Diary of service - Donald Morrison, 1940 - 1945 - Part 9

Malayan Diary
Captain N Morrison
• Don't bathe in the open sea;
• Don't go out in the sun without a hat;
• Don't walk about in bare feet;
• Don't forget to tuck in your mosquito net before sundown and to wear long
trousers and to roll down your shirt sleeves between 1800 and 0800 hours.
Some of the rules caused much unnecessary alarm and were instrumental in making
the CO wary of intensive night training; "the boys might get malaria". Common sense
eventually prevailed and the Unit got stuck into things properly.
The food at first was unattractive and unappetising, as there were insufficient
vegetables and fruit and a surfeit of tinned herrings in tomato sauce. Vegetables and
meat had to be imported but, this deficiency was rectified by the time the kitchens
were functioning properly.
Training commenced with route marches around the roads and then we tackled cross
country marches through light rubber plantations. Everyone was very depressed by
the high humidity and the junior officers as well as the men had to be driven all the
time. Perhaps the hardest job in these early days was to maintain "water discipline"
the temptation to drink continually in order to replace the liquid lost by perspiration
was not easy to overcome. The usual small arms training was carried out with one
hour a day allotted to instruction on the Bren gun of which there were two in the
Battalion. The time between Church parade and lunch on Sundays was not wasted.
Led by the Regimental Bank, the Unit went for a hike around the roads for an hour or
so; I am sure that the Pommy Units thought that we were daft colonials. We did not
take very kindly to getting drenched to the skin in a tropical downpour on these
marches as we had nothing to protect us from the rain. But when the sun came out we
found that we were completely dry again in about ten minutes, so why worry; there
was never any fear of pneumonia.
I went up to my room after dismissal on the third day and saw what looked like a
Pommy Captain talking to Merton Morgan. He greeted me with "Hullo, Nim", and
turned out to be Colin Christie who was in charge of Fourth Class when I went to
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Duntroon; a very good bloke. He was seconded from 2 Battalion Welsh Register to
SSVF as Adjutant. His unit was responsible for the defence of the coast in the Katong
area. Colin gave me an open invitation to call once we got settled, an offer which I
gratefully accepted later on.
Singapore City was out of bounds for the first two weeks and any troops found there
would be severely dealt with. Bluey Hughes and Osborne were the first ones caught
and both reckoned that the five shilling fine imposed by the CO was money well
spent. When the quarantine was lifted, half the unit at a time was allowed into the City
from 1400 until 2200 hours. Motor transport dumped us at the Union Jack Club and
from there Mel, Jock, Hosford and I hired a taxi and told the Sikh driver to show us
the sights. (I think the charge was fifteen shillings an hour). The first port of call
turned out to be a brothel and it took some explaining to the syce that our thoughts
were on higher things. Anyway, we started off again on a general cruise; Raffles
Square, Orchard Road, Botanic, Harbour, Golf Links and the West Coast Road. Some
of the houses and gardens were really beautiful - luxurious cars everywhere.
The common herd travelled by trolley bus or bicycle and the very common ones on
foot with their wooden clogs going clip clop, clip clop. Sight seeing was thirsty work,
so, as the pubs had reopened after their early afternoon shutdown, we adjourned to
Raffles Hotel; from the outside, a very dirty and unattractive looking place for such a
world famous hostelry. However, the beer was good and we had a bit of a rest before
setting out once more on our travels. This time we did a little shopping and then went
to an excellent café, (The Monico in Orchard Road) for supper before getting the
trucks back to St Patricks. An interesting day but the language barrier rather limited
the intake of what we saw.
For sometime, Basil had not been too happy with me as his 2 IC and had wanted to
promote Chas Lovett to the job and to bring in Martin as a PI Commander. After all
my experience was rather limited and I had not done any officers schools of any
description, so I can hardly blame him. Col Smith of "D" Coy first told me that I was
going to Division Headquarters and I thought he was being a bit silly, but he said to
wait and see. So I was not unduly surprised when the CO told me that he had
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Captain N Morrison
submitted my name as Brigade Liaison Officer on Division Headquarters. The CO
said "I did not want to nominate you Norman, as you are one of the officers I can least
afford to lose but, I had to nominate somebody". A good way of getting the sack. On
29 August I was told I had the job and the same day Chris Nestor and I moved over to
Johore Bahru on the mainland.
