Crown Court - Sunset of Arms (1973) - video Dailymotion

Jezza

Major Alastair Fitton is suing Harold Pusey for libel. Bernard Gallagher, Dorothy Vernon and James Maxwell star. Watch out for an appearance from Bruce "I'm gonna bust his ass" Boa!

Transcript

00:00:00A

00:00:18controversial new book, Sunset of Arms, attacks British involvement in the Korean

00:00:23campaign of the 1950s as pointless, wasteful and last gasp imperialism. Written

00:00:29by Harold Pusey, professional historian and head of the history department at

00:00:33Crombie University, the book has attracted much criticism and is now the

00:00:36center of a sensational libel action. Major Alastair Fitton, sole survivor of

00:00:41the defense of the post that came to be known as Hill 329 during the retreat

00:00:46from Manchuria, is suing Pusey and the publishers of Sunset of Arms for libel.

00:00:51Pusey suggests that as the situation worsened and eventually became hopeless

00:00:55on Hill 329, Major Fitton lost his nerve and abandoned his wounded and dying men,

00:01:00choosing to save his own life rather than share their fate. A company director

00:01:06these days, Major Fitton asserts that the allegations are utterly false and highly

00:01:10damaging. In the Crown Court this afternoon, Major Fitton is represented by

00:01:14Mr. Andrew Logan, QC, and Miss Helen Tate. And Jonathan Fry, QC, appears for Harold Pusey.

00:01:21The last members of the jury, I will show that my client, Harold Pusey, had every justification for the statement he made about Major Alastair Fitton,

00:01:26in his book, Sunset of Arms. In other words, the defense will be, I will show that my client, Harold Pusey, had every justification for the statement he made about Major Alastair Fitton, in his book, Sunset of Arms.

00:01:53In other words, the defense will be that the words written by Professor Pusey about the plaintiff, Major Fitton, were true.

00:02:03And now, with your Lordship's permission, I propose for the jury's benefit to read once again the passage containing the alleged libel.

00:02:08It occurs, your Lordship, will recall on page 103 of the hardback edition.

00:02:13The author is speaking in general terms of the deficiencies of the British staff work during the Korean campaign.

00:02:18The Hill 329 affair stands out as a characteristic piece of blimpish folly.

00:02:27For sheer bumbling inadequacy, it is probably unmatched in military annals, unless by the tragic history of the Light Brigade.

00:02:34The officer in charge, Major Alastair Fitton, left with barely 40 men after the disorganized retreats from the Manchurian border,

00:02:40was ordered to fight a rearguard action from Hill 329 until further notice.

00:02:45Typically, further notice never came.

00:02:49Thus, everybody died on Hill 329, with the exception of Major Fitton himself,

00:02:54who seems to have realized at length that he was the victim of a suicidally inept administration

00:02:58and made sensible arrangements to survive personally, whatever the fate of his companions and men.

00:03:05I call, first of all, the defendant, Harold Pusey.

00:03:19What is your religion?

00:03:20A Roman Catholic.

00:03:22Take the testament in your right hand and read aloud the words on this card.

00:03:25I swear by Almighty God that the evidence I shall give should be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

00:03:29You are Harold Pusey.

00:03:32You are Professor of History at Cromby University, and author of the book Sunset of Arms.

00:03:37I am.

00:03:38Professor, you've just heard a passage from that book read out in court,

00:03:41referring into Aelia to Major Alastair Fitton and certain alleged behavior of his at Hill 329 in the Korean campaign.

00:03:48Do you accept responsibility for those words?

00:03:51Yes, yes, I wrote it.

00:03:52What are your qualifications as a military historian?

00:03:55Well, it is my particular field.

00:03:56I've published a number of works on the major campaigns of World War II.

00:04:00I edited the pictorial publication in the fall of Japan,

00:04:02and I was consultant on the television series Burma Road.

00:04:05You have, in fact, paid particular attention to the military history of the Far East.

00:04:09Yes, yes, I have.

00:04:10Have you ever been involved in official war history?

00:04:13Well, I contributed to the official history of the Burma campaign.

00:04:16I was also once asked to do a piece for a symposium on Korea, but I refused.

00:04:22How was that?

00:04:22Well, because I knew that my appreciation of the British part in that campaign would be unacceptable to Whitehall.

00:04:29It would have been a waste of time.

00:04:30Well, surely, Professor, the writing of history is simply the setting down of the known facts.

00:04:35I entirely agree.

00:04:36Would you, at all events, regard yourself as qualified to speak about the retreat from the Manchurian border in December 1950?

00:04:42Well, I should hope so.

00:04:43It was precisely that aspect that the learned symposium makers suggested I dealt with.

00:04:48If the usher would now be kind enough to set up the map.

00:04:52Milord, this is an agreed map.

00:04:54Yes.

00:04:54In no doubt, if Professor Pusey is going to refer to the map, it might make it easier for him if you were to leave the witness box.

00:05:03Oh, I'm most obliged to you, Lordship.

00:05:05Professor, if you'd care to come down here, I think you'd find it easier.

00:05:10Would you, first of all, give us the general background to the retreat?

00:05:13Yes, certainly.

00:05:15By November 1950, the United Nations forces had advanced to roughly here.

00:05:21Now, this had been a splendid gain of territory, driving the North Koreans clear across the border into Manchuria.

00:05:29But, and typically, I'm afraid, it had been made with such speed and what Konomi described as daring do, that no proper reconnaissance of this country had been made.

00:05:41And very little thought had been given to the approaching winter either.

00:05:44Consequently, the enemy, well used to the terrain, and of course, knowing how to survive in it, had a really tremendous advantage.

00:05:52Now, the Chinese came into the war and made an irresistible thrust southwards.

00:05:58The Americans, being mobilised, swiftly withdrew from Pakchon here, and at Tokchon here, the Turkish Brigade fought a very noble last stand, but, of course, were quite unable to hold position.

00:06:11Most other national groups made arrangements to fall back, but the British and the Australians, for reasons best known to their commanders, or perhaps, after all, only to their creator himself, decided to fight a series of rearguard actions.

00:06:29Now, readers of my book will know that this is one of my principal criticisms of the British effort in the Korean campaign, the rearguard action.

00:06:36Intended to slow down an advancing enemy, it became an old, old standby of British military strategy.

00:06:44I've no doubt it was highly useful as a tactic in the Crimea, or even as late as the Boer War, but its relevance in modern mechanised warfare.

00:06:52Anyway, the Americans raced away and lived to fight another day, but our troops became involved in a series of the most bloody rearguard actions, holding actions, and not one of which has ever proved its value, since the United Nations line inevitably fell back beyond the 38th parallel.

00:07:13Anyway...

00:07:14Was Hill 329 one such bloody holy action?

00:07:16Yes, yes, indeed. Hill 329 was.

00:07:19The official orders simply said, stand until further notice. To what practical end? It's very hard to say.

00:07:27Would you indicate for us the geographical position of Hill 329?

00:07:29Yes, indeed, here, on the northern shores of the Tidong River.

00:07:33And what were the circumstances of the defence of this hill?

00:07:35Well, of course, the southern slopes of Hill 329 did offer a smooth, sheltered access to the river.

00:07:43It seems to have been supposed by the relevant command that the Chinese might make an armoured crossing at that point.

00:07:49However, the Chinese forces attacked the position quite savagely, apparently.

00:07:52Yes, once they'd found it being defended, a vicious circle.

00:07:56Now, the officer commanding the defence of this hill was, in fact, Major Alistair Fitton, was it not?

00:08:01Yes. Major Fitton had been engaged with infantry some 50 miles to the north-west, guarding a section of the Chong Chong Railroad.

00:08:11Told to withdraw by brigade, he was then told to occupy Hill 329 and commence action with, I quote,

00:08:18such men as he had available.

00:08:20Such men as he had available.

00:08:22These being in number, no more than 40 of whom some 12 were wounded.

00:08:26Yes.

00:08:27An impossible situation, Professor.

00:08:28Oh, yes. Quite typical.

00:08:30Now, is there any indication in the records that Major Fitton resented his orders,

00:08:35or that he at any time sought to be relieved of them?

00:08:38These records are agreed, are they?

00:08:41Oh, they are. They are among the agreed documents, Lord, yes.

00:08:43Is there any indication, Professor, that the Major sought to be relieved of his orders?

00:08:46Well, his RT operator, one Corporal Batley, contacted Brigade repeatedly throughout the three-day period of defence,

00:08:55asking for support of almost any kind that was available.

00:08:58Some American tank reserves were sent in on day two, but in the event, they didn't help very much.

00:09:05Then an airstrike was promised, but before it could be organised, we are told that communications with Brigade were destroyed,

00:09:13and shortly after that, the defence of Hill 329 effectively came to an end.

00:09:17We are told.

00:09:19In records.

00:09:21Records also tell us that Major Fitton, some 24 hours after this cessation of communications,

00:09:29Major Fitton was picked up by an ambulance patrol on the northern shores of the Tiedong River,

00:09:35the sole survivor of the operation.

00:09:36Apparently, he had been trying to get his remaining wounded across to the other side,

00:09:40assisted by Corporal Batley, who, it seems, was the last man to fall.

00:09:45However, a final Chinese artillery attack vanquished even this pious ambition.

00:09:52The impartial observer might at this point detect a certain irony in your tone, Professor.

00:09:56Then the impartial observer would be quite right.

00:09:59It's my conviction that in the matter of Hill 329, the official record is a pack of calculated lies.

00:10:09That's a very strong statement to make, Professor.

00:10:11I shall be able to support it.

00:10:13I'd like to see the model, please, the one dealing with the topography of Hill 329.

00:10:23Now, do remember that I'm controverting the official documents.

00:10:30It is because, in fact, my researches have led me to subsidiary records that I am able to make these charges.

00:10:37Now, we are told, I repeat, that communications on Hill 329 here were destroyed by a final Chinese artillery attack from emplacements around here.

00:10:52However, the 22nd Canadians who moved in on a mopping-up mission after an airstrike had in turn got rid of the Chinese occupiers,

00:11:05report nothing like this at all.

00:11:06On the contrary, they tell us explicitly that the RT was still in working order.

00:11:13Again, the official record tells us that Major Fitton was picked up by the ambulance patrol on the northern shores of the Tideon River,

00:11:22whilst trying to get his remaining wounded across, arguably, about here.

00:11:26However, the 22nd Canadians, who achieved an almost complete body count, mind you,

00:11:32tell us nothing about dead discovered down here,

00:11:35or, indeed, anywhere else, except on the high slopes of Hill 329.

00:11:42And finally, Major Fitton, a sole survivor after Batley fell,

00:11:47is supposed to be picked up by the ambulance men on the northern shores of the Tideon River.

00:11:52However, evidence has since come to light that tells us that before he was, in actual fact, picked up in this way,

00:12:01he was encountered by an Australian to tune here, on the south side of the Tideon River, some 500 yards from the water.

00:12:10I see.

00:12:11Was this before the cessation of activities on Hill 329, or after?

00:12:15As far as can be discerned before.

00:12:19Now, these are just facts, and that's all I'm trying to say.

00:12:22We historians don't try to impugn people, living or dead.

00:12:25We just try to establish the facts and come to terms with them.

00:12:29We are thus referred to the bundle of agreed documents,

00:12:59That is so, my lord.

00:13:00You'll find there the official record of events at Hill 329,

00:13:03together with two separate extracts from the records of the 22nd Canadians,

00:13:07and another document supplied by an Australian patrol,

00:13:10but evidence on that matter is to be called here.

00:13:12Yes, my lord, we'll read these documents.

00:13:19Professor Pusey,

00:13:20you're highly critical of the British effort in Korea, aren't you?

00:13:24Well, I should have thought that was pretty obvious by now.

00:13:26Yes, but perhaps not for reasons you've made altogether clear to us.

00:13:29Not if your recent book is anything to go by, that is.

00:13:32You believe that the Korean War was, more than anything else,

00:13:36an American effort, don't you?

00:13:37Yes, sir, it was.

00:13:38It's ridiculous to think of it in any other way,

00:13:40despite that rather bland United Nations label.

