CSM M. McLane, 2 Durham Light Infantry

Discussion in 'World War 2' started by Drew5233, Apr 8, 2009.

  1. Drew5233

    Drew5233 New Member

    I recently came across a book called 'War Diary' that has personal recollections of sevice personnel from all theatres and all sides.

    Here's one I thought to be quite interesting. Especially the incidents involving the ammunition and the brigade commander.


    [​IMG]

    CSM M. McLane, C Company, 2 DLI

    As CSM I was scheduled to have one of these new Thompson Sub-Machine guns. We had received them without any instructions whatsoever.

    The Company Commander came over to me and said, ‘Bring my Thompson Sub-Machine gun, I want to shoot it.’ Everybody wanted to shoot them – they were such an outstanding weapon.

    The CC went onto the beach with me. He picks up the gun and fires one round. I said, ’Stop sir. Wait. Wait.’ He says, ‘What’s the matter?’ ‘I don’t like the sound of that shot.’ I was watching to see if I could see the streak of the round on the water.

    ‘You’re over cautious. I’m going to fire.’ He fired and BANG. I looked round at this explosion, and I grabbed him – he was falling to the ground. I looked for wounds – but I couldn’t find anything.

    I was blaming myself – but it was not my fault really. The first round he fired hadn’t cleared the barrel – so I would never have seen it on the sea. The second shot hadn’t had a clear passage through the barrel, jammed and blew the gun to bits. Now that’s just an example of what follows on later.

    Eventually they decided to put us in by land, and we took over the positions from the Indian battalion which had been there for a few days. They had been having really jitter shoot-ups. Now, jitters means that the Japanese, when they found anyone on defence, would fire crackers or spring grenades at you, hoping you would start firing and shooting them up. Or they would shout at you, trying to get you to fire, so they could pinpoint your positions. We were told on no account to fire until we saw the whites of their eyes and, being English lads, we all obeyed.

    It was decided, after a few days, to put in an attack on their four strong positions. Now, we were near the sea on the right, but there was flat land where we were. We were in the jungle and partially out in the open. The water, when the monsoons came, used to sweep down from the ridge and gouge out rivers in the soft soil on the seaward side.

    There were three dried river beds and we had to attack over them. My company was to attack two points where the Japanese had been for some time. They used slave labour to dig a deep hole in the ground. They’d criss-cross it with tree trunks to get a two-tiered bunker, solid against all sorts of shooting up.

    Before we were due to attack, someone in a high observation post had seen a carrying party of Japs coming up with ammunition for these bunkers of a night-time.

    They decided to send our guerrilla platoon, a group of our own men trained like commandos, to do special stunts. Lieutenant Wilson was to take them across the Chung, (a water or tidal river) down by the beach and keeping them under cover, down to Fall Point, with an intent to ambush the Japanese carrying party. They all had Thompson Sub-Machine guns, rifles and grenades. They were dressed up commando-style, with blackened faces.

    When they were due to put the attack in, I was on stand-by at our observation post, listening for the Thompson Sub-Machine guns firing – and I never heard them. But I heard grenades bumping. All of a sudden, up come running these lads, the guerrilla platoon, cursing and blinding – their Thompson Sub-Machine guns had blown up, the same as ours.

    They should have had an inquiry on mine to find out the cause of the thing blowing up – but they didn’t. Being wartime, they just accepted it as maybe a dirty barrel – but I had just cleaned the thing.

    They decided that the American ammunition mustn’t be waterproof. The propellant charge had got damp and wasn’t driving the round out with sufficient force to send it out of the barrel. The second round followed on because it was an automatic action, and blew the gun up.

    Fortunately no one was hurt. They withdrew my company out of the line altogether and decided to change all our ammunition.

    The next day we went back down to our positions for the attack. We set off very early in the morning, in the dark, and filed our way down to the dried river bed. We lined up there for the attack. The artillery pounded the area in front with 3 inch shells. They made quite a din.

    It was just breaking daylight and over the top we went, with two platoons, 10 and 11, and Company Headquarters. Another platoon was detached to attack the other positions. My orders were to move the men from the first dried river bed and into the second-then wait. The other two platoons were to push on and go into the attack from there. Now they had to go to the third river bed, so I halted my men.

