Mains, Antony Archibald (Oral history)

British officer served with 2/9th Bn Gurkha Rifles in India, 1935-1941; served as Chief Security Officer with Iraqforce in Iraq, 4/1941-12/1941; served as Chief Security Officer to Burma Army and Assistant Military Governor in Rangoon, Burma, 1/1942-5/1942; served as Chief Security Officer for IV Corps, Indian Army and Gauhati Intelligence Detachment in Assam, India, 6/1942-12/1942; served as Chief Intelligence Officer for Assam in India, 1/1943-9/1943; served as Chief Security Officer for British Fourteenth Army in Comilla, India, 10/1943-8/1944; served with 5/9th Bn Gurkha Rifles, North West Frontier Province, India, 1944-1946; served as staff officer with Central Command, India, 1946; student at Quetta Staff College, India, 1946-1947

REEL 1 Background in GB, 1913-1932: family; education. Aspects of period as officer cadet and officer with British Army in GB and India, 1932-1935: opinion of course at Royal Military College, Sandhurst, 1932-1933; attachment to 1st Bn Dorsetshire Regt at Sialkot, India, 1934-1935 including excursions to Jammu. Aspects of period as officer with 2/9th Bn Gurkha Rifles, India, 1935-1939: joining battalion at Dehra Dun, 1935; posting of unit to North West Frontier Province; arrangements for military being called out in support of civil power; caste background in unit. Recollections of period as officer with 2/9th Bn Gurkha Rifles on North West Frontier, India, 1939-1941: nature of service at Landi Kotal; organisation of columns; attitude towards Pathan tribesmen; Gurkha troops' attitude towards Pathans. Aspects of period as instructor at Intelligence School, Indian Army, Karachi, India, 1941: duties; atmosphere in India, 1939-1942. Aspects of period as Chief Security Officer with Iraqforce in Iraq, 4/1941-12/1941: posting to Iraq, 4/1941; raising of Indian Army security units; story of Vichy French officer arrested as spy. REEL 2 Continues: problems of security duties in neutral country; visit to Turkey; securing Basra at time of Iraq Coup, 4/1941-5/1941; reasons for loyalty of Iraq Levies; Bedouins' use of slings to hurl stones at trains; movement of German nationals from Kabul, Afghanistan and Tehran, Iran back to Germany; leaving Iraq, 12/1941. Recollections of period as Assistant Military Governor in Rangoon, Burma, 1/1942-3/1942: arrival in Rangoon, 1/1942; initial role as Chief Security Officer, Burma Army and how he became Assistant Military Governor in Rangoon during British evacuation; conflict between military and police authorities in Rangoon; ensuing chaos after prisons and zoos emptied; leaving Rangoon with 1st Bn Gloucestershire Regt and escape from Japanese capture; narrow escape from Imperial Japanese Air Force attack; explosion of RAF bombs which destroyed Rangoon Railway Station. Recollections of withdrawal through Burma to India, 3/1942-5/1942: arrival with drunken servant in Maymyo; question of Chinese Expeditionary Force's failure to be honest about their defeat by Japanese in Shan States. REEL 3 Continues: question of recieving blame for burning Major General William Slim's petrol supplies during retreat; character of Chinese Expeditionary Force during retreat; arrival in Manipur, India. Recollections of period as staff officer on security duties in Assam and Bengal, India, 6/1942-8/1944: role as Chief Security Officer with IV Corps, Indian Army in Assam and change of role to Gauhhati Intelligence Detachment; minor character of Quit India movement and problems caused by floods; promotion to Chief Intelligence Officer in Assam, 1/1943; false Chinese report of Japanese attack from Fort Hertz area of Burma; problems of railway protection in Assam. REEL 4 Continues: contact with United States Army at Gauhati, role as Chief Security Officer, British Fourteenth Army at Comilla, 10/1943-8/1944; status of the State of Tipperah; visit to the Maharajah of Tipperah in state capital Agartala, 1944; friction with superior at Comilla, 1943-1944. Recollections of operations as second in command of 5/9th Bn Gurkha Rifles in India, 1944-1946: posting to unit in Baluchistan Agency, 9/1944; description and provisioning of cantonment at Chaman in Kafiristan, Afghanistan; attitude of officers in unit; disciplinary work in unit; move to Fort Sandeman; arrival of portable 'walkie-talkie' radios for column work on North West Frontier; problems getting back to India after leave in GB, 1945; move to Wana in Waziristan; description of Wana Hunt. REEL 5 Continues: Pathan attack at Wana; weather conditions at Wana, 12/1945. Aspects of period as Chief Intelligence Officer for Central Command, India, 1946: posting to Agra, 1946; story of wartime arrest of two Anglo-Burmese Special Operations Executive agents; causes of mutinies amongst Indian Army units; loyalty of Indian Army, 1946; rumour of mutiny caused by murder of senior military policeman in Lucknow, 1946; story of British deserter who headed gang of robbers in United Provinces, 1946-1947. REEL 6 Continues: Aspects of period as student with Quetta Staff College, Quetta, India, 1946-1947: posting to college; his wedding in Agra, 9/1946; changing nature of rioting from anti-government to communal; Muhammad Jinnah's weak position during Partition; his intelligence staff's prediction of defeat of National Unionist Party in elections, 1946; how alienation of Muhammad Jinnah led to killings in Calcutta; witnessing communal disturbances in Quetta, 1947; British officer's protection of Hindus and Sikhs in Quetta, 1947; question of Jawaharlal Nehru losing control of himself during rioting in Dehli, 1947; wounding of Lady Edwina Mountbatten's personal envoy during rioting in Dehli, 1947. Aspects of evacuation of Rangoon, Burma, 3/1942: organisation of evacuation; role imposing law and order; treatment of police; friction between military and police authorities; opening fire on looters in market; treatment of looters. REEL 7 Continues: removal of corpses from street; flogging of soldiers for looting; story of shooting at Indian soldier; provision of equipment from shops for British and Indian troops.