From to Singapore OPERATION NIGHTINGALE - Barrow Clump, Salisbury Plain

AD 900 1897 1941 1977 2015

MILITARY ARTEFACTS - FINDS REPORT Mark Khan - SPTA Conservation Group Introduction Operation Nightingale is a programme that uses archaeology to help with the rehabilitation of injured service personnel. An Operation Nightingale took place at ancient burial mound, known as Barrow Clump on Salisbury Plain. One of 306 scheduled monuments on MOD land within Salisbury Plain, Barrow Clump was on the English Heritage 'Heritage at Risk' list due to extensive burrowing by badgers. The badgers were burrowing into the site and unearthing human remains and burial relics. The project was carried out by THE RIFLES - CARE FOR CASUALTIES Charity with the support of, The Defence Infra-structure Organisation (DIO), Wessex Archaeology, English Heritage and volunteers, to excavate the site and document the remains and preserve them, before rebuilding the cemetery mound. The project was recognised as a ground-breaking archaeology project of special merit by The British Archaeological Awards 2012. This report details a cross section of finds discovered during the project, that relate to the military usage of Barrow Clump. The finds mirror the use of Salisbury Plain as a military training area from the beginning of its use to the current day. They relate not only To the tactical military use the site, but also link to the stories of individuals who trained on Salisbury Plain, with some very surprising results. OP NIGHTINGALE Artefact - 1896 Dated 7mm Mauser Cartridge Case Britain's connection with the 7mm cartridge began with the Boer War. Large quantities of rifles and ammunition came into British possession at the cessation of hostilities. Some of this would have left South Africa for Britain, no doubt as souvenirs but also for ammunition research. The development of the P13 rifle and cartridge ( in .276 Enfield calibre) relied heavily on Mauser 93/95 design principles, and the search for a "better" 7mm (.276) Cartridge.) During the First World War, Britain took into Royal Naval service the 7mm Chilean Steyr M1912 Rifles. These were part of the equipment from three Cruisers contracted by Chile, but deferred delivery to War's end. These Mauser rifles were replaced by SMLEs, then Ross M1910 rifles when the Ships were handed over to Chile in 1919. Despite having stocks of Boer War (DM/DWM and FN manufacture) ammunition , Kynoch/Eley made fresh 7mm ammo specifically for RN use for sinking Mines at sea (not "blowing them up" as commonly supposed, sever- al bullet holes would let the air out, and the water in, so the mines would sink in deep waters. Britain also sent several acceptance commissions to Latin America, to buy Mauser rifles of the M93/95 types, with ammo, for the belea- guered Serbian Forces in the Salonika front.(Serbia was standardised on 7mm). It is unknown how much German ammo was bought in to the UK. The presence of an 1896 DM cartridge could indicate several scenarios (1) experimental shooting for Trials etc. in the 1902-1913: 2. A Lost souvenir (3) Other training use by RN or RM at Salisbury Plain, using M1912 Steyr Mausers and old ammo. 4. This round was simply disposed of at the location as a result of circumstances arising from the previous scenarios. It is know that DM (Deutsche MetallPa- tronenFabrik, Karlshruhe) made cases in a particular year, then filled them as required by orders, so a case dated 1896, may have been filled any time into the early 1900s; although from Boer bring-Backs, most of the cases have 1896 dating, even if delivered in 1897 and into the war years (99-1901 or so, by smuggling through Lorenco Marques ( currently Mozambique) then Portuguese Territory.) Chilean and Brazilian orders of ammo would also have fallen in this DM production time period1.

The recovered 7mm cartridge Case

A A comparative 7mm Round

Case Headstamp

1 Headstamp Key2 1 Manufacturer - Deutsche Waffen Munition. M D 2 Century of manufacture. 3 2 18 96 3 Year of Manufacture K Factory where manufacture - 4 Karlshruhe. Boers using 7mm Mausers (from a drawing by Caton woodvile - 4 THE ENGAGEMENT AT VLAKFONTEIN: THE DERBYSHIRES RE-TAKING

