February 1945

CHAPTER I

THE COMMUNISTS ATTACK

SOON "Prosperous Year" was told to get ready for a second trip to Chungking. With the Japanese attempt to drive through to the west along the Lung-Hai railway towards Sian, the safer and quicker route was now by rail to Peking and from there south to the capital of Shansi, Taiyuan-fu and across to Sian. We supplied him with a letter of introduction to the American Commander of the airfield at Sian, requesting his passage to Chungking by plane. We hoped that with any luck he would reach his destination within four or five weeks.

A full report of the recent Japanese raid was sent and we confirmed our previous radio message regarding the loss of the radio and codes and requested that another be sent immediately. We were now more than ever concerned with the fate of the camp. Reports over the radio told of the massacre by the Japanese of Catholic Fathers and civilians at the time of the American landing on the Philippines, where the occupation was proceeding apace. Speculation was rife as to whether China or Japan would be the scene of the next landing. We stressed the point that if the Fifteenth was to be put to any use at all in the plans for the protection of the camp, it was essential that supplies of ammunition be sent in sufficient quantities to make the visit of Allied planes worth while. Funds were urgently needed to purchase supplies for the camp and for the relief of un-interned Allied nationals. Again we recommended that liaison officers be sent with official backing and authority to act in an emergency.

We saw «Prosperous Year» off on the first stage of his journey, which would take him to the railway at Weihsien, a few days before the end of February. It had been a long, cold winter and the intense frosts that we were still experiencing were expected to kill the winter wheat. As we walked with him through the village gate and down to the footbridge that crossed the river, we pulled our grey, cotton-padded overcoats closely round us as the wind whipped away the heavy, raw mist. There was a continuous tinkle interspersed with the sharp staccato cracks and shattering of ice. Rifts in the mist revealed trees of glass. The weeping willows by the river's edge were coated with ice from their gnarled roots to the tips of their flowing branches. As the wind increased they shed their crystal sheathes, which shattered into sparkling fragments on the frozen ground. "Before the spring has turned these crystal trees to jade, I shall have returned," said «Prosperous Year», as we said goodbye to him.

The Central Government's Commission on Military Affairs had recently set up a radio station in our area with direct communications with General Tai Li's department in Chungking. They were China's "super-snoopers", the Chinese equivalent of the American O.S.S. organisation. We had made a very special effort to get along with these people; they were very uncommunicative and it was hard work, but after much perseverance we became friendly and eventually obtained permission to send messages over their transmitter direct to Chungking. They did not all reach their destination but at least an average sufficient to make it worth while got through. Through these people we set up a schedule with the American emergency landing-field close to the exiled Shantung Government's seat at Fuyang.

Although Yu-min had a fairly efficient inter-regimental radio system and a regular schedule with the Provincial Government at Fuyang, he had no direct communication with Chungking and all messages from the capital were sent through the Provincial Government's station at Fuyang, which entailed much delay. I spent hours at his various stations trying to contact our stations direct, but with little success. I did, however, get a little relaxation from American broad-cast programmes.

Regular communications with the camp had been established, but, anxious not to take undue risks, we restricted these contacts as much as possible and all messages exchanged between us were in code. We made use of a man who was employed by the Japanese as a camp carpenter. Our communications were written on the finest silk, folded into a small pellet and wrapped in contraceptive rubber. In order to take one of these into camp, the carpenter would place the pellet up his nose or hold it in his mouth, and, having entered the camp, he was closely followed by de Jaegher or Roy Tchou, who anxiously waited for him either to blow his nose or spit. The return message, written on a piece of Mrs. Tchou's discarded silk undies, was concealed in the same manner.

On one occasion when the Japanese guard asked our messenger to open his mouth, he had to swallow the pellet. Unable to bring it up again, he got Roy into a secluded corner, confessed the trouble, and grudgingly agreed to wait while Roy rushed over to the hospital for a little harmless medicine to assist him. He returned with about a third of a glass of castor oil. Late that afternoon just before the gates closed, a very sorry-looking Chinese shuffled towards the gate, followed by a Japanese urging him to hurry. Passing Roy, he "hoiked", and spat a mouthful of saliva at him, much to the amusement of the Japanese guard, who evidently took it as an expression of his contempt for the foreign devils.

By the middle of March, Yu-min had completed the redistribution and reorganisation of his forces, but in spite of anything that he could do, there was no getting away from the fact that his unit had been vitally hit by the recent Japanese expedition. Stocks of ammunition had been seriously depleted, much valuable equipment had been lost and production of arms and ammunition held up, as the factories were not yet in a position to resume manufacture.

