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May 17th, 2019 Wraithkal News It’s kinda absurd how one moment everything’s just peachy, and then in the blink of an eye (and a landslide later) you’re all alone in the deep jungle. Such is the case for Yandi, Sumatra: Fate of Yandi ‘s unfortunate protagonist, and yet he’s more determined to point and click his way back to his. The U-boat War in World War Two (Kriegsmarine, 1939-1945) and World War One (Kaiserliche Marine, 1914-1918) and the Allied efforts to counter the threat. This section includes over 21.000 Allied Warships and over 11.000 Allied Commanders of WWII, from the US Navy, Royal Navy, Royal Canadian Navy, Royal Australian Navy, The Polish Navy and others. It took four days for convoys to steam the 960 km from Sunda Strait, at the south-eastern end of Sumatra, to Singapore, and another four days for outgoing convoys to reach the open ocean. The escort fleet based at Singapore was progressively boosted to three cruisers, six destroyers, including HMAS Vampire, and two sloops, including HMAS Yarra.
*Sumatra: Fate Of Yandi Coming May 14th To Steam Full
*Sumatra: Fate Of Yandi Coming May 14th To Steam Locomotives
*Sumatra: Fate Of Yandi Coming May 14th To Steam ShowShips hit by U-boatsAmerican Steam merchant
We don’t have a picture of this vessel at this time.NameWilliam KingType:Steam merchant (Liberty)Tonnage7,176 tonsCompleted1942 - New England Shipbuilding Corp, Portland ME OwnerMarine Transport Lines Inc, New York HomeportPortland Date of attack6 Jun 1943Nationality: AmericanFateSunk by U-198 (Werner Hartmann)Position30° 25’S, 34° 15’E - Grid KP 9754Complement65 (6 dead and 59 survivors).ConvoyRouteBusreh, Iran - Bahrein (14 May) - Durban - Capetown - USA Cargo18.000 barrels of fuel oil in drums HistoryCompleted in October 1942 Notes on event
At 13.18 hours on 6 June 1943 the unescorted William King (Master Owen Harvey Reed) was hit on the port side in the #3 hold by one of two torpedoes from U-198 while steaming on a zigzag course at 10 knots about 200 miles east of Durban. The second torpedo was seen to pass astern. The explosion killed the three men on watch below, opened a large hole, destroyed the port boiler and two lifeboats and set fire to the engine room, the #3 hold and the midships house. The most of the eight officers, 34 crewmen and 23 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 5in and nine 20mm guns) abandoned ship in two lifeboats and two rafts. At 13.46 hours, the U-boat fired a torpedo that missed and at 14.04 hours a coup de grâce, which struck on the starboard side, sending flames high into the air and caused the ship to sink by the stern about 10 minutes later. In all, two officers and four crewmen were lost, two of them died of burns in a lifeboat.
The U-boat surfaced shortly afterwards and fired two short bursts from a machine gun to get the lifeboats alongside, questioned the survivors and took the master as prisoner on board before leaving. The survivors on the two rafts were picked up after 36 hours by HMS Northern Chief (4.34), which also picked up the survivors in one of the lifeboats and landed them at Durban on 10 June. The survivors in the other boat were picked up after six days by HMS Relentless (H 85) (LtCdr R.A. Fell, RN) and landed in Durban the same day.
The master Owen Harvey Reed was taken prisoner by the U-boat. On 26 June, he and Henry Townsend Graham, the chief engineer of Dumra, were transferred to the German supply tanker Charlotte Schliemann which landed them at Batavia on 15 July 1943. They were handed over to the Japanese and taken to a POW camp on Java. Both men were killed aboard the Japanese “hell ship” Junyo Maru, when she was torpedoed and sunk by the HMS Tradewind (P 329) (LtCdr S.L.C. Maydon, DSO and Bar, RN) en route from Batavia to Padang, Sumatra on 18 Sep 1944. 5620 men of the 4200 Javanese slave labourers and 2300 Allied prisoners on board died.On boardWe have details of 7 people who were on board.
