§ 5.30 p.m.
§ LORD RUSHCLIFFEMy Lords, I beg to ask the first question standing in my name on the Paper.
497 [The question was as follows:
To ask His Majesty's Government:
- (a) What was the composition of the Chindit Force and the names of the units in that airborne operation; also can it be stated what distance they were flown;
- (b) Whether there are British troops fighting under the Command of General Stilwell in N. Burma and if so what numerical proportion they bear to American and Chinese troops in that Command;
- (c) Whether the Canadian 1st Army operating in France includes British and other Allied formations and if so can the names or, failing that, the proportion of British, Canadian and Allied Divisions in that Army be disclosed.]
§ THE PARLIAMENTARY UNDERSECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR (LORD CROFT)My Lords, the Chindit Force was composed of British Imperial troops. The names of the following Regiments in that force have already been released: The Lancashire Fusiliers, the South Staffordshire Regiment, the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment, the Black Watch, the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders, the Cameronians, the King's Own Lancashire Regiment, the King's Liverpool Regiment, the York and Lancaster Regiment, 4th Gurkha Rifles, 6th Gurkha Rifles, 9th Gurkha Rifles, The Burma Regiment.
The United Kingdom is making a substantial contribution to the Allied Force under the command of General Stilwell.
The answer to the third part of the noble Lord's question is that formations from the United Kingdom and certain Allied countries are included in the 1st Canadian Army. This answer does not, 498 I fear, give the noble Lord all the particulars for which he asks and which I would gladly give him but for the fact that they would be of some definite value to the enemy and must be denied him.