When No 1 Mobile Force arrived in May 1943 they had to bury dead Asians found in the huts, Cholera victims, this was the start of an cholera epidemic among POWs.
Notes:
British Sumatra Battalion
17th July 1943
When the battalion arrived the Australians were moved out.
Taungzun was a large camp with the railway station 2 kilo meters up the line from the camp, to reach the station a large timber bridge, 70 yards long, further upstream was a road bridge. The monsoons had caused the river to rise and be very fast. The road bridge collapsed and then the rail bridge started to do the same. The build up of fallen trees and debris on the rail bridge did not help, then the extra wood from the fallen road bridge also built up, the Japanese had the men working throughout the night clearing away these obstructions. The next day elephants were brought in to help. The bridge took 10 days to rebuild under horrendous conditions with the prisoners waist deep in the surging water, within 12 hours of its completion it collapsed again.
By this time the toilet pits had over lowed and its effluent was running into the camp. Despair was causing many deaths but the prisoners rebuilt both road and rail bridges.
The Battalion moved on 8th November 1943 to the 114 Kilo Camp at Changaraya.
Information from British Sumatra Battalion by A.A. Apthorp
Taungzun (60 Kilo)
Also Named:
Japanese
