Sheep magazine Archive 2: issues 10-17

The British were operating in accordance with an order that they should
show a ruthless disregard for civilians, who, consequently, were killed and
maimed in large numbers. “There is no front in these operations,” the
order said. “We may find it difficult to distinguish friend from foe. Always
use the maximum force available to ensure wiping out any hostilities we
may meet. If one uses too much force, no harm is done. If one uses too
small a force, and it has to be extricated, we will suffer casualties and
encourage the enemy.”
Many of the troops who were expected to act on such orders were
appalled. One of the signatories to the letter to Bevin was Dick
Hartmann, a 31-year-old soldier from Manchester. Hartmann later
recalled: “We saw homes being burned and hundreds of the local
population being kept in compounds. We saw many ambulances, open
at the back, carrying mainly – actually, totally – women and children, who
were in bandages. I remember it very vividly. All the women and children
who lived there would stand outside their homes, all dressed in black,
and just grimly stare at us, really with … hatred.”
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Back in the UK, parliament and the public knew next to nothing about
this war, the manner in which it was being waged, or Britain’s role in it.
And it appears that the cabinet and the War Office wished their state of
ignorance be preserved.
At the Allies’ south-east Asia headquarters in Ceylon, however, and at the
War Office in London, British commanders and senior defence officials
were enraged by the letter. Hartmann and his comrades were warned
that a brigadier was coming to see them.
Artwork: unknown
SEPTEMBER 2016