Several of our tanks had been knocked out and were burning before the hill. It was obvious when we de-bussed and marched towards the battle area that the Division was not having it all its own way. The hill, covered with temples and shrines dominated, everything. Mandalay Hill eventually hove into sight a very beautiful one but to any attacking infantry soldier, a daunting one. Transport became available and we were carried towards Mandalay. Thoughts were always for a rest but not for us. Bill Minto never failed us, feeding the battalion under the most trying circumstances. He was awarded a Military Cross for his action. Bill Minto, our quartermaster, was involved in quite a battle when ambushed bringing forward our rations with Peter Sibree. There were mines and booby-traps everywhere for the unwary.We were constantly involved with Japanese stragglers and worse, enemy suicide patrols.

Madaya was the next big town before Mandalay. We moved in two echelons, each with its artillery so that one could support the other. The advance was pretty horrible in Teak forest where the undergrowth had been burnt and we trudged through deep ash. This time, of course, on the East side of the Irrawaddy. One such message from a Japanese Sergeant killed on our wire said “tonight we attack the hated British for the last time - tonight we die, this is glorious!” These were Japanese Americans who were loaned to us. They had constructed strong bunker positions around our perimeter and the Indian Airforce attacked these with varying success.įrom dead Japanese we gathered notebooks and written messages and these were sent to Divisional H.Q where they were interpreted by C.I.S.D.I.C. Then night attacks became less ferocious and we began aggressively patrolling. After about 6 weeks of fighting on the bridgehead the pressure began to ease, as our Division in the South began “breaking out” of its bridgehead and the enemy began to retreat towards Mandalay.

The road past mandalay