PLAN TO LEAVE

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 129, 28 November 1945, Page 7

PLAN TO LEAVE

I j OFFICERS'* DISCUSSIONS 'Rec. 11.30 a.m. MELBOURNE, Nov. 27. !At the inquiry into the escape of (General Bennett, Mr. Dovey asked: Did you tell Colonel Thyer that the General proposed to escape? Lieut.-Colonel Moses said: He knew that perfectly well. I Mr. Dovey: You said that if you Iwere not going with the General you would like him to be coming with you. Lieut-Colonel Moses; Yes. | Mr. Dovey: When you told him the General was proposing to go did he say anything? Lieut.-Colonel Moses: His remark was, "I don't think I will be interested in getting away." Some time on the day or evening of their departure, Colonel Thyer, discussing an escape, said that when General Bennett got back to Australia he would tell his story and would blame tlie Malaya Command. When Colonel Thyer and the others got back, General Bennett would have to take some share of it. He was very heated. Lieut.-Colonel Moses added that he told Colonel Thyer to go to Australia as he would be of considerable value when he got back. Mr. Dovey: Did he say he considered it quite unethical? Lieut.-Colonel Moses: No, nothing like that, I am quite sure. Mr. Dovey: Did you say that in your view it was the duty of soldiers to escape? Lieut.-Colonel Moses: It was not for me, his junior, to teJl him that. RESPONSIBILITY FOR MEN. Mr. Dovey: Did he say that he regarded himself as responsible to the men until such time as he and the

other officers were separated from ithem? Lieut.-Colonel Moses: No, nothing like that. Lieut.-Colonel Moses said he had not told anyone that the plan of escape 'should not be discussed except among the people who were to participate. He did not say this to Captain Curlewis. Aboard a Chinese junk, General Bennett told him, "The lads will go into captivity with plenty of food and! clothing, as he had given orders that the troops were to be given two days' rations of food and new boots and clothing." Replying to a question, LieutColonel Moses said the only time General Bennett mentioned the Sultan of Johore was on the final afternoon, when he said that as a last resort the party might strike out for the Sultan's residence, as he was sure the Sultan j would help them. Mr. Dovey: Did you suggest that General Percival should be informed of the escape plan? j Lieut.-Colonel Moses: It did not, occur to me. i Lieut.-Colonel Moses said he remembered General Bennett having said something about things being better had he stayed at Singapore. At that stage, said Lieut.-Colonel Moses, their lives seemed to be very precarious. | "Genera! Bennett was certain that j he had done the right thing," said j Lieut.-Colonel Moses. j The hearing is not finished. I