Batu lintang camp
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Batu Lintang camp (also known as Lintang Barracks and Kuching POW camp) at
Kuching Kuching (), officially the City of Kuching, is the capital and the most populous city in the States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Sarawak in Malaysia. It is also the capital of Kuching Division. The city is on the Sarawak River ...
,
Sarawak Sarawak (; ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the M ...
on the island of
Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and eas ...
was a
Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...
internment camp during the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. It was unusual in that it housed both
Allied An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold priso ...
(POWs) and civilian internees. The camp, which operated from March 1942 until the liberation of the camp in September 1945, was housed in buildings that were originally
British Indian Army The British Indian Army, commonly referred to as the Indian Army, was the main military of the British Raj before its dissolution in 1947. It was responsible for the defence of the British Indian Empire, including the princely states, which co ...
barracks. The original area was extended by the Japanese, until it covered about 50 acres (20 hectares). The camp population fluctuated, due to movement of prisoners between camps in Borneo, and as a result of the deaths of the prisoners. It had a maximum population of some 3,000 prisoners.Keith 76 Life in the camp was harsh, with POWs and internees alike forced to endure food shortages, disease and sickness for which scant medicine was made available,
forced labour Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, violence including death, or other forms of ex ...
, brutal treatment, and lack of adequate clothing and living quarters. Of the approximately 2,000 British POWs held there, over two-thirds died during or as a result of their captivity.Ooi 1998, 636 The construction and operation of a secret radio receiver for over 2½ years, from February 1943 until the liberation of the camp, was a morale booster and allowed the prisoners to follow the progress of the war. Discovery would have resulted in certain death for those involved. Following the unconditional
surrender of Japan The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally signed on 2 September 1945, bringing the war's hostilities to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy ...
on 15 August 1945, the camp was liberated on 11 September 1945 by the
Australian 9th Division The 9th Division was a division of the Australian Army that served during World War II. It was the fourth division raised for the Second Australian Imperial Force (2nd AIF). The distinctions of the division include it being: * in front line comb ...
. On liberation, the camp population was 2,024, of whom 1,392 were POWs, 395 were male civilian internees and 237 were civilian women and children. Amongst official Japanese papers found at the camp following its liberation were two "death orders". Both described the proposed method of
execution Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the State (polity), state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to ...
of every POW and internee in the camp. The first order, scheduled for enactment on 17 or 18 August, was not carried out; the second was scheduled to take place on 15 September. The timely liberation of the camp may have prevented the murder of over 2,000 men, women and children. In July 1948, a teachers' training college moved to the site, where it continues to this day, the oldest such establishment in Malaysia.


Location and organisation

Kuching lies some up the
Sarawak River The Sarawak River ( ms, Sungai Sarawak) is a river in Sarawak, Malaysia. It is an important source of water and transportation for the inhabitants in southwestern Sarawak. The river is also used for water-related sport activities such as the annu ...
from the sea; the camp was situated some to the southeast of Kuching. The barracks were built by the Sarawak Government in early 1941, when Britain, in agreement with the Rajah of Sarawak, sent the 2nd Battalion, 15th Punjab Regiment of the
British Indian Army The British Indian Army, commonly referred to as the Indian Army, was the main military of the British Raj before its dissolution in 1947. It was responsible for the defence of the British Indian Empire, including the princely states, which co ...
(2/15th Punjab Regiment) to defend Sarawak in case of attack by the Japanese. The camp, known from its inception as Batu Lintang, was near completion for occupation by May 1941. The Japanese first invaded the island of Borneo in mid December 1941, landing on the west coast near
Miri ) , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = State , subdivision_name1 = , subdivision_type2 = Division , subdivision_name2 ...
; invasion was completed by 23 January 1942 when they landed at
Balikpapan Balikpapan is a seaport city in East Kalimantan, Indonesia. Located on the east coast of the island of Borneo, the city is the financial center of Kalimantan. Balikpapan is the city with the largest economy in Kalimantan with an estimated 2 ...
on the east coast. The first Allied prisoners held in the camp were about 340 British and Indian soldiers who were interned there in mid-March 1942. In time, it held both Allied POWs and Allied civilian internees. Local Sarawakians including
ethnic Chinese The Chinese people or simply Chinese, are people or ethnic groups identified with China, usually through ethnicity, nationality, citizenship, or other affiliation. Chinese people are known as Zhongguoren () or as Huaren () by speakers of s ...
were not interned in the camp, although some were imprisoned in Kuching gaol. Allied civilian prisoners came almost exclusively from different territories on Borneo: from
North Borneo North Borneo (usually known as British North Borneo, also known as the State of North Borneo) was a British Protectorate, British protectorate in the northern part of the island of Borneo, which is present day Sabah. The territory of North Borneo ...
(now Sabah), from
Brunei Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi alphabet, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely sur ...
, from the
Straits Settlements The Straits Settlements were a group of British territories located in Southeast Asia. Headquartered in Singapore for more than a century, it was originally established in 1826 as part of the territories controlled by the British East India Comp ...
island of
Labuan Labuan (), officially the Federal Territory of Labuan ( ms, Wilayah Persekutuan Labuan), is a Federal Territory of Malaysia. Its territory includes and six smaller islands, off the coast of the state of Sabah in East Malaysia. Labuan's capit ...
, and from
Sarawak Sarawak (; ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the M ...
, all of which were under British control, and from Dutch Borneo (now
Kalimantan Kalimantan () is the Indonesian portion of the island of Borneo. It constitutes 73% of the island's area. The non-Indonesian parts of Borneo are Brunei and East Malaysia. In Indonesia, "Kalimantan" refers to the whole island of Borneo. In 2019, ...
). In contrast, the POWs were brought to Batu Lintang from places such as mainland Malaya and Java as well as from Borneo. Many spent time at transit or temporary camps, such as the one at Berhala Island, North Borneo, prior to their transfer to Batu Lintang.Ooi 1998, 286 The camp officially opened on 15 August 1942, at which time a commemoration stone was erected at the camp. The camp commandant was Lieutenant-Colonel (Lt.-Col.)
Tatsuji Suga Lieutenant-Colonel (22 September 1885 – 16 September 1945) of the Imperial Japanese Army was the commander of all prisoner-of-war (POW) and civilian internment camps in Borneo, during World War II. A war criminal, Suga died by suicide five ...
. Suga was the commandant of all
POW A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war ...
and internees’ camps in Borneo; there were others at
Jesselton , image_skyline = , image_caption = From top, left to right, bottom:Kota Kinabalu skyline, Wawasan intersection, Tun Mustapha Tower, Kota Kinabalu Coastal Highway, the Kota Kinabalu City Mosque, the Wism ...
(later Kota Kinabalu),
Sandakan Sandakan (, Jawi: , ) formerly known at various times as Elopura, is the capital of the Sandakan District in Sabah, Malaysia. It is the second largest city in Sabah after Kota Kinabalu. It is located on the Sandakan Peninsula and east coast of ...
and briefly on
Labuan Labuan (), officially the Federal Territory of Labuan ( ms, Wilayah Persekutuan Labuan), is a Federal Territory of Malaysia. Its territory includes and six smaller islands, off the coast of the state of Sabah in East Malaysia. Labuan's capit ...
island and also at
Tarakan Tarakan is an island and the largest city of the Indonesian province of North Kalimantan. The island city is located in northern Borneo, midway along the coast of the province. The city boundaries are co-extensive with the island (including a co ...
,
Banjarmasin ) , translit_lang1 = Other , translit_lang1_type1 = Jawi , translit_lang1_info1 = بنجر ماسين , settlement_type = City , motto = ''Kayuh Baimbai'' ( Banjare ...
and
Kandangan Kandangan is a district and the regency seat of South Hulu Sungai Regency in South Kalimantan province. The district has an area of 106.71 square kilometers. According to mid 2021 estimates, the population of the district was 49,204 people spread ...
; Suga was often absent from Batu Lintang as a result. His second-in-command was Lieutenant (later Captain) Nagata; some sources say Negata or Nekata. Most of the camp guards were
Koreans Koreans ( South Korean: , , North Korean: , ; see names of Korea) are an East Asian ethnic group native to the Korean Peninsula. Koreans mainly live in the two Korean nation states: North Korea and South Korea (collectively and simply refe ...
, with a few Formosans (Taiwanese). There was a range of administrative buildings, quartermaster’s stores, guard houses, guards’ quarters and a camp hospital. Throughout its operation, all the camps at Batu Lintang, including the internee ones, were conducted under prisoner-of-war rules.Keith 83 The entire camp was surrounded by a perimeter barbed wire fence. The internees were segregated into categories and assigned separate compounds, each of which was also surrounded by barbed wire fencing. There were 8–10 compounds,Kirby 1969, Appendix 30 although their make-up varied through the period of operation of the camp. The make-up was determined by the arrival and departure of different groups of prisoners as Batu Lintang camp was also used as a transit camp: at one point some of the
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
n and British soldiers who were later to die on the
Sandakan Death Marches The Sandakan Death Marches were a series of forced marches in Borneo from Sandakan to Ranau which resulted in the deaths of 2,434 Allied prisoners of war held captive by the Empire of Japan during the Pacific campaign of World War II at the ...
were held at the camp. Contact between the inhabitants of the different compounds was forbidden and transgressors were severely punished. The main groups of POWs were British
officer An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," f ...
s, Australian officers and
non-commissioned officer A non-commissioned officer (NCO) is a military officer who has not pursued a commission. Non-commissioned officers usually earn their position of authority by promotion through the enlisted ranks. (Non-officers, which includes most or all enli ...
s (NCOs),
Royal Netherlands East Indies Army The Royal Netherlands East Indies Army ( nl, Koninklijk Nederlands Indisch Leger; KNIL, ) was the military force maintained by the Kingdom of the Netherlands in its colony of the Dutch East Indies, in areas that are now part of Indonesia. The ...
(KNIL) officers, British Other Ranks, British Indian Army (2nd/15th Punjab Regiment) personnel,
Netherlands East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...
(Indonesian) KNIL soldiers. The British and Australian personnel had mostly been sent from Malaya and
Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
, after the Allied surrender there, whereas the KNIL soldiers and the Punjab Regiment had defended Borneo. The civilian internees were mostly Dutch
Roman Catholic priest The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the Holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in layman's terms ''priest'' refers only ...
s, British civilians (including children), and British and Dutch Catholic
nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...
s. There were a handful of Chinese and Eurasian civilian internees. Each compound had its own "camp master" (or "camp mistress", in the case of the women's compound). The camp master was responsible for liaising between the internees and the Japanese authorities. Each compound contained a number of long barrack buildings, usually , each of which housed 30–100 people. A barrack master was appointed for each building. The camp and barrack masters were appointed by Colonel Suga. In addition, the Dutch other ranks and about 50 British soldiers were stationed in a separate compound at the Kampong Batu Tujoh airfield (also known as Bukit Stabah), near Kuching. The camp included areas that had once been a
rubber tree ''Hevea brasiliensis'', the Pará rubber tree, ''sharinga'' tree, seringueira, or most commonly, rubber tree or rubber plant, is a flowering plant belonging to the spurge family Euphorbiaceae originally native to the Amazon basin, but is now pa ...
plantation, and some of the trees remained inside the compounds, providing a limited amount of shade.