    The CC didn’t come up, and I decided to move up to the next river bed. As I went up to the next one, I saw a Japanese in a fox hole. I didn’t know how many were in there. I got my Thompson Sub-Machine gun up – and it wouldn’t fire.

    You’ve got grenades, but if you use them in close proximity you’d kill your own men.

    Anyway, we came back to where we were supposed to meet the CC – I wouldn’t commit them to get injured if I could help it.

    The attack went in – you could hear the shooting. The CO came on the set and asked what was happening, ‘I’ve been on attacks before, sir, but this is a strange one to me. I can’t hear any of our weapons firing, and they should be full blast as they went in – grenades and Bren guns as they charged the bunkers. There were no rifle shots coming from the front’.

    He told me to get the men moving, so I went out and found the CC. He was wounded, and I dragged him back. Then I went to the officer commanding A Company. Again I was told to get the men moving, so I run forward. The over river bed was insurmountable. The rain had gouged the earth out and it was like a steep cliff. We were carrying 76lbs of kit and couldn’t get up there.

    I looked for the platoon I was supposed to follow – but they had gone round to the right and come in at a lower part – so I ran round there. I was determined to get the men running and the attack moving.

    I ran round the corner and there’s the platoon commander, lying on a stretcher with 20 pieces of shrapnel in him. He said the attack had gone in and he had lost a lot of men. I run round the next corner and there’s a pile of dead men. The remainder of them were lying on the ground.

    I said, ’Right, come on lads. We’re going in to the attack’. One of the corporals shouted, ’Wait a minute, Sergeant. Wait! The guns won’t fire.’
    I tried a Bren gun and a rifle – all the weapons we had. ‘Hold it’, I said. ‘We’re not going on the attack’. I ran back to the set to tell the CO that the guns won’t fire. Well, there’s no man in his right mind would believe you!

    The sergeant said, ‘Let’s go in with grenades’ – a very brave man. They didn’t have a lot of grenades, so I was to go to 9 Platoon and get all of theirs. These six men went in with grenades. They all got killed.

    I ran round again through Japanese territory to where the other platoon was, and when I saw them, I nearly cried. Young National Service men were brought up from Dunkirk, taught and made good soldiers – and they were lying on this river bed, devastated. They’d got in this steep trench and the Japs had just poured grenades on them.

    I knew they couldn’t do an attack because the body of men had gone. The men couldn’t get up the side, so I put two Bren gunners up (they didn’t know their guns wouldn’t fire because they’d never had a chance to use them). I put both these men in for a gallantry award and both got MMs.

    A terrific bang went off just above my head – it must have been a Japanese shell or one of our own dropped short – and it left me semi-conscious. When I recovered, I went on the set and explained to the CO that there were no men to go in and that it was foolhardy to go in with Bren guns and rifles that wouldn’t fire. I didn’t know at that time that both of my eyes had turned brick red. The pupils were all right, but the irises were bleeding. I had a fuzzy head too, and the major sent me to the dressing station.

    All the lads who were National Servicemen were a great credit to this country – great young men, great soldiers – and with hardly any training they fought like heroes.

    In a later attack, the CC says, ‘We’re in a serious state – have a look up there’. All this hill, right the way round, was covered with positions where the Japs could fire onto us. On a barren place at the front the Japanese were digging in.

    You could see them and tied in the middle there was a person in white and another one about five or six yards further down, tied to another tree. We assumed they were tied. It was only our Brigadier, Cavendish and the Brigade Major.

    Now there’s no way you can fire at them unless you’re hitting the brigade commander and the brigade major. They sited them right in the middle of the area where they were digging in. They were standing up, the Japs, and you would have loved to get a Bren gun or a 3-inch mortar – but we couldn’t because we’d kill our own officers. They had to make a decision. If the Japs got dug in there, they would completely stop any evacuation we were going to try along the beach later. Eventually the Lieutenant-Colonel said, ‘We’ve got to knock that position out.’

    He let me look through his binoculars. They started firing, knocking the Japs out, and of course, the lumps of shrapnel killed the brigadier and brigade major.

    Now according to the Japanese story, the brigadier wasn’t tied to a tree – he was found dead way behind the positions, dead with a piece of British shrapnel in him, and also the Japanese escort was dead with British shrapnel. That was a plant. I saw them and I’d swear on any Bible that I saw those two men slump. They were tied to trees and in a position where we had to fire on them. They were killed by our own 99 Field Battery. Contrary to all the history books you read. Arakan was a shambles.