Location of attack on William King.
ship sunk.If you can help us with any additional information on this vessel then please contact us.
The British Sumatra Battalion
Immediately prior to the Fall of Singapore on 15th February 1942 there was a panic to get out before the Japanese walked in the back door. Women and children, servicemen of all ranks, some individuals, some in groups, many separated from their Regiments all clambered on any vessel leaving Keppel harbour that would put distance between them and imminent presence of the Japanese Army.
Some made it to Australia, some to Java and others made it to Sumatra. For some, however, the Japanese were close on their heels. Java fell on the 8th March and those who had arrived three weeks earlier in their attempt to escape were now taken prisoner. Those who made it to Sumatra were to remain free only marginally longer before it capitulated on the 17th March.
One British officer, Captain Dudley Apthorpe of the Royal Norfolk Regiment, made his way to Padang, the former capital of Sumatra only to find he had missed the last rescue boat. On the deserted quayside, hiding in the darkness, he came across a number of other men all in the same plight. They numbered twenty in all, four of them army officers, thirteen other soldiers, including NCOs and three navy men. Between them they managed to locate an old Japanese sailing boat, fifty feet long, bearing the name ’Bintang Dua’. They managed to free the old boat from its moorings and sail out into open water. A chart on board showed the large island of Siberut which was their only navigational guide and they made for the island in search of fresh water and other supplies. Shortly after, and still in shallow water, they picked up eight men from a canoe-type boat who were also bent on escape. Among this eight was a former engineer and seaman. Apthorpe was the most senior army officer among the men, but he was glad to leave matters of seamanship to the newcomer and the ’Bintang Dua’ managed to stay free at sea for two weeks in their attempt to escape.
By this time Padang was firmly in the hands of the Japanese who had ordered patrol boats to hunt down the escapers. They were finally caught and towed back to Siberut and the unlucky men were taken back to Padang to face execution, but they survived and became part of a large group numbering approximately one thousand and two hundred mixed British service personnel. This company of prisoners, about a battalion in strength, were to become known throughout their POW days as either the ’British Battalion’ or the ’Sumatra Battalion’ with Captain Apthorpe as their leader.
From the outset, it was quite obvious that the Japanese were not used to dealing with large numbers of prisoners. Little or no attempt was made to organise the camp (in the Dutch barracks) on normal lines. Even the food was supplied by a Chinese contractor and paid for by the prisoners themselves.
The Japanese were quick to realise that they now possessed a potential labour force. On the 9th May, 1942, a party of twenty officers and four hundred and eighty other ranks were paraded and told to move to another camp. The personnel making up this party were chosen by Captain Morley, Royal Artillery, the British Camp Commander. This was of little interest to the Japanese, who simply required five hundred ’bodies’ on the parade ground. This was later proved to be normal practice. No information regarding subsequent destinations was given.
The first day’s journey was by rail in moderately comfortable passenger carriages. From Padang to Fort de Kok was approximately one hundred miles into the Sumatra Hills. The night was spent in a vacated convent. Later the journey continued in lorries.
There was no organisation of the men by the Japanese, it was left to the prisoners to split into four groups, each headed by a British officer. The second night was spent in a disused school at Kota Nopan and the following night in the market place at Tarotoong. Each day became much like the last - an early start on an inadequate breakfast followed by a scramble for the lorries, then followed in turn by twelve hours of dusty and bumpy travel. Much of the terrain was jungle with occasional open stretches with views of the distant Sumatra mountains. The road wound up past Lake Toba, which was a well-known beauty spot, then over a moorland landscape not unlike parts of England.
On the evening of 12th May the group passed through the outskirts of Medan and arrived at the port of Belawin Deli. The entire party was then marched to Uni Kampong. This was a Dutch internment camp where the living conditions were poor. However, many of the civilians there shared both food and clothing, which was a marked improvement on the preceding days.
This improvement was short-lived, for on 15th May 1942, together with some Dutch, they were then marched to board a small steamer with the unlikely name of ’England Maru’. Conditions on board were not pleasant. Shelves had been built four feet apart and there was just room to lie flat touching on either side. The diet consisted of the usual rice with some vegetable water. There were no washing facilities and only a few men were allowed to go on deck at any one time.
