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VOL. XC: ',FEBRU#tY, .1948. No. 2 '-~~--:--:--_-:---'----'--_--:,-:--i--i--'-:--..,.-~----'~--- "I '

Authors are alone ,tespol\Sible fot ithe. statements made and the 'opinionsext>ressed in their papers.

, )1, ,' ...

JQu.-nal ~. ," o£tbe, ,

·Medic'~l ',COrp$,., , "

, . .' Original· Communications.','

,IU)RMA RET~AT, ,1942 ~PartII. . '" ~ . .

{Compiled/ram letters written, by (then) BrigadierT. o. ThompsorHD.D:M;S;,ButmQ, to (then) Brigadier H, C. D. Ran,kin, DD.M.S.,-G.H.Q., India.)

, '" J have been, asked to co~tinue myrambliriK notes ~bout the 'withdra~alfrom; " , Burni~ to complete the picture. , , ' " , ' .

i I am a£'raid these notes will, not seem quit.eso spont!ille~us,' seeing.tJ:;1at, we , h~ve bet!n out a month: and events have rather receded into the backgl'ound .

.AJ1yhow, I will ,have a try to' paint it picture which.wili be useful to others. , Retreats ,as a, rule, win fll,iht praise, butpersonal experience of two previo)lsly. and of this one from Burma, have convinced nie'that retreats offer to the Medical Ser;vic~s their mo~tdiffic.)llt job. "It is pl~asing totbink,that the l\1edica~ Servic~s have done that jobsatisfacrorily in this retreat.' ' , . '

" '.

. " ,POSn:ION IN GENERt\L. , ,

Wen; ~t the e~d or the previous letter we had. reach~d the point where the whole force had turned about face, were cut,Off froni the sea,-had no real base or L. ~f C. leading out of the co~ntry and now'hadthe role qf defending the Burma Oil Fields an{l the Burma-China road. The plim .. envisaged holding a line from west to, east south ~f Prome~Toungo?~the Mawchi Mines to the .impassable country along the Salween river.' . ' ,

We hll,q 17 Div. on the right, 'Bur. Div. down from the Shan States' in the centre and the Chinese Armies On the leftflank~viz. 'Foungoo and eastward. ", There were manyplaIl:s; one after the. other, to each of which wt;hafto devise'

" medical arrange~ents. One. was to fonn strong points with twenty-one days~ ,supplies at Projlle at Allanmyo, a ,centraL 'one and one at ToungQo., Fort'9is wc were supposcd ,to .. put in hospital' accommodation and medical' stores. FOT" , ,; tunately this, .was not carriedth,r~ugh.·' • '. '

Whanictually carrleabout was a series of attacks; cOll~ter-attac~s, toad block;s , and withdrawals which gradually gavt'upimder pressu~e the ~romearea,Prome,

A1J;anmy(),. Taungwindgyi, Pyinmana, Toungoo, then ,finally the oil fie1d~ .. 4 ' " , .

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48 BurmaRetreat 1942

MEDICAL A~RANGEMENrS: During this stage 'we had apprQximatyly the.,toUowing"medicaJ arrange­

ments :Fo* General Hospitals at Maymyo~two at Mandalay; one at'Meiktila; two in the ShanStates, andtw9 Ambulance Trains;' . .,..... "

, No. 2 ,Bur. G.H. wasaf Prame.' Incidentally without my orders, this unit put itself on to a ship ori the plea ,of makingupa' ho~ital ship. The .n~:xi. th~ng I knew about it was the C.O. appeared in' Ma9dalay ... Hewa~promptly pusheo

, back to the OilfieIdsareawithddinite instrnctionsnot'tb t:bttte'3way without' my' \ . . ·orders.:, . ',.

'. W~ hac! five or'six ships working t-6 Prome:!!; hospital ships,but itwasb~­coming.,increasingly difficult to get crews·togn :down river and often: ashTp would.beleft in the lurch at Mandalay by:the'crew walking ashore. , ' "', .

. The H.S.'~Mysore:' was most useful at this stage as a floating' hospital with 8 C.C.S,as staf[ . In fact the floatinghospitalhasinuch to recommend it. It was at this stage theJ;:tps definitely gave a 'si&nal tothe "MysoreH to dear out of a.bombing area.. A fiighf of planes circled round a~ Iow al!~tl.!'de and attracted attention, then one dropped a bomb about 100 Y;.lrds away on shore.' So th~ p:c, took it as a message and cleared off upstream.for a .couple of miles. ~ix'

'hours later, Prome and the area .where Mysore had beenmobred yVas h~avily bOl!lbed~. It might be worth mentioni~g that not once have the Japs' bombedC,a

. hospitill area which wa$ clearly Ill-arked as, such. At Mll:ymy? two "Ove,rs" from the bazaar area hit 3 Bur .. G.R, but T am sure they \YereaccidentaL At Imphill one homb hit. the labonltory in the civil hospital; again I think ari"Over"'forthe Residency. But this I think is the crux-of the matter,th"erriarkings tnust be ,. ' plain and large and the hospitals not near a legitimate target; . .

The Red Cross ,must be .75 feedrom side to ~ide, vii,~acharrn 35 feet long and .s feet wide, placed .in a white. ch'de; to be visible from 10,000 feet. Iris not theslighi:est )lseputtiIlg in a fiddling :red cross 6 or even 10 f~et across; 'at .. Maymyo one of bur red crosses .was the. full· width of afootbaJI groul,ld.. .' .

A Medical Store depot was. opened at Ptomewith the,stores broughi: up by ,.th~road con'9'0Y of Rangoondust and filth carts. -.' '.. .. . , . Cholera was, very bad at this. stage il:\ the Pro~e area and we had some ,difficulty in getting sij:fficientvaccinedownto them. ," ... .

