The Ient Family: Family History

POW Camp in Japan

Wilfred Batty POW - by his son, Adrian Batty

Habu was (and still is) a dockyard on the inland island of Innoshima, near Zentsuji, Japan, so there was no chance of escape. On arrival at the dockyard, the POWs were split into work teams known as PT gangs. PT was thought to refer to ‘Painters and Transport’ but soon became known as the ‘Physical Torture’ gang. PT gangs were decided on level of fitness. PT1 were the fittest, biggest and strongest known as ‘Genki boys’ (Japanese for strong/good) PT1 were required to do the majority of the heavy manual work. Wilf was in PT1. The last PT gang ('Byoki') was made up of the sick and weak POWs who were required to carry out tasks such as sorting nuts and bolts from scrap, sweeping and clearing rubbish and so on. All had to work in some capacity. The PT gangs had foremen with nicknames such as ‘Hatchet’, ‘The Bull’ and ‘Ringpiece’.

The camp changed its name several times and was known as Fukuoka 12, then Zentsuji 2, before becoming Hiroshima 5. The dockyard built and repaired ships and Wilf was to spend his captivity in the PT1 gang carrying out this work. This was of course in contravention of the Geneva Convention. However, Wilf and his fellow POWs took any opportunity to sabotage the ships, fitting weak rivets or fitting rivets loosely. A Japanese worker would inspect the rivets and put a cross against any that were faulty. When he had gone the team would remove the cross and put a new cross next to a sound rivet. The team also unscrewed oil pipes to the engines and filled them with sawdust and threw any equipment they could find overboard. They tried their best to aid the war effort.

The POWs lived in purpose-built wooden huts which were very cold in winter, with heating from stoves only allowed for 2 months of the year. The POWs were in a very poor condition when they arrived and suffered several deaths shortly after arrival, due to deprivations and disease from the voyage there. George Spink, a good friend of Wilf's, was 6 1/2 stone on arrival and seriously ill. He was kept alive with goat’s milk for 2 1/2 months. Food was very scarce and became scarcer as the war continued. It does appear that the POWs were a lot better off than many POWs in other camps. Red Cross food parcels arrived 4 or 5 times during the 3 1/2 years and were a great bonus. Clothing was of poor quality and wore out quickly; other essentials such as soap and shaving materials were also scarce.

It is hard to imagine exactly what the POWs had to contend with, but one incident confirmed in a book by Terence Kelly gives some idea. Rigor mortis had set in with one of the early deaths and Wilf had to put the body in a small coffin meant for the smaller Japanese. To achieve this, he and some others had to break the limbs of the dead POW.

Wilf developed many skills to survive and became a very skilled thief and lock picker with a set of skeleton keys. Apparently he was the first to do this and made some keys out of flattened bicycle spokes. The only locks he couldn't open were Yale type ones. Chick Henderson stated 3 sets of keys were also made in the workshops. Initially, looting was petty thieving, but as food became scarce in Japan the food stores were padlocked so Wilf and the PT1 gang became an accomplished team of thieves (as did some other PT gangs). who broke into Japanese ship stores, some being lookouts, to steal food etc. Favourite loot included miso, beans, soup flavouring and stock, rice, barley, vegetable oil and noodles. Excess food was bartered for things they needed. Cigarettes were the most important currency. They took enormous risks because a severe beating was the least they could expect should they have been caught. Apparently a guard, ‘The Bull’, was caught stealing a chicken and was imprisoned! Many POWs were not prepared to take the same risks. The team also went onto ships they were not working on to steal, pretending to be a working party!

To carry their spoils, the PT1 gang made small bags out of material taken from life jackets (the kapok-filled ones) and carried them between their legs suspended from string around their necks. The small size of the bag limited what they could carry and they couldn't carry too much as they were subjected to regular searches by the guards. Apparently they carried the bag in their groin area, as the Japanese avoided this area when carrying out searches. George Spink told of a Japanese guard protecting bags of rice. Some of the team got him into conversation while others emptied a bag of rice behind his back!

A cartoon drawing kept by Wilf sums the thieving up: one side depicts POWs on watch while another one opens a door, and the reverse shows the POWs being marched back to camp with bulging uniforms!

Wilf did say one of the guards was suspicious and knew he was up to something but could never prove it, so he 'had it in' for Wilf and had many run ins with him. One such occasion was when Wilf asked for a new shirt as his was falling apart. The guard went to the stores and offered Wilf a shirt in worse condition. Wilf laughed, and the guard threw a punch at Wilf which he ducked and then laughed again. Wilf then received a severe beating. At this time the camp commandant was away; when he returned, Wilf received another beating, ending up in the hospital. Phil 'Chick' Henderson, another Genki boy, confirmed that Wilf had done something to upset the Japanese, although he didn't know what and was singled out and given a bad time including beatings and hard work.

In the later years of his life, Wilf had to wear a leg iron to correct a damaged ankle. The damage ocurred when Wilf and fellow POWs were pushing a truck along a railway track; Wilf trapped his ankle in the points, causing the damage.

On another occasion, when Wilf's shoes fell apart and he refused to work, the guard left and returned with a pair of sandshoes from a dying POW. Wilf refused to wear them, stating, 'he didn't work in sandshoes', and received a severe beating. However, the guard later returned with a new pair of size 9 boots (no one knew from where). The guard said, 'Now you work.' Wilf replied, 'Yes, now I work.'

On 23 January 1943, 100 Hong Kong Defence Volunteers arrived at the camp as POWs. Two, Hal Halsall and Vic Bond, were put into Wilf's team and became good friends (losing touch later). Hal Halsall became my godparent in 1950.

The Japanese had many rules, including POWs having to bow to everyone, when they could smoke and eat and having to look away and avert their eyes when a Japanese battleship came into the dock for repair. Failure to comply meant a beating even if the POW was not aware a Japanese was present, or one was preoccupied.

The POWs had bamboo identification tags on a chain around their necks with a number. Wilf was number 31. I remember the tags when I was a young lad (1950s), thrown in a box of nuts and bolts along with some unknown medals, in the shed. Now sadly lost.

Sometime around June 1943, Doris received 'intimation' that her fiance was a POW in Japanese hands and wrote to the Red Cross Society to inform them. The Red Cross wrote to Doris, 16 July 1943, with details of how to transmit letters to Japan. Doris and Wilf’s parents wrote to Wilf as soon as they knew he was alive and a POW. I’m not sure how many got delivered, though they are in the family records. Several cards were sent from Wilf and also his parents and Doris, during 1945 – some got delivered. One card from Wilf, received 4 August 1945, stated, 'Happy to know everything is OK. Congratulations to Jack, Tommy and Erk.' When I asked Wilf who these people were, he informed me Jack = navy, Tommy = army and erk = Air force (erk, airc or aircrew) and it meant the POWs were aware of the success of 'D' Day and VE Day, 8 May 1945 (Victory in Europe).

In a letter dated 4 October 1945, Wilf wrote to Doris from Australia: 'Many thanks for your letters whilst I was a POW. You have no idea what they did for me; they gave me new faith in life and helped me win out on the right side. I only had 4 letters and 2 cards from you but I read them every night before going to sleep, they were a good relaxation from the routine of POW life.'

In an earlier letter, dated 17 September 1945, Wilf wrote to Doris: 'I have lived over and over again the times I have spent with you. This most of all along with you waiting for me, has kept me alive. It was only too easy to give up and die like many of my comrades did. I am not brave, many has been the time when I have been on the verge of doing it myself, but my thoughts of you and home have always kept me plodding along. We always knew we should win some day.'

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