One survivor, Private Arthur Haines from the Wiltshire Regiment, wrote a four-page account of the massacre that was sold by his daughter by private auction in 2008. One evening, months later, when he was sitting in his bathroom enveloped in a towel, he stopped drying himself and gloomily surveyed the floor: 'I cannot get over Singapore', he said sadly. Spotlights had been placed on the beaches by a British unit to illuminate an invasion force on the water but many had been damaged by the bombardment and no order was made to turn the others on. Although the 25th Army was outnumbered by Commonwealth forces in Malaya and Singapore, they did not take the initiative with their forces while Japanese commanders concentrated theirs. on Amazon.com. [17][18] Prior to the Battle of Singapore the most resistance was met at the Battle of Muar which involved the 8th Australian Division and the 45th Indian Brigade. About 6,000 survived until they could be liberated by Australian and US forces in 19431945, as the war in the Pacific turned in favour of the Allies. Only six were alive including Corporal Walter Gibson of the Argylls, who wrote of this ordeal (Gibson 2007), and we again meet the resolute Doris Lim, plus four unnamed Javanese crew. Geoffrey Alexander Rowley-Conwy Langford Baron (1912-). At dawn an island could be seen with Malay fishermen who came to help, and with a rising tide they were once again afloat and, seemingly with little damage, again underway. This is without a doubt the most boring WWII book I've come across. Twenty-two others escaped the island after rebuilding a native vessel but were captured and returned to Singapore as POWs. [32][33][34] On 31 January, the last Commonwealth forces crossed the causeway linking Johor and Singapore and engineers blew it up. Michael Pether (Pether 2018) has identified another twenty or so small craft which attempted the treacherous crossing. Commanders and senior officers should die with their troops. Born into a lively Iraqi-Jewish family who rose from humble beginnings to create a thriving business, Rosie's days are filled with the love of her amusing and exasperating relatives and servants. It therefore took some while to get everyone onboard and after the final trip the motor boat sank. The ship later sailed to Colombo and served as a hospital ship in Burma. Naval Historical Society of Australia Inc. A yarn of adventure in Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean. [149] Many British units were reported to have been similarly affected. [56] This was encouraged by the deliberate movement of Japanese troops in this sector to deceive the British. With the prevailing primitive instincts of escape and survival there were few heroes, with the exceptions of LEUT Thomas Wilkinson VC of HMS Li Wofor fearlessly engaging the enemy, and the courageous Captain Bill Reynolds4with his ironically named Kofoku Maru. In these circumstances the defenders must greatly outnumber Japanese forces who have crossed the straits, and in a well-contested battle they should destroy them. [88] Throughout the day, the 44th Indian Infantry Brigade, still holding its position on the coast, began to feel pressure on its exposed flank and after discussions between Percival and Bennett, it was decided that they would have to retire eastwards to maintain the southern part of the Commonwealth line. [98] Throughout 10 February further fighting took place around along the Jurong Line, as orders were formulated to establish a secondary defensive line to the west of the Reformatory Road, with troops not then employed in the Jurong Line; misinterpretation of these orders resulted in Taylor, the commander of the 22nd Brigade, prematurely withdrawing his troops to the east, where they were joined by a 200-strong ad hoc battalion of Australian reinforcements, known as X Battalion. [62] The Australians requested the shelling of these positions to disrupt the Japanese preparations but the patrol reports were later ignored by Malaya Command as being insignificant, based upon the belief that the real assault would come in the north-eastern sector, not the north-west. When ordered to leave Singapore she was heavily laden with 14 crew and 62 passengers. He could only say "The bloody bastards will never think of looking for me in the open, and I want to see a bloody plane brought down". They get buzzed by a Zero that inexplicably doesn't fire, they get fired upon by a Zero who inexplicably doesn't finish them off, they meet a drunken Dutchman, they eat poorly (but not _that_ poorly), tempers fray, etc. To compound matters, Percival had ordered the Australians to defend forward so as to cover the waterway, yet this meant they were immediately fully committed to any fighting, limiting their flexibility, whilst also reducing their defensive depth. The next day the cruiser HMS Danae arrived from Batavia and took onboard about 80 officers and 500 men. Another unfortunate consequence leading to confusion was that naval personnel responsible for coding and decoding signals were approved to leave the island aboard HMS Jupiterin the early hours of 12 February. