ANUP Singh (Dr) Japanese Occupation of Singapore, Accession Number 003495


  • Oral History Centre
    Source
  • 2
    Total Reels
  • Nur Azlin bte Salem
    Interviewer
  • 01:43:02
    Total Running Time
  • English
    Language


Copyright Notice

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Metadata

  • 3 Apr 2010
    Recording Date
  • 00:49:40
    Running Time
  • MP3
    Format
  • Open Access
    Conditions Governing Access

Synopsis

* After completing training at Seletar Camp interviewee was posted to several battalions and served accordingly. His main duty was with Azar Brigade - 514 Regiment. His final battle was in Burma. Interviewee had to go to the frontline to treat the injured. His most memorable encounter. Interviewee was only 22 years old but had to be everywhere to save so many people. He said that being in the battlefield affected him so deeply that he vowed if he left the battlefield alive he would dedicate his life to the spiritual path. Interviewee shared how when the British were looking for Subhas Chandra Bose, the soldiers covered his whereabouts and said he had died. He recalled how he was stabbed with a bayonet by the British soldiers who wanted information on Subhas. Interviewee grabbed the bayonet and the scar is still on his hand.

After the war, when they were imprisoned by the British in Pearl's Hill, the British used to take a group of 5 - 7 men each time and made them do work, sometimes without even feeding them. The British abused their prisoners as well. Interviewee shared that usually 8 doctors accompanied the troops to the battlefield. There was always ample supply of medicine. How interviewee felt fighting alongside the Japanese against the British. He said that the Japanese initially treated those who were on their side very well. But those who opposed them were only courting death. Examples of when the Indian youth went against the Japanese.

Interviewee recounted the last battle in Burma where his batallion was ambushed by the British. It was shortly after this that the Japanese surrendered in Malaya. Interviewee and the others were blindfolded and brought back to Singapore and imprisoned at Pearl's Hill in July 1945. He recalled interrogations by the British. Descriptions of trials for INA leaders by the British. Conditions of the prisoners in Pearl's Hill under the British. How the interviewee was released in February 1946. Fate of Subhas Chandra Bose remains a mystery. His opinions of Subhas Chandra Bose. How the experience during the Japanese Occupation changed his life.

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