00:13:43The USA contributed far and away the lion's share of both men and material.

00:13:48It's only a pity that the American grand strategy,

00:13:51which in its way wasn't all that foul,

00:13:53should have been time and time again frustrated and confused

00:13:56by the independent operations of tin-pot little armies.

00:13:59A tin-pot little armies, like the British?

00:14:02Yes, fighting stupid little rearguard actions like Hill 329.

00:14:06Hill 329.

00:14:07Yes, of course, Professor Pusey,

00:14:09I must say that you're extremely well informed about Hill 329.

00:14:13I'm an historian.

00:14:14I made a study of the incident.

00:14:15Again, not if your recent book is anything to go by.

00:14:18I beg your pardon?

00:14:19In your recent book, Professor,

00:14:20do you give a great deal of space to the incident of Hill 329?

00:14:24Not a great deal, no.

00:14:25Hardly more than the paragraph that has led to this action here today, in fact.

00:14:29No, however...

00:14:30Whereas in evidence just now,

00:14:31you proved to be a positive mine of information, didn't you?

00:14:34The official record, a pack of lies,

00:14:36contrary reports from the Canadians and the Australians.

00:14:38Why on earth didn't you include all this in your book?

00:14:41Why?

00:14:42It makes stimulating copy, don't you think?

00:14:45A squalid little scandal.

00:14:46One doesn't muckrake, you know.

00:14:48A squalid little scandal,

00:14:51suggesting that a regimental officer

00:14:54had shown gross cowardice in the battle line

00:14:56and deserted his wounded to save his own skin.

00:14:59Yes.

00:15:00Oh, come, Professor Pusey.

00:15:03A dedicated establishment knocker like you

00:15:06passing up a golden opportunity like that.

00:15:08Lord, I do object to these prejudices.

00:15:09Yes, Mr. Logan, please don't make those sort of comments.

00:15:13If you wish to prove that he has that sort of reputation, ask him.

00:15:16Right, I'm not at all sure that the term

00:15:18establishment knocker occurs in the dictionary.

00:15:22Well, failing the Oxford English Dictionary, my lord,

00:15:23one instinctively returns to your lordship for usage.

00:15:26Why didn't you make much of this knowledge of yours, Professor?

00:15:28Because I didn't choose to.

00:15:29An author has some rights over his own material, surely.

00:15:32But was it perhaps because you felt

00:15:33you couldn't prove what you would say?

00:15:35Nonsense.

00:15:36The relevant documents are here introduced in evidence.

00:15:38They prove it.

00:15:39Prove everything?

00:15:41What?

00:15:42Well, there are facts.

00:15:44And there are inferences, Professor.

00:15:46Now, you suggest that Major Fitton left his post.

00:15:50Well, so he did.

00:15:51Whatever his reasons, you can't controvert that.

00:15:54Leaving his wounded to die?

00:15:57I didn't quite put it in that way.

00:15:59In my book, I simply said that he plainly left them,

00:16:02whatever their fate.

00:16:04And he certainly wasn't trying to get them across the river,

00:16:06as the official record states, anyway.

00:16:08But how do you know that for certain?

00:16:10Because no dead were found by the riverside.

00:16:14What was the count of dead, Professor Pusey?

00:16:16Can you tell us?

00:16:16There were some missing, I believe.

00:16:18Very few.

00:16:18Three at the most.

00:16:20And at this point, Corporal Batley would have been the only man

00:16:23fit enough to assist Major Fitton in transporting the wounded,

00:16:26would he not?

00:16:27Arguably.

00:16:28So one or two bodies at the riverside would be all

00:16:30that you'd expect to find anyway?

00:16:32Now, isn't it possible that the attack blew these unfortunates

00:16:35and Batley into the river so that the cadavers were carried away?

00:16:39If anything like that had happened,

00:16:41surely Major Fitton would have contacted Brigade

00:16:43explaining he was unable to carry on with the action.

00:16:45Yes, but his radio telephone was out of order.

00:16:48The 22nd Canadians tell us not.

00:16:50But supposing that Major Fitton thought it to be out of order...

00:16:54Really?

00:16:55Isn't that possible?

00:16:56I mean, at least as possible as that a British officer

00:16:59of otherwise irreproachable character

00:17:01should carelessly leave to their fate

00:17:04wounded and dying men.

00:17:06You've no lost love for the British Army

00:17:11and its personnel, have you, Professor Busey?

00:17:13Because of its methods and outlook.

00:17:15We aren't guarding the Khyber Pass, you know.

00:17:18It's a long time since a platoon of British soldiers

00:17:21instilled fear into the hearts of craven foreigners.

00:17:24Yes, we've declined into our sunset of arms, so to speak.

00:17:28If you wish.

00:17:30You've served in the forces yourself, Professor, have you?

00:17:32No, no, as it happens, I was too young for World War II

00:17:36and later I was excused national service because of my studies.

00:17:40So your knowledge of the British military character, then,

00:17:42is purely academic?

00:17:44A Tudor historian doesn't actually have to have met Henry VIII, you know.

00:17:50But do you understand the British soldier, Professor?

00:17:52I should hope so.

00:17:54The British regimental officer?

00:17:56You see, in your recent book,

00:17:57speaking of Major Fitton's alleged desertion of his post,

00:18:00you say that he made sensible arrangements to survive personally.

00:18:06Now, do you really account that,

00:18:07the reaction of a trained officer of the line?

00:18:09That was merely a colourful way of saying he left the battle area.

00:18:13Sensible arrangements.

00:18:15Well, after all, he had been given absurd orders.

00:18:17But what would have been his reaction to those orders, absurd or not?

00:18:20The reaction of a trained British officer.

00:18:23To disregard them and run away, do you seriously imagine that?

00:18:26There are anomalies in the official record.

00:18:29Questions to be asked.

00:18:29Oh, quite.

00:18:31Beyond doubt.

00:18:33But won't you agree, Professor,

00:18:36that your researches have unearthed these anomalies

00:18:38whilst utterly failing to answer the questions?

00:18:41Except that is in terms of an alarming

00:18:43and rather unlikely character lapse in Major Fitton.

00:18:45No.

00:18:47Major Fitton must bear the ultimate responsibility

00:18:49for whatever happened on Hill 329.

00:18:51Who else?

00:18:51Whatever happened?

00:18:52Now, there's an interesting change of emphasis.

00:18:56So there could be various interpretations, then.

00:18:58I didn't mean that.

00:18:59I simply imply that Major Fitton and his behaviour

00:19:02occupy the centre of the stage, so to speak,

00:19:04and can't easily be edged out of the limelight.

00:19:07So you still insist a British officer funked his orders,

00:19:12abandoned his wounded and dying men,

00:19:13and finally falsified the official record

00:19:16so that he himself might come out of the whole incident with credit?

00:19:19I said nothing about falsifying the record.

00:19:21Yes, something of that sort must have happened, mustn't it, Professor Pusey?

00:19:23How else does it come to tell the precise story that it does?

00:19:26I don't know.

00:19:28These things aren't my business.

00:19:29More anomalies, then.

00:19:31More questions to be asked.

00:19:33Well, someone will really have to get down

00:19:35to some comprehensive answers pretty soon,

00:19:36won't they, Professor?

00:19:39Professor, at the time you wrote your book, Sunset of Arms,

00:19:42were you aware of the conflict

00:19:44between the official record in the matter of Hill 329

00:19:46and what the Australians, Canadians, and so on had to say?

00:19:49Yes, yes, I was.

00:19:50Then was there perhaps a reason

00:19:51you've not yet fully explained to the court

00:19:53for suppressing this material in your published texts?

00:19:57Yes, to be perfectly frank,

00:19:59I wanted to cause as little pain as possible.

00:20:03Well, it's my duty as an historian to tell the truth.

00:20:06I didn't want in any sense to single out Major Fitton.

00:20:11I don't blame him for leaving his post, as it happens.

00:20:14He was in an impossible position.

00:20:16Anyone might have done the same thing.

00:20:18This was why you chose not to be more precise

00:20:20about what happened at Hill 329.

00:20:22Yes.

00:20:24Thank you, Professor.

00:20:25That would be all.

00:20:27You can stand down, Professor Pusey.

00:20:29I call Morton Xavier Lass.

00:20:34Morton Lass.

00:20:46What is your religion?

00:20:47Methodist.

00:20:48Take the testament in your right hand

00:20:50and you wouldn't read aloud the words on the card.

00:20:51I swear by Almighty God

00:20:53that the evidence I shall give

00:20:54shall be the truth,

00:20:56the whole truth,

00:20:57and nothing but the truth.

00:20:59You are Morton Xavier Lass,

00:21:01and you live at 1257 North Vista Towers,

00:21:05Chicago, Illinois.

00:21:06That's correct, yes.

00:21:08What is your occupation, Mr. Lass?

00:21:09I'm in the meatpacking business,

00:21:11Eastern Division.

00:21:14Have you ever met the plaintiff in this action,

00:21:16Major Alistair Fitton?

00:21:18Yes, sir, I have.

00:21:18I first met Major Fitton close down to 20 years ago

00:21:22during the Korean campaign.

00:21:23I was a tank commander.

00:21:25I was sent up to help him in the defense.

00:21:27He was making of a hill emplacement.

00:21:28Was this the emplacement that is now known as Hill 329?

00:21:31It was, that's correct.

00:21:32Perhaps you could summarize the circumstances for us.

00:21:35Major Fitton was having a pretty rough time,

00:21:36by all accounts.

00:21:37He was fighting in rearguard action on Hill 329,

00:21:40being pounded like crazy.

00:21:42A single day, he lost something like 15 men,

00:21:44which is pretty solid.

00:21:45That's 15 out of an original 40,

00:21:47some 12 of whom were wounded anyway.

00:21:49That's what they tell me.

00:21:50And you were sent up to help?

00:21:52With four Shermans, yes.

00:21:53And in the event,

00:21:54were you able to be of great assistance to Major Fitton?

00:21:56No, sir.

00:21:57You see, the trouble with tanks in terrain like that

00:22:00is their flat trajectory.

00:22:02Now, by that, I mean you can't get elevation to firepower.

00:22:05Hill 329 was in pretty mountainous terrain,

00:22:08so as soon as we moved in with the Shermans,

00:22:10the Chinese just occupied higher positions.

00:22:13I don't think we had a chance

00:22:14to knock a single enemy gun out of action.

00:22:16And what was Major Fitton's reaction to this?

00:22:18Major Fitton's reaction.

00:22:23He blew his mind.

00:22:25Blew his mind?

00:22:27Yes, sir.

00:22:27I never saw a man go so far over the edge so fast.

00:22:31He yelled at me,

00:22:33where were the ambulance patrols to get his wounded out?

00:22:36Where were the reinforcements, the supplies?

00:22:38I just had to say,

00:22:39sorry, that had nothing to do with me,

00:22:41and perhaps me and my tanks

00:22:42had better find a war someplace else

00:22:44if we couldn't be of any use to him.

00:22:45You're saying that Major Fitton

00:22:46was showing signs of strain

00:22:48on day two of Hill 329, then?

00:22:49Are you kidding?

00:22:51He was operating out of a foxhole

00:22:53halfway down the southern slope

00:22:55where his R.T. was housed,

00:22:56popping in and out of there like a jackrabbit,

00:22:58swearing at some kind of sergeant in there

00:23:00to keep putting pressure on brigade.

00:23:03Corporal, I believe.

00:23:03Corporal Backlis.

00:23:04Corporal, yes, yes.

00:23:06Well, then he'd deploy his troops

00:23:08to different positions along the ridge,

00:23:09but every time there was mortar fire,

00:23:12he'd go to ground himself.

00:23:13You mean that Major Fitton

00:23:14was deliberately staying out of the line of fire?

00:23:16Look, it was just one hell of a circus

00:23:17on Hill 329.

00:23:19Fitton was in a bad spot.

00:23:20It would have been difficult enough

00:23:21to have held that position

00:23:22with a company that alone.

00:23:23Let us stick to the facts, please.

00:23:24On Hill 329,

00:23:25did you have any reason to believe

00:23:26that Major Fitton,

00:23:27whilst exposing his men to danger,

00:23:29was taking pains

00:23:29to keep out of trouble himself?