THE GUNS AT THE POINT OF THE BAYONET). References Inset: A Boer War 7mm Mauser Rifle 1http://iaaforum.org/forum3/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=17418&p=124612#p124612 2 Henry P White and Burton D. Munhall, H.P. White Laboratory, Bel Air, Maryland, USA Artefact - Numbered and Dated Military Issue Fork OP NIGHTINGALE

Items of a personal nature such as knives, forks and spoons are often marked with the owner’s identity, sometimes names but more commonly Army numbers. The fork , was found to be dated 1931 and had a number stamped into the handle. Checking The Commonwealth War Graves commission Records. the number – 821579, was found to have belonged to a Gunner JAMES RODGER MODERATE who was recorded is having perished during the Second World War. He is recorded as having served with 3 Bty, 6 Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment Royal Artillery and as having died aged 30 on 5 March 1943. He had no known grave but is commemorated on the Singapore Memorial, which stands in Kranji War Cemetery. 22 kilometres north of the city of Singapore, The Singapore Memorial, bears the names of over 24,000 casualties of the Commonwealth land and air forces that have no known grave.

IWM H993 QF 3.7 inch anti-aircraft guns in Hyde Park, London in 1939 (Wikimedia Commons) Artefact - Numbered and Dated Military Issue Fork OP NIGHTINGALE 6 HAA Regiment had deployed as part of the B.E.F to France in 1939 but escaped back to England without much of its equipment. The Regiment comprising 3, 12 and 15 Batteries deployed heading for the far in east on 13 November 1941. They arrived at Durban on 18 December 1941. Following the Japanese attacks on Malaya on 7 December 1941 along with other units, 6 HAA Regiment were re-routed to Singapore arriving on the 13 January 1942. The Regiments equipment had gone to the Middle East, so it was rapidly re-equipped from stocks in Singapore and deployed to gun positions around the town. On 30 January 1942 a convoy of small ships left Singapore carrying 6 HAA Regiment (less 3 Battery) and other artillery units bound for Sumatra. 3 Battery remained in Singapore manning eight 3.7 inch anti-aircraft guns. The Japanese assault on Singapore lasted from 8 to 15 February 1942, ending with the British capitulation. This was decribed at the time by the Prime Minister Winston Churchill as the “the worst disaster and largest capitulation in British history". Amongst the 80,000 British and commonwealth troops captured were the survivng members of 3 Battery, 6 HAA Regiment. We know nothing specifically of James Moderates time during the fall of Singapore and his subsequent time as a Prisoner of War, but it is known that the prisoners suffered a time of great hardness, privation & cruelty at the hands of their Japanese captors. We can however pick up his story in early October 1942. At that time the Japanese decreed that 600 POW's made up largely of men of The Royal Artillery with men from attached units, would be sent as forced labour to Rabaul on the island of New Britain in Papua New Guinea. Transported by ship in horrendous conditions, many of the men were already very ill at this time. Arriving at Rabaul the men were set to work in a ppaling conditions and treated cruelly by their Japanese Captors. At the end of November 1942, 517 of the fittest men, including James Moderate were selected to be transported once more under horrendous conditions to help build a new airfield on Ballale Island located within the Shortland Islands Group in the Western Province of the Solomon Islands.

Ballale Island

Ballale Island Today Ballale Island 1943 Artefact - Numbered and Dated Military Issue Fork OP NIGHTINGALE

The airfield construction was the responsibilty of a Japanese Naval construction Unit. It is known that when the POW's arrived on Ballale Island most were suffering from beriberi, malaria and other sicknesses. Chinese prisoners and local natives were also conscripted by the Japanese to build the airfield. None of the POW’s sent to Ballale Island survived. Many were killed accidentally by allied bombing, with those that had survived the bombing being murdered by the Japanese. Following the liberation of Ballale Island, an Australian Army Investigation Team exhumed 436 bodies together with artefacts proving these men were the POW’s who had been sent as forced labour to the island. None of these could be personally identified and the bodies were eventually re-interred in individual graves at the Bomama War Cemetery in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. Interestingly, one of the artefacts uncovered that helped prove the fact that the bodies were indeed those of allied soldiers was a spoon made by the same company as James Moderate's fork, dated 1932 (Jame’s was dated 1931) and also marked "ZW" - exactly the same as James Spoon. Despite interrogating Japanese prisoners of war that had served on the island, the investigation team could not ascertain the true facts relating to the deaths of the POW's. They did conclude however, that there was no doubt that a large number were killed by Allied bombing, mainly as a result of the Japanese refusing to let them take shelter in slit trenches or air raid shelters. From evidence given by two Koreans serving with the Japanese on the island, more forthcoming than the Japanese interrogated, it was ascertained that the remaining POWs were killed and buried at some time in June '43. The reason for this was un-clear, but evidence pointed to the possibility that the POWs were of no further use due to being too weak for further work or else their task was finished or that the Japanese feared an invasion by the Allies and did not wish the POWs to be discovered.

