Last Post over the River Kwai (Hardback)
The 2nd East Surreys in the Far East 1938–1945
Imprint: Pen & Sword Military
Pages: 211
Illustrations: 18
ISBN: 9781526736918
Published: 28th November 2018
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Last Post Over the River Kwai is the carefully researched account of the experiences of the officers and men of 2nd Battalion The East Surreys during the Second World War.
Stationed in Shanghai in the early 1940s, the Battalion was deployed to Malaya and fought gallantly to slow the Japanese advance. After heavy losses the survivors found themselves POWs in Singapore in February 1942 after the humiliating surrender which Churchill described as Britain’s worst ever military disaster.
The next three and a half years saw members of the Battalion suffering appalling hardship at the hands of their brutal Japanese captors, whether in Singapore, on the Death Railway, Malaya or Japan itself, as wells as on hellships. Many died but remarkably the majority survived to tell their story. Their prolonged captivity with unbelievable hardship, deprivation and cruelty makes for distressing but inspiring reading.
In a carefully researched book, meeting survivors and corresponding with next-of-kin, Cecil Lowery describes the battle for Malaya and the men's appalling suffering at the hands of the Japanese captors. In their three years as prisoners of the Japanese, they were brutalised in prison camps in Malaya and Japan , many others died building the infamous Death Railway in Thailand or in overcrowded holds of prison ships, victims of target hunting American submarines.
Richard Gough, Military author and historian
The “Last Post Over the River Kwai” is a very inspirational book and a must read – especially if you’re interested in the Malayan campaign. It is filled with tragedy and cruelty, but also with humor and kindness. LPORK is masterful at showing us mankind at his lowest possible and also at his highest. I am very thankful to have been able to read their story.
Military History Online
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This book is a carefully researched account of the traumatic experiences of officers and men in the Far East Theatre. The 2nd East Surreys were a good example of the experiences of British Regiments before WWII and during it in the Far East. - Highly Recommended
Firetrench
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This is a story of great endurance, personal courage and Regimental pride so deserves to be told, and re-told so we never forget.
Army Rumour Service (ARRSE)
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About Cecil Lowry
Born two and a half years after the end of the war with Japan, Cecil Lowry is the son of Hugh Lowry, who was a Far Eastern Prisoner of War (FEPOWs).
After a career in Sports management he retired as Assistant Director of Sport at the University of Manchester in 2002 to concentrate on writing. This is his third book, following successes with No Mercy from the Japanese (with John Wyatt, Pen and Sword, 2008), Last Post over the River Kwai (Pen and Sword, 2018) and Two Years of Tenko, Life as a 16 year old in a Japanese Prisoner of War Camp (2015).
Cecil lives in Stockport and has two sons and two grandchildren who may be unique in having two great-grandfathers who were FEPOWs.
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