Bradley, James Bottomley (Oral history)

British officer served with 287th Field Coy, Royal Engineers, 18th Infantry Divisional Engineers in GB and Malaya, 1941-1942; POW in Changi Camp, Singapore, Malaya, 2/1942-4/1943 on Burma-Thailand Railway, 4/1943-10/1943, Outram Road Gaol and Changi Gaol Camps in Singapore, Malaya, 10/ 1943-8/1945

REEL 1 Aspects of period as officer with 287th Field Coy, Royal Engineers, 18th Infantry Divisional Engineers in GB and Malaya, 1941-1942: background to joining Territorial Army in 1938 and commissioning, 1940; duties in GB, 1941; voyage from GB to Singapore, Malaya via South Africa, 10/1941-1/1942; arrival in Singapore, 1/1942. Aspects of operations as officer with 287th Field Coy, Royal Engineers, 18th Infantry Div in Malaya, 1942: inadequate preparations for combat; demolition work in mainland; abortive attempt to break through to Batu Pahat; withdrawal to Singapore Island and demolition work; news of surrender whilst guarding MacRitchie Reservoir, 2/1942; attitude towards surrender and question of lack of defences on north side of Singapore Island. Recollections of period as POW in Changi Camp, 2/1942-4/1943: march to camp; accommodation. REEL 2 Continues: sapper work at Roberts Hospital; work of medical personnel; control of POW movements within camp; behaviour of Indian National Army guards towards POWs; staging camp function; Japanese propaganda about conditions on Burma-Thailand Railway. Aspects of period as POW on Burma-Thailand Railway, 4/1943-7/1943: rail journey to Thailand; conditions at Ban Pong Camp; march up country; spread of cholera; Japanese engineers forcing of sick POWs to work at Sonkrai Camp; construction of cholera isolation camp at Sonkrai; his work cremating dead in cholera isolation camp; nature of northernmost railway camps; preparations for escape. REEL 3 Continues: plan to escape from Sonkrai Camp. Aspects of escape from Sonkrai Camp on Burma-Thailand Railway, 7/1943-8/1943: escape from camp, 5/7/1943; attempt to reach coast of Burma; food running out; disappearance of escapee; deaths among escape party; construction of raft and voyage down River Ye; aid from Burmese villagers; betrayal by Burmese and recapture by Japanese, 21/8/1943. Aspects of period as POW on Burma Thailand Railway, 8/1943-10/1943: removal to Moulmein Gaol; interrogation; hospitalisation at Moulmein Gaol; interrogation by Kempeitai at Thanbyuzayat Camp. REEL 4 Continues: return to Moulmein Gaol; threat of execution; treatment on return to Sonkrai Camp; reprieve from execution at Nikki Camp through efforts of interpreter Major Cyril Wild; incarceration in hole in ground at Kanchanaburi Camp. Aspects of period as POW in Outram Road Gaol Camp, Singapore, Malaya, 10/1943-12/1943: solitary confinement; physical state of escapees. Aspects of period as POW in Changi Gaol Camp, Singapore, Malaya, 12/1943-8/1945: hospitalisation; Japanese health inspections; his trial at Raffles College, 26/6/1944; sentence to eight year hard labour; Japanese treatment of those discovered operating radios; medical work of Australian Major Rogers. REEL 5 Continues: liberation; meeting with Lady Edwina Mountbatten; return voyage to GB via India and Palestine; de-briefing on return. Recollections of period as POW in Singapore, Malaya and on Burma-Thailand Railway, 2/1945-8/1945: character of Selarang Square incident, 9/1942; execution of attempted escapees by Indian National Army guards in Changi Camp, 1942; behaviour of Kempeitai and Japanese engineers; notorious Kempeitai NCO ‘The Cat’ at Outram Road Gaol Camp; his attempt to break his own arm to obtain hospitalisation. REEL 6 Continues: absence of Red Cross parcels; lack of Allied air cover in Singapore, 9/1942; presence of Japanese Fifth-Column in Singapore prior to war; wife’s knowledge of his imprisonment; comparison between behaviour of guards in Singapore and on Burma-Thailand Railway; long term effects of imprisonment; his attitude towards Japanese.