Survivor on the River Kwai

Survivor on the River Kwai PDF Author: Reg Twigg
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0241965101
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 336

Get Book

Book Description
Survivor on the River Kwai is the heartbreaking story of Reg Twigg, one of the last men standing from a forgotten war. Called up in 1940, Reg expected to be fighting Germans. Instead, he found himself caught up in the worst military defeat in modern British history - the fall of Singapore to the Japanese. What followed were three years of hell, moving from one camp to another along the Kwai river, building the infamous Burma railway for the all-conquering Japanese Imperial Army. Some prisoners coped with the endless brutality of the code of Bushido by turning to God; others clung to whatever was left of the regimental structure. Reg made the deadly jungle, with its malaria, cholera, swollen rivers, lethal snakes and exhausting heat, work for him. With an ingenuity that is astonishing, he trapped and ate lizards, harvested pumpkins from the canteen rubbish heap and with his homemade razor became camp barber. That Reg survived is testimony to his own courage and determination, his will to beat the alien brutality of camp guards who had nothing but contempt for him and his fellow POWs. He was a risk taker whose survival strategies sometimes bordered on genius. Reg's story is unique. Reg Twigg was born at Wigston (Leicester) barracks on 16 December 1913. He was called up to the Leicestershire Regiment in 1940 but instead of fighting Hitler he was sent to the Far East, stationed at Singapore. When captured by the Japanese, he decided he would do everything to survive. After his repatriation from the Far East, Reg returned to Leicester. With his family he returned to Thailand in 2006, and revisited the sites of the POW camps. Reg died in 2013, at the age of ninety-nine, two weeks before the publication of this book.

Survivor on the River Kwai

Survivor on the River Kwai PDF Author: Reg Twigg
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0241965101
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 336

Get Book

Book Description
Survivor on the River Kwai is the heartbreaking story of Reg Twigg, one of the last men standing from a forgotten war. Called up in 1940, Reg expected to be fighting Germans. Instead, he found himself caught up in the worst military defeat in modern British history - the fall of Singapore to the Japanese. What followed were three years of hell, moving from one camp to another along the Kwai river, building the infamous Burma railway for the all-conquering Japanese Imperial Army. Some prisoners coped with the endless brutality of the code of Bushido by turning to God; others clung to whatever was left of the regimental structure. Reg made the deadly jungle, with its malaria, cholera, swollen rivers, lethal snakes and exhausting heat, work for him. With an ingenuity that is astonishing, he trapped and ate lizards, harvested pumpkins from the canteen rubbish heap and with his homemade razor became camp barber. That Reg survived is testimony to his own courage and determination, his will to beat the alien brutality of camp guards who had nothing but contempt for him and his fellow POWs. He was a risk taker whose survival strategies sometimes bordered on genius. Reg's story is unique. Reg Twigg was born at Wigston (Leicester) barracks on 16 December 1913. He was called up to the Leicestershire Regiment in 1940 but instead of fighting Hitler he was sent to the Far East, stationed at Singapore. When captured by the Japanese, he decided he would do everything to survive. After his repatriation from the Far East, Reg returned to Leicester. With his family he returned to Thailand in 2006, and revisited the sites of the POW camps. Reg died in 2013, at the age of ninety-nine, two weeks before the publication of this book.

Long Way Back to the River Kwai

Long Way Back to the River Kwai PDF Author: Loet Velmans
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing Inc.
ISBN: 161145185X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 114

Get Book

Book Description
The astounding memoir of a World War II veteran who spent three and a half years in the slave labor camps made famous by The Bridge on the River Kwai.

Bridge Over the River Kwai

Bridge Over the River Kwai PDF Author: Pierre Boulle
Publisher: Ishi Press
ISBN: 9784871876483
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 232

Get Book

Book Description
The magnificent story of Colonel Nicholson, who built the perfect bridge - for the enemy. On its publication in France, this brilliant novel was awarded the Prix Ste. Beuve. Since its appearance in the USA and its presentation as a film, this compelling story has been awarded a succession of prizes in both the fields of entertainment and literature. This is a historical novel. It is based in part on factual events. It was made into the greatest movie ever made. Although hard to believe, the book is based on actual real historical events, except that vastly more people died building the real bridge and the railroad to the bridge than are shown in the movie. The book and movie have slightly different names. The book is "The Bridge Over the River Kwai." The movie is "The Bridge On the River Kwai." In Thailand, they call it the River Kwae.

