Bamboo Cage

The P.O.W. Diary of Flight Lieutenant Robert Wyse, 1942-1943

Jonathan F. Vance

• Publisher: Goose Lane Editions
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN:
  9780864925527
• eBook ISBN:
  9780864925527
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Military Biographies
• Index: History

In 1942, RAF flight controller Robert Wyse became a Japanese prisoner of war on the island of Java in Indonesia. Starved, sick, beaten, and worked to near-death, he wasted away until he weighed only seventy pounds, his life hanging in tenuous balance. There were strict orders against POWs keeping diaries, but Wyse penned his observations on the scarce bits of paper he could find, struggling to describe the brutalities he witnessed. After cleverly hiding his notes in a piece of bamboo next to his bed, in December of 1943, he carefully hid his notes inside a bottle beneath his prison hut. After the war, he wrote to the Dutch authorities, asking them to dig up his diary and return it to him. In this detailed and frank portrayal of life under Japanese occupation, Wyse reveals the both the best and the worst of human nature. He criticized his fellow soldiers for botching the defence of Java and Sumatra and admonished his captors for their brutality. Yet, Wyse also describes the selfless efforts of the Dutch civilians who helped the prisoners by doing whatever they could as well as his first-hand observations of acts of self-sacrifice among the prisoners themselves.

Chapter One

Malang Prison Camp

Following the Allied surrender, Robert Wyse entered a world of almost unimaginable suffering. Despite Japanese statements that they would observe the spirit, rather than the letter, of international law in dealing with prisoners of war (P.O.W.s), they flagrantly violated the most basic tenets of the Geneva Convention of 1929, established to protect combatants in captivity. Letters to and from prisoners were destroyed or packed in sacks and forgotten. Parcels of food and medicine sent by the International Committee of the Red Cross, which could have saved countless lives in the camps, were left to rot in warehouses, right where Swiss-chartered ships had delivered them. Escape attempts, which were permitted under international law, brought the most brutal punishment. Prisoners were subjected to appalling medical experiments, and were tortured or executed on a whim. There are even documented cases of Japanese officers cannibalizing their prisoners. Wyse would watch, on almost a daily basis, as his captors demonstrated a complete disregard for the lives of their prisoners. The typical guard, it soon became apparent, delighted in inflicting pain on anyone or anything, and seemed to have no moral compass to control his behaviour.

All prisoners, even the officers, were forced to work at jobs that were hard and dangerous, and the Japanese expected a certain number of labourers to be available each day; it didn’t matter whether they were healthy or sick, as long as the right number of prisoners presented themselves. For the unwell, it meant spending time in the makeshift hospital, usually on decreased rations — because the Japanese believed that a P.O.W. who didn’t work didn’t need to eat. The able-bodied faced long days of back-breaking labour in brutal conditions. Thousands of prisoners were, quite literally, worked to death.

But the biggest killers were malnutrition and disease. As Wyse often observes in his diary, the Western digestive system was ill-equipped to cope with an Eastern diet. Rice was a staple in Java, but it was usually accompanied by meat or fish, vegetables, and fruit to provide the necessary nutrients. The P.O.W.s, in contrast, received only small quantities of rice, and precious little else. Occasionally it was raw rice, which was relatively healthy because the vitamin-rich husks were still on the grains, but most of the time it was processed rice, and often of very dubious quality. Wyse, as an officer, had better access to fruits and vegetables to supplement the rice, but even in the best of camps the prisoners were plagued by a host of deficiency diseases that were often grouped together under the term avitaminosis: pellagra, wet and dry beriberi, blindness (caused by a deficiency of fat and animal protein), Singapore foot (in which the soles of the feet became unbearably prickly and tender), and Singapore scrotum (also known as electric balls, it inflamed the scrotum and caused the flesh to peel off). Dysentery and scabies were epidemic, and malaria was a constant threat. It is hardly surprising that Wyse’s diary reveals an obsessive concern for food and physical condition.

