High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Selarang Barracks Incident also known as the Barrack Square Incident or the Selarang Square Squeeze, was an event during the Second World War started on 30 August 1942. The barracks was sited in Changi, Singapore and were used by the Japanese to hold 17,000 Anglo-Australian prisoners-of-war (POWs). After the Japanese recaptured four escaped Allied POWs, the Selarang Barracks POWs refused to sign a pledge not to escape, and were forced to crowd in the areas around the barracks square for nearly five days with little water and no sanitation. The executions of the recaptured POWs failed to break the men. The commanders however finally capitulated on September 5 when their men started to fall ill and die from dysentery. Upon signing the pledge, the men were allowed to return to the barracks buildings.