Compounds

Living conditions within the compounds were cramped. Each person was allotted a very small space within a barrack building within which to sleep, keep the few personal possessions they had with them, and also to eat, as there was no communal area within the barracks. ;British officers and NCOs: This was described as "''perhaps the most commodious''" compound, with a fair amount of workable land.Ooi 1998, 317 At first the officers were with the British other ranks, but they were separated out into this compound on 5 February 1943. Including the three huts, the compound was 2½ acres (1 ha) in area with 1½ acres (0.6 ha) of cultivable land. The Officer in Charge and overall British Military Authority was Lt.-Col. M. C. Russell, until his death on 5 June 1943; Lt.-Col T. C. Whimster took over the role thereafter. The compound held 134 men in September 1944. ;Australian officers and NCOs: On liberation, 178 Australian officers and NCOs were held at Batu Lintang, in a compound which was without sufficient land for cultivation. The Officer in Charge was Lt.-Col. A. W. Walsh. The Australian other ranks were held in a camp at
Sandakan Sandakan (, Jawi: , ) formerly known at various times as Elopura, is the capital of the Sandakan District in Sabah, Malaysia. It is the second largest city in Sabah after Kota Kinabalu. It is located on the Sandakan Peninsula and east coast of ...
. ;Dutch officers and NCOs: This was without sufficient land for cultivation. The Officer in Charge was Lt.-Col. Mars. ;British other ranks: British soldiers were "''kept in grossly over-crowded barracks, with inadequate kitchen, lighting, water and sanitary services.''" They had no land for cultivation. Initially the compound held 1,500 POWs, with additional soldiers arriving thereafter taking the total to around 2,000, but by the end of the war the figure had been reduced to about 750. The Officer in Charge was RSM (later 2nd Lt) S. T. Sunderland. ;British Indian Army other ranks: Soldiers from 2nd/15th Punjab Regiment were interned at Batu Lintang. The Indian POWs were housed in two huts, with no land for cultivation. ;KNIL soldiers: Indonesian soldiers were housed in a small compound close to the British other ranks' compound. ;Roman Catholic priests and religious men: The Catholic priests, brothers and religious men, mostly Dutch and Irish, lived in a separate compound, with a large plot of land to grow vegetables. They numbered 110, including 44 Capuchin friars, 5 Mountfort missionaries, 22 ''Broeders van Huijbergen'' (Brothers of Huijbergen) and 38
Mill Hill Missionaries The Mill Hill Missionaries (MHM), officially known as the Saint Joseph's Missionary Society of Mill Hill ( la, Societas Missionariorum S. Ioseph de Mill Hill), is a Catholic society of apostolic life founded in 1866 by Herbert Alfred Vaughan, MH ...
. At liberation, there were 395 civilian men, which included the priests. ;Male civilian internees and some boys: In 1943, approximately 250 male civilian internees (excluding Roman Catholic Mission personnel) were held in this compound. From July 1942 until 14 November 1944 the camp master was C. D. Le Gros Clark (brother of
Wilfrid Le Gros Clark Sir Wilfrid Edward Le Gros Clark (5 June 1895 – 28 June 1971) was a British anatomist, surgeon, primatologist and palaeoanthropologist, today best remembered for his contribution to the study of human evolution. He was Dr Lee's Professor of ...
), the former Chief Secretary, Sarawak Government; Lt.-Col. W. C. C. Adams (of the North Borneo Constabulary), who had been assistant camp master, then served in the role until liberation. Accounts mention a British civilian internee named Don Tuxford whose eight-year-old son was in the compound with him, while Tuxford's wife and daughter Julia were in the women's compound; other sources state that Dutch boys over the age of ten were sent to the men's compound rather than being placed with the women, as the Japanese considered them men at that age. The total number of male children held in the men's camp is uncertain. ;Female civilian internees (including nuns) and children: This compound was located at the western part of the camp, slightly removed from the other compounds. The internees were mostly Dutch and British, with a few Eurasian and Chinese women, and four American women, including
Agnes Newton Keith Agnes Newton Keith (July 4, 1901 – March 30, 1982) was an American writer best known for her three autobiographical accounts of life in North Borneo (now Sabah) before, during, and after World War II. The second of these, '' Three Came Home'', ...
. Their quarters were described by an internee as "''new and fair''" and "''they had a reason blearea for cultivation.''" The camp mistress was initially Mother Bernardine, an English Roman Catholic nun, but when she became ill Mrs. Dorie Adams, wife of the master of the men’s camp, took over the role. The women were housed in five very small barracks and each person was allotted a space of 6 feet by 4 feet (1.8m by 1.2m) in which to live and store their possessions. A chapel was constructed at one end of one of the huts. :In March 1944, the women’s compound comprised 280 people: 160 nuns, 85 secular women and 34 children. By September 1944 the population had declined to 271; at liberation there were 237 women and children in the compound.Long 563 Of the nuns, the large majority were Dutch Roman Catholic sisters, with a few English sisters. Initially there were 29 children in the compound, but by April 1943 there were 34. The oldest of these was seven when she entered the camp. None of the children died in the camp; the women often went without provisions to ensure the children's survival. A Roman Catholic priest from the nearby priests' compound came to the women's compound daily at 7am to say mass, and the children were taught by the nuns.


Daily life in the camp

Life in the camp is summed up by Keat Gin Ooi: "''The trying conditions of life under internment at Batu Lintang camp tested to the limits of the human struggle for survival. Food shortages, diseases and sickness, death,
forced labor Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, violence including death, or other forms of ex ...
, harsh treatment, and deplorable living quarters were daily occurrences in camp.''" The civilian internees were treated less harshly than the POWs; of those POWs, the other ranks were subjected to far worse treatment than the officers.


Work

The male civilian internees' regulations (prepared by the internees themselves) stated that "''Any persons who are not performing some useful work in war-time are failing in their moral obligation. Internees should therefore do their best to do such work as ... agriculture, farming, and stock-breeding, in order to increase the supply of foodstuffs to the camp.''" Some male civilian internees chose to cultivate land around their compound in order to become self-supporting; however, the other work imposed on them meant that they never cultivated the land to its full effect. Some refused to carry out this work, even though it was for the common good. Work included wood-gathering parties, latrine duties, working as cookhouse staff and medical orderlies. Sundays were a rest day, but these were later cut to one in every three weeks. POWs and male civilian internees were forced to work as stevedores and in timber yards at Kuching harbour on the
Sarawak River The Sarawak River ( ms, Sungai Sarawak) is a river in Sarawak, Malaysia. It is an important source of water and transportation for the inhabitants in southwestern Sarawak. The river is also used for water-related sport activities such as the annu ...
and from October 1942, on the extension of the two runways at the Batu Tujoh landing ground to the south of Kuching, where a small sub-camp was constructed. Another sub-camp was made at Dahan, where the Japanese re-opened an old
mercury Mercury commonly refers to: * Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun * Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg * Mercury (mythology), a Roman god Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to: Companies * Merc ...
mine, and used POWs to construct access roads. Such work was prohibited by the
1907 Hague Convention The Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 are a series of international treaty, treaties and declarations negotiated at two international peace conferences at The Hague in the Netherlands. Along with the Geneva Conventions, the Hague Conventions w ...
, to which Japan was a signatory. Although it was against international law to force the prisoners to work on projects with a military objective, they were informed that refusal to work on these projects would result in their execution. Other forced labour included refuelling the Zero fighters that used the runways; however, this happened only once as the men
sabotage Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. One who engages in sabotage is a ''saboteur''. Saboteurs typically try to conceal their identitie ...
d the operation by adding urine and water to the fuel. The work party men were paid in what the prisoners called "camp dollars", the printed paper currency introduced by the Japanese administration. This currency was known colloquially as "banana money" because of the banana trees pictured on the 10 dollar notes. At one point the rate was 25 cents a day for officers and NCOs and 10 cents a day for other ranks. As time went on, the working parties became smaller, as there was a lack of available men due to sickness and death. The women were at first allowed to undertake domestic tasks around their compound; later they were forced to undertake work for the Japanese such as mending uniforms, for which they were also paid in camp dollars. In the later part of the war, when the food shortages had become critical, all internees, male and female, were also used as agricultural labourers on the land around the camp, to produce food for their Japanese captors. The prisoners referred to themselves as "white
coolies A coolie (also spelled koelie, kuli, khuli, khulie, cooli, cooly, or quli) is a term for a low-wage labourer, typically of South Asian or East Asian descent. The word ''coolie'' was first popularized in the 16th century by European traders acros ...
".Ooi 1998, 368 Only 30 men were fit enough to attend the final work parties in 1945; the rest were either too ill, or already dead.


