Jap search for secret radios
Jap search for secret radios
The sense of accomplishment was complete. At last the men had a thin thread which held them to the outer world – a thread vital and necessary, like the thread between life and death. But even this was not enough. Every exigency had to be forestalled. With this in mind, Arch Caswell, now of Maryborough, set about building himself another set.
This had a two-fold purpose. It would serve, in case the initial set became ineffective, and at the same time, it would enable him to tune in on the local Japanese Station.
By combining lead and sulphur to produce Galena (Lead Sulphate crystals) and by throwing electric arcs from two 125 volt power lines on to the substances, a substitute for the crystal detector was found.Repeatedly, the fuses were blown. Undaunted, he went on. Time after time, experiments were made. A process of trial and error was the only way a solution could be arrived at, and at last after hours of laborious work and patient endeavour, a tiny piece of Galena was produced which worked well as a simple detector.
Thus another era was passed in the effort to outwit the Japanese and keep the camp supplied with the one thing that everyone was interested in – the one thing that helped men in the days when they needed help most of all.
The Japanese first became suspicious that the prisoners of war had wireless sets when they noticed the difference in the bearing of the men – the Kempei Tai were called, extensive searches were made, but they revealed nothing. Many anxious moments were experienced as the guards and the Gestapo probed into all sorts of out of the way places in their efforts to unearth the hidden sets.
In July 1942 the Japanese intensified their searches for hidden radios. The vigilance throughout the camp became more and more thorough. The penalty for listening in to broadcasts or being found in possession of a wireless was death, and the Japanese were determined to find some one to whom the guilt could be attached.
For one the ever ingenious Australians found themselves up against a proposition that many others might have thought impossible. To conceal anything in the concrete barracks with its tiled floors seemed to be almost an impossibility.
Every avenue of concealment was explored. The more they thought about it the more impossible it seemed to be. Once again the natural pertinacity and inventive genius of the Australians asserted itself. Caswell and his mates managed to loosen two tiles near his bed and by laboriously chiselling away at the concrete foundations they finally excavated a hole of 3 cubic feet.
Into this hole they inserted a wooden frame to hold the tiles in place, the joins being plastered up with scraps of soap to give an appearance of cement. This done, all that remained to do was to remove the tiles, lift out the headphones, tune in and listen – and watch out for prowling guards and intruders.
So time passed, punctuated by many narrow escapes from the sudden appearance of guards, scares and diversions, and the nightly bulletin of eagerly awaited news of the world. Night after night, at 10pm bulletins based on the B.B.C and late at 11pm, San Francisco broadcasts were eagerly taken down in an abbreviated form and passed out by word of mouth from hut to hut.
Towards the end of July 1942, the Japanese authorities began a series of propaganda broadcasts in which letters written by P.O.W.s were read. Although this session came on the air before “Lights Out”, Caswell fully cognisant of the risks he was running, went to the trouble to make comparisons between the originals and those read by the Japanese.
In these letters it was noted that, with very few exceptions, the Japanese altered the text so as to render the essential import more flattering to themselves, while on the other hand, they deleted all that did not suit them. Even so, the bulk of the letters remained tolerably accurate, when compared to the originals.
Still further experiments were undertaken. In August, the construction of a 3 valve portable set was commenced, this time being built into an Army water-bottle. In order to do this, a dummy tube was devised and placed through the centre, being soldered to the mouth of the bottle. This was kept full of water so that in the event of any inquisitive Japanese guard wishing to find out what was in the bottle would find that there certainly was water inside. Another bottle was fitted up on the same lines, to hold spare part, headphones and other paraphernalia
Everything was going fine when word came through that large numbers of men were to be shipped from Java. Once again the inventive genius of the Australians was to be tested. Hurried conferences and discussions were held among those involved. Ideas were put forward and as hastily discarded as other more feasible methods were suggested. Everyone knew what a move would mean. More and more extensive searches of equipment and personal belongings. But Caswell with a faith born of experience, felt fully confident that the water bottle trick would work.
On the other hand, there was the matter of essential torch batteries. They had to be got through somehow, sometime. They had 2 dozen of these that had been bought from a Chinese trader over the wire that encircled the camp. It was an absolute necessity to have these. They might not be able to get any more.
Finally it was decided to salvage all M and V tins that had been opened in the camp, cut them in half and join them with a solder so that from two tins one was made that was thoroughly insulated top and bottom. This was done and the original label was then pasted back on and into each new tin thus created seven batteries were placed which approximated the weight of the meat and vegetables that had been in the original tin.
So once again ingenuity ranged itself against the prying eyes and cunning of the Japanese. However, despite the final rigorous search, the tension and the last minute bustle of preparation, the men carrying the tins passed through each scrutiny before embarking on the 18 day sea trip that lay ahead of them on their way to Singapore.
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