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The Parties Over
At ( approx.) 7.a.m.December 8th 1941, the Japs simultaneously attacked Hong Kong and Pearl Harbour as well as Thailand and Malaya. The attack on Pearl Harbour caused the U.S.A. to enter the war, so under the terms of the British/ U.S.A. treaty, Britain declared war on Japan, thus involving the U.S.A. in the war in Europe (I told you that it was complicated!)
There were only three battalions of British troops, with no air or artillery support, facing an enemy three divisions strong. Well supported troops, with about ten years experience in the war against China. We faced impossible odds, so our lines soon crumpled and we faced a "Dunkirk". Thousands of Myles from Britain we fled to the Island of Hong Kong which was well fortified, but was soon over whelmed, so that the governor of the island was forced to surrender.
We were inevitably captured, then beaten, punched, kicked, humiliated and eventually, semi- starved which resulted in the cruel death of hundreds of prisoners by hunger and disease. The Japs had not signed the Geneva Convention, which stated that all P.O.W’s be treated humanely. We were made to bow to the lowliest of the Jap forces, every time that we saw one. failure to bow meant slapping, beating or kicking. The prison camp we were in was an old British army barracks named Shamshuipo, on the mainland of China. The Japs were brutal, inhumane. They did not subscribe to the international agreements. it was not long before the lack of food , the lack of hygiene, despite all attempts by The British medical officers, to alleviate our plight, resulted in most of the prisoners suffering from either, one, two, three or all of the following: - beri - beri, dysentery, pellagra and another complaint, which we named (for obvious reasons) strawberry balls. Micky and I worked in the camp hospital (slaughterhouse?). Most of us had lost pounds of flesh, reduced to skeletons, some more than others. The chaps in the “hospital” ?!! were hanging on to life by a thread, a very fine one. It was so pitiful a sight to see. Once strong healthy men in their prime, reduced to wrecks, shambling about the camp in rags, blood and mucous running down their legs. despair, pain, sometimes resignation on their faces, until they inevitably joined the ranks of those who had lost all expression. But most were walking , trying to get rid of the persistent nagging pain in their feet, sponsored by the beri- beri, and by lack of vitamins, and lack of food caused by the callousness, cruelty, inhumanity and vindictive treatment of the Japanese. 0n top of all the foregoing diseases, we had an outbreak of diphtheria. 0utbreak is a very mild term to apply to a disease that choked, or stopped the hearts of 90% of those that caught it. Diphtheria is rarely heard of in the western world nowadays, but was a killer in the past, until a serum was discovered for it. that was what we needed for our chaps, it may have given them a chance, despite the starvation diet and sundry other diseases. I heard that a Medical 0fficer, Captain Coombes, shouted at a Japanese officer, "bring me a f------g horse and I will make some serum!” I do not know if that was possible but that’s the story. Diphtheria is a very contagious disease, it affects the throat, which can choke one, and also produces a serum that can affect the heart and stop it. The fear of the infection was so great, that even firm friends would avoid each other if one of them had a bad throat. They lay in the "hospital” on the floor, blankets old army beds. We tried to make them lie flat in order to keep the serum from going to the heart, but with little success. Worse was the realisation by them that they were slowly but surely choking to death. Those could, fought against it, swore at it, but death claimed most. Men walked about the camp in dread. to make matters worse they were buried to the "last post". Bugles were silenced when the effect on morale was realised. I think that the least number we buried on one single day was five. To add to all that water was scarce, so were fags (pardon cigarettes) soap, and hope too. Lice, bugs, rodents were few (I suppose that they kept clear for fear of being eaten).
That was Shamshuipo prison camp. Worse was to follow - drowning and fear of drowning.
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