The Japanese Occupation (Part Two)

Official Source: 1942 Battlefield Singapore

So what exactly happened to the soldiers after Singapore surrendered?

They became Prisoners of War (POWs).

On the 17th of February 1942, two days after the surrender, the POWs were forced to walk the 14 miles in extreme heat without food nor water, to Changi Gaol. Of the 52000 soldiers, only a few managed to salvage what they could from the shambles, and around 16000 survived.

The 16000 survivors were crammed into 7 barrack blocks which were only built to house 800 people in all. If you do a quick calculation, it means that each block was only meant to hold 114, but the Japanese were squeezing another 2172 people!

Luckily for the POWs, Changi Gaol was considered to be one of the most modern prisons of its times. It had electricity so much that there were around eight to ten switches in a single small room, and had water facilities as well.

However, the Japanese found out about its immediate value and promptly turned it into a POW camp.

This picture shows the poor structure of POWs during the Japanese Occupation.

The POWs could die anytime, due to either starvation, torture, malnutrition or execution.