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Ofuna Interrogation
Into Captivity
With smoke pouring out of the aircraft, Basil had no hope of making it back to HMS Illustrious. to save his crew, the only option left with land miles away, it had to be a sea landing. He successfully managed it although still 15 mile off Andaman Island. Soon after they were picked up by a Japanese ship, all three and thankfully very little time in the water.
The initial treatment treatment on board ship was good as the Japanese naval personnel left them alone, but it soon changed on reaching land. They were handcuffed after receiving rough treatment, collected by Army and Navy Interrogators and taken to Andaman Jail.
The prison used in peace time by the Indian Army to detain hardened criminals and it was far from a comfortable accommodation. As night fell they were taken for their first interrogation. It was not helped by an Allied plane flying overhead, the interrogation got very rough. Fearing an air raid they were sent back to the cells.
For the coming 10 days they were kept in solitary confinement with intense interrogation. There was very little pattern to their days as they were interrogated at any hour sometimes late at night and into the next morning. Most of the interrogation was for an eight hour period and got very rough.
The food was little and very poor quality, all three developed attacks of dysentery. After 10 days they were flown to Singapore and placed in an Indian PoW Camp. They were still questioned but the treatment was not as rough as Andaman Jail and the food which was cooked by the Indians was better. The Indians even smuggled in titbits behind the guards backs, bringing news about the outside world helping their morale.
After ten days at Singapore they were then flown via Saigon, Hong Kong and Taiwan to South Honshu, Japan. This was when the nightmare took shape.
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