War II than that of the US Army’s 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional) better known of course as Merrill’s Marauders. A light infantry long range penetration unit the Marauders set an incredible record of accomplishments in the face of stiff Japanese resistance, horrendous medical conditions and inexplicable command indifference. My introduction to the subject came as a kid during a Saturday morning matinee watching Jeff Chandler and a cast of stalwarts portraying Merrill’s Marauders (mules and all).

Luckily for us, given the casualties and ravages of disease, five former Marauders passed on their experiences: Charlton Ogburn, a young officer, described the incredible suffering of the unit in The Marauders. Colonel Charles Hunter, the unit’s second in command, did likewise in Galahad. Dr. James Hopkins, a Marauder field surgeon, has probably written the most comprehensive account in Spearhead. A more anecdotal story from an enlisted man’s view is Hell On Land Disaster At Sea. Finally, the lead reconnaissance platoon commander, Logan Weston, wrote The Fightin’ Preacher. Logan, as portrayed in the film, by cowboy TV star Ty Hardin, notes that his I&R platoon (Intelligence and reconnaissance) actually stood for “Ignorant and rugged.”

At the urging of Army Chief of Staff General George C. Marshall a series of wartime monographs titled “American Forces in Action” were published, I have a reprint, a WWII 50th Anniversary edition which some lamebrain at Fort Gordon discarded as “salvage,” of Merrill’s Marauders. For the general reader, the indefatigable Edwin P. Hoyt produced a short volume on the 5307th as did Alan Barker for our old favorite series from Ballantine Books.

For a better understanding of the Marauder’s role in the China-Burma-India (CBI) theater one should start with Barbara Tuchman’s STILWELL AND THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE IN CHINA and Theodore White’s edition of The Stilwell Papers. Some surveys of varying quality exist: The Burma Road, The Chancy War: Winning China, Burma, and India in World War II, The Chindit War: Stilwell, Wingate, and the Campaign in Burma, 1944.

Those with an intense interests should turn to the three volumes covering the exasperating, frustrating challenges of the CBI in the US Army “Green” history of WWII.
See also Burma Surgeon and Never so Few for atmosphere.

Field Marshal Viscount Slim, in Defeat into Victory, probably the best WW2 memoirs ever by a senior commander, thinks Merrill and Wingate were much overrated, and the chindits more of a nuisance, tying up masses of airlift time and resources for zero strategic accomplishments; Stillwell agreed. But Wingate made good copy, and so had direct access to Churchill who forced Slim to concur to his wishes.

I concur Ted; I think Wingate just knew how to work the press!

Hi...just noticed in passing...the Dr Hopkins book, 'Spearhead', that you mention is this one http://www.librarything.com/work/1116100. The existing link goes to a book about D-Day...

You are absolutely right to say that this is all a fairly unknown, but gripping, topic, and that Dr Hopkins book is excellent :) I have a personal interest in the subject, as I discovered that my great uncle, a British medical officer, commanded a British military hospital that supported the Marauders during their pre-mission training at Deograh, India. I passed Dr Hopkins some information about this, some years ago, which he kindly touched on in his book.

Also concur re Wingate !

Hi pal, thanks for catching my error... I've corrected it.

And now there's another, low cost, Osprey book out: Merrill's Marauders.

Charlton Ogburn (author of "The Marauders", source of the Jeff Chandler movie and an Oxfordian) makes a substantive appearance in the WGBH PBS Frontline documentary re: The Shakespeare Mystery. Per Wikipedia: "Ogburn Jr's last and most influential book, "The Mysterious William Shakespeare: The Man and the Myth" (1984) led directly to the making of a 1987 Frontline documentary on the authorship question, narrated by Al Austin, and a 1987 Moot court case on the authorship question sponsored by American University which over a thousand members of the public attended." Ogburn makes a poignant and persuasive argument that Shakespeare was really Edward de Vere, the Earl of Oxford. (The video's no longer available, but I have a digitized (raggy) copy. Chat me up in a private post and I can share the video with you.)

With regard to Slim vis-a-vis Wingate, I agree with the observation about Slim discounting the efficiency of the use and deployment of the Chindits. I don't agree with the characterization of Slim's opinion of the American operation in North Burma. Slim was gracious in his opinion of Stilwell (other than Tuchman, few others are). Slim didn't subscribe to the objectives of the Americans in North Burma. But, he was diplomatic enough to just let Stilwell "do his thing." I attribute this to the macro lack of alignment among Churchill, Roosevelt and Chiang. Churchill wanted to reclaim colonial Rangoon and Singapore; Roosevelt wanted to prop up Nationalist China, tie up Japan in mainland China, establish bases for an invasion of Japan, and keep Soviet Communism from occupying a political vacuum in China. Churchill (Slim was aligned) was more interested in driving the Japanese out of British southeast Asia. Hence, the lack of regard for what Stilwell was up to in Northern Burma. Slim, Louis Allen, and George MacDonald Fraser ... representative of British opinion, I think ... were dismissive of the American operation. (Chiang, of course, was sopping up all the materiel and weaponry he could and was keeping his powder dry for the post-WWII conflict with Mao.) That lack of alignment at the top, I think, was a root cause of the command problems in Northern Burma.

Success! after many years I finally found an affordable copy of John George's Shots Fired in Anger, (see my review). George, a former Marauder and Guadalcanal veteran, offers some cogent insights into the Marauder's tactical successes against the Japanese.

Darn it, how did miss this one all these years! Currently reading an excellent memoir, Roger Hillsman's American Guerrilla....follows West Point grad to CBI where he serves with Merrill's Marauders and later with the OSS Detachment 1010. Recommended!

Rereading Spearhead probably the most comprehensive account of the 5307th, by Dr. James Hopkins, a Marauder field surgeon. The author has interwoven the account with many interviews of former Marauders. Hopkins also has some cogent and scathing remarks about Stilwell and the US CBI senior leaders. Highly recommended.

I'm eagerly awaiting publication of the following:

http://www.amazon.com/Merrills-Marauders-Galahad-Toughest-Special/dp/0760344329/...