Box Brownie (pp John Dunbar DFC [RIP], still on #9385),
While we're waiting for the Logbook details, we can still add suupport to John's story
...stripped to the waist dragging a flannel over me. Bear in mind that during the last month of our advance on Rangoon we had just one pint of water a day and one eighth rations...
I recall that when on arrival in Worli (Bombay Transit Camp end 1942) water was very short, in one of my Posts I recall saying that I'd developed a technique for having a bath in a pint mug.
Now I hardly dare to say it, but isn't our John laying it on a bit thick ? One Pint of water a day and 1/8 Ration a day for a month ! Is there no rice in Burma ? Are there not scrawney chickens in the villages ? Do they not lay eggs ? Are there no "K"rations ? What are the Japanese troops living on ? Are they starving to death, too ?
...The temperature was around 120deg...
It might have
felt like it. Googled three big towns running down the middle * (ie the hottest) of Burma; Wiki tells me as follows:
Highest Recorded Myitkina.............. Mandalay, ..........Prome (Pyay).
(month) ..........(May)108.5°F... ...(Apr)118.4°F#......(May)102.0°F
Normal High...... (same 91.9°F (Av) 101.1°F (Normal.. (As Above High)
Note #: 1889-present (over a 127 years period - doesn't say which year).
John's 120°F sounds improbable.
Note *: BB, a line joining the first three matches your map #9390.
The highest temperature ever recorded in India occurred on 19 May 2016 in Phalodi, Jodhpur District, Rajasthan at 51.0 °C (123.8 °F). My personal best was on a train in the Sindh # desert, going up to Quetta in July 1944 (126°F). (Quetta; Record High (Aug) 107.6°F Normal High 96.6°F - in Pakistan, and 5,000 ft amsl).
Note #;
The British conquered Sindh in 1843. General Charles Napier is said to have reported victory to the Governor General with a one-word telegram, namely; Peccavi – or I have sinned (Latin). In fact, this pun first appeared as a cartoon in Punch magazine.[Wiki]
Another treasured childhood memory shattered !
I was in Assam only in the winter. In Calcutta and the Arakan, the summer (monsoon) was wet and sticky, but not too hot. You can stand dry heat (Quetta) much better than damp heat (Burma).
Danny.