. No.2B.S:S .. at Magwe held a few patients for air evacuation and Holman as D.A.D.M.S. L. of C. got away,some 48, then up. to 78. cases by air frbm the.'·. Magwe ae:odrom~. /, "

. DIVISIONAL MEDICAL UNITS. . '.' ,

Bur. Djv., with Agate,asA.p.M.S.; with 2 and 57'Fd.,Ambs. came ~owIitO . the railway areaat'Pyinmana-Ta:ungdwyndgyi.'Th~re were frantic calls fr.om Ingram,A.D.M.S. Bm, Corp~, at this time for the hospital train. Three times was ·.this sent down and three ,times it return~dempty, once being ordered away while waitirigforpatients by the officious A.Q.of:e'-1r.,Div. Itisanextra"P!di­nary, thing th,atany one; from StaffCaptairisupwards, seems t?have a perfect right to, order medical units about or' to come iri~oamedical imit and criticize -its administration whereas a .Gunner Unit or Signal. Unit wouldtell.such.inter-

. 'fering busybodies to mind their Qwn.businessand te!l thetn'to goto -, -, -' -",

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"We, were also using as a M.D.S'. part of the B';O,C. hospital at Yenanyaung. This wiis a very finely equippedhospital' built and tun' by Dr. Terry and staffed

" with 2 'European and 7 Karen Sisters . .It was quite the best hospital in Burma. ". • , < I • ,-

. . . '. " COMr.;1l1NICATIONS.' " "

COl)lmlJl1~cations 'were very dif~icult .. An, OffiQe~ ,Courier System was set go­ing between important headquarters, Even s6 it:wasquicker;mp. mo're certain

. to send medical couriers., Coppipger,D.A:D.:~,i;S:; on his jeep was most useful , in· this w'ayas he could retceimd:report.at every place." . ,

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TIBET

.... } , >"'~"----'I"t''''''''''' . ,,; •• .,{.; B HUT A N /

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B,AY

OF.' BENGAL

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5,IAM

. MOV~SOF M~DICALUNITSANI> PROVISION FOR 'TiIECHINESE. ,

The river evacuation route. was obviously going tobecortle more. 'and more 'important, so.weneededC.CS.satvariousstages on thisroute~ For this purpos~" 2C.C.S:s,4 C.C.S.s and le.C.S.were extracted from the Shan States area,where .. 'I

they had been~nder Aga.te and'~ad been treated as Divisional Units. The speed' with;\Yhith t};ley managed to ,get flcrossto Myingyan,ohce, theY'j:eceived(j)rders, .' wasastouhding. Anyhow they were ready lJefore theywer.e ~xpec::ted, and proved

rnost, useful.i I, C;C;S. was1lent to the C~inese:and placed at Meiktilawhere amidst frequent bo~hing and loss of p'ersonnel, Kingston, the O.C.,didex.cep­

", tionally good work. 2 Bur.' S.s. and a,small section of4,B-t.l.~·. G.H. at Taunggyi . , , . ,

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50 Burma Ree.real 1942

~ere <J,lso placed at the. disposal of the Chine~e: Their medical arrangeinentsa).e ,very limited; 4.surge~ns· and 30 traineddress~rs for artatmyof 20j009 men. Luckily for them the Frien-ds ambulance lluit and Seagrave with his' American M~dicaI Mission did wonders fortheOl within their limited scope. THe 'Chinese

· also had one Amb. train given 'them hyus, prepared' for civjl defence, but it was,' split, up, a party of officers too~one-thirdofit up the. hiil and th;itwas that_ .

(;eneral Lob, Chief Surgeon~Ceneral of aU the Chines.e Forces, came to May- _ myo_ Unfortunately I did not see him there, ~ut 1 <;lid see General R6bert :GIll, .

• Surgeon-Genei-alofrheChinese Red Cross.· It wascuribus to hear a broad Scots' "accent"and'idioms from a Chinese Gen'eraL . ..

NeX'tdayCplonel Williams, U;S; MedkaI'Services, Chief Surgeon t~"Gen~ral .Stilwell's Headquarters to the ChInese Arjni~s,came iilt~ arrangeab.out an~ helpwe could giveto the Chinese. .... .. . Theirs was a thankless task' hecaus'e the Chinese have so little. :Ve gave them all the. medical suppl+es tht;y asked for; arranged for Seagrave's unit to have everything iCneedecl;' fixed upabout 1 C.C.~. 'at Meiktila, 2 Bur. ,S.S. and 4 Bur, G.H. a~ Tqunggyi, the Amb. train. andw help .out' with a: hospital ship, ft~e "Assam." We gave them a IOO-bedded'ward in 41 LC.H. and were in aetual · fact treating their patients in nearly every'hospital wh'erever we had contact with them. These·arrangements worked well but weteveryJiinited considering

I the numbers .of wounded 'which were coming in. .Luckily we had a sprinkling of officers and nurses who could :speak ChInese. '. .' . . .'... . ' . . ' . It was,at .this period that a-Chinese RA.M;C, Officer turned up. He had . escaped from Sh<,lnghai, then frpm Hong Kong., He had previous' war s~rvice with the R..A,M.C.; and was now. again a Lieutenant R.AM~C. He had lost . everything and as his wife and family wer~ in Jap hands he wasusing.a non~. family mime. 'ltook hiIDPnas Major Wan, as liaisqn officer an,d finally attached him toourqhief Liais0n Officer with the Chinese Forces. He.was a: stout fellow

· and did good work

MEDICAL ARRANGEMENTS' F~R\WrTHDRAWAL ',FROM OILFIELDS.

Medicalarrange~ents in the withdrawals llnder pressure to J>ronie, from Prorp.e, Allanmy.o, Mag,we and then. theoilfi~lds,. were nop.e too easy· and Field Ambulances did very .fine. work in getting cases away. i Transport was becoming .. very short and bullock carts and pack had to be used:, MacAlevey, AD.M.S. 17 Div., was already lJ1aki~g his presence felt with fearless shepherding of the Fd. Ambs. and casualties in~hat Division ..• The bulk of casualties were got away by ,river; using the larger ships "Mysore", and "Siam" as fio,!-ting C.C.S,s and ferry­lin'gsmaller ships t~) them or from them up to Mandalay. This journey was

'becoming shorter, but even now took three tp fi,;,e d'ays ancI was none the easier from· excepti6n~Ily l~w water in th~ river, desertIon of crews, difficulties over ratiohingiandepidemicsof cholera atintetmediate places. ..

• , '. ' . '\ I ,!' ,~,

. '. . SHORTAGE 'crIi' WATER. ..' . . .

