History: The British (Sumatra) P.O.W. Battalion May 1942 to March 1945
Accession Number NWHRM : 24
Description
History of the British (Sumatra) P.O.W. Battalion, May 1942 to March 1945 transcribed from the original document in the possession of Lance Bombardier Sidney Arthur Wadlow. Compiled by Major D P Apthorp describing the history of the British Sumatra Battalion. , a group of 500 British Army and Air Force personnel selected from the 1200 captured at Medan, Sumatra in March 1942 as overseas working parties; the unit was based in the following camps in Burma: Mergui (May - August 1942), Tavoy (August - October 1942), Hlepauk (October 1942 - January 1943), Tahyzin (January - March 1943), Thetkaw (March - April 1943), Kinkwat Kwai (April - May 1943), Hlepauk (May 1943), Retpu (May - July 1943), Taungsan (July - November 1943); in Thailand: Chaungena 114 Kilometre Camp (November 1943 - January 1944), Kanchanaburi (January - March 1944), Tamarkan (March 1944); and Saigon (April 1944 - March 1945). Because of illness, death and Japanese reorganisations, the Battalion was split several times, but divided finally into Officer (Kanchanaburi) and other ranks (Saigon) in March 1944. The diary details conditions, work, marching and travelling by train and ship/barge and appendices include a detailed calendar of the history of the Battalion, giving each person's fate. Together with an ms record (4pp) made by the donor as a prisoner, of Lieutenant Colonel Magatoma's speech as Commanding Officer of Thambyuzayat Camp in October 1942, and an Allied information leaflet dropped by Allied relief force over Saigon, 1945.
Read MoreHistory: The British (Sumatra) P.O.W. Battalion May 1942 to March 1945
Captain Dudley Apthorpe of the Royal Norfolk Regiment, made his way to Padang, the former capital of Sumatra to find he had missed the last rescue boat. He came across a number of other men all in the same plight. They numbered twenty in all, four of them army officers, thirteen other soldiers, including NCOs and three navy men. Between them they managed to locate an old Japanese sailing boat, fifty feet long, bearing the name 'Bintang Dua'. They managed to free the old boat from its moorings and sail out into open water. A chart on board showed the large island of Siberut which was their only navigational guide and they made for the island in search of fresh water and other supplies. Shortly after, and still in shallow water, they picked up eight men from a canoe-type boat who were also bent on escape. Among this eight was a former engineer and seaman. Apthorpe was the most senior army officer among the men, but he left matters of seamanship to the newcomer. The 'Bintang Dua' managed to stay free at sea for two weeks in an attempt to escape. They were caught and taken back to Padang. part of a large group numbering approximately one thousand and two hundred mixed British service personnel. This company of prisoners, about a battalion in strength, were to become known throughout their POW days as either the 'British Battalion' or the 'Sumatra Battalion' with Captain Apthorpe as their leader.
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