True, those extra pages are often empty, but in some cases very interesting! I wish they were added to this site (although I appreciate how much work this already was with only the first page)
Thanks for your reply. In the end I retrieved 24 FLQs in relation to Rangoon Jail, from either the COFEPOW website or visiting the Archives itself. Two of these had the extended pages filled out and I learned a bit more about the men involved.
I’ve been looking at the Liberation Questionnaires that are now available on Ancestry. As you know it is sometimes difficult to decipher the names of the camps and dates written on the LQs. I thought it would be useful to have a list of camp leaders (their camps and the respective dates that they were camp leader) so that I could cross reference to the LQs I am looking at. I’m not aware of the existence of a ‘Camp Leader’ list so I have started to compile my own. Once a Camp Leader profile is complete, step two would be to add the camp leader name/dates to a second list – ‘FEPOW Camps’. ================== I found a 6-page LQ for Camp Leader Lt Col Henry Stanley Flower 30849 on Ancestry. Pages 3, 4 and 5 are typed and detail all of the camps Flower was in. I have transcribed the Camp, dates and camp leaders in the attached ‘Camp Leader’ table. Note: Flower also lists Block leaders and Japanese Staff. ========= I can’t find an LQ for camp leader Lt Col Williamson mentioned on Flower’s LQ. ========= For Camp Leader George Edward Swinton, his LQ doesn’t reveal very much. However, I was able to extract the camps and dates from his report on conditions (WO235-964) written in Bangkok 5 Oct 1945. Note: Swinton mentions in his report that Lt Col J R Williamson and Lt Col Owtram would be writing reports as well. Anyone have a copy of their reports? =================
bzaoral, I wish you well in your worthy quest. Hopefully, other forum members will assist in the compilation of the list.
I absolutely love this initiative! I don't know if I'll be able to find the ones you're looking for, but I'm happy to give it a try! Eta: did you ask the Thailand-Burma Railway Centre if such a list exists? Even an incomplete list would be a great start
I'd be happy to add the two camps I have researched as part of my work with the first Chindit campaign. These camps, Rangoon Central Jail and the temporary concentration camp at Maymyo fall outside those camps involved with or created for the building of the Death Railway.
Step 1 is to gather all of the Far East Camp Leaders and their camps (wherever the camps). Step 2 is to compile a comprehensive list of all the Far East Camps and note the respective camp leaders and dates. I've only managed to profile 13 Camp Leaders so far. I have posted the Camp Leaders in an album on 'The FEPOW Family' on Facebook.
Ok, so let's begin with the temporary concentration camp located at Maymyo, the hill station town situated some 40 miles east of Mandalay. This town was used by the Japanese as their Army HQ for a time after February 1942 and housed a civilian internment camp close to the railway station. Although there had been a handful of military prisoners held previously at Maymyo, in late April 1943 the camp was used to hold captured Chindit soldiers from Operation Longcloth. These men were housed in very overcrowded shed-like structures and kept apart from the civilian section of the camp. The Chindits time at Maymyo was short, perhaps a matter of 2-3 weeks at most, before they were gathered up and sent down to Rangoon in railway cattle trucks. It is difficult to know exactly how many Chindits ended up at Maymyo, probably between 120-160, however several men perished and were buried there. The most senior Chindit held at Maymyo, was Squadron-Leader Cecil John Longmore, RAF (see Index card below) who was captured on the 22nd April 1943 and is cited as camp leader on several Chindit related Liberation Questionnaires (example shown below). Longmore travelled with the other Chindit men to Rangoon Central Jail in early May, but he, alongside several other senior officers from the Chindit expedition were sent on to Singapore a few weeks later, to be interrogated by the Kempai-tai. He was then held at the former Maternity Hospital at Changi, where he remained for the rest of his incarceration. You can read more about Cecil Longmore on my website, here: Squadron Leader Longmore Squadron-Leader 880358 Cecil John Longmore RAF. Camp Leader Maymyo - late April to mid-May 1943. To read more about the Maymyo Camp, please use this link: More Cemeteries and Memorials
Rangoon Central Jail was a permanent and historical prison from before WW2 and was used by the Japanese to house Allied POWs captured within Burma during the years 1942-1945. My interest in the jail is based on the fact that my maternal grandfather died in Block 6 of the prison in June 1943 after his capture during the first Chindit expedition. As far as I am aware, none of the POWs held at Rangoon Jail were sent to work on the Death Railway. They were instead, used as slave labour in the city itself and often worked at the docks, loading and unloading cargo for the Japanese war effort. The jail was of classically-styled Victorian era construction, with a central circular courtyard and watch tower and various blocks emanating from this, much like the spokes of wheel. As you can see from the diagram above, there were several nationalities held by the Japanese at Rangoon Jail and all these had their own Block leader. For the purposes of this thread, I am concentrating directly on the British internees and the recognised camp leaders, but I will record the other Block leaders at the end of the piece. The first recognised British camp leader in Rangoon Jail was Lt-Colonel Henry Ross Power, who had been captured on the 24th February 1942 whilst serving with the Dogra Regiment in Burma. Although he was an officer from the Indian Army, he was held in Block 3 of the jail with other British prisoners, rather than in Block 2 with the Indian other ranks. To all intents and purposes at this juncture, Colonel Power would have been recognised as the Camp Leader of Rangoon Central Jail, leading men that for the most part had been captured during the retreat in 1942. On the 2nd May 1942, Brigadier Clive Donald Hobson, a British Liaison Officer with Chinese Forces was captured close to the Shweli River near Bhamo. After his arrival at Rangoon, he was to become the senior officer present in the jail and so take up the role of Camp Leader, although he naturally worked extremely closely with Colonel Power, as one might expect. Hobson held the position of Camp Leader until late April 1945 and shortly before the prisoners of Rangoon Jail were liberated in early May that same year. The jails composition changed dramatically in mid-1943 when over 200 Chindit soldiers entered the two British Blocks (nos. 3 & 6) and a succession of American Airmen began to arrive, after being shot down over the Rangoon and southern Burma area. However, in essence, Hobson remained as the overall Camp Leader during this time. As the war turned against the Japanese and the decision was made to evacuate Rangoon. In mid-April 1945, the Japanese Commandant at Rangoon Jail ordered that every prisoner that could march was to prepare to leave the prison. In the end around the 24th April, Brigadier Hobson led over 400 POWs out of the jail to accompany the withdrawing Japanese guards and other soldiers present in the city. They were effectively used as human shields marching in front of the Japanese as they headed for the Thai border. As it turned out, the Japanese gave up this ploy, as the malnourished and infirm POWs began to hold up their advance. On the 28th April, the Japanese abandoned the 400 POWs near a village called Waw on the Pegu Road, informing Hobson that they were effectively free men. After informing his men of this momentous news, Hobson ordered the men to bed down for the night. Sadly and ironically, Hobson was the only prisoner killed the next day, as Allied fighters overhead, mistook the POWs for Japanese troops and strafed the area occupied by the former prisoners on the Pegu Road. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2260081/clive-donald-hobson/ Back at the jail, the remaining prisoners, deemed unfit to undertake the march were unofficially commanded by Wing Commander 400488 Lionel V. Hudson of the RAAF. Hudson was Rangoon Jail Camp Leader for a very short period (about 7-8 days) until the jail was liberated around the 3rd May 1945. That is basically the story of Rangoon Central Jail and its leadership during the WW2 years. Other notable mentions are: Major Charles J. Lutz USAAF, who led the American contingent in the jail for a time. Major-General H. C. Chi of the Chinese Army, who led the Chinese prisoners, but was murdered by one of his own men inside the jail.
