Diary of Arthur Seaforth Blackburn, April 1942 - November 1944, Part 11 of 26

in & up to me & struck me violently on the face
knocking my glasses flying. He then continued at me
pushing me back & striking me until he had hit
me at least 12 times, cutting my lip & badly bruising
my ear & cheek. He then finally pushed me over a
bed. Spoke to me in Japanese & then retired. Neither I
nor anyone else in the room have the slightest idea
why I was struck. The whole atmosphere of the 
camp is very tense & the sentries are extremely active.
Very good soup for breakfast this morning very
full of vegetables & thick. Neither fish nor meat
materialised last night as promised. Afternoon
spent in complete clean-up of quarters, washing floor
windows etc, Later in day, Jap officer interviewed 
Gen Heath & then took him to guard house & made
Guard Commander express regret at occurrence.
I was also interviewed as to what had happened
to me but received no satisfaction.
28^th Heat seems to off  be off. Attended Church
Service. Hot bath in afternoon. Gave brief lecture
to some senior officers in evening on Syrian campaign.
Weather warmer.
March 1^st Dull but warm day. Worked in garden in morning
from 09 - 11.15 & afternoon 1320 - 1535. Few officers
were slapped last night but things seem to
be cooling off.
2^nd Dull day but rain held off until 1600 hrs.
Worked morning 0900 - 1130  - afternoon 1300 - 1600 hrs
Took on duties of PX officer for British & Dutch officers 
in room. Started preparing a big plot in garden
for planting sweet potatoes. 
3^rd Cloudy day. Looked like rain (altho’ very little actually  
fell) so working fatigue was cancelled all day. 
In morning we were all ordered to sign receipt for our 
pay etc. Could not understand them but do not doubt 
they are in order! Breakfast & lunch very poor meals. 
4^th Dull rainy morning. No work. Rain stopped at midday 
& our squad & two others paraded for work at 1300 hrs. 
Were kept at it - 40 mins work & 10 mins rest until 1645 hrs 
with guards standing over us making us work hard. 
Planted over 5000 sweet potatoes cuttings. Food very 
short at all three meals today. Much less rice 
than usual & very weak vegetable soup. 
5^th No work this morning. All squads except three who 
worked yesterday were taken out to work in the afternoon. 
Nasty wind blew up in the afternoon. Slappings have 
definitely diminished but there are usually one or 
two per night. Breakfast soup this morning was 
the worst we have so far had but luncheon soup  
had man a big increase in vegetables. Diet is 
most unsatisfying as I feel perpetually hungry. I seem 
to dream about food practically every night. 
6^th Dull cloudy day. Hard mornings work - 9 to 12 with only 
ten minutes break so as to get the sweet potatoes planted. 
Garden is beginning to take shape. Meals very much 
better today - good thick vegetable stews with 
plenty of potatoes at breakfast & lunch & promise 
of fish in evening soup. General clean up in 
afternoon for tomorrow’s inspection. At evening roll-call 
Gpl Capt Bishop appeared in his overcoat over his pull over. 
He was ordered to take it off & was then struck over the 
head by the Jap. officer.

March 7^th At morning roll call Bishop was ordered to accompany 
Nippon Officer of the day. He was taken into a room downstairs 
& was asked why he had worn an overcoat the previous 
evening. He said he had misunderstood the previous instructions  
& expressed regret. The Nippon Officer stated that British 
Officers were always making mischief & making fun of 
the Nippon Army & severely beat him with his fist &  
with the hilt of his sword finally knocking him over. 
He then repeatedly kicked him as he lay on the 
floor. Cold blustery day. Usual church parade. Bridge 
tournament in afternoon agst squad 8. We won easily. 
8^th Cold wet day. Slight earthquake shock in morning. 
No work all day. Improvement in meals continues. 
9^th Cold dull day. No work in morning. Sugar & cigarette 
issue is overdue. I have run out of sugar & almost  
out of borrowed & bought cigarettes. No work in  
 afternoon. 
10^th Visited & inspected by Staff Officer from Tokyo staff. Very 
cold rainy day. No work. Good meals continue 
& morning meal was biggest rice issue we have  
yet had with gristle in it & also plenty of  
gristle in the soup. Staff Officer conversed with 
a number of the Senior Officers - Gen Wainwright, Gen 
Ter Poorten, Gov-Gen of NEI, Sir Mark Young, Sir Shelton Thomas 
etc - but not Gen. Percival. Our main complaints - viz. 
food, slapping etc, mail, accommodation, lack of buying facilities 
were put before me. He was entirely non-committal 
but we are hoping for improvement in some respects. 
