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this contribution was submitted by Bill Spry to the People's War team in Wales and is added to the site with his permission.

A few days after discovering the hastily abandoned Japanese camp, we were advancing in single file along a very narrow raised path with paddy fields on either side, dry and uncultivated.

I was surprised to see, on the field on the right hand side about six yards away from the path, the bodies of two dead Japanese officers. They were lying side by side, neatly laid out on their backs. They were in full uniform, complete with samurai swords. We had not been in contact with the enemy for several days so this death was not due to us.

We did not touch the bodies. We could not halt the advance and there was also a good chance that the bodies had been booby trapped. No doubt our troops following behind found a way of retrieving those swords!

I have often wondered how those two Japanese officers came to be there. They were not killed by our men. Did they commit ‘hari kari’ or were they murdered by their own men trying to stop them retreating.

Incidentally it was said that the Japanese were afraid of our black African soldiers. I must say that with their heavily tattooed faces and swinging their machetes they did look quite ferocious!

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