USS Columbia (CL-56) bombarding the Shortland Islands, 1 November 1943 Shortland Islands Bombardment, 1 November 1943. After 6"/47 gun turrets of USS Columbia (CL-56) firing, during the night bombardment of Japanese facilities in the Shortlands that covered landings on Bougainville. (US National Archives) Artefact - Numbered and Dated Military Issue Fork OP NIGHTINGALE

Whilst they could not ascertain the exact cause of the deaths, the investigation laid the blame on the atrocity firmly on the commander of the Japanese Construction Battalion Lt Comd OZAKI. On 18 January 1946 the Allied Supreme Headquarters in Tokyo(Statement dated Aug 1946) issued an arrest warrant for the former Lieutenant Commander, Norihiko Ozaki of 18 Naval Construction Unit, to be tried as a suspected war criminal in connection with the deaths of 517 POWs on Ballale Island. Ozaki had survived the war and on 19 January 1946 he was arrested and detained in Sugamo Prison in Tokyo. Questioned about the deaths he claimed that allied bombing had killed many POWs. He did however reveal the true fate of the surviving POW's.The Island was bombed a number of times by US forces from January 1943 onwards. On 27 June 1943 US aircraft carried out another raid and during the night of 29 June, US Navy Task Group 36.2, bombarded Japanese positions on Ballale Island with selected targets on the island shelled from a range of 16,400 yards. Lieutenant Commander Ozaki described what happened as a result of this attack:According to the fixed defence plan, the entire above-mentioned prisoners were already stabbed with bayonets, by the company in charge (the name of the company not known). I believe that hand grenades were not used.) ‘Every regiment was making arrangements for the eventual enemies surprise landing and attack and were working hard all night, but the enemy did not attack our island. After all, because of vigorous changes and disadvantages in the war situation, everybody’s morale was strained by extreme excitement. Under this pressure the THE SKELETON OF AN ALLIED SOLDIER, provisions of the defence plan, including the execution of the prisoners was carried out RECOVERED BY THE ATROCITIES COMMISSION, automatically. It can also be said that faced with a crisis, this action was unavoidable.’ LAID OUT ON A BLANKET PRIOR TO REMOVAL BY A WAR GRAVES REGISTRATION UNIT. (AWM) Ozagi had admitted that the Japanese had wrongly assumed an invasion was about to take place and the contingency plan prepared for this possibility to be put in place. The surviving defenceless prisoners were murdered as part of a callous pre-meditated Japanese plan. Despite a confession by Ozaki, the best sources of information were from the two Koreans that had served with the Japanese on the island. This evidence was deemed be only that of hearsay and circumstantial in nature. It was not possible to place a specific charge against Ozaki due to lack of positive proof. He had to be released and was never brought to justice. Whilst the actual fate of James Moderate will most likely never be known, the excavation at Barrow Clump has once again highlighted his fate and that of his fellow soldiers and comrades. Quite fittingly uncovered as part of an archaeological excavation carried out by fellow soldiers and comrades of a later generation

The remains of a rosiery from a An Allied soldiers' wallet from a mass grave : Ballale Island(AWM) mass grave : Ballale Island(AWM) Artefact - Numbered and Dated Military Issue Fork OP NIGHTINGALE

BALLALAE ISLAND, BOUGAINVILLE AREA. 1945-11-10. GRAPHIC EVIDENCE OF THE ACCURACY OF ALLIED BOMBING IS SHOWN BY THE WRECKAGE OF JAPANESE BOMBERS WHICH ARE NOW NEARLY OBSCURED BY UNDERGROWTH. THE GRAVES OF ALLIED SOLDIERS KILLED BY THE AWM 098833 JAPANESE. AWM 09883