Food

Rations were always meagre but decreased in both quantity and quality as the war progressed. The women and children drew the same rations as the men. The Japanese controlled all food supplies, releasing only what was needed for the day. At the beginning, the rations comprised rice and local vegetables (such as ''
kangkung ''Ipomoea aquatica'', widely known as water spinach, is a semi- aquatic, tropical plant grown as a vegetable for its tender shoots. ''I. aquatica'' is generally believed to have been first domesticated in Southeast Asia. It is widely cultivate ...
''), with every 10 days or so some pork (such as offal, or a head, or some poor-meat bearing part of the animal). The daily rice ration in late 1943 was 11 ounces (312 grams) a day; by the end of the war the rice ration was about 4 ounces (113 grams) per man daily. In September 1944, children were recorded as receiving of milk a day. A
black market A black market, underground economy, or shadow economy is a clandestine market or series of transactions that has some aspect of illegality or is characterized by noncompliance with an institutional set of rules. If the rule defines the se ...
emerged in which the main merchants were a Dutch-Indonesian couple, who obtained goods from a Japanese guard and sold them for a profit to those with cash or tradable goods. At the times of greatest hardship the internees were so hungry that they were reduced to eating snakes, rubber nuts (which were believed to be poisonous), snails and frogs, and rats, cats and dogs if they could be caught. On special occasions an extra ration would be introduced. In the British POW compounds 58 chickens were provided for 1,000 men for Christmas 1942; the next Christmas the women received a single turkey to share between 271 women and children. At Christmas 1944, their last in captivity, the internees received a single egg each. Only one
Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...
supply of parcels was received by the prisoners between March 1942 and September 1945. This arrived in March 1944 and worked out at one sixth of a parcel per person: a single tin of food. Prisoners occasionally were able to buy or barter chicks which they raised on worms and beetles and rice sweepings from the quartermaster's store floor (other edible food scraps being too precious to use). Those which were female provided much-needed eggs.


Health

A camp hospital was set up and run by a Japanese medical officer, Dr. Yamamoto. The prisoners believed that his policy was "''live and let die''",Ooi 1998, 366 and the hospital became "''a filthy germ-ridden death hole''". Lionel E. Morris, a sapper with the British Army
Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...
, wrote that Yamamoto "''never attended to ... sick or diseased men''".Ooi 1998, 380 Yamamoto issued an order that no rations were to be issued to men in the hospital. The prisoners pooled their food and the sick were provided for even though it meant all others went short. Care of all prisoners was left to the camp doctors, such as Colonel King and Captain Bailey in the POWs' compounds and Dr. Gibson in the women’s compound. The hospital comprised three huts in January 1943 and housed both POWs and civilians. The standard of accommodation was very low and crowded, and facilities were virtually non-existent. A hut was later built for tuberculosis patients. In early September 1945 the camp hospital comprised about 30 beds under the care of Lt.-Col. E. M. Sheppard. Little medicine was available to the internees from the Japanese: they provided small amounts of quinine and aspirins. Morris recounts how Yamamoto would quite often beat sick men until they fell down, especially if they approached him for drugs. Few Red Cross supplies were available and most medication was bought or bartered from the outside world or from the guards themselves. No anaesthesia was available for operations. The main source of medical supplies in early 1943 was a pro-Allied
ethnic Chinese The Chinese people or simply Chinese, are people or ethnic groups identified with China, usually through ethnicity, nationality, citizenship, or other affiliation. Chinese people are known as Zhongguoren () or as Huaren () by speakers of s ...
family who lived nearby and were assisting in the provision of materials for the construction of a radio.


Disease

The mortality rate amongst the British soldiers was extremely high: ⅔ of the population of POWs died in the camp. It was suggested that this high rate was partly because most had come direct from Europe and were not acclimatised and had no idea about the importance of tropical hygiene. Tropical ulcers—which are often
diphtheria Diphtheria is an infection caused by the bacterium '' Corynebacterium diphtheriae''. Most infections are asymptomatic or have a mild clinical course, but in some outbreaks more than 10% of those diagnosed with the disease may die. Signs and s ...
appearing as a secondary infection of a skin disease—were a common medical complaint, along with
dysentery Dysentery (UK pronunciation: , US: ), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complications ...
,
malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...
,
beri-beri Thiamine deficiency is a medical condition of low levels of thiamine (Vitamin B1). A severe and chronic form is known as beriberi. The two main types in adults are wet beriberi and dry beriberi. Wet beriberi affects the cardiovascular system, r ...
,
dengue Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne tropical disease caused by the dengue virus. Symptoms typically begin three to fourteen days after infection. These may include a high fever, headache, vomiting, muscle and joint pains, and a characteristic ...
,
scabies Scabies (; also sometimes known as the seven-year itch) is a contagious skin infestation by the mite ''Sarcoptes scabiei''. The most common symptoms are severe itchiness and a pimple-like rash. Occasionally, tiny burrows may appear on the skin ...
, and septic bites and sores. 600 men out of 1000 were unfit for work in January 1943 owing to beri beri and skin conditions. Deaths from dysentery increased towards the end of the period of captivity. A British NCO, E. R. Pepler, commented that "'' n wasted away from their normal weight of over ten stone 40 ''lb''/64 ''kg''to three or four stones 2–56 ''lb''/19-25 ''kg''... As the time passed on to 1945, the deaths in our camp rom dysenterywere taking place at two or three every day''".


Malnutrition

Malnutrition caused most of the invalidity and was a major factor in the high mortality rate in the camp, ascribed as the chief cause of death in 600 deaths in the camp. It was considered by the relieving forces that the Japanese were pursuing a policy of deliberate starvation. The basic diet only contained 1.5 ounces (44 grams) of protein and had a calorific value of 1600. J. L. Noakes, a male civilian internee wrote:
"''In common with many others I experienced the pain of food deficiency disease and by May 1944 it was difficult to work and nights were a torture. My eyes failed rapidly and it became impossible to read or to distinguish objects clearly. The death rate for the whole camp jumped at an alarming rate and we began to realise that we must now begin a real fight for existence.''"
By November 1944 the suffering caused by malnutrition was profound, as recorded by Hilda E. Bates, a female civilian internee who was a nurse based in Jesselton prior to the war:
"''We are having a particularly hungry period and can quite truthfully say that our mouths water, and that we 'slaver' as dogs do before meals. Some of us find it advisable to rise slowly after lying down, as due to malnutrition, any rapid movement is apt to cause dizziness or even a black-out ... one morning recently I awoke and discovered to my horror that my sight had become very dim. Later I realised this was due to vitamin deficiency in our poor diet.''"
By the end of their third year of internment, most women suffered from
amenorrhoea Amenorrhea is the absence of a menstrual period in a woman of reproductive age. Physiological states of amenorrhoea are seen, most commonly, during pregnancy and lactation (breastfeeding). Outside the reproductive years, there is absence of menses ...
due to malnutrition. In May 1945 Hilda Bates met some of the male civilian internees at the funeral of a friend:
"''I was horrified to see their condition. Some had formerly been strong men of twelve to fourteen stone '' 68–196 lb/76-89 kg' in weight, but were now reduced to mere shadows of themselves, and weighed less than eight stone '' 12 lb/51 kg'. .. nthe soldiers camp ... many of the men were just skeletons, — crawling about, as few were able to stand upright. Even our toddlers received the same rations as these poor ouls and the children are still hungry, so what must have been the suffering of those men, many of whom are hardly more than boys?''"Ooi 1998, 337
On 30 August 1945, after Suga had officially informed the prisoners of the Japanese surrender but before the liberation of the camp, Hilda Bates visited the sick POWs:
"''I was horrified to see the condition of some of the men. I was pretty well hardened to sickness, dirt and disease, but never had I seen anything like this in all my years of nursing. Pictures of hospitals during the
Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...
showed terrible conditions, but even those could not compare with the dreadful sights I met on this visit. Shells of men lay on the floor sunken-eyed and helpless; some were swollen with hunger,
oedema Edema, also spelled oedema, and also known as fluid retention, dropsy, hydropsy and swelling, is the build-up of fluid in the body's tissue. Most commonly, the legs or arms are affected. Symptoms may include skin which feels tight, the area ma ...
and ber-beri, others in the last stages of dysentery, lay unconscious and dying. They had no pillows or clothes, few cups, fewer bowls, or even medical supplies. ..There were three hundred desperately sick men, many unable to help themselves, or to carry food to their mouths. Throughout our internment, we women had begged to be allowed to nurse the soldiers, but the Japanese refused our offer, saying this would be indecent''".
On his release, L. E. Morris, who was one of the "healthy" prisoners, weighed five stone, three pounds ().


Brutality

Brutality by the guards was another factor that damaged the health of many of the prisoners. Hilda Bates described the guards' treatment of the male prisoners: "''Their favourite methods of punishment are either kicking below the waist with their heavy army boots, face slapping or striking the head with a rifle butt''". Failure to bow properly to a guard was a common cause of a beating. Hilda Bates wrote of "''One male internee howas paralysed for a week following Japanese brutality, simply because he had not made his bow in what the Japs considered a proper manner''". E. R. Pepler recorded that "''a favourite punishment was to make the offender stand in the blazing sun with his arms above his head holding a log of wood. If the prisoner or his arms sagged, he was punched or kicked. This treatment usually lasted until the prisoner completely collapsed''".Ooi 1998, 391 Prisoners suspected of more serious misdemeanours were taken by the Japanese military police, the ''
Kempeitai The , also known as Kempeitai, was the military police arm of the Imperial Japanese Army from 1881 to 1945 that also served as a secret police force. In addition, in Japanese-occupied territories, the Kenpeitai arrested or killed those suspecte ...
'', for interrogation at the former Sarawak Police headquarters in Kuching.
Torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts c ...
was a common method of extracting information. After the Japanese defeat, an Australian war crimes investigation team worked in Kuching from the liberation until January 1946. Of around 120 guards, more than 70 had a crime or crimes ascribed to them.Ooi 1998, 667


Clothing

Clothing wore out quickly: the tropical climate meant that clothes had to be washed every day, and the rigours of labouring in them meant that they soon became torn, worn and threadbare. An enterprising male internee, J. R. Baxter, entered the camp with two pairs of shorts; as they wore out he constructed a new pair from them by glueing together the constituent parts with
latex Latex is an emulsion (stable dispersion) of polymer microparticles in water. Latexes are found in nature, but synthetic latexes are common as well. In nature, latex is found as a milky fluid found in 10% of all flowering plants (angiosperms ...
from the rubber trees growing in the camp. The Japanese did not provide replacement clothing for the prisoners when their clothes wore out. After a period male internees and POWs were issued with a loincloth and perishable rubber shoes, which soon degraded and meant in effect that most prisoners went barefoot. The women fared a little better, often bartering possessions for material: clothes were fashioned out of whatever material was to hand, such as sheets and breakfast cloths. Many of the women kept their best clothes unworn in readiness for their expected eventual liberation, while their other clothes became more and more shabby. Prior to their liberation, supplies were dropped by the Australians. Hilda Bates recorded: "''The soldiers received shorts, shoes, and blankets with instructions not to appear naked in future!''".Ooi 1998, 624


