Bataan cab 11 water truck

[Mike Cecil]

Thanks David, a little-known but interesting aspect of the mayhem of the Japanese thrust south.

What was the fate of the Canadian troops? The Awatea was a 13,000-odd ton New Zealand passenger vessel which became a troopship in September 1941. It was sunk by German aircraft off the Algerian coast during Operation Torch in November 1942.

The Japanese not only got the vehicles from the Don Jose, but the ship as well. A 10,000-odd ton freighter registered to Madrigal & Co of the Philippines, Don Jose was bombed by Japanese aircraft off Corregidor on 2 January 1942 and beached. The Japanese refloated it, towed it to Hong Kong, where it was damaged by US aircraft, then broken up for scrap.

Mike