The Call of the Thunder Dragon Read online

  Gefreiter rank, since the 16th century, usually the second rank or grade to which an enlisted soldier could be promoted. 557

  Colonel Haga-Jin, Captain Soujiro and the paratroopers jumped as their plane passed over the river. The Kawanishi turned eastward back over the border, radioing for an unmarked aircraft to be sent as soon as possible, to rendezvous with the men for later extraction. ccxiv

  The Myitkyina hotel may not of been 5-star according to the Michelin guide, but it employed the best available staff; English-speaking Indians, Sikhs and Japanese laundrymen. ccxv

  Captain Akira considered himself to be a great pilot. He had been the best in class in the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service, worked with imperial Japanese airways, watched and flown with many foreign pilots. The Imperial Japanese Navy had used his experience and knowledge he was amongst the first to fly off the new aircraft carriers. ccxvi

  Alistair and waved Ludwig off as he carried on up the road to the boarding house. They each had two rooms, a bedroom and living room over the house of a large Burmese family, who provided breakfast and clean sheets every morning. ccxviii

  Falstaff had just finished bathing. Zam was reapplying his bandages. There was less fuss from Falstaff, almost none in fact. Zam was relieved, her ears were ringing from the drone of the engines and wind, having to hear Falstaff moan and curse would have distressed her nerves beyond the brink. She thought the ribs must be healing even if the scar was still seeping blood. ccxx

  By Jan 1942, The British faced growing numbers of Burmese insurgents. The British in Burma suffered from a confused, rapidly changing command. Until 1937, the defence of Burma had been the responsibility of the Indian Gov. From 37 the Burmese gov. was in charge until Sept.39 then Comander-of-Staff in London took operational control while the Burmese government retained administrative control. In Nov. 40 operational control moved to Far East Command in Singapore, while administrative control was split between the War Office & the Burmese government. Dec.41 control went back to the Comander-in-Chief in India, two weeks after the first Japanese troops invaded, Burma control was given to Gen. Wavell's new S-W Pacific Command, which was promptly overrun by the Japs. 558

  A career in the Indian Police was certainly not the first choice for a gentleman. Dickens' son; Francis Jeffrey tried several careers before joining the Bengal Police in 1864. 558

  There was a Japanese dentist in every garrison town in India looking after the teeth of the British & their families, providing cheap & excellent treatment & no doubt learning plenty of military information? A British army officer believed that his pre-war Japanese barber outside the army camp in Malaya was later one of the Japanese officers guarding POW’s in Changi. 558

  Leaving the hotel on the pretence of having been invited out to dine, Zam surreptitiously carrying their bag they left. Without even paying the hotel bill might raise alarm, they could always send for it later. Coming in the other direction they bumped into the two Prussian pilots; each carrying small bore hunting rifles. ccxxiv

  The little group sat and watched the Burmese doctor working. He removed the original three stitches, washed the wound and then proceeded to do the neatest needlework Falstaff had ever seen. He was so pleased with the finished job, he almost asked him for some embroidered handkerchiefs to match. ccxxv

  Colonel Haga-Jin sat at the head of the dirty table; the room was cramped and dingy. The dirty table filled most of the space. Around the table, sat Captain Soujiro and his men, less the two currently watching the hotel. ccxxx

  Nov 1941, U Saw went to London, to illicit a promise from Churchill that Burma be granted Dominion status after hostilities in Europe; at the same time, Saw was already in contact with Japanese to secure his own political future in event of Japanese invasion of Burma. The British discovered incriminating papers relating to these communications & he was detained for 4 years in Uganda. This proved Saw may have been a unique position to inform the British of Japanese invasion plans (Dec 1941) before they were enacted on. 558

  Ba Maw was arrested for sedition 6 Aug 1940 & spent over a year in jail as a political prisoner; he was incarcerated in east Burma. During the Japanese invasion, 1942, Maw was freed & asked by the Japanese to head a provisional civilian administration subordinate to the Japanese military. Ba Maw’s ‘independent’ Burma decaled war on the allies... until the war turned against the Japanese. 558

  Falstaff awoke in the warm embrace of Zam. They slept together in the covered cabin, covered in layers of bedding and coats. The sun had risen and was already climbing into a bright blue sky. ccxxxii

