Edmund Brookes
September 2025
This history of the 1st Battalion, The Cambridgeshire Regiment, in World War 2 was presented by Edmund Brookes at the meeting about the 80th Anniversary of the End of World War 2 on 23 September 2025.
[link to meetings page]
The story of British Prisoners of War (POWS) held captive in South East Asia and the Far East is well documented in the books referenced at the end of the paper. They were given to me by the widow of a FEPOW (Far East Prisoners of War) as they were known, who I and some of you may have known (Ron Kitson). I have had to force myself to read them and the pictures are horrific.
After the fall of Singapore in 1942, the Cambridgeshires were no longer a formed unit, so the story (or should I say fate) of its soldiers covers all aspects of FEPOWs experiences until repatriation in late 1945.
1. Introduction
My overall aim is to talk about the infantry 1st Battalion, The Cambridgeshire Regiment largely through World War 2, and until its disbandment. It may appear too general, and if you feel it is I apologise, but there is a lot to cover. I could go into far more detail than I do, but it would take forever, but I warn you, some of it is not at all pleasant and may appear unbelievable– but honestly it is totally true.
In the Infantry, a regiment consists of several battalions, each between 600-1000 soldiers strong commanded by a Lt Colonel, with 6 companies each of up to 150 men commanded by a Major. A company had c5 Platoons of 40 soldiers commanded by a Lieutenant, split into 4 sections commanded by a Corporal. These ranks could vary in a war scenario due to casualties and any rank had to be prepared to step up, e.g. Corporal to Sgt, Captain to Major.
Companies had letters and Platoons had numbers. In wartime the numbers fluctuated, and units were formed and reformed to cover changed circumstances and sadly losses. “Territorial” means reserve or part time, as I served in the Territorial Army in the latter part of the 20th Century.
Let us start by setting the scene in 1941/1942 when the 1st Battalion, The Cambridgeshire Regiment first got seriously involved in WW2 after training in the United Kingdom. Following Dunkirk in June 1940 and the Battle of Britain in September/October 1940, our main effort was in defending the United Kingdom. The major scene of action overseas was the Middle East and the Eastern Mediterranean, but supplied by convoy round the North Atlantic to the Cape of Good Hope and then up the Indian Ocean. The Eighth Army based in Egypt was holding the Germans back in a to-and-fro campaign but the critical battle of El Alamein did not start until October 1942.
Remember that Japan did not enter the war until 7 December 1941 with the attack on Pearl Harbour in Hawaii and they then started racing down SE Asia towards Singapore. That prompted the Government to start reinforcing the 80,000 troops in Singapore (more than the current Army total of just over 70,000 soldiers). The reinforcements were ultimately to include the 1st Battalion the Cambridgeshire Regiment though they did not know it until they were in a troop ship off India in late January 1942.
The story of the loss of Singapore and the surrender of United Kingdom’s ground forces there to the Japanese in February 1942 is not often spoken about, but it is one in which the territorial (i.e. part-time soldiers) 1st Battalion The Cambridgeshire Regiment fought with distinction and displayed bravery, courage and tenacity which is universally accepted as at least equal and if not superior to that of their regular colleagues. They were the last to surrender. Those that survived the battle suffered 3½ years of incarceration and suffered incredible deprivations which many did not survive. Trumpington was represented in the Battalion and I knew one of the survivors.
2. History of the Cambridgeshire Regiment before 1939 and getting to Singapore
The Battalion’s lineage dates back to volunteers in the late 1850s, which in 1887 became a formed unit, the 3rd (Cambridgeshire) Volunteer Battalion, The Suffolk Regiment. A small detachment went to the Boer War, but it was significantly expanded in WW1 losing in total 70 Officers and 789 Other Ranks. After 1918 it became 1 Battalion Cambridgeshire Regiment, a territorial unit with troops attending Drill Nights, Week End Training and an Annual Camp. In 1939 just before the outbreak of WW2, all units were doubled and initial duties were defending the Norfolk Coast as part of 18th (East Anglian) Division, which could consist of c. 20,000 men. The numbers of men involved are hard to grasp today.
