Historian reflects on fall of Singapore and POW experience

THOMAS ORITI: Christina Twomey is a Professor of History at Monash University, who has written extensively about prisoners of war and when I spoke to her earlier, I began by asking why Singapore had been so important to the Allies.

CHRISTINA TWOMEY: Singapore was the lynch pin of the Allies defence strategy in the, what they called at the time the far-east.

So the entire defence of the British Empire in Asia was based around Singapore being an impregnable fortress.

So the fact that the British forces surrendered on Singapore was an enormous psychological and military shock to the British Empire and all its allies.

The Japanese forces had invaded other parts of south-east Asia. So they'd made an attack on Hong Kong, they'd invaded Thailand, they'd invaded what was then known as Malaya. They were also attacking in the Netherlands East Indies, so it was part of a Japanese push throughout the south-east Asian region in order to create what they called the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.

So this was part of Japan's plan to take over this part of the world.

THOMAS ORITI: And in the context of the battle, the casualty rates within the Australian forces were quite high, weren't they?

CHRISTINA TWOMEY: They were quite high, thousands of people died but a much greater number became prisoners of war once the surrender had actually happened.

THOMAS ORITI: And the Changi prison camp has become synonymous with this so what was life like in those camps?

CHRISTINA TWOMEY: The Changi prison camp on Singapore and Sime Road were the main camps that Australian prisoners were sent to immediately upon surrender.

So once the British surrendered, 15,000 Australians became prisoners of war and they were part of a much larger number of Allied troops, 130,000 troops who became prisoners-of-war of the Japanese. But it was from Changi that troops were selected to go up to Thailand and up to Burma in order to work on the railway project.

So the reputation of Changi as being the great feared place of imprisonment is somewhat unfounded in that it was from Changi that the troops departed up to Thailand and Burma to work on the railway and that's where conditions were particularly harsh.

THOMAS ORITI: And we're not just talking about military personnel here, are we? How were civilians treated in these camps?

CHRISTINA TWOMEY: They had an experience that was similar to the troops in that there were very poor conditions for food, there was very little medical supply but unlike the prisoners, very few of them were required to labour for the Japanese.

They had to labour for themselves in order to produce food but they weren't sent off as forced labourers to the railway for example.

THOMAS ORITI: What was the mortality rate in these POW camps because we've heard a lot about health and hygiene issues, carefully rationed food, exhausting physical labour - is it fair to say that many Australian POWs didn't live to see the end of the war?

CHRISTINA TWOMEY: So the death rates were particularly high, about 30 per cent of those who were captured did not make it to the end of that experience so a one in three death rate for prisoners of war of the Japanese is extraordinarily high and the mortality was largely due to emaciation, malnutrition, preventable diseases that were not able to be treated because of lack of medicines and lack of food.

So the conditions were very tough.

THOMAS ORITI: And at the end of the war, I can imagine that repatriating the POWs was a major logistical challenge considering how many there were and the fact they were in different areas.

CHRISTINA TWOMEY: So many of them who had been at camps throughout the Netherlands East Indies which is now Indonesia, were taken back to hospitals on Singapore and elsewhere throughout the islands and they were given some preliminary treatment and better food supplies in order that they arrived in Australia somewhat fattened up, if you like, compared to the way in which they'd been found in the camps.

But even when the prisoners had been through that process and took a month or two to come home after the end of the war, when they arrived in Australia their families were completely shocked at the state of them.

THOMAS ORITI: What about life in post-war Australia? How were these POWs treated in society when they came home?

CHRISTINA TWOMEY: Their families, of course, were ecstatic to see their family members again, they were embraced by their communities but they'd also been prisoners of the Japanese, an enemy who had previously been considered inferior to the Australian soldier so there was a little bit of ambivalence in relation to prisoners particularly from the army itself who were not interested in any way at all in drawing any attention to the POWs.

The army were disinterested in making any sort of a big deal of what the prisoners had been through because they were determined not to celebrate the fact of their surrender and defeat.

THOMAS ORITI: The fall of Singapore is an important part of our national story but it's never had the same prominence as the Gallipoli campaign for example and in fact you've called the civilians interned by the Japanese in World War II Australia's 'forgotten' prisoners.

So with that in mind, what do you think a commemorative day like this will mean to veterans and to their families?

CHRISTINA TWOMEY: I think it's equally important for us to recognise the battles that occurred within our own region and the battles that led to some outcomes that perhaps were less glorious in terms of people being captured, people spending three and a half years as prisoners in shocking conditions.

It's very important to recognise that military service can sometimes lead to suffering and loss so I think it's very important for us to remember the fall of Singapore as being an occasion that might have been a military defeat, as was Gallipoli of course, but that the service of those involved was no less for that.

THOMAS ORITI: That's Christina Twomey, a Professor of History at Monash University, speaking to me from Melbourne.