Bradley, James Bottomley (Oral history)

193301630
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266345852
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Accepted Non-commercial Use

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Non-Commercial educational use for the purpose of teaching and instruction, including internal training.
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2132270295
Order this sound recording under fair dealing

All Rights Reserved except for Fair Dealing exceptions otherwise permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

Accepted Non-commercial Use

Permitted use for these purposes:
Personal use for non-commercial research and private study and other uses under the UK’s exceptions to copyright and those exceptions to copyright in place where the user is located.
Use on websites that are primarily information-led, research-oriented and not behind a paywall.
Use on personal social media accounts, provided the individuals are not promoting themselves commercially.
Non-Commercial educational use for the purpose of teaching and instruction, including internal training.
Downloading audio-visual for non-commercial offline listening or viewing.
Free exhibitions held in venues, which do not charge an entry fee.

If you would like to use IWM collections materials in a way that is not covered above, require a commercial licence, high-resolution copies, or have manipulation requests, please contact the Image and Film Licensing Team. Digital files of films and sound recordings are available at cost depending on intended use.
497147644
Order this sound recording under fair dealing

All Rights Reserved except for Fair Dealing exceptions otherwise permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

Accepted Non-commercial Use

Permitted use for these purposes:
Personal use for non-commercial research and private study and other uses under the UK’s exceptions to copyright and those exceptions to copyright in place where the user is located.
Use on websites that are primarily information-led, research-oriented and not behind a paywall.
Use on personal social media accounts, provided the individuals are not promoting themselves commercially.
Non-Commercial educational use for the purpose of teaching and instruction, including internal training.
Downloading audio-visual for non-commercial offline listening or viewing.
Free exhibitions held in venues, which do not charge an entry fee.

If you would like to use IWM collections materials in a way that is not covered above, require a commercial licence, high-resolution copies, or have manipulation requests, please contact the Image and Film Licensing Team. Digital files of films and sound recordings are available at cost depending on intended use.
923940982
Order this sound recording under fair dealing

All Rights Reserved except for Fair Dealing exceptions otherwise permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

Accepted Non-commercial Use

Permitted use for these purposes:
Personal use for non-commercial research and private study and other uses under the UK’s exceptions to copyright and those exceptions to copyright in place where the user is located.
Use on websites that are primarily information-led, research-oriented and not behind a paywall.
Use on personal social media accounts, provided the individuals are not promoting themselves commercially.
Non-Commercial educational use for the purpose of teaching and instruction, including internal training.
Downloading audio-visual for non-commercial offline listening or viewing.
Free exhibitions held in venues, which do not charge an entry fee.

If you would like to use IWM collections materials in a way that is not covered above, require a commercial licence, high-resolution copies, or have manipulation requests, please contact the Image and Film Licensing Team. Digital files of films and sound recordings are available at cost depending on intended use.
963668861
Order this sound recording under fair dealing

All Rights Reserved except for Fair Dealing exceptions otherwise permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

Accepted Non-commercial Use

Permitted use for these purposes:
Personal use for non-commercial research and private study and other uses under the UK’s exceptions to copyright and those exceptions to copyright in place where the user is located.
Use on websites that are primarily information-led, research-oriented and not behind a paywall.
Use on personal social media accounts, provided the individuals are not promoting themselves commercially.
Non-Commercial educational use for the purpose of teaching and instruction, including internal training.
Downloading audio-visual for non-commercial offline listening or viewing.
Free exhibitions held in venues, which do not charge an entry fee.

If you would like to use IWM collections materials in a way that is not covered above, require a commercial licence, high-resolution copies, or have manipulation requests, please contact the Image and Film Licensing Team. Digital files of films and sound recordings are available at cost depending on intended use.

Description

Object description

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

Content description

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 Divisonal Engineers 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 prisoner of war in Changi Camp, Singapore, Malaya, 2/1942-4/1943: march to camp; accommodation. REEL 2 Continues: sapper work at hospital at Roberts Barracks; work of medical personnel; control of prisoner of war movements within camp; behaviour of Indian National Army guards towards prisoners of war; staging camp function; Japanese propaganda about conditions on Burma-Thailand Railway. Aspects of period as prisoner of war on Burma-Thailand Railway, 4/1943-7/1943: rail journey to Thailand; conditions at Ban Pong Camp; march up country; spread of cholera; forcing of sick prisoners of war to work by Japanese engineers 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 prisoner of war on Burma-Thailand Railway, 8/1943-10/1943: removal to No 3 Moulmein Gaol Camp; interrogation; hospitalisation at No 3 Moulmein Gaol Camp; 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 prisoner of war in Outram Road Gaol Camp, Singapore, Malaya, 10/1943-12/1943: solitary confinement; physical state of escapees. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Changi Prison 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 Captain Alan Rogers. REEL 5 Continues: liberation; meeting with Lady Edwina Mountbatten; return voyage to GB via India and Palestine; debriefing on return to GB. Recollections of period as prisoner of war 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.

Object Details

Category: Sound
Related period: 1945-1989 (production), Second World War (content), Second World War (association)
Creator: IWM (Production company)
Wood, Conrad (recorder)
Bradley, James Bottomley (interviewee/speaker)
Production date: 1982-03-23
Dimensions: whole: Duration 164, Number Of Items 6
Catalogue number: 6130

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Bradley, James Bottomley (Oral history)

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