00:23:32Well, it wasn't so much

00:23:35the way he acted, maybe,

00:23:36as something he said.

00:23:38Something he said?

00:23:41A shell landed about,

00:23:43oh, only 50 yards from us.

00:23:45Killed a guy.

00:23:47When the dirt settled,

00:23:48I thought I heard fit in it.

00:23:50It was a sound like dry sobbing.

00:23:53Then he looked up to me,

00:23:55and suddenly he said...

00:23:59He, uh...

00:24:03He suddenly said,

00:24:07was there some way

00:24:08that I could get him out of there

00:24:10in the tanks with me,

00:24:11because he'd just made up his mind

00:24:13he was not sticking around

00:24:14to get killed for nothing?

00:24:15The case of Fitton v. Pusey

00:24:36will be resumed tomorrow

00:24:37in the Crown Court.

00:24:38Korean veteran Major Alistair Fitton,

00:25:03sole survivor

00:25:04of the suicidal Hill 329 defense,

00:25:07is suing Harold Pusey for libel.

00:25:10A professional military historian,

00:25:12Professor Pusey

00:25:12has implied in a paragraph

00:25:14of his book,

00:25:15Sunset of Arms,

00:25:16that Major Fitton survived

00:25:17because he abandoned

00:25:19wounded and dying men

00:25:20to save his skin.

00:25:22Agreed documents in court

00:25:23tend to establish

00:25:24that, in fact,

00:25:25Major Fitton could not have been

00:25:27attempting to ferry wounded

00:25:28across the Taitong River

00:25:30at the time of the final

00:25:31devastating assault,

00:25:32as the official record claims,

00:25:34and also that the radio transmitter

00:25:36on Hill 329,

00:25:38supposed to have been destroyed

00:25:39by enemy gunfire,

00:25:40was in perfect working order

00:25:42so that Major Fitton

00:25:43could have contacted brigade

00:25:44before leaving his post.

00:25:57Morton Lass,

00:25:58an ex-tank commander

00:25:59who was briefly seconded

00:26:00to Hill 329

00:26:01to assist Major Fitton,

00:26:02has come from the United States

00:26:04to give evidence

00:26:05in the Crown Court

00:26:06and has just made

00:26:07a rather alarming statement.

00:26:10I landed only

00:26:11about 50 yards from us,

00:26:14killed a guy.

00:26:15When the dirt settled,

00:26:17I thought I heard fit in it

00:26:18was the sound like dry sobbing.

00:26:22And he looked up at me

00:26:23and suddenly he said that...

00:26:25He suddenly...

00:26:30said was there some way

00:26:35that I could get him out of there

00:26:36in the tanks with me

00:26:37because he just made up his mind

00:26:40he wasn't sticking around there

00:26:41to get killed for nothing.

00:26:42You're quite sure

00:26:43those are the words

00:26:44that Major Fitton used,

00:26:45Mr. Lass?

00:26:45Yes.

00:26:46And what did you reply?

00:26:49Nothing.

00:26:49I was a bit surprised.

00:26:51I guess you don't expect

00:26:52to hear that sort of thing

00:26:53from an officer

00:26:53commanding an operation,

00:26:54even a pretty hopeless one.

00:26:56Then later,

00:26:58Major Fitton said something else.

00:27:00What was that?

00:27:02Well, it was calmer

00:27:03and more thought out,

00:27:06if you know what I mean.

00:27:08Major Fitton said that

00:27:09even though he was

00:27:10a regimental soldier,

00:27:12he was fed up

00:27:13with what he called

00:27:14the Army

00:27:15and its murderous ways.

00:27:17He asked me

00:27:18if I had ever heard

00:27:20of Tully Rand

00:27:21and what he had said

00:27:22about his achievements

00:27:23in the French Revolution.

00:27:24I said no

00:27:25and Fitton told me

00:27:27that Tully Rand

00:27:27had afterwards said

00:27:28to his friends,

00:27:30I survived.

00:27:31And what meaning

00:27:32did you attach to that,

00:27:33Mr. Lass?

00:27:34Well, I sure didn't think

00:27:35I was being told

00:27:36that Major Fitton

00:27:37liked the job he was on

00:27:38and was thinking

00:27:40of spinning it out

00:27:40to last the rest of the season.

00:27:42Apart from the time

00:27:43that Major Fitton

00:27:44shouted at you,

00:27:45demanding to know

00:27:45where the ambulance patrols were,

00:27:47did he make any specific

00:27:49mention of his wounded?

00:27:50Not that I recall.

00:27:52Well, did he show

00:27:53signs of great concern for them?

00:27:56Anxiety for their safety?

00:27:58Worry for their ultimate fate?

00:27:59Not while I was there,

00:28:01but that does not mean

00:28:02that Major...

00:28:02Oh, no, no, no,

00:28:02of course not, Mr. Lass.

00:28:07Mr. Lass,

00:28:09when Major Fitton

00:28:09asked you to get him

00:28:10out in the tanks

00:28:11because he just made up

00:28:12his mind that he wasn't

00:28:13sticking around

00:28:14to get killed for nothing.

00:28:16Those were the precise words.

00:28:17Yes.

00:28:18How did he say them exactly?

00:28:20How?

00:28:21Yes.

00:28:22Solemnly,

00:28:23with obvious feeling,

00:28:24or perhaps in a jocular fashion.

00:28:27Jocular?

00:28:28There was nothing funny

00:28:30going on around right then.

00:28:31We just missed being killed.

00:28:33I thought I said

00:28:35a shell hit damn near us,

00:28:36and the...

00:28:37Yes, the dirt settled,

00:28:38and then you heard a sound

00:28:39like dry sobbing

00:28:41from Major Fitton.

00:28:42Yes.

00:28:42Now, what does that mean exactly?

00:28:44Was the Major crying

00:28:45in tears?

00:28:47No, I didn't say that.

00:28:50He was just making

00:28:51this gasping sound.

00:28:54Almost like a nervous laugh.

00:28:56Laugh?

00:28:57Well, it's at least

00:28:57a possibility

00:28:58if he isn't crying,

00:28:59isn't it?

00:29:00I mean, some men react

00:29:01to extreme danger

00:29:02in this manner, I believe,

00:29:03by bursting into

00:29:05breathy gasps

00:29:05of laughter.

00:29:07Ma'am, I sure didn't think

00:29:08Major Fitton was laughing.

00:29:10You took what he said seriously?

00:29:12Yes.

00:29:12Get me out of here

00:29:13in those tanks of yours.

00:29:14I'm not sticking around

00:29:16to get killed for nothing.

00:29:18Now, Mr. Lass,

00:29:19wouldn't you agree

00:29:19that words like that

00:29:20could be intended

00:29:21to convey

00:29:21a rather dry,

00:29:23ironic sense of humor?

00:29:25Now, look, ma'am.

00:29:27I was there.

00:29:29I heard him say it.

00:29:31It was not anything

00:29:32out of the Milton Burroughs show.

00:29:34Yes, I suppose

00:29:35it is rather a British way

00:29:36of making a joke.

00:29:37Beg your pardon?

00:29:38I was just reflecting

00:29:39that we British

00:29:40have our own peculiar

00:29:41ways of being funny.

00:29:43However,

00:29:44you took what he said

00:29:46at face value

00:29:47and you made no reply.

00:29:49Right.

00:29:49Why was that?

00:29:51Surely, if ever a request

00:29:52demanded some response,

00:29:53it was this one.

00:29:55Well, I didn't get it

00:29:57not properly.

00:29:58It seemed like

00:29:58such a crazy thing to say.

00:30:00I just couldn't believe

00:30:01that Major Fitton was...

00:30:03You weren't going to say

00:30:04serious, were you?

00:30:07On the level, actually.

00:30:08And yet, Major Fitton

00:30:09never referred to the matter again.

00:30:11He merely made some reference

00:30:13to being fed up with the army,

00:30:15which one can quite understand

00:30:16in his position.

00:30:17And then he told you

00:30:18that anecdote

00:30:19of Talleyrand,

00:30:20saying his greatest achievement

00:30:22in the revolution

00:30:23was to have survived.

00:30:25Mere British humor,

00:30:25I suppose.

00:30:26Oh, I think it's beyond question

00:30:28that the last joke

00:30:29was in fact French,

00:30:30Mr. Lass.

00:30:32Are you saying

00:30:33of Major Fitton

00:30:34at Hill 329

00:30:35that he was in a state

00:30:37of moral cowardice?

00:30:40Well, he was...

00:30:42He was real jumpy.

00:30:46Spooked, even,

00:30:46if that's what you mean.

00:30:48That's precisely not

00:30:49what I mean, Mr. Lass.

00:30:50Was Major Fitton behaving

00:30:52in a frightened,

00:30:53craven fashion?

00:30:54He was going to ground

00:30:55every time a gun fired!

00:30:58He was brow-beating

00:30:59that little corporal

00:31:00on the R.T.

00:31:01Bentley,

00:31:01or whatever his name was,

00:31:02really having a go at him

00:31:04because Brigade

00:31:05would not issue him

00:31:06with orders to pull out.

00:31:07Now, that's symptomatic,

00:31:08I guess.

00:31:08Symptoms aren't diseases,

00:31:09Mr. Lass,

00:31:10and whatever the condition

00:31:11of Major Fitton's courage,

00:31:12there is absolutely nothing

00:31:13to say that it would be

00:31:14the same 24 hours later,

00:31:16is there?

00:31:16No.

00:31:17Because a man

00:31:17seems in a blue funk today

00:31:19doesn't mean he'll seem

00:31:20in a blue funk tomorrow.

00:31:22Because someone fails

00:31:23to appreciate British humor

00:31:24this week doesn't mean

00:31:25they won't be laughing

00:31:26at it the next.

00:31:26Well, I don't see that...

00:31:27comment, Miss Tate.

00:31:29Isn't it so,

00:31:30Mr. Lass?

00:31:33Sure.

00:31:34Thank you, that's all.

00:31:36May this witness

00:31:37now be released,

00:31:38my lord?

00:31:39Of course.

00:31:39Thank you, Mr. Lass.

00:31:40I call Ronald Hartstrop.

00:31:44Ronald Hartstrop.

00:31:52It's junk!

00:31:53Where did you come?

00:31:54I didn't know you were

00:31:54connected with us.

00:31:55Crazy bastard.

00:31:56A bastard yourself.

00:31:57Silence in court.

00:32:00Am I to understand

00:32:01that you two gentlemen

00:32:02know each other?

00:32:04Yes, my lord.

00:32:05It's a strange coincidence,

00:32:07but during the Korean campaign,

00:32:08my unit was pinned down

00:32:09with a group of Australians

00:32:11and Digger here

00:32:12was their commander.

00:32:13I didn't even know

00:32:13his name was...

00:32:14Hartstrong.

00:32:15Ron Hartstrong.

00:32:16You haven't lost your punch.

00:32:20Very moving.

00:32:22However, this is a court of law

00:32:24and I must direct

00:32:25that anything in the nature

00:32:26of a servicemen's reunion

00:32:28must be postponed

00:32:29until a further occasion.

00:32:31Now, will you be so good

00:32:32as to take the witness box,

00:32:33Mr. Hartstrong?

00:32:41What is your religion?

00:32:42Church of England.

00:32:43Take the testament

00:32:44in your right hand

00:32:45and read aloud

00:32:45the words on this card.

00:32:47I swear by almighty God

00:32:48that the evidence I shall give

00:32:49shall be the truth,

00:32:50the whole truth

00:32:50and nothing but the truth.

00:32:53Your name is

00:32:54Ronald Hartstrong

00:32:56and you live at

00:32:58Cranston Station,

00:32:59Blacktree Point.

00:33:02Wirraw-Wara?

00:33:03Wirraw-Wara-Li.

00:33:05Beg your pardon?

00:33:07Wirraw-Wara-Li, my lord.

00:33:08It's a place in New South Wales

00:33:10with a double L.

00:33:14With a double L, of course.

00:33:17You are a sheep farmer,

00:33:18Mr. Hartstrong.

00:33:19Station manager, yes.

