Premier S Australian Military History Scholarship

Premier’s Australian Military History Scholarship

The impact of Japanese imperialism on Australian POWs and native populations in SE Asia

Greg Raffin Camden Haven High School

Lest we forget. This study focused on four countries in the South-East Asian region which came under the domination of the Japanese Military forces during World War II. These countries were Myanmar (then known as Burma), Thailand (then known as Siam), Malaysia and Singapore (the latter two referred to as Malaya during the war). The intention was to study the impact of Japanese imperialism on the Australian military, Australian POWs and the native peoples of the South-East Asian region. It soon became apparent that this study would centre on two major events, the fall of Singapore and the building of the Burma–Siam railway. Both of these topics have been the subject of innumerable books and recollections. Both of them continue to be the source of considerable discussion and debate. The subject of my study was of direct relevance to the Stage 5 syllabus (Topic 4) and also to a number of options in the Senior Modern History syllabus, especially ‘The Pacific War 1937–51’. Itinerary I travelled to four countries over a 20-day period during February and March 2006. Travel and study activities occupied about eight to nine hours each day, seven days per week. In Singapore the sites I visited included the Changi War Memorial and Museum, the Kranji War Cemetery, the Battlebox (British headquarters), Fort Silosi and site of the big guns. Reconstruction of the battle for Singapore is very much a part of the tourist industry in that country. Only two days were spent in Malaysia, but in that time some 950 kilometres were travelled. There was a plaque at the Segamat river area which acknowledged the holding battle for which the Australian leader Colonel Charles Anderson was awarded the Victoria Cross. Several large cement gun emplacements could also be seen. The highlight of my trip was a very moving visit to the Hellfire Pass Memorial and Museum in the Kanchanaburi area of Thailand. That trip was made even more worthwhile by my meeting with a Mr Kanit Wanachote, who had constructed museums, a memorial and a light and sound display of the bombing of the bridge over the River Kwai at his resort nearby. While in Myanmar I was taken to the very northern section of the ‘Death Railway’ and to war graves in Yangon and Thanbyuzayat. Many of the sites which I visited have been preserved by such bodies as the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and the Australian government (as was the case with Hellfire Pass). It is true to say that there has been less preservation of World War II battlesites in Malaysia and Myanmar than in the other two countries. This is possibly the result of both changes in government and other (economic) priorities. I also took the opportunity to study aspects regional culture such as the Buddhist religion and the system of education in each country. For about 85 per cent of the study trip I travelled with just a guide and a driver, so we were able to add to the original itinerary and I was able to ask them questions on a wide variety of topics. The Japanese attack on Malaya This attack began shortly after midnight on 8 December 1941. Many people claim that it actually began slightly before the attack on Pearl Harbour if time zone differences are taken into account. The Japanese fleet was actually sighted as early as 6 December, but contact with it was lost due to heavy cloud cover. Using a three- pronged thrust the Japanese quickly progressed forward from their landing areas in northern Malaya and Siam. This progress was due to their own military tactics, but also to lack of preparedness on the part of the British forces. The British had based most of their defences on the assumption that any attack on Singapore would be naval-based. They had only half- heartedly set in place the secret plan, code-named Matador, which allowed for air force and army support in northern Malaya in the event of an attack in that area. In addition, there had been considerable dissension between the British Air Force and the Army commanders. It is generally accepted that there were insufficient armed troops to defend the numerous airfields throughout the region. For Instance, in reality Fortress Penang at one stage consisted of a mere four anti-aircraft guns and 500 untrained troops. Initially, the Japanese were met by inexperienced Indian troops under the command of British officers. They moved quickly, sometimes using bikes which they had stolen or any other form of available craft to move seaward off the coast and then land again to come up behind their enemy from the rear. The Prince of Wales and the Repulse put to sea without adequate air cover in an attempt to thwart further landings. The quick dispatch of both of these vessels was a major blow to the British. At times luck favoured the Japanese, as when the British decided to retreat from the Kampar area at the same moment that exhausted Japanese commanders were considering withdrawing to Ipoh. When the Japanese attacked the Singapore–Kuala Lumpur rail line they acquired rail vans shunted to spur lines near Malacca. In those vans were freshly printed military maps outlining British defence plans for Singapore. The Japanese advance was held up in the Segamat River area by Australian troops under the command of Colonel Charles Anderson. When Anderson finally withdrew from the area, he was forced to leave behind wounded soldiers at Parit Sulong. About 550 Australians and 400 Indian soldiers were captured and massacred by the Japanese. Only one miraculously escaped. As Yamashita prepared for the final assault on Singapore, he realised that his stocks of supplies were critically diminished and that his remaining 30,000 able-bodied troops were outnumbered by about 40,000 British troops. In reality, the defending British forces were more than double the number reported by Japanese intelligence.

