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Transcript Of Recorded Interview
Sgt. Arthur Francis Freer 7945175
3rd Carabiniers (Prince of Wales's Dragoon Guards)
And
Author Of The Book - Nunshigum On the Road to Mandalay
.....I
don’t remember which Gurkha battalion it was or which regiment, but
the Gurkhas did some training with us. The theory was that our tanks, the ‘General
Lee’s’, which had a 75mm gun on the side. That we could be
firing the 75, as the rounds would be leaving the tank at about four feet
above the ground, which meant that below four foot it was safe. The Gurkha
officers wanted the Gurkhas to do it, so the Gurkha officers suggested
that we might show them exactly what we wanted them to do. So our officers
said that they wanted volunteers for this exercise to crawl away from the
front of the tank as the gun was firing over their heads. What I didn’t
think of at the time was the tremendous explosion, could and was damaging
to the ears, and of course I volunteered. I always said, never volunteer
and I still believe in that, but I still do. I crawled forward, and went
through the stage of being deafened by the 75mm gun and my ears were ringing.
The squadron leader said to me afterwards, ‘Are you alright corporal?’ I
said, ‘Yes, except my ears are whistling.’ He said, ‘Oh,
that will soon go, that’ll be gone tomorrow.’ Well I can tell
you, I’ve still got it, 70 years later. The thing was that doctor
said to me, ‘Oh you’ll soon get used to it, and it will not
be any trouble.’ Well twenty years after that, I did stop noticing
it. But I had twenty years of this awful penetrating whistle. I can still
hear the whistling if I listen to it, but I got used to it. The Gurkha
officer said, yes they’d do that, and they volunteered and did their
part of the exercise.
.....Later I was talking to the Gurkha officer who only had one arm, from the
elbow down; he’d lost it a couple of years earlier and had fitted
to his this arm instead of a false hand, a miniature Kukri, strapped to
his elbow. I said to him, ‘I’ve the greatest admiration for
your chaps, I’ve been in action with them many times and I’d
much prefer to be in action with them than with any other troops.’,
although the Indians and British troops were good, and we were successful
working with them and fighting alongside them, I preferred the Gurkhas.
They didn’t give a damn, they went straight in.’ And he said, ‘Oh
yes, there’s an occasion we had a doubt about their eagerness to
volunteer. It was about two years ago, in the retreat from Burma, I personally
asked my men if they would jump out at two thousand feet, and drop behind
advancing Japanese lines in order to attack their L.O.C.’, line of
communication. Only half of them volunteered. I was a bit puzzled. But
when I said they’d have parachutes, everyone volunteered.’
.....I did mention there was some query about a commanding officer of one of
the battalions in that division. It was one of the nine battalions in 2
Div, the lieutenant colonel wander off into the wilderness and I don’t
know which one it was. It was a fact that one of the commanding officer
who made a mess of things and I assume he killed himself, or wondered off
until somebody shot him. That was a very strong story. Geographically it
was in the area of what they call the ‘Sittang Bend’, the opposite
side of the river to Mandalay, and we were playing around there, attacking
different Japanese positions, to give the impression that we were going
to cross the river near Mandalay, at the bridge at the Sittang Bend. I
think the bridge was also called Sittang?
.....Well we had 4 Corp or 33 Corp, could have been 33 Corp, milling around
in that area, attacking Japanese positions, to give the impression that
they were going to cross the river near there. 33 tons of tank crossed
the river on rafts, and I can tell you we were told to stay in the tank
when we went onto the raft. I wasn’t at all happy; we couldn’t
get out in time if it went down.
