During the Second World War, there were many different war crimes committed by different
armies.
In particular in the pacific theatre, the Japanese conducted scores of atrocities and
killings of civilians and prisoners of war, and they became notorious for their ill-treatment
of captives.
After the conflict had come to an end, there were very few Japanese war criminals who were
executed or imprisoned for their actions in countries such as China, Malaya and other
lands they tried to conquer.
A few high profile members of the Japanese government were executed for their role in
the war crimes, but ultimately millions of innocent people were killed by the Japanese.
There was one horrific war crime committed inside of a hospital established in Singapore
by the British, and it showed how cruel and savage the Japanese could be.
Join us today as we look at ‘The HORRIFIC Executions Of Alexandra Hospital.’
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Singapore was considered a major British trading port, and the land around it needed protection,
so because of this a hospital was created for sailors and soldiers who were injured
or wounded.
By the late 1930s, Singapore was seen as a key territory and thousands flocked to it
to create new developments and infrastructure, with construction booming there.
The British Army established a 32 acre site near to a railway line in Alexandra where
a new British Military Hospital would be built and set up.
By the time the Second World War broke out, construction on the Alexandra hospital was
well under way, but the British were not entirely treating workers too well.
Many of the labourers were Chinese women, and they worked very hard in tough conditions,
but shortly after war broke out in September 1939, the Alexandra Hospital was nearly ready
to be opened.
It officially opened on the 19th July 1940, and was described as ‘the most up to date
and one of the largest military hospitals outside Great Britain.’
It was fitted with blast walls to protect it, but at the end of July 1940, the War Office
gave huge sums of money, what would be around 3 billion pounds to Singapore to help shore
up the defences of the land.
This was as the threat from the Japanese loomed.
More expansion took place at the Alex, and during the conflict there was a shortage of
beds.
Thousands of workers were there working at the hospital, from nurses and doctors to cooks
and specialists.
However on the 7th December 1941, the Japanese bombs rained down on Singapore taking the
people by surprise.
Within a few days, two British ships were sunk and it was looking incredibly likely
that the Japanese were going to target Singapore and to strike in the lands.
As more attacks occurred on Singapore and the Malayan Peninsula, the Alex Hospital saw
huge swathes of prisoners brought through the doors and it became overcrowded.
Some patients were left underneath tables, and outside in the gardens, and the staff
there would work their hardest to try and save as many patients as they could.
Alongside British soldiers were many Australian soldiers and other Allied casualties, but
on the 14th February 1942 a horrific war crime would take place at the Alexandra hospital.
Conditions at this time in the hospital were poor, and there was a lack of rations for
food and water.
Torches and lights were saved for surgical procedures, and there was a huge problem regarding
where to bury corpses.
But the hospital was caught in the path of an advance by General Yamashita.
The fighting in Singapore was fierce, and the commonwealth forces tried there best to
hold out.
But on the 14th February the Japanese assaulted the Western Part of the defences that the
1st Malayan Brigade had tried to hold out the day before.
At around 1pm, the Japanese forces advanced towards the Alexandra Hospital.
As the Japanese were rushing there, a British leftenant approached the Japanese soldiers
waving a white flag, with the intent to surrender the site over to the Japanese to save the
hospital.
The envoy with the surrender flag was then cut down brutally with a bayonet instantly.
The war crimes would continue inside of the hospital.
The account of Leftant FT Moore who was based inside the hospital carries the true horrors
that occurred at the Hospital.
He wrote, ‘During the early morning, the water supply was cut off, shelling and air
activity became intense, some of the shells bursting in and many landing near there hospital.
These appeared to be mainly mortar bombs with an occasional shot from the artillery.
The enemy were drawing nearer and approaching the rear of the hospital.
A number of incoming patients has lessened considerably and there was little or no traffic
in the wards, during the morning routing work continued.
Japanese troops were seen for the first time at 1:40pm, attacking towards the sister’s
quarters.
