Interview with Samuel Falle

British midshipman served aboard HMS Royal Oak, Home Fleet in GB coastal waters, 1938; served aboard HMS Kent on China Station, 1938-1939; officer served aboard HMS Encounter, 12th Destroyer Flotilla, Home Fleet in GB coastal waters and North Sea, 2/1940-7/1940; served aboard HMS Encounter, 13th Destroyer Flotilla, Mediterranean Fleet in Mediterranean, 7/1940-11/1941; served aboard HMS Encounter, 7th Destroyer Flotilla, Eastern Fleet in Far East, 11/1941-3/1942 including sinking in Java Sea, 1/3/1942; prisoner of war in Makassar and Poemalla Camps, Celebes Island and Bicycle Camp, Batavia and Bandoeng Camp, Java, Dutch East Indies, 3/1942-8/1945

REEL 1 Background in GB, 1919-1937: family; education in Jersey. Aspects of enlistment and training with Royal Navy in GB, 1937-1938: background to joining Royal Navy; opinion of training received aboard HMS Erebus at Portsmouth; training cruise aboard HMS Frosbisher in Baltic Sea, including visit to Germany; training cruise aboard HMS Vindictive in Mediterranean; passing out as midshipman and preference for not being appointed to Home Fleet. Aspects of period as midshipman aboard HMS Royal Oak, Home Fleet in GB coastal waters, 1938: appointment to ship; relations with German Navy; visit to Channel Islands; an example of discipline on board; attitude towards beatings. REEL 2 Continues: Aspects of period as midshipman aboard HMS Kent on China Station, 1938-1939: size of naval forces in Hong Kong; attitude towards Japanese; atmosphere on board; cruise around South East Asia including shore leave in French Indochina; ashore in China; character of Hong Kong; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; return to GB, 12/1939. Aspects of operations as officer aboard HMS Encounter, 12th Destroyer Flotilla, Home Fleet in GB coastal waters and North Sea, 2/1940-7/1940: reception on appointment to ship; duties; operating in North Sea off Norway. REEL 3 Continues: Aspects of operations as officer aboard HMS Encounter, 13th Destroyer Flotilla, Mediterranean Fleet in Mediterranean, 7/1940-11/1941: voyage from GB to Mediterranean via South Africa to join Force H; atmosphere on board destroyer; relations between officers and seamen; bomb damage to ship at Malta, 4/1941; situation on Malta; move to Alexandria, Egypt, 10/1941; evacuation of Imperial Australian Force personnel from Tobruk, Libya, 1941. Aspects of operations as officer aboard HMS Encounter, 7th Destroyer Flotilla, Eastern Fleet in Far East, 11/1941-3/1942: move to joining Force Z at Singapore, Malaya, 12/1941; question of location of coastal defence guns in Singapore, Malaya; move to Java, Dutch East Indies, 2/1942; attack on Imperial Japanese Navy forces, 27/2/1942; orders to move to Ceylon, 28/2/1942; encounter with Imperial Japanese Navy force during Second Battle of Java Sea, 1/3/1942; damage to ship whilst picking up survivors from HMS Exeter, 1/3/1942; abandoning ship and period in water, 1/3/1942; rescue by Imperial Japanese Navy destroyer Ikazuchi and address by ship's captain Commander Shunsaku Kudo. 1/3/1942. REEL 4 Continues: treatment on board Imperial Japanese Navy destroyer Ikazuchi and transfer to captured Royal Netherlands Navy hospital ship, HNLMS Op Ten Noort. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Makassar and Poemalla Camps, Celebes Island and Bicycle Camp, Batavia and Bandoeng Camp, Java, Dutch East Indies, 3/1942-8/1945: move to Makassar Camp, Celebes Island; encounter with Imperial Japanese Army sentry; question of escaping from Makassar Camp; narrow escape from selection for prisoner of war draft to Japan; moves between camps Makassar and Poemalla Camps, Celebes Island, then to Bicycle Camp, Batavia and Bandoeng Camp, Java, 1944; question of treatment; learning languages; behaviour of guards; Red Cross parcels; address by Imperial Japanese Army commandant at end of Second World War, 15/8/1945; question of religious observance; voyage to Singapore, Malaya, 8/1945; physical condition on release from captivity. REEL 5 Continues: return to GB. Aspects of period as interpreter with Control Commission for Germany in Germany, 1946-1948: background to becoming interpreter; situation in Berlin, 1948; relations with German civilians; attitude of Germans to reconstruction; use of cigarettes as currency; pattern of service with Diplomatic Service from 1948; attitude to period of captivity during Second World War.