The HIP Chronicles: Dababes RogerNeilsonII (A) versus DivePac (J)

[Roger Neilson II]

My head is deuced sore this Boxing day!

A funny old day really yesterday. Some people out to celebrate as much as possible, others looking very morose. Had a drink or two with Creeper Jenkins who is lamenting the fact that he cannot seem to find his ‘pass’ from Percival. At one point he asked directly if I’d seen it. Loathsome man! Still he did buy a few snifters and when in his cups he did let on that he is a bit worried. Apparently Percival is no longer getting the signals and intel he was getting just a few days ago. Jenkins reckons this is bad news, indicating that perhaps HQ does not expect Singers to last and don’t want Percival knowing too much about other plans in case he is captured.

Some of the wives are in mourning, pretty convinced that their husbands were killed or taken when Georgetown fell. Others are either still holding out hope, or making plans already for other ways in life. Will be keeping an eye on developments here. We hear nothing of their fate and I still have no idea of what Operation Madness was… or is for that matter.

Pallister got carried away with his success in sinking a few Jap transports and ran pell mell into a Jap Cruiser squadron which we assume were bent on revenge after his high jinks. Well the CA with him on board is sunk when he tried to take on the Mogami, Mifune, Suzuya and Kumano with escorts. Odds of 4:1 not very clever really. His destroyers escaped with damage but have maintained radio silence since - or else they ain’t got radios any more… ominous. Lesson, don’t tweak the Jap’s tail!

Elsewhere we heard before the comms closed down that Rabaul; was being taken by the Japs - they may be intrigued to learn there was no defences at all there.

Despite the block on intel we can always rely on our Dutch Allies to blab, the Mienheers have reported that there’s a nasty Carrier force sprung up in the Celebes Sea.

Was passing the docks yesterday and saw some Jocks marching to embarkation - wonder where they are off to? They don’t half look stupid in their kilts, though I have to admit they do have advantages…… it can get deuced hot thereabouts and the extra ventilation is handy I assume, plus they always are ready for manoeuvres. Some of the ladies seem very intrigued by them and ‘what’s under their kilts’. Maybe a transfer to their units might be of advantage to me? Come to think of it I aint seen any units moving into Singers from up north for a day or so…. wonder what’s up?

Editor's note - it would seem that Flashman in his personal moments is really showing a very different view of what interests him. I must apologise gentle reader to anyone offended by his coarse preoccupations. It is my duty to represent them here 'warts and all' in the true interests of historical analysis even if I am shocked by what I read.

[Roger Neilson II]

Well its the 27th December and the war ain’t over. I took a look at the situation map at HQ and we are in a bit of a pickle methinks. Johnny Jap has just taken Taiping which might not mean much to most of the world, but its on a railway line and the line goes Tamuloh - Kuala - Port Something - Malacca - Kluong - Johore - Singers. So all they have to do is jump on a train and 7 stops after they are at the station…… And what have we got to stop them? Well the main blocking force is the 8th Indian, FMSV brigade and the Ist Hyderabad. That’s all right then, they will stop the umpteen Jap divisions in their tracks…….Come to think of it the war might be over soon - one Johnny Jap takes this place and kicks us out maybe we get peace and quiet.

All well and good but not if yours truly is still here. I need to start work on my own little travel arrangements.. Percival has declared that all units of the Malayan Army will stay and defend Singers to the last man.

Possibilities - get myself seconded to a liaison post with one of the units that have boarded ship and gone from here - easy to do, but what’s the guarantee its not out of the frying pan and into the fire? Pull the orders stunt and get myself aboard something headed safely away from here - but they are sinking ships and shooting down planes…..


Timing is important as well, got to do whatever when I can’t be called back and made to account for my travels - cos Singers has gone. I need to be on one of the last boats out of here…….

Editor's note: this is fascinating as we all are aware of the significance of the HQ demarkations and what fate befell the units depending which higher echelon they were part of.

[Alfred]

With his family background, I expect flashman to have no difficulty in extricating himself from Singers. My only advice is that he try very hard to avoid leaving with Maj Gen Bennett in his party.

Alfred

[Wirraway_Ace]

ORIGINAL: Alfred

With his family background, I expect flashman to have no difficulty in extricating himself from Singers. My only advice is that he try very hard to avoid leaving with Maj Gen Bennett in his party.

Alfred

I don't know. Bennett made it out and Flashman is covered from Percival's post-prisoncamp wrath with the [presumably] signed pass. Or were you concerned that Bennett might try to steal said pass and leave our hero exposed to post-war indictment?

[Alfred]

ORIGINAL: Wirraway_Ace

ORIGINAL: Alfred

With his family background, I expect flashman to have no difficulty in extricating himself from Singers. My only advice is that he try very hard to avoid leaving with Maj Gen Bennett in his party.

