Interview with Percival Scott Leathart

British officer served with 3/9th Bn Gurkha Rifles in Waziristan, North West Frontier, India, 1941-1943; served with 3/9th Bn Gurkha Rifles, 4th Indian Infantry Bde, 26th Indian Infantry Div in Arakan, Burma, 4/1943-2/1944; served with 3/9th Bn Gurkha Rifles, 77th Indian Infantry Bde, 3rd Indian Infantry Div during Second Chindit Expedition in Burma, 3/1944-6/1944; served with 3/9th Bn Gurkha Rifles on Java, Dutch East Indies, 1945-1946; commanded C Coy, 1/2nd Bn King Edward VII's Own Gurkha Rifles (Sirmoor Rifles) in Johore, Federation of Malaya, 1948-1949; served as Police Superintendent in charge of Gurkha Contingent, Federation of Malaya Police in Singapore, Federation of Malaya, 1949-1959

REEL 1 Background in Birkenhead, GB, 1919-1940: family; education; enlistment in British Army, 1940. Aspects of period as officer with 3/9th Bn Gurkha Rifles in Waziristan, North West Frontier of India, 1941: opinion of qualities of Gurkha soldiers; Gurkhas' attitude towards him as inexperienced subaltern. Aspects of operations as officer with 3/9th Bn Gurkha Rifles, 3/9th Bn Gurkha Rifles, 4th Indian Infantry Bde, 26th Indian Infantry Div in Arakan, Burma and Assam, India, 4/1943-2/1944: reaction to experience of retreat of 4/1943; tactics employed by Imperial Japanese Army troops against Gurkhas; attitude of Bengalis and Maroungs to approach of Imperial Japanese Army, 4/1943; rest period in Assam, India, 1943-1944. Recollections of operations as officer with D Coy, 3/9th Bn Gurkha Rifles, 77th Indian Infantry Bde, 3rd Indian Infantry Div during Second Chindit Expedition Operation Thursday in Burma, 3/1944-6/1944: Lord Louis Mountbatten's request that British forces should tell their families more about their living conditions; initial dramatic appearance of Major-General Orde Wingate and his address; Lord Louis Mountbatten's speech in Gurkhali to Gurkha troops; ration preparations; devoicing of mules; character of D Coy. REEL 2 Continues: flight into Burma in Douglas Dakota aircraft; abandoning of Chowringhee Landing Zone in favour of Broadway Landing Zone; landing of unit on Broadway Landing Zone; smell of death from corpses in crashed gliders; construction of defensive position at Broadway Landing Zone; Imperial Japanese Army Air Service bombing attack; Major-General Orde Wingate's visit in North American B-25 Mitchell and how aircraft was overloaded with American war correspondents; decision to move north towards Blackpool Landing Zone; meeting with commanding officer Lieutenant-Colonel John Masters; conditions in perimeter of Blackpool Landing Zone; Gurkhas reaction to leaving mules behind in Blackpool Landing Zone; nature of Imperial Japanese Army attacks on Blackpool Landing Zone; Gurkha reaction to sight of naked West African troops; arrival at Lake Indawgyi and evacuation of casualties by Sunderland Flying Boats; encounter with wild elephants, Lake Indawgyi, 6/6/1944; march north from Lake Indawgyi and wounding in left arm in action in village. REEL 3 Continues: how he owed his life to Gurkhas who extricated him from jungle; evacuation from jungle airstrip, 6/1944; medical treatment received in Assam, India, 1944. Aspects of period as officer with 3/9th Gurkha Rifles in Java, Dutch East Indies, 1945-1946: role of unit during Indonesian insurrection in Surabaya; problems rescuing Dutch prisoners from prison in Surabaya; arms given to Indonesians by Japanese; opinion of Indonesians who had been supplied with arms by Japanese. Recollections of operations commanding C Coy, 1/2nd Bn King Edward VII's Own Gurkha Rifles (Sirmoor Rifles), Malaya Command in Johore, Federation of Malaya, 1948-1949: move to Kluang; insurgent attack on rubber plantation; frustrations of trying to thwart insurgents with poor intelligence, 1948-1949; discovery of Malayan National Liberation Army camp when several insurgents killed by C Coy, Segamat, 25/12/1948; how Gurkha troops coped with jungle; use of Mepacrine against malaria; attachment to Singapore Police to raise Gurkha Contingent, 1949. REEL 4 Continues: Recollections of period as Police Superintendent in charge of Gurkha Contingent, Federation of Malaya Police in Singapore, Federation of Malaya, 1949-1959: internal security duties; Communist presence in Singapore; subversion of Federation of Malaya Police during Maria Hertogh riots and immunity of Gurkha Contingent to this subversion, 12/1950.