A decision was taken to send the Division to the Middle East, and they embarked on the SS Orcades at Liverpool in October 1941, sailing in convoy on 30th October, arriving in Halifax Nova Scotia on 8th November, where they transferred to the USS West Point. After a short shore leave, they sailed for Trinidad then Cape Town in South Africa; leaving on 13 December for Bombay for 3 weeks in India. The battalion re-embarked on the West Point, leaving on 19 January 1942 and six days later they were then told they were going to Singapore where they arrived on 29 January. It must have very been disconcerting to say the least, for the Commanding Officer, Lt Col G.G. Carpenter to be told on disembarking that they had arrived too late to be of any use and the battle was already lost. He kept this information to himself.
We need now to go back in time slightly, as the Japanese had entered Malaya in early December 1941 and were racing down the Malay Peninsula. The capital ships (i.e. massive battle ships) HMS Price of Wales and HMS Repulse had both been sadly sunk on 10 December 1941 70 miles off the coast of Malaya in the South China Sea, which was the key news. As the Cambridgeshires disembarked, the Japanese were almost at the causeway which connects Singapore to Malaya. The Japanese had been using diversionary tactics to advance, not a frontal assault when they came up against opposing forces, i.e. manoeuvring left or right flanking.
3. Singapore
The Fighting
When the 1st Cambridgeshires arrived in Singapore, the place was a mess and under increasing aerial attack and bombing. They were sent to the Ketong area on the North East side of the island and they rapidly settled into rough accommodation and got acclimatised. Units up the Malay peninsula were desperately trying to hold back the Japanese, which they did for a week. The orders to the GOC (General Officer Commanding) General Percival, were to defend Singapore until help could arrive. What happened next has gone down in history as the Cambridgeshires finest hour.
The first half of the book “Battalion at War” by Michael Moore is based on his father’s (Sergeant Stanley Moore) experiences, largely on 13 and 14 February when the battalion was engaged in an epic stand in Adam Park and Sgt Moore was severely injured. Sgt Ron Kitson (of Alpha Terrace, Trumpington) was in Reinforcement Company which was so depleted it was broken up and dispersed to C and D Companies. The Battalion defended its area fiercely, sometimes protected by barbed wire, sent out patrols to recover injured comrades and constantly regrouped as they came under fire and the very fluid situation evolved. This was all before the days of night vision goggles and numerous radios. It is perhaps best described as “Hell on Earth”. Sgt Moore was twice wounded and almost buried alive. Remember that while the ground battle was continuing, the whole of Singapore Island was covered in black smoke and the Japanese air force had free range to bomb and strafe at will. Gradually the Japanese were infiltrating the Cambridgeshires lines/positions, making much use of snipers (i.e. sharpshooters). Such wounded as could be taken were moved to Alexandra Military Hospital. Our troops held out for three days and where possible counter attacked, but ammunition and rations were in short supply. However, surrender was inevitable and General Percival, the GOC Singapore, signed the surrender document at 20.30 hrs on 15 February. Malaya and Singapore had fallen in just 70 days. Initially some troops continued to fight but officers pleaded with their men not to continue and they eventually laid down their arms and the Cambridgeshires’ CO Lt Col Carpenter advanced under a White Flag. If the surrendering troops thought their problems were over, they were sadly mistaken, they were only just beginning.
Michael Moore’s book records 2½ pages of names of those killed or missing in the Battle for Singapore, one page of those drowned at sea on the way to Japan in 1944, but 10 pages of names of those who died in captivity. In one sentence, that tells you exactly what happened subsequently. As an aside, Quarter Master Sergent, Sgt Ernie Morgan with Sgt Kitson and about 20 other soldiers managed to bury the precious Battalion Drums, the soul of the battalion was lost.
Prisoners of War and Imprisoned in Changi
The Japanese now had a major problem. They had to secure and feed many thousands of Prisoners of War as British Army rations ran out. Hospitals were overflowing and the water supply was disrupted. The Cambridgeshires were held in the open on a tennis court for four days and they were then forced to march 14 miles to Changi Jail, unguarded by their captors for some of the route. Changi, now the site of Singapore International Airport, was only 6 years old and designed for 600 prisoners. The Japanese forced in 9,000 British and Australian PoWs. You can only imagine the appalling conditions which took their toll with dysentery, Beri-Beri, malaria and malnutrition setting in and deaths started being reported. The diet was basically a little rice if that, leading to vitamin deficiency. Any infringement of regulations was dealt with by restriction of so-called privileges, physical beatings and sometimes being shot.