B.P. returned to camp yesterday after an absence of about  
1 week. Last night I was on vigilance guard from 
2230 - 2330. The arrangement is that my relief wakes 
me about 2220. I woke up about 2215 & a minute or two  
later heard & saw someone coming in through the door. 
Thinking it was Col Searle whom I was to relieve & wanting  
to save him the trouble of coming in under the mosquito  
net covering & wake me, as he approached I said "All 
right, old man, don't trouble I am awake". Immediately  
a torch was shone into my face & I heard a grunt. I said 
"Its all right I am awake" A voice then said "This 
is the Officer of the Day. What do you mean?"  I then 
realised it was B.P. I explained that I was about to 
go on guard & thought that he was my relief waking 
me up. He asked my name & was very pleasant 
about it all. It was fortunate it was not B. who would 
almost certainly have beaten me up for talking to him 
like that. Played second half of bridge tournament agst 
8 squad. We lost on points today but won on the  
whole two days. 
11^th An Admiral, a Governor of Taiwan inspected the camp 
today.  All we prisoners lined up in squads on each 
side of the road & he passed between us. He  
presented two pigs to the camp fattest one of which went into 
tonights stew & made a thoroughly good meal. Each 
of us got a wee morsel of meat & the soup at last  
had some grease in it. Dull day still, but a  
little warmer. Promise of a summer day tomorrow. 
12^th Air raid drill started today. no work & confined to our  
rooms practically all day.  All lights except very dim  
night lights were shut off & night from sundown on 
was very unpleasant. Good meals continue. Finished 
last bit of Admiral's 1^st pig tonights meal. Plenty of 
potatoe in each days soup. Still cold & showery. 
13^th Still a bit dull but considerably warmer. Air raid 
drill continuing so again no work. This makes a week 
since we went out to work. Good meals are still  
continuing. One effect of the diet is to make everyone urinate 
at very frequent intervals. It is a universal trouble in

the camp & makes some nights a perfect horror. To try  
& check it I have made cut drinking of liquids down to 
a minimum. I have two cups of tea immediately after 
breakfast & then endeavor - and usually succeed - in going 
without anything more to drink until next morning. So 
far however this seems to have no effect - and this is the 
experience of all the other inmates of the camp. Last night 
I had to get up & go all the way down to the latrine - registering  
in & back with the guard as I went - six times every 1½ hrs. 
This is not at all unusual some officers having to go 7, 8 & 9 
times. The result is very broken rest & the cumulative 
effect is to make one very tired & "peevish". Drs cannot  
do anything about it as it is due to lack of solids in the  
food & diet deficiences. 
14^th Usual church service in morning. Bright sunny 
morning but cold wind & clouds in the afternoon. Half  
issue of WAKAMOTOS today but no cigarettes or sugar yet. 
15^th Beautiful sunny morning. No work all day. In afternoon 
weather again changed & became cloudy & threatening. 
Ordered by the Japs (every officer was so ordered) to write  
out my "war experiences" over but not less than three 
pages & to hand it into them within a week. 
16^th Dull cloudy day but not too cold. No work again all 
day. At last an issue of cigarettes - but only Shiri Sagas - 
At 20 yen a carton have come in, our first actual 
issue since we arrived. Luckily I had ordered one 
carton of them so I now have enough cigarettes to keep 
me going for a time. Meals still fairly good but 
not as good as last week. Rumor today that the 
Germans have counter-attacked on the Russians front  
& recaptured Khaskava but papers which came in this afternoon 
have nothing suggesting the probability of such an occurrence. 
Col. Barther BUNKER (U.S.A.) died at 1950 hrs today. 
17^th Fine warm bright morning. An innovation at breakfast 
was the issue of a sweet sauce made from tapioca & sugar & 
flavored with strawberry jam for use with the morning 
rice.  Memorial service to Col. BUNKER held at 1100 hrs. 
Very largely attended. No work again today. I still 
have heard no word of my boots which were taken 
when our heavy baggage was inspected so spoke to B.P.  
after roll - call tonight about them. He said he would 
see what he could do about it tomorrow. My shoes are 
wearing out badly & let in the moisture. Our second pig 
came in today & the Japs took 1/3 of it - both hams, both 
cheeks & the shoulders & left us the rest. 
