大象传媒

This is Michael Charnaud鈥檚 story: it has been added by Pauline Colcutt (on behalf of the Fernhurst Centre), with permission from the author who understands the terms and conditions of adding his story to the website.

An unusual and true story of a young boy who with his mother became a prisoner of both the Germans and the Japanese May 1942 - August 1945

CHAPTER 4 - FUKUSHIMA INTERNMENT CAMP 1942. (PART THREE)

Although I was as an eleven year old on a very strict regime in a very harsh prison camp there were some compensations which I seized from the moment we were allowed out into the grounds after the first five days. The Camp was surrounded by an extensive garden of a few acres in size. To the front were some ornamental trees etc, but the other two sides were occupied by a large vegetable garden tended by an old wrinkle faced, deep lined Japanese peasant gardener. I became very friendly with him and he was kind and dignified in return, and would give me things to eat that he had grown. I watched intently as he daily ladled out with a scoop on the end of a long pole the night soil from the cess pit from the lavatories. This was laboriously placed into two long wooden buckets that when full would be joined by a yoke that he placed across the shoulders behind his neck, On reaching the vegetable garden the mixture would again be spooned out in a long line on the edge of growing carrots, leeks etc. It was the traditional way of maintaining fertility and supposedly a reason why the Japanese suffered from worms particularly as their vegetables tended to be eaten raw! First I was amazed at the strange exotic fauna around. Almost the first day walking around I noticed an emerald green frog clinging to the branch of a small fruit tree. At first because of its brightness and translucency I thought it was glass and had been left by the nuns. I went to touch it, and suddenly what I thought was an inanimate object leapt onto another branch showering my hand with urine at the same time. Then there were the large shiny green caterpillars with a long tail and circles over their legs which feasted on the fennel. Later they made shiny silvery cocoons out of which came the glorious yellow and orange swallowtail butterflies or huge hawk moths. Then there would appear as from nowhere enormous praying 鈥� mantis insects about 4 or 5 inches long. They were huge green winged and veined like a leaf, with tiny large eyed triangular heads, with vicious claws and would often attack and eat each other. Sometimes one would chew off another鈥檚 head, whilst the headless one was still attacking and digging his claws into his adversary! In the trees there was the incessant song of the many cicadas..鈥�

All these things and many more I came to notice. So although my freedom was curtailed, I had one commodity in abundance that few children in this modern affluent world regretfully now have, and that was time. Time to think, time to day dream, of the heaven of my home at Luckyland Estate, in the blue hills of Uva in Ceylon, of trips into aromatic scented Australian Bush. Time to led my fantastic imaginations roam, and above all time to watch and observe all the grown up women cope with the stress of their surroundings. They were from all walks of life and nationalities and cultures. English middle class mums had to mix and get to know Chinese mums as well as a Bengali, Eurasians, a Dutch girl , French , Australians etc. A year later when I was sent to live with the Men there was also a similar varied mix.

On the twenty fifth of October we awoke after a cold night to see the Azuma mountains lying on the Western side of the camp with a small volcano nestling in its middle, and which were about 6,500 ft high had their first covering of winter snow. The following day it snowed at the camp , although it was not cold enough yet for it to lie on the ground. All around, on the nearby surrounding foothills, the wild Japanese Maples on them were now turning the most brilliant fiery red, burnishing the hillsides, as were also the large maple trees that lined the parade ground at our camp.. Japan in autumn is quite spectacular, far more so than spring which unlike England is sudden, short and lasts only about a fortnight between the bitter cold easterly winter wind blowing straight from Siberia, and the summer warm humid tropical winds from the South Pacific. Most people do not realise that the latitude of Tokyo is the same as Gibraltar, but lying close to the great central Asian land mass, it is under the influence of monsoon winds, which are either coming from Siberia and are freezing in winter, or swelteringly humid and tropical in summer.

