East Indies camp archives ( Indische kamparchieven ENG )
kampen East-Indies camps
Airfield Labour Camp in Liang
Town:
Liang
District:
Ambon
Region:
Moluccas
Location:
Liang is on the north coast of Ambon Island.
function:
From 03 May 1943 to 15 August 1944 this location served as a prisoner of war camp
Internees:
prisoners of war
Number of internees:
1.780
Number of deceased:
163 (at least)
Information:
Prisoners of war were put to work on Ambon expanding the Liang airfield, which had been begun under Dutch authority at the end of 1941. Initially the workforce consisted of 1,024 British prisoners of war from Batavia, brought to Ambon on the Mayahashi Maru and the Nishii Maru. They were housed in barracks they built themselves from bamboo and atap, surrounded by barbed wire. On 29 May and 2 August 1944 the airfield came under heavy Allied bombardment.
Commendant:
lt. Ueda Tadao
Main guards:
Yamamoto Toshio
Guards:
Koreans
Camp leaders:
maj. L.N. Gibson
Literature:
Audus, L.J., Spice Island slaves. A history of Japanse prisoner of war camps in Eastern Indonesia, May 1943-August 1945 (Ham 1996) Veenstra, J.H.W. e.a., Als krijgsgevangene naar de Molukken en Flores. Relaas van een Japans transport van Nederlandse en Engelse militairen 1943-1945 ('s-Gravenhage 1982) Kesasar, Totok, Geen saai leven. Het leven van een thee- en rubberplanter gedurende de jaren 1926-1947 [1982]) Korteweg, R., De 1000 van Amahei (Batavia [1946])
