A BLEEDING SLAUGHTERHOUSE
The Outrageous True Story of the Alexandra Hospital Massacres, Singapore, February 1942.
Did you know Stuart is a special-interest military history tour guide and lived in South East Asia for 25 years.
So he knows this territory better than most enabling him to tell the inside story with more local cultural context.
"The best book on the massacre. A magisterial account, incorporating original research and interviews with the survivors.”
MJ Lee, author of The Missing Father
"The most comprehensive account of the incident to date."
Amazing Walks, Singapore
"This story-driven account drips with human spirit as we get to know the key characters on both sides, and their fluctuating fortunes in the war and after."
Cowra Guardian
"I thought that I was up to speed with the history of the fall of Singapore.
You proved me wrong." James Keady, Historian, 2/20th Battalion Association
"First-hand survivor accounts of this atrocity make this book compelling reading."
John Casey, Historic War Tours
"
There are some books which once read, you cannot get completely out of your mind.
This is one of them.” Col (Ret'd) Marty Slade, RAMC
"Utterly heartbreaking yet fascinating." ANZA Magazine, Singapore
"I have discovered all this new information so many years on.We are amazed and pleased."
Maureen Lane, daughter of survivor Pte Bert Gurd, RAMC
"Mind blowing! Absolutely fascinating and incredible to hear granddad's story."
Lauren Lloyd, granddaughter of Pte Sydney Hoskins, RAMC, survivor
"The definitive account of what happened. The level of detail has really brought it to life."
Colonel (Retired) N E Montagu, editor, Sapper Magazine
"I'm full of admiration for the way you've turned all the different historical sources into a very readable narrative.”
Rob Waller, son of survivor Capt Richard Waller, RA
"An outstanding piece of work, the best with no doubt."
Richard Abbott, UK
In the hours before the Fall of Singapore in February 1942, a hospital that should have been a sanctuary — the British Military Hospital Alexandra -- got stranded in the chaotic no-man's-land between the Japanese and Allied frontlines.
What happened next has haunted me since I first heard it. Up to 300 soldier-patients, nurses, orderlies and doctors were killed. Some were bayoneted in their beds where they lay, unable to move. Others were dragged from the wards and held overnight in the Sisters' Quarters outhouse, only to be bayoneted and machine-gunned the next morning. One man died on the operating table, still waiting for surgery that would never come.
I wrote A Bleeding Slaughterhouse, my magnum opus 10 years in the making, to understand the characters, the causes, and the culpability behind this two-day tsunami of terror. I built it from first-hand interviews with survivors and unpublished memoir notes no one had seen before — and I name the guilty. Those who should've hung for this. But the lead investigator died in a mysterious aircraft accident and the case was hurriedly closed.
The book carries over 40 pages of original maps, illustrations and unpublished photographs — the evidence I gathered to make sure this story is never forgotten. I'm pleased to say it's now acknowledged as the definitive version of events, and I've been recently helping the Singapore government body to develop the official list of victims to be commemorated on site.
Stuart has written several other books on WW2, especially the Japanese theatre in South East Asia. Check them out on his home page. And sign up for his newsletter below for updates.
A Bleeding Slaughterhouse is also on the shelves of bookshops in
Singapore: Changi Museum, Reflections at Bukit Chandu, Asian Civilisations Museum, Battlebox, Kinokuniya, and Book Bar.
Malaysia: Kinokuniya.
Thailand: Asia Books (possibly).