Unit diaries relating to service of Geoffrey W. Fennell - Wallet 2 - Part 6
On Thursday, July 16th a different form of postcard was issued; it was a great
improvement on the old one. It was headed Taiwan Camp and a space for the date
which we had not been able to put in before. There was a question as to when we
had received our last letters and parcels, which was an easy one to answer for the
post-capitulation period anyhow! There was also a much larger space at the bottom
in which to put private messages. Most of the married Regulars with their families
in India were rather worried to know whether their families were still in India or
had been evacuated to South Africa, as a scheme had been sent round to units just
before the Regiment left India. However we hoped that the FCMA Poona or RA Records
Muttra would do the necessary forwarding. It would be almost certain that they
would not still be in the Quarters in Nowshera.
The following day “Uriah Heep” produced a pleasant surprise by returning all the
private papers which had been taken away from us. As far as the Regiment were
concerned, two copies of the War Diary and all Maps of Malaya were returned, but
unfortunately the fair copy, written in a large leather bound ledger, found in
the jail at Changi, was retained. Lt Knights had done some very good enlargements
and sketches, and it was a great pity we did not get it back. Perhaps it may be
handed over when we actually leave Taihoku.
The Great Flood
After supper on Saturday July 18th, the warning came round that a Typhoon was
imminent but apart from securing the shutters before retiring to bed, we did not
think much about it. It certainly started to rain very hard and, about 3 in the
morning, the river started to overflow its banks with the result that the bottom
bungalows occupied by 9-16 and 25-28 messes were flooded out. The side wall
of No 1 Mess also fell down. The remainder had a fairly peaceful night.
When it got light, the bottom of the camp presented an extraordinary
appearance.The fence was down, the water was about 3 to 4 feet deep
complete with waves!
All sorts of stuff was floating about including the tops of the trucks, which
were piled down by the labour Camp! The Cookhouse was also in a bad way, but the
staff just managed to get some sweetened tea round before the water rose over the
fireplaces! There was nothing to do except sit as high as one could and watch
the water rise. The bottom huts were flooded up to the level of the shelves over
the bed spaces, while in the top huts it rose to 6 inches over the bed space, and
the tops of the table were clear. Needless to say all kits were put as high as possible.
The officer had not yet been affected so all pigs, goats, and ducks were collected
and penned there. The Hospital was in a bad way, so the inmates were carried out
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and put into their old quarters in the bookstore end of the office hut.
Several ducks failed to answer the roll call and had either swum away to freedom
or had been caught up in the fence, when it collapsed, and were drowned.
At half past eleven there was a roll call taken by Groucher. We shall never
forget the sight of him with the water up to his armpits (he was nobbut a little ‘un!)
ploughing his way through the flood with his sword held high above
his head and with his eyes beaming through his powerful, though somewhat
obscured, spectacles!
The order was then given for a dozen men to go off the baskets, and for the
remainder to take their bedding and small kit, and go up to the top of the
camp and sit down by messes. Presently the men returned with bananas, and a
packet of cigarettes a head was issued by the Canteen. We sat about under what
shelter we could find, although the rain was by now only a drizzle, and the
flood seemed to be going down slightly. The river was a tidal one and the tide was on the turn.
About 3 o’clock, 80 men were called for with rice buckets but as 28 men could
complete with the buckets, we wondered what the remainder were for. Off they went,
and presently some men returned with the rice buckets full. It had been cooked
down at the Buddhists’ College. The others got back much later and were seen to be
carrying wooden boxes, which we were told contained biscuits. Meanwhile Sgt Lungley
got a cookhouse going on the road outside the main gate, and the order went forth
that the largest of the pigs was to be killed. This was duly carried out by BSM
Wiggins, Bdr Tuffrey and Gunner Kirton, and things began to look brighter.
By 6 o’clock the top huts were free of water and a party was sent to clear the mud
out and by 7 the occupants started to move back. The men in the lower huts
were taken in too. The electric light was not working, and by the time dinner came it
was nearly dark, but we did not mind as by that time we were feeling pretty
hungry, but when it came…..!!
