1955-02-19 — Page 6

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

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B

*

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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