By Michiel Schwartzenberg

The unilateral cease-fire on 15 August should have resulted in an immediate improvement of the plight of the PoW. The Japanese had been ordered to do so. However, in some places the conditions had deteriorated to such an extent that the dying continued before the situation was brought under control.

The predicament at Palembang

RAPWI team ‘Blunt’ entered its assigned camp at Palembang, Sumatra on 4 September and four days later reported: ‘908 PoW, 272 hospitalized and 249 died of malnutrition and illness’. According to a message 10 September the situation had not improved: ‘British 470, hospital 150. Many dying. Civilian men, women and children. Need urgent medical relief air supplies.’ Another two days later SEAC HQ in Ceylon received a request from Palembang for a medical team immediately because  ‘Doctors here are as weak as patients and cannot cope. Medical supplies […] urgently required. Immediate evacuation of sick essential; 50 by air and 200 by sea’. Even Lord Bevin (Minister of Foreign Affairs) in London was worried (message 12 September): ‘Almost complete absence of information about Java and Sumatra in contrast to voluminous publicity about other areas is causing alarm…. There is in fact ground for concern since deaths actually reported by Japanese through International Committee Red Cross in Geneva are much higher in proportion than anywhere else in the Far East.’

The actual situation can be gauged by reading two post war reports by senior British PoW: Wing Commander W.R. Wills-Sandford (https://www.cofepow.org.uk/armed-forces-stories-list/japanese-treatment-of-raf) and Surgeon-Lieutenant J.G. Reed (not available online). Reeds statistics clearly show the mortality to 21 August:

Camp strength			Aug date	#		date	#
26 May in camp	1.159		1	3		*15	2
15 Sept in camp	899		2	3		16	7
15-20 Sept hosp air evac	240		3	6		17	6
			4	6		18	4
1945 monthly mortality rate		5	1		19	2
Jan	3		6	9		20	6
Feb	6		7	7		**21	3
March	5		Week 1	35		Week 3	30
April	1		8	6		22	1
May	22		9	4		23	3
June	44		10	2		24	0
July	99		11	5		25	2
Aug	109		12	5		26	1
Sept 1-20	10		13	5		27	0
total	299		14	6		28	0
			Week 2	33		29	1
						30	2
			*Cease fire		31	1
			** rations increase		Week 4	11

Dr. Reeds analysis of the sharp increase in mortality is equally clear: ‘a policy of starvation’ as he called it. On 27 May 1945 the rationing was cut by the Japanese (measured in grams of rice):

duty	heavy	light	none / ill
from	500	300	250
to	400	250	150
average given	300	225	200
21 Aug	550	550	550

Even these rations were not met; one week only 233 gr was issued. On 21 August, a week after the cease fire, the rations increased. Dr Reed noted that before 27 May the main cause of death was disease (dysentery); after 27 May it was starvation. He also noted that the starvation due to the 27 May decease became apparent in 6 weeks; whereas the recovery from 21 August was immediate. Dr Reed allowed for the psychological factor of liberation and the increase in morale: “The general effect of being able to put a man off duty and tell him to lie back and absorb his 500g of rice per day had to be seen to be believed.”

Air Supply by the RAPWI

Before the arrival of the RAPWI teams, the RAF dropped supplies to all known camps in South East Asia. This operation to supply the camps by air was called ‘MASTIFF B’ and started with Red Cross supplies of a general nature. As the RAPWI teams entered the camps they would take stock of the material needs and place orders with RAPWI Main Control on Ceylon. RAPWI Main Control would make an assessment of all the requests of all the camps in SEAC and the availability of supplies and aircraft and allot them accordingly. There were 4 categories of supplies and 2 kinds of packing: containers and packs. For Palembang the supplies were delivered:

Supplies	Red Cross	Clothing	Medical	Food	Personnel
date	cont	pack	cont	pack	cont	cont	pack
31-aug	11	6
1-sep		36
11-sep		7	11				3
12-sep	11	10		10	3	19	10
13-sep								Capt Mockler RAMC parachute
15-sep						11	10
16-sep				1		11	9
17-sep				12		9
22-sep					2	20	20
23-sep						11	10
total	22	59	11	23	5	81	62
in Kg	5.310	2.961	810	11.599	20.680 total

The chart shows that the after the initial Red Cross supply droppings, the supply ceased until the RAPWI team Blunt managed to place orders mainly for food and medicine as well as an additional medical team.

Evacuation to Singapore

Following the advent of RAPWI team Blunt the situation improved and after 12 September things happened quickly:

12 live broadcast of surrender ceremony in Singapore shared with PoW  

13 Medical team lead by Dr. Mockler[1] arrived (by parachute) from Ceylon

14 Japanese finally cooperated: they were helpful in giving supplies of food and

clothing. “Their attitude has lately been correct” as RAPWI team Blunt put it.

15 new hospital was put in operation

19 Palembang visited by Lady Mountbatten which was ‘extremely popular’

15 – 20 all 240 ill PoW evacuated by Dakota to Singapore

21 – 25 evacuation of the 600 British by Dakota to Singapore

Medical evacuation of PoW from Pakan Baroe to     Interview of PoW from Singapore, 17 September. Pakan Baroe, Sumatra   Palembang in Singapore[2] is not Palembang, but the scene was similar.

Two pictures of Lady Mountbattens tour on Sumatra 15-19 September, camp not known.

Conclusion

The Japanese should never have mistreated their PoW and put their heath and lives in peril. Throughout the war and in all camps the treatment had been brutal and negligent. But Palembang may have been one of the few camps genuinely in acute danger of mass starvation for whom the Japanese cease fire came in just time. It did not, however, result in an immediate improvement of the situation; this only occurred a week later when the rations increased. The advent of the RAPWI team Blunt on 4 September lead to improvements, although it took yet another week (11 September) before the RAF started delivering the supplies that were desired. But the end was in sight; the evacuation of the ill PoW commenced 15 September and after completion is was the turn of the healthy to leave.

One cannot undo the past, but one can count the possible difference made by compliance by the Japanese to the terms of the Allies and a much sooner arrival of the British RAPWI teams on Sumatra.

Thirty-nine lives.

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[1] Captain J. Mockler is one of the few RAPWI-personnel that died in active duty. On 5 November Mockler (IAMC) and J.W. Smith (RAA) were supervising the evacuation of RAPWI at Benkulen, Sumatra. They were attacked and Smith was wounded. Mockler died and was buried in Palembang; he now rests in Jakarta.

[2] The AWM description is problematic. There weren’t any Australians in Palembang and the men seem very emaciated despite having had food and rest for a month.