Indian POW's

liverpool annie · Mar 22, 2009

I found this to be a very moving site ..... thought maybe you'd be interested !

Over sixty thousand Indian troops were among the Indian units captured by the Japanese in south-east Asia in 1941-42. As prisoners, many - perhaps 40,000 - decided to join the pro-Japanese Indian National Army and fought with the Japanese in Burma.

Many of those who remained loyal were sent in mid-1943 as members of Indian Working Parties to New Britain and New Guinea. They endured severe hardship and brutal treatment, and several thousand died in captivity, possibly suffering a higher mortality than other prisoners of war. From mid-1944 small numbers were liberated by advancing Australian troops in the South-West Pacific Area, especially in New Guinea, and by September 1945 over 5,000 prisoners were in camps around Rabaul.

These prisoners have been largely overlooked in the broader interpretation of Allied prisoners of the Japanese. Their stories are preserved in records of their interrogation after liberation and in their testimonies to war crimes tribunals. These records include the testimony of Jemadar Chint Singh, who was recovered by Australian troops in the Sepik area in 1945. The photographs and works of art depicting these men and their descriptions of captivity and survival are often profoundly moving historical sources. The remarkable feature of their experience, especially in the light of claims that Indian units in south-east Asia performed poorly in battle, is that these men often retained a strong identity as soldiers throughout three-and-a-half years as prisoners of the Japanese.

http://ajrp.awm.gov.au/ajrp/remember.nsf/pages/NT0000220A?openDocument

Antipodean Andy · Mar 23, 2009

IIRC, Jemadar Chint Singh was "officially" recovered along the Sepik River by the RAN's ML 1347 as detailed in Marsden Hordern's A Merciful Journey - Recollections of a World War II Patrol Boat Man. Very, very few survived with him. He stayed behind when his comrades boarded a transport to begin their journey home. The aircraft subsequently crashed in bad weather killing all on board. A terrible end for men who had survived so much.

Some extracts from this excellent and beautifully written book:

Page 264

At 5.30 next morning, 12 October (1945), we led the barges upstream from Marienberg and shortly after 9 a.m. secured alongside ML 1356 at Angoram. Here we found about twelve Indian prisoners in a pitiful condition, diseased and undernourished with wounds, sores and ulcers all over their bodies. Their officer, Jemadar Chint Singh, who wrote an account of his 'deliverance', later commented that we looked a pretty ragged group too:

I saw here a launch ML No. 1347, very nicely painted. There were men with long beards on the quarter deck. Sepoy Chain Singh who was standing near me asked, 'Are those men Prisoners of War recovered by the Australians?' I gazed again and again and was inclined to agree with him. They were dressed in only short pants but had long beards the same as we. After a short time one, Sub Lieut Wilkonson, came to me, talked for a while, and then guided us to the launch. He introduced me to one of those bearded men as the Captain (Hordern) and the others as the crew of that boat. Here my guess failed, but the impression was still on my mind, so I asked the Captain, 'Were you Prisoners of War sometime before?' He is a keen witted man and replied, 'I keep the beard to keep prestige over the crew and also to frighten the Japanese.' His answer pleased me very much. He is only twenty-three years of age, thin, but strong, with a very cheerful and intelligent disposition.
Click to expand...

The Indians were taken on board and fed despite Hordern's CO's warnings.

Page 265

That night in the wardroom, while constantly dipping his finger into a bowl of sugar, and sucking it greedily, [Singh] poured out the story of their sufferings, talking wildly of anything that came into his mind: now weeping for the fate of his murdered friends, now laughing uncontrollably at his deliverance. He had often contemplated killing himself and thanked God he had not done so. Singh had a profound sense of divine protection and wept when I told that, at whatever times he wished to pray, Clif and I would leave him alone in the wardroom. He thanked me repeatedly, saying the Japanese had never allowed the Indians to pray and had mocked them when at prayer by snatching their holy books, desecrating them, and ripping out pages for cigarette papers.

Frequently his face darkened as he relived some particular brutality, and in a flood of words he would blurt out its details. Stories, such as this which he recorded for the war crimes in Wewak, appalled us:

One day Pte Maida (Jap nursing orderly) was suffering from dysentery and his boots became dirty with his uncontrollable motion. He ordered one of our officers Jem. Kitial Singh to clean his boots. The officer cleaned the boots but did not carefully examine them and a little dirt remained. Pte Maida took a big stick and mercilessly beat the officer over the head. Kitial Singh became unconscious but the Jap did not stop beating him. His head started bleeding and blood flowed over his face and shirt. The officer remained very ill for over one month and then died.
...One day Lt Murai caught Sepoy Ram Singh with four lemons in his possession. He tied him to a tree and then the whole guard, in turn, started beating him. They beat him for a day and a night until he became unconscious. The following day he was untied and put in the sun. In the morning the Japs ordered us to dig a grave for the man, which we did. Sgt Kibbe, L/Cpl Iga Rashi, Pte Tokura and Lt Murai took him to the grave. L/Cpl Iga Rashi and Pte Tokura bayonetted and buried him.
Click to expand...