00:33:21Very nice.

00:33:22And as we've already learned,

00:33:24you work on active service

00:33:25in Kavir in 1950.

00:33:27That's right.

00:33:27In December of that year,

00:33:28were you somewhere near

00:33:29the emplacement known

00:33:30as Hill 329?

00:33:31Yes, I was.

00:33:32Just to avoid

00:33:33any possible confusion,

00:33:34this was, of course,

00:33:34long before you made

00:33:35the acquaintance of Mr. Lass.

00:33:36Yank?

00:33:37Oh, yeah, sure, you bet.

00:33:39Yes.

00:33:40Well, now,

00:33:40would you tell us

00:33:41what you were doing

00:33:41near Hill 329?

00:33:43Yeah, well,

00:33:44it was a bit of a rare go,

00:33:45if you'd like to know.

00:33:47We Aussies and New Zealanders

00:33:48had been lumped together

00:33:49with the Pommie,

00:33:50a couple of British regiments

00:33:53to form what then got

00:33:55to be known

00:33:55as the 27th Commonwealth Brigade.

00:33:58So we got the same

00:33:59sort of crackpot orders.

00:34:01On the morning

00:34:01of December the 10th,

00:34:03I was assigned a patrol

00:34:04and just told to go

00:34:06and find out

00:34:06if the Chinese

00:34:07across the Tuk Chon East

00:34:08stretch

00:34:08at the Taitong River strike.

00:34:10Now, you were on

00:34:10the south bank

00:34:11of the river,

00:34:12weren't you?

00:34:12Yeah, that's right.

00:34:13And Hill 329

00:34:13is on the north?

00:34:15Yes.

00:34:15Well, I went careful

00:34:17as I approached

00:34:17the Hill 329 area.

00:34:19I knew a holding operation

00:34:21was going on there

00:34:21and I could hear

00:34:22the mortars

00:34:23loud and clear.

00:34:24Now, this is actually

00:34:25rather important,

00:34:26Mr. Hartstrung.

00:34:27The position was active,

00:34:28that is,

00:34:29fighting was going on.

00:34:30You can testify to that.

00:34:31Yeah, well,

00:34:32it wasn't

00:34:33Randwick Racecourse

00:34:34on a Sunday.

00:34:36A stray shell

00:34:36landed in the river

00:34:37not more than

00:34:38200 feet from us

00:34:39when we got close.

00:34:40How close,

00:34:41in fact,

00:34:41did you get?

00:34:42Oh, about

00:34:42half a mile

00:34:44from the emplacement.

00:34:45And then did something

00:34:45happen that you would like

00:34:46to tell the court today?

00:34:47Sure.

00:34:49We were pushing

00:34:49through a bamboo clump,

00:34:51going real easy,

00:34:52when I heard

00:34:53something approaching.

00:34:54I thought it must have

00:34:55been an animal

00:34:56by the racket

00:34:56it was making,

00:34:57but no,

00:34:57it turned out

00:34:59to be a man,

00:35:00all wet

00:35:00and at the end

00:35:01of his tether,

00:35:02a British major.

00:35:04You see that same man

00:35:05in court today,

00:35:06Mr. Hartstrung?

00:35:07Yeah, yeah,

00:35:07that's him there,

00:35:08the plaintiff?

00:35:10Yeah.

00:35:11In the case,

00:35:12Major Alistair Fitton.

00:35:14Now, you say

00:35:14that Major Fitton

00:35:15was at the end

00:35:15of his tether.

00:35:16What do you mean by that?

00:35:17Was he exhausted?

00:35:18Yeah, but he was

00:35:19quite plainly

00:35:20battle-shocked too.

00:35:21He was shaken

00:35:22like a leaf,

00:35:22not sure what he was doing.

00:35:24And what did you do?

00:35:25Oh, routine procedure.

00:35:27Checked his discs,

00:35:28tried to get

00:35:28some sense out of him,

00:35:29but he couldn't seem

00:35:31to string two words together.

00:35:33Then one of my blokes

00:35:34remembered there was

00:35:35supposed to be

00:35:36an ambulance lorry

00:35:37passing a point

00:35:38called Brooklyn Bridge,

00:35:40about three miles

00:35:41back down the river

00:35:42at 1100 hours.

00:35:43So we figured

00:35:44maybe we'd better

00:35:46get Major Fitton there.

00:35:47I mean,

00:35:48apart from anything else,

00:35:49he was wet right through

00:35:50and it was cold enough

00:35:51to freeze the bo...

00:35:52It was pretty cold,

00:35:56my lord.

00:35:58So you took

00:35:59Major Fitton

00:36:00to Brooklyn Bridge?

00:36:01Yeah,

00:36:02we couldn't be sure

00:36:02it was still there,

00:36:03mind.

00:36:04It was only a pontoon

00:36:05the Yanks had put in

00:36:06to help with the retreat,

00:36:07but there it was,

00:36:08as large as life.

00:36:09So we left Major Fitton

00:36:11there for the Zambux

00:36:12and shot through.

00:36:14You left him there?

00:36:16Yeah,

00:36:16well,

00:36:16there was nothing much else

00:36:17we could do for him.

00:36:19I see.

00:36:19Well,

00:36:19you do leave him

00:36:19on the north side

00:36:20or the south side

00:36:21of the bridge.

00:36:22Oh,

00:36:22the north side.

00:36:22We took him across.

00:36:24Now,

00:36:24all this time,

00:36:26Major Fitton

00:36:26had said nothing to you.

00:36:27Nothing at all?

00:36:29Well,

00:36:30yeah,

00:36:30he said something

00:36:32at the very end.

00:36:34And what was that?

00:36:35Well,

00:36:36it was weird.

00:36:38When we started

00:36:39to leave him,

00:36:40he panicked

00:36:41or something

00:36:42and suddenly started

00:36:44to say,

00:36:45don't let them

00:36:45kill me now.

00:36:47Over and over again.

00:36:49Now,

00:36:50let us be quite precise

00:36:51about this,

00:36:52Mr. Hartstrong.

00:36:53Seeing you

00:36:53and your patrol leave,

00:36:55Major Fitton said,

00:36:56don't let them

00:36:58kill me now.

00:36:59And repeated that phrase

00:37:00over and over again.

00:37:02Yeah,

00:37:02that's it.

00:37:03And did you make

00:37:04a full report

00:37:05of this entire matter

00:37:05at the time?

00:37:06Oh,

00:37:06to my own,

00:37:07I'm sure.

00:37:08But the way I heard it,

00:37:09the British didn't

00:37:10get a look at our record.

00:37:11Thank you,

00:37:12Mr. Hartstrong.

00:37:13Clear!

00:37:14Wait!

00:37:35So as far as you can testify then,

00:37:38by the time you arrived

00:37:39on the scene,

00:37:40Major Fitton might well

00:37:41have had reason

00:37:42to end his engagement

00:37:43and seek,

00:37:45perfectly honourably,

00:37:46to evacuate the post.

00:37:48There was the gunfire.

00:37:49I heard the gunfire.

00:37:51British gunfire,

00:37:52Mr. Hartstrong,

00:37:52or Chinese?

00:37:53Is it possible to tell?

00:37:56Again,

00:37:56you tell us

00:37:57that at the post

00:37:57known as Brooklyn Bridge,

00:38:00when you and your patrol

00:38:01started to leave

00:38:01Major Fitton,

00:38:02he began to say

00:38:03over and over again,

00:38:05don't let them

00:38:05kill me now.

00:38:07Don't let them

00:38:08kill me now.

00:38:09Yes.

00:38:10I want to ask you

00:38:11a very exact question here.

00:38:14Is it beyond

00:38:14the bounds of possibility

00:38:15that what Major Fitton

00:38:17actually said

00:38:18was don't let him

00:38:20kill me now?

00:38:21Don't let him

00:38:22kill me now.

00:38:24Him?

00:38:25Yes.

00:38:28Yeah,

00:38:28well,

00:38:28it's possible,

00:38:30I suppose,

00:38:30yeah.

00:38:31I mean,

00:38:32anybody can make

00:38:33a mistake

00:38:34between them

00:38:34and him,

00:38:35but I thought

00:38:36he said them.

00:38:38And that,

00:38:39my lord,

00:38:39concludes the case

00:38:40for the defence.

00:38:42You may leave

00:38:43the witness box,

00:38:44Mr. Hartstrong.

00:38:49My lord,

00:38:50in the course

00:38:50of this hearing,

00:38:51things have been said

00:38:52directly and indirectly

00:38:53which reflect gravely

00:38:55on the plaintiff.

00:38:56Now,

00:38:57I will show

00:38:57that these slurs

00:38:58on his character

00:38:58are entirely

00:38:59without foundation

00:39:00and that thus

00:39:01the appreciation

00:39:02of his conduct

00:39:03at Hill 329

00:39:04is expressed

00:39:04by Professor

00:39:05Harold Pusey

00:39:06in his book

00:39:06Sunset of Arms

00:39:08constitutes a grave

00:39:09and reprehensible libel.

00:39:12To this end,

00:39:12I need only to call

00:39:13the plaintiff himself,

00:39:14Major Alistair Fitton.

00:39:15Would you think,

00:39:16Bob?

00:39:21What is your religion?

00:39:22Church of England.

00:39:23Take the testament

00:39:23in your right hand

00:39:24and read out loud

00:39:25the words on this card.

00:39:26I swear by almighty God

00:39:27that the evidence

00:39:28I shall give

00:39:28shall be the truth,

00:39:29the whole truth

00:39:30and nothing but the truth.

00:39:33You are Major Alistair Fitton?

00:39:34Yes, yes.

00:39:35And you live at

00:39:36Inverleith Cottage

00:39:37Wotton and the Moor

00:39:38Derbyshire?

00:39:39Yes, that's right.

00:39:41Now, Major Fitton,

00:39:42it is suitable,

00:39:43I suppose,

00:39:43to address you as Major

00:39:44even though you have been

00:39:44retired from the Army

00:39:45now for some years.

00:39:46Yes, I don't mind.

00:39:47It's the sort of thing

00:39:48that sticks to a man,

00:39:49I suppose.

00:39:50In fact,

00:39:50you come from

00:39:51a military family,

00:39:52don't you, Major?

00:39:53Yes, I suppose so.

00:39:54My father and my uncle

00:39:55were both professional soldiers.

00:39:57My father-in-law...

00:39:59My father-in-law

00:40:01was a military strategist.

00:40:03He had a hand

00:40:04in the planning

00:40:04of the Normandy invasion.

00:40:06When did you retire

00:40:07from the Army, Major Fitton?

00:40:081957.

00:40:09Why exactly?

00:40:11That was about

00:40:11as soon after career

00:40:12as I could

00:40:13respectively get out.

00:40:14Now,

00:40:15I'd been invalid at home

00:40:16after certain developments

00:40:18in that campaign

00:40:19and transferred to staff.

00:40:21But love had died

00:40:22between the Army and me.

00:40:24I'd had a belly

00:40:24full of soldiering.

00:40:26A belly full of soldiering?

00:40:27Yes, indeed.

00:40:28A great deal

00:40:29has been said

00:40:29in this courtroom today

00:40:30about Hill 329

00:40:31and how I'm supposed

00:40:32to behave there.

00:40:32I'd like to make it

00:40:33quite clear

00:40:34that a great deal

00:40:34of what has been said

00:40:35is true in its way.

00:40:36I did think

00:40:36it was a pointless

00:40:37damned action

00:40:37to have to fight

00:40:38considering the way

00:40:39my men were

00:40:40and I did spend

00:40:41a great deal

00:40:41of my time

00:40:42on Hill 329

00:40:43trying to get Brigade

00:40:44to rescind suicidal orders.

00:40:45Yes, I think

00:40:45we all can stick to that.

00:40:46What's more, I did fly

00:40:47into a very violent temper

00:40:48when Lass came up

00:40:49with those Shermans

00:40:50and they couldn't

00:40:50hurt the enemy.

00:40:51It seemed to me

00:40:52typical of the bungling

00:40:53and the idiocy

00:40:53that had been going on

00:40:54all through.

