William Henry Straw

In February 1945, 321 (8th Battalion, The Gordon Highlanders) Battery, 122nd Anti-Tank Regiment, Royal Artillery was deployed in the brutal Burma Campaign. Operating as the dedicated divisional anti-tank asset for the British 36th Infantry Division, the battery spent February fighting its way down through northern and central Burma under the arduous command of the Northern Combat Area Command (NCAC.

By February 1945, the 36th Division was heavily engaged in clearing the areas around Katha and making a dangerous, tactical push towards Mandalay and Maymyo.Because the Imperial Japanese Army possessed very little heavy armour in this sector, standard anti-tank work was rare. While the rest of the 122nd Regiment retrained to use 3-inch mortars, 321 Battery uniquely retained its 6-pounder anti-tank guns. They used these flat-trajectory weapons with devastating effect at point-blank range for "bunker-busting"—demolishing heavily fortified Japanese log and earth bunkers.

The battery was heavily involved in supporting the division’s assault crossing of the Shweli River at Myitson during this immediate timeframe, a engagement marked by intense Japanese counter-attacks and mortar fire.