The day was spent at anchor in Belawin Deli harbour and the ’England Maru’ was joined by a convoy of ships with Australian POWs and sailed northwards up the Malacca Straits. There was a wait off Victoria Point whilst some Australians were disembarked. On 25th May 1942, after an uneventful but uncomfortable journey, the convoy arrived at Mergui in Burma.
The British contingent, together with one thousand Australians, were disembarked and marched a mile to the Mergui National High School. That evening there was heavy rain and insufficient cover for all the POWs. School furniture was thrown out and eventually everyone found a place to sleep. The evening meal was, as usual, very poor and prepared by the POWs themselves in a shed which became the ’kitchen’.
Two days later, working parties were called for to enlarge the aerodrome. About half the number of prisoners worked and the Japanese eventually issued some pay. This was inadequate and only sufficient to purchase a few bananas or a little tobacco. This merchandise was sold inside the camp by a Burmese trader, and it was suspected, rightly, that this concession was allowed only because the Japanese made a large profit on the transaction!
The Japanese always demanded an excessively large working party each day and provided this demand was met (it seldom was) they took little interest in the prisoners. Accommodation and food rations were inadequate and there were occasional roll-calls. For their part, the POWs did the minimum quantity of work and seized every opportunity to disobey regulations and to supplement their meagre rations from outside sources. One Japanese sergeant plus thirty other ranks were considered sufficient to oversee five hundred prisoners and from that time this was the usual ratio.
The Japanese promised better quarters, having received continuous complaints about the National High School and on 21st June everyone moved to a new camp near the jail. Although the huts were only wood and bamboo there was much more room. Food began to improve and a better supply of local goods came in to be sold in the camp. Some Australians improvised an oven and a doughnut became the highlight of the day’s menu!
At the beginning of August there were strong rumours of another sea voyage. On 10th August 1942, there was a parade at which numbered discs were issued to each man, and the ’British or Sumatra Battalion’ (from now on referred to only as the ’Battalion’) were marched down to the landing stage.
It was about 11 p.m. and quite dark. The entire party was taken in motor launches to two small ships which were to sail at one o’clock in the morning. Rain was falling but with so little room below a large number of men had to remain on deck. The next day was uneventful. There was an issue of bread, a luxury which up to that time had been extremely scarce. That evening the ships anchored at the mouth of the Tavoy River, Burma.
The ’Battalion’ transferred to barges which were then towed by a motor launch. After an hour, one barge broke away and there was an interminable delay whilst it was chased, secured and brought upstream again. Following an exceptionally uncomfortable journey Tavoy was reached at one o’clock in the morning and the party was marched four miles to a camp
There were already some Dutch prisoners in the camp who provided breakfast. Conditions here were very much the same as those experienced at Mergui. Once more working parties were required for an aerodrome and, in addition, the town. The latter party was popular. An Indian-Burmese resistance movement had sprung up and POWs going to and from Tavoy were receiving food, money and medical supplies.
The death rate, which at Mergui was high, decreased. Once again the hospital was in the town and the Japanese, except for the guards on working parties and the weekly roll-call, were not much in evidence. However, another move was under consideration. The ’Battalion’ were given new number tags (always a sure indication of a move) and on 21st October 1942 were paraded ready to leave the camp. The march to the river was hot and dusty but the heavy articles of kit were carried in lorries and soon the familiar barge journey was underway.
The mouth of the river was reached at dusk and again the whole party embarked on two small motorised vessels. Rain fell during the night and early morning and for obvious reasons the Japanese kept close to the shoreline. One of the craft had a small gun mounted in the bows but was rendered useless by two enterprising Australians who had thrown the breech-block overboard during the night.
In the early afternoon of the following day the party disembarked at Moulmein, still in Burma. The destination was the jail and the march was almost one of triumph. Despite strenuous efforts by the guards a large crowd of Burmese congregated. Fruit and food arrived from all sides much to the annoyance of the Japanese.