A very good ration of rice and a first class pork and vegetable stew, curried
and with flour added. It was good! After that - to bed, and in spite of the
crowded state of the huts, our full stomachs gave us the best sleep we had had for
some time.
The boxes were opened for breakfast and were found to contain muslin bags filled
with about 60 small square biscuits rather like little dog biscuits, and a dozen
little coloured spiky things which turned out to be sugar. The result was very
good, and it was a treat to get one’s teeth into something again. The rice was
cooked out on the road. After breakfast the cry was “Make and mend” and by the
evening the camp was more or less presentable. We were interested to see that
“Smudger’s” Wall had stood the strain well and the fence round the exercise ground
was intact. During the absence of the fence, a platoon of extra guards turned up
from Taiholku under a most offensive and efficient looking Sgt Major.
Incidentally the breakfast was served in two courses, the rice and biscuits
and stew at 11. It was given out that there would be work at 1 and there
would be an extra good meal in the evening. When it actually came up a ration
consisted of two bowls of real good stew, about 2½ bowlfulls of rice and a flour
dumpling! Every bucket and wash bowl had to brought into service to fetch it!
So ended the Great Typhoon of Taihoku, and it had to be admitted that the
Authorities dealt with it very well. On the other hand, Moonface told us that they
had been most impressed by our behaviour! We then settled down to our normal
routine.
Snails
On Sunday July 25th, some barrels of snails arrived for human consumption! Well,
one can only die once, so Sgt Langley and Capt Hunt, our champion snail eater in
Changi, went into committee as to how they should be cooked. The following
specimens were produced: 1. Fried in fat with a little flour. 2. Boiled and
served with Soya Sauce. 3. Boiled and served with White Vinegar. 4. Just boiled.
5. Fried in fat and served with Pineneedle Sauce. 6. Fried in Batter. Having
duly considered the evidence, they decided on 6. as it meant getting more fat and
flour out of the store! The result was quite good, and anyhow everyone enjoyed
the batter even if the snails had little taste! However the snail is a clean feeder
so no one was any the worse, and we never had any more. And so, coupled with
rumours that Italy and Germany were on their last legs, that Mussolini had been
kicked out, that the Americans had landed in Norway and we were pushing through
Rumania, July came to an end.
More news from the Nippon Times
During the first week in August, we got another batch of the Nippon Times with the
latest date June 10th and contained the following interesting items:
- Continuous bombing of Italy and Mediterranean Islands coupled with great
transport activity in Gibralter. - Churchill says complete agreement reached at Washington with general idea of
a quick war rather than long drawn out one. - Revolution in Argentine and ascendancy of Pro-War party.
- Turkey says she will remain neutral.
- De Gaulle and Giraud working in harmony.
- Our total casualties in Libya and Tunisia, 37,000.
-
Fight in Prisoner of War Camp between American Private Rich and Dutch Sgt Betroth over a tin of sardines!
19[[?]]
- 1 Company lands at Lampadusa and is annihilated.
- Americans building special planes to deal with Japan.
- Description of huge aerodrome in Labados open all year round.
- Atu Island in Aleutians captured by Americans, 2000 Japs killed.
- Jose Laurel Minister of Interior, Philippines, shot.
- Stalin says he is abolishing International Communist Party.
- Church bells can be rung in England w/e May 27th. Churchill says soft light of
victory now visible. - Swedish Doctor discovers serum for Spinal meningitis.
- Japanese Minister of Information says that if they don't win the war this year
they will regret it for 100 years! - Russian Front now Lake Ilman, Smolensk, Brines, Orel, Kharkov, Stalino and Taganrog
- US building 50 plans to carry 153 passengers each to be used between USA, UK and China
- French fleet in Alexandria including 3 Battleships sent to USA to refit.
- USA built 1,782,000 tons shipping in May.