Purchasing, bartering and smuggling

Prisoners were able to buy a small range of provisions from their captors at Japanese prices, which escalated as the war went on.Ooi 1998, 315
Black market A black market, underground economy, or shadow economy is a clandestine market or series of transactions that has some aspect of illegality or is characterized by noncompliance with an institutional set of rules. If the rule defines the se ...
eering was sometimes tolerated by the guards, as they themselves were involved in the buying or exchanging of goods, and at other times punished severely. Although contact with the outside world was forbidden, there were plenty of opportunities to communicate with the locals. Firewood-gathering gangs in the jungle were able to make contact and arrange purchases when the guards were not paying attention; at other times these transactions were permitted with the permission of and in the presence of a lenient Japanese guard. Gold, in the form of rings and jewellery, and British pounds were in demand by the Japanese guards. Such was the desperation of the prisoners towards the end of their
internment Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...
that two soldiers disinterred a recently buried body in order to retrieve the dead man's wedding ring. Smuggling became an integral part of camp life, and despite frequent searches, foodstuffs in particular were smuggled into the camp (for example, dried fish was nailed to the underside of wooden bins, and the inside of a hat was a favourite hiding place). Occasional dangerous night-time forays to outside the camp netted foodstuffs such as a chicken or eggs or fruit. The Japanese currency (the "camp dollars") was used by the prisoners illicitly to purchase supplies from the locals.


Social life

Le Gros Clark, as men's camp master, issued regular official bulletins to his compound regarding meetings with Suga and other Japanese officers.Firkins 119 Communication between the various compounds and with the outside world was forbidden. Married male internees were refused permission to see their wives and children on
Christmas Day Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, ...
, 1943. Occasional, irregular meetings were allowed between married couples. Pre-printed postcards to be sent home with stock phrases such as "I am well" and "We have plenty of food" were issued occasionally; Agnes Keith records that these were issued three times a year but in May 1945 it was decided that a certain percentage of the camp had to include a
propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...
sentence in addition to the 25 permitted words of free text. She wrote:
"''I decided that he sentenceswere all so obvious that my people would know they were propaganda. I sent the following card:''
"''Seven communications sent. Seven received. Health moderate. George'' eith's son''well, energetic, roughneck, reminds me my brother. Fed-up with war. Hopes deferred. Borneo is a beautiful place for living, a dreamland where the scenery is beautiful, little birds sing, very delicious fruits grow, we are very happy here. Agnes, Harry,'' eith's husband''George''"
"''My aunt told me later that she had never felt as downhearted about my fate as when she received that card. She said that obviously I had lost my mind.''"
Sacks of undelivered mail both to and from the prisoners were discovered in the camp on liberation. Working bees were held at Christmas time to make gifts for the children: worn-out clothing was cut up and sleeves, collars, and hems were cut from clothing still in use to provide materials for soft toys. More robust toys, such as scooters, carts, swords, and guns were made from materials such as barbed wire and the wood of rubber trees in and around the compounds. The nuns provided food and gifts for each child. The Japanese officers also gave sweets and biscuits to the children at Christmas. A concert was organised for Christmas 1942, as well as inter-compound games; another less lavish Christmas concert took place in 1943, and a concert party was briefly established before disbanding due to the illness and death of its members. Lt. Frank "Tinker" Bell was largely responsible for conceiving and organising what became known by the prisoners as the "Kuching University". This operated in the British officers' compound. Under Japanese regulations prisoners were forbidden to teach, to learn, to compile or possess notes on any subject whatever, or to meet in groups for discussion. The penalty for disobedience was imprisonment or death. Despite this the university, led by Bell, established classes in seven modern languages, as well as subjects as diverse as history, public speaking, navigation, pig-farming, civics and poultry keeping. Bell and his fellow educators organised courses, compiled text books, led classes, and awarded diplomas. Classes were often held in the evenings when dusk or darkness gave some protection against surprise by their captors. Paper for writing exercises and for compiling textbooks was always at a premium: books were fashioned out of paper from soap wrappers, newspaper, the backs of letters and envelopes, and cigarette paper. These were bound into books and often covered with sarong material. Other informal clubs, mainly comprising discussion groups, were established in the other compounds. They covered topics such as chess and draughts (checkers), book-keeping, sailing, and French conversation lessons. A central library for all the camp was run from the British Officers' compound, with books donated by the internees and some from the civilian library in Kuching town.


Cemetery

Initially the dead were buried in the cemetery at Kuching. The high death rate meant that this was soon filled, however, and in November 1942 a new cemetery area was created next to the camp at an area to the south-east known as "Boot Hill". The cemetery was within sight of the camp. At first the dead were buried in coffins, but soon the number of fatalities and the shortage of timber meant that shrouds made from rice sacks or blankets were used instead. The bodies were carried to the grave in a wooden coffin with a hinged bottom, which allowed re-use. Hilda Bates wrote in June 1945: "''I am horrified at the increased number of graves in the burial ground. Deaths are now so frequent, that a party of grave diggers is now permanently employed, and given extra rations in order that they will have the strength to dig''". After liberation the bodies were exhumed from the cemetery and sent to Labuan for reburial in a central military cemetery there. A large number of the graves of prisoners from Batu Lintang now at Labuan are unidentified: after the Japanese surrender Suga destroyed many camp records. The cemetery in Labuan is cared for by the
Commonwealth War Graves Commission The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations mil ...
.


The radio (the "Old Lady") and generator ("Ginnie")

