University of Nandamuk - Chindwin Kyaw

[1]

Our military column, which had advanced from the Manipur Valley to Burma, only made the journey at night.

Because the motorcades were moving around during the day, and because our battalion commander wanted to keep our advance as secret as possible, we were accustomed to coming out at night and feeding like owls.

As soon as the sun set, we set out, and as soon as the next day dawned, we rested and slept. During the whole night, we only stopped for about an hour.

If the road was bad, it was bad, and if the road was good, it was good. Sometimes, after marching all night, we could cover about 7 miles, and sometimes we could cover as much as 18 miles.

The day we started our march from the Manipur Valley Road was January 12, 1943. By this time, all of Burma, except for the extreme north and northwestern regions, was under Japanese control.

We, under the orders of Brigadier General Wingate , marched as a "sergeant corps" to attack and disrupt the Japanese lines from behind.

Our platoon commander was Brigadier General Wingate.

Even though it was a very cold January, the weather along the Manipur mountain pass was unpredictable. When it rained, it was heavy and sandy, and when the sun came out, it was scorching hot. The nights were usually bone-chillingly cold. So we had to load the advance lorries of our column with an extra blanket for each soldier and provisions and wait at our camp.

We took a 15-minute break after every hour of marching, and then we rested for exactly one hour after midnight. During that hour, no matter how much rain or snow fell, we made a pot of tea. After drinking tea, we slept for about half an hour. As soon as we were ready to continue our journey, we all got ready with our backpacks and marched in a line of three.

Marching together in pairs like this is more relaxing than walking alone. It relieves boredom. They can "cheer up" about each other's wives, children, boyfriends, and movies, so much so that they not only want to sleep, but they also don't know how to travel.

All along the road, we see teams of road construction engineers working at night, just like us. They are busy with their powerful headlights, clearing away collapsed soil, repairing broken bridges, and building new roads where cars can no longer pass. They, like us, work only at night, when traffic is at a standstill.

We traveled about 120 miles in 9 nights and arrived in Imphal on the morning of the 10th day.

"Impha" is a large plain on the mountain. At the edge of that plain, our troops have set up camp.

The bamboo poles were thick, the bamboo slats were spread, the dry grass was covered, and the banana leaves were covered on top. | We, who had to spread the earth as our back and the sky as our ceiling, lived in a group of tents, and we felt as if we were in the sixth heaven. . | However, that afternoon, the rain did not stop, it poured down so heavily that we became like shrews. That evening, Brigadier General Wingate himself came to our camp and said that we could move to the city of Imphal. We replied that we would stay in the “village” where we were. The Brigadier General assessed our situation and ordered that “rum” be distributed every evening.

We had not yet received orders to continue our march, so we had to stay in our village for a month.

The rain was incessant and we were soaking wet , but we lived happily because of the power of 'Ram'. Every morning, people and donkeys would walk long distances to get exercise. In the evening, the 'Ram' children would spend their time singing and dancing.

These days, Brigadier General Wingate is laying out a map on the floor of a makeshift headquarters office in Imphal, the size of a bedroom, and discussing the plan for the advance with department heads.

The department heads took off their shoes at the entrance of the room and crawled on all fours on the map, explaining their opinions. While I was explaining, the Brigadier General gave me a special assignment.

That task is on the Mandalay-Myitkyina road.

"Bonchaung Bridge"

To destroy.

While we were sitting idly in our village , we heard the news that General Wavell was coming. Regarding this news, various criticisms, opinions, and rumors were being spread among our troops.

Some said that the "Long Range Breakthrough Attack Force" was only a fantasy of Brigadier General Wingate, and that the task of attacking and destroying the Japanese from behind was not easy, so General " Sable" came to check whether our troops should advance or not.

After two days of discussion between Brigadier General Wingate and General Wavell, the decision to continue the march into Burma was made. - General Wavell inspected our troops one day before the march and gave them a pep talk. We spent nearly a month in the village where we were stationed before we set out for Burma on February 12.

2

The sun was shining brightly. The tar was soft from the heat. When we took a step forward and lifted our back foot, the tar stuck to us in lumps. Soon our combat boots were twice as big and three times as heavy as before.

We set out from Imphal on February 12th, carrying our elephant tusks and walking 22 miles.

The next day, after walking for more than 20 miles, they arrived at Pearl.

The road between Imphal and Pale is good. It is built with both footpaths and roads. So in the afternoon, as our troops march, the vehicles are also running in the opposite direction.

A company was allowed to halt at "Pale" for 24 hours. On the evening of our company's arrival at "Pale" , we found a column led by Scott, who had arrived at "Pale" earlier than us and had rested for 24 hours, ready to march from "Pale" to "Horse Saddle" camp.

We have entered the Myanmar border, so any movement can only be done at night.

In "Pale," I met up with friends of John Fraser, an officer in the army, and they invited us to dinner.

