Extracted from: WO 169-18860 - 11th Indian Infantry Brigade HQ (Jan-Sep 1944) I found this accompanying an intelligence overlay (a faded map reproduction with friendly and enemy dispositions marked). I think the adjutant may be suggesting the intel is slightly inaccurate:
Lovely! I'm attaching an entry in the 148 (SD) Sqdn monthly summary for December 1944 which isn't in the same league as the delightful Camerons report but which nonetheless does provide a little beacon of human emotion in an otherwise very dry genre. The squadron flew Halifaxes and liked them; for a while they had a couple of Short Stirlings foisted upon them and it's fair to say they never really took to them. Cheers, Pat Edit: in case opening the file is problematic, the entry says: 'One Stirling aircraft LK 176 left the squadron for Maison Blanche. No tears were shed over its departure for its loss is a gain for the squadron.' Which I thought was rather poetic, really. The squadron wasn't very literary otherwise, very much bare bones in the records. Someone must have really disliked those Stirlings.
Also not in the same league as the Cameron's but another example of the author allowing themselves a small opportunity to vent: War Diary, 3IG, September 10 1944, East of HECHTEL As is often the case the 1/50000 scale map bore no resemblance to the ground and, after one coy and one sqn had been launched on the chosen axis, it was proved that the going was entirely unsuitable to tks. Luckily, No 4 Coy, which had been sent forward for this task of ground recce were able to disengage from the enemy with very light cas...
There are actually a number of very wry observations in the HQ diaries for 5th, 7th and 11th Indian Infantry Brigades during 1944. Perhaps it's a product of many of their having been at war and overseas for a number of years by then. When time allows, I'll dig out some more.
Off on somewhat of a tangent here, but for light relief: Reference: WO 203/696 Description: A Study of Shorts Versus Trousers in Jungle Warfare Date: 1943 Dec.-1944 May Held by: The National Archives, Kew Former reference in its original department: HS/ALFSEA 74/10 Study of shorts versus trousers in jungle warfare | The National Archives How long could this study possibly be?
I suspect the findings were very similar to the 'Pints versus Trousers' trials - too many of the former and you'll need a new pair of the latter.
A somewhat cushy assignment: Reference: WO 291/2463 Description: Comparative trial of hammocks for use in the Far East theatre Date: 1962 Jan 01 - 1962 Dec 31 Held by: The National Archives, Kew Former reference in its original department: Memo No: 3/61 Comparative trial of hammocks for use in the Far East theatre | The National Archives
A comic interlude (among many) extracted from: Reference: CO 717/198/2 Description: Military situation: weekly intelligence summary [Malaya] Date:1950 Note the procedures laid down in the final paragraph!