|
Of the
over 50,000 Britons who became POWs, many were captured at Singapore.
(This figure is based on figures from the History of the Second
World War – The War against Japan Vol. V by Maj Gen S Woodburn Kirby et al.
namely 71000, including Australian and some Dutch and from the 56000 cards for
Allied POWs in WO345 in the Public Records Office. HMSO CMD 6832[June 1946]
gives just over 50,000)
The
FEPOW Memorial database lists the names of over 16,300 British servicemen who
died as POWs. This would indicate a mortality rate of approximately 1 in 3 which
is comparable with those for US
and Australian POWs. This includes the thousands who died on ships transporting
them to other parts of the Japanese Empire – mostly as a result of the unmarked
ships being torpedoed by Allied submarines. Among these 16,300, nearly 3% were officers.
According to the official History of the Second World War – The War against
Japan, some 36,000 were taken in Malaya, nearly 7,000 in Hong Kong (including
Indian personnel), nearly 5,500 in Java/Sumatra with smaller numbers in Borneo
and Burma. |
