General Mann (TAP 112) - Naval Cruise Book

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Lying at the mouth of the Saigon River, Ganh-Rai Bay was used as an anchorage for Japanese shipping during the last war. Many of their vessels remain. Only the masts protrude above the water, monuments to the proficiency of American airmen. Shortly after we anchored, two barges were brought to our sideports. Senegalese soldiers occupied sand- bag barricades that formed a square midships on the decks of the craft. Armed with rifles and machine guns, their fearsome appearance was enhanced by wide scars that slashed their ebony foreheads and cheeks. On the stern of each barge was a small hut occupied by the bargeman and his family. The doll-like oriental children, gazing big-eyed at us from the shadows of their tiny homes, seemed fantastically out of place in the grim atmosphere. Presently it was decided that the barges were not to be used and tugs dragged them off, taking the fighters, the families, and the little garden that each carried in boxes behind their huts, upstream. French patrol crafl circled as we waited, their guns fully manned. In the guerilla warfare waged by the communist Viet Minh even a small fishing craft might contain Ho Chi Minh ' s fanatics, ready to trade their lives for the chance to lob a hand grenade at the enemy. Although the native sampans that came within our area quickly departed upon warning shots from the French gunboats, it was reported that sus- picious craft encountered on the run to Saigon were blasted from the water without further ceremony. A rusted freighter appeared from around the river ' s bend and came alongside. Short brows were laid between the two ships and the first contingent of the Arab troops left the Mtiiiii. Each carried a small paper bag containing a loaf of bread, candy and fruit — our parting contribution to men whose diet for the coming months would probably consist of bullets and rice. The debarkation was accomplished speedily. The freighter backed away and turned toward Saigon, its decks filled with cheering, waving Arabs. We weighed anchor and steamed out of Ganh-Rai Bay. As we turned north toward Haiphong the green mountains of Cochin China were obscured by rain squalls that buffeted the ship. For two days we ran north, skirting the coast of Indo-China. French aircraft and frigates provided an escort, although the latter had difficulty in maintaining our speed. We entered the Tonkin Gulf, passing between the mainland and the Chinese communist-held island of Hainan, and on August 2nd came to Henrietta Pass, outside of Haiphong. Henrietta Pass is a never-ne er land of towering rock islands that jut suddenly and inexplicably out of the sea. Winding our way among them it seemed a; though we had entered a new, shadowy, quiet world. Mostly devoid of growth at their bases where they plunge straight into the deep water or cut inward sharply to form watery grottos, the islands wear a cape of green that extends for a way down their perpendicular flanks. From a distance they look like a mass of moss-covered boulders congesting the quiet water of a shallow inlet. Their size is deceptive. Not until we saw French patrol craft dwarfed at the base of their cliffs did we comprehend the immensity of the formations. A quick glance at the charts showed them to range from three to seven hundred feet in height. A wide opening among the rocks provided our anchorage. On all sides they towered about us. Narrow channels separating them afforded views of the more distant formations, , ' .11 crowding in upon one another, dissecting the waters of the bay into a thousand little shaded, winding passagewa s. Ahead we could sec the wide expanse of Halong Bay. A broad plain of Tonkin slanted down to the water ' s edge. A galaxy of tiny brilliant shining squares marked a horde of sampans collected in the quiet water beyond the rock islands. A few ventured to the borders of the area patrolled by the French, then vanished into a sea-cave, or slipped from ' iew behind the buttress of an island. Three big landing craft plowed up to the ship, and the remainder of the Arabs and their French officers debarked. Like the first group at Saigon, they waved and cheered as the boats pulled away. After three weeks we were once again alone. It was going to seem strange not to hear the urgent Alol Alo! that heralded each of their announcements. We were going co miss the clamor that surrounded all of their activity, the hustling confusion, their constant bumming of cigarettes — even the man who played the flute on deck until the early morning hours. And we were to miss their willing industry and cheerful assistance, too. They worked hard and without grumbling when jobs were made clear to them. They kept themselves and their compartments clean. In all. they earned the reTutation on the Mann as having been a good group to carry. And evidently we were good in their eyes. As we steamed soiuhward out of Henrietta Pass a message was received from the Commander in Chief of the French Army in Indo-China. thanking us for the splendid treatment afforded his troops. Two F6F Hellcats, bearing the French tri-color, swept low over the ship in a farewell salute as we turned for Guam, Pearl, and home.

