Road of Bones (80 page)

p. 246 ‘Laverty brushed him’
Interviewed for this book.

p. 246 ‘Friction soon arose’
Pieter Steyn,
A History of the Assam Regiment
(Longman Orient, 1959), p. 91.

p. 246 ‘The position as it’
IWM, Swinson Papers, Letter from Hugh Richards to Arthur Swinson, 28 April 1965.

p. 247 ‘my relations with’
Firm and Forester: Journal of the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment
(April 1985).

p. 247 ‘virtually assumed command’
H. D. Chaplin,
The Queen’s Own
Royal West Kent Regiment, 1920–1950
(Michael Joseph, 1954), p. 396.

p. 247 ‘Christ, sir!
John Faulkner, handwritten memoir.

p. 247 ‘a dozen miniature’
Ibid.

p. 247 ‘Would you mind’
Ibid.

p. 248 ‘lying on his back’
Ibid.

p. 248 ‘What happened?’
Ibid.

p. 248 ‘pushed off’
Ibid.

p. 248 ‘We were worn out’
Robert Street,
A Brummie in Burma
(Barny Books, 1997), p. 46.

p. 249 ‘within a day or two’
NA, WO 172/4884, War Diary, 4th battalion, Royal West Kent Regiment.

p. 249 ‘the door was shut behind us’
Interviewed for this book.

p. 249 ‘You don’t lead’
Interviewed for this book.

p. 250 ‘Now you’ve got to’
Interviewed for this book.

p. 250 ‘The Japs were close’
Letter of Lieutenant Bruce Hayllar to his parents, 20 April 1944.

p. 250 ‘He had a wife’
Interviewed for this book.

p. 251 ‘One hundred and ten’
Kazuo Tamayama and John Nunneley,
Tales by Japanese Soldiers
(Cassell, 2000), p. 162.

p. 251 ‘I sent the company’
Richards Papers, ‘How I Came to Be at Kohima’ (private memoir).

p. 251 ‘The troops refused to pass’
J. M. P. ‘Kohima Diary’,
Gurkha Rifles
Regimental Journal
, no. 13 (April 1958).

p. 252 ‘At the time I thought’
Richards Papers, ‘How I Came to Be at Kohima’ (private memoir).

p. 252 ‘I tried my best’
Ibid.

p. 252 ‘All quiet except for’
Cited in Arthur Campbell,
The Siege
(Allen and Unwin, 1956), p. 58.

p. 254 ‘He was typical’
Correspondence with Margery Willis, daughter of Lieutenant John Bruce Faulkner, 17 March 2008.

p. 254 ‘I heard the “thump”’
Lieutenant John Faulkner, handwritten memoir.

p. 254 ‘strolling unconcernedly’
Ibid.

p. 256 ‘slight and wiry’
C. E. Phillips,
Springboard to Victory
(Heinemann, 1996), p. 133.

p. 256 ‘Typical symptoms’
NA, WO 17/2155, War Diary of the 75th Indian Field Ambulance, December 1943.

p. 257 ‘Young was a very’
Interviewed for this book.

p. 258 ‘medical situation [was]’
NA, WO 17/2155, War Diary of the 75th Indian Field Ambulance, April 1944.

p. 258 ‘I was told that he’
Interviewed for this book.

p. 258 ‘When I ran to’
Kazuo Tamayama and John Nunneley,
Tales by
Japanese Soldiers
(Cassell, 2000), p. 162.

p. 258 ‘Such a genuine man’
Ibid.

p. 258 ‘“You see,” I said’
Cited in Arthur Swinson,
Kohima
(Arrow Books, 1966), p. 93.

p. 259 ‘Hey! Johnny, let’
Arthur Campbell,
The Siege
(Allen and Unwin, 1956), p. 72.

p. 259 ‘continuously amongst the’
NA, WO 373/22, Citation Recommending Military Cross for Lieutenant Philip Ernest Watts, 13 September 1942.

