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The plan was a simple one. A company of the 7th Battalion, the Worcestershire Regiment, was to set out at night, guided by Naga tribesmen, to cut across the Merema Road and occupy a commanding hill on the other side. The road was important because it was the only supply route between Kohima, Merema and Bokejan, and the Japanese were making extensive use of it.

‘C’ Company, under the command of Major Burrell, M.C. (of Edinburgh) was chosen for this task, and at eight o’clock at night, we set out. The pace was necessarily slow because we had to move along goat tracks slippery with mud.

As the crow flies, I don’t suppose the journey was more than four or five miles, and we reckoned that it would take us till about midnight, but midnight came and went and we were still plodding along. The company commander began to grow anxious. Then at two o’clock, he came to the conclusion, that the Naga guides had lost the track, and could not go on.

I went back to tell the others and found that the column had broken and one platoon had disappeared. Dawn was rapidly approaching and suddenly a burst of machine gun fire came from the left. I heard a voice I knew, that of our CSM Jimmy White. He was a link between the broken halves of the company.

Dawn was breaking and still we had not reached the road. The company commander decided to stay where we were on a round topped jungle covered hill, to lie low till dark and then push on. We could not be very far from the objective, but the risk of travelling in the day light was too great.

It was a pretty grim situation and the men were fully aware of its seriousness. Nevertheless, although tired, they were still quite cheerful. C.S.M. White had slipped down the cliff side, bruising his back and worse still, broken his false teeth. There we lay for what seemed like endless hours. Water bottles were emptied by midday, and throats were parched. Tentative crawling had revealed the road, only three hundred yards below us. One patrol spotted half-dozen Japanese not more than 10 yards away.

It was obvious that there was water in the deep nullah on the other side of the road, so I took a patrol loaded with as many water- bottles as we could carry. We reached the bottom of the hill and then had to dive for cover. A company of Japanese were marching past, three or four deep, with mules and full kit. That ended all attempts to get water.

We knew that if we were discovered the Brigade would be imperilled. The guides went back. The company commander and Captain I. S. Spalding went forward to investigate. The Japanese were quite oblivious to the fact that we were there too; they were cooking breakfast in a huge aluminium Dixie and talking and laughing.

Major Burrell was armed with pistol and grenades and accompanied by Sgt. Ralph Walker crawled round to the left, and Captain Spalding accompanied by Cpl. Cooksey went round to the right. A full view revealed half-a-dozen Japanese and as many mules and loads of kit. It was obviously a supply point on the route. They wriggled their way to within a few yards. The Major lobbed his grenades towards the breakfast and the others let go with all they had got. It was all over in a twinkling. The mules, loaded with kit, were brought back alive and everyone in the company had souvenirs varying from Japanese riding boots to Japanese flags .

‘C’ Company had achieved their objective.

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