[ { "id": 212832, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1992", "page_number": 141, "title": "RAS-1992", "content_text": "126\n\nforeigners treat them. To misrepresent conditions to the public, by only dwelling on favourable aspects and avoiding unpleasant truths, is, in my opinion, no service to posterity. Unlike many writers about the East, whose main ambition appears to be to disparage the British by retailing every slanderous rumour they can collect, I am only recounting what I saw with my own eyes or heard with my own ears; and as already explained much of that even I cannot recount.\n\nTo finish here with the Hongkong members of our party all except one were thoroughly cowed by the threats to which they were continuously exposed. At a much later date I found that not only had they been compelled to act as spies on us, and to report weekly to the nearest Chinese commander on all our doings, but also they were persuaded to try to break the cypher system we used for our signals. The threats were not confined to themselves, but included their families, left behind in Kweilin. Under such pressure I cannot find it in my heart to blame them. In practice the spying did not worry me, because we had nothing to conceal; but to one who had always stood up for the Chinese cause it came as a most unpleasant surprise. On reflection I can understand the attitude of those zealous supporters of intimidation by Kuo Min Tang doctrine; brought up in an atmosphere of intense suspicion of the foreigner, their behaviour is not unnatural. But what may be excused in a small backward nation, can not be excused in a nation which is preparing to join the ranks of the great powers. Let us hope that the Chinese authorities will realise that this sort of thing will not make for harmony; that it is unworthy of a great people.\n\nWe found another small American detachment at Tetang, attached to the Nth Chinese division, and as at other headquarters mortars, Brens, rifles, such like.\n\nIn addition to missing the Myosa I was to suffer a further disappointment at Tetang. When the news of the attack on the Myosa had reached Kun-ming the Consul General had sent a Hongkong-trained Chinese doctor to attend on him. I met the doctor before he left; he had a fine reputation and amongst other things had been ship's doctor on a Blue Funnel boat for a number of years. I arranged that he should join our party in due course when we arrived in Kokang. But I now found that he too was under arrest and was being detained, in some place undefined, with the Myosa. This left us without a doctor.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1992.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212833, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1992", "page_number": 142, "title": "RAS-1992", "content_text": "127\n\nAlthough modern methods have reduced the danger of infections in the field, — plague, meningitis, cholera, typhoid, dysentery and small-pox all yield to inoculations or drugs — that still left typhus and the most dangerous disease to us, the deadly cerebral malaria, which lurked in these border valleys. Apart from the hazard of wounds and accidents, to be left without a doctor in such a situation was not too pleasant.\n\nAt Tetang we were provided with an escort by the Nth Division, a Central Government Division, and we were instructed to call on one of their battalion headquarters on this side of the border to surrender our pass. Two days later, on arrival at these headquarters, I called on the colonel. I had already learnt that the main Chinese defence line here was well back from the Salween, not in Burma, but on the Chinese side of the boundary. The Japanese had small posts along the Salween, so that in Kokang we should be between the two forces, with only the Salween to separate us from the enemy. I began to take a close interest in the width of the river and the speed of its current.\n\nThe battalion commander said that he would give us an escort and that the officer in charge of the escort would arrange with the local population for any services we might require in Kokang. One of the chief complaints of our parachute party, when they had been in Kokang in December, was that the escort provided by the Chinese acted to prevent the local inhabitants speaking freely to them; so I now explained to the colonel that in Kokang we would make our own arrangements direct with the natives, but I would, of course, keep him informed of all our movements. In view of our need for further supplies we were anxious to have a 'drop' as soon as possible, and as at the moment the only level place of which we knew was just inside China, where the first parachute party had been dropped, I asked the colonel whether he would have any objection to our receiving it there. He readily agreed and undertook to provide the necessary covering party. It should be remembered that during the next few months we were at no time more than a night's march from the Japanese; but the situation was not as dangerous as it may sound because we could expect to receive at least a few hours' notice of any unusual movement by the enemy.\n\nSo we moved forward of the Chinese defence line into the valley next to Kokang, set up our W/T, and passed signals to arrange for the sortie. We went out to prepare the signal fires, and Stan showed me the clump of cactus thorn near which he had landed; the site of the long thick spikes", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1992.