The Plantation - Di Morrissey [88]
‘I would never accuse our British troops of being lily- livered,’ said Bill. ‘But, it seems to me, that as soon as any troops get within range of the Japs, they are ordered to make a strategic retreat.’
I had to agree. ‘The trouble is that there is no full backup either. There’s no air cover and no big guns. And it seems to me that we’re losing a lot of ground without putting up much of a show.’
‘You know, there’s another problem. It’s as though the Japs and us are fighting different wars,’ said Bill. ‘Our men are weighed down with gear and heavy equipment, while those Japs paint themselves green, stick leaves on themselves and stalk us in rubber-soled shoes with small-calibre guns. It’s just not cricket.’
We both agreed that another of the great oversights by authorities was their refusal to make use of the loyal Chinese.
‘There must be a quarter of a million Chinese of all classes and cultures in Malaya who are united in their dislike of Japan especially after the Japs invaded China. I bet they would love to have a crack at that enemy,’ I added.
‘I’m afraid the pooh-bahs turn up their noses, just because they’re Chinese and therefore aren’t thought trustworthy enough to defend the British empire,’ said Bill.
‘I suspect that there is another reason. Some of the Chinese workers here are tainted with the whiff of communism. They say that they are working towards an independent Malaya. Won’t happen, of course, but it makes the authorities nervous. That’s another reason why they won’t work with them.’
‘Yes, that’s true,’ said Bill. ‘But what the British authorities forget is that the Chinese hate the Japanese more than they hate us, especially after the terrible Rape of Nanking.’
Having aired our grievances we decided that, as we were volunteers, we had a choice in the matter of how we fought. And after several more days of endless retreats, we thought that the whole Malayan peninsula was going to fall, so we had to make a decision about what we were going to do.
‘I say it’s pointless waffling around with the tommies. Their damned officers still don’t know what they’re doing,’ said Bill.
‘I think that if we don’t decide to get away quickly, we’re going to be caught by the Japs and then what good would we be?’
Bill jumped at this idea. ‘Listen, I’ve still got that small sailboat down on the coast. What if we find it and try to get away and head for Colombo?’
So we decided to strike out for the coast, get Bill’s boat and sail to Ceylon. Luck was with us and we made the twenty or so miles to where Bill’s boat was on the coast with hardly any problems. We camouflaged it to look like a fishing craft and we travelled at night, until we made the open seas of the Indian Ocean. We made landfall at the Nicobar Islands and, as luck would have it, a small freighter was able to take us on to Colombo. We realised just how lucky we had been when the Nicobar Islands were taken by the Japanese only a couple of weeks later.
In Colombo, where we fell in with compatriots, we learned that Malaya had by now succumbed to the Japanese. Days later we heard that Singapore had also fallen, and that thousands of allied troops were now guests of the Emperor. We both felt very glad that we had been able to get away. Although I had heard nothing at this stage about my wife, or the rest of my family, I was sure that they would have had time to be evacuated and I prayed mightily that they were safe. I was also concerned about the welfare of my parents and hoped that they were both safe as well.
At first our time in Colombo was frustrating as we felt we weren’t doing enough to help towards the war effort. We were too far from all the action, although the Japanese were beginning to get closer to India. We both managed to find desk jobs with the army, organising supplies for the troops and other mundane, but necessary, tasks and we were eventually moved after many months to New