ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with the experiences of British and Australian troops in the aftermath of the Singapore surrender. It seeks to identify the principal concerns and preoccupations that accompanied these men into Changi and to explore how these considerations shaped their initial responses to captivity. In examining this transition period, it was apparent that the nature of the Malayan campaign and the Singapore surrender were in fact inextricably linked to the manner in which the original POWs responded to their new lives as captives of the Japanese. It was also evident that the behaviour of these men as prisoners appeared to be at odds with what might be expected of soldiers who had been defeated so conclusively. In exploring the events that led to the surrender it became obvious that conventional accounts of the fighting, such as those that stressed poor leadership and a lack of fighting spirit amongst the defenders, were insufficient to explain how the participants themselves viewed the capitulation and their role within it. It was also clear that these residual feelings about the capitulation had, in turn, translated directly into the prisoners’ comparatively confident and assertive actions as newly captured POWs. While this can be partly explained by the peculiar conditions pertaining at Changi, the absence of either Japanese guards or direction being obviously significant, contemporary diary accounts written by soldiers captured at Singapore demonstrate that many men felt that the defeat was not representative of their abilities as soldiers. Many men considered that the abrupt surrender removed the opportunity of finally proving themselves against the Japanese in a decisive battle for the island. This notion may seem unlikely, given the many military reverses experienced by the British, Australian and Indian forces prior to the capitulation. However, this idea appears to have been widespread amongst men taken prisoner at Singapore and, irrespective of the veracity of some of their assertions, this belief, however misguided or insubstantial in itself, would appear to have conditioned their responses to captivity to a significant extent. This chapter will first explore the impact of the surrender and then move on to examine the initial adjustments to captivity.
