Description
Object description
Photocopy of a ts memoir/account (pp 1, 3 - 74 and 95 - 186 only) compiled in late 1945 and comprising: an account (pp 1 - 16) of his service as a junior officer with the 6/1st Punjab Regiment at Nagpur, India (October 1940 - June 1941), on detached service for some months with one company of the battalion guarding Italian and German prisoners of war in Egypt and then back in India with the regiment (June - December 1941); a history (pp 17 - 74) of the battalion from December 1941 - February 1942 written by its commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel J D Sainter, describing their troopship voyage from India to Singapore and their service with the 44th Indian Infantry Brigade, 17th Indian Division in the 'Western Area' of Singapore from late January until the capitulation with interesting references to the lack of infantry defence obstacles, the constant withdrawals during the fighting, the Indian soldiers' admiration for the conduct of Australian troops and the increasing intensity of Japanese shelling and bombing; and an account (pp 95 - 186) by Captain Hammett of his experiences as a prisoner of war in Changi camp, Singapore (February - October 1942) and on the Burma-Siam railway in the camps at Tarsao (November 1942 - July 1944, but including some months in 1943 at Tonchan and Kanyu), Tamuang (July 1944 - January 1945) and Kanburi (January - August 1945), with particularly informative sections covering instances of the ill-treatment of, or atrocities against, prisoners of war, including the punishment of Captain Drower at Kanburi (pp 169 - 171), the Selarang incident, the inadequacy of their rations and, even more, of drugs and medical facilities, the appalling conditions in the camps on the railway, sending and receiving mail (pp 100 - 101 and 161 - 162) and prisoner of war jargon (pp 172 - 174). Hammett, who was by profession a barrister, reproduces in full a number of speeches and orders by the Japanese and reports by British prisoners of war that concern key aspects of captivity.
Content description
Photocopy of a ts memoir/account (pp 1, 3 - 74 and 95 - 186 only) compiled in late 1945 and comprising: an account (pp 1 - 16) of his service as a junior officer with the 6/1st Punjab Regiment at Nagpur, India (October 1940 - June 1941), on detached service for some months with one company of the battalion guarding Italian and German prisoners of war in Egypt and then back in India with the regiment (June - December 1941); a history (pp 17 - 74) of the battalion from December 1941 - February 1942 written by its commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel J D Sainter, describing their troopship voyage from India to Singapore and their service with the 44th Indian Infantry Brigade, 17th Indian Division in the 'Western Area' of Singapore from late January until the capitulation with interesting references to the lack of infantry defence obstacles, the constant withdrawals during the fighting, the Indian soldiers' admiration for the conduct of Australian troops and the increasing intensity of Japanese shelling and bombing; and an account (pp 95 - 186) by Captain Hammett of his experiences as a prisoner of war in Changi camp, Singapore (February - October 1942) and on the Burma-Siam railway in the camps at Tarsao (November 1942 - July 1944, but including some months in 1943 at Tonchan and Kanyu), Tamuang (July 1944 - January 1945) and Kanburi (January - August 1945), with particularly informative sections covering instances of the ill-treatment of, or atrocities against, prisoners of war, including the punishment of Captain Drower at Kanburi (pp 169 - 171), the Selarang incident, the inadequacy of their rations and, even more, of drugs and medical facilities, the appalling conditions in the camps on the railway, sending and receiving mail (pp 100 - 101 and 161 - 162) and prisoner of war jargon (pp 172 - 174). Hammett, who was by profession a barrister, reproduces in full a number of speeches and orders by the Japanese and reports by British prisoners of war that concern key aspects of captivity.
History note
Cataloguer RWAS
History note
Catalogue date 2004-04