大象传媒

Chapter 4

The Crossing
One day I was told to report to Divisional H.Q. This was most unusual as battalion people like us, were mainly commanded by our 98 Brigade H.Q. I have thought about this over the years and often wondered why it happened, that a Battalion Intelligence officer was summoned to Division to be briefed by General Rees direct. Was it because of a security risk?

I was told that our Battalion the 4/4 G.R. was to make a crossing of the Irrawaddy at Thabeikkyin with the intention of drawing the Japanese away from the South. 62 and 64 Brigades were concentrated at Kyaukmyaung. They were to eventually successfully cross the river at Singu. Our crossing I was told, had to be in strength and if necessary could be the whole battalion. I duly passed these orders to our C.O., Hamish Mackay and he being the man he was, plumped for the lot.

The Regimental History gives details of what happened. Moving 800 odd armed men across a fast flowing river 陆 mile wide without proper assault boats was no mean undertaking. It also recounts how we eventually got the Burmese boatmen to take us across after we had failed to handle the large Burmese Boats that we used. We were able to pay them with a large cache of rice that we had captured.

Although, the entire Japanese Army of hundreds of thousands, was holding the East bank of the river, because of the many miles to be guarded it was possible to cross quickly before they had had time to react and move up troops to the particular crossing point chosen.

Our crossing was not completely unopposed and we were shot at and mortared initially.

Major Bill Tee and C. Company crossed first followed by Tactical H.Q which included me, so that I was one of the first British officers to cross.

In 1987, forty years after the event, Bill Tee, C Company Commander, was asked to write what he remembered about the crossing. An abridged version of his account follows written in Bill鈥檚 cheerful manner, which hardly expressed how we felt about it at the time.

鈥淔or our approach to Thabeikkyin we enjoyed the luxury of 鈥榤arching鈥� in large and uncomfortable military vehicles; of actually crossing the map at a discernible pace. I wonder in passing how many miles I walked in Burma; or to put it another way how many tons I carried over one mile! The unaccustomed movement across the ground gave me personally a sense of purpose and a confidence in final victory; a lifting of the spirit after long miles and hours of foot slogging through that beautiful land.

The actual village of Thabeikkyin was on the far bank 鈥攁ll was quiet; all was dominated by the mighty river itself. I remember thinking 鈥渢hank heavens we don鈥檛 have to cross that鈥�. The only unusual thing that we found was an enormous rice dump (paddy actually) behind the river bank hidden among the great trees that flourish in that part of Burma. The Irrawaddy dominates the place; it is wider than the length of four football pitches; it is over half a mile of deep water flowing inexorably from the great hills in the north through Burma down to the sea. Both banks were raised above the river and the surrounding countryside so that lateral movement could be unseen from the far bank. the far bank was so far away that, without binoculars, we could not see people on the bank nor the detail of houses. But even if we could not see the Japs, we knew darn well that they were there.

The idyllic scene was rudely shattered by that once heard never forgotten crack of bullets passing close overhead followed after an interval by the dull thump of discharge. The bullets seem all around and the thump tells of the firers鈥� position. The inscruitable Japanese had opened up with two machine guns from the far bank. Probably they had watched us arrive, carry out our careful recces and then, with growing disbelief, had watched our unmilitary swimming parties. They were probably envious but they did give their positions away!

Some time later at an 鈥極鈥� Group, Hamish told us our immediate military futures. Mine was a shock; he had selected me (C Company 鈥� Tee) to cross the Irrawaddy ahead of all the world. I thought then (and think now 鈥淲hy me, Hamish?) Today it may come as a shock to many but in that coming night without noise or preparation; without artillery or mortar cover; with no deception plan 鈥� only with surprise. Surprise was then as it still is and always had been the first principle of war. But I did feel naked as the 鈥極鈥� Group went on. We would cross downstream of the known Jap positions as, so Hamish told us, if we tried to cross upstream inexperienced Gurkha boatmen might drift downstream onto the enemy machine guns. Good thinking, Hamish! Some boats had been located upstream and these were to be brought down to an embarkation point in the early part of the night by Gurkha boatmen from the other Companies. The plan was simplicity itself. The boats would arrive; we would get into them; we would cross and establish a bridgehead. Easy. Bill Tomlinson, the second in command, had selected the embarkation point and, on the far bank, the debarkation point.