Allied soldiers, probably Dutch, surrendering to the Japanese on Java. Collection of E.P. Smith

March 9, 1942 — One hundred percent parade to start our imprisonment. While lined up, a large formation of Jap bombers and fighters appeared. Although everyone knew the war was definitely over, there was a move in the ranks to take cover.

March 10-30, 1942 — There was no water laid on [in] this camp. We got our supply from two small streams running through the camp, and I mean they were small: one only about a foot across and a few inches deep; the other not much larger. A few clear days and they dwindled to nothing. We constantly prayed for rain so that we could get a fresh shower bath off the roofs of the hangars. The drome had never been finished and most of the buildings had a roof only. Mosquitoes very bad here and nets of great importance. There were no amenities, and before they could be dug, thousands of thoughtless men were littering up the surrounds. Even when there were plenty of holes dug for this purpose, many lazy people would not bother to walk that far. The atmosphere soon became unbearable. This condition as well as never being able to wash properly and the sudden change to a rice diet soon brought on various skin diseases, dysentery, diarrhoea, constipation, etc. Bites or bruises would soon become seething masses of swollen rottenness. Lack of foresight on the part of officers and men was responsible for this in the first instance. We needed a strong man to lay down the orders and we didn’t have one. We have chloride pills for our drinking water, from the two streams previously mentioned, yet I have caught many brainless ninnies urinating in those streams less than a hundred yards above where water was being drawn, to say nothing of erecting a small dam and taking a bath, signs posted everywhere to the contrary. With a bog hole less than 100 feet from the officers’ hangar, I had to move my bed space from the door leading to it, as officers would not go beyond that door to urinate during the night. The smell in a few days was something awful.

The Japs knew there were many of our chaps in the jungle and along the beaches and they took the obvious way to get us into camp. They offered the natives 10 guilders for us alive and 20 guilders dead. The natives would not dare to attack us unless they outnumbered us a hundred to one, but they generally caught up with isolated Britishers and in that way reduced the numbers. The Japs were shooting us on sight by this time to discourage escapes.

At the drome there were many planes, all unguarded, and some of the boys attempted to make them airworthy. The Dutch had been using this drome and I could not believe they would have left them flyable. I was asked by three different escape parties to fly their plane for them and refused. These lads were well-qualified air mechanics and had been working on those engines every night for weeks and they claimed they were OK. A Dutch pilot whom I met on one of my outings and who had been flying from this very drome had told me that nobody would ever fly those planes, and I was much more inclined to listen to him than to our own enthusiasts. Somewhat gratifying though to have the boys seek me out to lead their show. W/C [Wing Commander] Bell1 had a Magister ready to take the air, he claimed, and was going to carry extra fuel in drums. A Glenn Martin was also being groomed by some men. Then the C.O. [commanding officer] W/C Steedman came out with this fantastic statement to all officers: ‘You are not to attempt to escape by aeroplane because if you get away the rest of us will probably be shot,’ thereby spreading consternation among those lads who were trying to fight a war. It was our sworn duty to try to escape and not only that but we had to try to obtain as much information re: enemy movements as possible en route. We carried all kinds of paraphernalia to aid us in that escape. Here, in Eastern Command, don’t escape; something might happen to the rest of us.

Allied units marched into captivity, Java, 1942. Collection of E.P. Smith

About ninety percent of the officers here have been in the Far East for many years, too long for their brains to be sizzling in the hot sun, and about seventy-five percent of these only joined up in the last few weeks when the trouble started. These fellows are known by all and sundry as ‘tea planters and whiskey swillers.’ One has only to see them and hear them talk for a short time to become completely fed up with them. All they can talk about is the amount of graft they should have collected.

We would be allowed to write a letter here, according to the Japs, one per month. All handed in letters but there is little likelihood of them ever being delivered. Plenty of snakes in this camp. [An] S/L [squadron leader] got away with a 5,000 guilder impress [levy]. Our cooking is atrocious. Nobody knows how to cook rice.

