THE CHINA MAIL, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1955,
BLUFF WAS MY ARMOUR THE FANTASTIC ESCAPE SUCCEEDS... BUT ONCE AGAIN THE BRITISH HAVE THE LAST LAUGH
Three Nippon rifles
aimed at our
hearts...
good faith.
We belonged to
their crowd and orders the summe
had to obey
as they had We forged ahead, undeterred by the indignant clamour.
I opened the door. "About a re-lamp. We tried to WO railway tickets
saved us from disas. dozen." I reported.
T
ter. Two
Pass
With all eyes on U13 wo advanced upon the M.P., who was standing there under an pash past him as though he could not possibly interest us. "Hand 'em small Genorul uproar.
"Stop!" he 'em along. Quick."
called out, and of oblongs
white over.
barred the way. "Didn't you cardboard. Those tickets. It was an embarrassing de
hear me say you were not to We might cally get leave the bout? Back you go." plus a little quick thinking, mand.
free into trouble with an officer if were our passport to
we simply handed the bottles
"But have civilians to stay on dom.
over as loot. But if we refused, board too?" Heins naked, with we should be branded na muga, an air of utter indifference
"What d'you mean? You're We
were rescuUNÍ from our
by
Forces, aren't you?" an were predicament
boy, who set up a how]. beer was for the officers.
"Hear that? For the officers, And what about us? It's always the same story!"
We did not reuline when we bought them how useful they would be. They
ordinary just two
tickets to Chittagong. But they saved us from capture.
'The
Was
Indian
The
We're not soldiers." "Not soldiers?" he repeated doubtfully.
"Look at our tickets, then," Helna said. He produced our ordinary railway tickets,
on
For days and nights we travelled this way. Some- times we commandeered a sum- pan by telling the village head- man we were two British oficer
An unannounced tour of Inspection and, therefore, presence should not be mention- ex to anyone
We learned several tricks as we plodded on. The first was a way of dealing with sentries.
The incident
forgotten trale went to Goatoruda
The M.P. examined them. He Chat, near the junction of the when lights shone out on the Ljunges and the Brahmaputra. shore. We should soon be at looked us up and down and back at the teketa. Then the mogle From there # W
FIT 10-hour Chandpur Journey y
steamer
But in the darkness, amidst words "Pass along" rang in our bound and a shout of Chandpur
the dingy throng on the quay, ears.
That continuous
to
Liver
W1ĂN
10-hour Wip
nightmare. crammed
WHE one
The with
by ROLF
wedged 148
steamer Indian and British troops. The
1868
of soldiers against a refrigerator near the
saloon.
MAGENER
on
21
glimpse
of Ixught
We
Our
When a figure leaped at us out of the dark with a tremendous "Hait"
and planted a bayonet on inch
The incredible had from my stomach. I would say:
are sahibs,
you idiot" had "We happened.
The Then I would shine torch on been screened oxids had been 1,000 to lieins and myself to prove it.
The Indian soldier always Ott And yet we had
mullered confused excuses and got through.
let us pass at once.
uniform
in stations.
The frontier
THAT'S
TORNIT
we had got right
to the front line only de recaptured
to
but
No," they
quere
Japanese, not Ourkhas
443E NATINATAM33820998ESITISUTUITE PE MANNERHERE!
In
our
But we had to
que panely
Drawings by ROBB
Then he saith he was a Reutenant- colovel
Was
A command rang out. Every- ono sprang to his feet. Someone crossing the treo trunk which spanned the stream. The guard presented arms.