- Plane flies from England to Australia va Canada in 72 hours.
Quite a good bag, and it will be very interesting to check its accuracy at some future
date.
Armchairs and a Move
On August 5th a lorry turned up with a large Frigidaire, about 6 armchairs and a sofa -
a thing we had not seen for months! Luxury at last, we thought, but they were taken
into the office and labelled NOT FOR USE! Presently the Interpreter came in with an
extraordinary story. They were the property of the British Consul Taihoku (was he a
Jap?). They had been in use in the General's Camp and when they left he was asked
if they could be used in our Camp. He flatly refused and said he wantedto sell them.
However they were to be taken away, though we rather expected that we should see them
until after the accountant Major-General's inspection! The inspection by the way was
causing an awful flap in the Canteen and the IJA refused to let anything out until he
had been. However it had the advantage that plenty of stock was going in for him to
see the shelves!
On the evening of August 8th when the parade fell in, the names of 120 men were read out
headed by RSM Bishop, and we were told that they would be leaving for an unknown destination
the following morning. On checking up it was found that a lot of old stagers from
the Regiment were included in the Party, and it was a sad thought that they were being
broken up even more, after keeping ¾ of the Regiment together for so long. Major
Wheeler RAMC was to accompany the party. They spent the day packing up, and having
their kits inspected, and everything they would not actually carry with them was put
into the office hut to be loaded into lorries the following morning.
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The Japanese were really very considerate. They gave permission for 4 goats to be
killed and a very good curry stew was the result. Lights Out was put back to 2200
hrs, and consequently there was much visiting and the officers' hut was packed to
overflowing. Amongst those going were such old stagers as Bdr Carson, Sgt Bishop,
Sgt O'Toole, BQMS Perett, and lots of others. We hoped that the change would be
for the better for them, and anyhow that we should all meeting together in a Clearing
House before long. (They went to the Mining Camp at Kinkaseki)
Next morning we were woken at 4 am for Roll Call and revealed was at 0430 followed
by breakfast at 0445. We all had to stay in the huts while the draft was getting
ready, but when they had been inspected and searched we were allowed to form up
on either side of them in the Main Street to see them off. They left about 0700
under Groucher and "Tasty" and, later in the day, the Interpreter told us that they
had received a message that the men were comfortably settled in their new camp by
1930.
On August 12th there was a preliminary inspection by the Commandant for the big
inspection on Saturday. There was work in the afternoon but most of us were
watching a Father & Mother of a thunderstorm raging on the front side of the valley.
The sky was pitch black and there were terrific flashes of forked lightning, some of
which was purple. There were also masses of white birds flying about
apparently scared stiff. There were some training biplanes up, but they were
pitching and tossing in all directions, and finding great difficulty in landing as
the wind was blowing from all quarters on the aerodrome, and it had begun to rain
hard. The officers came into Camp first. Tashy was so agitated that he made them
leave the tools outside. The men came in shortly afterwards at the run and
reported that the sentries and linnets were both terrified and had hidden in holes
in the ground when it thundered! The men got the best laugh they have had for
months as they naturally took the storm as a matter of course. It looked as if
there would have to be some "face-saving" on the morrow!
Whether in honour of the thunderstorm of because of the Inspection, the Quartermaster
discovered he had a surplus, and there were no less than 5 boilers of rice
for supper! In terms of bowls to the individual that meant having the ordinary
rice bowl and the flat bowl both piled high. Talk about the inscrutable Oriental!
At half past one the following day, when we had all gone out to work, 4 large cars
and a motorcycle approached the camp and left about an hour later, and as it was
raining we all came in. Apparently the General was a very tall man and had been
through all the huts. He asked several people if they were always as thin as that
and got a definitive negative in each case. Whether it was due to the inspection or
not, we don't know, but the fact remains as we got some excellent fresh pineapple from
the Canteen shortly afterwards, though the ration was only 1 to 5 men. The skin
was found to be less bitter than the Singapore ones and easier to suck!
