1000 Days on the River Kwai

Memoirs by former prisoners of war of the Japanese invariably make for moving reading but Colonel Owtram's account of his years of captivity has a special significance.

After being captured in Singapore and transported to the infamous Burma railway he was appointed the British Camp Commandant at Chungkai, one of the largest POW camps.

Many ex-prisoners testified to the mental and physical courage that he showed protecting POWs from the worst excesses of their captors. Of course his account does not admit to this but what is clear is that in addition to the deprivation and hardship suffered by all POWs, the author bore heavy responsibility for those under his charge and the daily trauma of dealing with the unpredictable Japanese.

It is not only the prisoners who suffered but their families at home. The postscript written by the author's daughters vividly demonstrates the agonies of doubt and worry that loved ones went through and the effect of the experience on all.

---

Some books that may interest you

Tomorrow Will Be A Good Day By: Captain Tom Moore	Rodney & the Breaking of the Line By: Peter Trew	Walking Arras By: Paul Reed
The Tanks of Operation Barbarossa By: Boris Kavalerchik	The Secret US Plan to Overthrow the British Empire By: Graham M. Simons	The Crusading General By: Julian Paget
Armoured Warfare in the Far East 1937 - 1945 By: Anthony Tucker-Jones	Armoured Warfare in the Arab-Israeli Conflicts By: Anthony Tucker-Jones	Bring Me Back Alive By: Manson III, Spalding Kenan