The Lisbon Maru Incident

My friend, fellow Mountain Rescue team member and near-neighbour, Brian Finch has translated a book on the Lisbon Maru incident and it has just been published. Brian was commissioned into the Middlesex Regiment in 1960 and served with one of the survivors of the Lisbon Maru, sparking a life-long interest. Brian saw active service in Malaysia (where he commanded a platoon of Iban head-hunters), and later on peacekeeping duties in Northern Ireland.

It gives details of the Lisbon Maru Incident of 1942, seen through the eyes of the Chinese fishermen who rescued hundreds of British prisoners of war from Hong Kong, whose ship had been torpedoed. The Japanese had tried to keep them in the holds as the ship sank, and then shot at them as they tried to escape. These courageous fishermen not only prevented hundreds more deaths, they also hid three prisoners under the noses of the Japanese until they could be sent secretly on a journey across more than 1,000 miles of China to reach Chongqing, from where they could tell the world what had happened.

A highly recommended read.