Interview with John Robert Harris

1998487401
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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.

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Use this audio under Non-Commercial licence

Embed this sound recording for online use under the IWM Non-Commercial Licence
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© IWM

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.

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Description

Object description

British officer served with Royal Engineers in GB and Hong Kong, 1938-1941; prisoner of war in Hong Kong, 1941-1945

Content description

REEL 1 Background in Hersham, GB, 1919-1939: family; education; employment; reasons for joining Territorial Army, 1938. Recollections of period as officer with Royal Engineers in GB and Hong Kong, 1939-1941: mobilisation, 1939; commissioning into unit; period at Woking during Dunkirk Evacuation, 6/1940; reaction to posting to Hong Kong; German Air Force attack on Aldershot telephone box; voyage from GB to Hong Kong, 1940; initial impressions of Hong Kong; allocation to unit; lifestyle, 1940-1941; construction work he was involved in. REEL 2 Continues: Recollections of operations as officer with Royal Engineers during Battle of Hong Kong, 8/12/1941-25/12/1941: start of Imperial Japanese Army Air Service attacks, 8/12/1941; destruction of communications by Allied troops; start of Imperial Japanese Army ground attack; orders to go to Wong Nai Chung Gap; Imperial Japanese Army's treatment of British officer carrying white flag; fighting around Aberdeen; Christmas lunch with nuns, 25/12/1941; Japanese forces' treatment of Chinese civilians; destruction of champagne supplies. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Sham Shui Po and Argyle Street Camps in Hong Kong, 12/1941-8/1945: initial contact with Imperial Japanese Army troops; conditions in Sham Shui Po Camp; plight of prisoners of war who had been on front line; pollution of food and threat of thefts; General Maltby's role in enforcing discipline. REEL 3 Continues: removal to Argyle Street Camp; example of Imperial Japanese Army guard's sense of humour; method of smuggling messages in and out of camp; how intelligence network was broken by Japanese captors; story of illicit radio hidden in Argyle Street Camp; consequences of escape and fate of escapees; improvement in conditions; return to Sham Shui Po Camp; disappearance of Imperial Japanese Army guards, 15/8/1945; situation in Hong Kong on liberation; physical condition on liberation; attitude towards period as prisoner of war during Second World War.

Object Details

Category: Sound
Related period: 1990 to the present day (production), Second World War (content), Second World War (association)
Creator: IWM (Production company)
Wood, Conrad (Recorder)
Harris, John Robert (Interviewee/Speaker)
Production date: 2002-05-01
Dimensions: whole: Duration 90, Number Of Items 3
Catalogue number: 22679

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Interview with John Robert Harris

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