2nd Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment

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THE ATTACK ON KIN-U VILLAGE
By
Lieut. C. Besly, M.C., B.A.
Page 7

 

were just out of sight when, to my intense horror, a shot rang out. After the extreme silence we had been keeping, this made an appalling noise, and seemed to echo all over Burma. I felt it would attract enemy from miles around, and I had visions of the entire Japanese Imperial Army descending upon us in a rush. Then a man came running towards me. At first I thought it was a Jap, and I could not for the life of me what to do. It turned out to be Pte. Lees, in a high state of nerves whispering, "Sir, I let my rifle off by mistake!" This was a relief in some respects but I was terrified lest the Japs should come and investigate. So we all lay doggo for what seemed a very long time. Eventually we moved forward, and I took the lead myself again, because it did not seem to be very satisfactory to send men out in front.

....I had hardly gone a couple of yards before I again stopped dead in my tracks. In the middle of the clump of trees toward which we were heading, there seemed to be a small light. I looked carefully, first it seemed to be there, and then it was not there. I knew very well that at night, especially when tired, one frequently imagined things. I myself had often seen lights that, on investigation, had proved to be nothing at all. We could not stop here all night in the paddy while I made my mind up, so I moved on again. We got to the clump of trees, and I ordered the whole party to sit down in a tight bunch, each man touching his neighbour. We rested in this way for several minutes, and I thought that was doing the men a lot of good.

....Just as I was beginning to relax, I received another frightful shock. That light had not been a figment of my imagination. There, only a few yards away from me was, quite unmistakeably, a small fire. At the very instant when I grasped this alarming fact out on the edge of the group of men. I heard blows and grunts and the insane, blood-curdling chattering noise that the Japanese make when they are excited. Although this was taking place within a few feet of me I could not see a single thing that was happening, because it was so dark. For me, this was quite the most terrifying moment of the whole day— indeed of my whole life. I felt convinced that we had stumbled on a Japanese position, and I had long ago decided that, if this happened, it was the end for all of us. I was so obsessed by this thought that for a moment I was literally paralysed with fright. I fingered the grenade in my hand, and seriously considered using it. But the time for that did not seem to have come yet.

....I suddenly realised that, bunched together as we were, a single grenade tossed into the middle of us would cause enormous damage; moreover it was essential that somebody should do something, because the men were rising to their feet and it look as though, at any moment they were all going to run in different directions. So, recovering my wits I whispered as loud as I dared, "Follow me", and set off crawling across the paddy. I moved in a sort of daze, not thinking for a minute that this expedient could possibly save us. But the scuffle stopped, we continued crawling— albeit aimlessly, because I was expecting a Jap to be behind every bush. Time passed, and to my amazement, we put several hundred yards between us and the fateful clump of bushes, and still nothing untoward happened.

....For the first time I dared to wonder whether we had got away with it. The next problem was— how many men were following me? It was essential that I find this out. Also, if it had been necessary before for us to sit close together, it was doubly so now. Despite the risk, I decided once again to get everybody sitting down close together; but this time I chose a place where there were no fires burning!

....I found that only seven men were following me. What had happened to the other nine? I had absolutely no idea at all. It was useless trying to look for them, and we could not call to them, or we should have had the Japs on us in a flash. I had no option but to leave them to find their own way home. This was particularly unfortunate because I knew that I was the only man in the party who had a compass. It was pitch dark and raining, so I was

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