Account 'Rangoon – Last Days', by H.L. Maclure, Assistant, 18 March 1942 (2 copies). Contents described below serve as an example of the kinds of details of events in other accounts (those in IWD/3/4 and IWD/3/5).
Accounts of the evacuation of Rangoon by Maclure and Morrison, March 1942 (2 copies of each part), with a cover letter by Mr Brodie. Maclure describes the evacuation of the Rangoon office by Mr Dry, and the marking of remaining 'essential' workers' cars with 'E' labels on 20 February 1942. He also describes other essential services remaining in Rangoon, for example a skeleton police force, minimum employees at the power plant, and how 90% of the IFC fleet was emplyed in carrying evacuees upstream. The eventual evacuation scheme for essential workers was by rail, road and river. He then goes onto describe the purposeful demolition of IFC sites and vessels ordered by the Commissioner of Police: "among many mixed and bitter thoughts we had the satisfaction of knowing that Rangoon was left in a condition to offer little or nothing to our enemies". Morrison describes the events which led to the orders for evacuation (deterioration in the military, panic after the air raids of 23 and 25 December 1941) but a civilian evacuation had been happening regardless of orders since the declaration of war by Japan on 8 December. He decribes sinking certain vessels, using others for the escape, watching the power station blow up as they left the city, and the fires at various oil refineries filling the sky with black smoke as they sailed out to Dry Tree Point. He and his party eventually changed vessel to sail to Calcutta, where the company reconvened.