They were about to enter from the rear, when Leftenant Western went from the Reception
Room to the rear entrance with a white flag to indicate the surrender of the hospital.
The Japanese took bo notice and leftenant Weston was bayonetted to death by the First
Japanese to Enter.
These troops now entered the hospital and ran amok on the ground floor.
They were very excitable and jumpy, neither pointing to the Red Cross symbol or shouting
the word hospital had any effect.’
So the Japanese entered the hospital and ran riot, but the savagery that they continued
was shocking.
Leftenenat Moore continues, ‘One Japanese party entered the theatre block, and climbed
into the corridor and shot through a window wounding Private Lewis in the arm.
Around 10 Japanese came into the corridor and all the medical personnel held up their
hands.
Captain Smiley pointed to the Red Cross, but they took no notice.
They then motioned the staff to move along the corridor when for no reason the Japanese
set upon the staff with Bayonets.
Captain smiley was lunged at with a bayonet but struck the blade aside and it hit his
cigarette case in his left breast pocket.
He was then again lunged at and wounded, he then pretended to be killed and pushed Private
Sutton to the floor calling to others to keep quiet.
After 20 minutes, Leftenant Rogers had been bayonetted twice through the back of the thorax
and died at once.
Captain Parkinson, Corporal McEwan and Private Lewis were also bayonetted to death, A Patient
Corporal Holden who was on the operating table had also been bayonetted to death.
Another part of Japanese went into a ward and ordered the Nurses and Patients that could
walk outside the hospital.
Two patients were bayonetted, and two Japanese soldiers went upstairs and gave similar instructions.
Patients and Personnel number 200 were taken outside, their hands tied behind their backs
with a slipknot, one length of uncut cord being used for 4 or 5 men.
Some patients could only hobble.
One or two collapsed and had to be revived.
These were then herded into rooms.
Here the men were jammed in and it took several minutes to raise ones hands above their hands.
Sitting down was out of the question and men were forced to urinate against each other.
During the night many men died and suffered from thirst and the suffocating atmosphere.
Water was promised but never arrived.
But the evening shelling was at its maximum, one struck the roof of the cells and injured
some prisoners.
Some men tried to escape, but some were successful but others were shot by machine gun fire.
Before these attacks, the Japanese had been taking small groups of prisoners from the
hospital out of sight, and the ensuing yells and screams coupled on one occasion with a
soldier returning wiping blood from his bayonet left little doubt as to the mens fate.
Another party of Japanese soldiers had gone into the reception room and were threatening
the patients and staff.
Sergeant Sheriff was bayonetted and died, and the remaining were similarly treated.
Another party of Japanese went into Wards 16 and 17 causing injuries and entered the
kitchens killing Private Bruce with a Tommy Gun.
They also were seen firing and throwing hand grenades into the Sister’s bunkhouse.’
At 4pm, 40 or 50 patients and staff were herded into a corridor and guards watched over them.
At 6pm the Japanese took a party including Sergeant Anderson and about 20 other away,
their hands were tied and they were put in a drain where they remained all night.’
Further atrocities upon the staff of Alexandra Hospital occurred.
Around 50 soldiers including those having surgery were murdered by the Japanese, and
doctors and nurses were also killed.
The staff and patients who were kept in small badly ventilated rooms were subject to horrifying
conditions, and many had been bayonetted to death on their journey there.
The treatment they had by the Japanese was shocking and these people were technically
prisoners of war, and should have been given better.
Some inside of the hospital only survived by pretending to be dead.
In a two day massacre and act of brutality, the Japanese had executed and killed up to
300 soldiers, patients and members of staff at the Alexandria Hospital.
The Hospital was also looted by the Japanese, and they did later express regret for what
had happened inside of the Hospital.
But the Alexandra Hospital Massacre was just one of many brutal and shocking war crimes
committed by the Japanese Army as they advanced throughout Asia.
There was very little reprisal for this horrific act and after the war, there was practically
no punishment brought forward relating to it.
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