Information on the outside world was gathered from a variety of sources, such as from co-workers of the Batu Lintang work parties at Kuching docks. An invaluable boost to the prisoners' morale was provided by a secret radio receiver, from which they were able to learn about the progress of the war. This had been constructed from scavenged and bartered parts. A generator was later constructed to power the radio. The construction of the radio was ordered by Russell. He and some 1150 other POWs had arrived at Batu Lintang on 13 October 1942 from
Tanjung Priok Tanjung Priok is a district of North Jakarta, Indonesia. It hosts the western part of the city's main harbor, the Port of Tanjung Priok (located in Tanjung Priok District and Koja District). The district of Tanjung Priok is bounded by Laksaman ...
camp in
Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...
, where a small group of men had worked on constructing a radio. His proposal was initially met with a distinct lack of enthusiasm, as discovery would result in certain death. One of these men was G. W. Pringle, a member of the British military police. He wrote "Do these madmen ever seriously consider these idiotic plans before putting men's lives in danger?" It was known that
ethnic Chinese The Chinese people or simply Chinese, are people or ethnic groups identified with China, usually through ethnicity, nationality, citizenship, or other affiliation. Chinese people are known as Zhongguoren () or as Huaren () by speakers of s ...
people in Sarawak were pro-Allied, and so contact was made with the Ongs, the leading Chinese family in Kuching, who lived about a mile from the camp, to see if they could assist in providing parts. The first night-time attempt, by G. W. Pringle, was a failure as he could not find his way through the dense jungle to the house. A reconnoitre mission was required. To achieve this, Russell suggested to Dr Yamamoto that as the area was a breeding ground for mosquitoes (with the resultant risk of malaria, which would affect Japanese and prisoner alike), the jungle should be cleared and sprayed. Pringle took part on this working party and was able to plot his route. He subsequently made contact and Ong Tiang Swee,
Kapitan China Kapitan Cina, also spelled Kapitan China or Capitan China ( en, Captain of the Chinese; ; nl, Kapitein der Chinezen), was a high-ranking government position in the civil administration of colonial Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Borneo and the ...
of Sarawak and the patriarch of the Ong family, agreed to help. Ong instructed his grandson, Kee Hui to help Pringle obtain the needed parts. This was at massive risk to the family's own safety as they too would have been executed if discovered. Their only condition was that they should be provided with the news gathered from the radio, in order to boost the morale of the Chinese community under occupation in Kuching. They provided some radio parts, the acquisition of which must have been a considerable task as all radio equipment had been confiscated by the Japanese. The radio was built and operated in the British other ranks' compound. The maker of the radio was Warrant Officer Leonard A. T. Beckett, an experienced radio engineer, who was assisted in its construction, operation, and concealment by a core group of three other soldiers. Before Beckett could begin on the radio he first had to make some of the tools needed, such as a lathe and a soldering iron. In addition to the genuine radio parts provided by the Chinese family and a few parts brought along with the men from Tanjung Priok, the radio was constructed from items as diverse as a deaf aid, the steering damper of a
Norton Norton may refer to: Places Norton, meaning 'north settlement' in Old English, is a common place name. Places named Norton include: Canada * Rural Municipality of Norton No. 69, Saskatchewan *Norton Parish, New Brunswick **Norton, New Brunswick, a ...
motorcycle, a bakelite shaving soap container, an army mess tin, the backing of an old map case, pieces of glass, wire, mica and barbed wire, and parts stolen from Japanese-owned motor cars and motorcycles. The receiver was completed within four weeks of starting. The radio was concealed during its construction in a large stewing-pot; once completed its hiding place was in a biscuit tin buried under the bakehouse fire in the British other ranks' compound. It was operated in the stores where it had a temporary hiding place in a false-bottomed table. Elaborate security proceedings to protect the radio were put in place, including a network of look-outs. The radio at first ran off torch batteries: these soon ran out and so Beckett constructed a power unit to run off the camp electricity supply. Access to the camp powerhouse was gained by one of the POWs who had been a professional cat burglar before the war. The radio was first used on the night of 24 February 1943, as radio reception was better in the evening. Some of the news was bewildering to the prisoners: "''Who is this
General Montgomery Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, (; 17 November 1887 – 24 March 1976), nicknamed "Monty", was a senior British Army officer who served in the First World War, the Irish War of Independence and ...
? He seems to be the man we ought to have had in charge from the very beginning. A real live wire''", wrote Pringle. The existence of the radio, referred to by many code-names but chiefly as the "Old Lady" and "Mrs Harris", was to be a closely guarded secret, for fear of alerting the Japanese to its existence through loose talk. The commanding officers of the camp and those who had constructed and operated it were known as the "Board of Directors", and were the only ones who knew the precise contents of the radio news received. A way of disseminating information was organised: it was arranged for rumours to be spread which contained a considerable amount of truth. Le Gros Clark, the head of the male internees, directed the dissemination of news amongst the male internees;Ooi 1998, 549 it was decided not to provide information to the women's compound. News was also passed to the Chinese once a week, carried through the jungle by Pringle. On the first exchange, without being asked, the Chinese thoughtfully provided medical supplies; thereafter they regularly provided much-needed medicines, money, and vegetable seeds. The leaked news rumours had the desired effect and a more cheerful atmosphere was noted in the camp. The women's compound somehow learned of the existence of the radio and the camp mistress, Dorie Adams, asked that they should be provided with news; to counter worries about security she suggested that the Roman Catholic priest who celebrated mass with the R.C. nuns should deliver the news as part of his service, which was always given in Latin. In early March 1943 the provision of electric power for the lighting in the internees' compounds was halted. This was a serious blow as the radio was run off the power supply. Batteries were unavailable and so the only solution, again the idea of Russell, was to construct a generator. His idea again met with some initial scepticism: "Now I know he has gone mad", wrote Pringle. Pringle’s colleagues were more enthusiastic. Beckett was sure he could build the generator and British
RAOC The Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC) was a corps of the British Army. At its renaming as a Royal Corps in 1918 it was both a supply and repair corps. In the supply area it had responsibility for weapons, armoured vehicles and other military equip ...
personnel were certain they could supply the necessary components, though they thought it would take three months to make the tools needed. To disguise the noise of the work the enterprise was described as a "watch repairing factory" to the Japanese, who offered the use of various tools and other equipment.Ooi 1998, 498 In March 1943, after the execution of some prisoners at the Sandakan POW camp for operating a radio, the Japanese stepped up their searches at Batu Lintang. Many items essential for the construction of the generator such as magnets, wire, and scrap iron were not easily available, but the involvement of "Freddie", one of the prisoners who was a self-confessed thief (and most likely the same man who had previously obtained a power supply: records are unclear) meant that material and equipment was soon obtained. The generator needed to turn at 3,000 revolutions a minute, and so the fittest of the men involved in its construction was chosen to turn the wheel. He was given extra food rations to prepare him for the task. The first trial of the generator was a success, and again, Pringle recorded how news reports told of unknown figures: "''Events appeared to have been moving with unseemly haste during our enforced breaks from the news broadcasts. elistened to names we had never heard of.
General Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...
? General Stilwell?''" The assembling and disassembling drill took less than thirty seconds, with both the "Old Lady" and "Ginnie" stowed in their hiding places in the hut which was occupied by cookhouse staff during the day. In June 1944, Le Gros Clark was taken from the camp by the ''kempeitai'' for questioning. On his return the same day, he was considerably shaken and recommended that the radio should be destroyed. This message was relayed to the camp master of the British other ranks' compound by Whimster, who was the senior British officer. Beckett and his colleagues were informed of this order, but were left to decide themselves what course of action to take. Realising its importance in keeping up camp morale, they decided to keep the radio, saying that "''we might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb''", according to Pepler. Steps to safeguard the civilian internees were undertaken by cutting off news to their compounds. That same month the prisoners received news of the
invasion of Normandy Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the Norm ...
. Pringle recorded how, once again, the news brought unfamiliar names to the prisoners' attention: "Blood and Guts
Patton George Smith Patton Jr. (November 11, 1885 – December 21, 1945) was a general in the United States Army who commanded the Seventh United States Army in the Mediterranean Theater of World War II, and the Third United States Army in Franc ...
'. Now there is a name for a General! ... Somehow though, we feel that with a General bearing the name of 'Blood and Guts' there is little danger of the Germans dislodging his army''". It was clear that such important news would have a great effect in the camp; at the same time, the rejoicing it would bring would undoubtedly alert the Japanese. It was therefore decided to provide a hint to the other prisoners, rather than the full information. This was again delivered by a priest, this time by the padre officiating at one of the numerous funeral services. He quoted
Exodus Exodus or the Exodus may refer to: Religion * Book of Exodus, second book of the Hebrew Torah and the Christian Bible * The Exodus, the biblical story of the migration of the ancient Israelites from Egypt into Canaan Historical events * Ex ...
chapter 15, verses 9 and 10, which refer to pursuing, overtaking and destroying the enemy, and the sea. News of the bombing of London by
V-2 The V-2 (german: Vergeltungswaffe 2, lit=Retaliation Weapon 2), with the technical name ''Aggregat 4'' (A-4), was the world’s first long-range guided ballistic missile. The missile, powered by a liquid-propellant rocket engine, was develope ...
rockets was withheld. The news of the German capitulation on 7 May 1945 was similarly cryptically relayed at a funeral by the padre. This time the verse was
Exodus Exodus or the Exodus may refer to: Religion * Book of Exodus, second book of the Hebrew Torah and the Christian Bible * The Exodus, the biblical story of the migration of the ancient Israelites from Egypt into Canaan Historical events * Ex ...
chapter 3, verse 8, concerning the deliverance of the Israelites from the Egyptians to the land of milk and honey; extra piquancy was added by the fact that Suga was present at this service.


End of the war for Batu Lintang

In the Allied plans for the
South West Pacific theatre The South West Pacific theatre, during World War II, was a major theatre of the war between the Allies and the Axis. It included the Philippines, the Dutch East Indies (except for Sumatra), Borneo, Australia and its mandate Territory of ...
, the responsibility for re-taking the island of Borneo was entrusted to Australian forces. Prior to the Australian landings, strategic bombing and reconnaissance missions were undertaken by the
RAAF "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...
and
USAAF The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
. The first Allied planes, 15 USAAF Lockheed Lightnings were seen over the camp on the morning of 25 March 1945, as they flew on a mission to bomb the Batu Tujoh landing ground. Raids continued sporadically over the next few weeks. A lone
Flying Fortress The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater ...
regularly attacked targets in Kuching. The
Borneo campaign The Borneo campaign or Second Battle of Borneo was the last major Allied campaign in the South West Pacific Area during World War II to liberate Japanese-held British Borneo and Dutch Borneo. Designated collectively as Operation Oboe, ...
was launched on 1 May 1945, with a brigade of the
Australian 9th Division The 9th Division was a division of the Australian Army that served during World War II. It was the fourth division raised for the Second Australian Imperial Force (2nd AIF). The distinctions of the division include it being: * in front line comb ...
landing at Tarakan, on the eastern coast of Dutch Borneo. The American armed forces provided naval and air support to assist the landings, and in some cases the Australians were assisted by the advance landings of the
Services Reconnaissance Department Services Reconnaissance Department (SRD), also known as Special Operations Australia (SOA) and previously known as Inter-Allied Services Department (ISD), was an Australian military intelligence and special reconnaissance unit, during World War II. ...
(SRD) and their local allies. This was followed by landings in Brunei and Labuan on 10 June. In early July, a raid was made by
Mosquito Mosquitoes (or mosquitos) are members of a group of almost 3,600 species of small flies within the family Culicidae (from the Latin ''culex'' meaning " gnat"). The word "mosquito" (formed by ''mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish for "li ...
aircraft on oil and petrol dumps near to the camp.Ooi 1998, 606 Liberation still seemed a remote prospect, however: "''As the weeks dragged by, the lone planes of the Allies were a daily occurrence and as we had realised very early that they could do nothing to help us, we hardly took any notice of them''". The
atomic bombings The United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August 1945, respectively. The two bombings killed between 129,000 and 226,000 people, most of whom were civilians, and remain the onl ...
in Japan at
Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui h ...
on 6 August 1945 followed by that of
Nagasaki is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in the ...
on 9 August precipitated the abrupt end of the war. On 15 August 1945, Japan announced its official
unconditional surrender An unconditional surrender is a surrender in which no guarantees are given to the surrendering party. It is often demanded with the threat of complete destruction, extermination or annihilation. In modern times, unconditional surrenders most ofte ...
to the Allied Powers. The POWs learned of the surrender early in the morning of 15 August, in a broadcast by Radio Chungking received by the secret radio. Pringle made one last journey through the jungle to inform his Chinese friends. The news was immediately broken to the British other ranks' compound, and quickly spread to the other compounds. Celebratory meals were prepared, with precious supplies and livestock used up. The Japanese guards were unaware of their country's surrender, and as the day coincided with an official camp holiday, marking the opening of the camp on 15 August three years previously, they were satisfied that the celebrations were related to the break from the working parties. The women learned shortly afterwards, when the married women had their scheduled meeting with their husbands. Under
General Order No. 1 General Order No. 1 ( Japanese:一般命令第一号) for the surrender of Japan was prepared by the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff and approved by President Harry Truman on August 17, 1945. It was issued by General Douglas MacArthur to the ...
, issued on 16 August by
General Douglas MacArthur Douglas MacArthur (26 January 18805 April 1964) was an American military leader who served as General of the Army for the United States, as well as a field marshal to the Philippine Army. He had served with distinction in World War I, was ...
, as Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers, the Japanese were required to provide information on the location of all camps and were responsible for the safety of prisoners and internees, for providing them with adequate food, shelter, clothes and medical care until their care could pass to the Allied powers, and for handing over each store together with its equipment, stores, arms and ammunition and records to the senior Allied officer in each camp. Since it was known that in many areas prisoners and internees were suffering from starvation and neglect, it was of the first importance that they were contacted and recovered as soon as possible. Despite the surrender, the Japanese would remain in control of the camp until 11 September. During this period, there were no work parties and the prisoners did not suffer any beatings. "It became apparent during the next few days that the Japanese soldiers knew something had happened but were not sure what it was", wrote Pepler. Extra food was provided by the Japanese shortly afterwards; the camp hospital was furnished with bed chairs and mosquito nets for the first time, and substantial amounts of medicine were issued. A pamphlet in English titled ''JAPAN HAS SURRENDERED'' was dropped over the camp by three Beaufighters on 16 August. From 19–23 August, leaflets were dropped by aircraft all over known areas in which the Japanese were concentrated, giving general war news and news of the progress of the surrender. On August 19 or 20, more leaflets were dropped on the camp. Signed by Major-General
George Wootten Major General Sir George Frederick Wootten, (1 May 1893 – 31 March 1970) was a senior Australian Army officer, public servant, right wing political activist and solicitor. He rose to the rank of temporary major general during the Second Wor ...
, General Officer Commanding, 9th Division, they informed the prisoners of the surrender of Japan, and stated "''I know that you will realise that on account of your location, it will be difficult to get aid to you immediately, but you can rest assured that we will do everything within our power to release and care for you as soon as possible''". On 24 August, Suga officially announced to the camp that Japan had surrendered. On 29 August letters were dropped on the camp, instructing the Japanese commander to make contact with the Australian commanders. The letter contained a code of panel signals which enabled Suga to indicate that he agreed to the dropping of supplies for the prisoners and that he would meet Australian representatives later. These panels were placed on the roof of one of the buildings and can be seen in the photograph at the start of the article (above). Stores in long canisters (known by the aircraftmen as "storpedos") were first parachuted into the camp from a
RAAF "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...
Douglas Dakota The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota ( RAF, RAAF, RCAF, RNZAF, and SAAF designation) is a military transport aircraft developed from the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II and remained in ...
on 30 August. A female internee, Hilda Bates, wrote: "''At 11.30 a.m. today a sea-plane dropped twenty parachutes with packages attached. One fell outside our hut and was labelled 'bread'. Others contained flour, tinned rabbit, and other meat. The goods were collected by the Japs under the supervision of Australian Officers who distributed them to the groups of internees. All sorts of what we had thought of as luxuries arrived; such as sugar, sweets, milk, bundles of clothing, and even fashion books!''". Further supplies were dropped daily; tragedy struck on 7 September when a male civilian internee was hit and killed by a storpedo that had broken free from its parachute. The official Instrument of Surrender was signed on 2 September ending World War II. After communicating with the Japanese staff at Kuching, Colonel A. G. Wilson landed on the Sarawak River on 5 September and conferred with the commander of the Japanese forces there, who confirmed there were 2,024 Allied prisoners and internees in the area. The next day, Brigadier Thomas Eastick, commander of Kuching Force—a detachment from the 9th Division—flew to the mouth of the Sarawak River in a
Catalina Catalina may refer to: Arts and media * ''The Catalina'', a 2012 American reality television show * ''Catalina'' (novel), a 1948 novel by W. Somerset Maugham * Catalina (''My Name Is Earl''), character from the NBC sitcom ''My Name Is Earl'' ...
where three Japanese officers, including Suga, came aboard for talks. The task of Kuching Force was to accept the surrender of and impound the Japanese forces in the Kuching area, release and evacuate Allied prisoners and internees, and establish military control. At the meeting, Suga presented Eastick with complete nominal rolls of all compounds in the camp. On 7 September, Walsh was permitted by the Japanese to fly to the headquarters of the 9th Division on Labuan island, to collect surgical and medical supplies for the camp. He returned with two Australian medical officers, Major A. W. M. Hutson and Lt.-Col. N. H. Morgan. Pepler recorded how "''Dr Yamamoto came in for one hell of a time from these two Medical Officers when they saw the state of the majority of our camp. Up-to-date medical care and drugs soon began to show effect upon our sick and many lives were saved by these two officers. Out of the two thousand of us who entered that camp, only seven hundred and fifty survived and of these well over six hundred were chronic sick''".


