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Our thanks go to Frank Young for this most interesting information Bladet Force was part of the 2nd Chindit Campaign, 'Operation Thursday', 1944. They were gilder borne demolition engineers commanded by General Blain. Their objectives included the demolition of railway bridges. The name Bladet is taken from Blains's Detachment. Below is an extract from the book March or Die, The Story of Wingate's Chindits by Philip Chinnery
The following is from the chapter on the battle for Mogaung :
The following extract is from Prisoners of Hope by Michael Calvert (commander of 77th Brigade) Bladet This was an experimental raiding unit formed under command of my sergeant-major in 1943, now Major Blain. He had done very fine work in my column, and was a well-known character in the Commandos. Bladet had carried out some raids on the following lines : A glider full of specially trained troops would land. Then they would then carry out a demolition or a raid. Then they would signal that they were ready, and erect the snatching gear. The next night the Dakota would return and snatch up the glider and take them safely home. They were operating still further to the south of 111 Brigade, and brought off some very fine coups. They also specialized in flame-throwing, and were all parachutists. Later on they joined Clavert's Brigade for the attack on Mogaung and Clavert mentions them again as follows, The Bladet Force had been formed by General Wingate, and was under command of Major Blain who had been my sergeant-major in 1943. During the early part of the campaign, as I have previously mentioned, they used to be landed by glider in areas south of Indaw, blow up the railway, and then be snatched out again in their gliders. They were all parachutists, and the detachment was dropped in to us. In another book of Clavert's, Chindits - Long Range Penetration, he mentions the use of flame-throwers in the attack on Mogaung. Although Bladet is not mentioned explicitly, I expect the flame-throwers would have been from Bladet Force.
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