We were greatly disturbed by the growing Communist threat. Since the American landing in the Philippines there had been a marked increase in Communist activity in Shantung, which, it was quite evident, was based on a policy of expansion, particularly towards the coast.

The exiled Shantung Government sent a representative on a very "hush-hush" mission to advise guerrilla leaders of the type of co-operation expected of them, should there be an Allied landing in their vicinity. Both the Communists and the guerrillas had in mind the expectation that the group first on the spot to receive the Americans would be handed large supplies of ammunition and up-to-date armament. So far the Communists obviously were winning.

Yu-min was also very much aware of the Communist threat, but he had the confidence in the Fifteenth that Arthur and I lacked. We regarded the threat to our own area as part of their policy of expansion, whereas Yu-min was inclined to consider it more of a personal move against the Fifteenth.

Our impression of the Communists was largely coloured by our personal experiences. We knew that they had on occasions harassed the Japanese garrisons and lines of communications in much the same way as we had, and there was no doubt in our minds that their policy left no room for compromise with the Japanese, as did that of certain so-called guerrillas. But on the other hand, the record of the Fifteenth had been as clean as that of the Communists in so far as their Japanese policy went, and yet we knew the latter were as intent upon wiping out the Fifteenth as they were the Japanese.

They invariably took advantage of Japanese mopping-up expeditions against the Fifteenth to knife us in the back at every available opportunity, so that whenever the Fifteenth were attacked, they had always to deal with both the Japanese and the Communists.

This triangular warfare, Japanese v. Guerrillas and Communists, Communists v. Japanese and Guerrillas, and Guerrillas v. Japanese and Communists, had a very stultifying effect on the Chinese war effort against the Japanese.

How much attention the Shantung Communists paid to their government's policy as issued from Yenan is, of course, doubtful. That there was considerable local freedom of action there is no doubt, but on the other hand, the united policy adopted by the Communists immediately after the Japanese surrender was identical with that shown by the Shantung Communists throughout the latter four years of the war.

The Communist problem was nothing new to Yu-min; years of personal experience had acquainted him with their methods of warfare, and of recent years he had come to regard them with as much hatred as the Japanese. His propaganda department were well versed in Communistic methods of approach and had established strong counter-propaganda measures, but these were not entirely necessary, as the general trend of the people in Yu-min's area was strongly anti-Communistic. There were few large land-owners and there were remarkably few peasants who did not own their own land. They had been well indoctrinated with the principles of the National war against Japan and were proud of the part they were playing in it.

As far as the guerrilla leaders went, reports from other districts, and their own living conditions, confirmed that Yu-min was just in his demands. In fact, there was literally no place in their way of life for the Communist doctrine, and for this reason the Communists had never succeeded in getting a footing even on the borders of Yu-min's area. So he had little to fear from his own people, which made the problem of the Communists purely a military one.

There could be no question of hit and run with them as with the Japanese. Yu-min selected three of his garrison towns, north, east and west, and these he commenced to build into impregnable fortresses. Thousands of labourers were recruited and, with continuous work from dawn till dark, the existing walls were strengthened and enlarged, reaching a height of thirty to forty feet and a width of five to six feet. Solid granite machine-gun emplacements were built into these mud walls, with as many as six gun-emplacement levels at each of the four corners, making a veritable fortress of granite. Houses adjacent to the walls were razed as a preventative against fire, supplies of ammunition and food were stored in specially constructed underground caverns, and additional wells were dug. Day after day for months the work went on.

The Japanese, apparently satisfied with the drubbing they had so recently administered, left the Fifteenth severely alone, and Yu-min, engrossed with his anti-Communist preparations, made no attempt to disturb them.

A strong point of the Communists was their ability to travel great distances in a remarkably short time and to be in a condition to go into immediate action, returning to their bases with equal rapidity. In short, they were in a better state of mobility and training than the guerrilla forces, and with this in mind, Yu-min introduced intensive training for his men, forced marches followed by sham battles, daily runs before dawn to the top of San Hu mountain and back.

Lack of ammunition was still one of the most serious deterrents to any engagement, whether with the Communists or the Japanese, and frantic efforts were made to purchase all available supplies. With the increase in Communist pressure not only on Yu-min, but on the neighbouring "grey" units, there had been more willingness on the part of the latter to assist anyone, whatever his creed, provided aid was given in turn to ease from their shoulders the burden of the Communist pressure. Taking advantage of this, Yu-min succeeded in obtaining additional supplies of ammunition but not in large enough quantities to alter the situation very materially.