Death orders

Immediately prior to the surrender of Japan, rumours abounded in the camp that the Japanese intended to execute all the prisoners rather than allow them to be freed by the approaching Allied forces; when Dr Yamamoto informed some prisoners that they were to be moved to a new camp they naturally feared the worst, especially when he promised the unlikely idyll of a camp "''equipped with the best medical equipment obtainable ... there would be no working parties and food would be plentiful ... the sick men would be especially well cared for''". Official orders to execute all the prisoners, both POWs and civilian, on 17 or 18 August 1945 were found in Suga's quarters after the liberation of the camp. The orders were not carried out, presumably as a result of the unconditional surrender of Japan on 15 August. A "death march", similar to those at
Sandakan Sandakan (, Jawi: , ) formerly known at various times as Elopura, is the capital of the Sandakan District in Sabah, Malaysia. It is the second largest city in Sabah after Kota Kinabalu. It is located on the Sandakan Peninsula and east coast of ...
and elsewhere, was to have been undertaken by those male prisoners physically able to undertake it; other prisoners were to be executed by various methods in the camp: *1 All POWs and male internees to be marched to a camp at milestone 21 and
bayonet A bayonet (from French ) is a knife, dagger, sword, or spike-shaped weapon designed to fit on the end of the muzzle of a rifle, musket or similar firearm, allowing it to be used as a spear-like weapon.Brayley, Martin, ''Bayonets: An Illustr ...
ed there *2 All sick unable to walk to be treated similarly in the Square at Kuching n the square at the camp rather than in Kuching town*3 All women and children to be burnt in their barracks Revised orders for the execution on 15 September 1945 of all the internees were also found, this time in the Administration Office at Batu Lintang: *Group 1 Women internees, children and nuns – to be given poisoned rice *Group 2 Internee men and Catholic Fathers to be shot and burnt *Group 3 POWs to be marched into the jungle, shot and burnt *Group 4 Sick and weak left at Batu Lintang main camp to be bayoneted and the entire camp to be destroyed by fire The camp was liberated on 11 September 1945, four days before the revised proposed execution date of over 2,000 men, women and children.


Liberation of the camp

On 8–9 September, the
Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister of ...
corvette , with Eastick and staff officers on board, sailed for Kuching, along with . At 14:35 on 11 September, Eastick accepted the surrender of the Japanese forces in the Kuching area from their commander, Major-General Hiyoe Yamamura, on board HMAS ''Kapunda''. Later that day the Australian occupying force landed. The 9th Division troops arrived at Batu Lintang camp that afternoon, accompanied by a few American naval officers. There was no resistance from the Japanese troops. The prisoners and internees had been forewarned that there would be no delay in taking the surrender, and quickly gathered at 17:00 in the main square of the camp to witness Eastick accept the sword of Suga. The Japanese finally learned of the existence of the radio in a dramatic fashion:
"''The Australian Commander, Major General'' ic''Eastick ... mounted the rostrum and after accepting the sword of surrender from Suga was about to dismiss him when a shout, rising simultaneously from the throats of the Board of Directors of the 'Old Lady' and 'Ginnie' stopped the proceedings. 'Hold on, we have something to show you.' Carrying the radio and generator Len eckettproudly showed them to the General and turning to Suga, asked, 'Well, what do you think about it Suga?' Now I know the full meaning of the saying 'If looks could kill.' Len would have died a horrible death''".
The following day, Suga, together with Captain Nagata and Dr Yamamoto, were flown to the Australian base on Labuan, to await their trials as war criminals. Suga committed suicide there on 16 September. Nagata and Yamamoto were later tried, found guilty and executed. Photographers and cameramen accompanied the liberating force, and the events, and those of the following days, were well-documented. On liberation, the camp contained 2,024 inmates: 1,392 prisoners (including 882 British, 178 Australian and 45 Indian); and 632 internees. The most ill prisoners were taken to Kuching Civil Hospital, which had been entirely refitted by the Australians since serving as the Japanese military hospital. On 12 September, a thanksgiving service was held in the camp, led by two Australian chaplains from the liberating force and Bishop Francis S. Hollis of Sarawak, an ex-internee. This was followed by a parade held in honour of Wootten, as commander of the 9th Division. In appreciation of Beckett's work on the radio, fellow ex-prisoners in the camp subscribed over £1,000 for him, a massive sum of money for the time, which Beckett intended to use to set up a wireless business in London, his hometown. Beckett was later awarded the
British Empire Medal The British Empire Medal (BEM; formerly British Empire Medal for Meritorious Service) is a British and Commonwealth award for meritorious civil or military service worthy of recognition by the Crown. The current honour was created in 1922 to ...
for his work on the radio. Repatriation commenced on 12 September, and by 14 September, 858 former prisoners had been removed, though pressure of numbers meant that some were still at Batu Lintang a week after liberation. Ex-prisoners were transported by ship (including '' Wanganella'', an Australian hospital ship) and in eight Douglas Dakotas and two Catalinas, to the 9th Division's "Released Prisoners of War and Internees Reception Camp", and the 2/1st Australian Casualty Clearing Station (CCS) on Labuan, before continuing their journeys homeward. The captured Japanese soldiers were then held at Batu Lintang camp. There they were visited by J. B. Archer, an ex-internee, who noted "There were about eight thousand of them ... it was difficult not to feel aggrieved at the good treatment they were receiving compared to what we had received at their hands. A lunch of fried rice, fish, vegetable and dried fruit was shown to me. This, I was told, was just an ordinary sample."


