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A University of Sussex DPhil thesis Available online via Sussex Research Online: http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/ This thesis is protected by copyright which belongs to the author. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Please visit Sussex Research Online for more information and further details Ordinary men in another world: British other ranks in captivity in Asia during the Second World War. D.Phil Thesis David J. Boyne University of Sussex (i) I hereby declare that this thesis has not and will not be submitted in whole or in part to another University for the award of any other degree. Signature: (ii) University of Sussex David J. Boyne D.Phil Thesis Ordinary men in another world: British other ranks in captivity in Asia during the Second World War. Summary. The Second World War was a time of increased contacts for ordinary Britons with peoples of different race, ethnicity and nationality. This thesis explores these novel interactions primarily through the eyes of the other ranks of the 18th Division, who set sail from Britain in the latter part of 1941 and arrived in Singapore shortly before it was overwhelmed by the Japanese Imperial Army, in February 1942. They subsequently endured three and a half years in captivity, the severity of which was such that a quarter of them never returned. The harsh nature of their captivity meant that an unusually large number of them were inspired to make a record of their experiences, and it is the holdings of these accounts at the Imperial War Museum which provide the pivotal source for this project. Previous British studies of the prisoners of the Japanese have tended to describe aspects of the experience of the officer corps. In this thesis the focus is on the other ranks, and specifically those recently recruited to the services, whose previous overseas travels were at best, limited. It examines their attitudes towards the variety of peoples with whom they came into contact, in the categories of civilians, allied and enemy personnel. These contacts occurred in a variety of emotional settings, ranging from the relatively care free journey east, to the more fraught conditions of combat and captivity. It examines how these perspectives were formed and could change over time, and in what way they informed relations with these various groups. In the process new light is shone upon the experiences of these unfortunate men during the war, and how the former POWs mediated their captivity in the post-war period. (iii) Acknowledgements There are so many people I would like to thank for all their kind help in my time at Sussex as a student. However I’m tight on the word count so I’ll be brief. First and foremost are Professor Ian Gazeley and Professor Saul Dubow for their guidance, expertise and patience over the course of this study. Their influence is such that I was going to study Burma and the 14th Army, but like many of my subjects I ended up getting there with the POWs instead. I recently looked at some work I had done in the early days and was shocked at how much my writing has improved under their watchful eyes. Any credit is entirely down to them, and conversely any errors are of course down to me. Dr Kevin Reynolds started as an undergraduate on the same day as me many years ago now, and I have always valued his dry wit, his debating style, and the odd roll up when I’ve run out of Camels. Dr Chris Kempshall has been a valued colleague during the post-graduate period, and his work on Anglo-French relations in the trenches of the First World War was always an interesting counterpoint to my own research. Mark Howell and Carl Salton-Cox, two Sussex History graduates who were always there when needed, and always willing to help and give generously of their time. Fiona Allen for all her kind help in getting through the past few years. My father and my brother for all their invaluable support. Thanks also go to: All in the History Department, far too many good people to mention, it’s been a real privilege to have been here; the Library staff, particularly the ILL people. The Imperial War Museum and The National Archive, both very different places, but both a joy to research in, with staff that are always very helpful. And finally my thanks to Michelle Payne, always a breath of fresh air, and presenter of one of the best work in progress seminars that I ever went to. (iv) CONTENTS Declaration (i) Summary (ii) Acknowledgements (iii) Contents (iv-vii) Tables (viii) Abbreviations (ix-x) Introduction. 