The night was spent under lock and key and an early start was made on the following morning. A march of some two miles ensued to the railway station. POWs were crowded into an inadequate number of cattle trucks and with a series of bumps started off for Thanbyuzayat some thirty miles down the line.
Thanbyuzayat lies at the junction of the Moulmein to Ye and Moulmein to Bangkok railways. The base camp for the construction of the latter which, even then, November 1942, was in the process of being built. It was constructed from two sides, Siam (Thailand) as well as Burma and was to join in August 1943 near the Three Pagoda Pass high up in the mountains of the Temasserim Peninsula.
Beginning in Thanbyuzayat, the Japanese had already cut the trace of the line and along it had built camps at five kilometre intervals. Some were occupied by POWs and others by Burmese coolies. A small number of Japanese engineers, engaged in the construction of the railway, lived near the camps. Apart from directing the pattern of work they left the ’Kumies’ (as the Japanese called the work-groups), to get on with the construction.
Colonel Nagitoma was responsible for organising not only the base camp at Thanbyuzayat but all the camps on the Burma side of the line. With the customary propensity for neglecting this kind of work he allowed the POWs to do it themselves. As time passed he came to rely on them to an increasing extent. At Thanbyuzayat, Brigadier Varley, the Senior Australian officer, gradually assumed control of all the POWs in the area. Together with a small staff, he virtually ran everything from POW movements, working parties, hospitals, money and a mountain of clerical work. Nagitoma seemed helpless without this effort.
Although it was not immediately recognised the prisoners derived a very real benefit. A threat of non-co-operation was usually sufficient to bring Nagitoma to heel.
What it was not possible to do was obtain extra food and the medical supplies so badly needed. Colonel Nagitoma had not got it and his superiors were not prepared to supply.
The ’Battalion’ arrived at Thanbyuzayat and stayed there for only three days. Sick personnel were transferred to the camp hospital and the ’British Battalion’ were marched out again. Heavy kit was carried in lorries which eventually returned and picked up POWs.
Hlepauk, the ’18 Kilo Camp’, was reached in the afternoon. There were already five hundred or so Australians in occupation and it proved to be typical of the jungle camps that the Battalion was to live in for the next eighteen months.
Built in a valley, it consisted entirely of bamboo huts roofed with strips of palm leaves. On one side there could be seen a range of hills running up to one thousand feet. The camp was adjacent to the railway and road and on the other side the ground sloped gently upwards. In the valley was a small stream and the whole area was covered with clumps of bamboo and small bushes.
There was the now familiar open square in the centre of the camp. The living quarters for the Japanese, well-built wooden huts, were situated at one end. POWs were housed on two other sides of the square in much inferior huts. The cookhouse was in one corner of the camp and the guard-room at the gate marked, as in all Japanese establishments, by two large wooden posts.
The Japanese had installed no fence around the camp believing, quite rightly, that eight hundred miles of jungle was rather more effective than barbed wire. All water had to be brought from the stream and there was no provision for washing or sanitation until improvised by the POWs.
At 12.30 p.m., working parties were given a break of two hours for the midday meal. Normally the meal was sent out but those working near the camp returned. Work finished at 8 p.m. when everyone returned to camp, went down to the stream to wash and then had the evening meal. The Japanese had no objection to private fires. In the evenings the majority found something extra to cook and numerous fires sprang up all over camp. The camp canteen was reasonably good and eggs, bananas, native sugar, coffee and tobacco could be bought. Though never sufficient they served as a very welcome addition to the rations issued.
As might be expected, the Japanese made every effort to reduce the numbers of prisoners working inside the camp and therefore, in their eyes, a complete loss to the Japanese government. They allowed ten cooks, six sanitary men, four medical orderlies and four office staff - considered quite sufficient to look after the needs of five hundred men. The POWs took every opportunity to increase the number with so-called ’light sick’. The Japanese, just as often, reduced them, but two weeks after arrival at Hlepauk, the Japanese guards were replaced by Koreans.