Prices jumped 300 percent right away but soon dropped back to normal. In command of several squadrons at various times. The shifting around, nominal rolls, working parties, etc., very boring. Our own seniors can’t be of the same mind for more than twenty-four hours at a stretch.

March 31, 1942 — Ordered to prepare for a move in the morning. My party was not included in this shift. Then, at 10 p.m., was transferred to another Wing and ordered to take charge of a party of thirty-one vehicles and a hundred men to take off at 7 a.m.

April 1, 1942 — After many delays, with the Japanese proceeded to the Central Hotel, where we picked up an escort of a sergeant-major [S/M] and four soldiers. We had been told the trip would take two days. My C.O. allowed me three days rations for 100 men.

April 2, 1942 — Ran into trouble in the Tjilatjap area. All bridges had been blown by the Dutch. We drove all over the area looking for a crossing without finding one. Finally back to a place on the south coast where a small ferry was operating. Got a few cars over, one at a time. Heavy current. We camped by the riverside for the night. Water bottles empty and no water. Ordered river water boiled for twenty minutes and allowed to settle overnight. The rivers bring down everything from all the towns and villages located on them, but had I not done this the men would have drunk the stuff as it was.

April 3, 1942 — Spent most of day getting rest of vehicles across the river. Had bath in native well. Night [in] another schoolhouse. Oh, on the first night out two of our lads broke camp and went downtown to a pub and had whiskey, of all things. The next morning I caught it from our escort. Told that in future the Jap soldiers would be on guard and anyone caught out would be shot. Looked on as a great joke by most of the lads. I wasn’t quite prepared to believe it was. It was very difficult to get the true inference from our escort as none of them spoke a word of English. We had perpetual troubles over petrol, for instance. They expected us to run without it, I guess. That night all trucks out of gas. Nips wanted to leave early in the morning. Spent hours trying to convince S/M we could not move without fuel. He eventually got a Nip interpreter. Wanted to know how much we needed. I asked [how] far we had to go. Not allowed to see the map. Told we had 300 km to go. I then estimated 300 gals required. Too much! Then told only 200 kms to go. Whereupon I estimated 300 gals. Still too much gas but they eventually found 300 gals for us. We travelled all that day and in the evening I learned we still had 180 kms to Malang. Fortunately we had some spare fuel in one of the trucks, otherwise I think I would have been shot. I just could not make them understand that motors would not go without fuel and there seemed to be little of that left around the country for the Japs. Nips that had command of some of the stores would not give any of it to another Nip. Vehicles breaking down and others could not keep up. Stuck on temporary bridges, etc. At one time, three of our drivers on a sling bridge. Drivers seem to have no sense at all and the men, all English, are making things very difficult for me. Threatened with death many times by the guard because of the unruly mob who are supposed to be soldiers. I’d like to have them on a station for about two months and, by cracky, they’d listen to me when I spoke. They just can’t get it into their heads that we are prisoners of war and can’t come and go as we please.

April 4, 1942 — Got through Madioen late p.m. and on to the next town only to discover eight vehicles missing. Jap garrison town. I was reported to a Jap officer because I did not have the respect of the men and could not enforce discipline. I guess everybody the world over knows what discipline in the R.A.F. is, so I was not unduly perturbed, except for the seriousness of the situation and my own neck. Discipline was ten times as bad out here under the hot sun as it was in England and that’s saying something. In the Japanese Army the officer is a god in every sense of the word. He is set apart from the ordinary mortal, is worshipped and obeyed by any Japanese other rank. Naturally they do not understand our lack of it and that has been the cause of most of our troubles since becoming prisoners of war. An English officer orders a man to do something and he might be obeyed at a slow walk. A Jap will do it at a fast run after the customary bows and salutes. Jap soldiers always in full uniform. They were disgusted with my fellows for stripping down a bit. One lad nearly lost his head and I don’t mean figuratively. I had passed along the word that my orders were Nip orders and were to be enforced by Nip bayonets (not my scheme). Within five minutes of giving the edicts, one of my drivers balked and started to argue. I could see the hackles beginning to rise on a Nip neck. I hurriedly placed him under close arrest, tied him to a seat in the back of an empty truck for all to see, and then proceeded on my way. Oh boy that fellow looked dejected and it went a long way towards sobering the gang. From then on too, I got a little more respect from Dai Nippon. That boy will never believe that I saved his life.

