Description
Object description
Informative ms journal (27pp), written while he was a prisoner of war in the Far East, covering his service during the fighting for Hong Kong in December 1941 when he was a Staff Captain in the Mainland Brigade up to 13 December and then in the East Brigade till the surrender of the colony on 25 December, with particularly interesting entries describing the hurriedly improvised evacuation of the Mainland Brigade to Hong Kong island, the shortcomings of the Royal Rifles of Canada in the East Brigade and the logistical problems experienced throughout the campaign and also including some details of conditions during his imprisonment in the camps at North Point (January 1942) and Shamshuipo (January - April 1942); together with a copy (1p, ms) of the signal from Brigadier C Wallis, East Brigade Commander, ordering the surrender of the forces under his command on 26 December and Belton's 1941 pocket diary with a few short entries for December, but mainly used by him as a commonplace book during his captivity and containing a description of a typical day in Argyle Street prisoner of war camp (June 1943), details of the prisoners' diet, extracts from English language Japanese newspapers, verse written by prisoners and lists of books read as a prisoner.
Content description
Informative ms journal (27pp), written while he was a prisoner of war in the Far East, covering his service during the fighting for Hong Kong in December 1941 when he was a Staff Captain in the Mainland Brigade up to 13 December and then in the East Brigade till the surrender of the colony on 25 December, with particularly interesting entries describing the hurriedly improvised evacuation of the Mainland Brigade to Hong Kong island, the shortcomings of the Royal Rifles of Canada in the East Brigade and the logistical problems experienced throughout the campaign and also including some details of conditions during his imprisonment in the camps at North Point (January 1942) and Shamshuipo (January - April 1942); together with a copy (1p, ms) of the signal from Brigadier C Wallis, East Brigade Commander, ordering the surrender of the forces under his command on 26 December and Belton's 1941 pocket diary with a few short entries for December, but mainly used by him as a commonplace book during his captivity and containing a description of a typical day in Argyle Street prisoner of war camp (June 1943), details of the prisoners' diet, extracts from English language Japanese newspapers, verse written by prisoners and lists of books read as a prisoner.
History note
Cataloguer RWAS
History note
Catalogue date 1994-07