On 3rd January 1943, the ’Battalion’ moved by lorry to Tahyin, the 35 Kilo Camp. It proved to be muc
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May 17th, 2019 Wraithkal News It’s kinda absurd how one moment everything’s just peachy, and then in the blink of an eye (and a landslide later) you’re all alone in the deep jungle. Such is the case for Yandi, Sumatra: Fate of Yandi ‘s unfortunate protagonist, and yet he’s more determined to point and click his way back to his. The U-boat War in World War Two (Kriegsmarine, 1939-1945) and World War One (Kaiserliche Marine, 1914-1918) and the Allied efforts to counter the threat. This section includes over 21.000 Allied Warships and over 11.000 Allied Commanders of WWII, from the US Navy, Royal Navy, Royal Canadian Navy, Royal Australian Navy, The Polish Navy and others. It took four days for convoys to steam the 960 km from Sunda Strait, at the south-eastern end of Sumatra, to Singapore, and another four days for outgoing convoys to reach the open ocean. The escort fleet based at Singapore was progressively boosted to three cruisers, six destroyers, including HMAS Vampire, and two sloops, including HMAS Yarra.
*Sumatra: Fate Of Yandi Coming May 14th To Steam Full
*Sumatra: Fate Of Yandi Coming May 14th To Steam Locomotives
*Sumatra: Fate Of Yandi Coming May 14th To Steam ShowShips hit by U-boatsAmerican Steam merchant
We don’t have a picture of this vessel at this time.NameWilliam KingType:Steam merchant (Liberty)Tonnage7,176 tonsCompleted1942 - New England Shipbuilding Corp, Portland ME OwnerMarine Transport Lines Inc, New York HomeportPortland Date of attack6 Jun 1943Nationality: AmericanFateSunk by U-198 (Werner Hartmann)Position30° 25’S, 34° 15’E - Grid KP 9754Complement65 (6 dead and 59 survivors).ConvoyRouteBusreh, Iran - Bahrein (14 May) - Durban - Capetown - USA Cargo18.000 barrels of fuel oil in drums HistoryCompleted in October 1942 Notes on event
At 13.18 hours on 6 June 1943 the unescorted William King (Master Owen Harvey Reed) was hit on the port side in the #3 hold by one of two torpedoes from U-198 while steaming on a zigzag course at 10 knots about 200 miles east of Durban. The second torpedo was seen to pass astern. The explosion killed the three men on watch below, opened a large hole, destroyed the port boiler and two lifeboats and set fire to the engine room, the #3 hold and the midships house. The most of the eight officers, 34 crewmen and 23 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 5in and nine 20mm guns) abandoned ship in two lifeboats and two rafts. At 13.46 hours, the U-boat fired a torpedo that missed and at 14.04 hours a coup de grâce, which struck on the starboard side, sending flames high into the air and caused the ship to sink by the stern about 10 minutes later. In all, two officers and four crewmen were lost, two of them died of burns in a lifeboat.
The U-boat surfaced shortly afterwards and fired two short bursts from a machine gun to get the lifeboats alongside, questioned the survivors and took the master as prisoner on board before leaving. The survivors on the two rafts were picked up after 36 hours by HMS Northern Chief (4.34), which also picked up the survivors in one of the lifeboats and landed them at Durban on 10 June. The survivors in the other boat were picked up after six days by HMS Relentless (H 85) (LtCdr R.A. Fell, RN) and landed in Durban the same day.
The master Owen Harvey Reed was taken prisoner by the U-boat. On 26 June, he and Henry Townsend Graham, the chief engineer of Dumra, were transferred to the German supply tanker Charlotte Schliemann which landed them at Batavia on 15 July 1943. They were handed over to the Japanese and taken to a POW camp on Java. Both men were killed aboard the Japanese “hell ship” Junyo Maru, when she was torpedoed and sunk by the HMS Tradewind (P 329) (LtCdr S.L.C. Maydon, DSO and Bar, RN) en route from Batavia to Padang, Sumatra on 18 Sep 1944. 5620 men of the 4200 Javanese slave labourers and 2300 Allied prisoners on board died.On boardWe have details of 7 people who were on board.