Chris and I arrived at Division Headquarters at 1600 hours and found ourselves
outside a large white two storied building, previously the residence of the Prime
Minister of Johore. Surrounding this building were the tents and marquees of the
officers, clerks, batmen, drivers and defence personnel of Headquarters. The only
amenity was a cold shower, no electric light in the offices and no hot water at this
stage.
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Captain N Morrison
JOHORE DIVISION HEADQUARTERS
AUGUST – NOVEMBER 1941
I found my way upstairs and reported to Major Dawkins, GSO 11, who immediately
took me to Colonel Thyer, GSO 1, for about half a minute. The latter did not seem to
think much of me, the rawest of rookies, and I began to feel more and more
uncomfortable. My inferiority complex was getting the better of me. I was then
paraded to Major General Bennett, who at least smiled at me, before I was handed
over to Tom Mitchell. It was Tom's job to introduce me all around, to give me an idea
of the workings of the place including the main points of etiquette and to fix up
sleeping quarters with the Camp Commandant. "Camp" was very relieved when he
learnt that I had brought a batmen with me; most officers arrived without same and
were a constant drain on the limited numbers of the Headquarters personnel. It was
decided that I share a tent with Tom who was most helpful in many ways, Chris set up
house for me and I eventually managed to work in with the rest of the staff but, it was
a long job as I find it difficult to join in with senior officers or even those of the same
rank but of longer standing in the job.
My desk in the "G" office was next to that of Hamish McDonald of Wantabadgery
and for the first week I read screed after screed - organisation of a Division, of the
Headquarters of a Division, the movement of a Division Headquarters and Operation
Order No. 9 which dealt with the disposition of the British forces in Malaya and why.
Then came office routine, how to write a letter and the system of filing, who dealt
with what and why A or Q or G etc.
My first big office job was to compile a table, showing the number of rounds of each
kind of ammunition, which should be at each battle station and the number actually
there. The first part was plain mathematics applied to the war equipment table, while
the second part could be answered only by the unit quartermasters. The table took
more than a fortnight to finish and was never used. Other time wasters were the
"Schools and Courses" file and the "Practice Ammo" file.
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If there was no work to be finished in the evening, we could do as we wished but had
to notify the head of the Branch; in my case Dawkins, if we wished to leave the area.
My first night out was with Charles Wright and Fergie to the pictures in Singapore
where we saw "Moon over Miami". Officers were allowed the use of staff cars on
these visits provided that they shouted the driver to some entertainment and that they
did not remain in the City after midnight.
I had not got used to the humidity yet and was ever ready to stretch out on my bed at
any spare moment. This I was doing one Sunday afternoon when Harry Jessup rudely
awakened me to say that I was to go over to Changi with Colonel Thyer and that I had
better hurry. At 27 Brigade Headquarters, Maxwell said that I got the job of Liaison
Officer for two reasons; firstly because of my health, which he did not think was too
good and secondly, because I was the best man for the position. The order of
preference rankled a bit. The original idea was that I should be at Division for two
months and then return to the battalion. Things did not turn out that way however, for
which, afterwards, I was very thankful.
When I got settled in I paid the first of several visits to Colin Christie and his wife
who had a bungalow in the Tanglin area. It was very nice to relax over a few beers
and talk of other places. For several seasons Colin had toured India with the Welsh
Regiment rugger team; quite a good job, I should think. One evening I was guest to
dinner at the Tanglin Club but, I did not enjoy waiting until 2230 hours before I got a
feed; it was a long, long time since army lunch at noon. But still it was a most
enjoyable evening.
Also in Singapore, I met a Mrs Johnson to whom I had a letter of introduction from
Kathleen. She was most kind and took me to dinner and a show at the air conditioned
Cathay. When it came time to do my Christmas shopping, I asked Mrs Johnson to
help me, as I had no idea of the value of the articles in the shops. I told her how much
I had to spend, what I had in mind and left the rest to her. She was most helpful and
went to a great deal of trouble to get something suitable; eventually we settled on a
house coat and matching slippers for Ivy and hand worked linen handkerchiefs for
Mum.
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Early in September, I did my first practice move to an operation area when Division
Headquarters moved up to Jemaluang to Brigadier Headquarters battle station and
functioned in a rubber plantation for two days. A Section of Signal Officers and some
of the "G" staff went forward first to set up shop and establish the communication
centre; when this was complete the Johore Bahru centre was closed down, the
remainder of the staff joined the first party, and all the work of Division Headquarters
was carried out from the site in the rubber. The site was not mosquito free during this
exercise so to guard against malaria we all moved into Mersing for the night. As I did
not know anyone at Mersing, I told Dawkins that I would remain in camp as Duty
Officer while the others visited their friends nearby but, he would not hear of it.