  Alistair and Ludwig arrived at the airstrip after two o’clock, with them they brought a Chinese welder, a part-time tinsmith and toy maker. The type who could build a doll’s pram or car from any discarded cans or hammer and weld a new wing for a car, matching it by eye and hand. Ludwig invited him to sit down outside the tool shed while he brewed coffee. ccxxxiii

  Soujiro lay flat watching the mechanics go about their business through a pair of field-glasses. They carried on refuelling the first aircraft. There was no sign of Falstaff. ccxxxiii

  Kimpatsu – blonde hair. Un-Japanese. 558

  Falstaff woke with Zam’s head upon his shoulder. Still warm and cosy, he was tempted to sleep on for longer, but his stomach requested attention. The pangs of hunger could not be ignored. ccxxxv

  Abe stood gawking at the aircraft. He’d given Alistair his feeble excuse for being there and retreated to the grass covered shack beside the runway to wait. ccxxxvi

  Alistair and Ludwig watched suspiciously as Abe greeted the stranger. The two pilot’s approached, pausing to watch the Puss Moth receding into the sky. ccxxxvii

  Soujiro gaped. He lowered his field glasses. With the departure of the Dolphin flying boat the air strip was deserted and worse, Abe was now with their agent Ono Itchi heading who knew where. ccxxxviii

  Falstaff was standing on one of the floats, turning the little motor boat they’d used to come downstream the night before. ccxxxviii

  Zam had wondered into the trees to attend a call of nature. Subsequently curious and hopeful since the speculation that the Japanese had simply climbed aboard and left. She climbed the riverside embankment to get a better view of the surrounding area. ccxl

  Captain Soujiro sat back down in the ditch, staring at the fields behind them. ccxl

  Colonel Haga-Jin sat in the rear of the cramped little taxi with the small company’s radio operator. Biding his time, he waited for his revenge on Falstaff, not just for the damage he did as a fighter pilot, but personal revenge. He felt sure Soujiro felt the same. They would identify the woman with him and kill them slowly. He would make them beg for mercy. In his mind, he pictured a fire and the white-hot blades he would use to carve his name in Falstaff’s flesh. Killing him would not be enough. ccxliii

  Zam lay on the taxi floor. The soldiers had piled into the taxi cursing and swearing with vicious Japanese humour, careless of where their boots landed. She curled up, hunching her shoulders in an attempt to protect her head. Her hands wrapped around her legs couldn’t be lifted higher than her knee and were useless to shield herself. ccxlv

  Li had carried on with his welding, oblivious to the noise. He had patched and soldered one side and painted the metal with grey primer. Calmly he packed and moved his tools to the top of the damaged tank, then started over on the second hole on the outside of the aircraft. ccxlvi

  Zam found herself being lifted between two men, looking around she could see little; glimpses of a dark, shadowy back street, it could be anywhere. She was taken upstairs dropped onto a table. She glanced around, she saw two faded posters on the wall: Hair tonic and cigarettes. It was the barber shop then she thought, she’d heard Falstaff and Alistair talking about it. Her spirits lifted, perhaps there was hope. ccxlvii

  Falstaff sat steering the little boat towards the curve of the river, his eye staring ahead while he imagined the worst. Zam in the hands of the Japanese. The spiteful, vengeful, unregulated Japanese military; unrestrained, subjugating Asia with their own violent, forceful means, taking bestial pleasure from their domination. ccxlviii

  Die with honour 558

  Zam hadn’t been moved, she had lay still trying to calm herself. She could hear the Colonel’s quiet, rasping breath behind her and the noisy erratic snorts from the soldiers sniggering and no doubt pointing at her, she imagined. ccl

  Daimyo, General Japanese, feudal leader subordinate only to Shogun, term used equivalent to medieval era 9th to 19th century Japan. 558

  Falstaff found the back stairs guarded. The taxi was gone, but he figured if there was something worth guarding, it was worth checking out. ccli

  Colonel Haga-Jin lay on the floor of the bathroom, the filthy toilet, no more than a pipe into the drains, the cracked sink dripping on his head. ccliv

