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THE ATTACK ON KIN-U VILLAGE
By
Lieut. C. Besly, M.C., B.A.
Page 3
....After
this, of course, my excitement wore off, and I was able to look round
and take stock of the position. It was far from good. About a dozen of
my platoon had got amongst the ruins of Pagoda, and there were one or
two more outside. Between us and Company H.Q., which was out of sight
behind us, were a lot of live Japs sitting comfortably in holes in the
ground. The other platoon, who should have been on our right, had been
held up earlier on, and the White House, which we could clearly see, was
occupied by Japs. It was probably a Jap Headquarters, because throughout
the day we occasionally saw Japs walking in and out of it. We had come
to the edge of the village, so the area immediately in front of us consisted
of flat, dry paddy-fields; and on our left was the Broad Road. There were
no other troops of ours in sight. In the Pagoda we were hidden from the
enemy, but it was obvious that as soon as anybody left the Pagoda he would
be shot at by the Japs outside. Of those of us who had got to the Pagoda,
six were wounded— Creasey,
Bache, and myself;
Pte. Haney, who was
hit twice, in the knee and the buttock, and two other men, one very badly
wounded, and one slightly wounded. None of us had much ammunition left,
and we were all exhausted and very thirsty after that attack. We seemed
to be right on our own, amongst a great many Japs, and the unpleasantness
of our situation was apparent to all of us.
....The most important thing to be done was
to send back a message to Company H.Q., telling Major
Hill where we were. I wrote out a message explaining the situation,
and said that we needed reinforcements of both men and ammunition. As
soon as I had finished it, I looked for a suitable person to carry it
back. When they saw what was passing through my mind, all the fit men
present showed a distinct tendency to look the other way. That is, with
the sole exception of one Pte.
Dodd, who caught my eye and appeared quite eager to go. Now Pte.
Dodd was older than most of the men; he was perhaps 35, and married.
In Camp he was a quiet, hardworking, unobtrusive little man, the last
person one would expect to do anything spectacular. And this was the man
who was offering to go back to Company H.Q. for me. So I gave him the
message and wished him luck. Whereupon little Dodd
took on a new lease of life. He tore off through the village and disappeared
out of sight amidst heavy firing.
....Once Dodd
had gone, reaction set in. The whole village became quite, and time passed
very slowly. For the first time I became fully conscious of my wound,
and felt very tired. The man who had been badly wounded moaned continuously,
and shortly afterwards he died. Even those who were fit became quite lethargic.
One of the most fundamental rules when attacking the Japs is that you
dig in as soon as you get on your objective, because the Jap invariably
shells his own position after it has been attacked. I had been taught
this time and again, yet I became so indifferent that I completely forgot,
or ignored this golden rule. We just sat on the ground where we were and
let things slide. If the Japs nearby had even started throwing hand-grenades
we should have been in a sorry state. But mercifully they never did this,
nor did they shell the position.
....After sitting for nearly an hour in this
dejected state there was suddenly an outburst of firing and into the Pagoda
ran Pte. Dodd followed
by L/Cpl and three other men, all of whom were very much out of breath
and rather flustered. But Dodd
was quite unmoved and did not seem to realise the enormity of what he
had done.
....When he left me, Dodd
ran straight through the village and reached Company H.Q. unhurt, where
he delivered my message. Major
Hill decided to send up to me the reserve section of my platoon, which
he had with him, and some ammunition under the care of Sgt.Major. So Dodd,
followed by a section of 10 men under L/Cpl.
Bailey, and by the Sgt.Major, with two other men carrying ammunition,
set of back to the Pagoda. Of this party the Sgt.Major was killed, several
were wounded, and the only ones who got through were L/Cpl.
Bailey, with 3 men of his section headed, of course by the irrepressible
Dodd, who had done the
journey twice, without being hit.
P 1 ::
P 2 :: P
3 :: P 4 ::
P 5 :: P
6 :: P
7 :: P 8 :: P
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