A Harrowing Bridge House Memoir

Henry Pringle worked for a telephone company in Shanghai’s International Settlement – then the Japanese invaded and he found himself thrown into prison, tortured and interned.  He survived the war and then settled in Australia where he eventually wrote about his experiences. However, the manuscript was never published and remained with his family gathering dust…until now.

So well done the excellent Earnshaw Books who have now published Pringle’s memoir – Bridge House Survivor. Not that it’s an easy read, Pringle was treated brutally by the Japanese and also recounts the equally horrific treatment of his fellow prisoners, both Europeans and Chinese at the notorious Bridge House.  Pringle survived the beatings; many others didn’t. He was then interned in Shanghai’s Haiphong Road internment camp and eventually moved to the Fengtai internment camp near Peking. He finally undertakes a harrowing journey from Peking back to Shanghai at the end of the war that shows the chaos China was thrown into following the eventual defeat of the Japanese.

Bridge House Survivor is an important addition to the historical record of the Japanese occupation of Shanghai and war with China. It’s not an easy read, it’s not particularly uplifting or hopeful but it is important as it is true.