The withdrawal from Burma was almost 1,000 miles in 100 days and yet Slim, as commander of Burma Corps, maintained his optimism throughout the operation.

We look at Slim's early career and background to study his optimism and resilience in the face of an overwhelmingly poor tactical situation.

This interview is the first part of a 3 part series with Dr Robert Lyman, the expert on the Burma Campaign and Field Marshall Sir William Slim.

Check out the show notes for the podcast for all of the information that we cover in this episode as well as the images and other details that didn't make it into the podcast.