p. 260 ‘The Japs made a’
Robert Street,
The Siege of Kohima: The Battle for
Burma
(Barny Books, 2003), p. 54.

p. 260 ‘They were about
Ibid.

p. 260 ‘I jumped into the’
Interviewed for this book.

p. 261 ‘We cut them to’
Street,
The Siege of Kohima
, p. 42.

p. 261 ‘The only trouble’
Interviewed for this book.

p. 262 ‘so close in some’
Lucas Phillips,
Springboard to Victory
, p. 141. Lucas Phillips is citing the “joint narrative” coordinated by several officers present at the battle as well as the war diary and a “brief narration” by Major Shaw, the wounded C company commander. Brigadier Lucas Phillips’s account of these events is the most reliable.

p. 262 ‘So I had to say’
Tamayama and Nunneley,
Tales by Japanese Soldiers
, p. 165.

p. 262 ‘shot at least 12’
Citation Recommending Military Cross for Second Lieutenant Peter Doresa, 22 April 1944.

p. 262 ‘His first bag came’
NA, WO 203/4637, from an account by Captain Kitchen,
Indian Army Observer
(18 April 1944).

p. 263 ‘He got ’em coming’
IWM, Oral History Project, file no. 20769, interview with Bert Harwood.

p. 263 ‘his next contribution’
Ibid.

p. 263 ‘At this stage the’
Tamayama and Nunneley,
Tales by Japanese Soldiers
, p. 166.

p. 264 Searching in the ruins
The figure of forty-four comes from the battalion war diary for 7 April. Private Norman gives a figure of seventy bodies. IWM, file no. 81/16/1, diary of Private Harold Norman.

p. 264 ‘excellent Survey’
Richards Papers, narrative of Kohima.

p. 265 ‘Thank you Douglas’
Cited in Campbell,
The Siege
, p. 84.

p. 265 ‘found that a lot’
IWM, file no. 81/16/1, diary of Private Harold Norman.

p. 265 ‘There were quite a lot’
Interviewed for this book.

p. 265 ‘I think I know’
Interviewed for this book.

p. 265 ‘an almighty’
Interviewed for this book.

p. 266 ‘he and the others’
IWM, file no. 81/16/1, diary of Private Harold Norman.

p. 266 ‘It was awful in’
Interviewed for this book.

p. 267 ‘Colonel Young said’
Interviewed for this book.

p. 267 ‘An endeavour was made’
NA, WO 177/2155, War Diary of the 75th Indian Field Ambulance, April 1944.

p. 267 ‘with the wounded’
Richards Papers, ‘How I Came to Be at Kohima’ (private memoir).

p. 268 ‘poor Nobby Hall’
IWM, file no. 4587 81/16/1, diary of Private Harold Norman.

p. 268 ‘I was rather thinking’
Interviewed for this book.

p. 269 ‘instead of running back’
IWM, file no. 4587 81/16/1, diary of Private Harold Norman.

p. 269 ‘The poor chap’
Interviewed for this book.

p. 269 ‘I tried to pull’
Diary of Private Harold Norman.

p. 270 ‘It was really nerve-wracking’
Ibid.

p. 270 ‘went wild but’
Ibid.

p. 270 ‘We were surrounded’
Ibid.

p. 271 ‘It blew the poor’
IWM, Oral History Project, file no. 17537, interview with Donald Easten.

p. 272 ‘I think that all’
IWM, Swinson Papers, file no. NRA 28568, diary of General Montagu North Stopford, 6 April 1944.

p. 272 ‘I am not satisfied’
Diary of General Montagu North Stopford, 8 April 1944.

p. 273 ‘garrison must stay’
IWM, Swinson Papers, file no. NRA 28568, diary of Major General John Grover.

p. 273 ‘devilish row, screaming’
IWM, Swinson Papers, file no. NRA 28568, diary of Captain Arthur Swinson, 8 April 1944.

p. 273 ‘that went howling’
Ibid.

p. 273 ‘Apart from these’
Ibid.

