Road of Bones (78 page)

Read Road of Bones Online

Authors: Fergal Keane

p. 168 ‘the fact you didn’t die’
Interviewed for this book.

p. 168 ‘A Japanese regiment’
Field Marshal Lord Slim,
Defeat into Victory
(Cassell, 1956), p. 290.

p. 169 ‘I have never taken’
Lord Louis Mountbatten,
Personal Diary of, Supreme Allied Commander South-East Asia, 1943–1946
, ed. by Philip Ziegler (Collins. London, 1988), p. 78.

p. 170 ‘feeding me like a baby’
Ibid.

p. 170 ‘saw the urgency’
Slim,
Defeat into Victory
, p. 306.

p. 170 ‘getting a division to’
Major General S. Woodburn Kirby.
The War
Against Japan
, vol. 3:
The Decisive Battles
(HMSO, 1961), p. 198.

p. 170 ‘extremely cagey on the subject’
Lieutenant General Sir Henry Pownall,
Chief of Staff – The Diaries of Lt.-General Sir Henry Pownall – edited by Brian Bond
(Leo Cooper, 1974), p. 150.

p. 171 ‘plenty of troops and could’
Ibid.

p. 171 ‘desperately worried’
Philip Ziegler,
Mountbatten – the Official
Biography.
(Collins, 1985), p. 272.

p. 171 ‘the stakes are pretty high’
Cited,
Ibid.
, p. 272.

p. 172 ‘if the Battle of Imphal’
Ibid.

p. 172 ‘weighing off a young arse’
IWM, file no. NRA 28568, Swinson Papers, diary of General Montagu North Stopford.

p. 172 ‘he walks around his units’
Arthur Swinson,
Kohima
(Arrow Books, 1966), p. 20.

p. 172 ‘his walk was unhurried’
Ibid.

p. 172 ‘we are going to buy’
IWM, file no. NRA 28568, Swinson papers, diary of General Montagu North Stopford.

p. 173 ‘Had personal discussion’
IWM, file no. NRA 28568, Swinson papers, diary of Major General John Grover.

p. 173 ‘more than concerned’
IWM, file no. NRA 28568, Swinson papers, diary of General Montagu North Stopford.

p. 174 ‘almost everyone in it’
David Wilson,
The Sum of Things
(Spellmount Publishers, 2001), p. 118.

p. 174 ‘but could frighten the life’
NAM, Colvin papers, file no. 9412-118-1-99, Letter from Brigadier A.D.R.G Wilson CBE to John Colvin, April 30 1993.

p. 174 ‘short, lithe, very smart’
Wilson,
The Sum of Things
, p. 90.

p. 174 ‘highly charged with nervous energy’
Swinson,
Kohima
, p. 22.

p. 174 ‘Wherever the General’
Ibid.

p. 175 ‘The situation in North Burma’
IWM, file no. NRA 28568, diary of General Montagu North Stopford.

p. 176 ‘We stripped off and’
Robert Street,
The Siege of Kohima: The Battle for Burma
(Barny Books, 2003), p. 42.

p. 176 ‘to sit on the back’
Ibid.

p. 176 ‘One formation approached’
NA, WO 172/4884, War Diary, 4th battalion, Royal West Kent Regiment.

p. 176 ‘because India at the present’
Interviewed for this book.

p. 177 ‘Immediately the engines’
Thomas Dinsdale Hogg,
My Life Story
(privately published, 1998).

p. 178 ‘Then as many men’
Interviewed for this book.

p. 178 ‘There’s a guy’
Interviewed for this book.

p. 178 ‘That didn’t do much’
Street,
The Siege of Kohima
, p. 43.

p. 178 ‘It was, in fact, a matter’
NA, Air 2/5665.