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. Then it gets more murky because the initial escape from Singapore is made in two boats by the members of an anti-aircraft battery. Learn more how customers reviews work on Amazon. Print This Page. Ideally the passage over open water was made at night and where possible vessels laid up in the day close to, or under cover of, islands. [115] Elsewhere, the 22nd Brigade continued to hold a position west of the Holland Road until late in the evening when it was pulled back to Holland Village. [90] The authority for this withdrawal would later be the subject of debate, with Bennett stating that he had not given Maxwell authorisation to do so. Air cover was in a worse state with 158 obsolete aircraft, including four RAAF squadrons, two of Brewster Buffalo fighters and two of Lockheed Hudson bombers. The Japanese were considered unprincipled in the conduct of war and there are many stories of survivors being killed, but there is another side to this story. Bennett attempted to reinforce the 22nd Brigade by moving the 2/29th Battalion from the 27th Brigade area to Tengah but before it could be used to recapture Ama Keng, the Japanese launched another attack around the airfield and the 2/29th was forced onto the defensive. Preview Book Shop now. Need help? When the first bombs fell on Singapore the evacuation began in earnest with torrents of people desperately seeking passage in the next available ship. Singapore 1942: End of Empire: With Lisa Huynh, Andrew McFarlane, Shuang Hu, Tony Nixon. Copyright 2023 Kirkus Media LLC. No hero's welcome greets them in Ceylon -- just some red tape. In early December 1941 Malayan Police rounded up about 1200 Japanese and impounded their fleet of fishing vessels. (31st January 1942 British and Commonwealth forces withdrew from the mainland to Singapore) My mother and two younger sisters (Audrey and Ann) left Singapore on December 22nd (the same day as. Eventually it becomes clear that Skidmore must have reconstructed it all from interviews with and diaries of those involved, but it makes for an awkward beginning. They had a crew of 15 and up to 60 passengers could be crammed onboard. The Dalforce irregulars, also known as Dalleys Desperadoes, were mainly local businessmen with some limited military service. Kathleens brother, Jack Clark, a member of the Malay State Volunteer Forces was killed in action. For the second time since the battle began, Yamashita demanded unconditional surrender and that afternoon, Percival capitulated. After ML310was attacked by enemy ships she grounded on Tjebia Island about 30 miles north of Banka Strait. Please try again. A yarn of adventure in Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean. The Highlanders, now down to 250 men, reformed with the addition of 210 Royal Marine survivors from the Prince of Walesand Repulse. The next day the irrepressible Bill Reynolds arrived in Kofoku Maru and took off a further 70 walking wounded. The Japanese were at the limit of their supply line and their artillery units were also running out of ammunition. A younger and energetic Dalforce officer, Wyatt Smith, commandeered a small motor boat to ferry them to Kembong. Trouble signing in? [41] The newly arrived 18th Infantry Division (Major-General Merton Beckwith-Smith)[42][43]was at full strength but lacked experience and training. [152] According to another source, Taylor cracked under the pressure. The Jurong Line eventually collapsed after the 12th Indian Brigade was withdrawn by its commander, Brigadier Archie Paris, to the road junction near Bukit Panjang, after he lost contact with the 27th Brigade on his right; the commander of the 44th Indian Brigade, Ballantine, commanding the extreme left of the line, also misinterpreted the orders in the same manner that Taylor had and withdrew. By 5 pm a scratch crew and passengers, which now included LTCOL McKerron, had been assembled, totaling about 30 men. Along the way, the severe class-conciousness of the British Army in WWII becomes quite clear, and not a whole lot happens. Weintraub, Robert, No Better Friend: One Man, One Dog & Their Extraordinary Story of Courage & Survival in WWII, Little Brown & Company, Boston, 2016. No more is known of the fate of Kembong but with a new lease of life the venerable Perak sailed for the Mediterranean. Colonels and brigadiers, civilians and civilservants,battle-hardenedwarriorsandarmy deserters intent on escape at any price, left in launches, junks, rowing boats, naval craft, in fact anything that floated. Please try again. [66] The bombardment of the Australians was not seen as a prelude to attackMalaya Command believed that it would last several days and would later switch its focus to the north-east, despite its ferocity exceeding anything the Allies had experienced thus far in the campaign; no order was passed to the Commonwealth artillery units to bombard possible Japanese assembly areas. The Japanese had broken the British Army's codes and in January 1941, the Second Department (the intelligence-gathering arm) of the Imperial Army interpreted and read a message from Singapore to London complaining in much detail about the weak state of "Fortress Singapore", a message so frank in its admission of weakness that the Japanese at first suspected it was a British plant, believing that no officer would be so open in admitting weaknesses to his superiors. [94], Communication problems caused further cracks in the Commonwealth defence. The Japanese authorities were suspicious of the Chinese because of the Second Sino-Japanese War, and murdered thousands of citizen "undesirables" (mostly ethnic Chinese) in the Sook Ching massacre. Here there was a small Dutch Customs Station who advised them to proceed about 12 hours up river to Pekanbaru where there was an RAF Base. An exception to the fighting force was the Second Battalion of Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, part of the Indian 12thBrigade, who had been positioned in Malaya in late 1939 to bolster the local forces. [43], Percival gave Major-General Gordon Bennett's two brigades from the 8th Australian Division responsibility for the western side of Singapore, including the prime invasion points in the northwest of the island. [144] Following the surrender, Bennett caused controversy when he decided to escape. Her captain is unknown and she sailed with 4 crew and 25 passengers. They were malnourished and frightened, with morale and discipline at a low ebb. Those who fell on the way were bayoneted. This podcast series examines Australias Naval history, featuring a variety of naval history experts from the Naval Studies Group and elsewhere. Available copies. The British Lieutenant-General, Arthur Percival, commanded 85,000 Allied troops at Singapore, although many units were under-strength and most units lacked experience. Naval Historical Society of Australia Inc. He survived this ordeal and when the opportunity came he and a number of his shipmates escaped in the river steamer Kung Wo. ALSO INCLUDES CORRESPONDENCE TO HIS FAMILY AND LATER NEWS CUTTINGS by Ian Skidmore. This tally possibly accounts for the largest number of Australian troops missing after release from Singapore. 