    [​IMG]
    British soldiesr peel potatoes and cook food in a small jungle clearing in Arakan
     
  2. Antipodean Andy

    Antipodean Andy New Member

    A good read, thanks, mate. Funnily enough, I just bought a little book down here called War Diary but written by a survivor of the sinking of HMAS Perth.
     
  3. Drew5233

    Drew5233 New Member

    Cheers,

    I posted it on another forum with a DLI 'expert' working on getting some more details about some of the incidents. I'll add them on as and when with his permission.

    If I extract anymore stories from the book I'll post them on the forum too.

    Regards
    Andy
     
  4. spidge

    spidge Active Member

    Hi Drew,

    You would have to call that incident the proverbial cluster****. What a terrifying experience it would have been to be fighting Japanese with what virtually turned out to be equal to toy weapons.

    I had never heard of anything like this occurring in the front line.

    Did it turn out to be bad ammunition or good ammunition affected by the conditions?
     
  5. Drew5233

    Drew5233 New Member

    Hey up mate,

    The book, the account comes from says no more on the matter (It's full of little ditties from all over the place during the war). The CSM does mention that the ammo isn't waterproof in the story but I don't no if they developed or had a waterproof round during WW2 then. I'd guess a fine coating of a type of wax would solve the problem?

    Cheers
    Andy
     
  6. spidge

    spidge Active Member

    I have travelled in those areas and nothing that is metal is immune to the effects of the bloody weather.

    The equator areas of the Pacific are similar with the salt of the ocean.

    I have not heard of anything like that occurring in the Solomons (Guadalcanal) or in New Guinea which is just as inhospitable weather wise. It was usually the weapons that gaveout, not the ammunition. (The Australian made Owen sub machine gun being an exception)
     
  7. Drew5233

    Drew5233 New Member

    Some further reading thanks to 'Verrieres'

    I believe Mclane is refering to the actions of 18th March when 2DLI attacked after the RWF had suffered heavy casualties described afterwards as a shambles made worse by faulty ammunition! 2DLI lost nine men killed (although there are twelve listed on the CWGC three I am presuming died later in the day from wounds received) including Captain Philip Kelly who was shot by a sniper,seven missing and a further thirty-three wounded.C Company had Major Bill Hutton , Lieut Greenwell and Lieut James Freeman wounded leaving CSM Martin Mclane in command.Lieut Greenwell won a MC that day as for Military Medals I recall Sgt Fred Turnbull L/Cpl Joe Pennington were awarded one each for bringing in the wounded and Pte George Beeley was awarded one for providing covering fire during the rescue attempts but all three men survived I`ll have another look but I cannot seem to find the two postumous MM`s mentioned by McLane?
    SUPPLEMENT TO THE LONDON GAZETTE, 1stJUNE, 1943

    The Military Medal.
    No. 4458629 Sergeant Frederick Turnbull, D L Infantry
    (Washington, Co. Durham).
    No. 4458216 Lance-Corporal Joseph Andrew
    Pennington, D L Infantry (Ferry Hill, Co. Durham).
    No. 4462230 Private George Beeley, D L Infantry (Manchester).


    Verrieres
    DLI Roll of Honour 18/03/1943
    BATES
    A
    4464039
    CLASPER
    SPN
    1491340
    ERRINGTON
    J
    4465526
    GRAHAM
    RS
    4459704
    KELLY
    PP
    50242
    LIGHTFOOT
    HC
    4458290
    MATTHEWS
    E
    4462216
    MCGARRY
    A
    3133728
    MOFFAT
    N
    4463237
    RICHARDSON
    RW
    4463278
    RIDLEY
    JT
    4461828
    STEPHENSON
    TP
    4463307
    (Source Forgotton No More By S Shannon /DLI at War/Faithful by SGP Ward amongst others too numourous to recall)
     
  8. Drew5233

    Drew5233 New Member

  9. urqh

    urqh New Member

    Drew, fancy seeing you here.....Is this the same Mclean of the Durhams of Dunkirk BEF fame...mortar guy sgt then...If so this guy has had one heck of a story to his life.
     
  10. urqh

    urqh New Member

    I should have done my research first....indeed its the same guy...Martin Mclane...blimey...now if we ever talk British soldier in ww2, I offer this guy up as an example of the best we had to offer.
     

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