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Kenneth William Cooper

Ken W. Cooper

The Little Men: A Platoon's Epic Fight in the Burma Campaign Paperback – 1 Feb. 1992

by K.W. Cooper (Author)

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The Burma campaign, in which General Slim's 14th Army halted the Japanese at the mountain passes into India and finally drove them back across the Irrawaddy, destroying them in the process, was among the last Allied victories in World War II. The author of this book served as an infantry platoon and company commander in this historic campaign and this book is based on the notes he made in 1945. He describes patrol engagements, night fighting, company and battalion attacks, and the crossing of the vast Irrawaddy.

Print length

192 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Robert Hale Ltd
Publication date

1 Feb. 1992
ISBN-10

070904710X
ISBN-13

978-0709047100
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Robert Hale Ltd; New edition (1 Feb. 1992)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 192 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 070904710X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0709047100

Best Sellers Rank: 1,550,979 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 313 in World War II Burma
- 356 in History of Burma
- 1,994 in History of India

Customer reviews:
16 ratings

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Sonia McMillan

A very poignant read.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 28 June 2021

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We are very grateful that this book was written as it mentions my Grandfather Warrant Officer W Leadbitter Class 11 C.S.M who died there on the 17th March 1944.

2 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Very authentic description of life in Burma

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 3 March 2020

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This book gives a very personnel and authentic narrative of what it must have been like to fight in the Burma campaign

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michael ottowell

Brilliantly written,helps you realise how lucky we are today!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 December 2012

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Great book,well written,these guys went through hell.Apart from that thee is a photo of my Dad in it! Cant recommend it enough.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 May 2017

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Thank you.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 29 January 2016

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Prompt delivery, item as described in the description

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 22 August 2010

I bought this book soon after the paperback edition was published in 1975 (and paid the princely sum of 10p in Woolworth for it). It was a real eye-opener. This was the first book I had read from the Second World War that told me just how terrifying infantry combat was and how terrible the conditions under which it was fought.

Ken Cooper was a platoon officer in the 2nd Battalion, the Border Regiment, 20th Division in the XIVth Army; the "Forgotten Army" which recaptured Burma from the Japanese in the latter years of the War.

No written account can convey the reality of close combat, but Cooper's graphic description of a ferocious firefight in a Jap-held village comes close: the numbing effect of the bedlam of noise, the flash of explosions and automatic weapons, the bewildering effect of smoke, the choking fumes, the confusion of figures dodging and weaving amongst the foxholes, bomb craters, trees and burning huts, men killed and horribly wounded, "I struggled to force my mind through the swamp of numbness, fighting desperately to think clearly."

Cooper was a competent platoon officer and demonstrates how forethought and sensible planning could minimise risks and casualties, but he also had to endure some sloppy leadership. After one bloody repulse, "even some of the NCOs had turned `bolshie' and were threatening to soldier no more if we couldn't handle them better than we had that morning."

Another surprise for the 1970s is that the language of this book is unexpurgated. The f*** word and other choice expressions are much in evidence.

If you read General William Slim's account of the fighting in Burma "Defeat into Victory", you should certainly read Ken Cooper as a companion volume.

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