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Departure of the officers
On Thursday Aug 19th the officers fell in at the usual time but were dismissed
without comment. They were fallen in half an hour later and Typohoon made a
little speech and said that out of us were being transferred to another camp and
he was sorry to lose us just as he was getting to know us. When we heard the
names called out, it was found at all the officers of the Regiment were to go
with the exception of Capt Francis and Lt Reeve, who were to be left behind as
Canteen and Gardening officers. Padre Pugh and Capt Blair were also to be left
behind. Typhoon, in addition to his remarks, said that the place we were going to
was surrounded by pleasant pastures and was a good climate and not so cold. We
were told to get packed up and have everything ready to be inspected at 2 o'clock.
Luckily we had just been able to buy suitcases and dispatch cases from the canteen
as in some cases the officers packs were incomplete. At 2 o'clock we fell in, and
all our belongings were inspected, including private papers, and everything except
packs and haversacks was put into the office including bedding. However the BORs
rallied round and offered blankets for the night.
That night will always be remembered by the officers leaving. To start with,
permission was given to slaughter the biggest pig so that produced about half a
bowl a head. After dinner, the officers' hut was packed to overflowing and the
buzz of conversation really sounded like a crowded pub on Saturday Nights at Home!
Only the clink of glasses was missing! The officers felt very sorry to be leaving
the men, and were so pleased that so many came round for a final chat.
Reveille was at 0530 followed by breakfast shortly afterwards, and the party fell in
at 7. Groucher had a final fling at the Shokos by producing all our private papers
a few minutes before we left and saying they would have to be carried. In some
cases they were in quite heavy parcels and boxed. Typical of him, as there was
plenty of room in the lorry with the heavy kits. We had hoped that Typhoon would come
to the station, but Groucher obliged, though we were glad that "Plug Ugly" came down
as well.
And so we left the camp at Taihoku. We shall always connect it with certain very
unpleasant incidents in the first 6 months, but after that things improved enormously
and it did appear that the majority of the Staff were doing what they could to make
things as pleasant as possible under the circumstances. The chief memory we took
away from Taihoku was the fine spirit of comradeship which existed between officers
and men at all times, and the many little acts of kindness done on both sides to
each other. The fine work of the Doctors and Padre Pugh will also be remembered.
And so for the present we must leave the other ranks and narrate the experiences of
the officers in their new camp at Shirakawa.
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Journey to Shirakawa
The march to the station passed without incident, except that Groucher was evidently
afraid we should be late as we only had one small halt. When the lorry passed us,
Plug stopped it and allowed anyone with a heavy load to dump it on. The distinguished
officer carrying a large bundle in a canvas bath containing the Regimental Records,
was profoundly thankful!
We passed familiar landmarks, the War shrine, but did not salute it this time, the
bridge, a large square two storeyed house we could see from the gardens, and two
large buildings in Taihoku with green domes. We had hoped that the next time we
should be in a lorry on the way to the boat for Home, but then you can't have everything!
On arrival at the Station we found that we had half an hour to wait, so sat
down at the end of the platform away from the madding crowd. Presently a train came
in and it was quite pleasant seeing one again! It was evidently the morning express
from Keelung, as it had a restaurant car with waitresses on it.
About 15 minutes later another train came in and we were much intrigued by seeing about
100 POWs get out. About a dozen of them set to work on our baggage and loaded it
into a van. Could they be our new batmen? We picked up our kits, and passed them,
and found that the party was from 155 and 80 Anti Tank, and were evidently taking
the places of the men we had sent away. They looked very thin and unfit compared
to the men we had sent away. The reason for it we discovered later. We had a third
class carriage to ourselves and so had plenty of room - a very pleasant contrast to
the last time we travelled by train! The shutters had to be pulled up, but
fortunately there was one missing altogether in the centre of the carriage and so
we could look out at the countryside, and also when the lavatory was visited.
