The Borneo Graveyard: Death in the Jungle 1941 - 45

CONTENT

Our guest on this podcast is John Tulloch who served in Vietnam with the New Zealand Army and later transferred to the British Army. John advised and instructed on the British Army’s Jungle Warfare Instructors’ Course (JWIC) in Brunei and supported major jungle exercises in Belize.  Retiring from the Army in 2003 and becoming a MOD Civil Servant, John continued to instruct on JWIC until May 2015.

John was honoured with the MBE in 2003 and the Royal Artillery Medal in 2011.  An author of several articles about the Vietnam War and Borneo, he also gives talks on these subjects to the military, history groups and schools. Since retiring from the Civil Service in 2015, John began writing ‘The Borneo Graveyard 1941-1945’, the product of 12 years of research. This is his first book.

THE BOOK

Borneo, the land of the head hunters, was a World War II graveyard for POWs, internees, locals, Javanese and Japanese. John's book follows the raising of five Royal Artillery air defence regiments in 1939, their deployment in late 1942 to South East Asia, their short campaign in the Netherlands East Indies and eventual captivity as POWs in Java and North Borneo.

The account describes the invasion of Borneo and the subsequent four years of Japanese occupation.  It depicts the sadistic treatment of Australian, British, Dutch and Indian POWs in the various POW camps in North Borneo at Jesselton, Sandakan, Ranau, Labuan and Batu Lintang.  It also describes the three Death Marches from Sandakan to Ranau.

The internee account covers the men, women and children from all over Borneo interned in Batu Lintang.  They experienced the unspeakable behaviour of the guards.  Several internees were killed trying to escape the Japanese regime or gratuitously executed before liberation.

The locals of Borneo suffered terribly.  Torture, executions and massacres occurred throughout. Malnutrition, starvation and death were endemic.  Tribes exacted their revenge and over 8,000 Japanese died during their withdrawals in Sabah.

The secretive Z Force gathered intelligence, trained local guerrilla fighters who harassed and exacted a heavy toll on the Japanese. They also engaged in bitter fighting for the liberation of Borneo.

Finally the book finishes with POW convalescence at Labuan followed by repatriation to the UK and the dreadful wall of silence experienced by so many of the returning Far East POWs and internees to the UK.

You can order a copy of John's book by contacting him by email:   johntulloch4145@gmail.com 

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