Page 50 - CONTENTS

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Nobody knew of Brunei and no maps were available, so for
appearance sake at the ‘O' Group each officer equipped himself with a
suitable jungle map. However after a few minutes there was a strange
feeling that perhaps the whole thing might be genuine after all.
Shortly after the ‘O' Group was over the telephones were ringing in
earnest and obviously the situation was for real. Serious riots had
broken out the previous day in Brunei town and an armed
insurrection was imminent. The rebel leader was a man called
Azahari and the whereabouts of the Sultan were unknown. There
had been casualties and the police, who had opposed the initial
assaults, were now in their police stations surrounded by mobs.
Communications with the rest of the world were tenuous and the
sooner British troops got there the better. Slim Barracks was by now
humming and the scent of operations was in the air.
Unfortunately it was still an ordinary, happy Saturday morning for
the rest of Singapore. The four trucks sent with the RQMS to collect
the ammunition from the storage depot were told to come back on
Monday morning. The RAF had no planes available for the Battalion;
they were all away up-country but might be back by four in the
afternoon. The GHQ map store man had gone to a beach and
nobody knew which. Transport to take the Battalion to the
airfield would be available but only once the school children had
been taken home at one o'clock. Some - but not all of these hurdles
were overcome.
At twelve o'clock one company and Tac HQ moved off to Seletar airfield
and the second company followed soon afterwards 1. For four hours
the small force sat awaiting aircraft and by five o'clock all were
airborne in an assortment of planes. A group of intelligence officers
from GHQ had joined the force and also an RASC Major about whom
nobody knew anything. A detachment of Royal Signals had just made
1 Under Command Battalion 21C Major Lloyd Williams MC [1942 –
65]; Force Ops Officer Lieutenant DE Stephens [1957 – 62]; Force Adjutant
Lieutenant JJ Burlison [1961 – 94]; C Company Captain FA Lea [1955 – 85]; D
Company Major RA Watterton [1952 – 64].