Major (temporary) J.W. Robinson MBE

During the month of February 1944, the whole of 16 Inf Bde, comprising some 4,000 men and over 600 animals, marched from TAGAPGA on the LEDO Road to the River CHINDWIN through the NAGA Hills. The track had for the most part never been used by animals, and was largely overgrown. No reliable information was available, and parts of the route had not previously been traversed by a European.

Major Robinson was given two weeks' start, and with 200 men to find and prepare the way. Conditions could hardly have been worse. The route involved steep climbs and descents of thousands of feet, and torrential rain was practically continuous. In the first 35 miles alone, there was not a single stretch of level going so much as a hundred yards in length, and the gradient was often 1 in 3. A track was made, involving much cutting, the building of innumerable traverses, the blasting of many fallen trees, boulders and outcrops of rock.

Although when the columns started on their march, progress was exceedingly slow, averaging only 4 miles a day, had it not been for Major Robinson's efforts this historic march would have taken two or three times as long as it did, and the Brigade would have reached the projected area of operations too late to play a profitable part in the campaign.

His devotion to duty, his untiring energy, his technical resourcefulness, and his ability to win the enthusiasm of weary men and to draw from them the highest qualities of endurance deserve the highest praise.

(Signed) B.E.Fergusson
Brigadier. 2 June 44