BRITISH MOVE IN

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 58, 6 September 1945, Page 7

BRITISH MOVE IN

Surrender Signed On Warship

JAP COMMANDERS IN TEARS

Kec. 11.30 a.m. SINGAPORE, September 5. British forces reoccupied Singapore Island today after three and a half years of Japanese occupation.

The agreement for the occupation was signed yesterday afternoon aboard the cruiser Sussex, Rear-Admiral Holland's flagship, anchored off Singapore.

The sth. Indian Division, which has fought the Axis Powers in three' theatres of war, began to make landings at dawn today.. . The [Australian Associated Press correspondent says that the present objective is the immediate occupation of five strategical areas on Singapore Island. .

The landing was effected with great smoothness and there were no incidents. ■ '

Meanwhile, all of the 60,000 Japanese troops except those needed for garrison duties and for guarding installations are moving across the causeway into a position immediately north of Johore Strait.

The Japanese commander reported that there are 32,000 prisoners of war and 4500 internees on the island, uncluding 6700 British and 5500' Australians.

The correspondent adds that all the Japanese warships in the harbour are being taken over and the- breechblocks of the guns removed. Information was imparted at the Rangoon conference that General Itagaki, commander of the 7th Army Group, failing specific orders from Tokio, might resist the re-occupation. Since the surrender was signed he has issued orders to his troops to comply with all Allied requirements. Despite the arrangement, however, all possible contact is being avoided with Japanese soldiers.

The British convoy crept into Singapore harbour under leaden skies and m teeming rain. Indian troops entered streets which were practically deserted apart from groups of natives, mostly children, who gathered on the waterfront as a welcoming party. The Japanese Major-General Shimura, acting for General Itagaki, met the. first troops, and Japanese guards were posted at regular intervals along the streets.

From a first quick survey, Singapore is in immeasurably better condition than Rangoon, though there are signs of neglect in the streets. All the water, light, and electricity services are working. The Japanese made few demolitions, and left aircraft on the airfields, but there were obvious signs of hastily-prepared fixed defences.

The Japanese army and navy commanders, General Itagaki and Admiral Fukodqme, wept during an eight-hour discussion aboard the cruiser Sussex before the signing of the agreement under which the British are occupying Singapore. Rear-Admiral C. S. Holland and Lieutenant-General Sir Philip Christison signed for the Allies. The Japanese recovered their composure when the time came for sign-

ing the document. A complication threatened when it was learned that the Japanese had not a seal. An interpreter explained that the senior Japanese authorities did not add a seal to their names but wrote a special sign at the end. The Japanese generally were co-operative, despite the prolonged nature of the discussion. DISTRIBUTION OF PEIS ONERS. It is estimated, though not substantiated, that of the 16,320 members of the A.I.F. who were taken prisoner in 1942, 5000 have died, says the Australian Associated Press correspondent. The A.I.F. records office at Changi prison camp, in the eastern part of Singapore Island, where 4589 Australians are. concentrated, has proof that 2563 have died since the Bth Division fcvas- captured. The remainder are scattered in camps in Thailand and VEalaya, and an acurate count of these Is not yet possible. Out of 3489 men of the A.I.F. who were taken prisoner in the Dutch [ndies, 444 have died. Many Australians were lost among 5000 who were 3rowned when Japanese ships were torpedoed. It is. underfstood that conditions are desperate at Palembang, Sumatra, where 70 prisoners, including women and children, died in May. In the Changi camp at Singapore, built to nold 600, there are 13,000 prisoners— Australians, British, and Dutch. All' except the Australians are crowded ;hree and four in a cell. The Australians are in bamboo and palm thatch jmts. There are about 700 hospital cases, and many more are suffering from malnutrition and beri-beri. A Jnagical change came over their treatbent with the capitulation of the Japanese. The troops, who were deplorably underfed on rice and poor Vegetables, suddenly found themselves gating frozen meat, fish, sugar, and outter, and smoking cigarettes. The Japanese had released food which had oeen stored on the island. Psychiatrists and • special surgical squads attached to the South-east Asia Command at Kandy are standing by to be dropped by parachute and deal with prisoners of war needing special attention. They are part of a complex scheme to bring relief to Allied prisoners and internees in camps throughout Asia and the Pacific islands. Hundreds of planes are ready to take off as soon as Admiral Mountbatten announces that the Japanese forces in his theatre are honouring the surrender terms. They will carry doctors and staff members. Medical supplies, clothing, and food are to be parachuted into the camps. It is officially stated that 87,000 prisoners passed through the Changi camp after the fall of Singapore and that 850 died there. At one time during the occupation the camp housed 50,000, although it was built for 600. The prisoners subsisted at just over starvation level. Deaths are estimated to have totalled 13,000 in Siam, to which many of the prisoners were transferred for work on the notorious BangkokMoulmein railway. A preliminary report reveals that 52,000 Indians were prisoners on Singapore Island, of whom only 15,000 remain there. The prison hospital handled 80,000 patients and performed 10,000 operatior'