During the afternoon of our first snowfall, we were surprised by the appearance of four new prisoners, survivors from the 鈥淕loucester Castle鈥�. This tragic ship of 8,006 tons was on a voyage from Birkenhead to Capetown with military supplies and was attacked during the night of the 15th July 1942 by the raider 鈥淢ichel鈥� under the command of Korvettenkapitan von Ruckteschell who had commanded 鈥淲idder鈥� in the North Atlantic two years before. Many of his former crew were with him on his new Danish built vessel which carried two Arado seaplanes and also a motor launch which was fitted with two torpedo tubes and was often used in action with devastating effect. The Michel had approached without warning in the dark, and at very close range fired two torpedoes followed by salvoes from her 15 cm guns. The vessel sunk in under ten minutes, after the starboard side was an utter shambles . Only the life boats on the port side survived, and as these were being hurriedly lowered, the ship capsized and sank about 600 miles NNW of St. Helena taking all the remaining boats with her. Out of 154 persons on board only 61 survived including 4 passengers out of the 12 on board. They were Pat Radford a buxom fair haired 19 year old girl, who had lost both her Father and Mother in the action; Marion Sparke and her 10 year old son Graham whose father who was working in Capetown in the port, and a 16 year boy Andrew White who also had lost his Mother.

All had been in the water for over an hour, whilst the Michel鈥檚 crew tried with searchlights and launches to pick up the odd lone survivors, some badly wounded, with everyone screaming for attention and help in the inky blackness of a mid- Atlantic night.. They recalled the horrors of that encounter which was one of the cruellest actions of any German raider, using quite an unpardonable use of force on defenceless civilians. After spending a fortnight aboard Michel, they were then transferred to the German Tanker 鈥淐harlotte Schlieman鈥� which departed with a hold full of prisoners. The strongest and fittest 50 of these were dropped off in Singapore to work as dock labourers, with the rest being taken to Japan. In Yokohama harbour they were then boarded on the Nankin, which now had been renamed 鈥淟euthen鈥�. This was our first news that our ship had finally arrived in Japan.. After a fortnight on board the four passengers were sent first to Osaka ,and from there to Kobe to an Internment Camp in a former hotel, where they were allowed to visit the shops, go for walks in the country, and play tennis and had excellent food. After a fortnight of this luxury they were abruptly dispatched to our camp to enjoy themselves under the pleasant regime of our salubrious resort! A most bitter pill for them to swallow especially after their earlier horrific capture.

I was to become very friendly with young Graham who was only just a year younger than myself, and we became good pals doing everything together, including being repeatedly punished by the Japs. For the last two years of our imprisonment I was to share a room with him as well as the Greek Captain..

On the 8th December we had a really severe hoare frost which made all the trees white, and then this was followed next day by the first proper snow of the winter when we had a foot on the ground and about two foot in drifts. Luckily at this point the radiators were turned on to warm the building . We boys, all went into the garden and played snowballs and made some snow men. In the garden were two large persimmon trees which had dropped all their leaves, just leaving the golden fruit on the trees which against the white background of the snow, was an extremely pretty sight ,like a Chinese painting. As mentioned above, my friend the old Japanese wrinkled faced gardener who was a very kind and gentle character, like most old peasants the world over, would let me help myself to the fruits which only in December with the cold weather had ripened sufficiently to be edible. Prior to that they were so astringent that ones mouth was immediately dried up. There were two trees, one with a hard crisp rounded apple like fruit, the other was pointed and when ripe was very soft and squelchy inside. Both were different and it was hard to decide which was preferable.

The snow quickly melted but a fortnight later we had more snow of about four inches thick, and very heavy frosts, so bad in fact that ice in the water butts were over four inches thick, and even in the bathroom indoors, hot water from the previous night had frozen by the morning. For the record, the low temperatures that we encountered during the three years that we spent in Fukushima were the coldest ever noted with January and February 1943 averaging below freezing for the whole of the two months.
To give an example of the hardy nature of some of the guards, there were about three or four of them that in the middle of this bitter winter weather with snow deep on the ground, at night in the dark, would just don a pair of shorts with no covering, not even a vest on the upper part of their body, and go for a run two or three times round the camp. They would come in and then go straight to the camp bathroom, to have a normal Japanese bath. This consisted of having a small wooden bucket to throw hot water over oneself. Then soap was applied and one rubbed oneself down with a flannel, and later rinsed the suds off with more douches from the small bucket. Finally when clean all would get into a large communal wooden oblong straight sided tub, about 6 ft x 4ft and about 4 ft high where they would all sit together for a long while relaxing in the hot water. Our baths were done in a similar manner about once a fortnight, but with not much time for the soaking.