.....It was during the Stainless Steel Show that was before the fighting really
started, we were at milestone 108, from Dimapur to Imphal, it’s quite
near Imphal, in fact until the Japanese took it over as one of their main
headquarters later. We were on this hillside; there were a lot of Baboons
around on the hill and they used to come down and bark at us. At one time
I thought the Japs themselves were invading us from above, and it was Baboons,
pretty vicious things, I never got near them if I could avoid it. And it
was during the Stainless Steel Sown, and the entertainer was coming for
two nights, he was going to put the show on twice; two late afternoons,
and he only did the first one because in the middle of it some tracer bullets
flew over the stage, they didn’t hit him, they were nowhere near
him really but he didn’t like it, he said, ‘What was that?’ and
we said, ‘Oh its only Japanese tracer, their about two miles away
and their firing in this direction.’, so he packed up and scarpered.
.....I was with a Major Huntley-Wright (Major James Huntley-Wright), when he
was killed and his sister, Betty Huntley-Wright was a well known actress
on the stage in London, occasionally on the radio. Betty Huntley-Wright
was very well known; in fact I saw her name on a poster. I was in the same
tank with him, squadron leaders operator. I once asked for promotion to
tank commander in one of the other troops. I was held back in my rank as
corporal and kept there for over twelve months in action; fortunately it
was refused because a week later that tank was blown to pieces by a Japanese
Ariel bomb under a bridge that was used as a mine.
.....The battle of Sangshak, which I have a record of, written by a pro-Japanese
local; he was very pro Japanese, a young Marsho Sishak, this Sangshak,
well I haven’t finished reading it yet, ‘Second world war in
Manipur’, and as I said his pro-Japanese but it’s an account.
At the time we were very anti-Japanese. I’ve felt twinges of sympathy
with them, with some of the reports they put in. I once listened to a report
by Japanese soldiers, in English, of their experiences at, Kohima, the
British and Japanese forces were either side of the tennis court, and one
of them was saying that the British planes used to fly over and most times
they’d drop the food supplies to the British and Indian troops, and
occasionally they’d miss the drop zone and it ended up on the Japanese
side which was of great benefit to them, as they’d last a bit longer.
He was saying, most of the time he was sat in his trench at the tennis
court which was ‘no man’s land’, and he could hear the
planes flying over, food landing, and then he could hear knives and forks
cluttering on the mess tins as the British were eating and he had to carry
on eating grass, and that got to me, I could feel that. And it’s
one of the few times I’ve felt sympathy with them. They were very
efficient and yet I’ve seen their N.C.O. or warrant officer with
his sword out prodding them in the back to make them advance.
.....Shwebo Christmas day, most of the Japs had disappeared when we got there.
The Japs had set traps, Aerial bombs connected with detonators at all the
entrances to the town; they mostly went over a moat. We had a Sapper Officer
with us, who spent his time walking in front of the tanks looking for booby
traps and dismantling them and he walked with us into Burma, he walked
up Nungshigum, he was an amazing man. I found out later, after he’d
been in about five actions with us, walking in front of the tanks and doing
that job, that nobody had recommended him for any award, and I said to
my squadron leader, ‘That officer has earned an M.C., five times
to my knowledge, when I’ve seen him in action.’, because I
used to vet the reports requesting awards of gallantry, M.C.’s and
M.M.’s, with the squadron leader, and he said, ‘Your right.
It’s up to his commanding officer.’ I said, ‘Well his
commanding officer is probably in Deli. He is the commanding officer, so
nobody’s recommending him.’ Oh he said well have to find a
way around that, and he put him in for two M.C.’s, which he was awarded
later, for further acts of gallantry. I met his son after the war, his
in Edinburgh and I’ve spoken to him a few times and also mentioned
it in my book as well. He was delighted; his father had never mentioned
anything about the war at all. He was a Lancastrian but he was living in
Edinburgh and running a business, buying and selling property.
.....Christmas day Shwebo, when we went into action with the Berkshires. I was
with a different battalion each day. Their leading company was changed
each day, so we were only leading 2 Div along that road into Burma. They
were leading it, every ninth day we were in our tank, and we were leading
the company who were the farthest forward. The squadron leader believed
he should be leading, and he did every day for weeks, until he was killed,
they got him. We lost two tank commanders that way.
Formation signs