The d,ryness of tht!centraI areas ~ndthe short,age of.. water cauied much haidshiptQ' thewbuhded and, there were a number of casespf heatstroke and

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. • exhaustio~. :()nj;! loo~ed"~n,Burwa\ ~sbeing alahd of'inuch water a~idgreeriei'y;' . " but'theceritraI dry beIt is mol-dike the C.P: of . .India,but·evt'}n 'drier with.Illany ,,'

ar€a8withnO,waterfor 30 ,to40 ' miles,. " "'., ,.,",' ' , ,~ \

" THE BATTLE OF YENANGAUNG. '

,', lnthe c~mfiised,fightirig\;rotmd the dilfields meaical :units had~ a very difficult tim~andwerefrequentlyund~r close tangeinortar fire:.Inthe battle of Yen an/ gaung 57Fd. Ari:ib;,to .whicq I had\ .postedRus~elI)n place of Officer, took it': badlyAand a J:lumberwei:<c.captured. )thasbeendiffiCultto.gettothebottotyl of ' fhe, final tale,bUt rep()rt ~ald ,that Russe~l was wound~d, an,d a,nu,rnber kiiled 'i 11 "

; escaping frpni.a b~rning building into Which therhad been pushed,as, prisoners.

l'

" . ' , ,',' . , • ~THENE~ PLAN. ", ',', '., '

, D~ringthisperiod itwas.impossible to get down tomiiike perSQliale<mtact , b<,;cause of the difficulty of being away for mor~'than a day at a, time JrOIu H.Q;;.

pIa,ns ~were being changt;!d and, .if I wem away, something untoward immediately' happened:' Theplan.now \'Vas that we would hold a line west.toea~t ,through Chauk"Meikfila~~o Shan States; with a thi:~e prong L;of' C: leadirig :towards India and China;'viz;'(l) Monywa"Kalewa-TamuNorth West to' India, (2) Shwe-' bo-Myitkyina North to Indi,a' andChina,(3).Maymyp~Lashio t6 theBurma~

,.china E.oad. This 'meant aCOJ;nplete redistribution of medical ull:its andl'~0res. So the following chimges were ordered to beready.by April 15,:- ' ," , , To the Kal~warQute,:2 BUT" G.H.Y~nanyaung w'Monywa with 2 Med, Stores Dep<jt of ~Optons.illid Fd.~aboratorY2 CG.S;Myingyan to'Monywa and

'.Kalewa.16I.S.S.Kalewa and,then Taniu. ' " " To the Nbrrh route: ,1 Bur. G.H""Kalaw to'Shwebo for ,holding air-evacua-

, tion cases., 13" Depot .Med., Stores fruIn Mandalay and,.200 tons, store~: ' 4' Bur .. G,H. to Myitkyi~a fro.m TaJinggyi. 41 LG,R to Katha,£rom Maymyo. 59 LG.H: tentage an,d equipment to K,athafrom,Myingyan. 400 tons medical stores from Mandalay ... In,addjtion the intenti'on .wasto form' a complete hospital

, centre from the hospitals at Maymyo at Mounyin, 100 iniless<'H:lthof MyitkYina,. , wher~therewas a good mission.hosp~tal,andwhereit was~elt'patients could if , " necessary,b~left. ,', , ,-" " ' " ' , " '

-To North-east: ,7, Bur. \G.H~Maymyo to Bhamo;' ) Fd., Lab. 'an,dl,\1edicai Stores, Bhamo. ,RH.C H.Q~ and trainipg wing, Bhamo. ,3 Bur. ,G.!!. May.myo to Lashio.200tons Medical Stores froni Mandalay tciLilshie. ',- , " ',' . " :' , Ther~ were.ml!hy other minoI' changes; fo'1- exampleEBui". G.H" ha~i~g been ' 'in· th~middle of h'eavy bd~birig at Meiktila was moved to Sagaign;changed into'

a: V.nhospitalandexpanded to 600 beds. Basu in Command at Meiktila had', , done splendidly,in' spheofdesertions and many other difficulties~ ,He remained , as2nd~in~CorrimandandEameswasextia:cted from his V.D. wards .at 8 Bur. G.H.~nd put ,in, Coni:rllan~l to ru'n: 6Bur~ d.H, as.a v.b; hospital. He ran an

, aniazingly good show. , ". '., " ' , . ', 2 RS.S; Was pui: into Bill Bks;,Mandalay, as a convalescent Depot and soon

. had up to 200 patients: ' , . " -,' , ' . . ,'(, """' ..

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.". . , _ _, ,_,MEDICAL UNm:i ON THE MOVE. " , ." "

,The, ab,ove,is:,ertough -to sho~ that the whole Medical' Service of the F.orce ' --' wa~ on the ,move, or about to move, th~ difficidty being to fry to retain ,sllfficient bed~ in lls(dor pres.ent needs., We were badly handicapped by ha:ving noco,n­valescent depots and very ~hort of ,British beds~ To make ~atters worse com-, ~unications be~ame hopeless, and nIessagest04 Bur. G.R.at Taunggyieventu- ' -aUy, took fOllrte~ndays to .get there:' There was the added difficul~ that one

,11ever knew whether mess(lgeshadbeeh received. '" ~i1'additiqnilierail",ays were' " beinghe,aviIy'bom~ed, the/line ,sabotageq~ or ordinary runnings completely in--- tetruptedbyChinesetroopillovements: 'Ambulance trains-' could-only be sent, /wlth diffictilty and' when sent_were out: of all ,touch uptil Jhey rolled,up witll a. , load of patients. - '-,' ' , ' -, , -- ' ", - - - - - ,I

" I Bur, G.H.:had got away through to Shwepo artcl opened'there and some '_ cases were got a\Yaybyalr. Here again there, was difficulty l?ecause they never,' _ knew when a plane was toming or howma):ly,would comen.or how many, ' patients_could. he sent:, ,- ,,' - '_ _ .

