I just viewed the movie "The Bridge on the River Kwai" which brought me to wonder about what happened to the 120,000 or so British, Indian and Commonwealth soldiers who surrendered at Singapore (the largest mass surrender in British history). What happened to those solidiers? Were they first sent to prison camps and then into forced labor? Were the Japanese overwhelmed at first by the large numbers of prisoners, thus leading to a high death rate at the beginning, or were they equipped at first to handle them? How many of them survived their captivity?

Thank you.

Although this site focuses mainly on the Australians, there is some useful information as a starting point.
Return to the Thai-Burma Railway - Australian History, World War 2

__________________
"Faint heart never won fair maiden", so I say "Go for it!"

Lou

Some links that I hope you find interesting and possibly answer some questions you may have.

WWIIPOWs

Kranji War Memorial - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Kranji War Memorial (Chinese: 克兰芝阵亡战士纪念碑; Malay: Tanah Perkuburan Perang Kranji) is located at 9 Woodlands Road, in Kranji in northern Singapore. Dedicated to the men and women from United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Sri Lanka, India, Malaya, the Netherlands and New Zealand who died defending Singapore and Malaya against the invading Japanese forces during World War II, it comprises the War Graves, the Memorial Walls, the State Cemetery, and the Military Graves.
The War Memorial represents the three branches of the military - the Air Force, Army and Navy. The columns represent the Army, which marches in columns, the cover over the columns is shaped after of the wings of a plane, representing the Air Force, and the shape at the top resembles the periscope of a submarine, representing the Navy.

The Memorial's walls inscribe over 24,000 names of allied servicemen whose bodies were never found, spread over both sides of 12 columns of the war memorial itself.

A link to a book that sounds intersting One Fourteenth of an Elephant: Amazon.co.uk: Ian Denys Peek: Books
In February 1942, Singapore fell to the Japanese and Denys Peek was among the tens of thousands of British and Commonwealth soldiers and citizens taken prisoner. Eight months later, he and countless other PoWs were packed into steel goods wagons and transported by rail to Slam - their destination the massive construction project that would become infamous as the Burma Thailand Railway. He would spend the next three years in over 15 different work and 'hospital' camps on the railway, stubbornly refusing to give up in a place where over 20,000 prisoners of war (an innumerable slave labourers) met their deaths. Written with clarity, passion and a remarkable eye for detail, Denys Peek's memoir recalls not just the hardships and horrors of the railway, the daily struggle for survival, but also the comradeship, spirit and humour of the men who worked on it. It stands as a haunting, evocative and deeply moving testimony to the suffering of those who lived and died there - a salutary reminder of man's potential for inhumanity to his fellow man.

Roll of Honour - Databases - Search Cambridgeshire Regiment Men Who Died WW2

The fall of Singapore

asahi.com¡ÊÄ«Æü¿·Ê¹¼Ò¡Ë¡§A POW's account of building the 'Death Railway' - English

Fallen WWII soldiers still honoured in Asia's cemeteries | Manila Bulletin-

http://www.merchantnavyofficers.com/asia2.html

Thailand: River Kwai War Graves: Two cemeteries hold the graves of 70,000 Commonwealth soldiers | Suite101.com

Innoshima POW Camp - Hiroshima sub camp #5-B

The Fall of Singapore

__________________
Regards, Michelle

Oliver Goldsmith, "I love everything that's old: old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wines."

Nice find, Michelle. Certainly more complete than I gave. Well done.

__________________
"Faint heart never won fair maiden", so I say "Go for it!"

Lou