Within a month the Communists had entered into the final stage of their operations to surround the Fifteenth on three sides. Dealing lightning blows to the neighbouring "grey" units, they gradually pushed forward their policy of isolating the Fifteenth.

Until now we had been rather in the dark as to the relations between the Allies and the Communists, and had been reluctant to expose the full extent of the Communist activities in and around our area for fear that we might be considered as being against the policy laid down. But gradually, as the situation developed, we felt that we had no alternative but to throw our entire weight behind Yu-min. We dispatched a special report by messenger to the airfield at Fuyang, with instructions that he be passed on to Chung-king by the first available plane. Explaining the entire situation and its relation to the internees, we pleaded for supplies of ammunition.

Within a few weeks after the Japanese withdrawal, we left Headquarters and returned to our original quarters, but this time without the somewhat dubious pleasure of the company of our former host, Mr. Chang. We chose to return to this village because of its central location in relation to the various government offices scattered in the nearby villages, and also because of its proximity to the military radio station. We had the whole place whitewashed and made it as clean and comfortable as possible. In addition, we each bought a bicycle as the most suitable means of getting around the countryside. The months spent with Headquarters had made us many friends and hardly a day passed that we did not have visitors.

One afternoon Yu-min, who had established his Head-quarters for a few days at a village about a mile away, sent a letter asking us to come over immediately to meet a friend from Chungking. We arrived, to be introduced to a Mr. Meng, a member of the O.S.S. He had been sent by Billy Christian from Chungking to see how we were getting along and to look over the Fifteenth. Meng appeared to be a very sound man, and although he could not tell us much as regards future plans, we spent several useful days with him.

He came to stay with us, and Arthur took him on a visit to the munitions factories and the various Regimental Head-quarters, while I drew up another report to Chungking which he was to take back with him. He had come by way of the northern route through Taiyuanfu and Peking, — the same way that we had told «Prosperous Year» to follow. As we now had connections with the airfield at Fuyang, we gave him a letter to the Commanding Officer there, at the same time sending a radio message to Christian to arrange, if possible, for a plane to meet him there and fly him back to Chungking without delay.

Yu-min gave Mr. Meng a wonderful reception and he was naturally fêted wherever he went. Everyone realised that much depended upon what sort of report he would make on his return.

Before leaving he expressed his concern to us over the Communist situation: «It needs little intelligence to see what the Communists are up to, not only in Shantung but throughout all the coastal provinces of China. No longer is there any pretence at co-operation in the war effort against Japan. The longer the war drags on, the greater the opportunity it gives them to consolidate their positions. They are anticipating an American landing on the China coast and they believe that, if they are there to meet them, they will, through co-operating with the Americans, emerge from the ruins of China a stronger party than the Nationalists. They have done much to impress our Allies, particularly the Americans, with their propaganda. But then, of course, so many of the Americans that matter have been basing their judgment of the Communists only on what they have found when visiting their Headquarters at Yenan. True, they have done much good work in the rescue of American aviators shot down by the Japanese, but many of those rescued are, after all, but simple farmer boys, and readily taken in by the astute Communist lies, and it is not altogether surprising that they are much impressed with their treatment. Yu-min and this unit will go the way of his neighbours unless we can get ammunition to him."

The next morning we accompanied Meng to Headquarters to partake of the farewell feast that had been arranged for him. It was an enjoyable party and, as was to be expected, most of the conversation centred around the hopes and future plans of the Fifteenth. The feast ended and all accompanied Meng as far as the village gate, where a mounted escort awaited him. Yu-min was greatly pleased when Meng told him that he was genuinely amazed at the equipment and clothing of his troops. "Why," he exclaimed, "they are better turned out than many of the National troops that one sees around the capital. This has indeed been an eye-opener for me. When I left Chungking, my friends commiserated with me over the hardships and discomforts that I should have to endure amongst the country bandits, whereas I have travelled in the utmost comfort and have eaten of delicacies that are unprocurable in the capital." As we returned to Headquarters we all felt that this man had left with a favour-able impression and would do all he could to help us.

With the capitulation of Germany in Europe, the occupation of the Philippines and the attack on Okinawa, the Japanese in our part of the world were very subdued. The last six months had seen greatly increased activity by the American planes along the Tsinan–Tsingtao railway ; more than half of their locomotives had been put out of action ; shipping and docks had been bombed in Tsingtao and the airfields at Tsinan and Tsingtao frequently attacked. It was more than obvious that we were getting near the end.

