大象传媒

We sat comfortably drinking our coffee and eating our cakes. After a while I became conscious that things were not as quiet as usual and that there was a constant coming and going of airmen and soldiers with rifles, hot and perspiring, dashing in for drinks and dashing out again. Some sort of manoeuvres possibly, I thought. Whatever they were up to it was obviously work of some sort, and hot work at that, so I didn't let my curiosity get the better of me. One or two of them cast rather strange looks at us.

Eventually, an army sergeant (apparently with an eye for our welfare) came up to us and said that we had better get moving as things were pretty lively. "Report back to your unit at once but keep your eyes skinned or you mightn鈥檛 get there alive."

On top of this rather disturbing remark he also vouchsafed the following information -- the Japs had dropped parachutists in large numbers on both sides of the river, but mostly around our drome, which was already in their hands.

Feeling far from brave, we headed back to our billet, peeping around every corner first.

Perhaps I should mention two things of interest here --

Firstly, as you already know, we had been issued with rifles and had carted them halfway round the world with us, but a few days after reaching Palembang we had handed them in. When the Japs dropped on to our drome therefore, most air men hadn't anything to defend themselves with apart from a few chaps with revolvers and the army personnel.

Secondly, one of the beauties of our capitalist system is that it enabled the Japs to drop their parachutists from a Lockheed Hudson bought from the allies shortly before they declared war on us.

Kelly -- Battle for Palembang

"We saw aircraft approaching and identified them as Hudson's. We thought "they're friendly aircraft, our 鈥︹�� aircraft. And then they circled slowly and we then realised there were fighter aircraft with them which looked like Navy Zeros. And then parachutes began to drop in."

May I quote Churchill from "The Hinge of the Fate鈥濃��
(February 14th 1942)

"On February 13 a Japanese convoy of 25 or more transports were attacked by all available bombers but without any decisive effect. Seven of our aircraft were lost. The next morning 700 Japanese parachutists descended on Palembang and all day a hot battle was fought for the airfield. Had they been unsupported the parachutists in time could have been destroyed, but on the 15th the advanced echelon of the powerful invasion force arrived on the scene equipped with landing craft which carried them up the river approaches. Every available aircraft was used against the ships and landing craft, great losses were inflicted and the attack was stayed -- only to be resumed as our air effort inevitably declined. Our strength at Palembang was now but a score of Hurricane and 40 bombers, many of them serviceable, and all based upon an as yet undetected airfield (P2 hidden in the jungle 50 miles away and with billets鈥︹�� not yet completed. H.T.)
By nightfall it was obvious that our scanty forces must withdraw and that all Southern Sumatra would fall into Japanese hands. That day also saw the fall of Singapore"鈥�.

Anyway, back to my personal experiences.

Signals personnel at the drome (P1) suffered heavily when the Japanese attacked. Our Flight Sergeant and one of my best friends, Roland Presdee were among the victims.
As we reached the billet, the survivors of our squadrons were forming up outside (Providentially our losses weren't too heavy in the circumstances.) We were told to form up with steel helmet on, but with no other kit except what we stood up in. Naturally we assumed that we were going to be given rifles to fight. As I have already pointed out Dutch Sumatra was in the hands of a mere handful of Dutch troops, augmented by whatever British or Australian troops had managed to escape from Singapore. The main Dutch and British forces were concentrated in Java.

No rifles were issued -- I suspect that there weren't any and we were taken down to the river and the ferry worked overtime getting us -- and everyone else including many civilians -- across in small parties.

Just as the ferry started crossing, more Japanese planes roared overhead. A mild state of panic ensued during which the coolest man on board was the Dutch East Indies engineer at the helm.

Here I must pay tribute to the Dutch troops in Palembang. For 24 hours they maintained a local superiority, mopping up many of the parachutists and giving most of the civilians and English troops and airmen time to get away.