, -', Ev.entually4 Bur; G.R. got away from T,aunggyi: Tandon in C()mmirt'<iand , Miss Fewkes, the Matron;; were fine then, and laterdi4, magnificent work at , M yiikyina. Heto@k.one month's, rations for his whple'stafIan4:p<'ltients, ari act, \vhicheventually proved to bea sa~ingfactor at Myitkyin'a.' -, .1, wOlIld ,like' here ' to<paya.t~ibu,te 'to "Movem~ntControl" -under the, com­

mandof Colonel Soden.ln'spite of all th~se ,difficultiestheymana,ged to produce '; trains and inJorl11ation as best they 'co~ld. "

'CAUGHT ON THE Hop. ' With al1th~semov'esgoingon we ,were properlyca,p.ghto~t whe1'1resistance

, broke and we were pressedbllCk on' th:Ti'ght flarikan'd the Japrnechanized force, \ broke tproughonthe Ea~t.,'Caseswere.pouring into Manda]ayby train arid

i hospital ships..".,..300, then 500;theh 200; theri),200 all riotified as coming in and, the t-rouble was that, thebulkweie 'Bri~,is;h cases tram the very heavy- fi'gl:iting round theoilfields;a'mirior iiemsuch,as lOO-c1<l.blera· cases frbrhaButmaFJ;~.' .- .,. . . -.' .

battalion was nothi~g. , ' We were caught with half the hospital closed or on the move; but hospitals, .' I

I cq.S;s, Staging Sections. and Hospital ~hips playedupmagnilicently a,nd all • patientswc::ie cared for somehow~2B.S.S. had,a mixed crowd of 130 patients. H.S."Siilm",had nearly 500. miXed patients; 60 I.G.R had nearly 700 patients; 41 LG.H. had.;over, 1,000 British, Indian, Chinese, Burmese and some civiWm

! patients; a group . of 'conval~scent/offi<oersopened up a, conval~scent dep~t in, Maymy'o on their own: ,the Padre at Maymyo 'opened UP a Con. Depot forothei .

.. ranks; 30vheds off! Reinforcement camp.were changed to. il:Con. Depot; 8 'Bur. ' G.H. normally 57 beds + .20 ,f;M.R one afterno()n had2,~4 ,;BHtish patients of whbm52 were officers.' And so things were 'managed somehow.

Tm;, VISIT OF THE Ij .. M;S; AND D.D;H.ANOP;

.'./ To my astonishmentth~y -arrived ~arlierthan ,we thought was possible.' Th~ystayed two days and had a thorough view·'of Maymyohospitals;:bombed Mandahy, Sagaign, B.H.C. aiid th~ arrangements at Shwebd- such as they were.

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'. THlt BOMBING OF MAYMYO AND MANDALAY.

At the former ther~'was not'much, ~nly one high level, pattern bombing of the bazaar, area. Tpere was ample warning '~ven ~fter the planes appeared and '. casualties were almost all civilian. "Some heavy bombs Were used, craters 30 to 36feet,l;>ut theJapsdidnotobtaiti theiiobjective 9finakingthe civil population bolt;.tl1emajor~ty werebas:k in two orthreeqays: " , ' .. ,. '. '.' . ',:'

'. '. At Mandalay there wa,s Jlowarning, a high wind from the south and much· incendiarism by loca15th Columnists. .' The JaPS pU't ·downsti<::kS.ofbombs, I'ight

, .across .the whoIeba:zaar and on to' the 'station. The civil hospital was ,badly caught; Srirgeon~wereoperating.:when the.theatre was hit; the iniprovised

.. Chinesehospital wa,s hit and . burned, A.R.J:>. and civilian collection and treat­'ment ofcaslialties was noticeably satisfactory., Civil· Medi~alworked well on .

. <this occasion; . . . ,. ' . '.

. It was th~ ra.ging fire~hich did the damage arid was the amazing tiling to 'see .. It was deliberately. helped that day aid sub~equently. for ten days by in~ cendiarism. It was somewhat:amazing ,to go and, fillup'from 'a petrol pump

. ,near t~em:oat with a raging inferno of;fhimes just across thestr'e'e{ There, was " no bombing of the fort area nor any area marked as' a hospital area.' But the fi~e'

. in th~city passed over,the moat, 50 yards wide, and Dverthefol't wan ailds~t fire to 5 Bur. G.H: The old wooden ,buildings with wooden tilfs,biled'year after ..... , year, almostexplo'ded as would an open. pile of. gunpowder:'There was some ..

'inagnificent ~ork qone',here, that day particularly by the Sisters ,ana British and' Anghlndian orderlies. Miss B~iggs, Q,A.,(Res.);k.nowIi to all and sundry 'as "Blondie,'" was outstanding as an example to alL Patients and such equip~ent', .

. ~ as sould he sav.ed, were. moveq. tb the Goveinor'~ lo(}ge on the north .wall.' . Mof- ; , fatt; the AD.M.S.-L: of C. who had r~cently been commagdingthis very hospital coolly controll~d operations, bU.t had one disconcertil~g experience., A B,O.R.

, suddenly raIIleup,to'hill,landgaye him a dout'onth~ ?e:td."Thanksvery~ much, but whathaveYdone?" said Moffatt. The B.O.R. then asked him to look at histopee; this ~as 'sm~uldering freelywi!h ·.~4in. hole aJready~b~r!ied . through it:, ,,:.:.. .... " " .. . ..' .,.

, Opperiheimer's achievement in this fire was amazing. He had 6.00 patients in; ,and thehospiial, ,60 I.G.H: was. seriouslyt!;,rea~e~edby'fire; BcsidescOll,7 .. ir(jIling two rescue parties working in the burning city, 'he moved the whole ge?eral hospital-:-patients~equipment and tentage~to a place of safety near" MandalayHilh~·si.xand. a lialfhottrs. Re and '.hisstaffwere p.rett(don~ at, the end of it. ' ... ' , . .... '. _, - .. " '. .... ....

\ • > ".. ~ ,. " .' , .'

'CHOLERA, SMALLPOX, TETANUS; i>YS~~TERY{ ~N~ 'SEPrrc;SORES. . .. '. , Cholera\'(asavery serious menace at times. There was such ademarid.f()r

vaccine that'the reserves under Malone at Meiktila and the weekly output could .. '_, at times not; compe.te, ·.We were l~ckyapd had no realoutbreal,<. ex:cept oIl~' "

llurma,F.F. unit .(unprotecied) near Myingyan which had some 10001' more .' cases.' , . , . ',' , .' .', ".' '. .. . . ·.~utcivil cholera reached epidemic proportions round Prome, at Mandalay"

at MonyWa and on the YecU~Kale'wa-Tam~ road. '. We' werenotimpressedw~th

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RUr~l{1 Retreat 1942 ". " ~, q

the civilian ~ffol't at coping with' it.· Infact; but for. woi:i<byy orley, ;~.C.s:.,and . some othersa*d a private .practitioIl~r;Dr., Lusk; .c:holera at Maridalay.}vOllld

," havebee~a menaoe;:Asit was, the bombing scatter,edthe population and:stopped . the epidewiC:: ',' . , , .. ' '.. .".',. . "'; . . "..' ,.....

Smallpox ,produced: dviliap: epjdemicsbut hardly affected us. .. ." ' ... Tetanus proq~ced sorpe distr~ssing fatal· 'cases;, Ope serjeant had, ahis,t0ry . ofdouble·T~T. immunization. He had, been iil the.jungle;.woul1ded, fourteen, .

. days before receivinganyhOspi~a~.,treatmenp. . . ' . '. . Dyse'[ltery. made its presenc~ Jelt. andga've us some serious cases, diflicult to . m~tiage.und~~the Circumstances.' " "".' '. ". , .'

. , Septic S!'lres.~Thesewere most:noticeable; in fact towards the en:d of'the. retreat 1 in30fthe fit, troops had bandages of some kindoi1 them. .' .... .

.' ., MbRALE,DISCIPLlNE AND PERSONAL EXAM;PLE: ',' .... .

. ,.

.As you can see, my opinion of our . medical u.nits' was that as a wh9~e they' 'w~remagniacetit., I mayb~'inclined to regard many geese as swans,'butnever-' . ' . . thelessthey did their job· wdl,and praise. gets better results. than, cursing.

. . . .~

.' '" '. /,",'. 'THE STANDARD of;TREATMENT.·. . . ...•• '

" The'difficulti~s iti maint~in~ng an 'ad~quatestandar~ of dieting and' treatrtient were at tirhe~ 'great jn'd~ed"especiallyin. moving uqits and on the improvised .

'. ·hospital ships .. But cotisidering all things a good standard wasmalntained,and . 'opinion ip:. IndIa appears roapprove .OF .the surgical' condition of the ~outided~ '.

,}Vherepatients su~eredthe most, Was on the appallitlg roadjoumeys with ;no.Jadlitie~for intermediate tr~atment. Yj'!-U to' §hwegyn, Kalewa to Tamu, ~ .

. Tallly,toI1l).phal'and (J,Qoveall. ffn,phaNoDima'pilr. \. • ' ", .. '.h

I

.' Here I waS one of o'l:ugreatest successes and eventually ourgreatJoss~ sagh!af had gone off}o command 4' (:.C.S.'atid Bolman had been brought into co"ordinate'the. whole store~, bandobast. . With his charact~riBt~c energy he set to, collected; inall'0ver l,OOO tons of medical Stpres, so~ted, them out, scroung~d . transport frOIll. the most u~likelys·outces,.got ,200 toris of stores off to Lashib, M()nywa Shwebo and the bull{ oft~:r:emainder off tow£rdsMyitkyip~. ,It). addition he arranged to move the vaccine and Sera labs. with all'apparatus . to Namtuwhere' there were facilities; ,3.~tons.o£ cinchona, :whichthe D.P:H, .. had,'wiseIy bQllght, werebeihg converted in ,Mandalay Jail to. tablds;and he

. , ~'acq}lired'~ the agriculturaldepartI?eht's herd of prize cattle to send to Mohnyin 10att as'.a dairy herd for, the hospital .centre: Of course this SQo.n all came ro

,\ nothing; • '. '. '. /' .....• .:, " \' ' . . "Laboratorles-;-"we arranged 4, but· these also disappeared.

THE FINAL:CRASH-CHANGES OF PLAN-THE GE~E~t RETREAT •. ' .

"No.. sooner did it look' as ~hough 'we really" ",ere"beginnirig to man~ge' th~ medical side satisfactorily. than. the' break. thro.ugh. of' Jap mecl:lanized .. ' fqrces int,oi:he ShanStates and upt~'Lashio alteredthewhole.picr:ure; It wasobviollS

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,·T.O. Thompson' 55 .: ' • I " • _

we ,ffius(clear all hospitals outo£ Maymyoa~d ~h'atthe 'whole'£~rce wo~ld : .ha~e to retre~tuptheJ:1orth~we'stroutesto India: ,'But we had ;thc'bestpart

ofl',6QO patients:then.inMaymyo; the/hospitals in Maridalay we~e,shutand " on ,the move;we;didnpt.:kf).ow even whether ,4 :Bur.G.H. was ,ready in, Myitkyina; I:Bur. C;H. was crammed funaf:: Shwebo, as was 6 'Bur. C:H,at

,Sagaign,: 2 B1U:. G;;Rand2·C.CS.were atMonyw~, but not:yet'i'eady;.the hospital ships were crammed ,arid 900 m~re patients".~~id', tob9 dptl1eway up Glnd: of ,the; ambulance trains one was away, uptoShwebo, the other d,erailed near Meiktila! , " ':,'" ,,' ,,'" ", ' .. '

I The ,Ch~nese were in worse .plightbetause they had sorne, 2,000,'patlents. wi~hnowhere to put them. . ,,', ,':' ',', . " ", : '

We pushed patieritsofftoMonywa, to Myi,tkyina: andShw~bo by any trains' available;advanted:parties oL8;3and7:$ur: G.H.and 41 fc:H. were sent off to '

, , ,Mohiyin, Katha;Bhamo;Moffat"A..D.M.S .. L'~of C.went off,toMyitkyina and 'I M6hiyin, Jmtgot involvediri arid delayed ,by : a ,sabotage· derailmerit;the, '

'ambulance trains were l1esGuedand working, alternatively: up toMaymyo,and 60Lq.~.froin Mandalay, was 'sited and very quickly accommodated aLa Taw- , ' maw hutted hospital atCha4kmyauIig, on,the.river'17 miles east ofShwebo. "

,The'planworked, on 'at that tithe an,d right through the final. stages of, , ,the,retreat was to have medical units .to' h()ld patierits~t stages,pa,ss' theni . on and 'tnen each most-advanced, unit ip.1 its, turn, ~o leap-frog, right back ' past an the rest and be avaihible to ftmttiononce more much farther back. ' , .

'A.D.M.S., ,[7 :Div. u~ed the same~ethodinthe fightingr;treat ,of'that Division. Tn:fact it is the only satisfactory;m~tb.od.·

f:1 "

f THEFlt'!AL TRAiNsFROM¥AYlVfto. . " ",i ,',

.We thllscameto the last two, days with patientsTe~ucedandhospitals ", ,', . ' l'e.;u;ly tOn1<?ve WIth minimum, t;sserttial J<.it\ \y egotone train away :yvith sqme ,,'

'F,:" .

500 patients, pIlls personnel, etc.,' but still had all the serious' cases 'left and ,~henNo. 2 Ambulance Train most opportunely rolled up. " ',,"...'

, Darrell,D.i\;D.M.S..~ was hldefatigable ,in making . (!v~ry'arrangement ~a~d ' it'was largely due to, him thingswent\sO!/,rtlOothly: The Chinese rather ,upset " " maJters by taking trairisand, running them against 'call ,signals ,and timings. ,,'

We added five coaches to that ambulance, train and put 438 pa~ients, -73 nursing staff, th~es.sentjal equipment of two general, hospitals and essential " perso~ne} to run them, the district lab. and ,itsequipmerit,'fhe dent,allab.and Its eqllip!Denrandiaparty oftheR.A.M,C. Depot on that train;;', ' . .

The engine. could not stllrt it up: the hill" so the train had .to be split. It ( got aWay' at 0900 h?ursnextrh?rning,it stayed twenty-four hours a~ the, next '!1tation, the engine drivers bolted and Ftepch, inCorpniaI1di hada() go: and gettWovoll:lnteers~ro~' near ~andalay,it tookfiye,days for a twenty,.four hours: joumeyto Myitkyil1a,but it got therearid,all'patientsandnursingstaffs \~efe evacuated by air to India. , .,',' _ , ',,_ • For the balance,.we pUJ 50 patients arid ;some200per!mI1nelona mi~edi~' convoy of all the ambulance cars arid lorries' we ~ouldlay hands °tlandth~.y i-'

'drove toShwebo.From thered:hey wento~byvarious, trains northwards., •

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Burma Retreat 1942 ,

.. Ha ving "seer{ the last lot off; I slipped down to Zuringgyi station'to make sure that the ambulance train hadgone. 'Ithaii'Je£t twenty minutes previously., : I looked 'in, at Mohaung'Station but.it had pot reachedthete, but I got .a promise from Railway H.Q.that .it would be run through that evening •. In

. Maqda!ay. I found allset for dea.ring across .rhe, river, at'Sagaign I.c6ntac(ed the v~nmlS hospitalships;£ounel5 Bur.G.Hhad cleared OUt ori:'Siam"without helping anyone else, saw Eames 'and·6 Bur:G.R, Mrs; Jon'es the ma1:ron

. hadbt;en doing rilagnificent,wo:rk and whikI was there w,as dressing a number , of Chinese battle casualties. Eames by his own initiative and 'lateionby ,Cpppinger's ,help got away his. 600 patients, by train 'and steamer. 1 saw' Maiulg Gyiandhis B.H.C,aridarranged' for:themto clearmlt,butcouldget no transport' for them. Here. ag~in Coppingerccime, to· their. assistance. There was a heavy bombing 'raid 1 on, YawatatmgStation. 'From half a mile ~way it sounded quite severe, but the casuaities..veie 1 killed, 2 'injured .. ' I contacted DaliieIand'his 13Lt;Fd.Amb,;'theD.A.D.H 17 Div.; and SO and 23 Fd. Ambs., Corps H.Q. and so, came once more to, Sh'Yebo ~hePe ourH.Q. were ensconced in the F.F. Barracks.' ' '/ , '.

ARR~NGEMENTFORTHE FINAL RETREAT. . .

.. " From now' on th,ewhoIe affair,becam~ more personal; mfinly because of! the difficulty of comniuni~ation and ,ability,' to supervise the use and move-mentofunits. : .. ' . '. . '. . ,,', , : For the northern area Moffat, who was already up there, had to be ;entirely

responsible, but there.was 'no ~eans6f communication and once personnel ..ventnor1}l on the trains. or river:they. '"ere out oftol1ch and coIltrol.' '.: .

. Shwebo was not much of a ,place; , Water was scarce, a raiddnth~' station 'had not ,do!1emucl}! damage,' but twO raids of 30· planes smashed ,and set the,.

, . whole plaeeOrt fire;. a very nice;recen d;y. purch<l:sedbicyde of" mine,disappell;red , into this. Kinu, the nexfstationup the line, was similarly treated .. 1 Bu,r.

G.l;l.now uhder Anaswarili; Tarapore having been evacuated sick, had.dope alot,.ofgood 'work butb:y now\onlyhad 'some2QO pa~ients. '~ven nowthef wer,e getting some' away. by' air. " Tht. ciyil.hospital was dt;serted and we found

'a mixture of patients .,left. unattended, one a, padre who had been cut up by treacherous Bllrmans. . . " .

Weg~tordeistbsendoff all.spare personnel, so otItheY'rent to Mony~a "bound for;Kalewa:' Unfortunately the Japsattacked the place by wate~ and, ~ . aIr and, these adyanced parties found . them~elves back on the Y e,U track~, .

" " ," UNITS FOR THE STAGES". " '. "

In ord~r tofiud units for 'the stages I had to' get hold 9f' our C.es.s, ihtend-. 'ingtbus,c .. them; one on every stage, vi~.reilllyas st~ging.s~cti()I,1sbut'\with a mucllbigger scope, '. Itwas~mazing,how justthe.right.unitspopped.u.p

,,~.justat the ..right time for' any particular job: Slipping down. to Chaukmyaung , on, the rivet I waYlaidH.S,HMysore," picked 8 C;CS.off her, cramm~d 6~

J.G.H. on ins.tea:d;·picked4C.C.S.~ off the HA-ssam.", The two, C.C.S.s were '4Sive~6~d~rsto makethemselveswobile by hook or bycrook,b1!yingbulJock '

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.. carts. if necessary and to get to Ye-U at tlieearliest moment. '~Sia:m'; with, 5 Bur: G.H. ha~I"already heath i:tp-ri~er to K.iliha.' Captain H. Railstb\1C; 'the Captain of the "Mysore"ove~coming all diftJ.cultit!s with. his usual cool con­fidence tool<. oh the wht?leflotilla .of.hospitaF~hipsandawaythey.illl went to Katha. . .. . , " . '.

" .• To complete. their, story MajorJ6shi was in command of the, majority and. Gti~buksh Singh.in"c0Il'l;mffild of 6.o'I.G.II. They got all serious cases:away , by train from Katha to Myitkyina andma.rchedout:by< vario:us~ rputeS> with the remainder. .. . . .

, Havil.lg' c()lle~iedvariousrnedical' units; the fo1l6'\Vi~g dispositions were . . made ': ---, . ..,.>' \.

(1) Sh;epo: l:Bur. G.H. to empty its~lf.by train atl& then cl~ar.: out by .­train. This, ~hey wr::re 'unable to do and they 'marched ouivia the

. Kalewa route being. used as' an auxiliary u~it: at Kalewa. . ....... . (2) Ye-U: 2 Bur. G.B.· h,aving been driven out of Monywaiwas' used here;'

and.then leap-frogged through to Yesa.ggyo; '. .' .. ' " '" '

.. .. \:

(3) 1 C;C~S; £rom.1\1eiktila-Shw~bo,then.to Imbal,lng"whe.reit'functioned •. foi'six days and, did ~m enormousa.moullt ,of work. " Then to,Imphal, .. '

.where it assisted the C.l.M.H: ,: . " . '. . .. (4)Pyingyaung::2 B.s:S .. ffbm M~~dalay.' .This ieventual1yca~eoU:i via' . . MauleikandTamu.. .... ..... / .. . . . '" . (5) 22 niile Stage :8C.C.S.tor 'asho'tt time; an4thenfeap~fmgged to

; .' ~hitok al1dthento ImphaL .. 8. C.C.S~ ,has· worked .. at Imph~l ,since . that time. '.' ..... ... .

. ' (6) Shewogin:: 4 G.C.S,,:which leap~frogged through ,to Khampot .. ,' 'Exterric , . p:ori:7;edA.:I:I.Q.-'::':ambuian.ce party:. ".. . (7rKalew~.: 2.·Bur. G.H. :which stepped up to Yesaggyo. , ... . 2C,c::~S., whichstepped.up to,1'ainu. .,..... ' .

. "Ffie.p.ds Ambulance unit'" . which for . forty-eight. hours 'r~Ii a very ,fine show al?'dthen <w,~tup tokhampotand!t,h~ outtolndi~. 1 Fd.· Ail1b:.whichfor, six daysr;111 a very good show.,~hen when . 'reHevedby 23.Fd. ,Amb. stepped to L6ckcllaw, and Xa.ngla~ombi .. reception ,camp whete it was w{)rking at the end of May;' .

. (8) It;nbaung:. I,C.C.S. untiltelie,vedbY37Fd. ,Arnb .. , .' (9)Yessaggyo': 2Bur.G.H.until relieved by 23Fd.An'lb ..

(10) Khampot:4 C.C.S.until rtrlievedby37 Fd.Amb. '. (11) Whitok,: .. ~C.C.S. untilrelieved by" 23 Fd.Amb. ,

(12) Tamu: }C.C:S.until refievedby 37<Fd. Amb.,. ;'. '. . .. _ (B) Lockchaw: 16 l.S,S .. ;md 1 fd:Amb.unti(relieved by 23¥d; i\:mK (14) :rheSaddle: Specia~·S.S. Capts.· Lllsk . and Hart untilrelieve~ by 37 '<.' . Fa. Amb. ",' -, ;',.' ,'.; ..... .. (15) Pallel :fO B.S.S; from India and ,a C.I.M.H. which refused' to'toucl;1

any .. Burman' cases ... ' : (16) Imphal:. C.i.M.H. andTC.C.S. for a time, then 8 C.C:S. then 13 C,.C.S.,

froni- .India.

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58 Burma Retreat 1942

. 'Th!s gives; I think, a' fairly dear ,pictur~ of how units.wereu,s~d,'ho:w . stages., ~'Vere set,out,. us.ually ~tabout15toio' mile interv:als;,andh~w,bYQsing , GC.S;s a. considerable degree of real trea~ment, operative' ~nd medicinal,: within

the linii:is of the equipmeritava{lable, was"made Fos~ible. '.' '. ,,' .' '" , ' , 2C~C:S., at Tamu was, the numerical check on cases passing through., This

had 2,30Q. sick, and woun.dedenteredin,the,A.andp. Book in the ten ,days it wqs.fundioning·there. 2, Bur. C.R. froni' l\1onywa c~lP,:e t6<Ye-Uwith.a' Io!()fcasualties. Tli:esew~ tri(!d to pass up ,by trainthr,oughShwebo; but ,the lin~ was gone and they and all cases, in I Bur. G.H."had to be carried ,throughthe$alewa rout~~:The. bombi:qgof Kin'u gave, uSfloi:heba~cases. ,

'Bur;'Corpsand Bu~. Div. came in H()mMonywa a~d comniencecrretiring up' the .lilie:' J 7 Div .. and' the: Annd.:ade. meiJ.llwhile were away ,down south near the .sagaig~;Sridgeand,M;icAlev:eyas uswl awCiY, down with hisfartp.est

. Fd.A.mb.. However, after m~dnignt on the 2nd I 'managed to contact him with37Fd. Amb.iil Ye-U .and:f(ninq things, seemed, to be.igoiIig'satisfact<,>rily.'

, .'On'the Ist'we ilea id .thatI:'Amb.train had',beenderaih;d JZ 'miles south of Shwebo, this w:as a ,deliberate derailmept, meant for a Chinese troop train. I:senr Coppinger offar 1 fp.m~ to ~fi'lld' ~ut about them. .He.~rove his jeep '. ,

.. down therailway }ine,foundthe'train staffhad'heen ,aitackedby locals but the K:eren Sistets4admanaged ,to mak.e peace,. he picked,4P the four ladies. on' .... his je~p and drove off toYe~U,wentto s1eepalong. the canal.bank,upset into the c~nal :and ~as pinned with 'the K~ren .Sisters. under th~ madlille for some time, were rescti,ed" 'cleapedthe engin.e, and drove, <mt4rough Ye"U to Kaduma. These foul' ladies,'got throughal1 right, doing 'excellent. WOrk at

'the various stages: . .' .' . .'. '. ' .' . " . , : And so the. great 'trek went thrOugh. 'There .were'nurnerolls 'incidents hut ., ~I •

tIle main impressions were pf ,dust;endles~streams of .pa,tients for. whom lpinsport hild to' be, found;, ,streams of refugeesplbdding along,. the children happy alld~ well fed, ,theelders,"lodking'desperate; and, of troop~: feeling th~t if they could' orilyget a chance and air support th(Jyj'Vould·kriock the Jap out., " , ". .. , " .

Tw(), medical incidents ,ai~ .worth recorcli.ng.·· . I G:C$:carryiIigth~ir equipmennvith; I think;, one ambulance car marched

27 ihiles frpm .Kal<::wato Ir.hbaung, arrived there in the, evening, had 50 patients " in ,with;ll the hour; did five majot.operationstQ,at night· and by next 'morning

.had settled iBto a routine disposal-of 150.to 200 casualties ,a day. , 2 G.C .. S.,set off from KalewaJcJr Imbaul).gand the farther' line. The d.c"

,O'NeilI, ~ndi\.llinson, h,is seeond, 'carfying ahamboo pole 0,11 which were!;lung , all the necessary su:rgical equipment. f.or immediate emergency work. They

. functioned with what thepersomiel co~ld carry for ten days I at Tamu. ' .' , .. ',' . "..;'.' "., .., .

. . " ':.FINA~ Jo'URNEY:S. . .

I went up the linetb Imphiil and'Dimapur.t~ice and then rjght hack to theFd. Amb:;;. 37 and 23 at .Khampot to see that all was welJ.and all patients

, were' beiriggot.away. Imd th~Divisional Comma,nder, 17 Diy;, ~hoeulogized .' I "J>. . .

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the work of his A.D.M.S.MacAlevey; (later Brigadier G~ A. M., C;.B.K" n&~.. . '. •. .

Then as the last brigades c'ame, in, back we tame on the final trip to Imphal in time to see the opening of the Monsoon at Pale!.

, ;

NUMBERS CARRIED. / AI: a.rough calc;lation, sinceaccurat~ figures-have been lost,; we carried

and .brol!ght out frOm Burma. after the. c1o~ure of Rangoon, except some'15, or 20 cases which were left at Mohnyin, approximately 6,006 sick and wounded; brought back by various meanjl to India from !he Burma retreat. .

SOME GENERAL POINTS .

. Fitness of Personnel.-An episode like, this shows that all personnel of all units. must. be really fit, physically and, mentally, and must be maintained. in fitness by marching and exercise. I know that I am supposed to be a. fadd~st, some may even say a maniac, on the su.bject 6f fitness imd. exercise.. But it doe~ seem obvious 'that many officers, particularly ser.vice' and departmental officers, forget or do. not Tealize . that it is part of their duty to ,maintain the physical fitness 6f themselves and' 6fthe personnel under their charge, 'no matter what their 'age or job.' It is emergencies such as this retreat which so markedly. show up the unfit.' The modern habit of cocktail drinking,bar­lounging and,chain~smokingcannot be said to,lenq i:hemselves tOJeal physical andnienial fitness. Even the so-called sedentary work of office or hospitaL may 'well entail ten to twelve' to, fourteen or sixteen,hours a' day hard, at it for days on end and little that is actually sedentary about it. A man must b~ fit, physically and mentally, to stand even that strain.

. As a side-light on this, and the next paragraph it may inter,est you to. know that. at Basrain 1941 out of 17. officers on Movement Control Staff, between June and October, all: except 4 were a'dmitted .to hospital, the majority for invalidnient. What handicap this ~ind 'of inefficiency may become!

Elderly personnel require rigid examination before being kept on active., service. We w<;re' afflicted tiine and again by elderly officers and other·.ranks . cracking up at awkward tim~s, not ~nly. medical butpersonne! of all branches .. -

. Of medical personnel alone 9 senior ()fficers colltipsed, at ,critical periods. For-' tunately their places could be filled. ... . . .

Mobility of Units.-pnits must be self-mobile. Pooled transport can never ' be spared for. '.'medical" at really .,urgentperiods and. some form -of ,.unit transport, appears t~ be essentia,l. -

The Scope of Control.-We were given to understand that India would make all an;angements from Tamu onwards .. Of course we came out too qui~kly and no arrangements we~e set ..• ' Luckily I ha~ g~meup to ,see what' arrangemerits, had ~eert made and, finding none, could continue our own chain onwards. ' ,- - .

The Value of Nurs'ing Service Personnel in all MedicalU'Y!its;~With LH.C .. andB.H.C. nursing orderlies so imidequatelytrained a policy of obtaining all the Sisters, nurses. and. V,A.D.s whom We could and putting them into every

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Burma Retreat 1942

, n~n-divisional unit had a most beneficial result.' It is a policy well worth maintaining. <' , « '. «. ,

Motor Training for all Superior M.edical Personnel.~Time and again the need was apparent to have all officers',and superior mediCal personnel trained, not only to drive motor. vehicles, but t?be able' to repair and service ¥iem as and" when, required. In the early 'stages we lost 4 Amb. Cars because the drivers bolted with the keys and no one' pres~nt kne~ how to connect ~p the wiring. In the later stages <those units always got, ~n,. best who had rea] mec:;hanics amongst !their officers or < superior other < ranks; Practicaliy all' our

, units acquired scrounged or repaired vehicles. ,But beware of the confident , B.O.R. < who < says he can ,dri~e and promptly~recks a perfectly goqd vehicle.

, Cholera.-There is .tob much tendency to label, every severe condition "Cholera" when cholera is about and to neglect cerebral malaria or acute

'dysentery as a diagnosis. . " >.'

Malaria.-This was making itself evident ,in the last two weeks.M.T. and. , B.T. of apparently most virulept strains ar<e common and malariatnust be excluded before .making another diagnosis of any severe case.' At.a guess one would say that 85, percent, of the force will evcntl1;ally show infection.<

. The B.H.C.-'-The achievement of Major Maung Maung Gyi, I.M.S., in command of this unit' is worth. recording. He was distinctly left in the lurch by L. of C. at Sagaign: He managed to get all the families away on a <ship, 450 women and children, ,to Katha.He then,using 'one lorry.'for ferrying'

. purposes for rations etc., marched his 25() men 270 niiles successfully fFom . Sagaign to Tainu. Ha:vingbrought them out of Burma,: he begged leave of, me by letter and went off back to SagaigIi to see to the safety of his own family whom he had'left there. ;He 'is a well-known person and I am afraid will be betrilyed to the Japs for his loyalty to us. «' " ,<' "

His Assistant Surgeon Eylt;s, in'spite of an injuredli.~g continued the march arid on foot brought the wholeunit out to the FeceptiQn camps in the Iinphal ' area. , .

THE R.AM.C. DEPOT, MAYMYo.

Und~r' the energetic leadership of Major Clarke and, R.S.M. HardiIlg this unit made itself mobile on repaired lorriesforcthe move : from ~aymyo to Shwebo; went by train to Nabpa; and then had to'niarchoutto Tamubring­jng with therp., by personal carriage all their accounts, cash and records of ,all the R.A.M.C. in Burma,.

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