[3] At 17 he was working as a junior reporter for the Essex Express and Independent, and in October 1938, when he was 20, joined the staff of The Statesman in Calcutta (now Kolkata), and was transferred to the Delhi office two months later.
[4] After the outbreak of World War II, in November 1939, Crosland received an emergency commission as an officer in the 15th Punjab Regiment of the Indian Army.
After the Japanese invasion of Borneo commenced in mid-December, the scorched earth policy was brought into play and Crosland assisted with the destruction of the oilfields at Miri and Seria and the landing ground at Kuching.
[3] Along with the remnants of the 2/15th battalion, Crosland was incarcerated in several POW camps: Tanjung Priok at Batavia (now Jakarta) in Java, which they left on 22 September 1942 for Singapore.
After about two weeks in Singapore they reached Batu Lintang camp in Kuching on 13 October 1942, where they were to spend the rest of the war, housed in the very army barracks that had been built for the 2/15th Punjabis before the invasion.