WW2 Document translation help.

[Toritoribe]

Yes, if Twinnge fits your situation, it's most likely the correct answer.
I wish we could use search function in the book I mentioned above...

 

[bamboo43]

Thank you, yes, that would be so useful.

 

[bamboo43]

Hi All,
Seen below is the latest location from a new soldier from WW2. Any help in translation would be much appreciated.

 

[Toritoribe]

Burma, Chindwin River, 25 miles south-east of (something like) Piindaw, Pyendau, Peyndow.

 

[bamboo43]

Thank you once again. I'm sure I've seen Pindaw on the map before, all I have to do is find it again.

 

[bamboo43]

Toritoribe,

From other information concerning the place name above, I have closed in on another village in Burma called Chaungsauk, where the soldier was said to have been injured. Coincidently just north-east of this village is another village named Peindaw. Could this fit the translation?

Thank you again.

 

[Majestic]

Sounds like a match to me.

 

[Toritoribe]

As Majestic-san wrote, Peindaw can be transliterated as ピインダウ, which is the place name written there, but the problem is that the document says "south-east of Peindaw". If Chaungsauk is the place, Peindaw should be north-west of the village, shouldn't it?
There is another interpretation that the name of the village/town/city is something like Pindawno/Pyendavuno (ノ is not the possession particle but the last letter of the name).

 

[bamboo43]

Thanks to both of you. A lot to think about there.

 

[bamboo43]

Hi All,

My latest soldier has these details against his name, see below. Firstly, the place of capture, then his occupation in civilian life.

Any help with the translations would be much appreciated as always.

 

[Mike Cash]

Burma, banks of the Shwali River

Electric line repairman (electric utilities lineman)

 

[bamboo43]

Thank you for your help Mike. The location makes perfect sense to me.

 

[bamboo43]

I have another place name for translation. This is for the son of the man involved who made contact with me only this Tuesday. Any assistance would be very much appreciated.

 

[Mike Cash]

I have another place name for translation. This is for the son of the man involved who made contact with me only this Tuesday. Any assistance would be very much appreciated.
View attachment 23930

Burma, near some place that sounds like "Chōkī"

 

[bamboo43]

Hi Mike,

That is an interesting reply. The nearest place that has a sounding close to this is Kaukkwe. This was an area very close to where the soldier was last seen in 1943.

 

[Toritoribe]

"Kaukkwe" can't be the place, I'm afraid. The pronunciation of the consonant "Chō" is like "chalk" there, not "chorus". Isn't there a place "Chyoky" "Chiyokie" "Tyoky" "Tshokie" or like that?

 

[bamboo43]

Thank you Toritoribe. I have sometimes heard Kaukkwe pronounced Chaukwey. This is the reason why I thought it could possibly be the place. It is also only a few miles north of where this man went missing.

I think this one might be our first inconclusive result. But thanks to both yourself and Mike for helping.

 

[Toritoribe]

Oh, I see. Then, Kaukkwe could be the one.

 

[Mike Cash]

There may or may not be an issue arising from a couple of sources.

1. We don't know how closely the romanization matches the pronunciation of the local language.

2. The katakana version may have been based on a local dialect pronunciation which may or may not differ from the way the word is pronounced by people elsewhere who made the map.

It may come down to cross-correlating with records of known troop presences/movements/actions in a certain area and old-fashioned process of elimination to remove all candidates which obviously don't resemble the name in question.

 

[bamboo43]

I think you are definitely right Mike, I have begun to check the dates for other men to see if a similar place name crops up. Kaukkwe was the location of a minor battle on the 30 April 1943, involving this soldiers unit. However, he was missing from the unit over two weeks earlier and I did not expect him to have crossed the Irrawaddy River alone and find himself in the locality of Kaukkwe so soon after.

Thanks again for your assistance, which is always appreciated.

 

[bamboo43]

Hi all,
I have another place name for translation. Any assistance would be very much appreciated.

 

[Majestic]

Burma, near Uwantun?
Wantun?
Uwandwan??

 

[bamboo43]

Thanks as always Majestic. The anecdotal story for this man, tells that he was captured just outside of the railway town of Wuntho. I cannot find a village called Wanton or Uwantun, I wonder if the translation relates directly to Wuntho?

 

[Majestic]

Yes - that looks close enough. I don't know the original Burmese pronounciation of Wuntho, but my guess is that the Japanese phonetic script, with its limited vowel and consonant range, is trying to approximate something like Wuntho.

 

[bamboo43]

Thank you again. These small translations help me build a picture and give the families involved an understanding of what happened to their loved one.