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212841, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1992", "page_number": 150, "title": "RAS-1992", "content_text": "135 \n\na party in American uniform in Kokang; they stated that the party claimed to be working for the Americans, but that they were more probably spies working for the Japanese. They enquired whether they should be arrested? The American officers concerned were evidently unused to the tortuous complexities of oriental politics, nor had they any means of direct communication with the local population; they were in the hands of their interpreters, who before being provided by the Chinese were put through a conditioning course in Kuo Min Tang ideology. It was thus not at all easy for the American officers to arrive at the facts. So Lopez' party was surrounded early one morning by a company of Chinese troops, arrested and disarmed. Their supplies were all confiscated. Two of Dr. Seagrave's nurses, caught by the war in Kokang, had joined Lopez; one succeeded in hiding in the jungle, but the other was taken. With Lopez the Chinese also arrested twelve natives of Kokang, who had been serving him as cook, coolies, grooms, and so on. The headman's son was one of these twelve. The whole party was removed under guard to Tetang, since when the people of Kokang had heard nothing more of them. For all they knew their twelve men might be dead.\n\nThe men had already been missing for three months when I took up the affair. I wrote to the General Commanding at Tetang, pointed out the circumstances under which the men had been taken, and requested his kind consideration to obtain their release. He replied that he knew nothing of the matter! The Chinese then informed our authorities that the men had been taken to Shunning, tried and released; but they did not arrive back in Kokang, nor could we find out anything about them. Much later one of them, the headman's son, turned up. I sent for him to enquire into his story. He reported that they had been held for a week at Tetang and then imprisoned at Shunning, without trial, and that one morning they had been taken out and compulsorily enlisted in the Chinese army, in the transportation corps — that meant, as coolies. The company to which they were attached, belonging to a unit of the Nth Division, had moved to such and such a place; on the way he had managed to elude the vigilance of the soldiers and escape. Weeks later two more men escaped, but the remainder, for all we know, are still working in the Chinese army.\n\nThe news of the marching out of a party, wearing American uniform, under arrest gave the natives the impression that in Kokang the Chinese were all powerful; the summary disappearance of twelve of their own people showed them what to expect. On a number of occasions they asked\n\nPage 150\n\nPage 151", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1992.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212843, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1992", "page_number": 152, "title": "RAS-1992", "content_text": "137\n\njackass stood tethered near the herdman's hut, on a knoll from which he could proudly survey his young.\n\nAt Lunghtang Jack rejoined us; he had followed the Salween and inspected all the ferries, except those around Kunlong, where the Japanese had established their bridgehead. During the past two years they had on several occasions raided from Kunlong as far north as Tawnio, putting the villages to fire. Kokang south of Tawnio was practically deserted and the mule tracks overgrown; there were no Chinese troops, but the Japanese were watched by standing patrols of the Kokang Defence Force.\n\nThe Salween at this season was low; in long stretches the current ran slow and the river could be crossed; the ferries were marked on the map at places, where tracks led down to the water. The width of the river, of course, varied; in the rapids where the water rushed through it might be no more than 100 feet, elsewhere generally nearer 300 feet. There were no boats; the method of crossing was to cut down a number of bamboos, lash them together, and paddle across. At the northern ferries small parties of Chinese troops watched on our side; the Japanese could be seen on the far side; but after the river left China to turn south, there were no more Chinese troops, and the ferries were watched by unarmed village levies, obviously ineffectively. The Japanese used the same system on their side, and at one ferry Jack had been able to shout over and hold a brief conversation with the two Kachin watchers on the far bank. At certain of the northern ferries shots were frequently exchanged between the Chinese troops, assisted by men of the K.D.F., and the enemy; and sometimes the Japanese would roll a gun up and lob some shells over; at other times it would be a trench mortar. On certain sections of the muletrack it was unwise to move by daylight.\n\nI sent Jack back to Hsintang where we had picked up some useful contacts, mostly thanks to Lopez' earlier work. Opposite Hsintang the Kachin tribes appeared ready to help, and we hoped we would be able to get people through onto the Burma road to watch Japanese movements, and so to facilitate Wingate's operations; if we could at the same time destroy some Japanese dumps so much the better.\n\nWhile at Hsintang I had been visited by one of the staff officers of the Nth division. I had with some difficulty persuaded him to allow our agents to cross the Salween at the ferry, which led most directly to the friendly Kachins and where the Japanese watch was not strict. We had", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1992.