{"id":103559,"date":"2026-07-11T04:00:45","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T08:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/?p=103559"},"modified":"2026-07-10T21:27:31","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T01:27:31","slug":"road-to-rangoon-ep-2-jungle-commandos-operation-romulus-hill-170","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/2026\/07\/11\/road-to-rangoon-ep-2-jungle-commandos-operation-romulus-hill-170\/","title":{"rendered":"Road to Rangoon, Ep. 2 &#8211; Jungle Commandos Operation Romulus &#038; Hill 170"},"content":{"rendered":"<p align=\"center\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"854\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/kfENAJece48?si=ymS61ibIMqlMUqCI\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>HardThrasher<\/strong><br \/>\nPublished 10 Jun 2026<\/p>\n<p>In the Arakan, it turned out the third time was the charm, at least for those lucky enough to survive the jungle, malaria and a coastline without maps.<\/p>\n<p>In this episode we return to Burma and the Arakan, where Operation Romulus turned a miserable sideshow into a strategically vital victory. We look at XV Corps&#8217; third attempt to take Akyab, the extraordinary march of the 81st and 82nd West African Divisions, the improvised amphibious landings at Myebon, and the brutal fight for Hill 170, where the Royal Marine Commandos as we know them today, cut their teeth<\/p>\n<p>Featuring Operation Romulus, Pungent, Lightning, Akyab, Myebon, Kangaw, Hill 170, the Black Tarantulas, 3 Commando Brigade, 25th and 26th Indian Divisions, and Japanese 28th Army.<\/p>\n<p>00:00:00 &#8211; Intro<br \/>\n00:02:28 &#8211; Recap<br \/>\n00:08:15 &#8211; Operation Romulus &#8211; the Plan to take the Arakan<br \/>\n00:20:57 &#8211; The Attacks Begins<br \/>\n00:30:34 &#8211; Meanwhile in land<br \/>\n00:43:10 &#8211; Op Pungent and the Fight for Meybon<br \/>\n00:50:43 &#8211; The Final Assault<br \/>\n00:56:06 &#8211; Aftermath<br \/>\n00:57:41 &#8211; Epilogue<br \/>\n00:59:13 &#8211; Survivor&#8217;s Club<br \/>\n<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Sources, merch, Patreon and other bits of estate business<br \/>\nJo&#8217;s website https:\/\/joannafallonstudio.com\/<br \/>\nJo&#8217;s Insta &#8211;   \/ joannafallonstudio  <\/p>\n<p>My Stuff<br \/>\nMerch Here &#8211; https:\/\/hardthrasher-shop.fourthwall&#8230;.<br \/>\nPatreon Here &#8211; patreon.com\/LordHardThrasher<br \/>\nFollow me on Twitter @LordHardThrashe<br \/>\nor Bluesky @lordhardthrasher.bsky.social<\/p>\n<p>Chapters<\/p>\n<p>Sources<br \/>\n1. Bowsher &#038; Lyman, <em>The Forgotten War Podcast<\/em>, Ep. 20, &#8220;Phoenix from the Ashes Part 1&#8221;, 28 mins.<\/p>\n<p>2. Slim, William. <em>Defeat Into Victory<\/em> (Pan Military Classics Series), p. 478. Pan Macmillan. Kindle Edition.<\/p>\n<p>3. Slim, William, p. 479.<\/p>\n<p>4. Betteridge-Dyson, Lucy. <em>Jungle Commandos: The Battle for Arakan, Burma 1945<\/em>, pp. 102\u2013103. Bloomsbury Publishing. Kindle Edition.<\/p>\n<p>5. Betteridge-Dyson, Lucy, p. 140..<\/p>\n<p>6. Betteridge-Dyson, Lucy, p. 161.<\/p>\n<p>7. IWM, <em>Leese Despatch on Operations in Burma<\/em>, LBY 78 2867.<\/p>\n<p>8. Cambridge University Archive, GBR\/0014\/CHIE 1.<\/p>\n<p>9. Lyman, Robert. <em>A War of Empires: Japan, India, Burma &#038; Britain, 1941\u201345<\/em>. Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2021. Location 8679.<\/p>\n<p>10. Betteridge-Dyson, Lucy, p. 247.<\/p>\n<p>11. Betteridge-Dyson, Lucy, p. 266.<\/p>\n<p>12. Betteridge-Dyson, Lucy,p. 268.<\/p>\n<p>13. Commando Veterans Archive, citation for the Victoria Cross: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/redirect?event=video_description&#038;redir_token=QUFFLUhqbG1RODBSV1BoM2RoYmJXbm9JLXE0RVJMdHlLZ3xBQ3Jtc0tuZ2NWUk00ZU9wVFRsQ2FwNzFlVGtMVXNDc1p6ZmZfSHZVLTExUlNWNUU3RUhIZFMwR2pXOHVCZ0lldGZGOXJCUlNsM0tKalNHSkZNcFBPU2ZQaERGN0RCblJzVWZrZG5abTlJaWpST0dnc2Y2SmhFbw&#038;q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.commandoveterans.org%2Fbook%2Fexport%2Fhtml%2F1836%23%3A%7E%3Atext%3DCitation%2520for%2520the%2520Victoria%2520Cross%2Cattacks%2520throughout%2520the%2520whole%2520day&#038;v=kfENAJece48\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.commandoveterans.org\/book&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n<p>14. Wikipedia, &#8220;Kodandera Subayya Thimayya&#8221;: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/redirect?event=video_description&#038;redir_token=QUFFLUhqbWNJR1FmV3lmQWpFY3ZGaDFaWUZZZ3Bna3Rsd3xBQ3Jtc0ttcFk4RXJ4Vk5oWmtEbWtIYUphZnlzMDJraUttWkxBUWNyWEljWVVuN1JERVg4cFhnWkdNNnpVNng2dHdyc05PdXNzRThmRUtqWkU0VmVuSXVIVFRUcHhTQ3BvYVhzOGRzTXk4TFFlOEpWZkFqZ0hSMA&#038;q=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FKodandera_Subayya_Thimayya&#038;v=kfENAJece48\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Kodande&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n<p>15. Betteridge-Dyson, Lucy, p. 288.<\/p>\n<p>16. Slim, William, p. 576.<\/p>\n<p>17. TNA, ADM 202\/91, 3 SS \u2014 later 3 Commando \u2014 Brigade RM HQ, 1945.<\/p>\n<p>18. Hyam, Ronald. <em>Empire and Sexuality: The British Experience<\/em>. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1990, p. 14.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>HardThrasher Published 10 Jun 2026 In the Arakan, it turned out the third time was the charm, at least for those lucky enough to survive the jungle, malaria and a coastline without maps. In this episode we return to Burma and the Arakan, where Operation Romulus turned a miserable sideshow into a strategically vital victory. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,22,7,23,24,5,230],"tags":[1478,884,1579,1128,206,690],"class_list":["post-103559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-britain","category-china","category-history","category-india","category-japan","category-military","category-ww2","tag-billslim","tag-burma","tag-lordhardthrasher","tag-royalmarines","tag-severeweather","tag-specialforces"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2hpV6-qWj","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103559"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103559\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103560,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103559\/revisions\/103560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}