1 0.1. Background. 1 0.2. Race, Class and National Identity. 3 0.3. British Other Ranks (BORs) and the FEPOW Narrative. 7 0.4. Structure and Chapter Layout. 9 0.5. Methodology and Sources. 12 0.6. Historiography. 18 Chapter 1. The Journey East and into Captivity. 25 1.1. Introduction. 25 1.2. The Journey East. 27 1.3. First Impressions and Fifth Columnists. 38 1.4. The Flight from Singapore. 47 1.5. The March into Captivity. 56 (v) Chapter 2. Sources of Anglo-Japanese Antipathy. 63 2.1. Introduction. 63 2.2. Early Antipathy: Essentialised caricatures in the press. 66 2.3. The Press and the Sino-Japanese War. 72 2.3.1. The boycott of Japanese goods, 1937-1938. 72 2.3.2. Press coverage of the Nanking Atrocity. 76 2.3.3. Newsreels. 83 2.3.4. Popular literature. 85 2.3.5. The Press and the Sino-Japanese War: Summary. 86 2.4. Official Briefings and Informal Rumours. 87 2.5. The Experience of Captivity. 91 2.6. Redemption and the Resumption of Western Hegemony. 98 2.7. Conclusions. 101 Chapter 3. ‘Allies of a kind?’ 104 3.1 Introduction. 104 3.2. Prisoners of War: A General Survey. 105 3.2.1. Differences in mortality. 107 3.2.2. Colonial POWs and Japanese segregation. 110 3.3. Relations with Australian, American and Canadian POWs. 113 3.4. Relations with Dutch POWs. 114 3.4.1. The racial demographics of the KNIL. 115 3.4.2. Race as a source of antipathy. 119 3.4.3. Pre-captivity sources of antipathy. 125 3.4.4. Antipathy in captivity. 128 (vi) 3.5. Conclusions. 133 Chapter 4. Here if anywhere, men should have been equal. 135 4.1. Introduction. 135 4.2. Rank Based Differential Mortality. 137 4.3. The Camp Economy/ Causes of Mortality. 141 4.3.1. Nutrition. 141 4.3.2. Food and money. 143 4.3.3. Work. 150 4.3.4. Differential mortality rates within the British other ranks. 156 4.4. Other Sources of BOR Antipathy. 158 4.4.1. Discipline. 158 4.4.2. Standing up for the men. 163 4.5. Conclusions. 165 Chapter 5. Fear of the unknown. 168 5.1 Introduction. 168 5.2. Escaping from Captivity. 171 5.2.1. Execution and retribution. 171 5.2.2. Malnutrition and morale. 173 5.2.3. Foreign landscapes, foreign faces. It’s all as alien as a different planet. 175 5.2.3 (a) Standing out. 176 5.2.3 (b) Foreign faces. 179 5.2.3 (c) Foreign landscapes. 183 5.2.4. Summary. 186 (vii) 5.3. Tamil Labourers and the Cholera Epidemic of 1943. 187 5.3.1. The Tamil labourers. 188 5.3.2. Cholera. 192 5.3.3. Sanitation. 195 5.3.4. Summary. 204 5.4. Conclusions. 204 Chapter 6. The Journey West. 207 6.1. Introduction. 207 6.2. Individual Reconciliation. 208 6.3. Selective Representation of the FEPOW Experience. 216 6.3.1. The press. 217 6.3.2. Published books. 226 6.3.3. Filmed representations. 232 6.4. Conclusions. 236 Conclusions. 239 Primary Sources 244 Bibliography 247 (viii) List of tables Table 1. Effects of the boycott on Japanese goods, 1937-1938. 75 Table 2. “Western” POW numbers and mortality, 1941-1945. 106 Table 3: Mortality rates in captivity: BORs v British Officers. 138 Table 4: 125th Anti-Tank Regiment: Mortality in captivity by rank. 140 Table 5: Pay scales by rank: February 1943. 146 (ix) Abbreviations ABDA American- British-Dutch-Australian Command AWM Australian War Memorial BCFG Burma Campaign Fellowship Group BEF British Expeditionary Force BOR British other rank CO Commanding officer CP Communist Party FEPOW Far Eastern prisoner of war GI General Infantryman (US Army) IMTFE International Military Tribunal for the Far East INA Indian National Army IWM Imperial War Museum JLCSA Japanese Labour Camp Survivors’ Association KNIL Koninklijk Nederlands Indisch Leger (Royal Netherlands East Indies Army) MO Medical officer NCO Non Commissioned Officer. NEI Netherlands East Indies (Indonesia) NFFCA Far East Prisoner of War Clubs and Associations OR Other rank POW Prisoner of war RA Royal Artillery RAF Royal Air Force RAMC Royal Army Medical Corps RAOC Royal Army Ordnance Corps (x) RAPWI Recovery of Allied Prisoners of War and Internees RASC Royal Army Service Corps RCS Royal Corps of Signals RE Royal Engineers SEAC South East Asia Command SSVF Straits Settlements Volunteer Force STC Singapore Technical Corps TA Territorial Army UKNA United Kingdom National Archive WCIT War Crimes Investigation Team WD War Department 1 Introduction.
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