  Ludwig was running hard, heading for the fisherman’s bar. ccliv

  ‘coup dans le mille’ a direct hit 558

  Chapter Seven – The one about The Pilot, The Baptist and The Spy? cclix

  After a three days laid up Falstaff was impatient to get back to the Caproni, he’d be pleased to see it in one piece. Having been told that Ludwig had flown it off the river onto the airstrip. He fretted as he heard conflicting reports on the repairs from Ludwig or Alistair. His stitches had finally done their job, his scar no longer bled and his ribs only hurt so long as he did not overstretch himself. cclix

  Doctor Harold K. Robbins sat back in the creaking chair as his wife poured the tea. Over sixty, he was a big barrel-chested, balding American Baptist from Boston. When standing he dwarfed the layman and converts around him. cclxi

  PHD theology Harvard Divinity school Baptist Missionary Association 558

  Non-rhoticity, inability to pronounce (or diff
iculty in pronouncing) r typical of Boston accent. 558

  Ooozie – Elephant Handler, Burmese Mahout (Assam & India) 558

  Judsons - Adoniram Judson is often called America's first foreign missionary. The Burmese king in fact assumed Judson was an English spy & in 1824 when the first Anglo-Burmese War broke out, Judson and other English men were imprisoned for a year. It was 1826 when the dictionary was completed. 558

  Minami Masuyo the name adopted by Colonel Suzuki whilst undercover before 1941. 558

  Yomiuri Shimbun a Japanese newspaper published in Tokyo, founded in 1874 one of five national newspapers. 558

  Rangoon University: was the centre of the anti-colonial movement. 3 nationwide strikes against the British colonial government (1920, 1936 and 1938) began there, which also produced a number of future senior Burmese politicians, including ‘Aung San’ (leader of the 30 comrades; under IJA Colonel Suzuki aka Minami Masuyo) and ‘Ba Maw’. 559

  559

  Falstaff, Shakespeare Henry IV. 559

  Viceroy Linlithgow Viceroy of India 1936-1943, the longest serving viceroy right through a period of civil disobedience and growing nationalism. 559

  U Chit Maung refused to bend to the censorship of his editor he was fired from The New Light of Burma paper. 559

  John 14:12 559

  Harbin’s population was bled dry by Jap.; who blackmailed, kidnapped & evicted businessmen; forcibly procured businesses & resources, everything from materials to hotels. Raped, doped and enslaved women; imprisoned & beat men. Every Japanese Organisation competed for profit or to meet their own running costs; even running brothels or Opium dens in competition with each other. 559

  Falstaff had been much more tired than he realised it was gone ten o’clock before he woke enough and got up next morning. He had been over eating and resting in too much he decided, but the local doctor had advised on bed rest to prevent the possibility of pneumonia if he over did it too soon. cclxxxvii

  Minami Masuyo or by his real name Colonel Suzuki Keiji held an earpiece to his ear as his hand hovered over the off switch on the radio. He was seething. He had the reports detailing the dead paratroopers, his local contacts had acquired copies. He had just finished discussing the matter with Colonel Haga-Jin’s superiors. Colonel Haga-Jin was nothing more than an opportunistic linguist. A soldier with an inflexible military mind and the notion he could speak like a Chinese. Colonel Haga-Jin’s mission was to discover, oversee and when ordered hamper Nationalist Chinese movement in Yunnan, China. So why was Haga-Jin chasing British pilots across the border, blundering into his operation? cclxxxvii

  Their last evening in Myitkyina had been restful and quiet. That was until they had got to bed. Falstaff looked down at Zam’s rounded rump. She’d rolled over and fallen asleep a while ago. Falstaff reached for a drink from beside the bed, having swiped the bottle of German liquor on medical grounds earlier that evening. ccxc

  Tiger Rag a jazz standard, originally recorded and copyrighted by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band in 1917. 559

  Falstaff had to admire the work done in less than a week. The tinsmith’s patches were neat and smooth, despite the hammering he’d given the tanks. Refuelled to brim, the patches showed no sign of leaking. The other tank was left half empty, having run out of gasoline. The fuel stolen from Alistair’s stock by the Japanese had yet to be replaced. They were waiting to hear if a few more cans could be found somewhere in the town. The rear engine had been overhauled and leaking oil and radiator fixed. ccxci

  Falstaff started carrying out the bedding, coats, the stove and all the covers; then all the tea and other goods Zam had previously bought. He returned to the shack for the smaller bags, his tools and map case. Beside which he found two small sacks, tied up with rope. He lifted them and was surprised at the weight. In his head, he went through the things he’d packed or seen previously, the rice wine, the tea, nothing heavy and solid came to mind. ccxcii

