Today's excerpt from
The Prisoner List
The men waited on the camp square as the Japanese commandant was brought out of his office hut to see the colonel. Hugonin was joined by his adjutant, Captain Faraday; Major Parr, the British interpreter, was caught awkwardly in the middle of the confrontation, translating for both sides.
Colonel Hugonin was adamant. It was contrary to the Geneva Convention, he said, to force prisoners to work for the enemy war effort. The commandant answered that the convention had nothing to do with Japan. He was right, in the sense that Japan had never ratified it, but that clearly did not solve the problem. Hugonin, supported by Faraday, stood his ground.
Rather than prolong his exchange with Hugonin and Faraday, the commandant turned to his own guards and gave them an order in Japanese. Immediately the guards left the central area of the camp ground, all going off in different directions. There was an uncomfortable silence as the prisoners stood on the camp square waiting to see what would happen.
Then four huge machine guns were brought out. The guards positioned one machine gun in each of the four corners of the square, with all four guns pointing inwards at the prisoners.
The commandant addressed his next words directly to Hugonin. As he spoke, he pointed to the guns and made a dramatic sweeping motion with his arm, as if to indicate the assembled prisoners' imminent demise. There was no need for Major Parr to translate.
Hugonin and Faraday moved a few yards away, so that they could confer privately – or as privately as was possible with the entire camp standing there. Faraday, a solicitor from Taunton, was accustomed to dealing with knotty legal problems, but not many as knotty as this one.
Colonel Hugonin was adamant. It was contrary to the Geneva Convention, he said, to force prisoners to work for the enemy war effort. The commandant answered that the convention had nothing to do with Japan. He was right, in the sense that Japan had never ratified it, but that clearly did not solve the problem. Hugonin, supported by Faraday, stood his ground.
Rather than prolong his exchange with Hugonin and Faraday, the commandant turned to his own guards and gave them an order in Japanese. Immediately the guards left the central area of the camp ground, all going off in different directions. There was an uncomfortable silence as the prisoners stood on the camp square waiting to see what would happen.
Then four huge machine guns were brought out. The guards positioned one machine gun in each of the four corners of the square, with all four guns pointing inwards at the prisoners.
The commandant addressed his next words directly to Hugonin. As he spoke, he pointed to the guns and made a dramatic sweeping motion with his arm, as if to indicate the assembled prisoners' imminent demise. There was no need for Major Parr to translate.
Hugonin and Faraday moved a few yards away, so that they could confer privately – or as privately as was possible with the entire camp standing there. Faraday, a solicitor from Taunton, was accustomed to dealing with knotty legal problems, but not many as knotty as this one.