HAPPY WARRIORS OF WINGATE'S RAIDERS

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 25084, 23 December 1944, Page 3

HAPPY WARRIORS OF WINGATE'S RAIDERS

BETWEEN February and April, 1943, when the Japanese forces menacing India were at the peak of their strength, ( the famous Chindits, led by the late Major-Gen-eral Charles Orde Wingate, D.S.O. and bar, made their first incursion into Northern Burma. Wingate's columns penetrated to within 50 miles of Japanese-occupied Mandalay. For three months they had the enemy bewildered. The British swooped suddenly on various vital points, destroying Japanese lines of communication. A most informative account of this expedition is given in "Wingate's Raiders" (Harrap), by Charles J. Rollo. The author, apparently, was "at school with a number of Wingate's officers and had access to confidential records. His pen-portraits of some of the expedition's leaders are sheer delight. For instance, we are told:— Known as "Mad Mike" Major Michael Calvert, known to his fellow-officers as "Mad Mike," was a Regular Army man, a sapper. A former boxing and swimming champion, he was short, stocky, powerfully built, with a tousled mop of brown hair, twinkling eyes, and a snub nose set in a round, boyish face. Some called him "Dynamite Mike," for he was a professional wrecker, an artist whose eyes took on a holy look as he told of dynamiting bridges. Trekking across Burma, he nursed his explosives with the loving care of a connoisseur decanting a bottle of vintage port. Most of Calvert's wartime career had been spent behind the enemy lines. He was one of the last men out of Norway. In Malaya and then in Burma he stayed behind to carry out rearguard demolitions with the Japanese right 0 n top oi him. He was also a expert, and left a trail of mines wherever he went. Time and again his column heard "Mad Mike's" traps exploding as Japanese patrols blundered into them, and Calvert would mutter happily "Blew the vermin skv high, that, one did."

Sketches by Minhinnick Calvert was an ardent disciple and a close friend of Wingate. He himself was a fine leader with a keen brain, a lively imagination,, and an infectious zest lor battle. His .mind was completely given over to the war. One day he confided to Thompson, who was an R.A.f. officer for his column: "When I get to the top of the hill, Bob, I just don't seem to notice the view. All I can think of is: 'Calvert, there are two bridges down there.' " He had enormous staying power and did the most dangerous reconnaissance work himself. He was a crack reconnaissance man, and would crawl to within a few yards of the enemy. His courage became something of a legend even in Wingate's Mob, where courage was rather taken for granted. Calvert's Burma Rifles were commanded by a Welshman, Captain "Taffy" Griffiths, who in peacetime had worked for a big teak firm in Burma, and had fought with the Burma Rifles in the 1942 campaign. Griffiths was the first officer in the brigade to draw blood. In January lie had set the ball rolling by leading a small scouting patrol across the Chindwin, and had shot three Japanese. His hair was long and shaggy and he sported a huge moustache; by the time he had grown a beard he was a terrifying spectacle. Former Wine Merchant The wildest-looking member of Wingate's Follies was Lieutenant Geoffrey Lockett, a former Liverpool wine merchant, referred to among the Chindits as "the toothless, kilted wonder." Before starting out Lockett had all his front teeth pulled out, grew an enormous heard, and —being a good Scotsman—insisted on fighting the campaign in akilt. As a concession to local fashion, he wore a cone-shaped Burmese coolie hat. In a tight corner he would pull a battered tin box out of ,his pocket and take a large pinch of smiff, Lockett's kilt, as a matter of fact, came in very handy. Calvert burrowed under it to shade his torch when reading maps at night, and other officers used it as a wind-shield to light matches under —until Lockett was burned in a tender spot and announced that here-