In the event the night was utter shambles and into the bargain we got no rest or sleep. Gurkhas are not great on water and those selected to bring the boats to the embarkation point proved unequal to their task. Burmese river craft are probably still as fickle as they were all those years ago. Some ran ashore on the way down river; others sank in shallow water and some were lost forever. Happily no men were lost. According to the plan C Company (Tee) had moved off after last light and we spent the night on tenterhooks. A few boats did arrive but they were too few and too late to get across before first light. Hamish was unmoved by all this and smiled his inscrutable smile. We would go over the next night.

So in the full light of day boats were dragged out of the river, dried out and moved to the embarkation point. Heaven knows what the enemy thought of our tactics. They must have discounted our antics as a deception plan but, at the time, Gagan Sing, splendid Senior Subedar, was totally sure that we were on a hiding to nothing. He and I were sure that the Japs would draw the obvious conclusion 鈥� that C Company (Tee) was to cross that night from the place to which the boats had been taken. Gagan Sing had an acid sense of humour and he exercised it on me without in any way indicating to the rest of C Company that his thoughts tended towards the suicidal. So we waited behind the bank and slept if we could.

While we waited the hours of that day long ago two gaunt Burmans approached and asked that they be allowed to help themselves from the paddy dump and in exchange offered two handfuls of scintillating, glittering rubies and amethysts and diamonds from the mines at Mawchi. The shock of seeing so much wealth in the hands of men to whom it was almost worthless is with me to this day. In those days I was young and idealistic and I refused their offer and sent them on to Hamish. In the event my gesture saved many of us from a watery grave; for Hamish, among whose high attributes was the ability to talk their own language to riverine Burmans said that they could help themselves if they would ferry us across the river. They agreed and as the official history records they were off to get their paddles.

Anyway the reputation of the Burman for duplicity proved Gagan Sing and me wrong, for they duly returned that evening with their paddles and they ate with us. The fateful night drew on slowly, very slowly. Finally at whatever ungodly hour Hamish had chosen we levered ourselves gingerly into the boats. With one Burman in front and one at the other end we set off and were paddled into the Stygian darkness of the hostile night. The boats, as I remember, were long and thin, fragile and exceedingly unstable; they took five or six Gurkhas in addition to our Burman friends. We were adjured to sit still! We did not have many boats and the plan called for 4 or 5 crossings during the rest of the night to get C Company over. I did not go in the first boat; I went in the second; I would happily have gone in the last or not at all! But the Gurkhas expected me to be near the front and I could not do less that they expected. No noise, no artillery, no mortars, no aircraft, no deception in other areas. Just C Company in fragile boats crossing that mighty river less than a platoon at a time. Just surprise, the first principle of war. We crossed in elemental silence punctuated only by gurgling river noises and the thunderous noise of the paddles in the water 鈥� or was it the noise of my small heart? We planned to go in line ahead but inevitably we got separated by the current and the differing skills of the boatmen and after a short while we travelled totally alone on the running surface of the Irrawaddy. We could see the stars 鈥� no moon, no clouds, no wind. Most of the time we could not see the bank we had left nor the bank towards we were hopefully pointed. My compass told me that we were headed roughly east but only the boatmen knew where we were really going.

As the seeming eternity of time went on 鈥� in reality all of half an hour 鈥� I got to thinking that I could swim but most of C Company could only make a stroke or two. A shadow loomed ahead; yes, the shadow of land. Three more thrusts from the paddles and we hit the bank. Nothing. The Gurkhas and I moved with the speed of light up that bank. Travelling in the second boat had been no help; in the event we arrived first! Men right and left; lie still and listen. Nothing but the jungle noises that we knew as friends. Then, thanks be, the second and third boats grounded; they emptied quickly. The boats pushed off into the darkness and were gone. Two men went off on a local recce; nothing. We waited still uncertain that the boats would return. After an eternity of waiting they did and more and more of C Company (Tee) made our little bridgehead less little. Another and another wait and the whole of C company were with us. Later boats were guided to the point of disembarkation by a shaded torch and finally the success signal was sent over the radio to Hamish. No a single man or piece of equipment were missing on that crossing and I now record my admiration for those Burman riverine men who helped us so long ago.

