Lieutenant-General F A M Browning, Chief of Staff of South East Asia Command, visits positions held by the 82nd West African Division at Tamandu on the Setkhaw River on the Arakan coast of Burma.

Lieutenant-General Browning and his party, including Major-General C R C Lane (Supreme Allied Commander's representative in Delhi), Rear-Admiral Douglas-Pennant, Lieutenant-General Sir A F Philip Christison (General Officer Commanding XV Indian Corps), Major-General Stockwell (General Officer Commanding 82nd West African Division) and Major-General Wood (General Officer Commanding 25th Indian Division) board a small launch which takes them out to the motor launch ML 1377. They board the motor launch and appear on the bridge with two sailors. The officers chat together before leaving the motor launch and shaking hands with the Captain. The group listen to an account of the fighting in the area from an officer of 25th Indian Division before making their way along a jungle path. The party then walk past a supply dump and a column of Indian soldiers marching in the opposite direction. The officers walk onto a floating bridge which already has a jeep on it and are pulled across the river by Sikh soldiers.

Notes

In late February 1945 the successes of 14th Army in central Burma led to air supply resources being prioritised to them, forcing a reduction of air supply tonnage to XV Indian Corps in the Arakan. As a result Christison was obliged to redirect forces (25th Indian and 82nd West African Divisions) to take Tamandu in order to provide a point of supply from the sea.