 I
have included this information about the South Wales Borderers, as my great
Uncle Bertrand Jones gave his life in Burma. This document which is from
the South Wales Borderers' museum fact sheet is a record of the battle in
which he was killed. I think it shows the absolute horror of war. Like so
many people, I am grateful for the efforts of people like Bert, yet am so
saddened that he will never have any descendants to follow him. If there
is one person in my family tree that stands head and shoulders above anyone
else then it is Bert.
The 6th Battalion was raised in Glanusk Park, Breconshire, in July 1940.
Almost none of its men had had any military training. It trained as an infantry
regiment until April 1942, when it suddenly became a tank unit - 158th Regiment
Royal Armoured Corps (The South Wales Borderers). Psychiatrists weeded out
those unsuitable for the new role. In this capacity the battalion sailed
for Bombay in October 1942, and trained in India as a tank regiment until
March 1943, when to the great disappointment of all ranks, it was reconverted
to infantry. It now trained as an amphibious assault unit and moved to Calcutta
to attack Akyab. But this attack was cancelled and the battalion was sent
to Burma to fight as an ordinary infantry regiment in the Arakan. In spite
of a chequered career and many disappointments it was now to prove its worth.
| Burma, 1944/45 Mayu Tunnels |
There
were only two roads through the Arakan and one had been designed as a railway
and ran through a series of tunnels from Maungdaw to Buthidaung on the Mayu
River. The Japanese were in control of this road and so could pass men and
supplies quickly from one side of the Mayu hills to the other. The battalion
arrived in the area on 20th March and its first objective was the capture
of the two tunnels used by the Japanese for storage and gun emplacements.
The enemy were subjected to three days of shelling and dive bombing and
then 'B' Company began a determined attack, which involved the taking of
four enemy positions camouflaged in thick bamboo, which lay one after the
other on a spur commanding the approach to the feature over the first tunnel.
The battle developed into fierce hand to hand fighting, in which 'B' Company
pressed on doggedly. Sergeant Woodhouse won a DCM for capturing an enemy
post single handed when its fire decimated his section. In two and a half
hours 'B' Company drove back the enemy and established themselves over the
first tunnel. The Japanese however, remained in the tunnel underneath. Meanwhile,
'D' Company attacked a spur on the other side of the tunnel in support but
failed to take its objective and suffered a number of casualties. This spur
was named 'Tredegar Hill', for most of the men killed came from Tredegar
in Monmouthshire. Earth from this hill now stands in a casket in the chambers
of the Tredegar Urban District Council. The next day day a Sherman tank
was brought up to fire into the mouth of the tunnel. Bodies and debris were
blown out of the other end of the tunnel and ammunition stored inside exploded
and burned for hours. Next day the tunnel was occupied and aptly named '24th
Tunnel'. The Japanese abandoned Tredegar Hill without further fighting.
For this action, which cost the battalion eleven killed, Major Crew-Read
commanding 'B' Company was awarded an MC and an Indian water carrier who
helped evacuate wounded received an MM.
By July
1944, the Japanese army in Burma was being pressed from the east by the
14th Army from Manipur, by an American and Chinese force in the north and
by the Chinese fron Yunan. On 4th July 1944, the battalion was sent to Ledo
to reinforce the American Chinese forces operating in North Burma under
General Stillwell. It was flown to the Myitkina area and set off towards
Mogaung, supplied by air, living on American rations and supported by Chinese
artillery. The division had had to leave its transport behind for the duration
of the monsoon, and the battalion had only a few jeeps adapted to run on
the railway line, and eight mules. From Mogaung (on the Myitkima-Mandalay-Rangoon
Railway) the battalion began a nine months march, the first hundred miles
of which ran along a narrow corridor in thick jungle, in one of the world's
wettest and most unhealthy areas. The first battle was at Sahmaw Chaung.
The Japanese held Sahmaw village and railway station. The Battalion task
was to outflank a foothill known as Hill 60 and to capture a point to the
west where a track forded the Sahmaw River. This would cut the Japanese
line of retreat from the main attack. The battalion spent thirty six hours
in an assembly area, drenched by rain and hidden in long grass only a thousand
yards from the enemy, and in the early morning of 5th August, they began
the attack - 'A' and 'B' Companies on the right flank, 'C' and 'D' on the
left, and 'HQ' in the centre. The advance was over flat ground with little
cover except grass some three feet long. The Japanese were in strong positions
in a chaung with steep banks running at right angles to the line of advance.
They poured fire on to the centre column and the Commanding Officer, Lieutenant
Colonel Cresswell and his staff had to crawl into a ditch only thirty yards
from the enemy. The flanking companies were held up by heavy fire and suffered
many casualties. 'A' and 'B' Companies reached their objectives by dint
of hard fighting and a byonet charge. 'C' Company's leading section was
wiped out except for its bren gunner who, with Lieutenant Harris and Sergeant
Carr, attacked the enemy position, killing about ten Japanese, and enabling
the company to take cover, but they could advance no further. Colonel cresswell
and his staff crawled back some six hundred yards and then withdrew the
left and centre columns who crawled back under cover of a smoke screen.
The next day the Japanese positions were heavily shelled and 'A' and 'B'
Companies were then able to occupy them without much opposition. The battler
had been fought in intense heat and discomfort and it cost the battalion
four officers and seventeen other ranks killed and fifty eight wounded,
but had achieved its purpose. Three MCs, one DCM and four MMs were awarded.
Bert was buried in the Taukkyan war Cemetary, Burma. Plot 6.F.21.
|