ALLIES AT BANGKOK

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXV, Issue 237, 5 September 1945, Page 5

ALLIES AT BANGKOK

CARING FOR PRISONERS. CAUTION OF~GTJRKHAS. LONDON, Sept. 4. Advance British troops, under j the General commanding the Seventh Indian Division, have ar- I rived in Bangkok to organise the removal of the suffering Allied prisoners in Thailand. When the transport planes touched down, , fully., r ,armed and equipped Gurkhas immediately deployed into the tall grass flanking the airstrip—they were taking no chances. Deaths among Allied prisoners in the Bangkok camps before the arrival of medical aid averaged 25 a . day, says the Associated Press correspondent at Kandy in a Press Association message. The majority of the prisoners thus far reached or evacuated by Scac are suffering from some disease or malnutrition. Reports from Singapore indicate that beriberi, malaria, tuberculosis, and several types of dysentery are prevalent.

According to information reaching Seac Headquarters, the Japanese shortly before the end of the war, when it became obvious ».hat they had lost, began concentrating prisoners of war at main centres and inaugurating a programme of better treatment. Seac reports that 330 Indian prisoners of war have thus far arrived at Bangkok. Conditions in the camps in Thailand are improving satisfactorily, due to the wholehearted efforts of British medical personnel, some of whom landed by parachute. The All-India radio stated that British forces landing at Penang received a terrific welcome from crowds who lined the waterfront, waving flags, yelling and cheering.