An officer had taken over from Groucher, and he told jus that as we should be in the
train for some time, we could take off our boots and make ourselves comfortable,
and he also produced matches. As all Canteen credits had been made up in the form
of cigarettes or cigars, everyone was soon puffing away happily.
The train, in spite of the big engine in front, stopped at every station. After
about quarter of an hour, who should get in but about a dozen officers from 155 who
had come up from Keelung. What a time we had exchanging experiences! From what
we could gather they had stayed in their huts with nothing to do until about March
and after that they had to work in a coppermine underground! Our work at any rate
was in the pure fresh air!
The country was very fertile and consisted of paddy-fields, sugar cane, maize and
pineapples in a wide valley. We crossed a number of rivers, and all the time were
slowly approaching the mountains. There was a map onto the end of the carriage
and at a large junction a large Mountain type 2-8-2 engine came on and we started
to climb and at one time seemed level with the hill tops opposite, but after about
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an hour we started to go down through a lot of tunnels, and reached another junction
were engines were changed again.
This valley was mostly sugar cane with more rivers. About 12 o'clock we had our
"sandwiches" consisting of a large bowlful of rice mixed up with sugar added soya
bean sauce paste, and wrapped in a bamboo leaf! It was quite good. About 5 o'clock
we were told to put our boots on and get ready to get out. There would be no hurry
the officer said and we were to leave our kits on the seats.
About half past five we ran into a large station called Kagi, where judging by the
crowd, we were expected. The officer forgot the instructions he had given and by
his antics he implied that there was great cause for speed! On emerging from the
station we saw about 6 lorries waiting. Surely our cherishing period had started!
The admiring crowd turned out to be mostly children, and there was no attempt to
line the route as in Taihoku. After passing through the town we struck off through
some quite pleasant country, hilly and wooded, with a certain. amount of sugar cane.
After about 2 miles we turned onto a country road, judging by the pot holes, and
went along it for about 4 miles, until we reached a village, beyond which a narrow
lane led to the gate of the camp.
We dismounted and fell in outside a long hut, and suddenly we saw the RSM who had
been at Taihoku. He seemed very pleased to see us, and as he had always treated
us well, it seemed a good omen to start off with. There was a certain amount of
shuffling about to get near suitable stable companions, and then were told to go
into the hut. In the hut were bamboo beds instead of the bed platforms! and
consisted of the following layout:
| Mess | Mess | C | C | C |
X X X |
|||||
| P A S S A G E | Entrance | |||||||||
| Mess | Mess | C | C | C | ||||||
C = Cubicles for 3. Mess Room with Tables. Remainder open spaces with beds.
At the further end to the entrance was a little lobby wth ranks to put our
wooden clogs on and on the far side of us was a similar layout, which already
had some occupants who turned out to be the remains of Party A from Singapore
who left with the Generals, and consisted mostly of Sappers, ADCs and such
like. All the baggage had arrived by now also the blankets, sheets and pillow
cases so these were sorted out and by lights out at 9 we were all ready for bed,
and for those with camp beds anyway it was a very pleasant change after the hard
bed-platform!
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Next morning Reveille was at 6 followed by Roll Call at 6.30 outside the hut with
breakfast of the usual rice and vegetables. The vegetables were good but the
quantity of rice was not up to Taihoku standards, being only about a teabowlful.
After a clean up of the hut we began to sit up and take notice and found that
the camp was a fairly large irregular enclosure as sown on the sketch. There
were 4 large huts like ours, 2 more for the BORs, and a cookhouse and hospital
block. The whole was surrounded by a barbed wire fence and a split bamboo fence
and the barracks of the Nippon Army were outside the wire about 50 yards away.
There was a large open grass plot in front of the Hospital. We were shown the
Library, Washouse - with showers and latrines - and told the camp was called
Shirakawa.
Reshuffles and Reunions and Life at Shirakawa
The officers in the Camp were divided into 10 squads of between 40-50 in each
squad. We were in No 9 and 10 squads and Cols Jephson,Napier, Fasson, Scott,
Hennessey, and Shearborn moved into No 8 in the next hut. The composition was as
follows:
- American Generals and Brigadiers from the Philippines.