This situation continued for some months and conditions got worse, if that was possible.
Other Fighting, post February 1942
Here it is necessary to note other related war time activity which continued after Singapore was lost.
The Japanese continued to advance south and east, taking the Pacific islands. They advanced across the Pacific until held back and stopped in the celebrated battle of Midway in June 1942, and south into The Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) threatening Australia. They also consolidated their hold on Burma, which is very relevant to our story. This threatened India from the east, which they also threatened from the south through the Indian Ocean. However, the tide started to turn. From the naval base at Trincomolle in Ceylon, our mostly submarine fleet harried them (as well as patrolling the Malay coast to attack coastal traffic). The Royal Navy made life very difficult for the Japanese largely surface fleet. As the war progressed, the Royal Navy operated with the Royal Australian Navy out of Perth in Western Australia, on long patrols to ensure this never materialised. (A book by a RNVR submarine CO tells the story). US forces slowly started to move west through the Pacific from Hawaii in many hard-fought battles to regain islands, such as at Iwo Jima. In India, the XIV Army (known as the forgotten Army) held the Japanese back, though it was a close-run thing and the battle for Kohima (April – June 1944) (famous for its epitaph (recite)) will go down in history as truly holding the line. It stopped the Japanese advance into India.
Subsequently, a full-scale invasion of the Malay peninsula in late 1945 became unnecessary after the USAAF dropped the two atomic bombs and Japan surrendered.
4. What Happened to the PoWs in Singapore
To return to the fate of the FEPOWS, the Japanese could not hold all the POWs in Singapore indefinitely so they had a three-part plan:
Retain some in jails in Singapore: some of the Cambridgeshires remained in Singapore for the next 3½ years
Send some to Japan. Those sent to Japan could be split into two cohorts, the first was high ranking officers. In August 1942 senior officers (mostly above the rank of Lt Colonel) were sent to Japan, some never made it including the GOC General Percival who died of diphtheria on passage. The second and by far the majority were sent for forced hard labour including in salt mines. Sadly, not all arrived in Japan, some died of illnesses on route and very sadly many were drowned when the Japanese ships the Rakuyo Maru and Lison Maru were sunk by USAF action. They were not displaying the Red Cross. 828 PoW died from the Lison Maru sinking in horrific circumstances.
Send most to Thailand to build the Burma Railway – this we will concentrate on below.
Whether POWS should be forced to work is a mute point and I do not want to get into the politics of it. I must stress here that it is contrary to Article 40 of the Geneva Convention for POWs of any rank to be forced to work except under very strict conditions, though that did not come into force until 1949. In the 1st World War, we actually used German Prisoners of War to build an Iron Ore Mine and Railway on Raasay in the Inner Hebrides.
5. The Burma Railway
The Japanese had decided to build the railway as the only secure way for supplying their troops in Burma and eastern India from Bangkok, because of the Royal Navy’s operations in the Bay of Bengal and beyond.
To set the scene. The Japanese had advanced so fast into Siam and Burma that their logistic supplies could not keep pace with the front-line requirements, especially as they had their sights on India. There were no rail or road routes from Cambodia/Siam to Burma over what was very high mountainous jungle. The only supply route was by sea to Rangoon through the Malacca Straits with the constant threat of being harried by the Royal Navy operating out of Trincomalee on the east side of Ceylon, as well as long range RAF patrols. The railway line from Bangkok Port to Kuala Lumpur and Singapore only went 40 miles towards Burma at a place called Ban Pong, though in the 19th Century there was some thought of building a line through to Burma.
