WORLD OF SPORT

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 6, Issue 5, 16 September 1942, Page 6

WORLD OF SPORT

25 DAY TREK

ADVENTURES IN JUNGLE

CUT OFF BY JAPANESE

Among the many remarkable stories produced by the war, few are more .amazing than that which tells how Lieutenant-General Joseph W. Stihvell, United States Chief of Staff of the Chinese Army in Burma, cut off by the Japanese, led 117 British, American and Asiatic men and women through trackless jungle in a 25-day march to India and safety. The story is told in the London Dailj* Herald by Jack Beldcn, who was a member of the party. The little cavalcade included 30 Americans, composed of 21 officers, •including Major-General Franklin Sibert, five other ranks and four civilians. The Britons, headed by Colonel J. V. Davidson, and Major O. C. T. Dyfkes, of the British Military Mission to China, included seven officers and eight others. There were 21 women —two Indian refugees and 10 nurses—a Chinese liaison officer and a dozen Chinese soldiers, one dog named James, a goat presented by a tribal cliicf, and 15 mules picked up along the way. Total arms included 10 Tommy guns, eight rifles, and a few revolvers, but the only shot fired on the whole trip was one that Avent off b.A" accident. Story of Epic March Telling the story of this epic march, Beld.en states:— Marching at a fixed pace of 105 steps a minute, Avhich became knoAvn to us as the "Stihvell Stride/' the i skelctonTthin general Avalked into India with a Tommy gun on his shoulder. Behind him tailed Aveary, hungry, and sick "American, British and, Chinese Army officers, enlisted men, Karen Ivatehin and Burmese Avoraen nurses, Naga, Chin and Shan tribesmen and a devil's brcAA' of lindian and Malayan and. mixed breed mechanics, raihvaymen, cooks, cipherclerks and refugees. Stihvell sliOAved no signs of Avear, except gradually thinning checks. But most of the party Avere affected by malaria, dj'sentiy, skin infections and exhaustion as the3 T struggled through the elephant trails of Northern Burma, across the Chindwin River, OA*er a 7000 ft pass into the cloud-enveloped, land of headhunting tribesmen to final safety. Started Off On May 1 Our trip started from ShAvebo on May 1. As nearlj' all the river transport round Sluvebo had been sunk under orders, and as the raihvav was hopelessly jammed Avith refugees, aa'c formed a motor column composed of 14 jeeps, four sedans and 10 trudks, planning to go along oxcart tracks as far as possible and then Avalk. There Avas no other way. Shortly after midnight on May 1. Colonel Robert Williams, American surgeon attached to StihvcH's headquarters, and I set lire, to American headquarters at Shwebo, Avhleli CA'enonc else had evacuated .several hours before. After an all-night drive Ave joined the motor column going north : wards. j For live days. a\~eraging 30 to -10 miles a day, Ave groped and hacked Avitli hatchets our Avav Uirough the thickets of Northern Burma under terrible heat, and Avith little Avater. We lost five or six ears along the route. On the second day our radio -was badly damaged and Ave destroyed it, thereafter operating Avith little or no information as to the Avhereabouts of the enemy, hut. pushing straight northwards seeking to get ahead of the railway jam and board a train. Railway Wrecked But wc found the railway wrecked—and this, coupled Avith sudden news that the Japanese only three days previously Avore heading for Mytkjinya, caused us to turn AvestAvard, and .seek a route to India. The road ended in a jungle clearing, and Stihvell ordered us to abandon the ears and most of our perbelongings.

Then began the three exhausting dreary weeks in which Stilwell led our undisciplined, untrained party —over half of us civilians and nearly one-fifth women —through a maze of criss-crossing paths. Alternately he coaxed, urged, commanded us to hurry as we sought to escape- the jaws of the gigantic Japanese encircling movement sweeping up on the cast along the borders of China, and .on the west up to the fringes of India. long after the last British rearguard had crossed the Indian border we were still wandering in the wilderness of Burma, never knowing itntil we reached the roadhcad at Implial where our Allies or enemy were. - By now our party of GO had increased to more than 100, as we had picked up refugees and British soldiers. The food situation was acute. Food Stocks Pooled Stilwell formed us into a circle, stood in the centre, and told us of the gravity of the situation. He demanded that nil private stocks of food be turned over to him. Then, slinging his tommy gun over his shoulder, dressed in campaign hat, a a old pair of khaki pants, and shirt, he plunged, into the stream, up which we walked three days knee deep in water, carrying the sick on inflated air mattresses. Our march was characterised, not by drama nor excitement, but by dreary, weary plugging through a tangled underbrush and over tortuous mountain trails, where sometimes every step forward was half a step backward, as tropical, rain turned the paths into downhill slides. Sometimes we were caught in '■back route" retreat from Burma along the main northern roads, our progress blooked by a leaderless, directionless .stream of helpless, pleading, praying, begging and cursing refugees seeking food, comfort, and aid. to reach India. At other times, on orders from Stilwell, we plunged through the thickest jungles, striking across unknown trails where the only sounds were the screaming hordes of unseen monkeys, the slithering of bright green poisonous snakes, and once the warning tinkle of the metal bell round the neck of an escaped "rogue" elephant, which had, killed several natives along our line of march.i Alternately scorched by terrific heat, under Avhich several of our party fainted, and drenched by tropi cal rains, sleeping on trails, alive with ants, leeches, malaria-bearing mosquitoes, coolking our scanty rations in petrol tins over jungle bonfires, eating wild berries and jungle vegetables, we reached India carding the sick and exhausted on stretchers fashioned from bamboo trees. Our inadequate rations, borne by jungle tribesmen, were once augmented by food dropped by aeroplane, only a portion of which we succeeded in getting before the natives swarmed from the jungle and carried it away. It was also augmented by the Karin Ivaehin and Burmese girl nurses who. under the direction of Major Gordon Seagrave. the heroic Burma-born mission doctor, picked berries and vegetables and made slews In supplement our small rice; diet. Our often dreoping morale was kept alive by these girls', all of whom are between the- ages of 17 and. '23, singing Christian hymns and ancient American jazz, as we marched barefoot 'downstream through heatscorched thickets and over rocky trails. For three daj's we floated on rails down a tributary to the I'.hindwin crossing. On the rafts the nurses wove huts from palm leaves which they decorated with wild jasmine and flowers, while they '-ang Karen Kaehin love songs. Finally, we all trekked io ianpiial, where we met the rearguard of the British Army coming from Burma. Our major goal was the Chindwin River. When we crossed, it a few j days ahead, of the Japanese we reached comparative, safety.