大象传媒

The voyage across the Indian ocean took 14 days. The Division disembarked in Colombo on 28th June. This was a very eventful 14 days as we had only one destroyer to escort us. We were constantly under submarine threat or attack and that particular destroyer did great things in keeping our two ships in one piece until we reached Colombo. With great sadness we learned, some three weeks later, that a similar convoy with many of our replacement personnel, including a contingent of QAs, was torpedoed between Mombassa and Colombo. There were no survivors.
After disembarking in Colombo harbour we moved up country to Perydinia near Kandy. Div HQ was 鈥榖illeted鈥� under canvas in what was the Botanical Gardens of Kandy similar to Kew Gardens in the UK. It was a fantastic collection of trees and shrubs from all over the World. I strung my bit of canvas sheet under a tree about 40 feet high that gave a good amount of shade. It turned out to be a prolific avocado pear tree that grew pears 6 inches long, they were rather narrow but had a very thin skin and delicious flavour. I used to send Muindi up the tree for a couple each breakfast time.
We had two weeks here doing very little while the 14th Army decided where we were to go for training. Ceylon had and, as Sri Lanka no doubt currently still has, two monsoon each year, one in the south west followed almost immediately by another in the north east. Each lasted about 6 months. The south westerly one was soon to start so it was decided that we had better go there and we set up shop at Bentota just a little way down the coast from Colombo. At that time it was a narrow strip of sandy beach between a railway line and the sea. Today (1996) I believe that it is a mass of tourist high rise hotels something like the Costa Brava.
They issued us all with very nice ridge pole tents, something I had not seen since Egypt days. I set mine up on a grassy bank just 3 feet above the sand that went down to the edge of the sea some 30 or 40 yards away. It was here many weeks later that I awoke in the middle of a moonlight night to noisy thumping sounds. It turned out to be half a dozen enormous turtles thumping their way up from the sea to a spot just under my guy ropes. Their tracks up the sand were wider than those made by Bren Gun Carriers. Having laboriously got above any likely high water mark, with their rear flippers they scooped out a hole nearly 2 feet deep. They then deposited in the hole a mass of eggs that looked just like ping-pong balls, quite round and about the same size. Each turtle seemed to lay about 40 or 50 eggs.
Weeks later, whatever the hatching time for turtles' eggs is, early one morning I saw streams of little turtles, still the size of ping -pong balls, making for the sea. They were being attacked all the time by swooping sea gulls. I don鈥檛 imagine more that one in ten got to the sea where king fish and the like would be waiting.
In all we spent 11 months in Ceylon, half in Bentota and the rest in other places wherever there was a monsoon, so that we could get used to maneuvering under very wet jungle conditions. Some of these other places including Hambantota, Dambula, Kekirinara and Anarajahapura were up in the north east areas, all of them very wet during a monsoon, but no doubt good for jungle training.
During this time I had a weekend leave up in the hills at Nuwar Elya as the guest of a tea planter. It had a golf course and it was here on a Sunday morning that he invited me to play. We teed off about 10鈥檌sh with two caddies each and reached the 9th tee soon after midday. The 9th was a par 3 of about 160 yards running across in front of the club house verandah. All the planters and their wives were on the verandah drinking their first or second 鈥楯ohn Collins鈥�. And what did I do? I took a 5 iron swung at the ball and hit it. It went up and up, pitched on the green and promptly went down the hole. There was a roar of applause from the verandah and by the time that we came in it had cost me 3 months pay.
Ceylon at that time was a very beautiful and friendly Island. Around the coast there were 鈥楪uest Houses鈥� located every 30 or 40 miles from each other. Usually staffed by one or two 鈥榖earers鈥�, there were usually three or four guest rooms and the 鈥榖earers鈥� were good cooks. They provided the most wonderful prawn curry for your evening meal. These rest houses were used chiefly by planters when travelling about the country but I took every opportunity to use them mainly in order to get their wonderful prawn curry dinner!