Twelve: Flap

p. 180 ‘total nonsense’
IWM, diary of Lieutenant B. K. ‘Barry’ Bowman.

p. 181 ‘I will send you someone’
Hugh Richards, ‘How I Got to Kohima’,
Firm and Forester: Journal of the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment.

p. 181 ‘This man was a truly’
Interviewed for this book.

p. 181 ‘You will be in operational’
NA, CAB 44/190.

p. 181 ‘touching down on a’
Richards, ‘How I Got to Kohima’.

p. 182 ‘with any visitor’
IWM, file no. 2234 92/39/1, papers of Major Walter Greenwood.

p. 182 ‘I had been told’
Richards, ‘How I Got to Kohima’.

p. 182 ‘Trenches had in many cases’
Richards Papers, ‘How I Came to Be at Kohima’ (private memoir).

p. 182 ‘The[re was] constant fluctuation’
NA, CAB 44/190.

p. 183 ‘Nobody took any notice’
IWM, Oral History Project, file no. 18283, interview with Dennis Dawson.

p. 183 ‘motley crew of useless’
Interviewed for this book.

p. 183 ‘all sorts and services’
IWM, file no. 2234 92/39/1, papers of Major Walter Greenwood.

p. 183 ‘It struck me that’
Richards Papers, ‘How I Came to Be at Kohima’ (private memoir).

p. 183 ‘In spite of the deplorable’
Pieter Steyn,
History of the Assam
Regiment
(Longman Orient, 1959), p. 85.

p. 184 ‘a sudden plunge from’
Slim,
Defeat into Victory
, p. 308.

p. 185 ‘I felt reasonably happy’
Hugh Richards, speech to Assam Regiment dinner, 29 September 1962.

p. 185 ‘As I walked around’
Field Marshal Lord Slim,
Defeat into Victory
(Cassell, 1956), p. 309.

p. 185 ‘without any attempt’
Slim,
Defeat into Victory
, p. 310.

p. 186 ‘packed so tight’
IWM, Swinson Papers, file no. NRA 28568, diary of Captain Arthur Swinson.

p. 186 ‘We were having lunch’
Ibid.

p. 186 ‘the whole brigade’
Arthur Swinson,
Kohima
(Arrow Books, 1966), p. 203.

p. 186 ‘Hallo, what are you doing’
IWM, file no. 10520 P104, Report on the activities of V Brigade, Brigadier V. S. Hawkins.

p. 187 ‘The local situation was staggering’
Ibid.

p. 187 ‘things began to alter’
Ibid.

p. 187 ‘in one big flap’
IWM, file no. NRA 28568, diary of Captain Arthur Swinson.

p. 187 ‘with their whole world’
Ibid.

p. 187 ‘Forty-five thousand’
Slim,
Defeat into Victory
, p. 309.

p. 187 ‘He didn’t like’
IWM, file no. NRA 28568, diary of Captain Arthur Swinson.

p. 188 ‘Very, very merry’
Diary of Lieutenant Bruce Hayllar.

p. 188 ‘We had breakfast in bed’
Letter of Lieutenant Bruce Hayllar to his parents, 31 March 1944.

p. 188 ‘This ending is very bad’
Ibid.

p. 188 ‘March in circle’
Diary of Lieutenant Bruce Hayllar, 1 April 1944.

p. 189 ‘Man after man vomited’
John Hudson,
Sunset in the East
(Pen and Sword, 2002), p. 16.

p. 189 ‘set like a jewel’
Ibid.

p. 189 ‘They said “Please Miss’
Ursula Graham Bower, interview with Professor Alan MacFarlane, Cambridge University.

p. 189 ‘I woke up one morning’
Ibid.

p. 190 ‘After all’
Ursula Graham Bower,
Naga Path
(John Murray, 1952), p. 194.

p. 190 ‘Going forward to’
Graham Bower, interview with Professor Alan MacFarlane, Cambridge University.

p. 190 ‘Somebody caused confusion’
Graham Bower,
Naga Path
, p. 190.

p. 190 A Mr Sharp of the
NA, WO 172/4587.

p. 191 ‘he was a subject of the king’
Graham Bower, interview with Alan MacFarlane.

p. 191 ‘I can’t go on with’
IWM, file no. 67/150/1, diary of Lieutenant Colonel F. N. Betts cited in
Imperial War Museum Book of the War in Burma
, Sidgwick and Jackson, 2002), pp. 138–140.

p. 191 ‘felt no compunction’
Ibid.

