The University of Cambridge has released first hand footage of one of the most fascinating rescue missions of World War II.

Gyles Mackrell, a British tea Planter who became known as “The Elephant Man” helped hundreds of refugees, fleeing the Japanese invasion of Burma in 1942, make the perilous crossing into India with the aid of a convoy of elephants. His story is told in a collection, including rare amateur film footage and first hand documents, recently donated to the Centre of South Asian Studies by his niece.

The films depict the rescue expedition crossing rivers at the height of the monsoon season with the elephants nearly submerged by the floods, as well as the remarkable accounts of both rescuers and those saved.

 Dr. Kevin Greenbank, an archivist at the Centre of South Asian Studies, compared the expedition with Dunkirk but said it had been largely forgotten.

The Japanese invasion of Burma in 1942 swept away the British Army. By the summer thousands were seeking refuge in India. The border was impassable as rivers swelled by torrential rain made crossing on foot a fatal enterprise. Those caught on the Burmese border were starving and plagued by insects and disease. One account, by John Rowland a railway engineer, tells of his party eating fern fronds to stay alive. The refugees were kept alive by supplies dropped by the RAF but there was no evacuation operation.

Gyles Mackrell was an area supervisor for a tea firm in India and he set off with an expedition of elephants and the help of local tribes to help people cross the river, on a difficult forced march. The party saved over 200 people, including soldiers from the British army and civilian refugees.

Mackrell found fame as ‘the Elephant Man’ and was celebrated at home and awarded the George Medal for civilian courage where the Honours Committee estimated he had faced a ’50-80%’ chance of death.

The Burmese campaign and the Asian theatre during the Second World War have historically been overshadowed; this collection is a reminder of the drama of that conflict.

A short film with footage of the events and narration from the diaries of those involved is available on the University’s YouTube site, www.youtube.com/cambridgeuniversity.

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