1000 Days on the River Kwai

1000 Days on the River Kwai PDF Author: Cary Owtram
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
ISBN: 1473897823
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 213

Get Book

Book Description
A British officer recounts his harrowing years as a POW in Thailand, including his time as the camp commandant, in this WWII memoir. Colonel Cary Owtram served with the 137th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery, and the 11th Indian Infantry Division in Malaysia. After being captured by the Japanese in Singapore, he was transported to the infamous Burma railway. He went on to spend the next three and a half years in grueling captivity in Thailand, first in Ban Pong Camp and then Chungkai Camp—one of the largest POW camps in the region. Owtram was appointed the British Camp Commandant at Chungkai, making him responsible for his fellow prisoners—a heavy responsibility added to the general deprivation and hardship suffered by all. During that time, Owtram kept a secret diary in which he recorded the brutal experience of surviving day to day and attempting to deal with their harsh and unpredictable Japanese captors. It is not only the prisoners who suffered, but also their families at home. The postscript by Owtram’s daughters vividly demonstrates the agonies of doubt and worry that loved ones went through and the effect of the experience on all.

Return from the River Kwai

Return from the River Kwai PDF Author: Joan Blair
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
ISBN:
Category : Prisoners of war
Languages : en
Pages : 368

Get Book

Book Description
Drawing from their interviews with the few survivors, the Blairs tell of the Allied prisoners of war who were aboard two Japanese ships sunk by American submarines.

A River Kwai Story

A River Kwai Story PDF Author: Robin Rowland
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
ISBN: 1741144221
Category : Burma-Siam Railroad
Languages : en
Pages : 440

Get Book

Book Description
More prisoners of war died at Sonkrai than any other camp on the infamous River Kwai Railway. 'F Force - seven thousand Australian and British POWs - was sent by the Japanese to build the toughest section of the railway in the mountains between Thailand and Burma.

My Own River Kwai

My Own River Kwai PDF Author: Pierre Boulle
Publisher: New York : Vanguard Press
ISBN:
Category : World War, 1939-1945
Languages : en
Pages : 232

Get Book

Book Description
Author's true adventures during World War II, which inspired his novel "The bridge over the River Kwai."

The Man Behind the Bridge

The Man Behind the Bridge PDF Author: Peter Davies
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1780939620
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 268

Get Book

Book Description
Lieutenant Colonel Philip Toosey was the senior British officer concerned with the building of the notorious "Bridge over the River Kwai". Toosey understood from the very beginning that the only real issue was how to ensure that as many of his men as possible should survive their captivity. Many thousands who knew how Toosey stood up to their oppressors at great personal risk were incensed by Alec Guinness's brilliant portrayal of 'Colonel Nicholson' in the film version of Boulle's book. This book provides an accurate historical account of the terrible events during which more than 16,000 PoWs died while building the Thai-Burma railway, of which "the bridge" formed an essential part. A memorial to Toosey, this book is also a definitive history of the building of the railway in the context of the Far Eastern theatre of World War II. First published in 1991, this title is part of the Bloomsbury Academic Collections series.

To End All Wars

To End All Wars PDF Author: Ernest Gordon
Publisher: HarperChristian + ORM
ISBN: 0310340640
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 241

Get Book

Book Description
Now a major motion picture starring Robert Carlyle and Kiefer Sutherland "Waking from a dream, I suddenly realized where I was: in the Death House--in a prison camp by the River Kwai. I was a prisoner of war, lying among the dead, waiting for the bodies to be carried away so that I might have more room." When Ernest Gordon was twenty-four he was captured by the Japanese and forced, with other British prisoners, to build the notorious "Railroad of Death," where nearly 16,000 prisoners of war gave their life. Faced with the appalling conditions of the prisoners' camp and the brutality of the captors, he survived to become an inspiring example of the triumph of the human spirit against all odds. To End All Wars is Ernest Gordon's gripping true story behind both the Academy Award-winning film The Bridge on the River Kwai, starring Alec Guinness, and the new film To End All Wars, directed by David Cunningham.

The Bridge On The River Kwai

The Bridge On The River Kwai PDF Author: Pierre Boulle
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 144648467X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 196

Get Book

Book Description
The Bridge on the River Kwai tells the story of three POWs who endure the hell of the Japanese camps on the Burma-Siam railway - Colonel Nicholson, a man prepared to sacrifice his life but not his dignity; Major Warden, a modest hero, saboteur and deadly killer; Commander Shears, who escaped from hell but was sent back. Ordered by the Japanese to build a bridge, the Colonel refuses, as it is against regulations for officers to work with other ranks. The Japanese give way but, to prove a point of British superiority, construction of the bridge goes ahead - at great cost to the men under Nicholson's command.