This is a photo showing British and Indian soldiers standing guard over the Japanese POWs after their surrender in September 1945. The YMCA building at Orchard Road was seized by the feared Japanese secret military police (‘kempeitai’) during the Japanese Occupation and converted into their headquarters. The main task of the ‘kempeitai’ was to suppress and crush all opposition and resistance to the Japanese occupying forces. They also had the power to arrest anyone without trial. The YMCA building was where they interned and interrogated suspected anti-Japanese elements often through brutal and violent means.
