I was a lance corporal in a party of one hundred Commandos sent to Burma from North Africa in September 1941. We had all volunteered for a special job; what, we did not know.
We had travelled first by sea to Ceylon, then on to Calcutta, and from there by French tramp ship to Rangoon. We stayed in Rangoon for two nights before boarding a train northward to the old Capital of Mandalay, from where we travelled by trucks up the Burma Road that links China with Rangoon. The journey took us nearly five hours around the twisting and winding bends, sometimes climbing over hills, sometimes going down into valleys. The engines of the trucks groaned against the hard climbing that was asked of them. Then suddenly we were upon a plateau with rising hills on either side. We continued on through the small town of Maymyo, and some way past the town we turned off the main road and followed a well-worn track until we came upon a clearing. On the fringe of the clearing bamboo bungalows were set out. That was our destination, the Bush Warfare School.
Other troops were here already and had prepared a meal for us. After getting our kit from the trucks and making ourselves comfortable in our new home we settled down for the night. All of us asked the same question. What were we doing out here? Not one scrap of information had been given to us from the beginning of the journey from North Africa. Four commissioned officers had travelled with us – two captains, Wingate and Brocklehurst, and two ‘one-pip’ lieutenants, Gardener and Lancaster – but any instructions from them came through the two sergeants with our group, Cobham and McAteer, Cobham being the senior. Breakfast would be at eight the next morning, and we were told to parade at nine, where we would be sorted out into two detachments.
Sleep came very easily that night as the long and tiresome journey had taken its toll upon us. Most of us made for our beds early as there was not much to do in the strange camp which, by the time we had got our kit sorted out, was in darkness.
At nine the next morning we formed up into two ranks with the two sergeants taking up positions in front. Shortly after, the four officers came. After the usual ‘present and correct’ from the sergeants, the two NCOs were told to take up posts away from us. Then the two captains called names out from sheets of paper they were holding. Captain Brocklehurst called for men to form up on Sergeant McAteer, and Captain Wingate called out men to form up on Sergeant Cobham. I was called by Captain Brocklehurst and so fell in on Sergeant McAteer along with the rest.
After the separation of the two detachments, Captain Brocklehurst told us that, as from now, we would be known as ME Detachment II, while Captain Wingate commanded ME Detachment I. The next thing was to get our kit sorted out so that we were all together in one bungalow. It was Friday and payday, after which we had the weekend to ourselves to explore Maymyo.
Monday morning began with PT at 06.30 hours, followed by breakfast, then parade at nine to be marched to one of the larger bamboo bungalows which served as a classroom. Here we were introduced to a man named Calvert. He was a captain in the Royal Engineers and was going to teach us about explosives and demolition in general.
Captain Calvert – ‘Mike’ to his friends – was a dark-haired, black-steely-eyed and flat-nosed man about five-foot eight-inches tall, with very broad shoulders. His appearance was as if he was almost square, as broad as he was tall. He talked to us about what we would be learning and what we would be doing, but he would not tell us why. He talked for nearly an hour, and in that time he had got the admiration and the confidence of everyone in the room, so much so that had he at any time said ‘Follow me to hell’ I am sure that every man there would have got up and gone without question, such was his impact upon all of us.
Our lessons from him would be twice a day, five days a week, with an examination on what we had learned, both written and practical on Saturday mornings. Our first lesson was to begin at nine o’clock the next day.
The next introduction was to two ‘one-pip’ lieutenants whom we had never seen before. Their uniforms looked very new, as if they had just been drawn from stores. The pips on their shoulders showed also that they had never had a button brush put across them, so we gathered that these two were really green to the service. Captain Brocklehurst introduced them as Mr Robinson and Mr Moore. Then came the first big surprise. These two officers were going to teach us all to speak and understand Mandarin, the standardised Chinese language. A wry smile spread over the captain’s face as he glanced along the rows of faces staring at him in sheer amazement.
Mr Robinson was something of a lah-di-dah sort of fellow, not very old, about twenty-two. He told us that he spent quite a good deal of time in China working with the Shell-Mex company. Mr Moore was an entirely different person. He was a little older, in his thirties, short and a little untidy, but his speech and manner were much more to our liking. He too had worked for Shell-Mex, but it seemed that he left the majority of things for Mr Robinson to say. It appeared to us that Mr Robinson had already assumed seniority.
Chinese lessons were to be undertaken twice a day, five days a week, beginning at eleven o’clock the next morning, with written and speech examinations on Saturdays.
After the final introductions and talks by our instructors, Captain Brocklehurst told us that we should now be formed into three sections, with an officer and sergeant in charge of each section. So, there and then, two senior corporals, Friend and Baker, were made up to sergeants. Two more junior officers were to join us at a later date to make up the full complement, we were told. (In fact, Captain Brown, the adjutant at the school, later joined us as the head of the third section.) Brocklehurst and Wingate were also promoted to majors, and the two ‘one-pippers’ to full lieutenants.
The first week went by with most of our work taking place in the classroom. We were getting on quite well with the Chinese language, and Captain ‘Mike’ Calvert was keeping us hard at work on different types of explosives and how best to use them.
We still could not find out for what purpose we were there, though many rumours floated about, as is usual in any of the services.
Sporting events such as football and hockey were arranged between units. Sometimes at weekends we went out on exercises. During these exercises we were instructed by Burmese, who taught us how to use the jungle and build rafts and small lean-to huts that would give us shelter in an emergency, how to make string and rope from bamboo, how to use the male bamboo for cooking-pots and so on, what grass is suitable for human consumption, what berries and plants and snakes and rodents we could eat, and if the worst came to the worst what type of tree bark would sustain us.
In October there were more promotions among the officers. Wingate and Brocklehurst were made colonels while Gardener and Lancaster were made up to captains. These sudden rises in rank had no effect on any of us, and we carried on with the jobs that we were given.
Towards the end of October there was, however, a rift between the two colonels about who was the senior. Brocklehurst had been an officer in the Royal Flying Corps, so even to us that made him the senior. This, we understood, upset Wingate, and he suddenly left. We heard rumours that Wavell had recalled him to New Delhi and put another officer in his place.
Things went on as normal without Wingate. ‘Mike’ Calvert was putting us through some very rigid exercises, and so were the two Chinese-language teachers.
Then, about the middle of November, we got measured for civilian clothes and also had our photographs taken – but we still could not find out why.