Fort White (
Zomi
The Zomi are an ethnic group which can be found in India, Myanmar and in Chittagong hill tracks of Bangladesh. The word Zomi is used to describe an ethnic group, which is also known as the Chin, the Mizo, the Kuki, or a number of other names ...
: Thangmual) was a small military station built by the
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
under
Field Marshal Sir
George Stuart White, V.C., Commander-in-Chief of
Upper Burma
Upper Myanmar ( my, အထက်မြန်မာပြည်, also called Upper Burma) is a geographic region of Myanmar, traditionally encompassing Mandalay and its periphery (modern Mandalay, Sagaing, Magway Regions), or more broadly speak ...
during their third expeditions in the annexation of the
Chin Hills
The Chin Hills are a range of mountains in Chin State, northwestern Burma (Myanmar), that extends northward into India's Manipur state.
Geography
The highest peak in the Chin Hills is Khonu Msung, or Mount Victoria, in southern Chin State, whic ...
in 1889. Its location was on the eastern (leeward) side of the Letha Range midway between Kale and Tiddim towns in what is now the
Tiddim Township
Tedim or Tiddim Township ( my, တီးတိန်မြို့နယ်) is a township in Tedim District of the Chin State of Myanmar (Burma). The administrative centre for the township is the town of Tedim
Tedim (, , ( Zo: ''Tedim Khawpi ...
of
Chin State
Chin State (, ) is a state in western Myanmar. The Chin State is bordered by Sagaing Division and Magway Division to the east, Rakhine State to the south, Bangladesh to the south-west, and the Indian states of Mizoram to the west and Ma ...
,
Burma (Myanmar)
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
.
History of the name
It was named after Field Marshal Sir George White, a British Army officer known for his campaigns in South Asia.
Plan
It was garrisoned and a post and telegraph office was established there on 13 January, 1889, to be linked with their rearward,
Kalemyo
Kalay ( my, ကလေး), also known as Kale, is a town in the Sagaing Region of Myanmar. It is located upstream from Mandalay and Monywa on the Myittha River, a tributary of the Chindwin River. The town is the district headquarters of the Ka ...
of
Sagaing Division
Sagaing Region ( my, စစ်ကိုင်းတိုင်းဒေသကြီး, ; formerly Sagaing Division) is an administrative region of Myanmar, located in the north-western part of the country between latitude 21° 30' north and lo ...
, and other parts of the country down to Rangoon.
During World War II
During the
second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
, it was reduced to ashes by air-raids and shelling with heavy guns from the Allied Forces at mount Kennedy, yet it was not restored after the end of the war, since it had to be swerved off by the new Kale-Tiddim motor car road from the old one intersecting it. It has been deserted ever since the British
colonial government had left.
There had been a
heliograph
A heliograph () is a semaphore system that signals by flashes of sunlight (generally using Morse code) reflected by a mirror. The flashes are produced by momentarily pivoting the mirror, or by interrupting the beam with a shutter. The heliograp ...
station, too, on a horn of the Letha range near it to the west of the stockade at a distance of about four furlongs. It belonged to the
Chin Hills
The Chin Hills are a range of mountains in Chin State, northwestern Burma (Myanmar), that extends northward into India's Manipur state.
Geography
The highest peak in the Chin Hills is Khonu Msung, or Mount Victoria, in southern Chin State, whic ...
Bn (BFF) of Falam to be communicated with other outstation such as, Kalemyo, No. 3 Stockade (Natang), Dimlo-Tiddim, Lungpi-Falam and Haka. Later on, it
was occupied by a detachment of the Allied Force until just before the Japanese army stormed the fort of White and it was razed to the ground in the war.
The Fort White post and telegraph office was the transit office of the whole Chin Hills connected with Kale, Tiddim, Haka and Falam offices.
It has a temperate climate but the temperature usually drops below freezing point in the months from November to February every year.
Its natural vegetation is evergreen and the land is good for grazing mithuns and sheep that Major M.C. Moore, Commanding Officer of the Chin Hills Bn. Reared sheep, kept jersey bulls and stallions for mating with the indigenous females.
Notwithstanding its fame, there does not appear to be a photograph of Fort White still in existence.
People
This fort is an important historic spot in the Chin Hills. So it was painted by artist Daniel Son za Howe from his memory as exactly as he saw it in his boyhood when he frequented there for sightseeing and authenticated by
#Ex. Hav. Ngaw Khup, 90, of Khuasak
#U E. Pau Za Kam, 85, retired State Education Officer, Khuasak and
#U Hau za Kimlai, 83, retired State Forest Officer, Buanman
who in their living memory, had lived there for many years and they are still vividly familiar with all the scenic spots there and in the neighbourhood.
The Zomi called
A graveyard which the Zomi called, "The White Cemetery" where the British pioneer soldiers killed in action against the Chins (Zomi) in their occupation of the Siyin valley were buried is situated in the north about a mile away from it. The British ranking officers interred there include Major Gordon Cunning and Major Stevens.
{{coord missing, Myanmar
Buildings and structures in Chin State
Forts in Myanmar