大象传媒

This story is by Wally Burns of the Cardiff Burma Star Association, and is added to the site with his permission. He was a despatch rider during the Burma campaign and this is one of his experiences.

I was at a place called Parrell just down below Imphal and I heard Sir William Horrocks give a programme on the television about battles and he gave facts and figures and numbers鈥�.and I was more frightened then than I was when I was out there. The numbers 鈥� we were outshone, the numbers of Japanese against the number of our troops 鈥� it was amazing how the hell we ever come back out of there. I took the last convoy up the Dimapor Road before they cut it. They cut it that night as we went up. But they flew stuff into us鈥 don鈥檛 know that we saw fear as such. We did have one night though when hundreds of Japs attached.

They used to have suicide squads the Japs鈥os there was no fear of dying. And if you were captured by the Japanese you were a coward. That鈥檚 why they treated our men so badly, our prisoners of war. To a Japanese all they were was cowards, they didn鈥檛 believe what we believed, live to fight another day which we did in many respects. They didn鈥檛 believe in all that.

I remember one time about 300 of them came in 鈥� a suicide squad. All they were there for was to slow us up. That was after we鈥檇 started to push them back from Inphal. And they came in, but fortunately for us the day before they came in an Indian light artillery unit moved into the field next to us.

Well of course the Jap didn鈥檛 know they were there and when they came in they hit them first. And I believe they killed everyone of that artillery unit. Of course that then brought us into it. There were tanks below us and the tanks went in. They were surrounded by tanks and infantry, but it took a week. A week to kill every one of them. But they wouldn鈥檛 give in. And when they eventually killed them all they brought in bulldozers and dug a big hole and just shoved them all in: Indians, Japs, mules. It鈥檚 a place called Bishampur鈥�.better known to us as Pots and Pans 鈥n Indian village. And within a month of that happening the Indians were building their huts again. And I鈥檒l bet you under that village today there are all these dead鈥ut what can you do?

During that battle an Indian fellow came in after me. We went down ... we wasn鈥檛 actually involved with guns because we were a survey unit and we went down volunteering to help the wounded like. And he said his friend was wounded, his friend was wounded, so I said show me鈥�..he took me to him and showed me him. He was wounded alright鈥ight around the top of his head鈥�.it had all gone. His brain was exposed鈥e was 鈥渨ounded.鈥�.

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