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212848, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1992", "page_number": 157, "title": "RAS-1992", "content_text": "142\n\nfires and flying away again unable to find them. Inevitably there were some accidents and losses.\n\n―\n\n--\n\nRarely half a dozen 'planes would make a sortie the same night; we would then be busy for days collecting the heavy containers they would weigh up to three hundred pounds and carrying them back to camp. We received reinforcements; officers with long experience in the East; British wireless operators; Chin, Kachin, and Burmese assistants. Our money and our mail also came this way; Bren guns, Stens, Italian carbines, clothing, food and occasionally drink. Sometime later we were visited by two American officers attached to the Nth division; they spent the day with us. We discovered they had a partiality for Bourbon whisky, a thing most difficult to find in Calcutta. However, we thought we would plan a little surprise for them; we asked our friends in Calcutta whether they could not find a couple of bottles and include them in the next sortie. The sortie was made in due course, several containers crashed, and when we anxiously looked over the lists of contents, we sadly found that the precious bottles had \"pranged\" as Stan put it in his airforce jargon.\n\nThe problem of cutting a way through the jungle was ever present in Burma. We decided we would equip one man out of every two with a cutting implement for the purpose. There were many opinions about which implement was the best; each officer had his own idea. We left it to our 'furnishers' to supply what they had, and I have never seen such a collection of deadly looking hacking weapons as the variety sent. It included dahs, the light Burmese single-handed sword, with a blade about two feet long and in my opinion not quite heavy enough for the job; kukris, a choice for the expert; the East African panga, which I like best, but then perhaps I am prejudiced it reminded me of my days with the King's African Rifles during the last war; a short two-edged stabbing sword, obviously borrowed straight from the Roman Legion; and some quite unrecognisable kinds, probably designed by enthusiastic cranks.\n\nThe Italian carbines had been captured in Africa and were believed useful for our type of work; they only weighed four pounds, were short and handy but they had a very high muzzle velocity and kicked like an anti-tank rifle, without the rubber padding with which that rifle is fitted. They had fixed sights; on the little thirty yards range, which Stan had built in a fold of the mountain, we found they threw at least a foot off the bull; but they appeared to be fairly accurate at somewhere around", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1992.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212852, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1992", "page_number": 161, "title": "RAS-1992", "content_text": "146\n\nanother. At about this time too I received a signal from Jack, who was doing most useful work across the Salween, that despite our previous agreement the Chinese were refusing to allow his agents to cross, unless they held a pass issued by the Headquarters of the Nth Division at Tetang. That meant a week's delay in each instance, and also it involved making public the names of our agents — the Chinese are not noted for security. So now I made a signal to our Headquarters, and the next I heard was that the Chinese had withdrawn their troops entirely from the ferries in question.\n\nJack himself crossed the river with a small party; but he found he could not proceed far. The Japanese kept a tab on all movement; at uncertain times their men would pass through villages, check the inhabitants and their pack animals. Any discrepancies had to be explained. Moreover, the Kachins were terrified lest the Chinese troops should cross over into their territory. It seemed that in 1942 when the armies retreated from Burma, there were a number of incidents between Chinese troops and Kachins, questions of women, taking food, pack animals, and all those difficulties which do arise on a retreat. The Chinese troops had left a bad reputation. The Kachins had killed some of them and they now feared, should the Chinese return, that they would take vengeance. The situation was difficult and we were unable to develop our plans.\n\nIn April we were joined by an American officer and his radio operator; from the first we had suggested that an American officer should join our party, and we were delighted when he arrived. He went off to join Jack across the Salween for a while. His operator stayed with us and was a great asset to our group. He had led a most interesting life in the States 'following the horses.' We learnt much about American race tracks, American girls, and other things. He would keep the campfire party at night amused for hours on end. At about this time too we ran short of \"imported\" food; things like butter, jam, sugar and tea. During the sorties that month our people had forgotten to include any in the containers, a lapse most unpopular at our end and the subject of lengthy and uncomplimentary comment, after the fashion of soldiers. But our racing expert now produced some American B ration, a large tin of butter, and another of jam, some cheese, some incredibly white caster sugar, such as we had not seen in months, and even a tin of pickles. It was all most welcome.\n\nAs will be imagined we were much dependent on the working of our", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1992.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x", "rank": 0 } ]