259892 Pte. Harold Bristow Barratt British Army 1st Btn. Northamptonshire Regiment from:Willenhall, Staffordshire (d.25th Feb 1945) Harold Barratt served with the 1st Battalion, The Northamptonshire Regiment. He was the son of Thomas Harold and Mary Barratt of Portobello, Willenhall, Staffordshire.
When you go home
tell them of us and say,
For your tomorrow,
we gave our today.
The British Fourteenth Army was a multi-national force comprising units from Commonwealth countries during World War II. Many of its units were from the Indian Army as well as British units and there were also significant contributions from West and East African divisions within the British Army.
It was often referred to as the "Forgotten Army" because its operations in the Burma Campaign were overlooked by the contemporary press and remained more obscure than those of the corresponding formations in Europe for long after the war. For most of the Army's existence, it was commanded by Lieutenant-General William Slim.
The 1st Battalion Northamptonshire Regiment was a regular army unit that served in the Burma Campaign from July 1942 to April 1945 with the 32nd Indian Infantry Brigade within the 20th Indian Infantry Division.The division was formed at Bangalore in April 1942. It was commanded by Major General Douglas Gracey and at first it consisted of the Indian 32nd, 51st and 53rd Brigades.
In July that year, the 51st and 53rd Brigades were detached to form the Indian 25th Infantry Division and replaced by the Indian 80th Infantry Brigade and Indian 100th Infantry Brigade (the latter brigade being transferred from the 34th Division which had recently disbanded in Ceylon).
The division was intended from the start for operations in jungle and mountain and was on a Mixed Animal and Mechanical Transport establishment for maintenance in rough country.
The division's insignia was a hand wielding a tulwar, in white on black.
After training in Southern India and Ceylon, the Division joined Indian XV Corps at Ranchi in Bihar in December, but from July 1943, it was transferred to IV Corps in Imphal.
At the start of the Battle of Imphal in March 1944, 20th Division was deployed forward to Tamu in the Kabaw Valley. To avoid being cut off, it retreated to the Shenam Saddle in the hills surrounding the Imphal Plain. Because the 17th Indian Infantry Division was in difficulty in its sector, the 32nd Brigade was temporarily detached.
During April and the first part of May, the division held the saddle against attacks by infantry, tanks and heavy artillery. It was then relieved in place and ordered to counter-attack, north-east from Imphal to Ukhrul. The monsoon had broken, and movement was very difficult.
After several Japanese counter attacks, at the start of July the division was transferred to the XXXIII Indian Corps and slowly eliminated large numbers of Japanese in and around the village, which had been made into a Japanese communication and logistic centre.
During the remainder of the monsoon, the division rested around Dimapur. As the monsoon ended, it moved into a bridgehead across the Chindwin River at Kalewa. It attacked southward on the 4th December and cleared Japanese rear guards from Monywa.
On 13th of February 1945, the division made a crossing of the Irrawaddy River 20 miles (32 km) west of Mandalay. The boats used were leaky and other items of equipment already worn out. The first precarious footholds were counter attacked every night for a week but eventually linked up into a solid bridgehead. It was probably during one of these counter attacks that Harold Barratt was killed
He was probably interred initially at the Mandalay cemetery as this was nearest to the place where he fell on the Irrawady River on 25th of Feb 1945.
The graves have been grouped together at Taukkyan to preserve the individuality of these battlefield cemeteries. Burials were also transferred from civil and cantonment cemeteries, and from a few of the isolated jungle and roadside sites.
Taukkyan War Cemetry is the largest of the three war cemeteries in Burma (now Myanmar). It was begun in 1951 for the reception of graves from four battlefield cemeteries at Akyab, Mandalay, Meiktila and Sahmaw, which were difficult to access and could not be maintained. The cemetery now contains 6,374 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War, 867 of them unidentified.
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