Greatest British leader you've never heard of

Having spent 18 years working in the jungles of Burma as a young forestry ranger, when the Japanese swept across south east Asia, Edgar Peacock was the ideal man to command special ops deep behind enemy lines. Today, he is finally receiving the recognition he deserves

- By Richard Duckett Edgar Peacock's Biographer

EITHER the radio had packed up or they were on the wrong wavelength, leaving the men cut off from base in the sweltering heat of Upper Burma. It was March 13, 1944, and they were just two days into a planned 14-day patrol behind enemy lines. Even the battle-hardened jungle fighters, seven officers and 56 menthe vast majority of them Burmese were feeling the strain of the oppressive heat and their heavy 60lb packs.

Then a few days later, disaster struck when one of the officers, Captain John Gibson, triggered a booby trap. Shrapnel from the blast tore into him, leaving 20 wounds stretching from his left shoulder down to his left heel. Adding to their woes, it was clear the Japanese had launched a major offensive against India, and Allied forces were retreating fast. Even their experienced commander, Major Edgar Peacock, a man who had lived in the Burmese jungles for 18 years before the war, was suffering from severe heat stroke.

Nerves were fraying as the men faced the grim reality of their situation.

But Major Edgar Peacock was a hard man and not one to give up easily. As the men of P-Force (Peacock Force) tended to Gibson's terrible injuries on a ridge overlooking the Kabaw Valley, a plan began to form. Leaving behind nonessential stores and explosives, having washed and dressed Gibson's wounds and dosed him with morphine, they strapped him to a hastily made bamboo litter and began the exhausting job of carrying him out of the jungle.

These Special Operations Executive, or SOE, men were tough and resourceful and, ultimately, they won through - saving Gibson's life. He made a full recovery and would complete two more daring missions behind enemy lines with SOE.