Location of attack on William King.
ship sunk.If you can help us with any additional information on this vessel then please contact us.
The British Sumatra Battalion
Immediately prior to the Fall of Singapore on 15th February 1942 there was a panic to get out before the Japanese walked in the back door. Women and children, servicemen of all ranks, some individuals, some in groups, many separated from their Regiments all clambered on any vessel leaving Keppel harbour that would put distance between them and imminent presence of the Japanese Army.
Some made it to Australia, some to Java and others made it to Sumatra. For some, however, the Japanese were close on their heels. Java fell on the 8th March and those who had arrived three weeks earlier in their attempt to escape were now taken prisoner. Those who made it to Sumatra were to remain free only marginally longer before it capitulated on the 17th March.
One British officer, Captain Dudley Apthorpe of the Royal Norfolk Regiment, made his way to Padang, the former capital of Sumatra only to find he had missed the last rescue boat. On the deserted quayside, hiding in the darkness, he came across a number of other men all in the same plight. They numbered twenty in all, four of them army officers, thirteen other soldiers, including NCOs and three navy men. Between them they managed to locate an old Japanese sailing boat, fifty feet long, bearing the name ’Bintang Dua’. They managed to free the old boat from its moorings and sail out into open water. A chart on board showed the large island of Siberut which was their only navigational guide and they made for the island in search of fresh water and other supplies. Shortly after, and still in shallow water, they picked up eight men from a canoe-type boat who were also bent on escape. Among this eight was a former engineer and seaman. Apthorpe was the most senior army officer among the men, but he was glad to leave matters of seamanship to the newcomer and the ’Bintang Dua’ managed to stay free at sea for two weeks in their attempt to escape.
By this time Padang was firmly in the hands of the Japanese who had ordered patrol boats to hunt down the escapers. They were finally caught and towed back to Siberut and the unlucky men were taken back to Padang to face execution, but they survived and became part of a large group numbering approximately one thousand and two hundred mixed British service personnel. This company of prisoners, about a battalion in strength, were to become known throughout their POW days as either the ’British Battalion’ or the ’Sumatra Battalion’ with Captain Apthorpe as their leader.
From the outset, it was quite obvious that the Japanese were not used to dealing with large numbers of prisoners. Little or no attempt was made to organise the camp (in the Dutch barracks) on normal lines. Even the food was supplied by a Chinese contractor and paid for by the prisoners themselves.
The Japanese were quick to realise that they now possessed a potential labour force. On the 9th May, 1942, a party of twenty officers and four hundred and eighty other ranks were paraded and told to move to another camp. The personnel making up this party were chosen by Captain Morley, Royal Artillery, the British Camp Commander. This was of little interest to the Japanese, who simply required five hundred ’bodies’ on the parade ground. This was later proved to be normal practice. No information regarding subsequent destinations was given.
The first day’s journey was by rail in moderately comfortable passenger carriages. From Padang to Fort de Kok was approximately one hundred miles into the Sumatra Hills. The night was spent in a vacated convent. Later the journey continued in lorries.
There was no organisation of the men by the Japanese, it was left to the prisoners to split into four groups, each headed by a British officer. The second night was spent in a disused school at Kota Nopan and the following night in the market place at Tarotoong. Each day became much like the last - an early start on an inadequate breakfast followed by a scramble for the lorries, then followed in turn by twelve hours of dusty and bumpy travel. Much of the terrain was jungle with occasional open stretches with views of the distant Sumatra mountains. The road wound up past Lake Toba, which was a well-known beauty spot, then over a moorland landscape not unlike parts of England.
On the evening of 12th May the group passed through the outskirts of Medan and arrived at the port of Belawin Deli. The entire party was then marched to Uni Kampong. This was a Dutch internment camp where the living conditions were poor. However, many of the civilians there shared both food and clothing, which was a marked improvement on the preceding days.
This improvement was short-lived, for on 15th May 1942, together with some Dutch, they were then marched to board a small steamer with the unlikely name of ’England Maru’. Conditions on board were not pleasant. Shelves had been built four feet apart and there was just room to lie flat touching on either side. The diet consisted of the usual rice with some vegetable water. There were no washing facilities and only a few men were allowed to go on deck at any one time.