Butler was left behind and I was taken along to meet some of the 22 Brigadier officers
with whom I would be working with later on. After Mess, I had a pleasant surprise in
the form of birthday greetings from Ivy, Mum and Lois. We did two further moves of
the sort but, on each occasion, went to the Kota Tinggi district.
My field work, as I call it, was very limited and consisted of one visit to each of the
Brigade Groups. One week was spent prowling around 22 Brigade dispositions at
Mersing, Endau and Palm Beach. I had the reason for all siting explained to me on the
spot and found everyone must helpful with maps and guides. Visitors from
"Division", generally, were looked upon with suspicion by the units - what have we
done wrong now attitude - but I received VIP treatment. I said that I was there to
learn and that I meant it. Sometime later I accompanied Colonel Thyer on tour of 27
Brigade. We called Kluang, Segamat, Batu Pahat, Jasin and Tampin. Poor Basil
Maher got a terrific roasting from Thyer when we got to Kluang. "B" Coy had been
sent there to defend the drome but had no written orders for the job. Consequently,
Basil had applied his inconsiderable training to the job and disposed his troops
accordingly. But, from Thyer's point of view, the show was a shambles, as there was
nothing in writing so Basil got it in the neck. Another week passed before written
orders for the defence of the drome, issued by Morgan, reached Basil. I shudder to
think what was said to Robbie when we got to Segamat.
The GI was enquiring into among other things, training methods and stores, the latter
being very deficient. At one state, the number of practice rounds per Bren gun was
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fifty. Chas Lovett thought that was a misprint and popped off fifty rounds per man per
gun. There was hell to pay; yards of correspondence flew backwards and forwards
and at one stage I thought that Chas would be dismissed from the Service. On these
trips, I learnt quite a lot by just listening in and soon realised how difficult our task
would be and what lack of confidence there was between COs and SOs.
Apart from the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, the AIF seemed to be the only
troops allotted to Johore and Singapore, who were making any serious attempt to
prepare themselves for jungle warfare. Some of the regular battalions were still living
in luxurious barracks and leading a mainly social life. Defence measures had to be
carried out with as little inconvenience as possible to the European social life and to
the native means of livelihood. Any suggestion that the old order should change was
not to be thought of.
A Liaison Officer, as such, at these exercises that I have just spoken about was
nothing better than a nuisance about the place. I had to pretend that I was very busy so
always carried one or two important looking documents of blank paper. On one
occasion we packed up for a sojourn of three days; actually we, the whole box and
dice of Division Headquarters drove down the road for five miles and then turned
around and came back to camp; the brains of the army.
My main recreation was visiting the Swimming Club on Sundays where I would laze
away the day with Phil Head or Harry Jessup or someone else from Headquarters. A
swim, a sunbake, a few drinks and a decent meal were a welcome change. From the
Club House we could see the flying boat from Australia, with our mail aboard, taxiing
across the water at Kallang Airport. The mail from Victoria seemed to be very regular
and I generally managed three letters a week. At the end of September, I met Walter
Butler, who was attached to Malaya Command Cypher Office. We took to each other
at once and he joined us at the Club. His father was Headmaster of Ballarat Grammar.
Very occasionally I went to the air conditioned pictures in Singapore.
The Officers Mess at Johore Bahru consisted of two marquees joined together to
make a bigger room; passing fair, if it was not raining at meal time. The office
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facilities were very primitive with very bad kerosene lighting. Things stayed that way
until November when new messes and sleeping quarters for the officers and for the
men were completed. The catering for the Mess was let to a No.1 boy and was most
satisfactory. Electricians were let loose in the office building and they produced a
very efficient lighting and cooling system. As is usual in the East, and should be the
custom all over the globe, the native men did all the skilled work while their women
folk did all the hard yakka.