2 Michael Pethers mother (Kathleen) and her baby daughter were evacuated from Singapore on Christmas Eve 1941 and his grandmother escaped on 12 February 1942, all reaching the safety of home in New Zealand. : [153][136] Yamashita, the Japanese commander, laid the blame on the British "underestimating Japanese military capabilities" and Percival's hesitancy in reinforcing the Australians on the western side of the island. 198 p. 23 cm. An ambush was sprung by the 2/30th Australian Battalion on the main road at the Gemenceh River near Gemas on 14 January, causing many Japanese casualties. Life on the Line Podcasts We have new and used copies available, in 1 editions - starting at $3.98. A number of MLs and HDMLs had completed building at Singapore within weeks of the evacuation. By this time, Kallang Airfield was, according to author Frank Owen, "so pitted with bomb craters that it was no longer usable". : Communication and leadership failures beset the Allies and there were few defensive positions or reserves near the beachhead. They dug in and throughout the night fierce fighting raged on the northern front. In recognition of their importance these documents were entrusted to the prize crew of a recently captured Norwegian tanker, Ole Jacob, and immediately sent to Japan. [91] Late on 9 February, the Imperial Guards began assaulting the positions held by the 27th Brigade, concentrating on those held by the 2/26th Battalion. Adding to the panic, they were being bombed. [58], As the landing craft closed on the Australian positions, machine gunners from the 2/4th Machine Gun Battalion, interspersed amongst the rifle companies, opened fire. Anniversary Cruise: Sydney under Japanese Attack, Sydney Harbour in War and Peace: Bradleys Head Tour, Garden Island Northern Hill and Garden Tour, Night of the midget subs Sydney under attack, D-Day commando on Sword Beach by Commander Jim Speed DSC, RAN Part 1, D-Day commando on Sword Beach by Commander Jim Speed DSC, RAN Part 2, D-Day commando on Sword Beach by Commander Jim Speed DSC, RAN Part 3. To avoid capture, the senior officers came ashore before she was examined by a Japanese boarding party and her engines disabled. Revitalising his naval career, from MV. View all 1 editions? web pages [58][4][65] The British had the means to conduct counter-battery fire opposite the Australians that would have caused casualties and disruption among the Japanese assault troops. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. I had 30,000 men and was outnumbered more than three to one. Please try again. One young Indian prisoner with a Bengaluru connection was. Because of the dangers no women were to be taken onboard. Japanese fighters were superior to the Commonwealth fighters, which helped the Japanese to gain air supremacy. A further 5000 troops in Convoy US111B arrived at Keppel Harbour on 15 August 1941. Amazon has encountered an error. They get split up en route, but make it to Sumatra, where there are loads of other escapes and refugees. The three set off in a motor car bearing a Union Jack and a white flag of truce toward the enemy lines to discuss a cessation of hostilities. Some died during the night as a result of their treatment. Carew, Tim, The Fall of Hong Kong, Anthony Blond, London, 1960. Full content visible, double tap to read brief content. There's nothing particularly thrilling or gripping in the whole book, and it's time poorly spent. on January 13, 2021, There are no reviews yet. Naval Historical Review, Ship histories and stories, WWII operations, History - WW2 Singapore, Ship losses, Australian Naval History Podcasts Please use a different way to share. Just short of Sumatra she was bombed and sunk when about 150 survivors made Banka Island. Anniversary Cruise: Sydney under Japanese Attack, Sydney Harbour in War and Peace: Bradleys Head Tour, Garden Island Northern Hill and Garden Tour, Night of the midget subs Sydney under attack, D-Day commando on Sword Beach by Commander Jim Speed DSC, RAN Part 1, D-Day commando on Sword Beach by Commander Jim Speed DSC, RAN Part 2, D-Day commando on Sword Beach by Commander Jim Speed DSC, RAN Part 3. Sorry, there was a problem loading this page. Residents suffered great hardships under Japanese rule over the following three-and-a-half years. During the Japanese Occupation (1942-45), it was used by the Japanese Imperial Army to hold Australian and British prisoners-of-war (POWs). The Commonwealth having thought the terrain made them impractical, had no tanks and only a few armoured vehicles, which put them at a severe disadvantage. Try again. There were 49 infantry battalions21 Indian, 13 British, six Australian, four Indian States Forces assigned to airfield defence, three Straits Settlements Volunteer Force, and two Malayan. Prior to the main assault, the Australians were subjected to an intense artillery bombardment. [165][166] The Japanese sought vengeance against the Chinese and anyone who held anti-Japanese sentiments. Russell-Roberts, Denis, Spotlight on Singapore, Times Press, Douglas, IOM, 1965. By the end of January 1942, British Empire forces were driven back onto the island of Singapore itself, cut off from further outside help. Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club thats right for you for free. 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