Operation Character

Operation Character was a Special Operations Executive (SOE) and Jedburgh operation that took place in the Burma campaign between February and September 1945 during World War II. 110 British, Indian, Gurkha and Canadian personnel of Force 136, three-man Jedburgh Teams and over a hundred men of various Burmese ethnicities, mobilized 12,000 Karen people into four regional groups to fight against the Japanese in the Karen Hills. The presuppose was to support General Bill Slim's XIV Army which was striking for Rangoon during the reconquest of Burma from the Japanese in early 1945.

Following the defeat of the Japanese at Meiktila and Mandalay in March, the Karen irregulars harried the 50,000 Japanese attempting to withdraw through the hills. SOE also directed air strikes and provided close reconnaissance of targets for the RAF. Ambushes were made against Japanese forces in the hills attempting to reinforce the front facing XIV Army. Following the capture of Rangoon, XIV Army suspended further operations, and so Japanese pressure was made against the Character teams. This however made little impression and instead the Japanese attempted to break out to the Pegu Yomas in late July but suffered heavy casualties from Karen guerrillas and SOE. Despite the war ending in August 1945, Character was still an active operation - the Japanese cut off and without communications held out until September until their surrender.

The operation as a whole proved highly effective, Character had inflicted significant casualties on Japanese forces, ably assisted XIV Army and demonstrated the success of combining SOE and local forces. It was the most successful SOE operation of the war.