Early in October all officers were bidden to the Sul-of-Johore's birthday party. We
collected at the De Wan at 1000 hours; this is a sort of Moslem church where we said
prayers for His Highness for about half an hour. All guests then went to the Throne
Room to await the arrival of His Highness and his Rumanian born third wife. The
whole was a scene of lavish oriental splendour. Two jewelled thrones, overlooked by
a portrait of the late Sultan, were at one end of the long narrow room. Between the
thrones and the entrance to the room were two lines of ceremonial guards in their
colourful regalia. The walls were draped with portraits of the royal houses of Great
Britain and Johore, banners, embroideries and such like. The native guests were a
fantasy of colour, the saris and sarongs being most attractive. After a suitable interval
their Highnesses arrived, proceeded by a fanfare of trumpets; she in European clothes
and he in the uniform of a Major General of the British Army and he certainly looked
the part. His looks belied his seventy odd years. He was a noted big game hunter and
one of the few people who dared to hunt tiger on foot. Next came the distribution of
honours and then the distinguished guests were presented. It was very noticeable that
the only guest with whom His Highness shook hands with was Gordon Bennett. The
crowd then dispersed for morning tea or rather morning champagne in another
building. Bill Miller and I shared a table with among others, one of His Highness's
sons' who later on was suspected of being a fifth Columnist. The whole show was
very informal and the talk at our table was mainly about photography. After more
champagne, the son took us to the museum where we saw the state dinner service of
pure gold; the clothes the late Sultana was wearing when she was killed by a taxi in
London and many other interesting pieces of the history of Johore; another couple for
the road and then back to camp for a much needed siesta. At the party I met the
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former Jean Low who was now Jean Birse, the wife of the Financial Adviser to the
Sultan.
The bane of my existence was a motorbike which I had to learn to ride as it would be
my only means of transport when the balloon went up. Harry Jessup was in the same
boat and it was with much misgiving that we used to venture out on trail runs. After
an exercise at Jemaluang, I had to ride the bike back to Johore Bahru, a distance of
seventy odd miles; Gordon Butler rode it on the forward journey. Up to this time, I
had not covered more than four miles non-stop on any one journey. Everything went
all right at first and I think I reached fifty miles an hour at one stage but, then I ran
into a real humdinger of a tropical rainstorm. I had neither raincoat, helmet or goggles
and I was so cold when I got back to Johore Bahru, and it was still raining; I had to be
assisted off the bike as I could not dismount without both the machine and myself
falling over.
Although I travelled many miles during the campaign, I was never at home on a
motorbike. Night riding was an absolute nightmare and I always had the jitters when I
had to go out after dark.
I think that my brightest effort whilst at Division Headquarters was when I lost the
Headquarters transport during a night exercise. It was assumed that enemy night
bombing was about to take place so all transport was to be dispersed to a safe area.
(Time about 2100 hours). I was to be in charge of the move so I called the Transport
Sergeant and Corporal to tell them what was to be done. We would proceed from here
to there under black out conditions at such and such a distance and so fast. I would
lead, Sergeant would check at a certain point while Corporal would bring up the rear
to help any stragglers. At the rendezvous, less than half the vehicles turned up.
Strange!! A Don R made a few enquiries and found that a few miles back a staff car
cut into the convoy and at a certain point turned left instead of right and took that part
of the convoy which was following with it. Moral "Let all the men know all the
things".
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By November, it was obvious that war with Japan could not be avoided much longer.
On the last Saturday of the month Dawks and I had gone down to the town to have
our hair cut by the Japanese hairdresser and on our return found that the codeword
"Seaview" had been sent out. This meant that all troops had been recalled from leave
and that all guards has been doubled.
Infantry Battalions – Malaya Campaign
Northern Malaya
III Indian Corps          Lieutenant-General Sir Lewis Heath
9 Ind. Division            Major-General Barstow
8 Brigade                   Brigadier Key
2/10 Baluchs; 2/12 F F Regt;
3/17 Dogras; 1/3 F F Rifles
22 Brigade                  Brigadier Painter
5/11 Sikhs; 2/18 Garhwals.
II Ind. Division             Major-General Murray Lyon
6 Brigade                    Brigadier Lay
2 Surreys; 1/8 Punjabs; 2.16 Punjabs
15 Brigade                  Brigadier Garrett
1 Leicesters; 2/9 Jats; 1/14 Punjabs; 3/16 Punjabs
Penang                       5/14 Punjabs.
III Corps Reserve
28 Brigade                  Brigadier Carpendale
2/1; 2/2; 2/9 Gurkhas.
Johore and Malacca
8 Australian Division   Major General Bennett
22 Brigade                  Brigadier Taylor
2/18; 2/19; 2/20 Bns
27 Brigade                  Brigadier Maxwell
2/26; 2/29; 2/30 Bns
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