p. 192 ‘[She] gave him her only food’
Graham Bower, interview with Alan MacFarlane.

p. 192 ‘Flat out with violent’
Betts diary, p. 140.

p. 193 ‘about 600 hundred yards’
S. Woodburn Kirby,
The War Against Japan
, vol. 3:
The Decisive Battles
(HMSO, 1961), p. 236.

p. 193 ‘It was volcanic’
Harry Seaman,
The Battle of Sangshak, Burma, March, 1944
(Leo Cooper, 1989), p. 72.

p. 193 ‘without regard to its lack’
Louis Allen,
Burma: The Longest War
(J. M. Dent, 1984), p. 214.

p. 194 ‘nothing about any offensive’
War Diary, 152nd battalion, 50th Indian Parachute Brigade, Report by Lieutenant Colonel Paul Hopkinson, Battle at Sangshak, 1944.

p. 194 ‘always been very puzzled’
Ibid.

Thirteen: Onslaught

p. 196 ‘It was up and down’
Interviewed for this book.

p. 196 ‘We took them to our’
IWM, file no. NRA 28568, Swinson Papers, Recollections of Yukihiko Imai.

p. 196 ‘As soon as we reached’
Ibid.

p. 197 ‘It was actually our men’
Interviewed for this book.

p. 197 ‘At the very top of the position’
Harry Seaman,
The Battle at
Sangshak, Burma, March 1944
(Leo Cooper, 1989), p. 65.

p. 198 ‘the enemy had resisted’
Ibid.

p. 198 ‘They were the sandals’
Interviewed for this book.

p. 198 ‘There was much confusion’
Diary of Lieutenant Colonel Jackie Trim cited in Lieutenant General Eustace D’Souza,
Valour to the Fore, A
History of the 4th Battalion Mahratta Light Infantry 1800–2000
(ARM Publications, Mumbai, 2000).

p. 198 ‘The men were hungry’
Ibid.

p. 198 ‘to our great disappointment’
Kazuo Tameyama and John Nunneley,
Tales by Japanese Soldiers
(Cassell, 2000), p. 158.

p. 199 ‘With the firing’
Eric Neild, ‘Setting the Record Straight’,
Burma
Campaign Fellowship Group Journal
(October 1998).

p. 199 ‘It felt like hundreds’
Interviewed for this book.

p. 199 ‘We set up our machine’
Interviewed for this book.

p. 200 ‘Hearing my report’
Kazuo Tamayama and John Nunneley,
Tales by
Japanese Soldiers
(Cassell, 2000), p. 159.

p. 200 ‘could almost distinguish’
Seaman,
The Battle at Sangshak
, p. 80.

p. 201 ‘anyone in the open’
Eric Neald, ‘Setting the Record Straight’,
Burma
Campaign Fellowship Group Journal
(October 1998).

p. 201 ‘Well done indeed’
Signal from General Sir Ouvrey Roberts, 23 Division to HQ 50 Indian Parachute Brigade, 24 March 1944, cited in Seaman,
The Battle at Sangshak
, p. 85.

p. 202 ‘the rest of the company’
Seaman,
The Battle at Sangshak
, p. 81.

p. 202 ‘how those who entered’
Burma Front: Reminiscences of the 58th
Japanese Infantry Regiment
(58th Infantry Regimental Association, 1964).

p. 202 ‘The one I kicked’
Tamayama and Nunneley,
Tales by Japanese Soldiers
, p. 160.

p. 202 ‘As I pulled him’
Susumu Nishida,
A Last Drink of Water
(Burma Campaign Fellowship Group Newsletter, Issue no. 7, September 2005, trans. by Keiko Itoh).

p. 203 ‘Just one mouthful’
Ibid.

p. 203 ‘Those who can move’
Ibid.

p. 203 ‘a shambles of dead’
Lieutenant Colonel Paul Hopkinson, War Diary Report, 152nd battalion, 50th Indian Parachute Brigade (Airborne Forces Archive).

p. 203 ‘lying by the path’
Narrative of Lieutenant Colonel Jackie Trim, cited in General Eustace D’Souza,
Valour to the Fore
(ARB Publications, Mumbai, 2000).

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