One morning towards the end of May an orderly arrived and asked us to come over to Headquarters as soon as convenient. We were met by Yu-min's secretary who, with a great display of secrecy, handed us a telegram in Chinese. I could hardly believe my ears as Arthur slowly deciphered it. It was addressed to Yu-min from General Tai Li, and coolly announced that we were to be prepared to receive a shipment (which would be dropped by plane) of 500,000 rounds of ammunition and seven radios with which to set up a network all along the Shantung coast. Two American liaison officers and a radio technician were to accompany the shipment. Preparations were to be made for suitable accommodation for them. We were told what signals to display and were instructed to confirm location and time at which they would be shown.

At last we had succeeded! It had taken a year, but was worth all that we had gone through. Much as it meant to us, however, it meant a great deal more to Yu-min: the difference between survival and extinction.

Yu-min, his secretary, Arthur and myself spent the next three hours discussing and drawing up the final arrangements. We dispatched a radio message confirming that a large white cloth arrowhead would be displayed on the westernmost summit of San Hu mountain from dawn until 10 A.M., pointing in the direction of the wind, from 24th May onwards. All preparations were completed and from that date both of us got up at three every morning in order to be at the appointed spot at dawn. Guards «-ere stationed around San Hu mountain to prevent any unauthorised person from climbing the hill.

Daily reports were sent to Chungking on the weather conditions, which for the first week were most unsuitable, with heavy cloud and frequent rain-storms; but taking no chances, we made our way every morning to the mountain. Gradually the weather cleared and our hopes began to rise. We spent many a cold and dreary dawn on the hill-top, relieved every now and again by a really superb sunrise. From San Hu mountain we looked over the heart of the area with the two rivers on either side of us; huge square patches of brilliantly green young wheat and the rich brown of the newly ploughed earth. Immediately below us, nestling into the foot of the hill, thatched cottages clustered together, surrounded by a mud wall. Soon after sunrise, a light-blue haze settled over these villages as the womenfolk lighted their fires and commenced the preparation of the early morning meal.

More than a week had passed, but the weather was at last settled and we hoped that any morning now would bring the welcome drone of the planes.

Getting up one morning we found that there was a heavy misty fog. Arthur decided that it was useless and went back to bed, but having dressed, I decided to go out for a walk towards the hill. I was less than half-way there when I heard the intermittent drone of planes coming nearer and nearer from the south till they passed directly overhead, circled before they were out of hearing and returned in a south-westerly direction. This was the only morning that had been foggy in practically two weeks, and this was the day they had chosen to come! We had no further radio communication but continued our morning watch.

Three days later, before retiring to bed, we heard the explosion of hand-grenades, machine-gun and rifle fire far off to the east. The next morning, as we left the village before dawn, the sky in the east was red with flames. Passing through the village gate, we asked the watchman what had happened. "The Communists are attacking the Head-quarters of old Yen — we sent reinforcements over early last night to assist them. Let them burn! They are but Japanese puppets, they never did us a good turn." So the final links in the chain around its were being forged.

Less than a week later the Communists, gathering some thirty thousand men, began their attack on the Fifteenth. For the first few days we continued our watch on San Hu mountain, but finally, when small Communist bands began to infiltrate around the base of the hill, with resulting minor engagements with our own troops, we decided to give it up. We described the situation by radio and told of the removal of the signal to a hill some ten miles to the south-west, to which we removed our Headquarters.

Yu-min's plan of defence against the Communists was to place one regiment in each of the fortified strongholds, with enough supplies of ammunition and food to last them at least a month. To supplement the already scarce ammunition, lime-filled hand-grenades, old-fashioned cannon and even large cauldrons with which to pour boiling water over those who dared to scale the walls, were provided. Yu-min himself retained four regiments outside these fortifications with which to make mobile attacks behind the Communist lines, and yet another regiment was stationed at Kaomi in the south-east. Immediate steps were taken to garrison the three strong-holds of Mingchiakou, Hsiaohotze and Hsinchao. Simultaneous attacks were launched on these three points by the Communists. Mingchiakou was the first to fall after only three days, but more than half of the garrison forces succeeded in escaping. Hsiaohotze fell the next day. With the fall of these two strongholds the combined forces of the Communists were centred upon Hsinchao, which was under the command of our friend Chao Chih-yi.