We put up this night at a Japanese Army camp. We were given a stone slab with a roof over it about thirty by twenty feet. One of the missing trucks was the ration lorry, but on telling the Jap commander we had no food he gave us his rice. And the promise of food the next morning. Our food the next morning was a billy of tea. Officers were allowed to sleep inside with Nip soldiers. We declined. Dog, pet of one of the boys, seized by the Jap commander. Invited out to swill beer at two different Nip parties that night, at the point of the bayonet. There were speeches and I had to reply.

April 5, 1942 — The rest of our gang pulled in during the night. Four men left the convoy on escape plans this day. Later heard from Japs they had been captured and shot. My 100 men were somewhat inflated on departure from [Tasik Malaja]. The first night on the road my cook sergeant issued 121 rations. The next morning I took a secret count and found I then had 119 men. I arrived in Malang with 105, five more than I needed, but I told some of the boys to skedaddle as soon as [we] got inside and then when they were brought together some of the camp officers saw to it that I had the correct number. Early p.m. arrived at Malang, and out to Singasari Aerodrome. In Malang the whole town turned out to see us and one got the idea of being a monkey in a cage. I turned over to W/C Welch. Was given No.1 Sqdn., No.1 Wing, under S/L Hardie, one of the tea planters and about a year my junior in service.

April 6, 1942 — Rested all day and made full report on trip to W/C Welch. At this time I forwarded my views on what would happen if the Nippon demands were not met, in the light of my experiences. No attention was paid to me.

April 7, 1942 — My first day at slave labour on the aerodrome. Squitters all day, afraid [of] dysentery. Carry a roll of bumf with me wherever I go. Have been like this for two weeks, including the road trip. Aided by an M.O. [medical officer], of which we are fortunate in having two, F/L [Flight Lieutenant] Forbes2 and Liddell, both Scotsmen; I was able to get the business stopped after a time — only to turn to acute constipation. I don’t know which is the worse. The damn thing has brought on an attack of piles and they are bothering the life out of me.

April 8-12, 1942 — Just a succession of drome, piles, drome, piles, etc. . . . too miserable to jot down a word.

April 13, 1942 — Barbed wire, sentries pacing back and forth outside and inside. Yes, we are being forced to work on aerodromes, filling in bomb holes, drainage ditches, shifting bombs, oil, petrol, etc. Today being a Nipponese holiday we get a day off from the back-breaking work on the drome. A chance for all to do their washing, if they can find any water. Most of them have one suit only now and that very light tropical wear. Usually too dog tired when getting back from the aerodrome to do anything but draw my rice and flop on the so-called bed. Have not been too well recently, to make matters worse. Have already had most of the usual tropical afflictions, on top of an acute attack of diarrhoea. Skin scratches, bites, etc., are impossible to avoid and almost impossible to cure. Each one becomes septic, squirts slime all over the place and becomes very uncomfortable. The chief difficulty of the moment is to avoid malaria and the hot sun. The sun is wicked hot in this country, absolutely scorching.

The ...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Abbreviations
• Introduction
• Chapter One Malang Prison Camp
• Chapter Two Lyceum Camp, Soerabaja
• Chapter Three Darmo Camp
• Chapter Four A Second Year in Java
• Conclusion
• Acknowledgments
• Selected Bibliography
• Photo Credits
• Index
• The New Brunswick Military Heritage Project
• The New Brunswick Military Heritage Series
• About the Author
• Footnotes
• Back Cover