CHRIS WILLS (1935-A-1991) sent us this story about how allies are sometimes not best of friends. Some of the following is taken directly from the book ‘RETURN FROM THE RIVER KWAI’ written by Joan and CLAY BLAIR (500-1988) while some of this is paraphrased by CHRIS from that book:

“British and Australian POW’s who had worked on the famous ‘RAILWAY OF DEATH’ in Thailand and built the ‘BRIDGE OVER THE RIVER KWAI’ were being sent to Japan for forced labor. Japan needed slave labor in their homeland, but only the healthy ones could go.

Hundreds of POWs started the trek in March of 1944 and due to the huge successes of ALLIED submarines, the Japanese were finding it difficult to get transport ships to carry out the mission. Finally, around June the British POWs arrived in Singapore followed by the Australians a month later. While waiting for transport, the POWs were put to work on the docks to load and unload ships.

It was during this time that a German freighter and submarine were in port. The German sailors disliked the Japanese and felt sorry for the POWs and how they were treated. They gave the POWs food while working on their ship and tried to help them as often as they could behind the Japanese backs. This was a stroke of luck for the POWs, since their diet was meager and their general health very poor. For some time the German sailors from both vessels continued to supplement the diet of the POWs until an incident ended it all.

One day a Japanese guard mistook one of the German submariners lounging on the dock for a POW and gave the German a swift kick! The German leaped up in a fit of rage and threw the Japanese guard into the sea. This provoked a tense confrontation between Germans and Japanese, with the POWs scurrying to the sidelines, silently cheering the Germans. After that, the submarine and the freighter were moved to a different pier beyond the reach of the POW work parties.

On 2 September, the POWs were put on a couple of passenger-cargo vessels and got underway with a handful of other vessels to form a convoy. One of the POWs recalled a curious and moving scene as they left the harbor - when they passed the German U-Boat, the crew who had gotten friendly with them, lined the rails and were giving them a British salute!”