18^th Another bright warm morning. Found a patch of ground 
for a garden & Searle & I started we digging it up. However 
we were stopped after about ½ hrs because the Japs had 
not yet given consent to the particular bit of ground - a waste 
bit in a corner - being used as a garden. No work all day. 
Message from B.P. that he will try to fix our boots tomorrow. 
19^th Dull moist day. No work. 
20^th  "          "        "        "       "  Meals have been maintained 
at good level for a fortnight now. Announcement  
today that a new camp Comdt will take over tomorrow. 
Also that one of our pigs will be killed tomorrow. 
Our boots have not yet been issued nor our sugar issue. 
21^st Sunday. Usual church service. New Camp Comdt  
arrived this morning, also another officer to relieve B. We 
have not yet seen them but expect they will inspect 
us shortly. Bridge match agst an American squad has been 
arranged for this afternoon. We won. Magnificent evening 
meal. A stew instead of a soup with quite a lot of meat &  
a big bowl of cucumber salad in addition to a full issue of  
rice. Rumors are current that 110 from this camp are to be 
moved to another camp nearby. Also that a Red Cross shipment 
 has arrived & will be delivered to us shortly. 
22^nd Parade at 0900 hrs this morning when old camp Comdt &

B. said goodbye & new Comdt. introduced himself in a short 
speech. Dull day very cloudy but warm. Very large 
quantity of Red Cross goods were brought in today 
consisting of boots, individual "consolation" parcels, tinned 
beef, milk, meat & vegetables etc. & sugar etc. Five big 
lorry loads have arrived. At evening roll call it was 
announced that none of it would be issued until 
instructions arrived from Tokio. 
23^rd Beautiful still sunny morning. Will be able to get into  
shorts etc if this weather continues. New Camp Comdt 
has started by issuing some orders which he has 
received from Nippon H.Q, (a) only one pair of boots or 
shoes may be retained by each prisoner & sandshoes  
count as shoes. Slippers only may be kept in our rooms. 
I have had to cut down my sandshoes into slippers (b)  
No knives whatever, even table knives may be retained  
by any prisoner - we had to put them in to Jap H.Q. 
today (c) Everyone must sleep with their xxxxxx 
heads out to the centre of the room instead of 
alternatively head & feet. As our beds are only 7½" 
apart this is obviously very bad for health but 
it has to be carried out. This afternoon it was 
announced that we could change shoes now handed 
in by us for one pair of those taken on inspection of our 
heavy baggage if we wanted to do. As my shoes were 
wearing out I did so & got my heavy boots instead. 
Nobody  knows what is now going to happen to the Red 
Cross boots - a very large consignment - which came into 
the camp yesterday. More Red Cross goods arrived  
today including nearly a lorry load of sugar. An  
Announced that our monthly issue of sugar - due on 
9^th [[neto?]] but not yet issued - will not be made because 
of arrival of this Red Cross sugar. Rumored that 
no further sugar will be issued by camp authorities - 
it will disappear off our ration - until the whole  
of the Red Cross sugar is used up. It looks as though 
the Red Cross goods are going to be in substitution for 
our rations & not in addition to them. It has been  
quite hot today & I have worn shorts & shirt all day. 
Very small issue of cigs. & cigars in substitution for our 
order put in in Feby has arrived. All rest of Feby order 
has been cancelled. Position for cigs. is becoming very 
serious. 
24 Cloudy cold day. We were all weighed by the Japanese  
authorities this morning. Alarmed to find that my weight 
has dropped to 101 lb - 7 stone 3 -. Do Was 2 stone more 
than that in 1914!  Latest report is that Red Cross stores 
are to be kept in bulk for time being. 
25 Still very cold & showery. Intimation today that Gen 
in charge of all prison camps will visit here shortly & 
inspect. Meals still fairly good but definitely worse  
than a week or so ago. 
26^th Much warmer although cloudy. Check of Red Cross 
Stores shows following amounts as having coming in :- 
Cocoa 1456 lbs, Corned Beef 10,263 3/4 lbs, meat & Veget, 
Ration 5,809 lbs. Sugar 16,500 lbs, salt 3,000 lbs. Boots 
1179 pairs, Medical Stores 2 cases, Individual parcels 
1722. It is very annoying to know all these things are  
there but we cannot get at one of them! Still no  
work for most of us but 5 Squads went out today to 
finish their plots. 