Post-war

By June–July 1946, the bodies in the cemetery at Batu Lintang had been exhumed and reburied in the military cemetery on Labuan island. In 1947, a grant was approved for the establishment of a teachers' training college on the site. It exists as such to the present day, the oldest in Malaysia. Of the numerous huts that had housed the prisoners, only 21 were considered fit for use in 1947; after refurbishment the college moved in July 1948 from its temporary home in Kuching to the site at Batu Lintang. The huts have gradually been replaced over the years, although a few remnants of the site's former life remain. These include a single hut (albeit with a galvanised roof rather than the attap (palm leaf) one of the war), the old gate posts, the gate bunker and stump of the Japanese flag pole. There is also a small museum on the site. ''
Three Came Home ''Three Came Home'' is a 1950 American post-war film directed by Jean Negulesco, based on the memoirs of the same name by writer Agnes Newton Keith. It depicts Keith's life in North Borneo in the period immediately before the Japanese invasi ...
'', an account of female internee
Agnes Newton Keith Agnes Newton Keith (July 4, 1901 – March 30, 1982) was an American writer best known for her three autobiographical accounts of life in North Borneo (now Sabah) before, during, and after World War II. The second of these, '' Three Came Home'', ...
's time in the camp, was published in 1947. It was later made into a feature film of the same name, with
Claudette Colbert Claudette Colbert ( ; born Émilie Claudette Chauchoin; September 13, 1903July 30, 1996) was an American actress. Colbert began her career in Broadway productions during the late 1920s and progressed to films with the advent of talking pictures ...
playing the part of Agnes,
Patric Knowles Reginald Lawrence Knowles (11 November 1911 – 23 December 1995), better known as Patric Knowles, was an English film actor. Born in Horsforth, West Riding of Yorkshire, he made his film debut in 1932, and played either first or second fi ...
playing her husband
Harry Harry may refer to: TV shows * ''Harry'' (American TV series), a 1987 American comedy series starring Alan Arkin * ''Harry'' (British TV series), a 1993 BBC drama that ran for two seasons * ''Harry'' (talk show), a 2016 American daytime talk show ...
and
Sessue Hayakawa , known professionally as , was a Japanese actor and a matinée idol. He was a popular star in Hollywood during the silent film era of the 1910s and early 1920s. Hayakawa was the first actor of Asian descent to achieve stardom as a leading man i ...
in the role of Suga. The
Union Jack The Union Jack, or Union Flag, is the ''de facto'' national flag of the United Kingdom. Although no law has been passed making the Union Flag the official national flag of the United Kingdom, it has effectively become such through precedent. ...
which had been draped over the coffins of prisoners of war at the camp, and which had been raised in the camp on the Japanese capitulation, was placed in
All Saints Church, Oxford All Saints Church is a former church on the north side of the High Street in central Oxford, England, on the corner of Turl Street. It is now the library of Lincoln College. This former church is Grade I listed. History The original All Saints ...
in April 1946, together with two wooden memorial plaques. After the deconsecration of the church and their temporary loss, in 1993 the flag and plaques were housed in
Dorchester Abbey The Abbey Church of St Peter and St Paul, more usually called Dorchester Abbey, is a Church of England parish church in Dorchester on Thames, Oxfordshire, about southeast of Oxford. It was formerly a Norman abbey church and was built on the ...
. The
Australian War Memorial The Australian War Memorial is Australia's national memorial to the members of its armed forces and supporting organisations who have died or participated in wars involving the Commonwealth of Australia and some conflicts involving pe ...
in Canberra, Australia holds a large archive of material related to the camp, much of which is accessible on the AWM website in the collections databases. In England, the
Imperial War Museum Imperial War Museums (IWM) is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, the museum was intended to record the civil and military ...
in London also houses material about the camp, as does the Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at
Rhodes House Rhodes House is a building part of the University of Oxford in England. It is located on South Parks Road in central Oxford, and was built in memory of Cecil Rhodes, an alumnus of the university and a major benefactor. It is listed Grade II* on ...
in Oxford. Many of the personal recollections held at the latter two repositories are reproduced in the 1998 publication by Keat Gin Ooi (see below for full reference). Originally the site was commemorated by a small stone. A more formal memorial was opened at the site of the camp in April 2013. Various memorial ceremonies have been held at the site of the camp, including one on 11 September 2020 to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the camp.


Batu Lintang in March 2007: gallery

File:Batu_Lintang_ammunition_bunker.jpg, Ammunition bunker. File:Batu_Lintang_flagpole.jpg, Remains of the Japanese flagpole at the site of Lt.-Col. Suga's office. File:Batu_Lintang_Japanese_monument.jpg, Japanese monument at the main road leading to the camp. File:Batu_Lintang_memorial.jpg, Prisoner of War camp memorial. File:Batu_Lintang_memorial_plaque.jpg, Plaque of the Prisoner of War camp memorial. File:Batu_Lintang_Punjabi_Barracks.jpg, 'Punjabi Barracks', a reconstructed building. Currently the oldest building in the camp grounds.


POWs and internees of note

* Edward Banks, naturalist and museum curator (internee) * Frank Bell, educator (POW) * Dr Marcus C. Clarke (internee) *
Philip Crosland Philip Crosland (30 July 1918 – 14 July 2012) was "one of the last of a group of British journalists to make a career working in the Indian national press." Life Philip William John Crosland was born in Guildford, Surrey, eldest of four chi ...
, journalist (POW) * Kenelm Hubert Digby, proposer of the notorious 1933 "King and Country" debate and later Attorney General and judge in Sarawak (internee) * I. H. N. Evans, anthropologist, ethnographer and archaeologist (internee) *
Ranald Graham Ranald Ian Mackenzie Graham (3 January 1941 – 29 August 2010) was a Scottish writer, director and producer, best known for his writing work on the British television series '' The Sweeney'', '' The Professionals'' and '' Dempsey and Makepeace'' ...
, writer, director and producer (child internee) *
Francis Hollis Francis Septimus Hollis (10 November 1884 – 4 February 1955) was a British clergyman in the Anglican Church. He held the position of Bishop of Labuan and Sarawak in Southeast Asia from 1938 until 1948. Hollis was the son of George Hollis ...
, Anglican Bishop of Labuan and Sarawak (internee) *
Agnes Newton Keith Agnes Newton Keith (July 4, 1901 – March 30, 1982) was an American writer best known for her three autobiographical accounts of life in North Borneo (now Sabah) before, during, and after World War II. The second of these, '' Three Came Home'', ...
, author (internee) *
Harry Keith Henry George Keith (1899–1982), known as Harry Keith, was a British forester and plant collector. Keith is credited with starting the process of large-scale conservation of the forests of North Borneo (now Sabah). In 1984 a new species of '' ...
, forester and plant collector (internee)Ooi, Keat Gin (1998) ''Japanese Empire in the Tropics: Selected Documents and Reports of the Japanese Period in Sarawak, Northwest Borneo, 1941-1945'' Ohio University Center for International Studies, Monographs in International Studies, SE Asia Series 101 (2 vols) *
Cyril Drummond Le Gros Clark Cyril Drummond Le Gros Clark ('C. D.') (1894 – 6 July 1945), brother of Wilfrid Le Gros Clark, was a translator of Su Shi from Chinese into English, and Chief Secretary of Sarawak. After marrying Averil Mackenzie-Grieve in 1925. In preparation ...
, Secretary of Sarawak, and translator of
Su Shi Su Shi (; 8 January 1037 – 24 August 1101), courtesy name Zizhan (), art name Dongpo (), was a Chinese calligrapher, essayist, gastronomer, pharmacologist, poet, politician, and travel writer during the Song dynasty. A major personality of ...
from Chinese into English (internee) * Michael P. O'Connor (writer), doctor, writer and broadcaster (internee) *
Alan Rice-Oxley Lieutenant Alan Rice-Oxley (1 July 1896 – 21 July 1961) was a British pilot during World War I. He became a flying ace in 1918, credited with six aerial victories. Early life He was born as Alan Rice Oxley in Kings Langley, Hertfordshire on 1 J ...
, World War I flying ace (internee) *
Charles Robert Smith Sir (Charles) Robert Smith (13 November 1887 – 4 November 1959) was a British Governor of North Borneo from 1937 until 18 January 1942, and again from 11 September 1945 until October 1946. During the period from 1942–1945 during World War II, ...
, Governor of North Borneo (internee) *
Keith Wookey Walter Keith Caple Wookey (1912 - 1963), also known as Keith Wookey, was a District Officer and later Resident in the post-war British Colonial Government of North Borneo. At some point Wookey was the most senior official stationed in Sandaka ...
, colonial administrator (internee) *
George Cathcart Woolley George Cathcart Woolley (24 December 1876 – 6 December 1947) was a British colonial administrator in North Borneo (now Sabah) in the early part on the twentieth century. Woolley was also an ethnographer and an ardent collector, and the ...
, colonial administrator and ethnographer (internee) * William Young, later a centenarian and last surviving veteran of the Royal Flying Corps (internee) "Great War veteran dies aged 107"], ''
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...
'', 26 July 2007


See also

*
List of Japanese-run internment camps during World War II A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to: People * List (surname) Organizations * List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America * SC Germania List, German rugby union ...


