General Discussions
This is the place to discuss general issues related to the U-boat war or the war at sea in WWII.
Re: RN Submarines in Trincomalee in WW2
Posted by:
Capt. George W. Duffy
()
Date: March 30, 2013 12:51AM
Hello all:
From July 17, 1943 until approximately a month after the Japanese surrender, I was their prisoner on Sumatra. I had come up from Java in late June in a "draft" of about 1,000 Allied prisoners. Our mission was to build a railway across the island from Pakan Baroe to Moearo.
On September 15, an ancient freighter named Junyo Maru sailed rom the port of Tanjung Priok (new spelling) carrying 4,300 young Javanese boys and 2,200 additional Allied prisoners, bound for Padang on Sumatra's west coast. The prisoners were to join us on the railway. The Javanese boys were to be used in the construction of tunnels to be utilized as burial caves for us when the Americans invaded Japan.
Early in the afternoon of September 18, H.M.S. Tradewind was patrolling about 8 miles offshore when the alert officer of the watch sighted Junyo Maru's oncoming smoke. Commanding the Trincomalee-based Tradewind was Lt. Commander S. L. C. Maydon, DSO, RN. At 1551½ Maydon fired four torpedoes at his target and scored two hits.
The full extent of this sad story will never be known. There is no exact count of survivors, nor of deaths, A highly probable recap is 723 survivors of the 2,200 Allied prisoners and 200 of the 4,300 boys.
Following the war, actually in 1961, I was able to locate Maydon. We corresponded intermittingly and in 1971 he passed away, a victim of leukemia.
On board the Tradewind at the time of this incident were two American OSS officers engaged in the recruitment of Malay sailors to be trained and later inserted as agents. I managed to find one of these OSS fellows, and in 1969 visited him at his residence in Williamsburg, Virginia. He has also passed.
Interesting, eh?
GWD
From July 17, 1943 until approximately a month after the Japanese surrender, I was their prisoner on Sumatra. I had come up from Java in late June in a "draft" of about 1,000 Allied prisoners. Our mission was to build a railway across the island from Pakan Baroe to Moearo.
On September 15, an ancient freighter named Junyo Maru sailed rom the port of Tanjung Priok (new spelling) carrying 4,300 young Javanese boys and 2,200 additional Allied prisoners, bound for Padang on Sumatra's west coast. The prisoners were to join us on the railway. The Javanese boys were to be used in the construction of tunnels to be utilized as burial caves for us when the Americans invaded Japan.
Early in the afternoon of September 18, H.M.S. Tradewind was patrolling about 8 miles offshore when the alert officer of the watch sighted Junyo Maru's oncoming smoke. Commanding the Trincomalee-based Tradewind was Lt. Commander S. L. C. Maydon, DSO, RN. At 1551½ Maydon fired four torpedoes at his target and scored two hits.
The full extent of this sad story will never be known. There is no exact count of survivors, nor of deaths, A highly probable recap is 723 survivors of the 2,200 Allied prisoners and 200 of the 4,300 boys.
Following the war, actually in 1961, I was able to locate Maydon. We corresponded intermittingly and in 1971 he passed away, a victim of leukemia.
On board the Tradewind at the time of this incident were two American OSS officers engaged in the recruitment of Malay sailors to be trained and later inserted as agents. I managed to find one of these OSS fellows, and in 1969 visited him at his residence in Williamsburg, Virginia. He has also passed.
Interesting, eh?
GWD