Soon it was Christmas and our special treat for the day by the Japanese was a slice of lemon in our tea. Otherwise the raw food was similar to normal. Caroline Dimitrakopouloy who was Dutch but who was married to the Greek ship鈥檚 radio operator, dressed up as Father Christmas and using Mother鈥檚 kit bag as a sack, delivered presents for the children that the women had made, dolls, cats, rabbits, draughts and dominoes all made from scraps with great ingenuity. Later we had a Church service in the chapel conducted by the Nankin鈥檚 Australian padre Rev Boyall, and for once men and women were allowed to fraternise for about an hour. We all thought of the lovely Christmas鈥檚 at home, and Mother and I would dream back to the parties at Luckyland, with the Christmas tree touching the ceiling, all lit up with lights and coloured baubles and laden with presents for the children of the district. It all seemed so very far away and in the long distant past.

By New Year it had started snowing again and this time it was two foot deep everywhere and we children made a huge igloo and snowmen. One of the big differences in the snowfall in Japan in comparison with England, was that even though the snow was very deep, it rarely lasted more than a few days, on account of the sun being brighter with the lower latitude. The nights would always be bitterly cold with the strong icy Siberian wind, but as soon as the sun was up, the snow would soon melt, and it was always warm in the sun if one could shelter against the camp wall out of the penetrating icy wind.

During January 1943, an outbreak of chicken pox swept through all the children in the camp, and we were isolated at the rear of the building away from our normal rooms. It was whilst we were in quarantine that I was able for the first time to see how goods and messages were passed between the men and women鈥檚 sections. This had been done on a regular basis for some months by throwing a rope from the upper men鈥檚 floor window at night down and across to the women鈥檚 lower floor , when the guards were on the other side of the building. On this occasion however, the first time I had seen it actually done, there was a mishap and they were spotted. Phyllis Hercombe was slapped across her face really hard six times, and Mrs Murray four times and the men concerned were brutally beaten with sticks, knocking some of their teeth out. The reign of hate continued for some time.

Also in January, Tim Melia the young 16 year old cook鈥檚 assistant on the Kirkpool who had lost one buttock in the action, and had been in hospital in Yokohama having skin grafts on his serious wounds, suddenly turned up to be reunited with his Tyneside mates. Although not fully recovered, at least he had been well patched up. He brought us some really interesting news:

On the 30th November there was a farewell party on board the 鈥淭hor鈥� in Yokohama, with Japanese and German journalists and photographers aboard. The raider had arrived about two months previously ,and had been refitted and repaired prior to making the return trip back to Germany. She was moored alongside the Nankin (now called Leuthen), which in turn was alongside the German Tanker Uckermark. This was the former Altmark the notorious prison ship of Graf Spee fame, when 300 British seamen were kept under appalling conditions in Jossing Fiord , Norway and were released by a boarding party from HMS Cossack in a daring raid. Also moored nearby was the Japanese ship Unkai Maru.

Whilst the tanks of the Uckermark were being cleaned there was a tremendous explosion, most likely caused by static electricity in the empty hold which instantly engulfed the four ships in flaming oil killing 13 members of the Thor鈥檚 crew and it rapidly spread to the other ships. A further 43 seamen perished in the Uckermark.
All the ships sank, so ending the story of both the ships that we had travelled on , in the most dramatic finale imaginable! Whilst we are on the subject I will mention the fate of the other ships of this story that we had lived aboard. The Dresden made it back to Europe beating the British blockade, and arrived in Bordeaux in November 1942. Next month though she was a victim of a daring attack by the Royal Marines immortalized in the book and film 鈥淭he Cockleshell Heroes鈥�.

The Ramses finally left Yokohama in October 1942, and was intercepted in the Indian Ocean by two Australian Cruisers HMAS Adelaide and HMAS van Heemskerck (formerly Dutch Navy) and sunk. The Regensburg was torpedoed by an American Submarine in the Sunda Straits, but survived, and returned to Japan to be repaired and set sail finally in February 1943 for Europe. Whilst North of Iceland she met HMS Glasgow and was sunk on March 30th with only 6 survivors.
The Michel was sunk by the American submarine Tarpon off Yokohama on 17th October 1943.

An interesting postscript links the Regensburg in a strange way. One of the Nankin鈥檚 passengers was Mr H.K.Wood whose ship had been sunk during the Darwin bombing on February 19th 1942. Later as Captain of a Supertanker after the war, he was taking his vessel into Bremen, when as is usual a number of port officials came aboard. One of them he recognised as being the former Second Officer from the Regensburg and they had a good celebration afterwards in memory of the old times! This story is all the more remarkable in that when the Regensburg went down there were only six survivors and four of these were from the Uckermark. Only two of the Regensburg鈥檚 crew survived a sailor and that Second Officer!

Cont/鈥︹�ee A Child鈥檚 War part Nine

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