Notes


References

*Anonymous (1944) "Kuching Internment Camp, July 1943" ''The Chronicle: A Quarterly Report Of The Borneo Mission Association'' 28(1), 7 (March 1944) *Archer, B. E. (1999) ''A study of civilian internment by the Japanese in the Far East, 1941–45'' Essex: B. Archer (University of Essex PhD thesis) *Archer, Bernice (2004) ''The Internment of Western Civilians under the Japanese 1941–45, A Patchwork of Internment'' London: Routledge Curzon (A 2008 reprint with expanded final chapter has been published by Hong Kong University Press) *Archer, John Belville (1946) (collected and edited) ''Lintang Camp: Official Documents from the Records of The Civilian Internment Camp (No 1 Camp) at Lintang, Kuching, Sarawak, During the Years 1942-1943-1944-1945''. Published as a pamphlet March 1946 *Archer, John Belville (1997) ''Glimpses of Sarawak Between 1912 & 1946: Autobiographical Extracts & Articles of an Officer of the Rajahs'' Compiled and edited by Vernon L. Porritt Special Issue of the Department of South-East Asian Studies, University of Hull *Arvier, Robyn (2001) ''"Caesar's Ghost!": Maurie Arvier's story of war, captivity and survival'' Launceston, Tasmania. Arvier was in the Australian officers' camp * Arvier, Robyn (collected and edited) (2004) ''Don’t worry about me: Wartime letters of the 8th Division A.I.F.'' Launceston, Tasmania: Bokprint. * Bell, Frank (1991) ''Undercover University'' (revised edition) Cambridge: Elisabeth Bell. (Originally published in 1990, same ISBN). Bell was in the British officers' camp; his wife published his account after his death *Brown, D. A. D. (1946) "Reminiscences of Internment" ''The Chronicle: A Quarterly Report Of The Borneo Mission Association'' 29(3), 37 (December 1946) *Colley, George S. Jr. (1951) ''Manila, Kuching and return 1941–1945'' San Francisco: privately printed (first printing 1946). Colley was in the male civilians' camp; his wife was in the female civilians' camp *Cunningham, Michele K. (2006) ''Defying the Odds. Surviving Sandakan and Kuching'' Lothian Books/Hachette Livre *Darch, Ernest G. (Airman) (2000) ''Survival in Japanese POW Camps with Changkol and Basket'' London: Minerva Press. (also published by Stewart Books, Ontario, Canada). Darch was in the British other ranks' camp *Dawson, Christopher (1995) ''To Sandakan: The Diaries of Charlie Johnstone Prisoner of War 1942–45'' St Leonards, Australia: Allen & Unwin. Johnstone, an Australian serving in the RAF, was in the British officers' camp *Digby, K. H. (1980) ''Lawyer in the Wilderness'' Ithaca, New York: Cornell University (Data Paper 114, Southeast Asia Program, Department of Asian Studies) Digby was in the male civilians' camp * Evans, Stephen R. (1999) ''Sabah (North Borneo) Under the Rising Sun Government'' Printed in Malaysia, no publisher details or ISBN. Contains an account by J. R. Baxter, who was in the male civilians' camp *Firkins, Peter (1995) ''Borneo Surgeon: A Reluctant Hero'' Carlisle, Western Australia: Hesperian Press. . A biography of Dr James P. Taylor, Principal Medical Officer in North Borneo when the Japanese invaded. His wife Celia was in the female civilians' camp *Forbes, George K. ''et al.'' (1947) ''Borneo Burlesque: Comic Tragedy/Tragic Comedy'' Sydney: H. S. Clayton. Edition limited to 338 copies * Howes, Peter H. H. (1976) "The Lintang Camp: Reminiscences of an Internee during the Japanese Occupation, 1942–1945" ''Journal of the Malaysian Historical Society (Sarawak Branch)'' 2, 33–47. Howes was a Church of England priest in Sarawak, and was in the male civilians' camp *Howes, Peter H. H. (1994) ''In a Fair Ground or Cibus Cassowari'' London: Excalibur Press. * Keith, Agnes Newton (1955) ''
Three Came Home ''Three Came Home'' is a 1950 American post-war film directed by Jean Negulesco, based on the memoirs of the same name by writer Agnes Newton Keith. It depicts Keith's life in North Borneo in the period immediately before the Japanese invasi ...
'' London: Michael Joseph (Mermaid Books). Originally published in 1947 by Little Brown and Company, Boston, Mass. Keith was in the female civilians' camp *Keith, Agnes Newton (1972) ''Beloved Exiles'' Boston, Mass: Little Brown and Company Semi-autobiographical novel based on Keith's time in Borneo, including her internment *Kell, Derwent (1984) ''A Doctor's Borneo'' Brisbane: Boolarong Publications. . Derwent Kell is the pen name of Dr Marcus C. Clarke, who was in the male civilians' camp *Kirby, S. Woodburn ''et al.'' (1957) ''The War Against Japan. Volume 1: The Loss of Singapore'' London: HMSO *Kirby, S. Woodburn ''et al.'' (1969) ''The War Against Japan. Volume 5: The Surrender of Japan'' London: HMSO *Lim, Shau Hua Julitta (1995) ''From an Army Camp to a Teacher College: A History of Batu Lintang Teachers' College, Kuching, Sarawak'' *Lim, Shau Hua Julitta (2005) ''Pussy's in the well: Japanese Occupation of Sarawak 1941 – 1945'' Kuching, Sarawak: Research and Resource Centre Some accounts, many photographs and some nominal rolls *Long, Gavin (1963) ''The Final Campaigns'' Australia in the War 1939–1945 Series 1 (Army), Volume 7. Canberra: Australian War Memorial (Online in PDF form a

*Mackie, John (2007) ''Captain Jack Surveyor and Engineer: The autobiography of John Mackie'' Wellington, New Zealand: New Zealand Institute of Surveyors Mackie was in the British officers' camp *Newman, Carolyn (ed) (2005) ''Legacies of our Fathers'' South Melbourne: Lothian Books Accounts of six Australian officers and a female civilian internee *O'Connor, Michael P. (1954) ''The More Fool I'' Dublin: Michael F. Moynihan Account of O'Connor's time in Malaya, including Batu Lintang. He was in the male civilians' camp *Ooi, Keat Gin (1998) ''Japanese Empire in the Tropics: Selected Documents and Reports of the Japanese Period in Sarawak, Northwest Borneo, 1941–1945'' Ohio University Center for International Studies, Monographs in International Studies, SE Asia Series 101 (2 vols) Contains many accounts by British POWs and civilian internees. *Ooi, Keat Gin (2006) "The 'Slapping Monster' and Other Stories: Recollections of the Japanese Occupation (1941–1945) of Borneo through Autobiographies, Biographies, Memoirs, and Other Ego-documents" ''Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History'' 7(3), Winter 2006 *Purden, Ivor M. (1989) "Japanese P.O.W. Camps in Borneo" in Neville Watterson (1989) ''Borneo: The Japanese P.O.W. Camps – Mail of the Forces, P.O.W. and Internees'' (published by W. N. Watterson) *Reece, Bob (1998) ''Masa Jepun: Sarawak under the Japanese 1941–1945'' Kuching, Sarawak: Sarawak Literary Society *St. John-Jones, L. W. (2004) "The Kuching Prisoner-of-War Camp 1944–45: Heroism and Tragedy" ''Sabah Society Journal'' 21 *Smallfield, E. J. (1947) "Internment Under the Japanese" ''New Zealand Surveyor'' 19, no 4, April 1947, 301–310. Smallfield was in the male civilians' camp *Southwell, C. Hudson (1999) ''Uncharted Waters'' Calgary, Canada: Astana Publishing Southwell was in the male civilians' camp *Taylor, Brian (2006) "Lintang Camp Memorials" ''The Sarawak Museum Journal'' 62(83), 59–62 (December 2006) *Torrens, Alexandra (1998) "Borneo burlesque" ''Wartime'' 4 (Summer 1998), 51–55. ''Wartime'' is the official magazine of the Australian War Memorial. The article is about a group of officers who made it their mission to uphold the morale of Australian POWs in Batu Lintang * Allan S. Walker, Walker, Allan S. (1953) ''Middle East and Far East'' Australia in the War 1939–1945 Series 5 (Medical), Volume 2. Canberra: Australian War Memorial (1962 reprint online in PDF form a

*Wall, Don (no date, post-1993) ''Kill the Prisoners!'' Mona Vale, NSW, Australia: Don Wall *Watterson, W. N. (1989) and (1994) ''Borneo: The Japanese P.O.W. Camps – Mail of the Forces, P.O.W. and Internees'' (published in two parts by W. N. Watterson) (Part 1, 1989); (Part 2, 1994) *Wigmore, Lionel (1957) ''The Japanese Thrust'' Australia in the War 1939–1945 Series 1 (Army), Volume 4. Canberra: Australian War Memorial (Online in PDF form a

) *Yap, Felicia (2004) ''Reassessing the Japanese prisoner of war and internment experience: the Lintang Camp, Kuching, Sarawak, 1942–45'' Cambridge: M. Phil. dissertation (copy held in the Seeley Library, University of Cambridge Faculty of History)


External links


Plan of the camp, one of several different versions
The plan is dated 1945, and the layout of the barracks differs (mostly in orientation rather than location) from that shown in the 1945 aerial reconnaissance photographs held at the AWM
Sketch of malnutrition cases from Batu Lintang
"Typical Malnutrition Cases: Australian and British Prisoners of War just released from Lintang Barracks, Kuching, Borneo 16 September 1945" by Tony Rafty. Imperial War Museum, Catalogue No. Art.IWM ART LD 5884
Sketch of hospitalised POWs from Batu Lintang
"British Prisoners-of-War after Rescue from Kuching, Borneo" by Tony Rafty. Imperial War Museum, Catalogue No. Art.IWM ART LD 5885
Photograph of the stone which commemorated the opening of the camp on 15 August 1942.
The stone bears the name of the camp commander, Colonel
Tatsuji Suga Lieutenant-Colonel (22 September 1885 – 16 September 1945) of the Imperial Japanese Army was the commander of all prisoner-of-war (POW) and civilian internment camps in Borneo, during World War II. A war criminal, Suga died by suicide five ...
, and the command "Be faithful". It is now housed at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.
Information on ''Borneo Burlesque'' (Forbes ''et al.''.)Episode 10 of ''Can We Help?''
Broadcast by
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...
18 April 2008. Part of the programme features Dandi Michael Tiong, who with his twin brother Danis Stephen Tiong was in the camp as a child. Includes some AWM archive footage of the camp. (NB all archive film material shows Batu Lintang, not the Labuan camp mentioned). Relevant times: 01:24–02:05 and 17:58–25:03.
A roll book kept in the British Other Ranks' compound and now in the National Museums of Scotland"Perspex Crucifix" by Sarah Hilary
an article in ''foto8'' about her mother and maternal grandparents who were civilian internees in the camp
"How the Japanese used my Family" by Sarah Hilary
an article in ''The Guardian'', "Family" section, pp 4–5, 1 March 2014. (The online version of the article is titled "My mother was Emperor Hirohito's poster child").
Quietly Dangerous: How My Grandmother Won the War
by Sarah Hilary, an article commissioned by the Dangerous Women Project and published on 18 January 2017
''Three Came Home'' full movie (now in the public domain)

Female internees' signatures
Tea towel signed by the female internees in the camp, and by some of the Japanese staff, including Lt.-Col. Suga, and embroidered over by Mrs Catherine Craig Kidd.
National Museums of Scotland National Museums Scotland (NMS; gd, Taighean-tasgaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba) is an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government. It runs the national museums of Scotland. NMS is one of the country's National Collections ...
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Personal histories

*Maurie Arvier (Australian serviceman
Short account
Scroll down to near the bottom of the page *Mary Baldwin (civilian internee

*John Stewart Bell (Australian serviceman

Same article but both have small amounts of additional information *Leslie Bickerton (British serviceman

*Charles Cleal (British serviceman

*W. G. Cockburn (British serviceman
The use of maggots to clean a wound
Second article down on the page *Edwin John Esler (Australian serviceman

*Robert Fyvie and Frances Colina (British serviceman and civilian internee
Couple who met at Batu Lintang and married soon after their liberation
*Bennie Gold (British serviceman
Near-discovery of the generatorReligion in the camp
*Harold McManus (American serviceman

The webpage is mainly about Harold's brother, O. C. McManus *Les Mockridge (British serviceman

*Dennis Riley (British serviceman

*Vernon Hopetoun Smith (Australian serviceman


Organisations


Batu Lintang Teachers' Training College website (in Malay)
Parts of the site still under construction
COFEPOW (Children and Families of Far East Prisoners of War)FEPOW (Far East Prisoners of War) Community
{{DEFAULTSORT:Batu Lintang Camp Japanese prisoner of war and internment camps Raj of Sarawak History of Sarawak Buildings and structures in Sarawak Military history of Japan during World War II Japanese war crimes 1942 establishments in Sarawak