- British Generals and Brigadier's from Singapore and Hong Kong.
- )
- ) American Senior Officers from Philippines.
- )
- British Senior Officers from Hong Kong and Singapore.
- Dutch Senior Officers from Java and Sumatra.
- British and American Lt Cols and Majors.
- British Majors and Captains from Singapore.
- Captains and Lieuts from Singapore.
There were in addition 2 large hutfuls of British, American and Dutch enlisted men.
The Administrative Officers were American and they also ran the Canteen or PX
as they called it, the meaning being Post Exchange dating from the old Trading Posts
in America.
As far a we were concerned, we soon got in contact with General Key who commanded
8 Ind Inf Bde at Kota Bahru wth 73, and 11 Ind Div later and at Changi; also
Brigadiers Goodman and Rusher, CRAs 9 Ind Div and 11 Ind Div, Col Harrison GS01
11 Div and Brigadiers Selby and Trott who had first met 63/81 in Waziristan.
There was another old friend in General Callaghan, who took command of the 8th
Australian Division after General Gordon Bennett left. Capt Burton, the ADC of
General Key who played in goal for the Divisional Football team, was in 10 Squad.
The first day was a Sunday and the Americans arranged a service for all except RCs
at 11. From 1300 to 1500 hrs was a Rest period and everyone was allowed to lie down
and sleep. After that some Americans came in and had a chat on such subjects as our
previous camps, Baseball, the American War of Independence, The Movies, Whisky
in America, Prohibition, Football, Beer, "The North West Passage" country and
America in general. Supper was at 1800 hrs and we understood that Col Harrison
arranged gramophone concerts four nights a week. One great boon was that we
could smoke anywhere in the Camp provided that we had a little ash tin with us.
Roll Call was at 2000 hrs and the Squad leader had quite a rigmarole to go through
compared to Taihku:
DAI KOO HAN KIOTSKE Mine Squad Attention
SOIN YONJU YON MAI Total 44
JIKO YON MAI Absent 4
GENZAI YONJU MAI Present 40
BANGO Number
RGSUGAI ICI MAI 1 out of the rank (Squad leader)
JIKO-NO YON MAI WA Of those 4 absent
NUSHITSU NEE MAI 2 Hospital
SHUSHIN NEE MAI 2 Bedded down
HIJO ARIMASEN All OK
Other Amenities were the Library and the Canteen. We handed in any readable
books we had and so were eligible to join, and found a very varied selection to
choose from including a large number of American novels we had not read before.
It was run on a very good system. At 0930 books were handed in and names were
taken in order of arrival. At 10.30 names were called in the same order and a
book could be selected. In addition, any book could be specifically applied for,
a would be reserved. Only one book could be taken otherwise at a time and 24 hours
were allowed to finish off any book in possession in the event of a Priority
book being available. Time for reading 7 days. Technical books and some heavy
reading books could be out in addition to an ordinary book.
The Canteen or PX was found to be well stocked with Coffee, Fruit Syrup, Pickled
Veg, Heron Cigarettes, Fish flakes, Pepper, Salt, Ketchup, Curry Powder and Notebooks.
As our accounts had not come through we were not allowed to buy anything
but the Generals and Colonels very kindly had a whip round of Canteen tickets and
goods in kind so that we could have something to go on with - a very kindly
thought and much appreciated. The syrup was of three kinds, banana, strawberry and
lime called olive! There was also Dayton's, Nokos, and Akibonos, and the
normal issue days were Tuesday and Saturday afternoons.
Working for Health
On Thursday 26th we were ordered out to work at 8.30 and drew scythes and
chanckuls. The job was to clear the undergrowth from the hillside just by the camp and we
were told that it was going to be made into a park for us to sit about in - the
same old story! There were however, 2 Yasmais and we knocked off at 11.30. In
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