BOOK RECALLS JUNGLE WAR IN BURMA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00001R000300630004-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 17, 2003
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: September 20, 1963
• Content Type: NSPR

WASHINGTON POST AND
T'MIp & or Release 2003/12/02 : 61ALI DP75-Q00Q'1R000'300d30004-2
History Published
"Behind The . S311aRoad"
a hisy o e ac ment 101
was published.. _ Sept. 5 by
Atlantic-Little, crown of Bos-
ton., It was written by Brig..
Gen. William R. Peers, a
former coiiIn r, a' n Dean,
Brelis a novelist and a lieu-
tenaiT in the 101st.
Peers? now assistant division
Infantry Division, Fort Lewis,
Washington, wrote the first
1 draft during the winter of
1961 while he was stationed in
Washington as Px utiv2 sec-
retary of the Weapons Sys-
tems Evaluation Group.
Made up strictly of volun-
teers, the 101st was a young
outfit. The average age of its
Th4 Washington Post was 23.
GEN. WILLIAM' R. PEERS "Our men had to have a
... Burma Road historian I spirit of adventure' and a
quick mind," Peers says, but
, beyond that he refused to type
Book Recalls them.
"Ordinary Little Guys"
]un le Wa~? "And we 'weren't all the
,~ j muscular type. Some of our
i,best men were just ordinary
In Burma ' little guys," says Peers who
]played football and rugby as
By Bart Barnes At the height of its opera-
In December, 1942, a group dropping 40 tons of supplies' a
of 20 men set up a base day to guerrilla forces behind
~ieadquarters at Nazira, near the Japanese lines.
(the India-Burma border, to Agents were dispatched as
launch a guerrilla campaign far as 200 miles behind the
l against the Japanese in the combat area and communica-
1 mountain country of northern ions reached such peak 'effi-
Burma. ciency that the Air Force
The war had been going 1 could bomb an enemy` target
poorly for the Allies and within 30 minutes after an
General Joseph W. Stillwell, :1 agent had radioed back the
who had been driven out of coordinates.
Burma by the Japanese that; Men in the Detachment
spring, had no special instruc- were often behind the lines
tions for the 20-man detach- themselves on raiding or pro-
ment other than to establish paganda missions or to set up
contact with the enemy and to the guerrilla operations
begin espionage and guerrilla among! the tribesmen of north-
ampaigns as soon as possible. ern Burma.
By the war's end, the force During- its 21/2-year cam-
had grown to 1000 and wasl paign, the Detachment claims
supplying and commanding a 15,000, J a 'o a n e s e killed or
behind-the-lines army of near- wounded, 51 b r i d g e s de-
ly 10,000 Burmese. Staffed by( strayed, nine trains derailed,
Americans and British, it was 1 and 3700 tons of e n e in y
tll Qoe _of Strategic Servi- supplies captured or de-
ces' aehment 101; a to strayed.
ans
._ Losses were 22 `gin
c
the organization of h Army
present day Special Forces.
Approved For Release 2003/12/02 : CIA-RDP75-00001 R000300630004-2