2nd Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment

Veterans accounts
Return To Veterans Accounts Index

THE ATTACK ON KIN-U VILLAGE
By
Lieut. C. Besly, M.C., B.A.
Page 8

 

afraid that most of the nine would wander about and get hopelessly lost.

....I now learnt what had happened at the clump of trees. We had not walked into a Jap position, but all seventeen of us had solemnly sat down beside two Japs who were cooking something in a mess-tin over a fire. The two Japs ran at us and hit Pte. Mason, on the head with a rifle-but. Pte. Mason, being a young man of much energy and resources sprang up and, assisted by the others, hit back so hard that the two Japs ran away. Fortunately Mason was wearing a steel helmet, so he took no harm from the blow.

....In the confusion the party got split up. Amongst the eight of us with me there were two wounded apart from myself:- Bache, and Haney. I found on enquiry, that the same man had carried Haney all the way— a phenomenal achievement, because crawling with a man on your back is incredibly hard work. The man who done this was none other than old Dodd. I told somebody else to give Dodd a break. Yet when we reached or destination I noticed that Haney was again being carried by Pte. Dodd.

....Sitting close together restored some measure of calm. We were just beginning to relax when, yet again, we were startled by another crisis. Quite close to us we heard the unmistakable "Bup-Bup-Bup" of a Bren-gun. This started me off on another train of alarming thoughts. It is a cast-iron rule of Jungle discipline that you never fire at night; partly because you hardly ever hit what you aim at, and partly because, once firing starts amongst nervous troops, whole battalions will sometimes loose off all their ammunition at nothing. This burst of Bren-gun fire made me think that some of my own men must have become "trigger-happy", and would presently all be shooting at each other. We listened tensely for a long time but did not hear another sound. This was comforting but very bewildering. Then a most fortuitous thing happened. The rain stopped, the clouds rolled away, and the stars came out. Now I knew that both L/Cpl. Bailey and Pte. Creasey could read the stars, because I had taught them myself. Also, at the Pagoda I had told both these two the route I intended to take. So they at least, and any who were with them, would probably be able to find their way back to "B" Company.

....After we heard the firing the eight of us had a long rest, before moving off on our compass bearing. By this time my leg had stiffened up, and as we all felt very exhausted, we made slow progress, and had frequent halts. These halts got longer and longer, as the distance we crawled between halts got progressively shorter. I have no idea how far we crawled, but I think it was well over a mile. I had intended to go as far as the railway, but some time in the middle of the night we reached a small road with a prominent house on it, which seemed to be a good land-mark. By this time Pte. Haney was in considerable pain, and I felt too weak to go much further. So I crawled under this house (which like all Burmese houses was on stilts) and told four fit men to find their way to Company H.Q., and fetch the stretcher-bearers.

....The four of us under the house felt bitterly cold, wet, and miserable. We cuddled up as best we could to keep warm and dozed fitfully. A score of times I dreamed that the stretcher-bearers had come, only to wake up and find that we were still huddled together in utter loneliness under this dank smelly house. After a seeming eternity they really did come. The Company second-in-command appeared, and promptly took charge of affairs. He brought with him a dozen men, and three stretchers; also cardigans, biscuits, and water-bottles full of cold tea. This sense of relief was indescribable, and it was in a state of happy exhilaration that I was born smoothly back to "B" Company riding luxuriously on a stretcher.

................................... ...

....Some time later I discovered what had happened to the other nine men of my party. Despite the general panic at the time of

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

 

 

 

Image required
Image required

home :: faq :: contact webmaster :: privacy policy :: ©SHARMAN