After a 24-hour stop at “Pale,” the next evening we continued our trek along winding forest roads. After two days of traveling, we reached a mountain where we could see the mountains and peaks of the Chindwin River, which flowed through the mountains.

From there, they “advanced to Tamu and plotted to cross the Chindwin River.”

Brigadier General Wingate believed that our advance force, which was planning to cross the Chindwin River, could not be concealed from the Japanese.

However, this was a military ploy to mislead the Japanese about the weapons and manpower of our troops crossing Chindwin.

Brigadier General Wingate ordered Lieutenant Colonel Alexander to cross the Swe Yaung River with Nos. (1) and (2) Corps at the "Lower Mountain" point, while he himself decided to cross at "Tong He" with the rest of the corps.

They are planning another trick to trick the Japanese one or two times.

The plan was to have Major Jeffrey dress in the uniform of a brigadier general and, with the help of a brigadier general's retinue, "go south of Donghae and investigate the situation of the Japanese, and collect rice, oil, and salt from the villages around that area for the arrival of a very large army."

In accordance with these instructions, the troops led by Lieutenant Colonel Alexander and Major Jeffrey, who assumed the title of Brigadier General , descended from "Tamu" in plain sight to the south, while Brigadier General Wingate and the rest of the troops advanced through the jungle and mountains in the cover of night.

My unit had to accompany the Brigadier General, so we had to rest during the day and continue our journey at night. My unit had to collect the first supplies that were dropped by plane around Tamu , so we had to wait a long time. When my unit left Tamu , we received news that a group of about 100 Karen, Kachin and Chin soldiers led by three British officers had crossed the Chindwin River at “Tong He” and had landed at “Aok Taung” to investigate the situation of the crossers.

'Our army, which had marched from Tamu, arrived at "Than Nan," a camp at the end of the lorry road, after two nights.

There was only one mountain between Than Nan and the Chindwin River. On the day we left Than Nan , Brigadier General Wingate had already reached the other side of the Chindwin River.

After reaching the other side of the Chindwin River, we couldn't predict when or where we would get more food, so we brought along five days' worth of dry food.

They loaded their weapons and other supplies onto mules and began climbing the steep mountain towards Chindwin.

We, who had set out in the evening, saw the rear of the column that had advanced ahead of us before eight o'clock at night.

The road was steep and winding, and the packs of the mules in the advance party were falling off and piling up on the ground. I went up to the front of the advance party and looked around. About 50 yards away, I saw a mule with a load sliding down. The soldiers were busy re-tying the packs and securing them to the mules.

I was proud that only four donkeys fell down on the mountain in the No. 5 column I led.

The leader of the column leading the way was not to be blamed, to be honest. The roads were muddy and slippery from the recent rains, and large pieces of land had already fallen.

At about four in the morning , we set up camp beside the only spring between Than Nan and Chin Dwin.

The donkeys' tails would often come and hit us in the face, waking us up from our sleep.

At eight o'clock the next morning, Sam, Cook, King Glide, and I set out on mules to catch up with the other lines. The road was not good enough to ride on a mule. But we pushed on, hoping that we would soon find a good road.

After going more than two miles, we saw a large hill on the right side of the road, so we left the mules with their handlers and climbed up to the hill to look at the path ahead. - When we looked up from the hill, which was about twenty yards high, we saw the Chindwin River flowing from north to south at the foot of the mountain where we were.

From where we were, the mountain sloped downwards. However, due to the winding road, we estimated that we would still have to travel about 5 miles to reach Chindwin. Straight ahead, where we were heading, we could see the mountains rising one above the other. About 80 miles to the northeast, we saw the “Three Mountains,” a volcanic mountain range that rose into the sky.

To our left and north, we could see mountains that were aligned with the body we were standing on.

Those mountains are the same mountains behind "Humma Lin".

The forest is facing the place where we are standing, and when we look through the gap, we can see a small village on the other side. We estimate that there is a "red soil" at the end of the forest, which is about 8 miles north of us, on the banks of the Chindwin River.

Only King Glide among us had a telescope, so we looked around and wondered if our “real adventure” had just begun.

When we looked again through the binoculars, we saw a mountain range in the distance, shrouded in mist. The destination we were going to was about twice the distance of the mountain range we could see in the distance.

When I had to make this long journey through the dense jungle, I was exhausted both mentally and physically.

We descended the hill and came to Chindwin. Soon we came across a small fork in the road that branched off to the left and right. As we stood at the fork, contemplating which way to go, we saw an Indian Army scout group arrive and follow the left fork.

Looking to the right, we saw half-tracks of the tracks we had recently walked on. We stopped following the Indian scouts and followed the right-hand fork, and soon saw a sentry on the road.

He told us that the brigade headquarters was on the right side of the road, so we followed his instructions and arrived at the headquarters in no time.

At headquarters, I met Brigadier General Wingate, who was there to organize the crossing of all the troops after they reached the other side of the Chindwin River.

The Brigadier General said, “Although the Japanese were not harassing us, the river was wide and the water was fast, making it difficult to cross.”