p. 273 ‘At the “Non Sum Dignus”’
Ibid.

p. 274 ‘They went when and how’
IWM, file no. 10520 P104, The Operations of the 5 Infantry Brigade, 2 Division in Assam, 30 March–12 May 1944, Brigadier V. S. F. Hawkins.

p. 274 ‘or there’d be hell’
Swinson’s account on the Worcestershire Regiment website . This contains slightly different accounts – sometimes edited, sometimes more copious – than Swinson’s written diary at the Imperial War Museum.

p. 274 ‘the wild days’
Diary of Captain Arthur Swinson.

p. 274 ‘Perhaps he would have’
Ibid.

p. 275 ‘I was a bit appalled’
Hawkins, The Operations of the 5 Infantry Brigade.

p. 275 ‘He was rather stick’
Interviewed for this book.

p. 276 ‘everybody dug holes’
Interviewed for this book.

p. 276 ‘we had done so’
Hawkins, The Operations of the 5 Infantry Brigade.

p. 276 ‘We went in single file’
Interviewed for this book.

p. 276 ‘never faltering or stumbling’
RQMS Frederick J. Weedman, 7th battalion, Worcestershire Regiment, personal memoir.

p. 277 ‘night was split asunder’
Ibid.

p. 277 ‘like an angry bee’
Ibid.

p. 277 ‘He smouldered for’
Ibid.

p. 277 ‘Little Jap upon’
Ibid.

p. 278 ‘The relief of Kohima’
IWM, Swinson Papers, file no. NRA 28568, diary of General Montagu North Stopford, April 13 1944.

p. 278 ‘beginning to see light’
Field Marshall Lord Slim,
Defeat into Victory
, p. 314.

p. 278 ‘For their gains’
Ibid.

p. 278 ‘As I watched the’
Ibid.

p. 279 ‘at the cost of skimping’
Ibid.

p. 279 ‘The hard fact is’
Lieutenant General Sir Henry Pownall,
Chief of Staff, Diaries, Volume Two – 1940–44
(edited by Brian Bond, Leo Cooper, 1974.), p. 164.

p. 280 ‘We should not hesitate’
NA, CAB/65/42/5, Meeting of War Cabinet, 11 April 1944.

p. 280 ‘without air transport’
Library of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Military Correspondence: 1944–45 index, box 36. Letter of Lord Mountbatten to President Roosevelt, 28 March 1944.

p. 280 ‘He was given’
L/Sergeant Jim Campion, Jungle Hell of Kohima, personal memoir.

p. 280 ‘full of bounding’
Lord Louis Mountbatten,
Personal Diary of
Admiral the Lord Louis Mountbatten, Supreme Allied Commander South-East Asia, 1943–1946
, ed. by Philip Ziegler (Collins, 1988), p. 88.

p. 281 ‘the same as your’
Ibid.

p. 281 ‘When I think of’
Ibid.

p. 281 ‘The one who did’
Ibid.

p. 281 ‘I began to wonder’
Field Marshal Lord Alanbrooke,
War Diaries – 1939–1945
(Edited by Alex Danchev and Daniel Todman. Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 2001), pp. 532–534.

p. 282 ‘it would be better’
Ibid.

p. 282 ‘like a man chained’
Ibid.

p. 282 ‘To the north’
NA, CAB 65/42/1, Meeting of War Cabinet, 3 April 1944.

p. 282 ‘to discuss India’
Alanbrooke,
War Diaries, 1939–1945
, pp. 228.

p. 282 ‘Rowland from Indian’
Ibid.

p. 282 ‘I have during the’
Ibid.

p. 283 ‘We cannot stop every’
Cited in Arthur James Barker,
The March on
Delhi
(Faber and Faber, 1963), p. 118.

p. 283 ‘It is obvious that’
Ibid
, p. 132.

p. 283 ‘Kohima was very’
IWM, file no. 2234 92/39/1, papers of Major Walter Greenwood.