Coming soon from Myrmidon . . .
Leo Rawlings
‘I apologise to the Other Ranks. They had a worse time than the Officers and I very much hope that some of them will write a history from their viewpoint . . . ’
John Coast, Railroad of Death
Leo Rawlings (1918–1990) was a private in the 137th Field Regiment Royal Artillery. A budding artist living in Blackpool his life was changed forever by the war. Fighting from December 1941 to February 1942 as part of the headlong British retreat eventually leading to defeat in Singapore, he chronicled in pictures and words the campaign and the events that followed from 1941–1945. He drew what he witnessed around him, leading him to be unofficially commissioned after his capture to keep a visual record of the prisoners’ lives. At first publication in 1972 And The Dawn Came Up Like Thunder received support from Earl Mountbatten, former Supreme Commander of British forces in the Far East.
The new edition includes pictures never before published as well as an extensive and revelatory new commentary on Rawlings’ experiences and their subject matter by Dr Nigel Stanley, an expert on Rawlings and the medical problems faced on the Thai-Burma Railway.
Most of the pictures are printed for the first time in colour as the artist intended, bringing new detail and insight to conditions faced by the POWs as they built the infamous death railway, faced starvation, disease and cruelty. His drawings and paintings are raw and uncompromising; they do not pull any punches. Pictures such as those showing the construction of Tamarkan Bridge, now famed as the prototype for the fictional Bridge On the River Kwai, and those showing the horrendous suffering of the POWs such as King of the Damned have an iconic status. Rawlings’ art brings a different perspective to the depiction of the world of the Far East prisoners of war. For the first time the pictures and original texts are printed in a large edition, so that their full power can be experienced.
There is also an account of how Rawlings’ book was published in Japan by Takashi Nagase. Publication of And The Dawn Came Up Like Thunder by Nagase in Japan in the early 1980s was meant to help the Japanese understand what had happened in Thailand and Singapore during the War. Like John Coast, Rawlings is one of only three POWs mentioned by Nagase in his book Crosses and Tigers. He visited Nagase in Japan in 1980 and at last reconciled himself to his experiences as a POW. He came to understand that forgiving the Japanese was a vital part of healing and reconciliation. The new edition of And The Dawn Came Up Like Thunder chronicles these events in Rawlings’ work The Circle and some newly published correspondence between the author and Nagase.
Hardback ISBN: 978-1905802-94-4
Ebook ISBN: 978-1910183-05-2