大象传媒

MY WAR TIME SERVICE AND EXPERIENCES
Mr Henry (Harry) Thomas Doughty.
RAOC Light Aid Detachment 55th Infantry Brigade 18th Division

With the worsening situation in Europe and Hitler intending to invade Poland, Britain introduced conscription on 24th April 1939 for all men aged 18 - 41 Years.
The Second World War was declared on September 3rd 1939. I was 20 years old and enjoying a days fishing at Earlswood. I had to register at the local labour exchange and was medically examined in December 1939.
I received my calling up papers to report to Chilwell Army Ordnance Depot on 15th January 1940. Here, at Chilwell, I underwent extensive training in foot drill, rifle drill, physical exercising gas mask drill and tests rifle range, dismantling and reassembling weapons. Other duties being Guard duties, fire picket, coal duties and cookhouse work. From March 1940 I had several different types of protective vaccinations and, later on in my service, vaccinated for plague and cholera. At Chilwell I also attended an extensive course on Storekeeping, in line with the job I had just left in civilian life at Cadburys.
Leaving Chilwell, I was drafted to Colchester Army Barracks for further training, plus general duties, church parades and ordnance corps work. One job I was engaged in was dyeing and camouflaging tents. From Colchester I was moved to Tidworth en route for the continent, but this was cancelled because of the catastrophe at Dunkirk.
Because of this situation we ended up filling sand bags for the defence of our country.
After Tidworth I had several postings: Ware (Herefordshire), Manchester, Norwich (where the 18th Division was formed) Hawick in Scotland,

Private H T Doughty
C/o Mrs Morgan
Elm Grove,Hawick
Roscboroughshire
Scotland.
Then Bolton , Bury and Lichfield . It was here where I was promoted to paid Lance Corporal. We left Lichfield in 1941 and arrived in Liverpool where we boarded ship.
We sailed the Atlantic Ocean, up the St Lawrence River to Nova Scotia. Here I left this ship and boarded an American ship, the 鈥淯SS West Point鈥�, originally the 鈥淯SS America鈥�. We sailed and anchored offshore at Trinidad then travelled south across the Equator and further south near the Antarctic, then north dodging Japanese submarines.
Finally, after three months at sea we put into Cape Town for a short break. From Cape Town we sailed past Madagascar and landed at Bombay in India. We left Bombay by rail and travelled up into the hills where we stayed for two weeks, leaving there because of the situation in Malaya. Back in Bombay we boarded the English ship the 鈥淥rchades鈥� and left in convoy, destination Singapore. We were bombed by Japanese aircraft as we went through the Malacca Straits (this is the channel between Java, Sumatra and Singapore.). We docked at Singapore in late January 1942. Some troops of the 18th Division were landed up into Malaya to fight a Rearguard action.
My light aid detachment was 13 only; in charge was a warrant officer, we were attached to the 55th Infantry Brigade, giving assistance in light aid for their vehicles. On the dockside at Singapore we had the job of starting the motor vehicles, as they were unloaded from the ship, we then drove them away from the bombings, which were going on.
We were billeted in a Malayan Girls High School, just outside the main part of Singapore. All our tools and equipment had gone to the Middle East where we were due to go originally. In order to gain some tools we decided to go to the air force at Celeta airfield but found no personnel there; the airfield was full of bomb craters and the aircraft destroyed. On entering a large building it was obvious that this was the RAF dining room, the long tables contained full plates of food untouched; it appears the air men had to do a quick evacuation. We had previously seen some air force personnel boarding the very same ship that we had left.
We moved from the Girls High School and pulled in on to Singapore Race Track. Just as it was getting dark all hell broke loose, firing from one side of the road to the other, we joined in, the firing ceased after about fifteen minutes, only to find we had been firing on our own Indian troops and they likewise. Moving further up the road into the gardens of a large house where we commenced digging ourselves in. We were constantly mortar shelled, most of which exploded on properties behind us.
The other lance corporal in our unit went with a driver to collect our rations from Singapore, but failed to return; he was killed in Singapore. We ended up with Bully Beef and biscuits.
A party of us went down the road in a vehicle to put the track back onto a Bren gun carrier, the Japanese shelled us with mortars; we didn't put the track back on but made a hasty retreat. Japanese aircraft were constantly flying over on reconnaissance causing us to open fire with Bren gun and rifle fire.
Japanese forces advanced down the whole of Malaya,Our Royal Engineers blew up the causeway which connected Malaya to Singapore.The Japanese had previously cut off the water supply that went from Malaya over the causeway to Singapore Island, this was Singapore's only water supply. Singapore was supposed to be an Island fortress, it had two large Naval guns pointing out to sea, the Japanese came down the mainland, they also controlled the air and the sea. Our Royal Engineers had destroyed the two naval guns.
February 15th 1942 was Capitulation Day, our commanding Officer ordered us to lay down our arms; he said hostilities should cease. British Army Officers met Japanese commanders at the Ford Motor Company factory and signed for capitulation. We destroyed our weapons and ammunition; I recall the dispatch rider knocking the engine out of his motorcycle with a sledgehammer saying,"I always felt like doing that".
A day or two later we marched with our kit, escorted by the Japanese, destination Changhi Barracks. This march was pretty horrifying with the tropical heat, lack of water and food. We marched over the debris of war, burnt out vehicles, overhead power lines down, trees and soldier victims of war, lying in the road and across hedgerows. We eventually arrived at the Changhi Barracks and were allocated Indian soldiers quarters. The Japanese had killed all the patients and the nurses in the hospital there.
We rigged up a field kitchen to cook our meals, mainly rice with a little meat and vegetables. Working parties were organised, some POWs going with the Japanese for cleaning up operations in Singapore, while others would go outside the wire fence under Japanese guard for burials in a selected area. The sound of the bugler's last post was a constant sound for our men who had died from their wounds. Other working parties were arranged under guards to go outside the wire to collect firewood and seawater for cooking purposes. With the tropical heat and the amount of perspiration loss, salt was considered essential in our food.
Here my warrant officer died within about four weeks.
In the early days at Changhi, all POWs were ordered out to the main road and made to stand facing across the road, the POWs were in the thousands and they stretched quite a long way. Finally a long line of open topped cars containing Japanese military officials and a cameraman passed slowly by us. cont...

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