We made a far too tiny bow, Then wo hastily inspected the new arrival. He was of medium height, alight, all-eyed, scant moustached. Ho
He wore a tropical shirt instead of badge
The
tead of uniform, and no of rank.
bearing began with Impoernt questions about our pornal background. The colonel srooted each interpreted answer with
a prolonged sniff of con- tempt
Then he suddenly asked if we
spolce French. I replied "Yes,"
said and
to the interpreter; "Please say to the colonel
I did rust get any further, Tha
a
We blessed Your We also tumbled on a method
In a backwater we found a khaki shirts. We would not should inevitably have been shot colonel darted at the interpreter like an adder. He reprimanded stars ww had
not of avolding British milltary sumpan. Its owner agreed to wear them again. The English at sight.
him with a series of furious coffeet word we kid to each wasn't
We first inquired of ferry us across. The price we might make short work of us Every
that
We had reached our goal. In hisses and dismissed him into the Calcutta, Otherwise we should the natives where the nearest agreed would keep him and his if they caught us near the front a moment other Japanese soldiers outer darkness. Another officer other was overheard. The more suspicious rest?
pretended to be family for a month.
uniform even one was and
remotely surrounded us. Others kept on immediately took his place fact of vur all being squeezed It was the unmistakable car- have been lost.
The Red I was only a minule or two'e making for it AL the
Inst
We were in mid-stream when resembling their own.
We put stepping noiselessly out of the together was tople of conver- mine of the M.P.
The meaning of the outburst nice walk from the river bank to the moment we would turn aside. I saw the English patrol boat on blue polo shirts had undergrowth to
we
stare at us -
The unfortunate in- sation. And conversation was Caps,
forming a
was clear. The platform who in
coming towards us. We crouch- bought in Calcutta. the last thing we desired.
orderly cordon along the quay trai
terpreter had been guilty of We found an empty
ed down. But wo peered out One of them shouted an order darkness.
We decided to make for the loincloths, but fully armed, cible spics the
were naked, except for breason. He had aid two pus- climbing
to the re- By
compartment, "All members of the second - class
under the rim of our helmets. Berose
ན་
rank of I could for frigerator you could see over the
I thought board
* pushed up the bunks and made Force slay
read the Mayu River.
with Japanese commanding officer. pausea to hus They wore rubber shoes, Then
we fell DUT we were river. The flat, treeless banka
for check-up,"
The ourselves gmail. So
on the crew's make frequent now
always thirsty. look of surprise
Now the colonel switched his ebbing divided big toes, which gave rapidly usiccp.
We made the Ganges seem wider
woke up as the B Our supply of water for the faces when they saw two white band screening. We'd had it.
We had come to the their fect an amphibious look.
wrath to us. He spoke in French, What a mile or two BETOGS
Our first reaction was a sort of train drew into Chittagong.
day was restricted at most to men in the sampon. I was sure strength.
Tere was a smell of fish and Did we think fro was such a fool Chittagong is about 100 miles t water-bottles, We could that the engine would stop and end of our resources. Our feet
as to believe our ridiculous ES- The plunging of the paddies paralysis. What was to be done?
The have drunk two buckets.
the boat fetch up In a wide were swollen. We had to cling rice-leavings, our weary There was to time to think. We from the Burmese frontier. was hammering on
The strongo-eyed creatures ope story? How could we have to bamboo-stems for support. do something, and whole
sweep alongside us. brains when we were suddenly had
mountainous Jungle, peopled Hunger
formed a circle round us. But got through the English and then too becumo a major But nothing of the kind hap We had two mangoes left we rushed, at each other laugh- the Japanese lines without help? hailed by u man who was sitting quickly
After Calcutta we did pened.* We made streight the with savage tribes. We planned problem.
It held on its course They were green, and smelt of ing, clapping each other on the on a roll above the rest.
