Sandakan Death March | Perjalanan MAUT dari Sandakan ke Ranau (Perang Dunia ke2)Posted onSeptember 30, 2012byadmin15

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1. Pendudukan Jepun semasa perang dunia kedua penuh dengan nostalgia tersendiri. Generasi baharu macam saya mungkin tidak sempat merasai penderitaan dan susah-payah nenek moyang kita masa perang dahulu.

2. Selepas Jepun berjaya menduduki Singapura dan Borneo, satu kem tahanan telah diwujudkan di Sandakan untuk menempatkan 750 orang tentera British dan lebih 1650 orang tentera Australia yang menyerah diri kepada tentera Jepun sekitar tahun 1942-1943.

3. Mereka dipindahkan menggunakan kapal yang bernama Yubi Maru ke Sandakan dan dijadikan buruh paksa untuk membina pangkalan udara untuk Tentera Jepun. Selepas khidmat mereka sudah tidak digunakan, mereka dibiarkan di dalam kem tahanan tanpa keperluan asas yang cukup. Ramai antara mereka yang menghidapi pelbagai penyakit semasa berada dalam tahanan.

4. Pada 1945, apabila pihak Jepun merasakan kempen perang mereka akan menemui kegagalan dan Pihak Berikat semakin menghampiri Pasifik, tahanan-tahanan ini segera dipindahkan ke ke salah satu kampung di Ranau yang terletak 250km jauhnya. Proses pemindahan ini berlaku dalam tiga fasa.

5. Proses pemindahan ini melibatkan semua tawanan. Seramai 291 tawanan termasuklah yang diusung dan yang tidak larat untuk berjalan akan ditinggalkan di Sandakan dan dibunuh beramai-ramai!

6. Pada 28 Januari 1945, 455 tahanan perang ini telah berjaya dipindahkan ke Ranau dengan hanya berjalan kaki! Ironinya, yang sampai ke Ranau hanya seramai140orang sahaja. Proses pemindahan kedua berlaku pada 2 Mac 1945. Seramai 536 tawanan perang yang bergerak ke Ranau meninggalkan Sandakan tetapi hanya 189 orang sahaja yang masih hidup,termasuklah tahanan Australia berjumlah 142 orang.

7. Dan pada 10 Julai 1945, proses pemindahan yang terakhir berlaku melibatkan seramai 75 orang tahanan perang dan 100 orang askar Jepun. Kumpulan mereka mengambil laluan yang berlainan tetapi tiada seorang pun yang berjaya sampai ke Ranau. Misteri ini masih kekal sehingga sekarang, kerana ke mana perginya semua tahanan dan askar Jepun ini.

8. Sebaik sahaja mereka sampai di Ranau, tahanan-tahanan ini dipaksa lagi untuk berjalan sejauh 40 km ke Paginatan dengan membawa sekampit tepung seorang yang seberat 20kg melalui jalan yang berbukit ke sana. Pada akhir Julai 1945, tiada lagi tahanan perang yang tinggal di Ranau.

9. Hanya enam orang sahaja yang terselamat daripada 2400 tahanan perang sewaktu death march ini. Mereka terselamat kerana ada antara mereka yang berjaya melarikan diri sewaktu berada di kem Ranau dan semasa perjalanan ke Ranau. Enam orang ini berasal dari Australia dan dalam rekod, tiada tahanan dari pihak British yang terselamat.

10. Tiga orang yang terselamat ini kemudiannya menjadi saksi dalam siasatan jenayah perang yang menyaksikan 14 pegawai tentera Jepun dihukum mati kerana kesalahan dan jenayah perang mereka di Borneo. Kapten Hoshijima Susumu, komandan penjara Sandakan didapati bersalah dan dihukum mati di Rabaul pada 6 April 1946.

Catatan oleh tawanan yang terselamat, Owen Campbell.

