Uploaded September 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 hours ago
The Kohima Educational Trust is delighted to announce this webinar with Dr Robert Lyman MBE who will introduce our guest speaker. Returning for his third webinar, we are very pleased to welcome back Lt Col Mike Tickner who will discuss how the Indian Army trained for victory in the Second World War.
On arrival in Malaya in 1941, 2Lt John Randle in 7/10 BALUCH overheard his Commanding Officer being advised by a staff officer that “you can’t do much training here; it is all bloody jungle.” The Baluch Regiment, like so many battalions, had failed to train sufficiently in the final months before the Japanese invasion. While the reasons for the Fall of Singapore are well catalogued, central to this defeat was a comprehensive failure to train to fight the Japanese and to fight in the jungle.
As the retreating Indian, Gurkha and British troops began arriving in India in late Spring 1942, it was clear that the Indian Army urgently required fundamental change. The pre-war army was highly professional, but training was a slow and methodical process. Time was no longer available and a whole new approach to training was required. By Spring 1945, fortunes had been reversed and the once unstoppable Japanese Army was in full retreat from Burma. The Indian Army had become a world class and war winning organisation, however, this evolution had been hard won. Tough and demanding training was essential to this transformation. Join Dr Robert Lyman MBE with guest speaker Mike Tickner on 24th September to find out how the Indian Army trained for victory.
The Kohima Educational Trust is delighted to announce this webinar with Dr Robert Lyman MBE who will introduce our guest speaker. Returning for his third webinar, we are very pleased to welcome back Lt Col Mike Tickner who will discuss how the Indian Army trained for victory in the Second World War.
On arrival in Malaya in 1941, 2Lt John Randle in 7/10 BALUCH overheard his Commanding Officer being advised by a staff officer that “you can’t do much training here; it is all bloody jungle.” The Baluch Regiment, like so many battalions, had failed to train sufficiently in the final months before the Japanese invasion. While the reasons for the Fall of Singapore are well catalogued, central to this defeat was a comprehensive failure to train to fight the Japanese and to fight in the jungle.
As the retreating Indian, Gurkha and British troops began arriving in India in late Spring 1942, it was clear that the Indian Army urgently required fundamental change. The pre-war army was highly professional, but training was a slow and methodical process. Time was no longer available and a whole new approach to training was required. By Spring 1945, fortunes had been reversed and the once unstoppable Japanese Army was in full retreat from Burma. The Indian Army had become a world class and war winning organisation, however, this evolution had been hard won. Tough and demanding training was essential to this transformation. Join Dr Robert Lyman MBE with guest speaker Mike Tickner on 24th September to find out how the Indian Army trained for victory.
