badge, formation, Indian, 3rd Indian Infantry Division (The Chindits)

badge circular blue patch in embroidered cloth (diameter 7.5cm) adorned with a 'Chinte' (Burmese dragon pagoda 'custodian') guarding a pagoda. The reverse of the patch is fitted with four press studs.

The formation was formed at Jhansi as a Special Force of long-range penetration troops on 18 September 1943. This First Chindit expedition (February - May 1943) had featured 77th Indian Infantry Brigade, consisting of battalions of Burma Rifles, Gurkhas and the King's Liverpool Regiment who had been on internal security duties in India. During the operation, the railway lines were cut a number of times between Mandalay and Myitkyina. More importantly, the troops who emerged from the jungle, together with their inspirational leader, Orde Wingate, were lionised by the press as heroic figures. The Chindits were acclaimed as the first British and Commonwealth forces to get the better of the Japanese in the context of jungle fighting, thus helping to dispel the myth of the Japanese 'supermen'. The operation undoubtedly bolstered morale in both Britain and India. However, as only two thirds of the force made it back to India and, of those, only half were fit for duty afterwards, the operation has also been regarded as something of a triumph of British propaganda. 3rd Indian Division was made up of 77th and 111th Indian Brigades, three British brigades: 14th, 16th and 23rd and the 3rd West African Brigade. These were formed into groups of eight columns each and two wing HQ's and a Force HQ. The Force was designated as 3rd Indian Division on 1 February 1944. The Division's role in 1944 was to support General Stilwell's forces 'behind the lines' in North Burma. The Divisional Commander was Major General O C Wingate (his papers are held in the IWM's Department of Documents), who died in a plane crash on 24 March 1944. He was replaced by Brigadier W D A Lentaigne of 111th Brigade. It took three months for the Division to take the airfield at Myitkyina and another three months before the Japanese evacuated the town. The Chindits were involved in some of the hardest fighting in this operation, holding the strongholds of 'Aberdeen', 'Broadway', 'White City' and later 'Blackpool' against repeated Japanese attacks but also disrupting the enemy's supply lines. Lentaigne did not really share Wingate's vision and the Chindits were mostly used as infantry rather than as Long Range Penetration Groups under Stilwell's command. The Division was disbanded on 31 March 1945. The Burmese dragon on the badge depicted a 'Chinthe' whose purpose it was to guard pagodas. The resulting nickname, Chindits, stemmed from the dragon image of the formation badge; (it is also claimed that the name of the 'Chindwin River' also in some way informed the naming of the force). This badge belonged to Private E. Dexter a member of No. 7 Platoon, 2nd Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment, when he was involved in the Chindit operations (May to September 1944). Mr. Dexter said of his experiences in Burma: '. . . General Wingate was our commander, who was killed in an aeroplane, shortly after, and was a great respected leader. We were landed in the Burmese jungle, in the dark early morning. We were assured that this was (a) two month campaign, owing to the Monsoon's would be starting by then. When this period was over, we went to ... Indawgi Lake, taking our wounded and ill . . . to be taken back to hospital in Assam in the Sunderland planes which landed on the lake. We that were left expected to go back with them as promised, but our radio engineer received a message that morning to tell us that was not on and that we were to stay in and had got to fight our way out. This was to take another three months, during which we were losing a lot of Chindits due to disease and malnutrition and heat exhaustion. When we came to the end of the campaign (the lucky ones) all had lost weight and were down to seven stones.'

The formation was formed at Jhansi as a Special Force of long-range penetration troops, after the First Chindit expedition, on 18 September 1943. The first operation had featured 77th Indian Infantry Brigade, consisting of battalions of Burma Rifles, Gurkhas and the King's Liverpool Regiment who had been on internal security duties in India. During the operation, the railway lines were cut a number of times between Mandalay and Myitkyina. More importantly, the troops and their inspirational leader Orde Wingate, emerged from the jungle as heroic figures, lionised by the press as the first British and Commonwealth troops to get the better of the Japanese in the jungle, dispelling the myth of the Japanese 'supermen'. The operation bolstered morale in both Britain and India. However, only two thirds of the force made it back to India and of those only half were fit for duty again. 3rd Indian Division was made up of 77th and 111th Indian Brigades, three British brigades: 14th, 16th and 23rd and the 3rd West African Brigade. These were formed into groups of eight columns each and two wing HQ's and a Force HQ. The Force was designated as 3rd Indian Division on 1 February 1944. The division's role in 1944 was to support General Stilwell's forces 'behind the lines' in North Burma. The Divisional Commander was Major-General O C Wingate (his papers are held in the Department of Documents), who died in a plane crash on 24 March 1944. He was replaced by Brigadier W D A Lentaigne of 111th Brigade. It took three months for them to take the airfield at Myitkyina and another three months before the Japanese evacuated the town. The Chindits were involved in some of the hardest fighting in this operation, holding the strongholds of Aberdeen, Broadway, White City and later Blackpool against repeated Japanese attacks but also disrupting the enemy's supply lines. Lentaigne did not really share Wingate's vision and the Chindits were mostly used as infantry rather than as Long Range Penetration Groups under Stilwell's command. The Division was disbanded on 31 March 1945. The Burmese dragon on the badge was called a Chinthe whose role it was to guard pagodas. The resulting nickname, Chindits, stemmed from the formation badge. This badge belonged to Private E. Dexter a member of No. 7 Platoon, 2nd Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment, when he was involved in the Chindit operation (May to September 1944). Mr. Dexter said of his experiences in Burma: '. . . General Wingate was our commander, who was killed in an aeroplane, shortly after, and was a great respected leader. We were landed in the Burmese jungle, in the dark early morning. We were assured that this was (a) two month campaign, owing to the Monsoon's would be starting by then. When this period was over, we went to ... Indawgi Lake, taking our wounded and ill . . . to be taken back to hospital in Assam in the Sunderland planes which landed on the lake. We that were left expected to go back with them as promised, but our radio engineer received a message that morning to tell us that not on and that we were to stay in and had got to fight our way out. This was to take another three months, during which we were losing a lot of Chindits due to disease and malnutrition and heat exhaustion. When we came to the end of the campaign (the lucky ones) all had lost weight and were down to seven stones.'