Singapore, Changi and the Burma-Thailand Railway

Singapore, Changi and the Burma-Thailand Railway PDF Author: Kathrine Bell
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781877009457
Category : Prisoners of war -
Languages : en
Pages : 32

Get Book Here

Book Description
This is the story of how Australian prisoners of war dealt with the harsh treatment meted out to them by guards in the infamous prisoner of war camp at Changi, Singapore and at the forced labour camps along the Burma- Thailand Railway.

Singapore, Changi and the Burma-Thailand Railway

Singapore, Changi and the Burma-Thailand Railway PDF Author: Kathrine Bell
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781877009457
Category : Prisoners of war -
Languages : en
Pages : 32

Get Book Here

Book Description
This is the story of how Australian prisoners of war dealt with the harsh treatment meted out to them by guards in the infamous prisoner of war camp at Changi, Singapore and at the forced labour camps along the Burma- Thailand Railway.

Descent into Hell

Descent into Hell PDF Author: Peter Brune
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
ISBN: 1741761883
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 1327

Get Book Here

Book Description
'No man has the command of words needed for conveying...the courage and the cowardice; the loyalty and the treachery; the dedication and the dereliction; the strengths and the frailties; the kindness and the brutality; the integrity and depravity; the magnificence and the enormities of men, as revealed by and to those fated to pass through the entrails of hell, in Thailand Burma, during and after the Railway was built.' Descent into Hell is a scrupulously researched and groundbreaking account of one of the most traumatic calamities in Australian history - the Malayan Campaign, the fall of Singapore and the subsequent horrors of the Thai-Burma Railway. Unpicking the myths and legends of the war, Peter Brune goes to the heart of the Australian experience. He describes the shambolic planning by the British in Singapore and the failures and incompetence of some of the Australian command. He debunks the claims about Australian deserters in Singapore, and we learn of the black market in Changi and the beatings, torture and murder on the Thai-Burma Railway. Here too are stories of the war's many heroes and villains: of officers who looked after their men and optimised their chances of survival, and others who looked after themselves at their men's expense; the heroes of battle who became ineffectual and lost in the camps and on the Railway, and the least liked and least respected battlefield officers who came to be great leaders. And then there are countless acts of kindness and decency performed by one POW for another in the most cruel of circumstances. Impressive, compelling and rich in human spirit, Descent into Hell is an unprecedented chronicle by one of Australia's finest military historians.

The Thailand-Burma Railway, 1942-1946: Voluntary accounts

The Thailand-Burma Railway, 1942-1946: Voluntary accounts PDF Author: Paul H. Kratoska
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 9780415309516
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 476

Get Book Here

Book Description


The Changi Book

The Changi Book PDF Author: Lachlan Grant
Publisher: NewSouth
ISBN: 1742247377
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 352

Get Book Here

Book Description
The story of Changi, told by those who lived through it. In the tradition of The Anzac Book comes this fascinating collection of accounts of life in the notorious Changi prison camp. Changi is synonymous with suffering, hardship and the Australian prisoner-of-war experience in WWII. It is also a story of ingenuity, resourcefulness and survival. Containing essays, cartoons, paintings, and photographs created by prisoners of war, The Changi Book provides a unique view of the camp: life-saving medical innovation, machinery and tools created from spare parts and scrap, black-market dealings, sport and gambling, theatre productions, and the creation of a library and university. Seventy years after its planned publication, material for The Changi Book was rediscovered in the Australian War Memorial archives. It appears here for the first time along with insights from the Memorial’s experts. ‘A moving insiders’ account of life in Changi.’ —Peter FitzSimons ‘A fresh perspective on Changi: illuminating stories from the inside.’ —Les Carlyon

Singapore and the Thailand-Burma Railway

Singapore and the Thailand-Burma Railway PDF Author: Alfred Knights
Publisher: Arena books
ISBN: 190942112X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 247