Having trailed and trained all over the island we ended back at our original site at Bentota in time for Christmas
One or two of us had acquired a hand line and fishing for king fish off the rocks became quite a pleasant pastime. One amusing incident I remember was when 鈥楩luffy,鈥� the Div. Commander, decided that he would like to borrow my tackle. Somewhere along the line probably back in Abyssinia, he had acquired 鈥榙oby鈥檚 itch鈥� around his private parts and never properly got rid of it according to our ADMS. The significance of this usually became apparent when he was very stressed or angry. He then used to grab his crutch with both hands and scratched vigorously. On this occasion I had explained to him how to bait the hook with a mussel prised off the rocks. I told him to lay the line out on the sand, swing the weighted hook around his head and cast the lot overhead out to sea. I emphasized that he should pay particular attention not to stand on the line in doing so as we had no more weights. Of course he trod on the line when the weighted hook was well and truly on its way. It broke the line and all was gone. Poor old Fluffy swore like a trooper and grabbing his crutch with both hand jumping and down with rage on the beach.
I think that it was during this Christmas period that the Planters challenged the Division to a cricket match. We held it on the ground nearby which was alongside the RAF flying boat base. It was a super ground complete with a posh pavilion in keeping with the Raj tradition. Lunch was to be provided by the Planters wives.
Several of the Planters had played for Oxford, Cambridge or their County before coming out to Ceylon and several of the Division鈥檚 eleven were either current County players or equivalent. For some ungodly reason which I never discovered, although only a very indifferent Bexley Heath club cricketer, I was selected to be 12th man in the Division鈥檚 side. Being 12th man I never expected to play of course, merely have a good lunch. Nevertheless I borrowed the necessary 鈥榳hites鈥� and duly presented myself at the pavilion at the appointed hour. Soon after arriving there, to my horror I found that one of the Division鈥檚 side had gone down with malaria and that I was to play!
We lost the toss so the Planters went in to bat first. I fielded at deep 3rd man and spent most of the morning tearing around the boundary perimeter trying to save the occasional boundary. We got them all out by about 12.30 for around 180 runs. As the Planter鈥檚 wives had said, with authority, 鈥淟unch will be at 1.30鈥�, we had to go in to bat. By lunchtime our opening pair, both County players, had settled down and each had put on some 25 runs. Somewhere about one o鈥檆lock we went in to the bar where John Collins and G and T鈥檚 were being liberally dispensed by the Celonese stewards. Not expecting to be required to bat at all I imbibed quite liberally. Lunch followed strictly on time with wine also available. Again I saw little reason to hold back.
Half way through lunch the heavens opened as only it can in monsoons and the whole ground was flooded with about an inch of water. Just as quickly the rain stopped and the sun came out. The result of all this was that when our opening pair went out to continue their innings one of them only lasted a few balls before being bowled. Incidentally, by this time I was 鈥榲ery nicely thank you鈥� and quite relaxed. Unfortunately the rot continued, the rain was followed by hot sun and the pitch became almost unplayable. By mid afternoon, I was last man in to join the only chap who had managed to stay there. We needed, as far as I remember about 35 runs to win.
When I went out to the crease I could see two of everything and everybody. I took my guard and saw the fast bowler walking back miles to start his run for the last ball of his over. He started his run, thundered down to the wicket and bowled. I had a vague glimpse of what looked like three balls coming at me at great speed. I took a swipe at the middle one and, as luck would have it, snicked it with the edge of my bat. It went down past 3rd man to the boundary for 4 runs. By now, gently sloshed without any inhibitions and quite relaxed, I went on to make most of the necessary 35 odd runs. We won, much to the dismay of the Planters. But it was an excellent lunch.
Finally our stint of jungle training came to an end and, on the 1st of June 1944, the whole Division embarked at Colombo bound for Burma. We had been at sea four days when we heard of the invasion of Europe and the fall of Rome. Good news indeed.
This then was the end of a year of war that contained little or no danger to us, except when aboard ships. We did some very hard jungle training, generally in appalling wet conditions. However it was all punctuated with short periods of very pleasant relaxation in a friendly and, outside the monsoon areas, delightful island.

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