after match-lighting under his skirt was verboten. In New Delhi Lockett's appearance caused rage and consternation among the retired military and their memsahibs. Thompson heard one woman exclaim as he and Lockett entered the bar of Maiden's Hotel, "Who on earth is that extraordinary man? Sometimes he has teeth, sometimes ho hasn't, and he's always taking snuff. I don't object to that so much, hut he drops it all over his moustache. Too disgusting!" To which a vintage brass-hat added with a snort, "What a very odd type of young man seems to get commissioned these days." The Tonga Club During the training period Lockett formed the Tonga Club; the tonga is a native carriage well patronised by retired generals short of *vind and afflicted with gout. The members of the Tonga Club mot to discuss what they would do when they were retired generals. They agreed, among other things, to hold bath-chair races and to see to it that commissions went only to a "very odd type of young man." One of the alumni of the club later confessed: "Wo longed for civilisation so much that we had to thumb our noses at it." Behind Lockett's freakish antics and eccentric facade was a determined soldier and a brilliant officer. He had risen from the ranks, had been commissioned in the Seaforth Highlanders, and then had served with the 4th Commandos. For his exploits in the Wingate expedition he was awarded the Military Cross. "Throughout the operations," his cita--tion read, Lieutenant Lockett commanded a squad which achieved the greatest results of all the RQuads in tho'brifrade, largely because of the personal courage and initiative of this officer and of his men, inspired by his example. Before Calvert's column started out "Mad Mike" announced to his officers: " 'Nunquam Wopas' will be our motto." (Nunquam is Latin for "never," Wopas is Hindustani for "retreat.") "It is an admirable phrase," he added, "which proves both the classical education of the British officer and his ability to pick up native dialects." The Decoy At the Burma-Assam border one section of Wingate's force, acting as a decoy group, struck south. It consisted of two columns, led by Major Arthur Kmnietf and Major George Dunlop, and a "deception group," under the command or Major John B. Jefteries. Its task was to divert the Japanese from the main body of the expedition and to deceive the enemy into believing that the British were driving in force toward the lower Chindwin. A day's march brought the southern force to its last food dump. More the men ate their last field service rations —bully beef stew with bacon, potatoes and onions, tinned fruit, tea, bread, butter and jam. At this point Wingate paid them a surprise farewell visit in a "doodlebug"—a monster jeep—to wish them good luck. Two days' march from the Chindwin they stopped for a supply-dropping and took a second 011 the following day, February 15, making no attempt at concealment, with the deliberate intention of drawing attention to themselves. They crossed the Chindwin without incident at Auktaung, 40 miles due south of the main body under Win-

gate, on the nights of February 15 and 16. They were agreeably surprised at the pleasure shown by the villagers, who gladly provided boats and helped them with the loading. After the crossing they marched due south throughout the day, but that night their main body headed off to the east, while Jefferies' deception group continued southward on a crucial assignment. Even in Wingate's Circus, which contained a generous assortment of unusual people, Jefferies was a unique phenomenon —a professional Navy man in the uniform of a major in the Royal Irish Fusiliers. Jefferies led his small deception group toward a village whose headman was known to have pro-Japanese sympathies and could be relied upon to relay information to the enemy. In the jungle, some distance from the village, he halted and pulled out of his pack a handful of military insignia. A little while laier a red-tabbed general angl his staff officers entered the village and commandeered the Thugyi's house, politely informing the headman's family that there was no need for them to leave. Then, with carefully calculated indiscretion, Jefferies proceeded to give the impression that this was the head-

quarters of a largo expedition heading due south. He pored over maps, mentioning the names of villages to the south. He asked about tracks and food supplies in the south and about .Japanese troop concentrations in that area, lie dictated orders to mythical battalions. All the while his officers, with an air of great importance, brought in a constant stream of messages, which Jefl'eries read with a suitably grave expression. The acting was good, and the actors were thoroughly enjoying the play. One officer solemnly handed Jefferies a message which read: "You have been invited to dine with Lady Snodgrass. 8 p.m. February 25. Black tie. The old harpie has been told you're coming." Another brought in a chit which announced that he had drawn the favourite in the Irish Sweepstake. A third mysteriously produced an ancient cable from Jefferies' bank informing him that his account was slightly overdrawn. The latter caused the "General's" face to twitch so violently that the watchful Burmese must have imagined momentous doings were afoot. Regretfully Jefl'eries rang down the curtail' witli a message of thanks to the traitor'* familv. Then his party marched off wit! great dignity into the jungle, and next day caught up with the main body of the southern force, which had been moving east.