大象传媒

There had been a call for volunteers to qualify in parachuting, in view no doubt for a future re-occupation of Malaya and a number of our unit at Juhu Beach, Bombay, both officers and naval ratings, had put their names forward. This had come to pass and about two dozen of us were ordered to proceed by rail to Rawalpindi where we were to learn the art of parachuting at R.A.F. Chaklala, an airfield nearby.
The first day or so was spent in the gymnasium learning how to fall on landing, to avoid such things as sprained ankles or back injuries which would seriously impair operational effectiveness. The aeroplanes used for parachuting were Dakotas, twin-engined machines used as transport when necessary, or could be fitted with benches down each side to take some twenty-five or thirty men. A long wire ran down the length of the plane on which each man hooked his parachute opening cord. Practice jumps were done at some 2,000 feet but operational jumps considerably lower to minimise one's vulnerability when in the air.
The first jump is a great experience. On this occasion I was to be the first one out and it is a strange feeling to stand at the open door and look at the ground beneath, resembling a moving map. There was a light above the door showing first red as we approached the dropping zone, then as soon as it changed to green the R.A.F. instructor yelled out, 'Go' and out you went. The first feeling was one of complete impotence as you were whirled like a leaf in the slipstream of the port engine. The tail of the plane went over your head missing you it seemed by inches, but probably several feet. Then after the roar of the engines it suddenly seemed completely quiet and peaceful as you drifted down with the map of the ground swaying gently from side to side. Then all of a sudden the ground came up at you with a thump and you were down. The next item on the agenda was to gather up the parachute and double across to the centre point.Our instructor told us of an incident that had happened there just two weeks earlier. They had been training the Gurkha battalion of the Indian Parachute Brigade. The Gurkhas have a reputation for total courage in action and precise obedience to orders, but they were a little out of their element in the air. On their first drop, a sudden breeze drifted one of them across the airfield to land on the flat roof of a nearby house. He did exactly as he had been told, folded his parachute, and ran for the centre marker, off the side of the house and breaking both legs in the process.
In due course we performed our six obligatory jumps and were rewarded with a flight over the Khyber Pass which was a magnificent sight. We were officially awarded our Parachute wings and returned to our headquarters at Juhu Beach. We found that in our absence the majority of our unit had gone to the Imphal-Kohima front to gain first hand experience in fighting the Japanese, and we were destined for the Arakan with the same object in mind. It was clear that with the campaign in Europe reaching a decisive stage there would be no landing craft available to us for some months to come, and it was good to be gainfully employed again.
The journey to the Arakan took several days. The first leg from Bombay to Calcutta was by G.I.P. Railway, the Great Indian Peninsular, and took two days. Everything was well organised. At one station an orderly would some in to the carriage and ask what you would like for lunch. On receipt of requirements he went off the train and telephoned the next station, possibly an hour away, and when one arrived there the meal would be brought on. At the next station another orderly would appear and take the plates and cutlery away. All very civilised.
From Calcutta we took a local train across the flat lands of the Ganges Delta to the banks of the Brahmaputra River at a station called, if memory serves, Goalunda. The across the Brahmaputra, so wide one could hardly see the other bank, by a ferry boat, to link up with the terminus, the other side, of the metre gauge railway which would take us to Chittagong.
Chittagong was a busy place, the railhead for operations in the Arakan. There were two possibilities for the way forward, either over about a hundred miles of dusty track, or by river steamer down the coast to Maungdaw, calling at Cox's Bazaar on the way. We never did find out who Cox was, but that proved a pleasurable way to travel, much more congenial than the overland route. At Maungdaw we reported to the headquarters of the 25th Indian Division and were allocated to the various artillery regiments in the area.
I joined a battery unit with the guns sited not far from the Japanese strong-point of Razabil Fortress, and an Observation Post on the top of the Mayu Range, at Point 1266, that number indicating the height above sea level in feet, Although I was not aware of it at the time I had come under the command of two distinguished soldiers whom I was to get to know much better in the years ahead. The C.R.A. of the 25th Indian Division was Brigadier A.G. O'Carroll Scott, later to be made a Major General and Military Governor of Singapore, who became a friend and near neighbour when he retired from the army to live in Mill Lane, Pavenham. The Commander of the 15th Corps was Lt. General Sir Philip Christison who at the time was considered as no more than two steps down from the Alm ighty, but who became 'Uncle Phil' when I married his niece Deirdre in 1974.
As my qualifications gravitated towards observation the Battery Commander seemed pleased to let me take over duties at Pt. 1266 and so give his own fairly hard pressed officers a rest. The outpost was manned by a company of Indian infantry, tall craggy men from the North West Frontier and quite fearless in action. In addition to the gunner O.P. the Survey Regiment had a Flash Spotters O.P. The idea of this was that if an enemy gun were to open fire and the flash could be seen, the surveyors could obtain a precise bearing on it. If one or two other O.P.s could do the same its position could be pinpointed with great accuracy and counter battery action put into immediate motion.

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