As e lower deck and the gangway to rely on our feet, but to use not have a proper meal.
with undiminished speed. Their gherkins. It wasn't worth walle back. We tore the labels with from every sampane whenever possible. The result we tired quickly.
job was to keep a sharp look eating them.
our English names out of the There were shoula
E mazo us that we had to whole constal strip is
All the natives had to offer out for Japanese, The sight of Then we came under artillery Inside of our haversacks side to teil
all in perfectly of waterways, stay on board.
were mangoes, an oval fruit with two British soldiers, who were
**** fire. Shell-splinters tore through threw them away. large stone and orange heading for the front and 50
the trees and ripped yard-long coloured flesh. It was very juicy could not be deserting, did not slices from their trunks. und delicious in spite
arceuse my particular interest, flavour of turpentine,
It was the 31st day after our Then the weather changed, 1 cscape that we landed in the began to rain
would never rice-fields. We stopped on to
"Halto, you two blokes there. Have a look-see. May be a few bottles of beer in the fridge."
to
for
border
country
To BANGKOK
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*
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&
belloved continuous rain have could be so demoralising. would willingly have thrown up my chance of freedom for a dry shirt and a cup of hot len.
Then, one day,
when the clouds lifted,
made exciting discovery. Just ahead was the Naat River. The Noaf was the Burma frontier.
wo
an
the soll of Burma, feeling as proud as if we had conquered it
In the far haze there was a
Distrustful
ROUNDING
and
A
Turning point
SOLDIER emptied our haversacks. Our torn and It was easy to see that the
little ple dirty clothing made Japanese could not make us cut. We tcard the words on a packing case. The Japanese
turned them officers “Americanu” and "English" as suspiciously. But we had care over ufton 03 "Dotsu" (meaning "German"). three
B rock, figures stood before us. Three streak of aliver the Mayu rifles slowly covered us. We rais River. There we should find the ed our hands. For a heartbeat Japanese. We knew from the we faced each other, communiques their hands.
that it
Was
ת!
We sat on the roots of an ancient tree and took off our
They Want To Stay In The Commonwealth
By ROBERT MOORE
London,
THREE hundred thousand pro- their ple are fighting for right to slay inside the British Commonwealth.
They said:
(the
fully removed all shop labels and laundry tabs from them. Or had We were escorted to
two we? Intelligence officers, Japanese
An officer held up a shirt. It who sat on the ground opposite was plainly masked with the us with their legs folded under label of a Hamburg sports shop. Hans
stifled them. They had a roll of paper It belonged to Heins. This was muitered a That's torn it" We had got in front of them. They hastily
in spite of our pact to include right to the front line only to covered it with long columns in nothing which could point
their mysterious characters. be recaptured!
German origin,
One of the three, obviously u corporal, signed to the other not to shoot. He beckoned tis for ward. The rifies were still levelled.
A coloured sketch-map of our route was carefully drawn out, Each day's journey was entered uponi They wanted to know where we spent each night and
They were Gurkhas, of course, the date. They were stocky and stant- eyed, like Gurkhas. But they
wern unfamillor amiforms. They Court martial
WEB
know.
by
Но
That mistake which would probably have got us shot it wa had been captured by the Bridah,
the turning point was
We were, questioned some more, but suddenly the hostile colonel said: “Je comprenda, Не
gave a curt order to his staff and walked away:
A year late
IN
Rangoon, the Kempoital-the
hard
stars on their caps.
The colonel, whom we never Something went through me
UR interrogators spoke saW
xaw again, must have been con- like an electric shock, It struck
wretched English. They were vinced by our behaviour and by any other means than by Helms at the same time. He sud- Arab steed or transport camel.denly troice into Japanese.
a perfect professional blend of possibly the German markings boundless curically and poker on Heins shirt. The toll,
Watalouschi tatachi wa doltsu faces. Their impassive features grave sultans
We were suddenly ordered to 3ino. and The Jin deau ("Wo ore Germans? younger is oft
We walked some of zuryer betrayed the faintest in- Rangoon, This elder 6ft. 4ins.) are sure that he said.
the only dication even
of having heard the way, and then we went by Unless the British Govern- British politicians will not force Japanese the
had what was said to them.