The memorial which can be seen in the Segamat River area of Malaysia. Yamashita decided to bluff. He began a bombardment to give the impression that he had ample ammunition. He also feinted as if to attack the island from the northeast. The bombardment succeeded in cutting British water supply lines. The British blew up the causeway over the Straits of Johore, which provided the most direct route to Singapore. Despite the fact that the terrain adjacent to this crossing was swampy marshland, that was where the attack finally came. Most of the troops in that area were Australian and they bore the brunt of the fighting. Stories that the British were unable to turn their big guns around (as they were facing the wrong way) are unfounded. They did do so but only achieved a limited effectiveness. Finally on Sunday, 15 February, General Arthur Percival was forced to surrender. The final deciding factor was a lack of water pipelines needed to get water to the hospital wounded and to fight fires created by the bombing. Ironically, Percival’s headquarters at Fort Canning was right alongside a storage reservoir which held 29 million gallons of water. The Burma-Siam Death Railway Having amassed a large fighting force in Burma, the Japanese now planned to move on to India, the jewel of the British Empire. To supply such an invasion by sea they faced the problem of heading north from Singapore through the Straits of Malacca. That route was exposed to potential attack from allied submarines and/or planes. The solution was to build a railway, which was also seen as a means of supplying Japan with southeast Asian timber, oil, rice and tungsten to support its efforts to prevent an allied offensive eastward from India. In 1903 the British had surveyed a route from Ban Pong in southern Thailand to Thanbyuzayat in Burma but had concluded that the project was too difficult because of such problems as difficult terrain, endemic diseases and high monsoonal rainfall. During the 1920s and 1930s the government of Siam had conducted surveys and sought expert advice but had basically come to the same conclusion: such a project was impossible. From about April 1942 (a mere two months after the fall of Singapore) the Japanese were conducting soil surveys for bridge foundations. Later in the same month they began constructing a bridge over the Mae Khlong River at Tamarkan, in Kanchanaburi (Thailand). Basically they chose the same path identified by the British. The line was to hug the Kwai Noi River, enabling the Japanese to supply labour gangs by boat. It would also have to penetrate untouched jungles, mountain passes and ravines, and cross broad rivers which became raging torrents in the monsoon season. The completion date was set for the end of 1943. The railway was actually declared open on 16 October 1943. The Japanese army marked this occasion with a ceremony in which they paid homage to those who had lost their lives while the railway was being built. The irony of this situation did not sit well with those POWs forced to be present. The completion of the line involved the building of 4 million cubic metres of earthwork, shifting 3 million cubic metres of rock, and the constructing 14 kilometres of bridgework using 300 tons of explosive, 300 lorries, 700 motor boats or sampans and 400 elephants. On average, 890 metres of track were laid each day. Much of the work was done without the benefit of machinery. Saws, sledge hammers and spades were commonly used. Some 60,000 allied POWs and an estimated 270,000 conscripted Asian labourers (romusha) were used as an unwilling workforce. At times it was around-the-clock labour. The loss of lives during the notorious ‘speedo’ period of construction has often been referred to by those who kept diaries. Some 12,493 British, Australian, American and Dutch POWs an estimated 80,000 to 90,000 Asian slave labourers perished in the building of this railway. The building of this 415-kilometre railway has been likened to the building of the pyramids, as so much of it was built by human muscles without the benefit of mechanical equipment. It has become well known as the Death Railway because it has been claimed that a life was lost for every sleeper laid. Some interesting data acquired as a result of this study is:  The variety of the uses to which bamboo was put, such as huts, beds, aqueducts, artificial prostheses, washing mugs, buckets and trays.  Ways in which some Asians were persuaded to work on the railway. For instance, Tan Choon Keng moved from Singapore to Thailand to work as a medical orderly following a promise of good pay and first-class transport. The latter turned out to be an overcrowded truck. Others were press-ganged while watching a movie put on by the Japanese.  Pay for POWs was promised, but was at best infrequent, usually non-existent and very quickly overwhelmed by inflation.  The skills of several talented artists who were interned, such as Jack Chalker, Ray Parkin and Ronald Searle.  The ingenuity used by POWs in secreting their diaries and crystal-set type receivers.  The statue of the former Japanese guard, Mr Takashi Nagase, (outside the Jeath Museum). He was overcome by remorse and worked with the allies at the end of the war, helping them to establish the war cemeteries. He also became a Buddhist monk.  Survival was often a lottery. It could depend on the location of the camp, for instance whether or not it was near fresh water. It could depend on allied camp administration, for instance, deaths tended to be greater due to lower standards of hygiene where it was lax. Colonel Nicholson in the film Bridge over the River Kwai was loosely based on Colonel Philip Toosey, who proved an effective leader.  The horror of POWs dying as the result of allied bombing raids and the Japanese refusal to put a red cross on the hospital roofs.  The devotion and courage of medical personnel such as ‘Weary’ Dunlop. He would often provide a box for the Japanese soldiers to stand on so they would not be dwarfed by his height when they were abusing him.  