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From the Inside Flap
At the outbreak of the Second World War Toosey had a career with Barings Bank, a young family and a commission with the Territorial Army. It was at Dunkirk that his charisma and fortitude were first noted, and in 1941 he was given command of an artillery regiment. Sent to fight in the Far East he and his men soon found themselves embroiled in the battle for Singapore, and were taken prisoner after the island’s fall in February 1942.
The Japanese, scornful of the Allied forces for surrendering, determined to make full use of the new workforce at their disposal. Toosey was sent to Thailand to command the ‘bridge camp’ at Tamarkan, where he was ordered to supervise the construction of two railway bridges over the river Khwae Mae Khlong. Starvation rations and harsh working conditions up-jungle meant that dysentery and cholera struck, and Tamarkan became a hospital camp. A quarter of the 60,000 prisoners working on the Thailand–Burma railway would perish, and it gained the nickname ‘Death Railway’. Toosey, as camp commander, was determined to instil hygiene and discipline, giving his men back their self-respect and making himself a buffer for the cruel excesses of the guards.
It would be another three and a half years before he returned home. Even after the war he found he was unable to stop looking after the men to whom he had become an inspiration, and his services to the Far Eastern POWs continued until his death in 1975.
Written by Toosey’s granddaughter, The Colonel of Tamarkan draws on both private archives and many original interviews with Second World War POWs from the Asian theatre to create a riveting blend of biography and history. It is a remarkable portrait of a forgotten British hero. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Though spanning her grandfather's whole life, it is his experiences as a PoW that make it so compelling. We see how he treated his men and tried to protect them, how he was able to command them so well because he was not a career soldier and therefore could think outside the box. He had a great sense of humour, but was firmly based in reality, understanding the needs of his men after the war, for example, when he asked for a load of condoms to be delivered.
What I particularly like about the biography is that Ms Summers uses her privileged position as his grand-daughter to show, rather than hide, the family side of Colonel Toosey - warts and all. We see, for example, the marital difficulties he had with his wife post-war. Summers found when researching that theirs was not an isolated incident. How refreshing to highlight such points when the social cost is often hidden under a stiff upper lip.
As the World War II slips further into the past, I hope that this book gets a wide readership. Ms Summers' fresh, simple style makes real a world that today, sadly, seems almost fictional. It also rescues her grandfather from the perception that he was somehow like Colonel Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai. He was a much bigger hero than that.
My title says it all for this book as I just couldn't put it down.
Toosey was definitely a heroic military leader in all sense of the phrase. Buy the book and read the history. Everyone should know what really happened instead of just watching the Hollywood glamour!
I first came across the name Philip Toosey in the book "Surviving the Sword Prisoners of the Japanese 1942-1945" by Brian MacArthur (another fabulous book and highly recommended) and was determined to find out more about this remarkable man. I'm pleased I did.
The book is written by his grand-daughter. The only time she relates the story through her eyes is in the very last pages of the book, although there are one or two anecdotes that she mentions regarding her sister Stephanie, again towards the end of the book. And, although I have mentioned it is not the best written biography I have ever read it is one that drew me in from the beginning and kept me thoroughly engaged from beginning to end, and the reason - the character of Philip Toosey.
I will not go over every detail in the biography as Julie Summers has done a reasonable job of this, but I will say that after reading about his struggles with the Japanese and his continued fight, even after the war, to look after men who had been PoWs I found my self greatly endeared to this man. His compassion and understanding of the human condition are limitless. His courage in standing up to his captors to protect his men is incredible. The plain truth of the matter is that many men would have died in captivity if it had not been for the actions of Toosey and so many others like him.
I would urge everyone to read this book, and to realise what a fantastic human being Philip Toosey was. The term "hero" is always so readily used these days that it is wonderful to read about a man who truly was one. Please read it you won't be disappointed. God bless the Colonel of Tamarkan.
The abridgement works really well and the voice of Anton Lesser is superb in bringing the... Read more
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