Page 88 - History of War - Issue 01-14

FOR VALOUR

Unsung heroes Freddy made reconnaissance trips to fi ll
in details of paths and game trails where
they could not be detected. On one, he was
walking along a pipeline when a tiger bounded
over it some distance ahead. It gave a fl eeting
impression of “infi nite grace and strength”
before disappearing. Freddy had no fear of it.
Only diseased and toothless tigers became
man-eaters, and this one was in its prime.
Police tracker dogs were a different matter,
so Freddy and the team planned to walk along
stream beds for part of every sortie, to make
sure they broke the trail of their scent. Height
was another problem. They were too tall to
pass for Chinese or Malays, but the Tamils
who worked as rubber-tappers on the estates
had a similar build. They were dark-skinned,
Xxxxx Xxxxx almost black, so Freddy concocted a dye by
mixing lamp-black – the soot from kerosene
lamps – with iodine, coffee and purple
THE MAD the disguise with a white shirt, a dhoti or
crystals of potassium permanganate, used as
disinfectant. Once blacked up, they completed
sarong around the middle, and a white cloth
tied around the head. It helped that Tamils
were a timid folk and kept to themselves.
Harvey was a fl uent Tamil speaker, too.
They came within sight of patrols of
Japanese on bicycles, looking for them. Once,
FORTNIGHT they were so close that Harvey “whined to
them in abject Tamil”. Freddy covered his
face and bowed low to them, in the gesture
of submission that the Japanese demanded
of all passers-by – though, as he said, if
you were tall and your face was running
with sweat that might be washing the Tamil
colour from your English features, “you were
only too glad to bow down before anybody”.
Each was to carry a tommy gun, a pistol
and two hand grenades, plus an army pack
Second World War: With the Japanese extending their fi lled with explosives and British battledress.
power in Asia with excursions into the Pacifi c islands, They planned to change into uniform as
they approached a target, so as not to be
guerrilla-trained British hero Freddy Spencer Chapman executed as spies if they were captured. They
embarked on a deadly and explosive mission to derail them. were to operate at night, leaving the camp as
darkness fell after 5pm. Leu Kim [a member
Brian Moynahan follows his exploits behind enemy lines of the Chinese resistance] gave them a
torch, and they slipped a green leaf in front
of the bulb to give a ghostly green light that
CKST
BA
Y
OR
HILE ADOLF HITLER CONTINUED BACKSTORY access to the oil-rich preserved their night vision. Freddy found that
his campaign in Europe, Japan It’ s 1942. Japan’ s islands of Borneo, putting a few fi refl ies or luminous centipedes
It’s 1942. Japan’s
set about dominating the Pacifi c. assaults on Java and Sumatra. in the torch refl ector gave enough glow to
Having left the League of Nations China have been When General read a map or lay a charge if the battery
in 1933, the Japanese adopted condemned by Yamashita’s 25th Army failed. If still out at daybreak, they planned
an aggressive foreign policy that the Allied nations, attacked Malaya with to rest up in the jungle, wading up a stream
who have placed
saw them step up their attempted embargoes on the 60,000 soldiers, 500 bed in case the German shepherd dogs from
W subjugation of China. Tensions Empire. In retaliation, aircraft and an armada Tanjong Malim were sent after them. Towards
between the two countries came to a head in Japan have declared of war ships, Allied forces nightfall, they would change into their Tamil
1937 with skirmishes at the Lugou Bridge, all-out war and didn’t stand a chance. outfi ts, keeping a pistol and a grenade tucked
a vital access route to Beijing – an episode that begun conquering At the time, the Allies’ in their sarongs, and slip quietly back to camp.
Xxxx
ignited the Second Sino-Japanese War. Seeing the Pacifi c islands… presence in the Far East A single click made with the side of the
Japan’s imperial ambitions as a threat to their suffered from a lack of tongue and the teeth meant “stop” or
interests in the region, many nations – including funding – the priority was winning the war in the “danger”. Two clicks was “OK” or “go on”.
the Soviet Union, the UK, the US and even west – so most of their air force in the region Freddy also taught the others a rallying call
Germany (before Japan signed the Tripartite was destroyed within days, while their ground to use if they were lost or scattered. He
Pact that united it with the other Axis countries) troops were unprepared and poorly equipped. chose the hunting cry of the British tawny owl,
– began providing military and fi nancial aid. Under siege, they fl ed en masse to Singapore. denizen of ancient woodland and churchyards.
It was America’s economic embargoes that But left behind, stranded in the Malayan jungle, Country boys – as Freddy had been – called
helped persuade Japan to attack Pearl Harbor were Freddy Spencer Chapman and his two up owls by blowing into cupped hands through
in 1941. With America distracted (temporarily, comrades, Bill Harvey and John Sartin. While that their thumbs, making an eerie, shrill kew-
at least) the Japanese were clear to extend would be a terrifying prospect for most, guerrilla- wick. The piercing cry carried a great distance
their offensive to Hong Kong, Singapore, Burma, trained Chapman saw it as a chance to launch in the thickest woodland. It could not be
the Philippines, New Guinea and Malaya. Japan a counter-offensive. Before long, he’d devised confused with any other jungle cry, he said,
needed oil – its navy alone consumed 400 tons a deadly mission for the three of them. Daubed yet “to the uninitiated – and we included the
an hour. And while Malaya didn’t have much of the “mad fortnight”, it was designed to derail Japs in this class – it passes without notice
it, conquering the island would enable easier the Japanese army – sometimes literally… in the variety of weird nocturnal noises”.
88 HISTORY WAR
of

HoW01.V for valour.indd 88 30/01/2014 16:59