00:40:55Now, the Americans

00:40:56knew how to fight

00:40:56that campaign in Korea

00:40:57running as soon

00:40:58as they were hit

00:40:59regrouping at a respectable

00:41:00distance and then

00:41:01fighting back.

00:41:02Professor Puse

00:41:02is not wrong about that,

00:41:03you know.

00:41:04Not at all.

00:41:04Not wrong at all.

00:41:05Now, Major Fitton,

00:41:06Morton Lass has testified

00:41:07that after an uncomfortably

00:41:09near miss from a shell

00:41:10you asked him

00:41:11if he would get...

00:41:13Major Fitton.

00:41:19Major Fitton,

00:41:20you asked Morton Lass

00:41:22could he get you

00:41:23out of there

00:41:24in his tanks

00:41:25because you weren't

00:41:26sticking around

00:41:26to get killed

00:41:27for nothing.

00:41:28Now, did you in fact

00:41:28say something like that?

00:41:30Oh, yes, yes.

00:41:33Just as well.

00:41:33I may have said

00:41:34something like that.

00:41:36Well, perhaps...

00:41:37Did you mean it?

00:41:37I don't remember exactly.

00:41:40Seriously?

00:41:41No, no, good God, no.

00:41:43I thought you'd

00:41:44clear that up.

00:41:45Well, it was a kind

00:41:46of joke in its way.

00:41:48I couldn't have left

00:41:49till 329.

00:41:50It wasn't remotely possible.

00:41:52I had wounded there.

00:41:54Wounded, yes,

00:41:54and these were

00:41:55your main concern,

00:41:56naturally.

00:41:57Naturally.

00:41:58And how many wounded

00:41:59at this point?

00:42:00Well, eight

00:42:02when Lass came up.

00:42:04There were about 12

00:42:05of those that I'd

00:42:06brought with me

00:42:07had bought it

00:42:07and there were only

00:42:08a dozen men

00:42:09left in the firing line.

00:42:10It was...

00:42:11It was pretty grim.

00:42:13An invidious situation

00:42:15for you, Major.

00:42:15It was a long time ago.

00:42:17The ambulance patrol,

00:42:18I kept requesting

00:42:19that not coming up.

00:42:21It's that kind of thing

00:42:22that comes back

00:42:22to bother you.

00:42:23Yes.

00:42:24The official record

00:42:26tells us, Major,

00:42:26that when the final attack

00:42:28came, effectively ending

00:42:29the Hill 329 defence,

00:42:30you were attempting

00:42:31to transfer wounded

00:42:33across the Tidong River.

00:42:34Is that correct?

00:42:36No.

00:42:37No, that's not correct.

00:42:40It isn't correct.

00:42:42No.

00:42:44The official record

00:42:46also tells us

00:42:47that as the sole survivor

00:42:48of Hill 329,

00:42:49you were eventually

00:42:49picked up by an ambulance patrol

00:42:51on the northern bank

00:42:52of the Tidong River.

00:42:53Is that correct?

00:42:54No, no, that's false as well.

00:42:56The fact is,

00:42:57I was picked up

00:42:58by some Australians

00:42:59on the south bank

00:43:01of the river.

00:43:05Well, it looks as though

00:43:07we're faced with

00:43:07certain anomalies,

00:43:09then, Major,

00:43:09of which we need

00:43:10to clear up.

00:43:12Yes, the true story

00:43:13of Hill 329

00:43:14has never been told.

00:43:16Under the circumstances,

00:43:17it seems that I'm

00:43:18to be the one

00:43:18to break it publicly.

00:43:21Well, after Lass

00:43:22and the tanks went,

00:43:24I got on to brigade

00:43:25and told them

00:43:25just how useless

00:43:26they'd been.

00:43:26I expect I was still

00:43:27in a pretty bad

00:43:28state of mind.

00:43:29Anyway, an airstrike

00:43:30was promised,

00:43:31and we settled down

00:43:32to wait for it.

00:43:3336 hours,

00:43:35heavy fighting,

00:43:36men dying.

00:43:36Finally, a direct hit

00:43:39on the top of the ridge

00:43:40killed the last

00:43:41of my defenders.

00:43:44And Corporal Bartley

00:43:45announced also

00:43:45that the radio telephone

00:43:46was out of action.

00:43:48Well, I said

00:43:48that was just fine.

00:43:50It meant I could

00:43:50at last act

00:43:51on my own initiative.

00:43:52And what I proposed

00:43:53to do was to end

00:43:54hostilities

00:43:55and get the wounded out.

00:43:58But Bartley said,

00:43:59no, that was not

00:44:00the way it was going to be.

00:44:02Bartley said that?

00:44:03The corporal?

00:44:04He was the last man

00:44:06on his feet, you see.

00:44:07He must have been

00:44:07in an even worse

00:44:08state of mind than me.

00:44:10He drew a revolver on me.

00:44:13Corporal Bartley

00:44:14threatened your life?

00:44:16He said I was to go

00:44:17down the hill before him

00:44:18and to build a raft

00:44:21at the river,

00:44:21some kind of float anyway,

00:44:22and he proposed

00:44:23to cross the river on it.

00:44:25And you?

00:44:26Oh, I don't know.

00:44:27I was so dazed

00:44:29I simply obeyed

00:44:30at that point.

00:44:32But we hadn't got

00:44:32more than 50 yards

00:44:33down the hillside

00:44:34when the enemy

00:44:35launched that final assault.

00:44:38I hit the ground.

00:44:40Bartley caught a direct blast

00:44:41and died at once.

00:44:43I tried to get back

00:44:44to the wounded in a lull,

00:44:45but they were all hit too.

00:44:47There wasn't a man alive

00:44:48on that hill, save me.

00:44:50Now,

00:44:51I don't remember

00:44:53too well after that.

00:44:56Somehow I managed

00:44:57to get across the river.

00:44:59It seemed to me

00:45:00that Corporal Batley

00:45:02was still behind me

00:45:03with the revolver.

00:45:05And you feared him

00:45:06what he might do.

00:45:09Yes.

00:45:10Yes, exactly.

00:45:12Well, thank you,

00:45:12Major Fitton.

00:45:13However,

00:45:13there remains

00:45:14a grave discrepancy

00:45:15between what you've now

00:45:16told us

00:45:16and the official record.

00:45:17Can you explain that

00:45:18for us in any way?

00:45:19I can.

00:45:20When the ambulance patrol

00:45:22delivered me back

00:45:22to the brigade,

00:45:23I lied

00:45:24about what had happened.

00:45:26You lied?

00:45:27Yes.

00:45:29It seemed to me

00:45:30that the regiment

00:45:31would be brought

00:45:31into disrepute

00:45:32if the truth were told.

00:45:33We'd all been

00:45:33under fearful,

00:45:34inhuman pressure.

00:45:36In the event,

00:45:36Batley had snapped.

00:45:38That could have happened

00:45:39to me,

00:45:40to any one of us.

00:45:41So you reported

00:45:42that Corporal Batley

00:45:43had in fact been

00:45:44helping you

00:45:44to get the wounded out

00:45:45when the final attack came

00:45:47and you were

00:45:47the sole survivor?

00:45:49Yes.

00:45:51Why didn't you report

00:45:53that you'd crossed

00:45:53to the southern side

00:45:54of the river,

00:45:54though, Major?

00:45:55I didn't think

00:45:56that that could be

00:45:57explained away so readily.

00:45:58I didn't know why.

00:46:00I'd done it, you see.

00:46:01It never occurred to me

00:46:02that an Australian patrol

00:46:03would put in a report

00:46:04that would one day

00:46:05emerge to find me out.

00:46:09Yes.

00:46:10Now about the RT

00:46:11on Hill 329, Major.

00:46:13You believed Corporal Batley

00:46:14when he told you

00:46:14that it was out of order,

00:46:15did you?

00:46:16Oh, yes, of course.

00:46:17I had no reason not to.

00:46:19And finally,

00:46:20why have you never

00:46:21told this story before?

00:46:24Well,

00:46:25mainly to protect

00:46:27Batley's reputation,

00:46:28I think.

00:46:29He was a good soldier.

00:46:32Circumstances,

00:46:32the wrong sort of orders

00:46:33that caused him

00:46:34to behave as he did.

00:46:35Our superiors

00:46:35must bear the responsibility

00:46:36for what happened

00:46:37on Hill 329.

00:46:38Obsolete notions of warfare.

00:46:40Those men died for nothing,

00:46:41you know.

00:46:41My men.

00:46:43Thank you, Major Fitton.

00:46:44That is all.

00:46:50Major Fitton,

00:46:51we're expected to believe

00:46:52all you've just told us,

00:46:53are we?

00:46:55I beg your pardon?

00:46:57This

00:46:57Farago of Fancy.

00:47:00This romantic

00:47:00and completely

00:47:01unsubstantiated tale.

00:47:02You want us to believe it?

00:47:05Well,

00:47:06let us see if we can

00:47:06extract the meagre fact

00:47:08from the fantasy.

00:47:10Firstly,

00:47:11you were on the south bank

00:47:12of the river

00:47:12when you were picked up,

00:47:13weren't you?

00:47:14Yes.

00:47:14That means that you'd left

00:47:15your post against orders,

00:47:16don't you?

00:47:16No, only after everyone

00:47:17else was dead there.

00:47:18Secondly,

00:47:19your radio telephone

00:47:20was in working order.

00:47:21No, I don't see how

00:47:22I can be...

00:47:22Wasn't it?

00:47:23Yes.

00:47:23So that in theory,

00:47:24at least,

00:47:24you could have contacted

00:47:25Brigade and asked

00:47:26for further.

00:47:27No, no,

00:47:27I had been told

00:47:28that the radio telephone

00:47:29was finished.

00:47:29Thirdly,

00:47:30you turned in a report

00:47:30to your superiors

00:47:31that was not in fact

00:47:32true,

00:47:32suggesting that you

00:47:33had in fact

00:47:33not crossed the river

00:47:34and that you were

00:47:35attempting to get out

00:47:36the wounded

00:47:36when the final enemy

00:47:37assault came.

00:47:38Only to protect

00:47:39a fellow soldier.

00:47:39Oh, come.

00:47:41No, he...

00:47:42it was necessary to lie.

00:47:43A fellow soldier,

00:47:44badly.

00:47:45An obscure corporal

00:47:46whom,

00:47:46according to other reports,

00:47:47you've been browbeating

00:47:47and bullying

00:47:48throughout the entire action.

00:47:49You were concerned

00:47:50about his posthumous reputation?

00:47:52He was one of my men.

00:47:53A man who,

00:47:54in the end,

00:47:54turned a gun on you,

00:47:55you claim,

00:47:56thereby entitling himself

00:47:57for your best efforts

00:47:58to redeem him,

00:47:58of course.

00:47:59You're making it

00:47:59sound ridiculous.

00:48:00We were under

00:48:01terrible stress.

00:48:02Batley snapped.

00:48:04And you didn't?

00:48:05What?

00:48:06You,

00:48:07who'd shown all the symptoms

00:48:08of acute stress earlier,

00:48:09remained ice cold

00:48:10and calm,

00:48:11whilst Batley

00:48:12turned homicidal.

00:48:14No, no,

00:48:14it's all wrong.

00:48:14He's got no right

00:48:15to say these things.

00:48:16Who's that man?

00:48:17It's lies,

00:48:18Sir, all of it.

00:48:18He's silent, sir.

00:48:19Usher.

00:48:20You can't throw me out.

00:48:21Not when I've got things

00:48:22to say.

00:48:24I'm not as dead

00:48:24as he hopes.

00:48:26I'm here,

00:48:26Major Fenton.

00:48:27Here alive,

00:48:28Corporal Batley.

00:48:44The case of Fenton

00:49:00versus Pusey

00:49:01will be resumed

00:49:02tomorrow

00:49:02in the Crown Court.

00:49:04In his controversial book,

00:49:27Sunset of Arms,

00:49:28Professor Harold Pusey

00:49:30has implied that

00:49:30during the defence

00:49:31of Hill 329

00:49:33in Korea in 1950,

00:49:35Major Alistair Fitton,

00:49:36sole survivor of the action,

00:49:38abandoned his wounded

00:49:39and dying men

00:49:40in order to save

00:49:41his own life.