On the other side of the river we marched a few miles to the railway station and were taken by rail about 40 miles to the small camp that was in course of erection. This was on the fringes of the P2 -- the aerodrome that the Japanese hadn't yet found. It was evening by this time and we had been moving about all day without food or drink. It was hot and we were damn thirsty. The water in the streams and pools was definitely unfit to drink unless boiled. To light the fire would have drawn attention to us and would have been dangerous. A few of us located a small village and we bought a concoction made with smoky water and some kind of leaves that they had picked from the bushes nearby. Thirsty as I was, I could only drink half a mug of it as it tasted vile, but at least I felt a little better after it.

Kelly "The Battle of Palembang"

This remarkable country (Sumatra) is one of great contrasts at once beautiful beyond belief and evil beyond words. Between the mountain ridges and swamps the land is largely covered with Jungle of such impenetrability that from the air nothing breaks its endless unvarying green. It contains huge areas, even to this day, virtually unexplored. It is the country plagued by disease, dysentery, cholera, typhoid, malaria, blackwater fever and Dengue. Mosquitoes, snakes and leeches swarm in unconscionable numbers. The rivers abound with crocodiles, the sea with sharks. Panthers and tigers roam the forests undisturbed.

1942 February 14th

The grass roofed huts we slept in were similar style, but more primitive and unfinished, as the ones at Seletar transit camp. There were no lights, water or bedding. Late at night, the thirst problem became so acute that it was decided to risk a small fire under cover of the Jungle and so we got a further half a mug of water apiece.

It still left everyone feeling thirsty, but there was nothing we could do about it except settle down and try to get a little sleep.

I presume that our night at this camp was to wait until the position clarified. The Dutch indeed, for a short time held control of Palembang and even released a few of our squadron who had been taken prisoner.

Here again, I must in all fairness say that the behaviour of most of the Japanese paratroops had been exemplary. Paratroopers cannot normally be expected to bother themselves much with prisoners, but to their credit, they did and there was little unnecessary killing. Members of our squadron who had been taken prisoner for a short time admitted very decent treatment. For instance, one fellow was put in a slit trench with his hands tied behind his back. As it was during the heat of the day, his captor gave him a drink from his water bottle and wiped his brow for him. It should also be remembered that back in December when the Japanese air force sank the "Prince of Wales" and the " Repulse鈥�, as the British destroyers "Vampire" and "Electra" closed into pick up survivors, Japanese planes overhead signalled to the ships, "We have completed our task. You may carry on". Nearly 800 out of 1300 officers and men were saved.

February 15th 1942

The following morning we were told to get out as quickly as we could. Japanese naval units were sailing up the river and more paratroops had been dropped . The installations at Palembang were being destroyed.

They expected our evacuation to be fairly organised and comfortable. We were informed that room on a special train had been reserved for us. We were at the station for eight o'clock. It was 11 AM before the train arrived and it was packed out with civilians who were hanging on outside as well. There was a big shortage of rolling stock in Sumatra and extra trains couldn't be run. There was another train still due to come but it was unlikely that there would be room -- and if we wasted valuable time waiting for it and couldn't get on there our departure would almost certainly have been delayed too late.

So -- it was each man for himself and a walk of 250 miles faced us. If you look at a map, and see the distance from Palembang to Oustenhaven you will realise the hopelessness of it.

Meanwhile, our officers -- I don't mean just our squadron, were making off in cars etc.. We were lined up by our Warrant Officer, a regular who believed he had a responsibility to his men. At the roadside, two officers rolled up in a car -- they told us that we had to walk all the way, to keep moving or we hadn鈥檛 much chance,-and they politely wished as the best of luck -- and drove off, with two empty seats in the back covered with their kit.