The day was spent at anchor in Belawin Deli harbour and the ’England Maru’ was joined by a convoy of ships with Australian POWs and sailed northwards up the Malacca Straits. There was a wait off Victoria Point whilst some Australians were disembarked. On 25th May 1942, after an uneventful but uncomfortable journey, the convoy arrived at Mergui in Burma.
The British contingent, together with one thousand Australians, were disembarked and marched a mile to the Mergui National High School. That evening there was heavy rain and insufficient cover for all the POWs. School furniture was thrown out and eventually everyone found a place to sleep. The evening meal was, as usual, very poor and prepared by the POWs themselves in a shed which became the ’kitchen’.
Two days later, working parties were called for to enlarge the aerodrome. About half the number of prisoners worked and the Japanese eventually issued some pay. This was inadequate and only sufficient to purchase a few bananas or a little tobacco. This merchandise was sold inside the camp by a Burmese trader, and it was suspected, rightly, that this concession was allowed only because the Japanese made a large profit on the transaction!
The Japanese always demanded an excessively large working party each day and provided this demand was met (it seldom was) they took little interest in the prisoners. Accommodation and food rations were inadequate and there were occasional roll-calls. For their part, the POWs did the minimum quantity of work and seized every opportunity to disobey regulations and to supplement their meagre rations from outside sources. One Japanese sergeant plus thirty other ranks were considered sufficient to oversee five hundred prisoners and from that time this was the usual ratio.
The Japanese promised better quarters, having received continuous complaints about the National High School and on 21st June everyone moved to a new camp near the jail. Although the huts were only wood and bamboo there was much more room. Food began to improve and a better supply of local goods came in to be sold in the camp. Some Australians improvised an oven and a doughnut became the highlight of the day’s menu!
At the beginning of August there were strong rumours of another sea voyage. On 10th August 1942, there was a parade at which numbered discs were issued to each man, and the ’British or Sumatra Battalion’ (from now on referred to only as the ’Battalion’) were marched down to the landing stage.
It was about 11 p.m. and quite dark. The entire party was taken in motor launches to two small ships which were to sail at one o’clock in the morning. Rain was falling but with so little room below a large number of men had to remain on deck. The next day was uneventful. There was an issue of bread, a luxury which up to that time had been extremely scarce. That evening the ships anchored at the mouth of the Tavoy River, Burma.
The ’Battalion’ transferred to barges which were then towed by a motor launch. After an hour, one barge broke away and there was an interminable delay whilst it was chased, secured and brought upstream again. Following an exceptionally uncomfortable journey Tavoy was reached at one o’clock in the morning and the party was marched four miles to a camp
There were already some Dutch prisoners in the camp who provided breakfast. Conditions here were very much the same as those experienced at Mergui. Once more working parties were required for an aerodrome and, in addition, the town. The latter party was popular. An Indian-Burmese resistance movement had sprung up and POWs going to and from Tavoy were receiving food, money and medical supplies.
The death rate, which at Mergui was high, decreased. Once again the hospital was in the town and the Japanese, except for the guards on working parties and the weekly roll-call, were not much in evidence. However, another move was under consideration. The ’Battalion’ were given new number tags (always a sure indication of a move) and on 21st October 1942 were paraded ready to leave the camp. The march to the river was hot and dusty but the heavy articles of kit were carried in lorries and soon the familiar barge journey was underway.
The mouth of the river was reached at dusk and again the whole party embarked on two small motorised vessels. Rain fell during the night and early morning and for obvious reasons the Japanese kept close to the shoreline. One of the craft had a small gun mounted in the bows but was rendered useless by two enterprising Australians who had thrown the breech-block overboard during the night.
In the early afternoon of the following day the party disembarked at Moulmein, still in Burma. The destination was the jail and the march was almost one of triumph. Despite strenuous efforts by the guards a large crowd of Burmese congregated. Fruit and food arrived from all sides much to the annoyance of the Japanese.