00:49:42Pursuing a libel action

00:49:43against Professor Pusey,

00:49:45Major Fitton has stated

00:49:46that he was forced

00:49:47at gunpoint

00:49:48to leave Hill 329

00:49:49by Corporal Batley,

00:49:51his radio transmitter operator,

00:49:53who turned on him

00:49:54when the situation

00:49:54seemed hopeless.

00:49:56Batley was supposed

00:49:57subsequently

00:49:58to have been killed

00:49:59in a final enemy assault.

00:50:00But a man has stood up

00:50:01in court

00:50:02and claimed to be

00:50:03Corporal Batley

00:50:04and suggested that

00:50:05Major Fitton

00:50:05has been lying.

00:50:14Take the testament

00:50:15in your right hand

00:50:16and read aloud

00:50:17the words on this card.

00:50:18I swear by almighty God

00:50:20that the evidence

00:50:21I shall give

00:50:21shall be the truth,

00:50:22the whole truth

00:50:23and nothing but the truth.

00:50:27Hmm.

00:50:30Well, we seem to have

00:50:30established that you are

00:50:31in fact Corporal Batley

00:50:33from Hill 329 in Korea.

00:50:35Oh, by the way,

00:50:35do you still use that name?

00:50:37No, my lord.

00:50:38For a number of years now

00:50:39I've been known

00:50:39as William Truscott.

00:50:41Where do you live?

00:50:42What's your profession?

00:50:44I run a little grocery business,

00:50:45Truscott Stores,

00:50:4742 Hawthorns Avenue, York.

00:50:50Why did you assume

00:50:51a false identity?

00:50:53Oh, after the Hill 329 business

00:50:54I had no identity,

00:50:56not really.

00:50:56I was officially dead

00:50:58as you might say.

00:50:59So I exchanged discs

00:51:00with a blown to bits body

00:51:01I found further downstream

00:51:02and then eventually got home

00:51:04and then I invented Truscott

00:51:06to keep things nice and tidy.

00:51:07And what exactly prompted you

00:51:09to come to this quarter today?

00:51:11I wanted to see what happened.

00:51:13You wanted to see what happened?

00:51:16Well, I'd read about this book,

00:51:18I mean,

00:51:18and how the Major

00:51:19was suing for libel

00:51:20and I thought I should see

00:51:21how it all turned out.

00:51:23I was there on Hill 329, my lord.

00:51:24I could say if it was right or not.

00:51:27Hmm.

00:51:29But surely by appearing

00:51:30in open court like this,

00:51:32didn't you risk discovery?

00:51:35Twenty years is a long time.

00:51:37But anyway,

00:51:38it's as well I came, isn't it?

00:51:39It's as well I spoke up.

00:51:40What was being said just now

00:51:41is the complete opposite

00:51:42of the truth.

00:51:43Now, Corporal,

00:51:43the complete opposite, my lord.

00:51:45It wasn't me

00:51:46firing a revolver

00:51:47at Major Fit

00:51:48and when things went bad

00:51:48at Hill 329.

00:51:50It was him

00:51:50who held one at me

00:51:51and fired,

00:51:52fired to kill.

00:51:54Silence, of course.

00:51:55Yes.

00:52:03Well, I think we all realise

00:52:04that you'd have

00:52:05your own version

00:52:06of the events.

00:52:08Perhaps if

00:52:09the learned counsel

00:52:09will forgive me again,

00:52:11I, uh,

00:52:11but it would save time

00:52:12and complications

00:52:13if I were to

00:52:14simply ask him

00:52:16to state it.

00:52:17I have no objection,

00:52:18the lord.

00:52:18I welcome

00:52:19Batley's story,

00:52:20the lord.

00:52:20Very well, now,

00:52:22Corporal Batley.

00:52:23I think we'll continue

00:52:24to address you

00:52:25in that way.

00:52:27Well, it's all true

00:52:28up until when

00:52:29the tanks went,

00:52:30the Yanks couldn't...

00:52:31And then it's true, too,

00:52:35that I got it on the RT

00:52:36from Brigade

00:52:36that there was going

00:52:36to be an airstrike

00:52:37but they never said when.

00:52:41Which was pretty nearly

00:52:4236 hours.

00:52:45Now, the Major

00:52:46was in a bad way already

00:52:47but the barrage

00:52:48seemed to make him

00:52:48sort of distrained.

00:52:52Distrained, Corporal?

00:52:53Half crazy, my lord,

00:52:54like he didn't know

00:52:55what to do anymore.

00:52:56Perhaps you mean distraught.

00:52:58Oh, thank you, my lord.

00:53:00Yes.

00:53:02Well, he said

00:53:03I was to go through

00:53:03the lines,

00:53:04take a message

00:53:04personally to Brigade

00:53:05explaining that the

00:53:06situation was hopeless.

00:53:08Through all the gunfire.

00:53:09Well, I didn't understand.

00:53:10I said,

00:53:10why should I do

00:53:11a thing like that

00:53:11when we could use the RT?

00:53:13He said I had to go,

00:53:14no argument.

00:53:15Was I going to obey

00:53:15an order or wasn't I?

00:53:16Well, he was out

00:53:18of his mind

00:53:18so I said no.

00:53:19I mean, it was a

00:53:20balmy order, my lord.

00:53:21It was suicide.

00:53:22It wouldn't have lasted

00:53:22two minutes out there.

00:53:25Anyway, that's when

00:53:25the Major pulled the gun

00:53:26on me and said

00:53:27I was to consider myself

00:53:28under arrest

00:53:29refusing a front-line order.

00:53:31Just at that moment

00:53:31the big hit on the ridge

00:53:32came and killed everyone

00:53:33except for the Major

00:53:34and me

00:53:35and the wounded

00:53:36further down the hill.

00:53:36He was blown over

00:53:38and then he jumped up

00:53:40and fired.

00:53:41Fired at me.

00:53:43The shot went wild

00:53:44but I had enough sense

00:53:45to lie down

00:53:46and play dead.

00:53:47Anyway,

00:53:48the Major vanished

00:53:49and rushed off

00:53:49down the slopes

00:53:50to the river.

00:53:51I got into a foxhole

00:53:52and waited

00:53:53till the barrage was over.

00:53:54It was about seven hours

00:53:55I stayed put

00:53:56and then I eventually

00:53:57moved out

00:53:58and did everything else

00:53:59like I told you.

00:53:59Yes.

00:54:03Well, gentlemen,

00:54:04I've no doubt

00:54:04you'll both have

00:54:05some questions

00:54:05to put concerning

00:54:06this statement of affairs.

00:54:09Considering its nature,

00:54:11perhaps you'd better

00:54:12begin, Mr Fry.

00:54:13Yes, of course, my lord.

00:54:15Well, Corporal Batley,

00:54:17I think in the circumstances

00:54:19it's only right

00:54:19to ask you first of all

00:54:20why you've waited

00:54:22twenty years

00:54:23before telling

00:54:24this astonishing story.

00:54:26For the same reason

00:54:27I swapped discs

00:54:28and got myself

00:54:28a new ID, sir.

00:54:29I wouldn't have been

00:54:30believed, would I?

00:54:30Not against an officer.

00:54:32And I'd refused an order

00:54:32in the front line.

00:54:34Then why speak now?

00:54:37Because somehow

00:54:38I had the feeling

00:54:38the Major wouldn't

00:54:39tell the truth

00:54:39in court today

00:54:40and I said to myself

00:54:41if he didn't

00:54:41then I would.

00:54:43Yes, I see.

00:54:44Now, you've told us

00:54:45that the Major

00:54:45fired at you

00:54:46and vanished

00:54:47after which you spent

00:54:48the next seven hours

00:54:49in a foxhole.

00:54:50That's right, sir.

00:54:51When you emerged

00:54:51did you see any signs

00:54:53of the men

00:54:53who'd been wounded

00:54:54previously?

00:54:55The wounded?

00:54:55Yes, I saw them

00:54:56plain enough.

00:54:56They were all dead.

00:54:58Now, were their bodies

00:54:59where you'd observed

00:54:59them earlier

00:55:00or had there perhaps

00:55:00been some attempt

00:55:01to move them?

00:55:02No, they hadn't been

00:55:03moved.

00:55:03Not an inch.

00:55:04Those men died

00:55:05just where they lay.

00:55:06So when Major Fitton

00:55:07rushed off down the slope

00:55:08to the river,

00:55:08as you put it,

00:55:09will you have had to

00:55:10pass these wounded men

00:55:11to do so?

00:55:11Yes, he would, sir.

00:55:12Couldn't have avoided it.

00:55:13I see.

00:55:15Now, just one other

00:55:15matter, moment,

00:55:16Corporal.

00:55:17In general,

00:55:18how were relations

00:55:18between you

00:55:19and Major Fitton?

00:55:19Most times pretty good.

00:55:22Until Hill 329

00:55:24there'd been no

00:55:24sort of trouble

00:55:25of any kind

00:55:26between you?

00:55:26No, none at all.

00:55:27You do realise,

00:55:28don't you,

00:55:28that evidence

00:55:29could be brought

00:55:29to this point?

00:55:30Your superiors

00:55:31in the service

00:55:31at the relevant time

00:55:32would no doubt

00:55:32be willing to speak.

00:55:33I'm not afraid

00:55:34of anything like that,

00:55:35sir.

00:55:35The Major knows

00:55:35the truth.

00:55:36We all do now.

00:55:37Yes.

00:55:39Well,

00:55:40thank you, Corporal.

00:55:41You're enjoying this,

00:55:50aren't you,

00:55:50Corporal Battle?

00:55:53Pardon, sir?

00:55:54No, I say,

00:55:54you're enjoying yourself.

00:55:56Bursting into the case

00:55:57like a hero

00:55:57from some old-fashioned

00:55:58melodrama,

00:56:00attracting all the attention

00:56:01to yourself.

00:56:02You like the limelight,

00:56:02don't you?

00:56:05My only desire

00:56:06is that the truth

00:56:06should come out.

00:56:07The Major's

00:56:08testified to lies.

00:56:09Ah, yes,

00:56:09this devotion of yours

00:56:10to the truth.

00:56:11Now, let's put that

00:56:11to the test,

00:56:12shall we, Corporal?

00:56:13In the first place,

00:56:14you maintain that

00:56:14on Hill 329,

00:56:16Major Fitton

00:56:17drew a revolver on you.

00:56:18That's so.

00:56:20Well, if it happened,

00:56:21was it really so

00:56:22very reprehensible

00:56:23on the part

00:56:24of Major Fitton?

00:56:25What, sir?

00:56:26Well, I say,

00:56:26was it so very

00:56:27reprehensible of him?

00:56:28An officer,

00:56:29under the stress of action,

00:56:30finding his order

00:56:31not being obeyed

00:56:32and drawing a pistol

00:56:33in order to endeavour

00:56:34to enforce it.

00:56:35But look,

00:56:36it was a barmy order, sir.

00:56:38But yours,

00:56:38not to reason why,

00:56:39Corporal?

00:56:40That's the army,

00:56:41as I used to know it,

00:56:42and I don't suppose

00:56:42it was any different

00:56:43on Hill 329.

00:56:46Now, you also allege

00:56:47that Major Fitton

00:56:48shot at you.

00:56:50Yes, that's right.

00:56:52Why?

00:56:53Why?

00:56:53Well, if you gave him

00:56:54no provocation,

00:56:55it was surely

00:56:55a most extraordinary thing

00:56:56for an officer to do.

00:56:57I gave him no provocation?

00:56:59I don't know why.

00:57:00There was that big hit

00:57:01on the ridge,

00:57:02I told you,

00:57:02and then he turned

00:57:03and fired at me.

00:57:04At what range,

00:57:05incidentally?

00:57:0620 yards.

00:57:0720 yards?

00:57:08And he missed you?

00:57:10No, further.

00:57:1135.

00:57:11You said 20.

00:57:14And even though

00:57:15you were dealing

00:57:15with such a demonstrably

00:57:16rotten shot,

00:57:17you had once flopped down

00:57:18and played dead.

00:57:19Well, who wouldn't?