Yu-min tried in every possible way to send reinforcements to relieve Chih-yi, but was unsuccessful. After eight clays and nights of almost continuous attack, Yu-min radioed to Chih-yi to retreat rather than lose further men. Chih-yi, however, still had supplies of ammunition and refused to leave. For three more days he fought off continued attempts to scale the walls; finally, with the end of his ammunition in sight, he managed to force an opening through the encirclement and succeeded in breaking his way out to safety with about two-thirds of his troops. Now the whole of the northern half of the area was in the hands of the Reds.

On the fall of Hsiaohotze we had again radioed Chung-king and advised them of a further removal of the indication mark for the planes, this time to within ten miles of the rail-way, but by now our hopes of success were lessening. It was more than likely that General Tai Li's "super-snoopers» had advised him of the inadvisability of proceeding with the plan.

Piecemeal, the Communists worked on the forces of the Fifteenth. Here and there isolated groups were decimated in battle or surrounded and captured. There were losses too on the Communist side, but the overwhelming superiority of their forces made such losses of negligible importance in their slow but steady sweep across the area. Yu-min seemed to have lost his usual initiative, and became hesitant to attack when the opportunity arose.

The first intimation we had that all was not well was from Colonel Huang (the Shantung Government's Military Representative) one evening when we were having dinner with him in the garden of his temporary quarters at a village far south on the east bank of the Wei River. In these days most people of importance kept one eve on the Wei River, on the other side of which was the puppet territory of the Weihsien Commander there at least was a temporary haven. "Yu-min has not handled this situation in his usual capable manner. Now, if I had been in his position I should have led my full force to attack the Communists before they had had a chance to surround and attack our fortified positions. By doing this, he might at least have beaten off the threat for the time being. And with the situation as it is who knows what the morrow will bring? It is evident that the Japanese are tottering. They may surrender at any time. If Yu-min was not successful in beating back the Communists, then he could have fallen back to his fortified garrisons. There is no doubt in my mind that this would have delayed the Communist advance to our certain advantage." During the next few days we heard similar recriminations from others of the Head-quarters staff and we could see for ourselves that there was something in the argument.

We were now being pressed at uncomfortably close quarters, and finally one evening, as we were sitting around the courtyard discussing the latest news, the chief of the Military Supply Department came along and said that the Communists were within a few miles of the village and that the only alternative was to cross the Wei River into puppet territory. Expecting that it would be only a temporary move, we packed a box with our personal belongings, arranging for it to be buried, and, after a meal and some wine, set off.

The road from the village to the river was but a rough track over the sand and was blocked with refugees. Cartloads of household furniture and personal belongings; men, women and children; horses and donkeys, pigs and goats, sheep and dogs; here and there a mounted soldier — these all added to the confusion. Gradually the mass of humanity converged on the wide sands of the Wei River. There had been little rain of late and the water was not very deep. A human chain of soldiers had been thrown across the river to assist the women and children, and to see that as few as possible of the animals were drowned. Slowly the crowds began to cross. Horses and carts trundled down to the water's edge, children piled on the shafts and on top of the loaded carts; men, stripped, with their clothes tied round their heads and with sheep or goats under their arms, waded over and then returned for their pigs. The women, stripped to their undergarments, carried hens and ducks or other personal possessions, living up to the proverb that a Chinese woman's most treasured possessions are her chickens and her nephews and nieces. The crossing took some hours. We too did what we could to assist before we were taken by one of our friends to a nearby village.

Conditions continued to deteriorate rapidly during the next week and it was soon obvious that we would not he able to go back to our area for many a day. We roamed about the puppet territory with Headquarters and the "43rd". There was talk amongst some at Headquarters that there was only one solution cooperation with the Japs to drive out the Reds.

We soon realised that it was unwise to stay on indefinitely in this puppet area; at times we had been forced to within a few miles of Weihsien and the camp. If this continued, the Japanese sooner or later would get to hear of our whereabouts and that would be the end of it as far as we were concerned. We had very little chance of escape. If, for instance, there was co-operation with the Japs, where should we come in? Deciding that it would be better to be with the Reds than to fall into the hands of the Japanese, we began to make plans for a get-away. Much as we were loath to do it, we felt that it would be impossible for us to communicate our ideas to Yu-min or any others of the Headquarters staff. They would not agree and might even attempt to keep us under surveillance. We knew that once we had crossed the Wei River, we should have no difficulty in locating the Reds.

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