Owen Campbell7 JUNE 1945Allied planes came over. While the Japanese guards hid Ted Emmet, Sig Webber, Jack Austin (? Gunner Leslie Hotston), Ted Skinner and I escaped into the jungle. We took along 12 tins of rice, six tins of salmon and some dried fish all stolen from the Japanese. We also had some fish lines and a compass which Emmet had kept since our capture at Singapore in 1942.8 JUNEManaged a couple of miles heading for the coast.9 JUNEI had malaria so we rested.10 JUNEPushed on but Ted Skinner got dysentery so we decided to camp for a couple of days to let him recover.11 JUNEI was pretty sick with beri beri and stayed with Ted. Emmet, Webber and Austin pressed on to the coast.12 15 JUNE (approx)I stayed with Ted.16 JUNEI went to get some water and fish. When I came back I found Ted with his throat cut. I buried him there.18 JUNEI came to a river and found Austin (Hotston ?), crook with dysentery and malaria, sheltering under a blanket. Webber and Emmet were fishing nearby. We decided to ask any Malays we saw for help. We heard some Malayans on a boat in the river and Emmet and Webber went off to hail them.As the boat approached a Jap stood up from the bottom of the boat and fired four shots killing both Emmet and Webber. It was so quick they had no chance and fell in the river. I was so far behind them I was not seen, so I escaped and went back to Jack Austin.19 21 JUNEI stayed with Jack and we lived on fish, which I caught from the river, and fungus which grows on the trees there. Jack was getting very weak at this stage and he died on the evening of 21 June. I buried him as best I could.22 JUNE 3 JULYFor eleven days I pushed on alone.On the first day I swam across a wide river on a log. A Jap saw me and fired at me, hitting me on the wrist. I managed to make the shore as the Jap continued to fire at me.After about the fourth day I became delirious and began to think my mates were back with me. I talked to them.3 JULY 24 JulyI was picked up by two natives near a spot where about 100 Japanese were camped. They took me to their house and hid me. They gave me a bath and then I was taken inland to another native camp, where I was looked after for about 6 days. Eventually the natives had to pull out as the Japanese were active in the area.After going for about 3 miles through the jungle we came to a river and travelled down it for about 3 days in a canoe until we reached the coast and headed up another river. After about 7 hours paddling we reached the SRD camp of Lieutenant Hollingsworth where I stayed for 3 or 4 days with malaria.Eventually I was taken out to sea, picked up by a flying boat, and taken to the American aircraft carrier USS Pocomoke.(Adapted from Statement by Gunner Campbell, 2/10th Field Regiment, 21 August 1945, 1010/4/27, AWM 54)On 3 July 1945 Gunner Owen Campbell, after having wandered delirious for days in the jungle, approached a river where he saw a small canoe. Probably close to death, he had little option but to take the chance of calling out to the men in the canoe: two natives, Gulunting and Lap, from Kampong Muanad. Gulunting describes what happened.In July 1945 Lap and I went out to look after our fish traps. We were using a small gobang (canoe). Whilst we were so occupied Jap boats were passing so we hid in a small stream whilst they went past. After we knew they had gone we ventured into the main stream and searched for more of our traps. We had not gone far when I heard someone calling abang (elder brother). I looked at the man and saw that he was practically naked. We approachedhim and he commenced to faint. I got hold of him and carried him into the boat. We then went up river to our camp and took him there. I carried him to my hut where the was provided with trousers and shirt and food. He was at Muanad for ten days when Salium and Ambiau came to fetch him He gave me this compass MK VI 5226 as a memento. I know now that his name was Gunner Campbell of the Australian Army.(Statement made to Major H W S Jackson by Gulunting of Kampong Sapi, at Beluran, North Borneo, 12 January 1947, papers of Lieutenant Colonel W S Jackson, item 9, part 1, PR 84/231, AWM)

Lest We ForgetviaSandakanDeathMarch,NorthBorneoHistory,iiNet,Borneo.com.au,BorneoTravel