James Rodger Moderate

References: Remembered with Honour http://www.pacificwrecks.com/airfields/solomons/ballale/salvage.html http://www.australian-pow-ww2.com/page_29.html http://asopa.typepad.com/files/wright_i-have-finally-decided-to.pdf Singapore Memorial http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2138355/MODERATE,%20JAMES%20RODGER UK National Archive In Memory of Gunner 821579, WO 361/773 Solomon Islands: unaccounted for prisoners of war, who embarked at Singapore, 18 October 1942, and at Rabaul, 5-6 March 1943; unidentified graves on Ballale Island; investigations WO 361/774 Solomon Islands: unaccounted for prisoners of war, who embarked at Singapore, 18 October 1942, and at Rabaul, 5-6 3 Bty., 6 H.A.A. Regt., March 1943; unidentified graves on Ballale Island; investigations WO 361/1764 Prisoners of war, Far East: Ballale Island (Shortland Group, off New Guinea); investigation after 432 Royal Artillery bodies were found by Australian troops, linked with disappearance of Japanese ship transporting prisoners of war from New Britain, early March 1943; interrogation of the Japanese Royal Artillery WO 361/1766 Prisoners of war, Far East: Ballale Island (Shortland Group, off New Guinea); investigation after 432 Royal Artillery bodies were found by Australian troops, linked with disappearance of Japanese ship transporting prisoners of war from New Britain, early who died on 05 March 1943 March 1943 BALLALAE ISLAND, AWM 098830 Age 30 Son of John and Gunner Moderate is commemorated on the SINGAPORE MEMORIAL at the Kranji War Cemetery stands the SINGA- PORE MEMORIAL, bearing the names of over 24,000 casualties of the Commonwealth land and air forces who have Susan Moderate; husband of no known grave. Many of these have no known date of death and are accorded within our records the date or period from when they were known to be missing or captured. The land forces commemorated by the memorial died during the campaigns in Malaya and Indonesia or in subsequent captivity, many of them during the construction of the Burma Mary G. Moderate, of Glasgow. Thailand railway, or at sea while being transported into imprisonment elsewhere. The memorial also commemorates airmen who died during operations over the whole of southern and eastern Asia and the surrounding seas and oceans. (CWGC) Artefact - Pyrotechnics OP NIGHTINGALE

Generator Smoke No.8 This was designed to emit smoke for 80 seconds. It has a steel a steel body and iss Rocket Hand Fired Para Illumining 4 inches in diameter and 4 inches high. It L3A1 was filled with priming, igniting and smoke This is a hand fired illuminating rocket (often composition. A hole in the top was covered known as a ‘Schermuly’). A flare is projected with a cellulose acetate disc. For use the from the launcher which from which a small disc was pierced and a 6 inch length of A Generator Smoke No.8 recovered at Barrow Clump parachute is then deployed after the flare safety fuze (Fuze Safety No 11 Mk 2) was ignites and falls to the ground slowly acting inserted and lit with a Match Fuzee. The as a light source which produces sufficient safety fuze burned for about 15 seconds light to illuminate areas of terrain. This ena- and the priming composition for a further 5 bles surveillance to reveal enemy movement seconds before passing the flame to the in the open, ambush situations to reveal tar- igniting composition and from that to the gets or as target illuminators for weapon sys- smoke composition. This smoke generator tems. The example discovered dates from was in use from the period of The Second the 1970’s or 1980’s.2 A comparative Generator Smoke No.8 manufactured in 1943

Left: Generator Smoke No.8 Packaging dating from 1982 Below: How the smoke gen- erators were boxed.

NOTE: Left: the example recovered at Bar- All items of ordnance or row Clump 1http://www.bocn.co.uk/vbforum/threads/88198-No-8-Smoke-generator-box ammunition uncovered were Right - a comparative example 2 Henry P White and Burton D. Munhall, H.P. White Laboratory, Bel Air, Maryland, USA handled by qualified personnel Artefact - Ration Tin OP NIGHTINGALE British Army Composite Ration tin This is part of an issue composite ration and is part marked ‘casserole steak & onions’ and with makers name. It is thought to date from the 1960’s due to the marking of the tin being on the side of tin. Tinned rations were marked on the top from the early 1970’s.

