Description
Object description
British civilian volunteer served with 1st Bn Federation of Malay States Volunteer Force and Johore Volunteer Engineers in Malaya, 1937-1941; officer attached to 1st Bn Mysore Infantry Regt in Malaya, 12/1941-2/1942; prisoner of war in Padang Camp, Gloegoer Camp, Medan, on work party at Acheh and on Sumatra Railway on Sumatra, Dutch East Indies, 3/1942-8/1945; civilian planter in Malaya and Federation of Malaya, 1946-1949
Content description
REEL 1 Background in GB, 1916-1937: family; education. Recollections of period as civilian volunteer with 1st Bn Federation of Malay States Volunteer Force and Johore Volunteer Engineers in Malaya, 1937-1941: threat from Japan; joining 1st Bn Federation of Malay States Volunteer Force in Perak; terrain in Perak; degree of training and tactical exercises; transfer to Johore Volunteer Engineers; training in bridge and obstacle demolition; use of gelignite and method of detonation; strength of unit; camp at Kota Tinggi; training in building bridges and roadblocks. Recollections of operations as officer with 1st Bn Mysore Infantry in Malaya, 12/1941-2/1942: commissioning as Second Lieutenant into battalion at Singapore, 18/12/1941; mobilisation of battalion, 1/12/1941; commanding officer of unit; communications and transport; period in field; joining battalion; belief that Imperial Japanese Army could not advance through mangrove swamps; character of battalion; taking command of C Coy; strength of company; weapons available.
REEL 2 Continues: start of reconnaissance patrols in Johore to check for infiltration by Japanese forces; language used in unit; nature of reconnaissance patrols; discovery of Japanese map on patrol; attitude of Malays, Chinese and Tamils towards impending Japanese occupation; destruction of guns on capitulation; hearing British Broadcasting Corporation announcement of capitulation; degree to which he expected surrender; dealing with fire in undergrowth. Recollections of escape from Malaya to Sumatra, Dutch East Indies, 15/2/1942-17/3/1942: decision of his party to escape to Sumatra; obtained passage on Chinese boat; catching Dutch coastal steamer to Rengit, Malaya; volunteering to aid Dutch to control refugees and organise transport; state of patients in hospital in Rengit, Malaya; arrival of boatload of two hundred troops.
REEL 3 Continues: decision to attempt to try and pick up refugees in islands; use of Red Cross barge; discovery of refugees on islands and sailing to mainland Sumatra; role conducting group of women and children including military nurses; journey from Rengit, Malaya to Padang, Sumatra; beginnings of irregular forces; declaration of Padang as open city, 17/3/1942; reaction to Dutch surrender. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Padang Camp, Gloegoer Camp, near Medan, on work party at Acheh and on Sumatra Railway on Sumatra, Dutch East Indies, 3/1942-8/1945: relations between British and Dutch prisoners of war; Japanese security measures; character of camp; acquisition of secret radio; first selection of party to work on Burma-Thailand Railway; lack of proper records of prisoners of war on Sumatra; move to Gloegoer Camp, near Medan.
REEL 4 Continues: forced signing of parole document promising not to escape; character of Gloegoer Camp; rations available; supplementing rations; daily rations; work parties; contact with civilians and acquiring news of progress of war; interpretation of war news; importance of acquiring paper; composition of large work party sent for road construction duties to Acheh; method of constructing road; daily routine during construction of road; lack of security of camps; plan to escape and reasons why escape attempts forbidden by senior British officer; Dutch and British commanding officers; lack of psychological problems; religious services taken by Royal Air Force NCO; insertion of golden rivet at meeting of railway lines on Sumatra Railway, 1945.
REEL 5 Continues: doubling of rice ration after dropping of atomic bombs on Japan, 8/1945; need for Dutch commanding officer to ask Imperial Japanese Army officer what had happened; reaction of prisoners of war to end of Second World War; train transport back to Gloegoer Camp, near Medan; four former prisoners of war who were left stranded in village who managed to catch up with train; role repairing airfield; arrival of Lady Edwina Mountbatten; disappearance of Imperial Japanese Army guards to avoid reprisals; mortality rate amongst work parties working on road; lack of medical supplies; opinion of Japanese captors putting sick on half rations; supplementing rations and importance of tobacco; trading with local civil population; market stall in Gloegoer Camp; Japanese captors' attitude towards theft; prisoner of war's treatment of thief; prisoner of war discipline; minimal contact with Japanese captors; incidents when he was beaten by Imperial Japanese Army guards; question of nature of Japanese cruelty; return to GB via Singapore; impressions of GB.
REEL 6 Continues: relations with families on return to GB. Recollections of period as civilian planter in Malaya and Federation of Malaya, 1946-1949: situation in Malaya on return; impact of trade unionism on estates; Chinese claim that they had beaten Japanese; deployment of special constables on rubber plantations; police command arrangements; acts of sabotage on estates; estate patrols by 1st Bn Devonshire Regt at state of Malayan Emergency; personal weapons carried; lack of sympathy for Malayan National Liberation Army insurgents amongst estate workers; contact with security forces including participation in air patrols; local intelligence situation; difficulties of finding Malayan National Liberation Army insurgents; character of jungle; level of Malayan National Liberation Army activity; role of Federation of Malaya Police special constables; decision not to return to Federation of Malaya after marriage, 1949.