Alfred

I don't know. Bennett made it out and Flashman is covered from Percival's post-prisoncamp wrath with the [presumably] signed pass. Or were you concerned that Bennett might try to steal said pass and leave our hero exposed to post-war indictment?

Exactly!

Flashman would not wish to be so tainted. Think of what Bennett would have given to have been accorded the respect by all the women once he arrived back in Australia as opposed to the cold shoulder he received.

Alfred

[LoBaron]

Good start!

Subscribed. [:)]

[Roger Neilson II]

Dec 29th. Almost Auld Lang Syne time, always a good evening for the romantic in me, and this year maybe there will be a few girls who fancy a highland fling before what might come in the New Year….. Hip Hip Hooray!

Its a bit frustrating not knowing what’s going on elsewhere, but in our own backyard things are developing. The advance guards of the yellow men are not reported to be probing our defences north-east of Temoloh. I keep checking the Railway Station every time I pass by to see if suddenly a bunch of them will wander out and ask directions to The Raffles……

They attacked the port yesterday and scored a few hits on some ships being readied for action or having repairs done to them. Things are getting a little tricky.

This morning there was a bit of a hoohah in the port when some wreckage and a few bodies turned up. The ‘experts’ reckon it wasn’t a failed invasion, or an attempt to land a 5th column but more likely one of their subs took a wrong turn and hit one of our mines - ‘blammo’ as our Yank cousins would say!

Mind you when I was down there I did notice a couple of submarines moored…. normally you’d not get me anywhere near these things - its not natural under the water before you get sunk! However I paid my respects to the Captain - a Yank but he appreciated the bottle of scotch I offered as a token of welcome. LCDR Smith is perhaps person worth counting as a friend in these troubled times. I gather they have some repairs to do on the engine then they will be off in a few days…….. SS Swordfish, nice name I have to admit. They were at Manila until recently but the beastliness there was getting close - apparently the Japs are north and south of the city and advancing. So HQ - or whatever they call the people who tell submarines what to do - told him to set course for pastures new. Took a small dent when a Jap plane dropped a bomb nearby, hence the repairs.

[JWE]

Brilliant !!

[Roger Neilson II]

Ah the final night of the year…… lest hope next year is a better one. We end with a gloomy outlook I guess, though Percival assures us his brilliant strategy is working - details when I can be bothered to write them!

Well out troops have been routed north of Temoloh and the remnants are rushing down the peninsula in the hope that at Singers all will be well.

I watched DD Pope and the S-41 leave port today - neither was in a fit state to sail really, but at least the navy bods are realists and don’t live in a world of make believe like my superior General! We seem to be clearing the port of anything that will sail, doesn’t look good. So far SS Sailfish is still here, and I still make social calls on it. Would it not be great if I was on board when it had to suddenly leave and I was stuck on the tub……

Interestingly another bunch of colonials are readying to depart from Singers, one had already disappeared. No idea where to, but the 27th Brigade looks to depart in a couple of days - maybe they will walk on water as there are not many ships left hereabouts. Of the 22nd Brigade we have no news - they could be in India by now, or in the DEI, or even looking forward to a cool beer in Oz itself. Or they could be feeding the sharks. Singers will then be defended simply by the Malaya Army, under the brilliant leadership of Percival….. Ye Gods!

Ok his plan, the 22nd Indian, retiring from Kuantan should arrive at Kuala in a few days to repulse the Japs (Intel reckons 10 units, lets say twenty thousand battle hardened little yellow men) against three thousand pretty tired and badly supplied native troops. I think I know how that will end up! meanwhile the brave lads who have just been routed at Temoloh will strike across their LOC and cut them off. This is two thousand routed and demoralised troops with little equipment. I have to admire Percival’s imagination…….

Once the yellow men have brushed aside these forces its a matter of time before they come a calling - though they will be late for ‘first foots’ in the New Year celebrations. Singers defences are around 25% of what they should be and the supply level is not good for any siege. I reckon Flashy has to be long gone by the 15th at the latest…..

Still they won’t arrive tonight, so there are manoeuvres afoot in the boudoirs and tactical positioning may well pay off with regard to some of the ladies’ defences tonight. Amazing what the rum punch and the hot climate does.

[Roger Neilson II]

Normally my head does not suffer but a combination of the punch served last night and the heat of today has made me somewhat the worse for wear.


I gather there is some concern at HQ over the fact that our forces at Kuala are being very reticent about any communications. Brigadier Painter’s 23rd Indian must have celebrated well into the early hours and they cannot be raised at all. Trains do not seem to be running either at the moment. You just can’t rely on other people to know when to stop the jollies can you?………


Had to break off my diary there for a few hours. Massive raid by enemy bombers - reckoned over 100 of the blighters hitting the port. Its a mess with lots of fires, many of the godowns ablaze and several ships that were being repaired now very badly damaged. I gather a load of Betties also hit a Task Force coming into port and sunk them all apart from a destroyer escort. Glum faces at HQ.