Page 266

On 30 September 1945, the day Monk had found Chint Singh, he said he had been 'reborn'; and his first act had been to call his scarecrows to attention and give three cheers for the King-Emperor of India and the Australians. And on the banks of the Sepik at Angoram, he did that for us too.
Click to expand...

At 5 a.m. on 13 October, Jemadar Abdul Latif, the other surviving Indian officer, who was too weak to walk, was carried aboard ML 1347 in a litter and the other Indian soldeirs boarded one of our barges; then towing one of our broken-down barges loaded with sixty Japanese sick, we led the motley convoy down river and out into the Bismarck Sea.
Click to expand...

On board we did our best to pamper our two Indian guests. As Singh had told me he was a Hindu and cows were sacred, and as our rations were mostly tinned bully beef, I gave him the choice of 'yippee beans and goldfish' or scrambled eggs - a tasteless concoction of powdered eggs, powdered milk and water.

For him being aboard and the trip down river was a voyage of discovery, duly recorded in his official report:

I found myself in an entirely new world ... I went down to the cabin and went into the dressing room which is adjacent to it. I used the latrine but could not manage the mechanical apparatus for disposing of the excreta. Lt Hordern was watching me and came smiling and demonstrated its function. That was the first lesson I had in mechanics that morning ... Then I had breakfast. Everything on the table was strange to me. When I put four teasoppnfuls of sugar in my teacup, my hosts laughed, and Lt Hordern smilingly said, 'Don't finish all our sugar, we have not got enough now.' After this the second lesson in mechanics took place and I learned all about the new Tommy Gun and a few new pistols. Then firing practice took place, logs in the river being the targets. I fired about 100 rounds.

Approaching Wewak, the Indians recognised painful signposts along their Via Dolorosa and became agitated. There were the hated marshes when they had slaved more than twelve hours a day without food, waist-deep in slime, and there was the place where the Japanese had executed their Australian and American prisoners and - perhaps most poignant of all - there was the spot near Waringe Creek where the Indians had buried their dead.
Click to expand...

Before boarding the 'duck' that took them to hospital, Singh made an impromptu speech.

Page 267

Sir, I thank you from my heart at your kindness and for what you have done to give me rebirth. I can never repay you and wherever I go memories of you and your kindness I will always carry in my heart. I hope to be in India soon to see if my wife is alive - she has heard nothing for four years nearly and she must think I am dead ... When you come to India here is my address, Jemadar Chint Singh, Village and Post Office Jalari, Via Naduan, District Kangra, the Punjab, India. My home will be yours. You have made me a happy man, and I will take you to the interesting places of India, and to the sacred places of my religion in which you have said you are interested. Goodbye, goodbye.

He then came to attention, gave me a Sandhurst salute, and shook my hand. I fumbled a few words about our debt to him for his lesson in endurance.
Click to expand...

Recovering well, Singh rejoined ML 1347 several days later when the little ship took a party of soldiers to inspect the Japanese hospital on Muschu Island.

I ... was about to step ashore when Singh asked to have a private word with me. He said that these Japanese were a cruel, suicidal and treacherous people and, as everyone except him was armed, before he ventured among them he wanted a gun. I gave him a fully loaded .5 Smith and Wesson six-chambered revolver, and he buckled it round his waist proudly. This was the first time he had met the Japanese face to face with a gun in his hand since the fall of Singapore. Now for him the tables were turned at last.

...we came upon a party of Japanese soldiers working on the road. All but one, who stood glaring sullenly at us, laid down their tools, bowed obsequiously and saluted. Outraged by this defiance of orders, Singh shouted at him in Japanese which he later translated for me:

You fool, have you no eyes? Do you not see these officers pass you by? For long years American, Australian and Indian soldiers, and officers, have been forced to salute you bloody little soldiers - even when we were diseased you treatedus worse than wretched animals.

...something snapped in his brain. Tearing a pick handle from the grasp of a Japanese standing a yard in front of me, [Singh] struck the staring soldier hard, first on the left leg and then across the side of his face and ear ... Then, dropping his cudgel, Singh fell upon the man, punching him in the face and shouting abuse. ... This ugly face of war had happened in a flash and taken us by surprise, but Singh was unrepentant. He claimed that the man knew the rules and that the Japanese treated their own men like that. And he was content; after years of torture and cruel abuse, he had enjoyed his moment of revenge and got it off his chest.
Click to expand...