  The winters were generally mild in Burma; except in the mountains. The final cans of scrounged gasoline arrived late that afternoon, so they slept the night in the Caproni. They had left Myitkyina the next morning. At sun up the airstrip was covered with a layer of frost from the strong icy winds blowing down from the north from the mighty Himalayas. Ahead lay four hundred miles in the icy chill wind over the mountains bearing north west all the way. ccxcv

  Chapter Eight - The Gods of the Monkey men ccxcix

  The Caproni’s engines had continued running smooth without a hitch or sign of a leak since take off. As they crested another ridge, Falstaff throttled down. Dropping down to cruising speed on the far side. The wind had been coming from South or South east for most of the journey. However, around the ridges wind tended to cause unexpected squalls, temperamental gusts that could take inexperienced pilots by surprise. ccxcix

  Thanks for the Memory - Shep Fields and His Rippling Rhythm Orchestra 1936. 559

  Less than an hour later, the engine was fixed. Falstaff had stripped down and pulled off his boots and walked out tentatively onto the fabric and wood wing. The engine was easily accessible after removing the few pieces of doped canvas stretched around the frame. He’d inspected the engine and found the ignition lead to the plug with damaged socket was missing. Checking the plug itself, he found it to be loose. It was the work of a few moments to tighten it again and reattach the loose wire. Falstaff fussed over the errant plug checking it over and over. Firing the engine up, it started perfectly. After checking it three times over and coming up with no way to secure the plug or lock it in place, he shrugged and accepted that the fix was good enough. cccix

  Falstaff lay warm in the furs under the tight canopy over the nacelle. He checked his watch it was two thirty. cccxvi

  Chapter Nine – Flight into the Unknown cccxviii

  Ten minutes later they left the water, roaring once more westward. cccxviii

  Since leaving China, they had now past the great high mountain ranges coming down from the Himalayas. They had crossed the four great rivers: Chindwin, Sittang, Salween and Irrawaddy. These rivers, like four long fingers, extended down from the eastern tip of the Himalayas, spreading out dividing the land. Now Falstaff had flown across them all. Few people would know what that meant, even fewer could claim to have seen them or flown over them. cccxix

  Captain Akira had flown the Dolphin as instructed; he took orders from whichever intelligence task force he was working for, in this case, the that meant Colonel Haga-Jin. They were moored on the wide Bhogdoi River as they had been for several days, Jorhat was a short walk away. They were refuelled and ready to go. cccxxiv

  Colonel Suzuki better known among the Burmese by his nom de guerre Bo Mogyo (Commander Thunderbolt) trainer of the ‘Thirty Comrades’ who fought the British, individuals also led independent Burma after the war. 559

  Abe watched the Dolphin watched it fly away, lifting off the smooth surface of the slow running river. With him remained, the paratrooper from Hokkaido, Goemon and Ono Itchi the silent dragon. cccxxvii

  Abe and Ono entered the Clubhouse, now smartly dressed in western clothes, posing as Chinese Horse merchants come to see the racing and play golf. Initially, the Club itself was out of bounds for Indians and other non-Europeans, but eventually in 1929, Indian membership was finally passed by a vote of 29 for and 14 against. The clubhouse now hosted many events and for a decade had stood as a living testimony to the rich culture and history of its members and of Assam as a whole. cccxxxi

  Falstaff cheered as the natural features of the landscape and the man-made shapes on the ground started to match his scant map. The rivers coming together, the railway, the manicured club grounds, the historic tea research station and a football pitch. cccxxxi

  The clubhouse was more than a haven of colonialistic idealism. White, clean, painted with fine, thin lines of yellow and gold. Decorated with hunting trophies, and pictures of hunters standing over dead tigers. Then there were the sporting headlines framed, with photos of the races; mounted golf clubs and balls rusting and fading from disuse; next to polished plaques declaring the winners accomplishments. Even if most locals could never afford membership; among the neatness, the green potted plants and club’s lists of presidents and pictures, were acknowledgements of Indians, Sikhs and even Assumes, winning a fair share of races, golf trophies and cricket games. cccxxxvii