Apparently I have been summoned to see AVM Pulford - he seems to be in charge now. Percival has vanished. Wonder what this is all about?

Editor's note. Flashman seems to have been really out of the picture. He has not noticed that Percival left Singapore several days earlier amid much secrecy to establish a new base at Christmas Island. What we do get from his diary is the sense of how the garrison in Malaya maintained a very 'stiff upper lip' view despite the disasters that were befalling them. Of course he has no knowledge of the whole British masterplan and how it is unfolding, not has he any awareness of the momentous and very fortuitous discovery by HMAS Canberra of the large portion of the Japanese Carrier force off Rabaul - significantly missing some of their key ships after the initial night time engagement off Pearl Harbour three weeks earlier.

[witpqs]

Percival to Christmas Island. Sort of like being sent to the North Pole on a Very Secret Mission - "Maintain radio silence and stand by for important messages from HQ!" [:D]

[Roger Neilson II]

Yo bloody ho ho me hearties and a life on the ocean wave!

So here I sit on this rust bucket the AM Toowoomba, moving somewhere up the Malayan coastline. Every now and then we pull into the overhanging trees as another Kate flies overhead. We have seen bigger ships in the distance, we have heard the inevitable bombings and secondary explosions. I’m on a ‘top secret’ mission - that’s what Pulford wanted to see me about. My job is to get to Ultan Meiltang and see if the Japs are there. I’m also supposed to find the 22nd Indian and ‘evaluate’ their combat readiness as they got badly mauled by the Japs at Kuala. There’s no armour on this tub and apart from a couple of antiquated deck guns and some rigged machine guns there is nothing to dissuade even a Malaccan Pirate from taking us on! Pulford said he wants maybe to land some troops at this Ultan Meiltang and cut the Japs off as they move on Singers - he is of course as deluded as Percival was.

Why me? What had I done in my so far unremarkable military career to alert him to me prowess for this task? Might have something to do with begin caught with General XXXXXXXXXX’s daughter on the billiard table in the mess on New Year’s Eve. I did hear that said General wanted my goolie chits removed! Not the first time I’ve been caught in this position - but the girl was ripe for the chase and it was good fun.

So maybe this is Pulford’s way of getting rid of me…. a sort of ‘one way ticket’? Whilst i was pretty well ill informed about the war in Singers, I’m now blinder than a blind man in a coal black dungeon. How to get out of this predicament is what I keep wondering.

Editor’s note, I have excised the name of the General that Flashman refers to here in the interests of preserving his own character and that of his daughter - who latterly made a very good marriage.

[Roger Neilson II]

Duplicate entry, strange.

[Roger Neilson II]

Well now, sat in Port Sweetenham harbour. Still on this rust bucket - which has its advantages as the japs can't be ar**** to waste a bomb on us. They have plenty of other targets mind you - 12 other ships of varied sizes and designs all embarking the remnants of the 22nd Indian Brigade. Includes two destroyers. Pulford has decided to save this lot for another day and despite raids from Betties, Kates and Lilys - supported by Oscars there is only one reported sunk ship and one badly damaged. It has to be asked whether this is a good use of ships mind you jut to save some native troops. Has Pulford gone soft or is this a diversion to keep the jap airforce busy here rather than elsewhere? Hopefully the remnants of the force will embark overnight and Port Sweetenham will be empty for the next round of air attacks.....though the ships still have to clear the Malacca Straits. I am racking my brains as to how to extricate myself from this place.....

Editor's note: It is interesting that Flashman is entirely unaware of the successful extrication of the Australian Brigades from Singapore, the orderly withdrawal of the Burmese forces to the Akyab lines, the build up of defences on Sumatra, the powerful development of the Andamans. Today also marked the first day of air attacks on Port Moresby from the newly taken Rabaul airbase.

[Roger Neilson II]

Well we are somewhere off Bangka Island - its to our Port if I have this naval speak sorted in my head. We are steaming southerly. Behind us is Singers, which we passed overnight. Still on this tub and not a lot has happened thankfully. Landed at Port Sweaty to find the pace empty apart from some disabled vehicles - rotor arms removed etc etc, We gathered from the locals that there is fighting going on East of there and maybe some of our forces have gotten behind the Jap advance. Good luck to them I say, though frankly I doubt if the Japs will treat them very well if they get taken - which is highly likely - there don't seem to be a landing spot anywhere on the Malayan coast left now.