00:57:22You've sworn an oath

00:57:24to tell the truth here,

00:57:25Corporal.

00:57:26You're not betraying

00:57:27that oath by any chance,

00:57:28are you?

00:57:29No.

00:57:33Now, after Major Fitton

00:57:34vanished, as you suggest,

00:57:37you crept into a foxhole.

00:57:39That's right.

00:57:40Where you remained

00:57:40for seven hours.

00:57:41Yes.

00:57:43Showing remarkably

00:57:44little concern

00:57:44for the wounded

00:57:45on the hillside, then.

00:57:47What?

00:57:47Your wounded comrades,

00:57:49Corporal Batley.

00:57:50They were out there

00:57:50where the shells

00:57:51were bursting, weren't they?

00:57:51Didn't you recall that

00:57:52at the time?

00:57:53Well, I...

00:57:53I mean, after all,

00:57:54you did believe

00:57:55that Major Fitton

00:57:56had vanished.

00:57:57Well, I wasn't sure

00:57:58about that just then.

00:57:59He might have been

00:58:00doing something

00:58:00about the wounded.

00:58:01I didn't know.

00:58:02Anyway, I couldn't move.

00:58:03You couldn't move?

00:58:04I was pinned down

00:58:05by mortifier.

00:58:06You've no idea

00:58:07what it was like, sir.

00:58:08Not a single break

00:58:09in seven hours?

00:58:11I mean, not a tiny lull

00:58:12in which you could

00:58:13at least peer out

00:58:14and see how the wounded

00:58:15were faring.

00:58:16It just went on and on.

00:58:18Hmm.

00:58:19How did you know

00:58:20when the attack

00:58:20was actually over?

00:58:22The firing stopped eventually.

00:58:24When there hadn't been

00:58:25any firing for half an hour,

00:58:26I reckoned it was safe enough

00:58:27to move out.

00:58:29And, of course,

00:58:29you found yourself

00:58:30quite alone

00:58:30on Hill 329.

00:58:31Oh, yes, sir.

00:58:32But for the dead.

00:58:33No, I didn't mean

00:58:34the dead, Corporal.

00:58:34I meant, didn't you find

00:58:35that the enemy

00:58:36were there as well?

00:58:38Oh, come along,

00:58:38Corporal Batley.

00:58:39The Chinese have conducted

00:58:40a monumental,

00:58:41a pulverizing assault.

00:58:42You really mean

00:58:43to now tell us

00:58:43that they didn't even

00:58:44bother to close up

00:58:45and occupy

00:58:46their hard-won position?

00:58:48I don't know about that.

00:58:49They weren't there

00:58:49when I crawled out.

00:58:50But half an hour

00:58:51after the firing

00:58:51had stopped

00:58:52and still no sign

00:58:53of enemy soldiers.

00:58:53You're lying,

00:58:54aren't you,

00:58:54Corporal Batley?

00:58:55No.

00:58:55It's Major Fitton

00:58:56who's told the truth

00:58:57here today,

00:58:58the real truth,

00:58:58that it was you

00:58:59who drew a gun on him,

00:59:00forcing him down

00:59:01to the river.

00:59:01That's not so.

00:59:02You who might have

00:59:03shot him

00:59:03if an attack

00:59:04hadn't come

00:59:04to knock you out.

00:59:05Look.

00:59:06You who then realized

00:59:07that you had

00:59:07a serious charge

00:59:08to answer,

00:59:09adopted a new identity

00:59:11and began to live

00:59:12a charade.

00:59:13Now, that's the truth,

00:59:14isn't it?

00:59:14No.

00:59:15It's all lies.

00:59:16Why can't I be believed?

00:59:18If it was the other way about,

00:59:19me and officer

00:59:19in the enlisted man

00:59:20it'd be different,

00:59:21wouldn't it?

00:59:21It's always the officers

00:59:22gets believed.

00:59:23Always.

00:59:25Twenty years.

00:59:27I just wanted to

00:59:28clear things up

00:59:28if I could.

00:59:30Why did I speak out

00:59:31if I wasn't telling the truth?

00:59:32I stand to lose

00:59:33if this goes against me today.

00:59:34I should be called

00:59:35a coward worse.

00:59:35I didn't have to speak.

00:59:37I just did

00:59:37because I was tired.

00:59:39Tired of lies.

00:59:40Tired of lies.

00:59:42You are still under oath,

01:00:05Major Fitton.

01:00:06Before returning you

01:00:07to my learned friend

01:00:08and the tender mercies

01:00:09of his cross-examination,

01:00:10Major Fitton,

01:00:11the new evidence presented

01:00:13would seem to prompt

01:00:14one or two essential questions

01:00:15on my part.

01:00:16First of all,

01:00:18do you accept as a whole

01:00:19or in any part

01:00:20the story that

01:00:21Corporal Batley

01:00:22has just told the court?

01:00:24It's amazing.

01:00:26It's quite amazing.

01:00:28Somehow Batley managed

01:00:29to survive Hill 329.

01:00:31That's undeniable.

01:00:32But as for the rest,

01:00:33it's not...

01:00:33You adhere to

01:00:35previous testimony.

01:00:36Yes, of course.

01:00:37And Corporal Batley

01:00:38insists that

01:00:39until a final incident

01:00:40on Hill 329,

01:00:41his relationship

01:00:42with you was of the best.

01:00:43Would you agree with that?

01:00:44Oh, certainly.

01:00:45I had no complaint

01:00:45of him as a soldier.

01:00:47His ultimate lapse

01:00:48was regrettable

01:00:48from my point of view.

01:00:50You can suggest to us

01:00:51then no real reason

01:00:52why Corporal Batley

01:00:53should wish to

01:00:54rise up from the grave

01:00:55and tell these

01:00:56fantastic tales about you.

01:00:58I certainly can't.

01:00:59I was hard on Batley

01:01:01on Hill 329.

01:01:02Very hard.

01:01:02I've made no bones

01:01:03about that.

01:01:03But it seems incredible

01:01:04that he...

01:01:07But I don't understand.

01:01:08I don't understand.

01:01:09Well, Major Fitton,

01:01:16we find ourselves

01:01:17in a bit of a pickle,

01:01:18don't we?

01:01:19Ultimately, it seems,

01:01:20we have to decide

01:01:21either to believe Batley

01:01:23or to believe you.

01:01:25Well, if that's meant

01:01:25to be a question,

01:01:26I can tell you who to believe

01:01:27without further ado.

01:01:28I'm sure.

01:01:30However,

01:01:30if we may revert

01:01:31to the evidence

01:01:31you were giving

01:01:32before Corporal Batley

01:01:33interrupted us,

01:01:35you say you weren't

01:01:36very clear

01:01:36why you crossed

01:01:37the Tidong River.

01:01:39I'm sorry?

01:01:40From north to south

01:01:41after the final enemy

01:01:42assault,

01:01:43after Batley

01:01:44had allegedly fallen,

01:01:45after you had

01:01:46allegedly checked

01:01:46the wounded

01:01:47and so on and so forth,

01:01:48you say that you

01:01:48weren't clear

01:01:49why you made the crossing.

01:01:50No, no,

01:01:50that's true.

01:01:51Things weren't

01:01:52very clear then

01:01:52and I'm not very sure

01:01:54what was happening.

01:01:55Well, I suppose not

01:01:56because it was really

01:01:57rather an odd thing

01:01:58to do, wasn't it?

01:01:59I beg your pardon?

01:02:00Well, Lieutenant

01:02:00Hartstrong has told us

01:02:01that three miles

01:02:03along the north bank

01:02:03of the river

01:02:04there was a pontoon

01:02:05point known

01:02:05as Brooklyn Bridge.

01:02:06Well, surely you knew that

01:02:07and knew that if you

01:02:08carried along

01:02:09along the north bank

01:02:09of the river

01:02:10you would eventually

01:02:10find it and reach hope.

01:02:12But one couldn't be sure

01:02:12that those pontoons

01:02:13will still be there,

01:02:14you know.

01:02:15Perhaps I thought

01:02:15I'd strike other enemy

01:02:16emplacements

01:02:17along the north bank.

01:02:18Ah.

01:02:19You weren't so confused

01:02:21that you couldn't

01:02:21think that then?

01:02:22No, I didn't say

01:02:22that I thought that.

01:02:23I said I might have done.

01:02:26Well, now, this river,

01:02:27how wide was it

01:02:29at the point

01:02:29where you crossed it,

01:02:30do you think?

01:02:30Oh, goodness me,

01:02:31it was 20 years ago.

01:02:33I can't remember that.

01:02:34Oh, approximately

01:02:35from here

01:02:35out into the street.

01:02:37Oh, no, no,

01:02:37not as far as that.

01:02:39Perhaps 60 yards.

01:02:4160 yards?

01:02:43And how did you cross it?

01:02:44Was it on a raft

01:02:45of the type

01:02:46that the Corporal Batley

01:02:47allegedly asked you

01:02:48to construct?

01:02:48Oh, no, no,

01:02:49there hadn't been time

01:02:49for that, had there?

01:02:51No.

01:02:51No, how then?

01:02:52Did you swim?

01:02:53Well, I expect

01:02:54I must have done.

01:02:55Oh, good gracious me,

01:02:57Major.

01:02:57A 60-yard swim

01:02:58through drummled waters

01:02:59in the depths of winter

01:03:00and you still

01:03:01aren't sure about it.

01:03:02I repeat,

01:03:03I was in a very

01:03:03disorganized state of mind.

01:03:05I made no secret of that.

01:03:06Yet organized enough

01:03:07to check that everybody

01:03:08was dead

01:03:08before you left

01:03:09Hill 329.

01:03:10Organized enough

01:03:11to decide that it was

01:03:12safer to swim

01:03:12across an icy torrent

01:03:13than to risk encountering

01:03:14animator patrols

01:03:15along the North Bank.

01:03:16I repeat,

01:03:17I'm not sure

01:03:17that I did think like that.

01:03:19Frankly, Major,

01:03:20isn't all this behavior

01:03:21characteristic of a man

01:03:22on the run

01:03:22fleeing his responsibilities

01:03:23in a fit of blind terror?

01:03:26No.

01:03:26You say that Batley

01:03:27drew a gun on you

01:03:28and yet Batley

01:03:29from all us we've heard

01:03:30was conscientiously

01:03:30carrying out his duties

01:03:31throughout the entire action

01:03:32whilst you were the one

01:03:33who was nervous,

01:03:34upset,

01:03:35near hysterical.

01:03:36I was not hysterical.

01:03:37I was merely upset

01:03:37because my men were dying.

01:03:39And you weren't.

01:03:40What?

01:03:41You were afraid of dying,

01:03:42weren't you, Major?

01:03:44Mr. Hartstrong remembers

01:03:44that you said

01:03:45don't let them kill me now

01:03:47over and over again

01:03:48after he picked you up.

01:03:49I've told you

01:03:49that I had the idea

01:03:50that Batley

01:03:51was still threatening me.

01:03:52I was probably saying

01:03:53don't let him kill me now.

01:03:55Fighting was still going on

01:03:56on Hill 329

01:03:57when you were picked up

01:03:58on the South Bank.

01:03:59No, no.

01:03:59Bombardment only.

01:04:00The action was over.

01:04:01Are you sure of that?

01:04:04Good God,

01:04:04what kind of a soldier

01:04:05do you think I was?

01:04:06I checked and double-checked

01:04:07the wounded

01:04:07to make sure

01:04:08that they were all dead.

01:04:09I even dragged Batley's body

01:04:11up amongst them

01:04:12so I could protect

01:04:13his name afterwards.

01:04:14I can't understand

01:04:15how he's still alive.

01:04:15I checked his heart,

01:04:16his pulse,

01:04:16everything.

01:04:17So you were absolutely

01:04:18clear in your own mind

01:04:19what you were doing

01:04:19before you left

01:04:20Hill 329.

01:04:21You weren't confused

01:04:21at all.

01:04:23How hard, then,

01:04:24that having crossed

01:04:25the river,

01:04:25you should have been

01:04:26incoherent,

01:04:27moving without care,

01:04:29so far out of control

01:04:30that you imagined

01:04:31a killer to be

01:04:31on your tail.

