''Behind the Burma Road'' is a 1963 book by

William R. Peers William Ray Peers (June 14, 1914 – April 6, 1984) was a United States Army general, who is most notable for presiding over the Peers Commission investigation into the My Lai massacre and other similar war crimes during the Vietnam War. Bio ...

and Dean Brelis that describes the American guerrilla warfare operations, including those of

OSS Detachment 101 Detachment 101 of the Office of Strategic Services (formed under the Office of the Coordinator of Information just weeks before it evolved into the OSS) operated in the China-Burma-India Theater of World War II. On 17 January 1956, it was ...

, during the Burma Campaign in the

China Burma India Theater China Burma India Theater (CBI) was the United States military designation during World War II for the China and Southeast Asian or India–Burma (IBT) theaters. Operational command of Allied forces (including U.S. forces) in the CBI was offi ...

during World War II.

Themes

The book aims in part to be a primer for guerilla fighters. It lists Detachment 101's accomplishments as far as they were known at the time in terms of the effects of its attacks on and harassment of the Japanese during World War II. In their own terms, their score included "5,428 known enemy dead and an estimated 10,000 others either killed or seriously wounded. Seventy-five Japanese were captured, 51 bridges destroyed, 9 trains derailed, 232 downed United States air corps personnel rescued, and 342 other allied personnel flown out; 3000 tons of enemy supplies were destroyed and 700 tons captured." The successes of Detachment 101 made possible the entry of

Joseph Stilwell Joseph Warren "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell (March 19, 1883 – October 12, 1946) was a United States Army general who served in the China Burma India Theater during World War II. An early American popular hero of the war for leading a column walking ...

's Chinese forces,

Orde Wingate Major General Orde Charles Wingate, (26 February 1903 – 24 March 1944) was a senior British Army officer known for his creation of the Chindit deep-penetration missions in Japanese-held territory during the Burma Campaign of the Second Worl ...

's Raiders,

Merrill's Marauders Merrill’s Marauders (named after Frank Merrill) or Unit ''Galahad'', officially named the 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional), was a United States Army long range penetration special operations jungle warfare unit, which fought in the South ...

, and the other moves against the Japanese Imperial interior lines. The book is the result of a collaboration between a commanding officer and one of his men. Colonel Peers, who would later rise to the rank of lieutenant general, was commander of 101 from December 1943 to July 1945, and before that, its operations and training officer. Brelis, who later became a novelist and foreign correspondent with ''Time'' magazine, was at the time a field agent, first as a sergeant and then as a lieutenant, during 1944 and 1945. Although the story of 101's guerilla operations is seen in this book through the eyes of the commanding officer, the actual text is the result of collaboration between the two men, who hoped it embodied not only the difficult command problems of a complex guerilla operation, but the experiences and accomplishments of the men in the field as well.

Reception

The

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

has included ''Behind the Burma Road'' in its list of the most broadly informative books on intelligence operations and processes available in English.Central Intelligence Agency
''Public Texts In Intelligence (1963)''
Retrieved 2012-05-28.

References

;Explanatory Notes ;Citations

External links

OSS 101 Association
(includes 101 roster list) World War II memoirs Burma in World War II South-East Asian theatre of World War II

Themes

Reception

References

Further reading

External links