So Lcdr Hirst gets in touch with Singers and we have new orders.... but he hasn't chosen to share them with me. Chappies on deck spend all day looking toward at the sea surface - maybe looking for periscopes - and upwards in case the Jap flyboys come calling - one good near miss and this tub will fall apart.

Editor's note - this was puzzling me until I realised that this was Flashman's second visit to Port Sweetenham. The first still had the troops being evacuated, whereas this one obviously records the successful embarkation of all of them.

Wish I knew what was going on - I don't know where is safest until I have some clue about where not to be.........

[Roger Neilson II]

So we arrive in this little port called Ossthaven - Duch place. I have a 'chat' with LCDR Hirst and point out that unless I can see specific orders pertaining to me then I will count myself a supernumerary on his fine vessel (my A*****) and needs must go and locate higher command and find out what my orders are. This flummoxes the navy boy who obviously has no authority over me on land and may in fact, if truth were told, be glad to be rid of me.

So I stow my gear, and am promptly deposited on the jetty and off he goes.......

Place is a bit busy with lighters loading up with troops, pulling away from the piers and heading out to bigger ships offshore. A local boy comes up and offers to carry my kitbag... and off we stroll. He takes me to some warehouse place where HQ is situated and there, cohabiting is Malaya Army HQ and 223 Group RAF. Its all a bit busy but I present myself to Colonel Leister and once my 'bona fides' have been checked he deigns to see me for a few moments. Turns out I have been completely forgotten about, presumed food for the sharks. He has no use for me (suits me to old boy I thought) but can find me a berth on the XAP West point - currently in harbour (typical bloody army passes the problem to someone else always) so my orders are speedily cut and I have the 'boy' carry my kitbag back down to the piers again..... then the humiliation of it all, I have to join a queue with loads of other HQ types and wait my turn for a space in one of these lighters...... Finally on board, having to clamber up rope ladders is not my way of arriving for a cruise - and we all are just bedding down in any bit of deck available. I gather in conversation with others that both Manila and Rangoon have fallen to the slant eyes. My orders are to rejoin Malayan Army HQ - but they failed to specify where they are..... again the rumour mill on board has it variously at Port Blair, Chittagong, Cocos Islands, Diego Garcia, Singapore, Australia....... maybe when we are out at sea I can persuade a matelot to tell the the course and speculate on where we are heading, though I gather there's a lot of 'zigzagging' to throw any Jap subs off their attacks.

[Roger Neilson II]

Well I must say the accommodation leaves a lot to be desired, its surely not The Ritz, the decks are hard, there is no nice totty wandering about and no gleaming trays of G&Ts to be summoned at a moment's raise of an eyebrow.. However the course has left Oosthaven behind two days ago and despite the zig zagging we are predominantly heading with the dawn behind us, so its Westerly Ho with a song in the air........ and ahead of us must be Cape Town and a nice safe berth for the rest of the War. No slant eyes will get that far and its going to be a very nice place to sojourn for the duration. Don't know how many days - weeks on board the West Point before we sight land, but I can put up with this 'roughing it' for the moment.

Editor's note, its interesting how wrong HIP's calculations are........ I can only assume his knowledge of geography was surmounted by what may be termed, 'wishful thinking'.

[Alfred]

You mean to say he has confused dusk with dawn.

Actually that mistake would be quite understandable when you take into account his nocturnal activity. Flashman could easily confuse the two time periods.

Alfred

[Roger Neilson II]

ORIGINAL: Alfred

You mean to say he has confused dusk with dawn.

Actually that mistake would be quite understandable when you take into account his nocturnal activity. Flashman could easily confuse the two time periods.

Alfred

Editor's comments: For some commentators it is a good thing that HIP is no longer with us. In his lifetime he employed in later years the firm of Sue, Grabbit and Runne Solicitors on a regular basis to 'defend' his reputation and many people who accused him of being a lothario, a lounge lizard, a louche or worse ended up subsidising his 'comfortable' lifestyle. As Shakespeare says, 'The evil that men do lives after them, the good is oft interred......' though to be somewhat candid it is often difficult to discover from his diaries the 'good' that his reputation is based upon up to now.

[Roger Neilson II]

Well I'm off the West Point, now back on 'dry' land. Well dry land of sorts. There is much activity in building emplacements out of sand to defend this place with HQ typewriters and carbon paper! At the moment we are still the Malayan Army HQ - though maybe this should be redesignated as the Cocos HQ.........

Its all very improvised, but at least we have a lot of ocean between us and the Japs........This has got to be some temporary staging post though surely?

As usual no-one knows anything - there's a sense of rush around and look busy - maybe we will confuse the japs as much as ourselves and win the war that way.

Am I doomed to sit the war out here or can i find a way of getting to somewhere at least that has bars and totty?