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.....After crossing the Irrawaddy end Feb. 1945 we encountered the Japs many times casualties on both sides, I well remember we came to a village where there was civilians which was unusual, all of a sudden they disappeared then machine-gun fire broke out, and the whole of 98 Brigade was held up, tons of shells were used, while the shelling was going on, we the leading Coy, and platoon surrounded the village, with the shelling lifted we went in and found five Japs, five Japs had held up a whole brigade for half a day. We did have one man killed who was told not to go into that village.

.....The Japanese would never surrender, rather be taken prisoner they would commit Hara-kiri ritual suicide I did see a Jap Batman shoot his officer, then put a grenade to his stomach, a horrible sight.

.....We were not the only unit of 19 Division on the move with 98 Brigade; there was 2nd Battalion Royal Welch, 2nd Battalion Worcester Regiment, our self 2nd Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment, Battalion of Sikhs, Gurkha Rifles, and Indian Rifle Regiment. All fighting units all made a contribution in the capture of Mandalay but first into the city were 2nd Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment.

.....Another time I remember well we were approaching a place called Madaya I was leading scout of B Coy 2nd Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment I was well out in front, I looked back and saw no one but I heard a voice call out alright Shaver, Smudger is hear supposed to give me some support, some support any rate it was dusk, and I noticed some odd foot prints to my left, which turned out to be Japs. In fact they were just in front of us, unbeknown at the time, eventually we reached Madaya settled down and prepared our perimeter, and waiting our food and drink to arrive, all of a sudden all hell broke loose, the Japs were in hiding firing everything they had, we used phosphorous bombs to burn them out, we incurred no casualties, they were all killed or dying of their wounds.
.....When I saw the small foot prints I thought they were American, but Lofty said there were no Japs. In fact we did see them on our left flank; we let them move on under orders from Coy commander as it was getting dark.

.....I must mention that when the Japanese were winning many Burmese and Indian Battalions went over to fight for the Japanese but when they could see a change of fortune they came back to us.

.....We fought right through the monsoon rains, you never saw anything like it, it went on for days on end, river beds that were dry, filled in no time, we had to cross these rivers, and many of us could not swim, some were drowned bearing in mind we were carrying most of our kit, plus a bandoleer of .303 bullets around our waist, our pouches containing grenades, phosphorous bombs entrenching tool hanging from your waist belt, I also had to carry a cup discharger, which would fire a grenade or smoke bomb from the end of your rifle, sometimes we crossed on elephants who had large baskets strapped to there backs but more often than not you got across the best way you could. At times it was tough going, as you were on the lookout for the enemy and them you.

.....Mules were our transport carrying large water containers, ammunition plus what they carried to sustain themselves on panniers. I must tell you it was not all jungle, and open country; the mountains were quite steep, also difficult to climb.

.....To sustain us through all this was our main diet, one tin of Bully Beef, when open instead of being solid meat it had liquefied, also biscuits, which we thought were dogs biscuits, you needed dogs teeth to eat them, occasionally we had an issue of one can of beer plus five fags, Woodbines which I am sure was First War issue, you could not draw on them reasons covered in worm holes. Sometimes a tot of Rum, there were times if you were too sick to carry on, wounded or injured, you were left behind, hopefully picked up by the Medics, and passed back down the line to a field hospital.

.....At this time we B Company were leading the whole Division followed by our Battalion March 1945 we were getting close to Fort Dufferin which was surrounded by a Moat, very wide, and deep, before an assault could be made the walls had to be breached, but our 25Ib guns could not penetrate those thick walls, so aircraft were called to bomb it, our B Company continued on it’s way to Mandalay still in contact with the Japanese who was trying very hard to halt our advance, I remember they had sniper up in the trees, who were picking off officers and men of our company, before we reached the outskirts, of Mandalay we had tank support, as we entered the city we saw Japanese marching in file by an old brewery and that is when the battle for Mandalay started.

.....We had orders to blitz our way in, we did have casualties killed and wounded. Our section was ordered to patrol three bridges not long after entering the city I was ordered to take the lead to the first bridge, no sign of Jap, a colleague called out Shaver I’ll lead to the second, unfortunately the enemy were there, and he had a bullet in the stomach we managed to bring him in weather he survived or not I don’t know, but he did get back to a field hospital. We then consolidated and with tank support we again went forward, tanks being in a ‘V’ formation our 5 Platoon was more or less in the middle with the leading tank well forward when it got hit by a Jap shell and as it moved back another shell set it on fire, the ammunition was going off all around you, it looked as if our time was up as we were pinned down by enemy fire, we saw 7 crewmen climb out of that tank, all badly burnt, we were told at a later date that they had all died five days after getting back to a field hospital, as for us we were still pinned down, we were saved by a Sikh machine gunner who had his Vickers machine-gun mounted on the tripod across his shoulder, carrying the water container and ammunition, somehow he managed to spray the area, allowing us to get out of our predicament. We were told after that he was a Sgt, and received an immediate M.M. I am convinced to this day that he saved our lives that day. Five of us.

.....Still we had to carry out patrols, one time out with Cpl. xxxx my self, and two others, we came across a Jap 25Ib gun position, luckily for us no sign of the enemy we moved cautiously and behold the gun was intact so we pulled it back to our Coy Headquarters who were now preparing our perimeter for the night. We were at this particular site approximately 4 or 5 days, one night one of our forward post with two men had evidently fell asleep allowing a Jap patrol to penetrate our perimeter, how many of the enemy got in I don’t know, it did cause pandemonium, and being dark did not help matters, unfortunately they were court- marshaled, and received two years in Calcutta prison, India. If it had been the First World War, undoubtedly they would have been shot.

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C.S.M. Theodore Martin Shave