Most of you will have seen the film “Bridge over the River Kwai” staring Alex Guiness with its famous march tune “Colonel Bogey” written by Kenneth Alford, an alias for Major F. Ricketts, Director of Music of the Royal Marines, Plymouth Division, but the march was actually composed way back in 1914, not in the 1950s when the film was shot in Ceylon. Has anyone been to the bridge site, which is right at the southern end of the railway, relatively close to Bangkok? The railway was actually built under far worse conditions than the film could show. One of the biggest causes of ire by ex POWs was the treatment of the SBO at the bridge, Lt Col Toosey. In the film, he was portrayed as Lt. Col Nicholson and is seen collaborating with his captors, even under duress. Toosey’s men stated this never happened. Instead, the Lt. Col would stand up for his men when necessary to try to alleviate some of their hardships. Please consider that in one 12-week period, 69 POWs were beaten to death. The actual conditions everywhere were the harshest and most unbelievable it is possible to imagine, yet true. The railway was built by hand, yes by hand, by the prisoners.
The serious reverse the Imperial Japanese Navy suffered at Midway in June 1942 (which was the turning point of the war in the Pacific, and for the allies largely fought by the Americans) convinced the Japanese that to succeed in Burma and into India they had to have a railway, which would be about 250 miles long from Ban Pong over the Three Pagodas Pass to link up with the Burma State Railway at Mulmein on the east coast of the Gulf of Martaban. They were advised by their engineers that it would take up to 2-5 years to build. The military ordered that it be ready by the end of 1943, i.e. 18 months. It was actually opened throughout in October 1943, but then had to be repaired and rebuilt continuously for the next 20 months as the allied air force operating out of India sought to damage it, and damage it they did.
To build it they would use 45% of all the POWs they held, and the assembled workforce comprised c30,000 British including Cambridgeshire men; 13,000 Australians, 18,000 Dutch East Indians and about 850 Americans, plus some locals. The method of construction was even more basic than that of the navies who built Britains railways from 1825-1890 when mechanical aids became available. It was basically hand built, not even wheel barrows were provided, but pickaxes and shovels and bags to carry spoil/rocks. Boring holes in hard rock for subsequent dynamiting was carried out by sledgehammers hitting iron drills. If they were lucky two men could “drill” one hole a day. Most of the c680 bridges were built from local timber hand sawn. It was sheer graft.
To get to the many construction camps, the starving POWs had to walk through steaming jungle riddled with dangerous animals and poisonous insects. They lived in very basic open huts with effectively no hygienic facilities and an almost complete lack of any medicine. Occasionally there was a small supply of quinine to treat malaria. Beds were bamboo platforms raised off the ground which the prisoners themselves had to build. To say prisoners were ill-treated is a gross understatement. Sickness was endemic. Even if sick (and sick here is a relative term) they had to attend a sick parade each morning and a doctor/medic (if there was one) was forced to pass as fit men who were almost dying. Punishments for the most minor misdemeanours were savage even to the point of being shot or beheaded. Work hours were gruelling. Punishments included holding heavy rocks over your head while being prodded with a stick or sword in your bare back, shot or beheaded in front of your colleagues. When POWs died or were killed their colleagues dug their graves and tried to give them some dignity in death. At the end of the war as many bodies as possible were exhumed and laid to rest in proper war graves set up by the Imperial (now Commonwealth) War Graves Commission.
The POWs had to cook their own food, mostly minimal rice rations. Occasionally they were able to barter with locals for local delicacies, with a little paper currency. Red Cross parcels, medicines and letters were all withheld.
Despite all these privations the POWS managed a sense of discipline, helping those who were less sick than they were, they even managed to subtly sabotage some of their work (e.g. partially sawing through timbers so they failed) leading to trains being derailed or bridges collapse. The Japanese swiftly sought retribution. The cruelty is unimaginable but a reality. They even had to clear up the mess from the military brothels the Japanese ran. Guards were Japanese assisted by Koreans who were often far more brutal than their Japanese masters.
In one or two camps prisoners somehow obtained secret radios to get news. If found, the consequences can only be imagined.
The railway was opened in October 1943, and POWs were retained to maintain and repair it, others were sent to Japan.
6. Towards the Japanese Surrender and After
Gradually the war turned against Japan. The Americans fought slowly west across the Pacific, The XIV Army held Assam, the Chindits harried the Japanese in India, the Royal Navy penetrated the Java Sea and further north in a pincer movement with the Americans, and the RAF and Royal Navy patrolled the Bay of Bengal, inserting agents into Burma. All this led to VJ day.
