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James Michael Calvert DSO and Bar (6 March 1913 – 26 November 1998) was a British soldier involved in special operations in Burma during World War II. He participated in both Chindit operations and was instrumental in popularizing the unorthodox ideas of General Orde Wingate. Calvert frequently led risky attacks from the front, a practice that earned him the nickname "Mad Mike." He was court-martialled for an alleged act of indecency and dismissed from the Army in 1952. He wrote three books about his military service but failed to find a career in engineering, writing, or academia. ==Early career== Calvert was born at Rohtak in India, son of a member of the Indian Civil Service. He was educated at Bradfield College and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. He was commissioned into the Royal Engineers in 1933, and for a time was the Army's middleweight boxing champion. He read for the Mechanical Engineering Tripos at St. John's College, Cambridge. After graduating in 1936, he was appointed to the Hong Kong Royal Engineers. In this post, he learned Cantonese. He also witnessed the Japanese attack on Shanghai and the Rape of Nanking, which made him one of the few officers who truly appreciated the threat posed by the Japanese. When the war broke out, Calvert briefly commanded a detachment of Royal Engineers in the campaign in Norway, then trained Commando detachments in demolition techniques in Hong Kong and Australia. In Australia, along with F. Spencer Chapman, he assisted with training Australian commandos who formed the first Australian Army Independent Companies at Wilsons Promontory, Victoria in 1941. He was then appointed to command the Bush Warfare School in Burma, training officers and NCOs to lead guerilla bands in China for operations against the Japanese. The Japanese invaded Burma in early 1942. Calvert and others from the school raided Henzada by riverboat after the fall of Rangoon as a deception operation to convince the Japanese that Australian reinforcements had reached Burma. Calvert then spent a period of time touring Burma with Orde Wingate. After the Bush Warfare School closed, Calvert was sent with 22 men from the school and a few hundred men separated from their units to guard the Gokteik Viaduct thirty miles east of Maymyo. (The Allied Commander in Chief, General Archibald Wavell apparently hoped that Calvert would use his initiative and demolish it, in spite of orders from the civil government to keep it intact. For once, Calvert obeyed orders.) After retreating from the viaduct, Calvert participated in a deception operation involving the loss of a set of false papers to the Japanese. Calvert's unit finally retreated to India at the very rear of the army, often behind the Japanese lines. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mike Calvert」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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