 | This article relies largely or entirely on a single source .(August 2025) |
Fort White (Zomi: Thangmual) was a small military station in Upper Burma. It was built by the British Army under Field Marshal Sir George Stuart White, V.C., Commander-in-Chief. 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 of Chin State, Burma (Myanmar). [1]
It has a temperate climate with temperature falling below freezing from November to February.
Its natural vegetation is evergreen and the land is good for grazing mithuns and sheep. Major M.C. Moore, Commanding Officer of the Chin Hills Bn. reared sheep, and kept jersey bulls and stallions for mating with indigenous animals.
| |
It was built during the third British expedition in the annexation of the Chin Hills in 1889. It was named after Field Marshal Sir George White, a British Army officer known for his campaigns in South Asia.
It was garrisoned and a post and telegraph office was established there on 13 January 1889, to be linked with their rearward Kalemyo of Sagaing Division, and other parts of the country down to Rangoon.
A heliograph station was constructed a horn of the Letha range west of the stockade at a distance of about four furlongs. It belonged to the Chin Hills Bn (BFF) of Falam and communicated with other outstation such as, Kalemyo, No. 3 Stockade (Natang), Dimlo-Tiddim, Lungpi-Falam and Haka.
The Fort White post and telegraph office was the transit office of the whole Chin Hills connected with Kale, Tiddim, Haka and Falam offices.
A graveyard that the Chins called "The White Cematery", was where British soldiers killed in action against the Chins in their occupation of the Siyin valley were buried. It is situated about a mile north of the fort. British ranking officers interred there include Major Gordon Cunning and Major Stevens.
During the Second World War, it was occupied by a detachment of the Allied Force until just before the Japanese army stormed the fort and it was razed to the ground in the war. It was not restored after the war. It remained deserted after the British colonial government left.
| |
This fort is an important historic spot in the Chin Hills. It was painted by artist Daniel Son za Howe from his memory as he remembered seeing it in his boyhood when he frequented there for sightseeing. The painting was authenticated by
who had lived there for many years.