Going slightly back in time, news of Victory in Europe Day on 8 May 1945 filtered quickly through to the men, through the illicit radios mentioned, and on 12 May some camps had a celebratory meal (as all meals were cooked by POWs the Japs would not have noticed this or how it was achieved. (Note the XIV Army including the Chindits (Long Range Penetration Group under Brig Orde Wingate) were from c. 1942 making life slowly more and more difficult for the Japanese in Burma. It became evident to the POWs that events were slowly turning against the Japanese as allied planes increasingly flew overhead unmolested. Fewer parties were sent up country to work on the railway (maintenance/repairs/rebuilding). Some of the guards actually became more savage, if that was possible.
VJ Day was 15 August 1945, but news of the cessation of hostilities took time to filter through. Red Cross parcels that the Japs had withheld suddenly became available as well as clothing (given the men had been practically naked for 3 years) and medicines. While VJ day is officially, 15August in one camp the Japanese had called a rest day on 16 with a football match. Suddenly the SBO (Senior British Officer) would announce that the war was over and they sang the National Anthem. The Nips said this was wrong and they were lying. Life continued as normal if that was possible, well the POWs tried to improve the camps. Radios appeared openly, as well as much better food. Some POWs wanted instant retribution but they obeyed their seniors and discipline was maintained. This was a tribute to the discipline instilled in them during training.
Soon after the war was over, the railway line was severed at the Three Pagodas Pass and has never been re-opened. It still runs to Bridge 277 over the River Kwae.
The Allies now had the significant problem of reaching all the camps and preparing how to evacuate POWs safely to first Bangkok, then Rangoon and finally to Blighty. Small British parties (2 or 3) were parachuted in to some camps with radio equipment and news came through more quickly, including news of the two atomic bombs which effectively stopped the war. In camps, POWS provided food to their guards who were effectively waiting redundancy. Sadly, a few POWS still died and had to be buried with dignity. Eventually after camps had been marked to be seen from overhead, RAF planes dropped food, clothing, blood transfusion kits, etc. Plans were developed to move the troops, with the fittest first while the sick were being properly treated and recovered so they could safely fly. Some overate and were sick or even died as a result. By early September, parties were leaving the camps en route for Bangkok by train. There they were ferried to the airfield to fly to Rangoon. The speed of this depended on the number of planes available and the weather. But the pilots did their best. The planes were ordered to fly low, because altitude could have endangered the health of the POWs.
At Rangoon, POWs were taken in ambulances to holding camps and were tended by WRVS (Women’s Royal Voluntary Service) personnel and nurses. Conditions while basic were pure luxury with proper camp beds and bedding, and canteens for suitable food, for a number of days before moving to a transit camp, then to docks for the month-long journey home to a fog bound Liverpool. Most soldiers put on weight on the voyage. No welcome awaited them.
Now the surprise. The cousin of one of the Cambridgeshires killed in Singapore came across 5 drums hidden in the Goodwood Park Hotel just after the war. Repatriated, they were paraded at the September parade, but were silent to mark the losses incurred in Singapore. Two are now in Ely Cathedral and three at Duxford – what a story.
7. After Repatriation
On 29 September 1946, the Regiment paraded to Cambridge Guildhall and received the Freedom of the Borough. It lost its identity in 1961 and its Colours now hang in the North Transept of Ely Cathedral.
There was a feeling among many FEPOWs that they were forgotten compared with those who had served in North Africa, the Middle East and Europe. Ron Kitson never talked about his experiences that I know of, but when you saw him, he stood ramrod straight. He also rejoined the reserve forces for a number of years.
So ended the history of the Cambridgeshire Regiment, a unit which served this country with distinction.
References
Battalion at War by Michael Moore, Gliddon Books 1988.
Line of Lost Lives by J.S. Cosford, Griphon Books 1988.
My Dad, My Hero by Michael Bentick 1994.
Prisoners of the Japanese, Gavin Daws, Robson Books 1988/1994.
The Burma-Siam Railway, The Secret Diary of Dr Robert Hardie, Imperial War Museum 1983.