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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
P 1 ::
P 2 :: P
3 :: P 4 :: P
5 :: P 6
:: P 7 :: P
8 :: P 9
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