With the surrender of Japanese forces in Singapore, interned Japanese troops are put to work on manual labour tasks.

Japanese troops shovelling a low bank of earth off a road and into the back of a truck. Japanese troops stacking sacks of cement. Japanese troops clearing a ditch.

Notes

A well composed film with good coverage from various angles and wide, medium and close shots. For more footage of this subject, see JFU 345, also shot by Sergeant Abbott.

The loss of Singapore in 1942 delivered an incalculable blow to British imperial prestige, and so there was a political necessity to humiliate surrendered Japanese personnel in public with menial work such as this.