rearguard. By approximately 1830 the infantry were clear, and A Squadron began to pull back from the river bank to the road. As they did so, small arms fire was opened on the tanks from very short range, showing that the enemy had beenmoving up through the close country undetected throughout the day.
When A Squadron was clear, C Squadron returned to the road from their position to the east, and during this move one tank shed a track in the heavy going. The situation was now beginning to deteriorate rapidly, and the enemy was now adding artillery fire to the constant sniping. Leaving one tank as escort for the cripple, whilst the crew effected repairs, Major Rudkin ordered the crews of both vehicles to rejoin the squadron when the job was finished, instructing them to move parallel to the road.
At this point a Japanese armoured car engaged the squadron from a position 300 yards down the road, but scurried away into the scrub when the tanks returned the fire.
The regiment then withdrew at very slow speed up the road for the next four hours [wrote Major Rudkin]. The speed was governed by the marching infantry in front, who had animal transport with them. At about 0200 C Squadron were ordered to take up a position just south of Budalin with a mixed battalion of infantry while the remainder of the regiment leaguered about three miles to the north. Two guard tanks of C Squadron were placed on either side of the road and the remainder of the squadron formed a very close leaguer about fifty yards further back.
Here we settled for the remainder of the night feeling fairly secure with infantry screens about two hundred yards out all round us. At this stage I had lost contact with the two tanks who were trying to make their way back by travelling parallel to the road and east of it. The last wireless message, at about midnight, reported that they were making good progress. I warned the infantry that there were still two tanks out which might be expected to come in during the night.
At 0400 the sentries heard tanks moving towards the leaguer up the road from the south. The NCO commanding one of the guard tanks, assuming they were the two missing tanks, stood in the middle of the road, and when the first tank was about thirty yards away, waved it to slow down and prepared to guide it in. To his horror, he heard excited Japanese voices coming from inside the tank, but before he could do anything about it, the tank opened fire, knocking out one of our guard tanks with the first shot. The second guard tank opened up on the enemy within a few seconds, but was unable to see very much owing to the darkness.
On the first shot from the guard tank, the Japanese tanks turned round and vanished into the dark, leaving one of our tanks blazing. The crew inside this tank had no chance and were all so badly burned that they died soon afterwards. The whole episode took but a minute, but in that time the remainder of the squadron had mounted and started up their tanks. When it got light, we foundparts of a Stuart on the road where the Japanese had been, so we knew that the shots fired by the second guard tank had at least winged the Japanese, who were obviously using tanks captured from us earlier in the campaign.
Between 0500 and 0800 all infantry in the area came in and withdrew northwards. At 0800 the noise of a tank engine was heard, but nothing could be seen owing to the thick scrub. C Squadron was disposed on the road ready to meet any threat from the east, but eventually one of the tanks which had been missing from the day before emerged from the scrub, and was lucky not to be fired at by the remainder of the squadron. The second missing tank had overturned in a nullah during the night, and was burnt after its petrol had been siphoned into the fit tank, which was running short. SSM Philpotts, the tank commander, stated that he had been forced by very bad going to take a very wide detour to get back. For most of the night a friendly Burmese had
When A Squadron was clear, C Squadron returned to the road from their position to the east, and during this move one tank shed a track in the heavy going. The situation was now beginning to deteriorate rapidly, and the enemy was now adding artillery fire to the constant sniping. Leaving one tank as escort for the cripple, whilst the crew effected repairs, Major Rudkin ordered the crews of both vehicles to rejoin the squadron when the job was finished, instructing them to move parallel to the road.
At this point a Japanese armoured car engaged the squadron from a position 300 yards down the road, but scurried away into the scrub when the tanks returned the fire.
The regiment then withdrew at very slow speed up the road for the next four hours [wrote Major Rudkin]. The speed was governed by the marching infantry in front, who had animal transport with them. At about 0200 C Squadron were ordered to take up a position just south of Budalin with a mixed battalion of infantry while the remainder of the regiment leaguered about three miles to the north. Two guard tanks of C Squadron were placed on either side of the road and the remainder of the squadron formed a very close leaguer about fifty yards further back.
Here we settled for the remainder of the night feeling fairly secure with infantry screens about two hundred yards out all round us. At this stage I had lost contact with the two tanks who were trying to make their way back by travelling parallel to the road and east of it. The last wireless message, at about midnight, reported that they were making good progress. I warned the infantry that there were still two tanks out which might be expected to come in during the night.
At 0400 the sentries heard tanks moving towards the leaguer up the road from the south. The NCO commanding one of the guard tanks, assuming they were the two missing tanks, stood in the middle of the road, and when the first tank was about thirty yards away, waved it to slow down and prepared to guide it in. To his horror, he heard excited Japanese voices coming from inside the tank, but before he could do anything about it, the tank opened fire, knocking out one of our guard tanks with the first shot. The second guard tank opened up on the enemy within a few seconds, but was unable to see very much owing to the darkness.
On the first shot from the guard tank, the Japanese tanks turned round and vanished into the dark, leaving one of our tanks blazing. The crew inside this tank had no chance and were all so badly burned that they died soon afterwards. The whole episode took but a minute, but in that time the remainder of the squadron had mounted and started up their tanks. When it got light, we foundparts of a Stuart on the road where the Japanese had been, so we knew that the shots fired by the second guard tank had at least winged the Japanese, who were obviously using tanks captured from us earlier in the campaign.
Between 0500 and 0800 all infantry in the area came in and withdrew northwards. At 0800 the noise of a tank engine was heard, but nothing could be seen owing to the thick scrub. C Squadron was disposed on the road ready to meet any threat from the east, but eventually one of the tanks which had been missing from the day before emerged from the scrub, and was lucky not to be fired at by the remainder of the squadron. The second missing tank had overturned in a nullah during the night, and was burnt after its petrol had been siphoned into the fit tank, which was running short. SSM Philpotts, the tank commander, stated that he had been forced by very bad going to take a very wide detour to get back. For most of the night a friendly Burmese had
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