The night was spent under lock and key and an early start was made on the following morning. A march of some two miles ensued to the railway station. POWs were crowded into an inadequate number of cattle trucks and with a series of bumps started off for Thanbyuzayat some thirty miles down the line.
Thanbyuzayat lies at the junction of the Moulmein to Ye and Moulmein to Bangkok railways. The base camp for the construction of the latter which, even then, November 1942, was in the process of being built. It was constructed from two sides, Siam (Thailand) as well as Burma and was to join in August 1943 near the Three Pagoda Pass high up in the mountains of the Temasserim Peninsula.
Beginning in Thanbyuzayat, the Japanese had already cut the trace of the line and along it had built camps at five kilometre intervals. Some were occupied by POWs and others by Burmese coolies. A small number of Japanese engineers, engaged in the construction of the railway, lived near the camps. Apart from directing the pattern of work they left the ’Kumies’ (as the Japanese called the work-groups), to get on with the construction.
Colonel Nagitoma was responsible for organising not only the base camp at Thanbyuzayat but all the camps on the Burma side of the line. With the customary propensity for neglecting this kind of work he allowed the POWs to do it themselves. As time passed he came to rely on them to an increasing extent. At Thanbyuzayat, Brigadier Varley, the Senior Australian officer, gradually assumed control of all the POWs in the area. Together with a small staff, he virtually ran everything from POW movements, working parties, hospitals, money and a mountain of clerical work. Nagitoma seemed helpless without this effort.
Although it was not immediately recognised the prisoners derived a very real benefit. A threat of non-co-operation was usually sufficient to bring Nagitoma to heel.
What it was not possible to do was obtain extra food and the medical supplies so badly needed. Colonel Nagitoma had not got it and his superiors were not prepared to supply.
The ’Battalion’ arrived at Thanbyuzayat and stayed there for only three days. Sick personnel were transferred to the camp hospital and the ’British Battalion’ were marched out again. Heavy kit was carried in lorries which eventually returned and picked up POWs.
Hlepauk, the ’18 Kilo Camp’, was reached in the afternoon. There were already five hundred or so Australians in occupation and it proved to be typical of the jungle camps that the Battalion was to live in for the next eighteen months.
Built in a valley, it consisted entirely of bamboo huts roofed with strips of palm leaves. On one side there could be seen a range of hills running up to one thousand feet. The camp was adjacent to the railway and road and on the other side the ground sloped gently upwards. In the valley was a small stream and the whole area was covered with clumps of bamboo and small bushes.
There was the now familiar open square in the centre of the camp. The living quarters for the Japanese, well-built wooden huts, were situated at one end. POWs were housed on two other sides of the square in much inferior huts. The cookhouse was in one corner of the camp and the guard-room at the gate marked, as in all Japanese establishments, by two large wooden posts.
The Japanese had installed no fence around the camp believing, quite rightly, that eight hundred miles of jungle was rather more effective than barbed wire. All water had to be brought from the stream and there was no provision for washing or sanitation until improvised by the POWs.
At 12.30 p.m., working parties were given a break of two hours for the midday meal. Normally the meal was sent out but those working near the camp returned. Work finished at 8 p.m. when everyone returned to camp, went down to the stream to wash and then had the evening meal. The Japanese had no objection to private fires. In the evenings the majority found something extra to cook and numerous fires sprang up all over camp. The camp canteen was reasonably good and eggs, bananas, native sugar, coffee and tobacco could be bought. Though never sufficient they served as a very welcome addition to the rations issued.
As might be expected, the Japanese made every effort to reduce the numbers of prisoners working inside the camp and therefore, in their eyes, a complete loss to the Japanese government. They allowed ten cooks, six sanitary men, four medical orderlies and four office staff - considered quite sufficient to look after the needs of five hundred men. The POWs took every opportunity to increase the number with so-called ’light sick’. The Japanese, just as often, reduced them, but two weeks after arrival at Hlepauk, the Japanese guards were replaced by Koreans.
On 3rd January 1943, the ’Battalion’ moved by lorry to Tahyin, the 35 Kilo Camp. It proved to be muc
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