A Company of the 1st Battalion The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, on 1 January 1943, was given the task of attacking the village of Thayetpin in Burma, a village occupied by Burmese guerillas. A wide watercourse protected the village with mangrove bushes on either bank.

The Officer Commanding, Captain John Coates, centralised his Bren guns to form a fire group in a good fire position – with the remainder of his men, he prepared to attack. Having found that the watercourse was unfordable, Captain Coates ordered the attackers to remove their clothing. The naked ‘Skins’ swam the river and, when they attacked, the Burmese guerrillas in the village fled. The Skins suffered one casualty.