Japanese river craft and lorry. ment acts quickly they will, on their 300,000
theart in camp. to learned t countrymen February 28, become the un- leave their homes, their flocks, The corporal gasped as if he They sent us to regimental foreign and above all, the British Ead been winded. He let out a H.Q. Wo stayed there five days. willing subjects of a Power.
long-drawn', incredulous Then, one evening, we were led They are the digilfed hardy
"Doltsu?" Then bis siit - eyes to a dry bod of pebbles down people of the Somali tribes, "In all the country to begleed distrustfully.
by the jungle stream where Japanese military police iving their dimple, half-noma-
away-28,000 square
there were two unoccupied stools, questioned us for five days. Then die existence under the protec- miles-there is not one Ethiopian
In dront of them was A miracle
a chair, we were flown to Tokyo,
wer tion of the British Common settler.
with a high back,
Representatives of the German wealth on the borderlands af "It
cast off, we lose
and Embassy
two German Ethiopia and British Somall- the British
Japanese soldiers with axed officers attached to the Japanese Justice that settles Hoed again at those bayonets formed
searched us for weapon.
a cordon all our differences by peaceful
of General Staff, met us there. Our We book our By a recent treaty between means and we lose the schools, yellow-schmed, under-sized all four sides. Britain and the Government of
Will Ethiopia give us these soldiers at closer quarters, places glumly on the stools. So troubles were over. Halle Selastic, their 70-your-old things? Ethiopia is a coloured
"You Nippon soldiers?" I said, this was what we had ea But doubtfully.
into, A Japanese court martial ties of loyaky and affection for nation and we are coloured
British Empire will be
Nippon "But wo know that there
as the middle of the monilt the
Nippon," they
Jungle. brokom.
something greater than colour, growled in harsh, unbury tones,
When we reached home, we To pload for à suspension of It is the
justice example of
over english
The Japanese Interprefer on found our fellow, prisoners who the treaty while the matter is and truth
Tod
given
wo pro
迪
Ma
there,
wo
5
we were not repatriated to A year later, the war ended. Germany until two years later Atrast 1947.
and good faith wo warned urge Nippon," the my right socmed overcome with had not been ich auch a hurry Largued, four men from; the 'di pettich Empire and which has | corporal essured us with a wide we at the occasion. He anxious- hind 'ben, back for a year?
puted Impics have arrived Lay London to ment the
TIO.
"No. have seen and enjoyed in the
All
ly told us how to behave. When So you might say the British Colonial' not filed us yet.
swoop of his arm, And then light the Commanding Officer appear- frod the inat word utter al......** Secretary, Mr Lennox-Boyd. Wo have promised our poo- dawned. We had come upon ed we were to stand up and bow
For two of them, 46-your-old ple that we shall do all of these Japanese some distaged low until he sat down
THE END Sultan "Abdarmhman of the appeals constitutionally, and behind their line. Hobe Awal tribe and 57-year- through the proper channels. If a finst encounter had Heins asked what was the old Sultan Abdullahi of the "We' whi take the matter to tolero place in the front lines ranks of the Commanding Offloer Eidagalla tribe, It is the first the United Naticha Assembly if which, by some miracle, we had as we might address him cor- Mogener (Rupert Mart-bool, time they have ever travelled need, be,"
Igot through unobserved. ........... we rectly. The interponter hesitated. ed.).
MANDRAKE THE MAGICIAN
HORN, YOÍS REALLY DON'T BELIEVE HIS WACKY STORY, DO [YOU?"}}
LOF COURSE NOT. BUT WE HAD TO TEST THE MACHINE,
ANYHOW-- આ
HERE'S WHERE HARDA-AND LOTHAR WENT DOWN. ONE CHANCE IN A MILLION--BUT
I'VE GOT 10 TAKE IT**.
From "Prisoners' Blu)" by Rolf
By Lee Falk and Phil Davis
WE'VE REACHED THE POSITION.
STOP ENGINES/
·TALK"
ABOUT
MAGIC
Admiral