This is a photo showing two bullock carts parked at the side of a road. It was probably taken by an officer of the Royal Navy’s HMS Sussex on its journey to join the Eastern Fleet in Trincomalee during the Second World War.The HMS Sussex was a London class heavy cruiser of the British Royal Navy that entered into service in 1939, serving primarily in the Mediterranean and South Atlantic. It was hit by a bomb during a German air raid while docked at Glasgow, Scotland in 1940. The ship was severely damaged. Following the completion of repairs in late August 1942, the vessel was redeployed to Southeast Asian waters, where it became the flagship of the Eastern Fleet. It sailed to Singapore to assist in its liberation in 1945 where it became a firsthand witness to the Japanese surrender. General Seishito Itagaki signed instruments of surrender on board the vessel on 4 September 1945, after which an official surrender ceremony was held at the Municipal Building (now called City Hall) eight days later on 12 September. The ship was decommissioned in 1949 and broken up at the Dalmuir naval yard in 1950.