The name of the Jeath museum. They didn’t want to use the word ‘death’. Entrance to the Hellfire Pass Memorial Museum in the Kanchanaburi area of Thailand. Opposition to Japanese occupation Many anecdotal accounts exist of the period following the British surrender, when Japanese troops went virtually unchecked to pillage and assert their dominance. In some instances the heads of supposed Asian traitors were displayed on poles at street corners as a warning to others. Often one person from each racial group was beheaded. Many people buried their most treasured possessions in secret locations. The Japanese renamed Singapore Syonan-To (The Light of the South). The slogan ‘Asia for the Asians’ was widely used in Japanese propaganda. They began a program of training independence armies, sending Asian students to study in Japan and educating the young in the Japanese language and culture. The reality was quite different. The Japanese asserted their authority; co-opting labour forces who were either tricked of forced to work on a number of projects. They also plundered the raw materials of the region for their own imperialistic purposes and in doing so created severe economic problems for the local population. Treatment of Asian peoples varied somewhat according to their race. The Chinese were the most harshly treated, extending the brutality witnessed in Japanese-occupied China. The Sook-Ching purge aimed to get rid of undesirable elements. The Japanese later admitted that some 600 Chinese died in Operation Clean-up (led by Colonel Tsuji), but the real figure is believed to have been closer to 20,000. In March 1942, the Overseas Chinese Association was formed by Chinese businessmen with the aim of securing the release of leading Chinese citizens. The Japanese demanded a $50 million donation, of which Singapore had to contribute $10 million. Anti-Japanese groups such as Dalforce and the Singapore Volunteer Corps were formed. Treatment of the Indian population was considerably different. The Japanese had little experience in dealing with Indians and initially interned them. However, they soon realised that in Malaya the Indian population was important to the operation of medical and communication services and so they began to treat them differently. They formed the Indian National Army under the leadership of exiled nationalist leader Subhas Chandra Bose. A Provisional Government of Free India was formed in October 1943. About 50,000 Indians were recruited into the Indian National Army and early in 1944 it marched into Burma with the Japanese for what the Indians believed was the beginning of a campaign to liberate India. The campaign was a dismal failure and thousands of Indians died in the subsequent retreat. Force 136 Group B Malayan Country Section was set up in July 1942. By 1943, the Malayan People Anti-Japanese Army was set up, inspired by the Malayan Communist Party. In December 1943, it agreed to fight under the leadership of Lord Louis Mountbatten’s South-East Asian command. British officers who worked with them in Malaya included captains Davis and Broome. The Chinese Mobilisation Council also became involved, and in November 1943, one of its members, Lim Bo Seng, was sent to Malaya. In March 1944, he travelled to Ipoh but was betrayed, captured and tortured. He died at Batu Gajah gaol on 29 June 1944. In Thailand the government quickly realised that open resistance to the Japanese was going to lead to considerable loss of life. After some scattered resistance to the initial onslaught, the Thai government ordered an end to resistance and gave free passage to Japanese troops. On 21 December 1942, it signed a formal military alliance, and in January 1942 Thailand officially declared war on Britain and the United States, but this was really only a formality. The Thai government kept Japanese control at a distance by creating a bureaucratic structure between the Japanese and the Thai people. From 1942 to 1944 Phibun Songkhram was its leader. On the other hand, an organisation which used the V symbol did what it could to alleviate the sufferings of POWs. It was backed by the Thai Freedom Association, which was in turn connected to the pro-British section of the Thai army. Connection with the outside world was maintained through Chengmei and on into China. Thais also worked actively in sabotaging the Burma–Siam railway line. Many POWs owe their life to the food and medical supplies secretly supplied to them by the V Association. Many Burmese resented British rule and so welcomed the arrival of the Japanese. The Burmese Independence Army fought alongside the invaders. A pro-Japanese government was set up in August 1943 and the army renamed the Burmese National Army. However, it soon fell out of favour with the impoverished peasant population and became estranged from it. Late in 1944 guerrilla warfare commenced against the Japanese. The British tried to direct these efforts but only achieved limited success. However, the Burmese actions did have an impact by creating confusion among the Japanese and by lowering their morale. In 1945 allied troops defeated the Japanese with the assistance of the Burmese National Army, which under the leadership of Aung San had changed its allegiance. Throughout South-East Asia the Japanese utilised the services of some 200,000 ‘comfort women’, who were forced to act as sex slaves for the Japanese soldiers. Most of these women came from Korea or China and at the end of the war it was estimated that only about 30 per cent of them survived. Some had been forced to have sex with over 20 men per day and refusal usually resulted in a beating or even death. Some European women were also forced to act as sex slaves; others were raped and then murdered. The true impact of Japanese occupation on the civilian population of South-East Asia and its economy will never accurately be known. What is known is that the forced acquisition of local resources led to rampant inflation and great suffering personally and economically. The loss of lives among the Asian population was considerably greater than that among the allied military forces.