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Slim saw active service in both the First and Second World Wars and was wounded in action three times. During the Second World War he led the Fourteenth Army, the so-called "forgotten army" in the Burma campaign. After the war he became the first British officer who had served in the Indian Army to be appointed Chief of the Imperial General Staff.
- A Scholarship in Service
- Africa and The Middle East
- Burma in Peril
- A Fighting Retreat
- Transforming The Burma Corps
- Pushing Back The Japanese
- Understanding Discipline
- Winning with Tactics and Logistics
- A Forgotten Victory
- Uncle Bill – The Best General of The War?
A tradesman’s son from the Black Country, Slim went to King Edward’s School in Birmingham, England, on a scholarship. There he developed an ambition for a military command which his poor upbringing excluded him from achieving. He became a teacher and then a clerk before entering the army at the start of the First World War. As a second lieutenant a...
At the start of the war, Slim was sent to Africa, commanding Indian Army forces against the Italians. There he made mistakes but learned from them. He was again injured in action. On recovering, he joined British forces in the Middle East. When another officer fell ill, he went from staff officer to divisional commander. He was mentioned in dispatc...
Meanwhile, the Japanese had invaded Burma. British and Indian troops in the region were being pushed back toward India. Britain’s possessions in Asia were under threat. Old friends of Slim’s approached General Sir Harold Alexander, the man in charge of the region. They had seen Slim’s skills as a commander during his days in India. On their suggest...
The Japanese had entered Burma in December 1941. Their troops were skilled, motivated, and fast moving. Through encirclements and deep penetrating attacks, they drove deep through the Burmese jungle. Thinly spread and out-numbered, the British forces were driven back. In just three months, the Japanese came within striking distance of India. Slim’s...
The Buma Corps, which would become the core of the “forgotten” Fourteenth Army, was a demoralized mess. It was a mix of British conscripts, Burmese auxiliaries, and Indians whose country was discussing independence from Britain. Levels of experience, skill, and training were variable at best. Morale was terrible. Slim turned it all around. Visiting...
The tide turned. As Slim’s army became more organized and motivated, it stopped retreating and started fighting back. Soon the Japanese were in retreat. Throughout the war, Slim continued the approach he had begun with. He visited individual units, speaking about their situation and showing that he understood their needs. Motivated by a great leade...
Slim’s greatest quality was that he understood the difference between discipline and punishment. If fear of punishment motivated men, their discipline would fall apart as soon as they were out of sight of commanders. Disciplined troops would fight with courage no matter what. That discipline came from pride and valuing the men around them.
Slim also developed new tactics for his army. They countered Japanese infiltration with their own encircling maneuvers. Japanese troops were drawn into costly attacks on well-defended boxes of Allied-held territory. The Fourteenth Army became fast-moving and aggressive, abandoning motor vehicles for transport that suited the terrain. He also paid c...
In March 1945, the Fourteenth Army took Mandalay and the Japanese stronghold of Meiktila. The Japanese were in full retreat, pushed back by a well-organised campaign by Burmese irregulars and the steady advance of Slim’s army. Finally, the Japanese fell back to Rangoon. Slim led an attack by land while others attacked by air and sea. Rangoon fell. ...
Slim was a remarkable man. He had taken a starving, fearful army and turned it into a potent fighting force. His troops loved him, referring to him as “Uncle Bill.” The public may not have paid attention, but contemporary commanders and historians noticed his incredible achievements. Dr. Duncan Anderson, Head of War Studies at the Royal Military Ac...
William Slim, 1st Viscount Slim of Yarralumla and Bishopston was a British field marshal and chief of the Imperial General Staff who turned back an attempted Japanese invasion of India and defeated the Japanese armies in Burma (Myanmar) during World War II.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Apr 20, 2015 · Between 1934 and 1937 he taught at the Staff College in Camberley. In 1938, promoted to lieutenant colonel, Slim was given command of the 2 nd Battalion, 7 th Ghurkha Rifles. When World War Two started in September 1939, Slim was given command of the Indian 10 th Brigade.
Jan 21, 2006 · By April 5 the Japanese had cut the Imphal-Kohima road and isolated the settlements. Slim ordered his subordinate commanders not to withdraw without permission from higher authority.
General William Slim, architect of the 14th Army victory in Burma, inflicted the greatest land defeat on the Japanese in all of World War II. Nevertheless, Slim, pictured in 1945, was one of the unsung heroes of the war, his skill and command presence largely overshadowed by others in the upper echelons of the British Army.
On the outbreak of the Second World War, Slim was given command of the 10th Indian Infantry Brigade of the 5th Indian Infantry Division and was sent to Sudan. He took part in the East African campaign to liberate Ethiopia from the Italians. Slim was wounded again during the fighting in Eritrea.