Throughout the following day the other Companies passed through our bridgehead and we, in our turn, moved to the perimeter of Thabeikkyin. In fact the war went on.

That crossing long ago and far away was a single stitch in the gigantic tapestry of the war in Burma; but I was there and, at Hamish鈥檚 order C Company (Tee) were the first to cross the Irrawaddy. A tiny niche in history but mine."

A bridgehead was established and elements of the battalion were crossing all day. At night fall the whole battalion was across and enemy action was easily contained. In the morning we made straight for Thabeikkyin which was an abandoned river steamer station.

As I.O. I reconnoitred what I considered was an excellent position for Battalion headquarters. We were digging in when the Japs opened up with several guns without ranging, on what was obviously a registered target. B Company had to occupy this area and it was quite nasty.

Anyway, it was decided that it was no place for Battalion H.Q. so we moved rapidly to the reverse slope on the river side. As Hamish and I ran for the safer side of the hill a dud shell hit the ground between us and went crashing down the hill towards the river. We never mentioned this to one another. The position we occupied was, I suppose, about the size of three football pitches.

The rest of 98 Brigade moved up on the West bank and fierce fighting started at Kabwet. Later they were to leave us to join in the battle at Singu where the rest of the Division was facing fanatical opposition to their bridgehead.

If the General鈥檚 idea was to draw the Jap away from the main bridgehead on to us, it worked. As the days went on, the infantry attacks on us became more and more vicious. The shelling was pretty awful. At one time it was estimated that maybe as many as seventy guns of all calibres were firing at us. At dawn particularly, we received the 鈥榙aily hate鈥� as we called it. This was usually followed by an infantry attack on part of our perimeter.

To assist the gunners, every unit was expected to take compass bearings on the direction from which any enemy guns were heard firing. These were called 鈥楽hell-reps鈥�. They were passed as quickly as possible to the artillery, where they were plotted onto maps and where the bearings from all sources converged. Counter-battery shelling was carried out.

Whether enemy batteries were hit or destroyed by this action was unknown to us in the infantry but we did notice that shelling from a certain direction would die down for a time. The gunners were also able to send up 鈥榮potter鈥� planes if sufficient information was received.

In any event it was good for our morale.

Although we had air superiority, the Japanese airforce in the form of 鈥楲ily鈥� bombers would fly up the river and bomb us. Anti-personnel bombs were dropped mainly. They did little damage as we were well dug in, although Michael Davis, the mortar officer, was caught in the open and badly wounded. Our wonderful allies the Americans, presumably without informing the British, had saturated the area with 鈥淏utterfly bombs鈥�.

Presumably this was to deny this particular area to the Japs. They were everywhere; hanging from the trees and bushes. As the name implies they were very sensitive. They exploded if touched. They were also timed to explode on a certain date, which is what happened. Indian engineers were sent over to help deal with them and they sustained casualties in doing so.

As the Jap attacks became more and more dangerous, extra troops were sent over to assist. Two companies of the Frontier Force and 2 platoons of the Sikh Regt. came. These latter troops were from the Division鈥檚 heavy machine gun battalion. They also sent over an anti-aircraft gun, a Bofors, to cope with the bombers when they returned.

Every so often, a light plane would fly over and drop a mail bag to which was attached a multi coloured streamer. Occasionally, mail would be included and one day I received a telegram.

This merely said 鈥淩egret Charles killed flying accident鈥�.

He was actually killed returning from a raid as the Navigator of a 鈥榃ellington鈥� bomber. It was his first operational mission. The Colonel must have seen that I was upset because he took the telegram from me, read it and said 鈥淪orry Artie, I know how you feel, as I鈥檝e just lost my brother鈥�. I learned afterwards that his brother had been a forester in Burma and had been captured and killed by the Japs, whilst serving behind the lines with Force 136.

My brother was supposed to have been in a 鈥榬eserved鈥� occupation working for 鈥淪hell-Mex鈥� Oil Company and need not have been in the forces. He was over 34.

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