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book presents one of the most vivid descriptions of day-to-day life in a Japanese POW labour camp to have appeared so far. The story follows the experiences of the Norfolk Territorial Regiment from 1942 to 1945, under the command of Lt. Col. Knights, during and after the fall of Singapore. Many will recollect having seen the film, The Bridge on The River Kwai. It tended to fictionalise certain matters of fact. This book, drawn directly from a memoir only recently uncovered, reveals that the Japanese designed railway was successfully completed with the forced labour of Allied troops in conjunction with Chinese and Malay captives. The Royal Norfolks were allocated a section of the line which required excavating deep cuttings in the rock hills parallel with the river. They had their 'own' camp with a Japanese officer in charge. He constantly pressed for quicker progress, and for work to be done by all the prisoners, including those in the camp hospital and their officers, contrary to international law.The Regiment's experiences are reported by Lt. Col. Knights in his book. He gives details of his own and others' sufferings, both those inflicted by their captors and those occurring from tropical diseases and insects, all being worsened by a lack of medicines and food. Some of the local Thais, at great risk to themselves, provided a little of both of those commodities. After the railway was completed, the survivors were marched back into Thailand. There they were required to dig a deep ditch round their camp. It was suspected that this would be their grave when they were shot, if the Japanese decided that they had lost the war. Fortunately the two atomic bombs resulted in the Japanese Emperor himself announcing their surrender, forestalling that action. The final chapters of the book are filled with excitement and tension in the efforts of the British officers to hoodwink their captors.

Towards the Setting Sun

Towards the Setting Sun PDF Author: James Bradley
Publisher: Timothy Bradley
ISBN: 9780959018707
Category : Prisoners of war
Languages : en
Pages : 184

Get Book Here

Book Description


The Changi Camera

The Changi Camera PDF Author: Tim Bowden
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780733629624
Category : Changi POW Camp (Changi, Singapore)
Languages : en
Pages : 242

Get Book Here

Book Description
In THE CHANGI CAMERA, acclaimed author Tim Bowden presents a unique record of one Australian soldier's experience of the fall of Singapore, captivity in Changi and enduring the hell of the Thai-Burma Railway. George Aspinall was a keen photographer and, even in the very worst of conditions, he managed to take photos, process them and so preserve for later generations the reality of incarceration. Along with George's own memories of those years, Tim Bowden has written a gripping and authoritative overview of what happened in Changi and on the Railway. This powerful narrative and unique collection of almost one hundred photographs combine to give us a raw and graphic account of just what George and thousands of his fellow Australians endured.

The Burma-Thailand Railway of Death

The Burma-Thailand Railway of Death PDF Author: E. R. Hall
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Burma
Languages : en
Pages : 312

Get Book Here

Book Description


Stolen Years

Stolen Years PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781877007156
Category : Prisoners of war
Languages : en
Pages : 157

Get Book Here

Book Description


Beyond Surrender

Beyond Surrender PDF Author: Joan Beaumont
Publisher: Melbourne Univ. Publishing
ISBN: 0522866212
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 258

Get Book Here

Book Description
Over the twentieth century 35,000 Australians suffered as prisoners of war in conflicts ranging from World War I to Korea. What was the reality of their captivity? Beyond Surrender presents for the first time the diversity of the Australian 'behind-the-wire' experience, dissecting fact from fiction and myth from reality. Beyond Surrender examines the impact that different types of camps, commandants and locations had on surrender, survival, prison life and the prospects of escape. It considers the attitudes of Australian governments to those who had surrendered, the work of relief agencies and the agony of families waiting at home for their husbands, brothers and fathers to be freed. Covering several conflicts and diverse sites of captivity, Beyond Surrender showcases new research from Kate Ariotti, Joan Beaumont, Lachlan Grant, Jeffrey Grey, Karl James, Jennifer Lawless, Peter Monteath, Melanie Oppenheimer, Aaron Pegram, Lucy Robertson, Seumas Spark and Christina Twomey.