Jan Slimming - Captured at Singapore: A Diary of a Far East Prisoner of War

Captured at Singapore

Captured at Singapore

A Diary of a Far East Prisoner of War

Jill Robertson & Jan Slimming

First published in Great Britain in 2022 by

Pen & Sword Military

An imprint of

Pen & Sword Books Ltd

Yorkshire - Philadelphia

Copyright Jill Robertson and Jan Slimming, 2022

ISBN 978 1 39908 568 7

eISBN 978 1 39908 569 4

Mobi ISBN 978 1 39908 569 4

The rights of Jill Robertson and Jan Slimming to be identified as the Authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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Dedicated to our parents and generous relatives

who gave their time during

and after the Second World War

to help in their repatriation.

With sobering thoughts, in the aftermath of war,

you realised your lifes now for living,

when youve been heads down, bombs going off;

bullets flying all over.

Religiously its remarkable to be chosen to survive;

in reality it is luck, cruel luck, masses of it.

A survivor

Irecollect the childhood fear I experienced when German bombers flew overhead, and the excitement when a fighter plane crashed in the road just a few hundred yards from our home. I was too young then, to understand that Britain was engaged in a war of global dimensions. Certainly, too young to know that just after 5.15 p.m. on the Sunday afternoon of 15 February 1942, Lieutenant General Arthur Percival capitulated in Singapore to General Tomoyuki Yamashita of the Imperial Japanese Army.

Four years later, in 1946, following the cessation of hostilities, General Yamashita was executed for and I quote disregarding, and failing to discharge, his duty as a commander to control the acts of members of his command, by permitting them to commit war crimes. This controversial decision, known today as the Yamashita Standard, has a precedent extending back to the sixth century BC when in Sun Tzus The Art of War, he argued that a commanders duty was to ensure his subordinates conducted themselves in a civilised manner during armed conflict. However, we might well ask, What is civilised about warfare of any kind, engaged in or by any nation on earth?

As a 1950s teenager I had a job as a grocery store van-boy. One of the drivers was regarded as being a bit odd. He seemed moody, with a persistent cough. One day he failed to turn up for work, and I learned he had died. He was barely 40 years of age. I also learned that he was a former PoW under the Japanese and had suffered greatly. PTSD was never recognised as a serious disorder in those days, and I remember one former PoW telling me that following his release and repatriation, he was told to go home and not to talk about his experience of incarceration to anyone. The strain this silence imposed on that generation was significant.

At a recent commemoration, the grandson of a former PoW said he knew virtually nothing about the Second World War; the fall of Singapore in 1942 was a closed book for him. Alas, his experience is all too typical. Today relatives are encouraged to talk and share their stories, but widespread ignorance about contemporary history still exists and, therefore, it is important for all to comprehend events that have shaken the world causing untold distress to millions. If we are to work for a more peaceful world, we need to know our history. In truth, we fail lamentably to learn from the past not attempting to learn now, is no excuse. The consequences of The Capitulation had a dramatic effect on thousands, which fundamentally changed the Far East. This book, drawn from first-hand accounts, is a valuable addition to our understanding of contemporary history. It has been written not to condemn, but to help us understand and, hopefully, learn lessons that will aid us as we attempt to build a more peaceful, civilised world. Regularly on Remembrance Day we hear For your tomorrow we gave our today. We all need to ensure that their giving was not in vain.

Terry Waite CBE

Patron - CoFEPOW

No more sign of anymore shells but situation getting bad. We were in a vehicle convoy; of course, the Japs came and bombed us.

They were surrounded in Singapores urban area as they dodged bombs trying to defend the Jewel of the Empire.

There was ack-ack and gunfire, and all sorts flying around, but our small arms fired and beat the little bomber off. It was amazing to see the Japanese aircrafts two cockpits and their pilots. The chap in the rear cockpit leaned out over the side of the aircraft to fire his hand pistol at us!

As the trucks accelerated the troops held on for their lives, rocking from side to side to take them to safety. Young lads, younger than Stan, were cheering and jeering at the aggressors from beneath the khaki canopy, while Stans co-fighters, issued with Lee & Enfield rifles, dared to return fire.

This analogy holds a poignancy and sentiment of a bygone era, where troops were pawns in a wargame with little assistance to get them home, until two Atom bombs exploded, killing innocent Japanese people. This left FEPOW (Far East prisoners of war) children born after 1945 with a short, sharp shock as they realised they might never have existed.

Reading our fathers handwritten diary, it occurred to us the definition of the faint outlines he crafted during the Second World War, were not the only emotions he sensed as a healthy young man. The tiny writing was faded and difficult to read, but its fragility endured captivity and post-war years to reveal this story.

The men were ill-treated, and malnutrition made their bodies fade in an imposed prison sentence where escape from disease and death was not an option.

For those who survived, the experience was simply expected to fade in their minds, as well as become a faded memory among future generations.

Authors note: The diary texts of the prisoners of war in this book are written in a language during a time when, understandably, there was a deep hatred of the people who terrorised and hurt their victims in this theatre of war, some of which is now unacceptable. Terms such as Jap and Nip were commonplace at the time of their experience and in some instances, their later written accounts. Some have been adjusted; however, certain references remain so as not to obscure the true emotions felt at the time.