On 15 November 1945 Singh stood beside the transport plane on Wewak airstrip to farewell Abdul Latif and his men, about to take off for Rabaul and join a ship for India and a hero's welcome home in their towns and villages. But he would not be going with them as he had been called to give further evidence at the Wewak war crime trials. As the plane sped down the strip, lifted into the air and climbed away, Abdul Latif and his 'boys' peered through its Perspex windows, looking for the last time at the harbour and swamps where they had suffered so much. Then, as it headed out to sea, they settled back in their seats and thought of home. That day, New Britian's mountains were partially shrouded in cloud and, as they approached Rabaul, the pilot began flying blind, relying on his instruments. But they could navigate for him. The Sydney Sun's reporter Noel Ottaway described the last act in this Indian tragedy:

Wewak, MOnday - One Indian Officer survives today of 2600 soldiers captured by the Japs at Singapore in 1942 and shipped to New Guinea for forced labour.

All had refused to enter the Japanese-sponsored Army being raised to fight against the Allies and were sent to New Guinea as punishment. Disease, hunger, mutilation, beatings and cannibalism reduced their number from thousands to hundreds and then from hundreds to scores. Finally, when Japan surrendered, 13 scarecrows (of whom two later died) stagered into the Australian lines.

The eleven survivors told thier story to the Allied War Crimes Commission, naming scores of alleged war criminals and identifying them in line ups. Having signed their depositions ten of them set off last Thursday by transport plane for Rabaul to take a ship home. The plane crashed into a mountain and all perished.

Prayers were said for them and one minute's silence observed at church services at Wewak yesterday. Sole survivor Chint Singh, said: 'I think that what were, in effect, their dying depositions, will ensure that the sufferings of my comrades will not go unpunished.'
Click to expand...

Compare the details of the newspaper article with the Singh link on Annie's page. Some of the details differ but the power of the tragedy does not.

Kyt · Mar 23, 2009

The story of Major Chint Singh, Indian POW World War 2 | My Himachal

And though the site that Annie linked states that a large majority of Indian POWs joined the INA, the vast majority did so for reasons other than fighting the British. Most were seduced by the idea that they were fighting for Indian freedom, but the reality for them became just as harsh as for those who stayed prisoners.

Those who who did not join the INA were subsequently treated very badly, but some brave souls stepped forward. One is covered in the link above; another below:

GC Awards to Jap POWs

liverpool annie · Mar 23, 2009

Jemadar Chint Singh, also in rags but with most military bearing, who marched up, saluted and said “Sir, One officer, two NCOs and eight other ranks reporting for whatever duty the King and the Australian Army requires of us”. I found it very hard to reply to him. I still feel much emotion when recalling it.”
Click to expand...

I could cry buckets reading these accounts .... the courage of these men who had been through so much and yet they were grateful ...... just amazes me !.... and this next I found very moving too ..... his son wanted to spare him bad news .........

Col Surjit Singh Parmar,VSM(Retd)-Eldest son. says January 6, 2009 at 10:02 am

In Feb 1983 when Dad was in the hospital,diagnosis of cancer was made but I did not have the heart to tell him.Best option to me appeared to meet one of his 2nd Dogra colleague,Brig SL Kapoor who was also posted there.He told me “you can tell him the fact without any apprehension as he is a brave soldier and knows how to face the realties of life.”
Click to expand...

Kyt · Mar 23, 2009

A number of men received the GC for their fortitude as PoWs, the majority whilst as prisoners of the Japanese:

Mateen Ahmed Ansari - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Arthur Banks - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Ford_(GC)
John Alexander Fraser - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hector Bertram Gray - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lionel Colin Matthews - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lanceray Arthur Newnham - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hugh Seagrim - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Stanley James Woodbridge - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Korean War
Derek Godfrey Kinne - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Horace Madden - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Terence Edward Waters - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

liverpool annie · Mar 23, 2009

Amazing brave men ... all of them !

Log in or Sign up

Indian POW's

liverpool annie New Member

Antipodean Andy New Member

Kyt Άρης

liverpool annie New Member

Kyt Άρης

liverpool annie New Member

Share This Page

Log in or Sign up

Indian POW's

Thread Tools

liverpool annie New Member

Antipodean Andy New Member

Kyt Άρης

liverpool annie New Member

Kyt Άρης

liverpool annie New Member

Share This Page

Useful Searches