18th March 1943 – ON THIS DAY IN RWF HISTORY

1 RWF at Donbaik, Arakan, Burma, 1943

The battalion was part of a force sent to the Arakan with orders to overwhelm Donbaik, where the Japanese occupied a strongly held position. In a bloody battle, which failed in its objective, 1 RWF suffered 162 casualties. It also won two DSOs and two MMs. After the war Field Marshal Slim said of the RWF that ‘they showed valour which has rarely been surpassed’ in a battle which he admitted should never have been fought.