The Pacification of Burma

by C. H. T. Crosthwaite

At the bottom the mounted men took up the running, and it was a case of every man for himself, Unfortunately when the firing began some of the Mounted Infantry ponies were scared and broke away. Owing to this mischance the pursuit was less effective than it should have been. Even so the affair was well managed and gave a lesson to the Kachins, who left eighteen dead near the village and on the line of flight, and several prisoners were also taken. The friendly villagers lay low during the fight. When it was all over they came to the front and began mutilating the dead in a barbarous fashion, and were driven off with difficulty and not without force.

Some anxiety was felt by Captain O'Donnell and Mr. Eliott lest Po Saw, learning that the greater part of the garrison had gone out, should attack the Mogaung stockade. Only sixty-six men, some of them sick, had been left in the fort—enough, perhaps, to hold it, but not to defend the town. Fortunately no attempt was made by Po Saw. At the time of the fight he was on his way to the jade-mines. He had attempted, as it was learnt afterwards, to come to Bo Ti's assistance, but he could not reach the scene of the fight in time.

The next month showed constant activity on the part of Po Saw and Bo Ti and their Kachin allies. Frequent attacks were made on boats going down or up the Mogaung River. It became necessary to send them in convoys with police guards. Villages near Mogaung were raided, and early in May Nanpapa, near Sinbo, was attacked, many villagers killed or carried away, and the village destroyed. Po Saw himself took up a position at Kamaing, where he could harass the traders on the route to the jade-mines and Indawgyi, and from which he could also threaten Mogaung. It was not possible for Captain O'Donnell to drive him away or to act on the offensive at any distance from the fort. Hence the enemy became more daring.

On the 21st of May, under cover of night, a large body of Shans, under Bo Ti, got into the town and took up positions within the low brick-wall enclosures of the pagodas, which, as has been described, were scattered about in and outside the town. The garrison, under Captain O'Donnell and Lieutenant Eliott, turned out against them. A really good fight followed, in which the enemy lost forty-nine men killed and many wounded, and were driven in confusion out of the town. They were nearly all Shans, some of whom had come from the Uyu country beyond the jade-mines. The garrison lost twenty-three men killed and wounded. The Gurkhas were gallantly led, and behaved grandly, and on that day the Mogaung Levy won a name for itself.

The situation at Mogaung caused some anxiety. The garrison was too weak. Its strength was now only two hundred and ninety-two men, many of whom were sick, not enough to allow a force to leave the post for a day. Two hundred men were ordered up from Bhamo, and with that addition the garrison would be able to hold their own, but it would not suffice to enable them to punish the Kachins. Bo Ti was occupying a place called Nyaungbintha, in the midst of the Ithi tribe of Kachins, by whom he was strongly backed. At Kamaing on the north was Po Saw, supported by the Thama Sawbwa of the Lepei tribe, who appeared to be most hostile. There could be no permanent peace until the strength of these tribes should be broken.

At the earnest request of the Chief Commissioner two mountain-guns, with the necessary equipment, were given to the Mogaung Levy. There was some not unnatural reluctance on the part of the military authorities in India to trust an irregular force with artillery. But the excellent conduct of the men in the late fights, and the proved capacity of the gallant young soldier commanding them, overcame their unwillingness. It was impossible to allow Captain O'Donnell to attack stockades and to turn large bodies of the enemy out of strong positions without artillery. With only one British officer, or at the most two, a chance shot or a bamboo spike might deprive the force of its commander and cause a disaster. The Chief Commissioner pressed this argument, and asked to be allowed to raise the garrison of Mogaung to ten companies. Sanction was given in October.

It took time, however, to raise and train the additional companies of Gurkhas; and in any case the expeditions which the conduct of the Kachins had rendered necessary could not have been undertaken until the rains had passed. In the meanwhile, until the guns and reinforcements reached them, the Mogaung officers were instructed to concentrate their men in Mogaung, not to attempt to occupy outposts; to move about patrols of fifty men when the weather permitted it; to strike at the enemy when they saw a good opening and could inflict real punishment; while leaving always enough men in the fort to defend it and the town. They were forbidden to make small and hasty expeditions into the Kachin Hills in order to retaliate on raiders. These restrictions were galling, no doubt, to Captain O'Donnell and to the Assistant Commissioner, Lieutenant L. E. Eliott, who was a keen soldier as well as a promising administrator. The Chief Commissioner, however, could not risk a catastrophe. Moreover, he held that spasmodic action of this sort, while exposing small parties of our men to much risk, only embittered the wild hill-men without impressing them with our strength, and was transient in its effects. The plan of subsidizing those chiefs who were not in arms against us, and could help to guard the trade routes or carry the mails, was recommended.

Present needs having been provided for, a plan of operations to be undertaken during the coming open season was framed by the Chief Commissioner, in consultation with Sir George White, and early in November it was sanctioned by the Government of India. Four separate operations were to be undertaken.

1. Against the Lepei tribe north of Mogaung, the leading chief being the Sawbwa of Thama, Po Saw's main supporter.

2. Against the Ithi tribe south of Mogaung, who were under the Sawbwa of Panga.