01:04:33I put it to you,

01:04:33Major Fitton,

01:04:34that you can suggest

01:04:35no reason why

01:04:35Corporal Batley's evidence,

01:04:37whilst on the one hand

01:04:38directly contradicting

01:04:39everything that you

01:04:39have told us,

01:04:40should on the other

01:04:41fit in much more

01:04:42accurately with

01:04:43what else is known

01:04:43of your state of mind

01:04:44at the time?

01:04:45No, it does not.

01:04:46Now, you're interpreting

01:04:47the facts for your own purposes.

01:04:48Now, there could be money

01:04:49in this for Batley,

01:04:50couldn't there?

01:04:52I beg your pardon?

01:04:53Well, to make a very

01:04:54good newspaper story,

01:04:55soldier back from the dead,

01:04:56resurrected Corporal,

01:04:57accuses officer,

01:04:57I've no doubt he could

01:04:58try and claim compensation

01:04:59for the army

01:05:00if he could put this

01:05:00whole thing onto me.

01:05:01There's no end

01:05:02to the possibilities.

01:05:03Thank you, Major Fitton.

01:05:04No further questions.

01:05:09It's just one matter

01:05:10we should clear up,

01:05:11Major Fitton.

01:05:11Did you at any stage

01:05:13on Hill 329

01:05:14give Corporal Batley

01:05:14an order to take

01:05:15a personal message

01:05:16for you to Brigade?

01:05:17No, I did not.

01:05:18That's utterly absurd.

01:05:20And what then

01:05:21was your reaction

01:05:21when Batley

01:05:22drew this revolver on you

01:05:23and demanded

01:05:24that you conducted

01:05:25him to safety?

01:05:27I was deeply shocked,

01:05:28needless to say.

01:05:29But even then,

01:05:30I think I could appreciate

01:05:32that I'd had some part

01:05:33in bringing him

01:05:34with that state of mind.

01:05:36You see,

01:05:36I've tried to make it clear

01:05:38that I don't altogether

01:05:39blame Batley

01:05:39for what he did.

01:05:41We were under

01:05:42intolerable stress.

01:05:44Batley cracked,

01:05:46and I didn't.

01:05:48It's as simple as that.

01:05:52That concludes the case

01:05:53for the plaintiff, my lord.

01:05:55Very well.

01:05:57You may stand down,

01:05:58Major Fitton.

01:05:58It's for you

01:06:02to address the jury

01:06:03first, Mr. Logan.

01:06:14Members of the jury,

01:06:15it is, as you are aware,

01:06:16the contention

01:06:16of the plaintiff

01:06:17that the statements

01:06:18made about his behaviour

01:06:19on Hill 329

01:06:20by Professor Pusey

01:06:21in his book

01:06:22Sunset of Arms

01:06:23are false

01:06:24and therefore libelous.

01:06:26The facts

01:06:29speak for themselves.

01:06:30There has been

01:06:31no proof of cowardice

01:06:32on the part

01:06:33of Major Fitton.

01:06:35You may wonder

01:06:36why, in order to prove

01:06:37this libel,

01:06:38I have called

01:06:38only one witness,

01:06:40the plaintiff himself,

01:06:41Major Alistair Fitton.

01:06:42Well, that is because

01:06:43until the

01:06:44melodramatic intervention

01:06:46of a revived

01:06:46Corporal Batley,

01:06:47there simply was

01:06:48no other witness

01:06:48to call.

01:06:49Only Major Fitton

01:06:50could tell us

01:06:51truly what occurred

01:06:53on Hill 329.

01:06:54And in my submission,

01:06:56there is still

01:06:56only one man

01:06:57who can tell us

01:06:58what happened there.

01:06:59Major Fitton.

01:07:01Major Fitton

01:07:02has been painfully

01:07:03honest with us

01:07:04here today.

01:07:04Long before the advent

01:07:05of Corporal Batley,

01:07:07he was prepared

01:07:08to tell us,

01:07:08quite frankly,

01:07:09that he disliked

01:07:10his orders,

01:07:11that he sought

01:07:12to be relieved of them,

01:07:13and even that he

01:07:14ultimately left the army

01:07:15because he was faced

01:07:15with no option

01:07:16but to carry them out.

01:07:18Throughout the entire action,

01:07:19his concern

01:07:20was for his men.

01:07:22He wanted the orders

01:07:23rescinded precisely

01:07:24because he realised

01:07:25that his men

01:07:26would die

01:07:26as a result of them.

01:07:29Absolutely no evidence

01:07:31has been produced

01:07:31by the defence

01:07:32to prove that Major Fitton

01:07:34was at any time

01:07:35in what could be called

01:07:36a cowardly state of mind.

01:07:40And in the same way,

01:07:40absolutely no evidence

01:07:41has been produced

01:07:42to show that all his men,

01:07:44apart from Batley,

01:07:44that is,

01:07:45were not already dead

01:07:46when he left Hill 329.

01:07:48As far as he could possibly know,

01:07:50he was the sole survivor.

01:07:51The Australian patrol

01:07:54picked him up

01:07:55on the south bank

01:07:56of the river

01:07:57in an incoherent

01:07:58state of mind.

01:08:00It's not important

01:08:01why he crossed the river,

01:08:03or even,

01:08:04strictly speaking,

01:08:05what he said

01:08:05at that particular stage.

01:08:06He was a man

01:08:07at the end

01:08:07of his tether.

01:08:09Logic would almost

01:08:10be suspect.

01:08:13As for

01:08:13Corporal Batley

01:08:15and his outlandish story,

01:08:1820 years too late,

01:08:20well,

01:08:21I feel confident

01:08:21you will know

01:08:22what to believe there.

01:08:23His motive for speaking

01:08:24is, of course,

01:08:25curious.

01:08:25It may be financial.

01:08:27It may be purely neurotic.

01:08:30I don't think anyone

01:08:30who has seen him

01:08:31here today

01:08:32could doubt

01:08:33that Corporal Batley

01:08:33enjoys being

01:08:35in the limelight.

01:08:35In any event,

01:08:39he survived

01:08:40Hill 329.

01:08:43And now,

01:08:43in a new way,

01:08:45he turns on the officer

01:08:46whom he turned on then.

01:08:48He hopes,

01:08:49it appears,

01:08:50to clear himself

01:08:51of that first offence

01:08:52by committing a second,

01:08:54the offence of perjury.

01:08:59Members of the jury,

01:09:01you may not believe

01:09:03this insubordinate soldier,

01:09:06this deserter,

01:09:09against a blameless

01:09:10and honourable officer

01:09:11like Major Fitton.

01:09:13I write you,

01:09:14therefore,

01:09:14find the libel proved.

01:09:17May I please,

01:09:18Your Lordship,

01:09:19members of the jury,

01:09:21my learning friend

01:09:22is at least right

01:09:23when he says

01:09:23that until the advent

01:09:24of Corporal Batley,

01:09:26he had no other witness

01:09:27to establish the case

01:09:28for the plaintiff

01:09:29than the plaintiff himself,

01:09:31Major Fitton.

01:09:32However,

01:09:33there can now

01:09:34no longer be any doubt

01:09:35that Major Fitton's

01:09:36credibility is in jeopardy.

01:09:39By his own admission,

01:09:40he was very clear

01:09:41in his mind

01:09:41what he was doing

01:09:42before he left

01:09:43Hill 329.

01:09:44Very unclear

01:09:45after he'd crossed

01:09:46the river

01:09:47to the south bank.

01:09:48Moreover,

01:09:50Major Fitton admits

01:09:51that once he was

01:09:52safely out of danger,

01:09:53he falsified

01:09:54the official record.

01:09:55Now,

01:09:55don't forget that.

01:09:57This was a calculated action.

01:09:59Undertaken,

01:10:00he says,

01:10:00because he didn't think

01:10:01that his crossing

01:10:02of the Tide-On River

01:10:02could be explained away

01:10:04so easily.

01:10:06Well,

01:10:06indeed,

01:10:06it couldn't.

01:10:07Still can't.

01:10:09We have waited in vain

01:10:10for a convincing explanation,

01:10:12and only Corporal Batley's

01:10:14evidence

01:10:15supplies it.

01:10:17Now,

01:10:18as to the suggestion

01:10:18that a desire

01:10:20for the limelight

01:10:21and for financial reward

01:10:23were Corporal Batley's motives

01:10:24for giving evidence today,

01:10:25I would remind you

01:10:26that he could have spoken out

01:10:27any time since 1950,

01:10:30with the same meagre hope

01:10:31of reward

01:10:31and with the same certainty

01:10:33of facing charges.

01:10:35For whatever happens here

01:10:36in this court today,

01:10:38Batley is now certain

01:10:39to face a military charge.

01:10:42In other words,

01:10:43by giving evidence here,

01:10:44Batley stands

01:10:45to lose a good deal

01:10:46and to gain

01:10:48nothing

01:10:49at all.

01:10:51I submit

01:10:52that his evidence,

01:10:52together with that

01:10:53Mr. Lass

01:10:54and Mr. Hartstrong,

01:10:55supports the view

01:10:57that Professor Pusey

01:10:58spoke the truth

01:10:59in his book

01:11:00about Major Fitton,

01:11:01Sunset of Arms.

01:11:02In other words,

01:11:03he has uttered

01:11:04no libel

01:11:05against Major Fitton,

01:11:06and you have no choice

01:11:07but to find

01:11:08accordingly.

01:11:15In this case,

01:11:17Professor Pusey

01:11:18is liable

01:11:19to Major Fitton

01:11:21unless he proves

01:11:23to the balance

01:11:24of probabilities

01:11:25that the Major

01:11:26did behave

01:11:27in the manner

01:11:28described

01:11:29in his book,

01:11:31that he abandoned

01:11:32his wounded

01:11:32to their fate.

01:11:34And it comes

01:11:36down to this,

01:11:37really.

01:11:38If you believe

01:11:39Corporal Batley's story,

01:11:41you will find

01:11:42for the defendant.

01:11:45If you believe

01:11:46Major Fitton's story,

01:11:48that he did not

01:11:49abandon his men,

01:11:51then you will find

01:11:52for him

01:11:52the plaintiff.

01:11:55If you find

01:11:57it difficult

01:11:57to decide

01:11:58precisely

01:11:59what did happen,

01:12:01then you must

01:12:02resolve your doubt

01:12:02in favour

01:12:03of the plaintiff

01:12:04and find

01:12:05for him.

01:12:08Now,

01:12:09members of the jury,

01:12:10you will adjourn

01:12:10to consider

01:12:11your verdict.

01:12:12All stand.

01:12:13members of the jury,

01:12:42will your foreman

01:12:42please stand.

01:12:44Just answer me

01:12:45this question,

01:12:46yes or no.

01:12:48Have you reached

01:12:48a verdict upon

01:12:49which you are

01:12:49all agreed?

01:12:50Yes.

01:12:51Do you find

01:12:51for the plaintiff

01:12:52or the defendant?

01:12:53For the plaintiff.

01:12:54And that is

01:12:54the verdict

01:12:55of you all?

01:12:56Yes.

01:12:59Well,

01:12:59members of the jury,

01:13:01since you were

01:13:01found for the plaintiff,

01:13:02there remains

01:13:03the question

01:13:03of assessing

01:13:05how much damages

01:13:06he should be paid.

01:13:07This, again,

01:13:07is a matter

01:13:08for you to decide.

01:13:09and I shall

01:13:10direct you

01:13:10as to how

01:13:11to do it.

01:13:12But,

01:13:12as it is now

01:13:13the end of the day,

01:13:15I suggest

01:13:15we adjourn

01:13:16until tomorrow.

01:13:17All stand.

01:13:18Major Alistair Fittman

01:13:38was awarded

01:13:38£30,000

01:13:39in damages.

01:13:40next week,

01:13:51a chance

01:13:51for you to join

01:13:51another jury

01:13:52in assessing the facts

01:13:53when our cameras

01:13:54return to watch

01:13:55a leading case

01:13:56in the Crown Court.

01:13:57in the Crown Court.

Crown Court - Sunset of Arms (1973)

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended