‘Very well done, Kulé,’ Jason congratulated him, thinking that if his work so far didn’t deserve a medal, what did? He remembered what the CO of the Nepalese battalion he had been seconded to, to teach sniping, during the war in Burma had written about one of his men: ‘He is not a man but a superman.’ So is Kulé.
‘I am sure we would have been successful if we had not been ordered to use that marker balloon. You think the same, don’t you?’ Jason asked his platoon commanders at that evening’s ‘O’ Group.
Yes, they did.
‘What if we find the daku in their camp this time? Go through that balloon and bombing all over again?’ and he answered his own query with a Gurkha saying, ‘In the house, uncle die; in the trap, fish to fry.’
The CSM added his own adage, ‘Monkey’s tail, neither walking stick nor weapon,’ untactfully referring to the failed bombing raid.
His 2ic and platoon commanders pondered on those unexpected words of wisdom. ‘So, Saheb, what is your answer?’ one of them asked.
‘Report that we have found a camp and attack it is the second thing I’ll do, though, in fact, calling in the bombers is the second last thing I’ll do. I’ll send Corporal Kulbahadur Limbu and his squad to find out exactly where the daku are hiding. Once we know that, I’ll send two platoons behind the camp to lay a linear ambush on one side of the stream and the third platoon to open fire from in front but not attack. That will make them run away into the ambush. As they will only have been there a short time there won’t be any proper defence positions so that will make our task easier. My report will be correct, that we laid an ambush for them and it was successful, although of course until we have killed or captured them we cannot say we have had
success.’
They talked around that and found they liked it.
‘Saheb, shall I go now?’ asked Kulbahadur.
Jason looked at his watch. ‘No, I don’t like the idea of even you moving through this type of country at night. Go first thing tomorrow. The remainder will stay here until you return and then I’ll confirm my orders.’
Unusually, the place where they had stopped was relatively open, with no tall trees for a hundred or so paces. Jason looked at it with a practiced eye and thought, if we do have casualties we can quickly make this into a touch-down, not a hover, LP.
By noon on the morrow Kulbahadur returned. He and his men looked strained, as well they might, as doing any recce in such a roundabout manner is never easy. But there was an exultant smile on his face. ‘Saheb, the camp is not far away. There are good ambush positions on either side of the stream on the far side of their camp. We know they won’t want to stop and fight it out like they used to a couple of years ago so your idea of frightening them away means they can only escape downstream.’
‘I fully agree, Kulé. I can now plan my orders with confidence.’
Jason called for his ‘O’ Group: ‘It will be a rough night for all of us. 1 Platoon will open fire from in front but not attack the camp. Flank sections move out at 0550 hours to be ready to move forward when I give our battle cry at 6 o’clock. ‘That means lying up just out of earshot of it. 2 and 3 Platoons will move to take up positions along the stream, giving the camp site a wide berth. If anyone snores, his mate must wake him. Insect repellent can be used as the stream flows down from the camp so any smell will go downstream so 1 Platoon upstream will be the mosquitoes’ and the leeches’ overnight meal.’
Details were discussed and commanders quizzed as to exactly what to do. ‘You will decide, 2 and 3 Platoon Commanders, among yourselves, where to lay the ambush, which platoon will be ahead and which behind. Place the men in pairs, not singly. No following of any daku over the stream if he tries to escape. Let the LMG team look after anyone who tries his luck that way.’ After tea and biscuits, much quicker than cooking a meal, away the ambush group went, as quietly and slowly as ‘a moving
ambush’.
‘Sig-nel,’ softly called Jason after the last man had disappeared, ‘Open your set and I’ll give you a message to send in key. While the radio operator was hanging his aerial Jason wrote: ‘Have good chance of ambushing enemy group. Will observe radio silence until earliest 0800 hours tomorrow.’
After the attacking platoon’s meal was cooked and eaten, by turns, well in the rear and to a flank of their position to prevent downstream air permeating the CT camp, Jason said, ‘We’ll move forward to near the daku camp just before dusk and lie low all night, 2 Section left, 3 Section right and Company HQ with 1 Section in the middle. When we attack tomorrow morning we’ll do it as we did in Burma against the Japs. I’ll shout “ayo Gurkhali chaaaaaarge” but give the daku time to bug out into the ambush and only then in we’ll go. By then the camp will be empty but we may have to shoot a couple of idle men.’
The older soldiers grinned at that.
At dusk 1 Platoon moved slowly forward, on a compass bearing of 18 degrees. Just before last light, talking in the camp was heard. Jason oozed forward and listening intently he heard whom he presumed was the Political Commissar congratulating the man who roared like a lion – ‘he says he has a sore throat’ – and the track layer – ‘he says he has a stiff back’ – and there was a muffled response of suppressed laughter. ‘No one can find us here. We are so safe there’s no need to put out any sentries. I know that that is against all orders but we have a long way to go tomorrow and our wounded comrade needs carrying so we all need a good night’s sleep.’
Creeping back to where 1 Platoon Commander was Jason told him what he’d heard. ‘Saheb, in a low voice pass it around your men.’
The other two platoons reached the stream half an hour before last light. 2 Platoon Commander, the senior of the two, moved with OC 3 Platoon and silently pointed out where the first two men of 3 Platoon would take up their positions, with ten to twelve paces between each pair, depending on the ground. Section LMGs were sited as the column slowly moved forward. The ambush would only be sprung when 2 Platoon Commander opened fire. Then every man would fire at an enemy target in front of him.
It was a long night for everyone. Chakré was by Jason’s side and, turn by turn, each nodded off. At 5 o’clock Chakré shook Jason and woke him. At a quarter past 5 Jason said to 1 Platoon Commander, ‘Saheb, if anyone has to go into the bushes, send him fifty yards behind.’
The ambush platoons were also ready at dawn. Could this, at last, be a successful ambush? They all hoped so. It had been an uncomfortable night and the men were keen for action. ‘Only fire after you hear fire opened,’ was passed down the line.
We’re ready!
When it was light enough to see, Jason looked left and right. Men were standing up, weapons cocked and ready. He signalled to move slowly forward and when he saw the camp he shouted ‘ayo Gurkhali chaaaaaarge’ and forward they went, keeping their line, shooting. ‘Shoot anyone you see in front of you,’ he yelled and once again, ‘ayo Gurkhali chaaaaaarge.’
In the guerrilla camp there was pandemonium. Daku standing orders were to sleep with pack and weapon always in reach. The Political Commissar and the Military Commander both shouted at once ‘move downstream quickest. Assemble only on a tiger call.’ The daku, rubbing their eyes and cursing, grabbed packs and weapons scuttled away precipitously … from in front, heavy fire was opened, by LMGs and rifles. Screaming and yelling reverberated. ‘Now move forward,’ yelled Jason, ‘but be ready in case any daku try to come back this way.’
Two men had taken up kneeling positions behind trees at the far end of the camp and saw two daku stumbling away in panic. Both were killed by the ambush.
One man lying in the camp was still alive so Jason went to look at him. ‘Who are you? What unit are you?’
‘2 Regiment,’ he gasped, sobbing. So these are Ten Foot Long’s men. Taking his First Field Dressing out of his front pocket, Jason opened the daku’s shirt. The death rattle ‘gargled’ in his throat as Jason’s hands were on the man’s skin, about to cover the wound. Jason stood up and put the dressing back into his pocket, not realising that as the man had died his soul had entered him. He would not find that out for a little while.
The Platoon Commander at the far end of the ambush had waited until the leading daku were opposite him and, shouting ‘fire’, opened up. Immediately everyone else also did, except in the case of, it so happened, the company’s Goalkeeper who, in the dim light, thought the man in front of him was a gora, so pale
was he.
Instinctively he held his fire. There had been rumours of a gora among the daku but no one had taken it seriously but, hard to believe, there he was. Is he there because he can’t escape or what? flashed through the Goalkeeper’s mind as he stood up in a mistaken attempt to call him over.
The gora turned and, in one skilful shot, wounded the Gurkha with a bullet in the side of his neck. He fell, bleeding severely, unconscious. Men to his right and left felled the firer before quickly patching up the wounded man with their First Field Dressings.
In five minutes there was no more daku movement and the order to cease fire was shouted down the line.
‘Is it safe for us to move forward?’ Jason bellowed loudly when the firing from in front had ceased.
‘Yes, we’re checking enemy casualties. Our Goalkeeper is badly wounded.’
Even so, that’s a great relief. Phew, and what a gamble. Jason felt elated. His venture had paid off thanks to Corporal Kulbahadur’s superb tracking. I’ll most certainly put him in for a decoration. I’ve said that before and I’ll say it again. I must go and see the wounded man.
There were ten daku bodies, no wounded and no captives. Three of the bodies were of a much paler skin colour than the rest. They don’t look Chinese, thought the searchers. The first man to have fallen was the lame man, the one who had shot at Jason. Jason looked at him. He’s only a kid, poor fellow. ‘But you joined the wrong side, didn’t you,’ he said aloud. He saw each corpse had a mattock or an axe. So they left the Jelebu area to go deep into the jungle, shielded by the white map, to make a garden.
