The battle of Mandalay in WW2

In March 1945, the British Fourteenth Army were advancing on the city of Mandalay in central Burma, now known as Myanmar, which was held by the Japanese Army.

The army was made up of soldiers from across the British Empire, with units from the United Kingdom, India, East and West Africa all fighting side by side.

The BBC’s Douglas Cleverdon accompanied those troops into battle, making what is thought to be one of the first ever radio programmes recorded from the front line of a war.

Witness History is produced and presented by Tim O’Callaghan, in collaboration with the BBC Archives, using the recordings made by Cleverdon in 1945.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by and curious about the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there.

For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.

Recent episodes explore everything from how the Excel spreadsheet was developed, the creation of cartoon rabbit Miffy and how the sound barrier was broken.

We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: the moment Reagan and Gorbachev met in Geneva, Haitian singer Emerante de Pradines’ life and Omar Sharif’s legendary movie entrance in Lawrence of Arabia.

You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, like the invention of a stent which has saved lives around the world; the birth of the G7; and the meeting of Maldives’ ministers underwater. We cover everything from World War Two and Cold War stories to Black History Month and our journeys into space.

(Photo: British Indian soldiers at the gates of Fort Dufferin in Mandalay. Credit: Official photographer/Imperial War Museums via Getty Images)

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