Have learnt that every one of us has been debited with 
37 yen for purchase of farming implements, livestock
for farm etc. In spite of this Japs took a large proportion 
of the pig from our own farm which was killed the  
other day. 
The debits made by the Jap authorities against my March

26 (contd) drawing a/c are as follows. Total drawings allowed (47 yen) 
Wakamoto 3.20, miscell. .66, cigarettes (500) 20.10, miscell .78 
Playing cards 6.74, cigs. 2.0 (50). Generally speaking the prices are about 
50 % above value but that is because of the inaccessibility of our 
location as prices debited are the local ruling prices. 
27^th Beautifully warm sunny morning but overcast in afternoon.   
New Camp Comdt made inspection of whole camp this 
afternoon. Still no sign whatever of any Red Cross issue 
to us. 
28^th Dull drisly day. Usual Sunday service. Hot bath 
cancelled today - we presume because of coming inspection. 
29^th Rehearsal this morning for inspection. All day spent on 
"spit & polish" of whole area & steady crop of orders as 
to disposal of our gear. Dull cloudy day. Later in the 
evening was sent for to sign my March pay acquittance 
roll. Month's deduction :- Food 14.84, "Mending" 2.00 
Deduction for enlisted men 1%. My total credit to date 
is 2071 yen. So far have seen no sign of any mending  
material although badly in need of same. 
30^th Very cold wet night & still cold & rainy today. Inspecting 
officer arrived early in morning. We had reveille at  
0530, roll call at 0600 & breakfast at 0630. We then 
retired to our rooms as it was raining & were told  
to stay there. Inspecting party went straight to Jap H.Q  
& we saw nothing of them all morning. Finished the 
last of my oatmeal at breakfast. Midday meal very  
poor, one small bowl of rice & very weak soup made 
mainly from green tops of vegetables. 
31^st Reveille again at 0530. All ordered to parade "in best 
dress" at 0740. Breakfast was at 0630 - small bowl of  
rice & weak soup. Inspected by a Nippon Colonel - C.O. 
of Prisoners of War Camps in Taiwan I understand. Then  
sent to our rooms & later he came around & inspected us 
& our quarters. He examined Red X stores & sent for Col. Wood 
to whom he stated that the Red X stores were for all  
the prison camps in Taiwan - not only for ours. All 
every package is marked "Karenko" it sounds a bit  
remarkable. However I hope now we have got this  
far that we can get our share issued to us. 
April 1^st Warned late last night that all Brigadiers & upwards in 
the camp (including Judges, Governors etc) were to be moved to 
another camp. At about 0830 hrs were ordered to pack our 
heavy baggage immediately & deliver it out to front of  
barracks for despatch. Packed everything except personal 
toilet gear etc. About an hour later all our bedstead for  
taken out & sent away by lorry for the new camp. Fortunately 
there were 2 in our squad in hospital so Sitwell & I can  
sleep on their beds. In afternoon a small sugar issue out 
of broken bags in Red X goods - about ¼ lb per officer 
was made. In evening every man was issued with a  
loaf of bread & outwards party with 3 loaves for next day. 
April 2^nd Reveille at 0500 hrs - roll call 0510 - breakfast 0600 & 
parade of outwards party at 0740. Taking our own bedding, 
blankets etc and our own eating bowls (which I found difficult 
to pack as I had not expected to have to take same). Left 
camp per foot at 0800 & marched to railway station - about 
 10-15 walk. Impressed with look of Karenko town. Solid  
buildings, clean streets, general air of well-being. Shops 
very lightly stocked indeed, shelves almost bare. On 
arrival at station entrained in comfortable train although  
very crowded. Left at 0910 hrs long tedious trip. Arrived 
new camp right alongside railway line - not even a  
siding - at 0 1615 hrs. Do not know name of place. 
Train had all our baggage, bedsteads, tables, benches etc on it. 
Unloaded in record time so that train could move off. Could  
see nothing of sin country thro' which we traveled as shutters 
up all the way but from glimpses thro' door gathered it  
was agricultural country. First job was to carry our all 
gear into camp buildings etc - about 300 yds. Found it very 
difficult in my weakened condition but staggered along  
somehow. Prison is a single storied long barrack room