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And here wo were to siirfLMidcr tht ' peace and quiet that had been our good lortune ft r live days, and load the ho%vhng, youHng, most wonderfully confused mob the Maun ever carried. The troops looked Hke a horde of brown bugs as we approached the mole. Even at a distance we noted their different headwear. Some had white turbans, some brown, while others wore red fe es, and here antl there could be seen the semi-stovepipe caps of tlie Fr. ' nch officers. The troops were quickly embarked. The filed aboard, small thin swarthy men and boys clad in khaki shorts and wearing rope-soled sandals. A colorful Foreign Legion band, Algerian riHemen, and a French general participated in the farewell ceremonies. The Mtnni is a resilient ship. It has to be to accommodate itself to its customers. But the first few days out of Mers-el-Kcbir strained the most stoic eterans. Most of the troops had never seen running water or electric lights before coming aboard. To them, water was for washing or drinking, regardless of its vehicle. Indoor plumb-ng is luiheard of in the little coastal villages from which most of the soldiers were recruited, and a vigorous housebreaking campaign was necessary. Only about fifty per cent of the troops understood French, and each announcement over the ship ' s loudspeaker system had to be passed in three languages — English, French and Arabic. The effect was not unlike a marathon hog-calling. .Adding to the serenity was the .Arab ' s inclination to shout and wrangle with untiriiig vigor. The forming of their mess lines aft invariably looked like an incipient race-riot. Accompanied by the waving of clubs in the hands of the non-coms, shoving, shouting and pushing, eventually all made their way to the mess deck. Here it was necessary to instruct them in the use of the metal trays. By sign language we advised them that food will ride better when put in the concave compart:nents than when piled on the mounds formed by the bottom of the tray. But for all of their noise they were a cheerful, willing lot who worked hard at the tisks r iven them. The gathering of a working party was no problem. All we had to do was collar the nearest Arab and form some sort of a block. When enough of their countrymen w?re piled up behind this human dim all were turned to on the job at hand. The greatest difficulty was th? language barrier. Once the men knew what was desired, they pitched in gladlv. They were an emotional people. For an unknown teison one of their group jumped over the side near Port Said. Completely safe with a life-prest rver abo ' .it him, he paddled determinedly away from the ship. Aboard mass hysteria swept the troops. They wailed, ' ;mshed their teeth, beat their heads and wept. When our whaleboat crew plucked the escapee from the wate ; a wild ovation cheered the rescue. On another occasion a school of porpoise played n?ar the ship. The Arrbs laughed, clapped and shouted. They were like a lot of kids at the circus. Bv the time we reached Port Said there was organization v ithin the chaos. During most of the daylight and evening hours the loudspeakers continued to bl ire Alo! Alo! followed by announcements in nasal French and guttural Arabic: the wrangling, shoutin;; and h?iggling was a torrent of sound to which we had become accustomed; the Frenchmen still shook !iands with one another ten thousand times a day; and the appreciative character who came to attention and snapped off a salute each time he entered the cabin dining room continued to gladden the heart of our Sipply Officer with this dramatic tribute to American cooking. VC ' e transited the Suez, noting the green fields to the west and the sun-baked barren desert on the eastern bink. Camels foraged in the pastures, and people, donkeys, children and ducks moved about the little mud villrrgos. In the early morning of August 18th we entered Suez Bav, dropped our canal pdot and headed south toward the Red Sea. With each hour the heat became more intense. On both sides were rocky, steep mountains, the barren ranges of Egypt and Arabia. And then land finally faded from sight and we were in the Red Sea. The heat hung heavy and oppressive over the water, a visible, reddish-brown haze. For three days it was a punishing, brutal thing, leaving men sapped and wet and beaten. It broke a thermometer in the galle — a thermometer v ith a range of 120 degrees. The water injection went up to 92 degrees. Relief came on August 2Ist when we broke out of the Red Sea into the Gidf of Aden. There the seas increised and an epidemic of seasickness swept the Arabs. They suffered mightd . but not in silence. Prob- ably not in the history of tnal de wcr have so many bi ' en so splendidK smitten. Fallen warriors littered the decks and looked at us with agonized, bewildered eyes. Fortunately for the French cause in Indo-CJhina the seas subsided. The remainder of the trip across the Indian Ocean was placid. Placid that is, except for the usual racket and a brenk in the routine when the Arabs held boxing matches aft. The only threat they offered to one another during the course of the bouts was when they kissed at the end of the final rounds — trench mouth was rife among them. We made a binocular liberty at Colombo, Ceylon, on August 25th when the ship anchored outside of the breakwater there to await further routing instructions from the MSTS port office on the beach. The orders were quickly delivered to the ship and we were soon underway again, this time headed for Singapore where we were to pick up French liaison officers froni Saigon. Our course took us through the Malacca Straits. The high mountains of Sumatra and Mala a loomed close on either side. Nearing Singapore we saw many small houses built on stilts over the water. Jiniks plyed the passages between the small luxuriant islands that crowd the waters off the southern top of the Malay Peninsida. Unable to secure transportation, the French liaison officers radioded that thes could not keep their appointment with us in Singapore. So again we li.ul a whale s-e e view of an exotic city as we passed close (•ifshore. The ship turned northward and we crossed the lower reaches of the South China Sea. arriving at Ganh- Rai Bay, Cochin China on the morning of August ilst.

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