Comparative composite ration tins from 10 man ration pack dating from the 1990’s

Second World War Composite rations

The composite ration tin recovered at Barrow Clump References WO 291/2370 Tactical trial of lightweight composition ration; 1960 A 10 man ration pack dating from the 1990’s OP NIGHTINGALE 1 2 Headstamp Key 1 L 9 Artefacts - Ammunition 4 Manufacturer R 1 1 During the excavation various examples of small arms ammunition were uncovered. Using both type and head D stamp information these are possible to identify and covered a wide timeframe demonstrating the longevity and W 1 Z diversity of the military use of the Barrow Clump area. Most ammunition was of blank nature, associated with 2 Year of manufacture. dry training. An example of a (fired) live round was found - a wartime dated armour-piercing round. This may be 3 related to aerial activity and be as a result of having been ejected from a British aircraft. This type of round was 3 Type of Ammunition part of the standard losing of RAF fighter aircraft. Each example below is pictured, found artefact (right), com- parative round (left). .303 Ammunition 7.62mm Ammunition 5.56mm Ammunition

85 84

GD GD

R

R L R R R

G

D 1 G

91 D D 89

9 D L 4

1 L L 1 W 13 A1 13 A

1 Z L 1A1 L 1A1

R R

G

83 G

99 D 82 93 .303 Blank G GD D D R .303 armour Piercing Mk W1Z R Un-head-stamped. Manufactured at Woolwich L 1 L 1 Much blank ammunition was L 1 1 A2 A2

arsenal in 1941. The CCYY 3 A L 13 A1

Manufactured un-head-stamped R Format date indicates this G

During the Second World War D 05 round was approved for air service. 77 68 GD GD R R L18A 2

L 1 L 2 13 A 10 A 5.56mm Blank 7.62mm Blank All manufacture by Radway Green. All manufacture by Radway Green. Dates from 1985 to 2005. Examples indicating x3 types of blank Dates from 1977 to 1985. NOTE: References (L10A2, L13A1 & L18A2) Examples indicating x2 types of blank All items of ordnance or https://sites.google.com/site/britmilammo/ (L10A2 & L13A1) ammunition uncovered were handled by qualified personnel Artefact - Parachute Regiment Cap Badge OP NIGHTINGALE On 22 June 1940 Prime Minister Winston Churchill wrote a minute to the British Chiefs of Staff di- recting the setting up of a Corps of Parachute soldiers. The Parachute Regiment and its supporting arms have trained on Salisbury Plain from its very early days through to the current day. The Airborne forces trained in significant numbers on Salisbury Plain during the Second World War. The headquarters of the 6th Airborne Division were set-up at Syrencot House near Milston (approxi- mately a half a mile away to the South West of Barrow Clump) and played a significant part in the major parachute operations that took place on D-Day 6 June 1944. The airfield at (located a mile to the north of Barrow Clump) was heavily used prior to D-Day for training by Airborne Forces. The Parachute Regiment cap badge may have been left from the wartime training that took place on Salisbury Plain. The crown represented on the badge is that The Parachute Regiment badge found at Barrow Clump of King George VI. The badge appears to have had wear produced by repeated polishing. (Wessex Archaeology)

Men of the Airborne Division adjusting their harness alongside Armstrong Whitworth Whitley `PX-G' of No 295 Squadron, . The picture References is taken at Netheravon airfield. © IWM (TR 176) Winston G. Ramsey,1995, D-Day Then and Now, London, Battle of Britain Prints International Ltd OP NIGHTINGALE

About This Report

This report has been produced (The collation, research, images (unless stated otherwise), design and artwork) by Mark Khan, a volunteer member of the MOD sponsored Salisbury Plain Conservation Groups. Conservation Groups are made up entirely of volunteers and consist of professionals, experts and lay people who are interested in helping the MOD with land management, flora and fauna, archae- ology and historical matters.

Salisbury Plain has three groups: Imber (covering the West of Salisbury Plain, & Westdown (covering the centre and Bulford (covering the East of the training area).

Mark khan - 2015

[email protected]