Thus we were totally deserted by all our officers, except two who had motorcycles and tried to keep the rabble moving by waiting for us at various points in the road. I don't doubt but that they would have made full use of their motorbikes if it has been necessary. Maybe I have never been overly remarkable for my respect of the commissioned ranks, but I never really expected to see quite as bad a show is this. We had to walk and sacrifice all our kit, even little bits of personal things of sentimental value -- but on the road we were passed by a constant stream of officers in cars with the back seats piled high with kit, or sometimes even two or more empty seats, but it never seemed to occur to them to help the O/Rs; not even those who were injured. We were obviously a lesser breed and expendable. It follows that there were a small minority of officers who didn't come into this class. We saw some of them doing what they could to help along the way. In our own 232 Squadron we had one excellent C/O -- but he made the final sacrifice in the skies above Malaya. Our adjutant P/O Welsh was another who did his best but I am afraid that he was a living example that I University Degree doesn't necessarily make you a leader of men, or even very intelligent. Our leader, let's face it, was Warrant Officer Russell, unflappable and with a constantly cynical smile on his face.

After our disorganised rabble had made their way along the road for all of the morning and best part of the afternoon, with the sun bearing down and nothing to eat, and even worse, nothing to drink, we eventually reached a railway siding. In it was a Goods train taking coal and rice up to Palembang. As we could make good use of the train and it could hardly go to Palembang anyway, we commandeered it and spent the rest of the afternoon either hauling huge (and mighty heavy) sacks of rice off the train, or shovelling coal.

February 17th 1942

By sundown we had a long line of the empty trucks and we all filed in. We were packed like sardines and unable even to sit down on the floor properly. But the open coal trucks represented our only hope and we were grateful for what we had. A certain amount of coercion was needed to get the driver to take the train back in the Oustenhaven direction and it needed a Naval Officer with revolver to ride with him on the engine.

What a nightmare that night was. It was a single track railway with innumerable bridges any of which may have been destroyed by the Japs and with Jungle on either side we could have been ambushed almost anywhere.

We arrived at Oustenhaven the following morning -- extremely grimy, thirsty, hungry and tired. (The 18th) in the small harbour were three troopships full of troops and airmen that had been sent to reinforce us. They never got off their ships, of course, and instead we filled them to overflowing and away we went. I was on the "YOMA", not really a very nice sort of boat at the best of times, but infinitely worse when it was ridiculously overcrowded as it now was. The only place I could find to sleep was in a passage way between some cabins (presumably officer's quarters). The food was bad and in short supply, the sanitary arrangements were abominable -- but we were thankful for any ship at all.

It took us two days, by devious routes to make the short journey to Batavia, in Java. Batavia, capital of the Dutch East Indies, is also known as JAKARTA. Throughout this epistle I have used the names in use at that time and familiar to me. Thus Ceylon is now SRI LANKA and INDIA was one big country to me. Nowadays KARACHI is IN PAKISTAN, CALCUTTA in INDIA and COMILLA in BANGLADESH.

Maybe our flight from Palembang doesn't sound too exciting as I have described it -- but to me it was an unforgettable experience and I can never describe the thoughts that kept flooding through my brain.

Java, of course, was our last hope and in that part of the Far East which was the responsibility of the British and Dutch. We weren't particularly anxious to stay there, because lets face it, by this time our confidence was completely shattered. (Feb 20th 1942).

However, we were informed that our squadron was going to be reequipped and we were to stay there. We still hadn't any kit and if we wanted to go out at night we had to wash our few clothes during the daytime and dry them out (not a difficult task in that climate) in time for evening. I鈥檝e a soft spot for Batavia. In spite of the clothes problem, I liked it best of all the places I鈥檇 seen overseas. It's an attractive place, full of attractive people.

February 25th

After an exchange of signals with the Prime Minister, General Wavell, our Commander-in-Chief left Java for Ceylon by air. Seemingly the powers that be hadn't much confidence in the situation. We were now under a Dutch command, and were paid in Guilders at our Pay Parade in the Fort. The situation was beginning to look very familiar and the following message was received:-
"Prime minister to Air Vice Marshal Maltby. 26 February 1942.
I send you and all ranks of the British forces who have stayed behind in Java my best wishes for success and honour in the great fight that confronts you. Every day gained is precious and I know that you will do everything humanly possible to prolong the battle".

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