escape from singapore 1942

From The Daily Telegraph 14 November. With the Japanese now within gun range on the opposite side of the Causeway a few thousand more persons escaped in an organized convoy on the night of 11/12 February. The infantry positions were reinforced by the recently arrived Australian 2/4th Machine-Gun Battalion. Rosie's War reveals their hazardous escape to Bombay . [93] Some of the Guards reached the shore and maintained a tenuous beachhead; at the height of the assault, it is reported that the Guards commander, Nishimura, requested permission to cancel the attack due to the many casualties his troops had suffered from the fire but Yamashita ordered them to press on. The Japanese were superior in close air support, armour, co-ordination, tactics and experience. On 13 February ML311was attacked and destroyed by enemy surface ships and two days later ML432 was captured when beached off Banka Island. Many European and Eurasian women and children were evacuated before the end of December. [44] The rest of the force was of mixed quality, condition, training, equipment and morale. As of 13 February they had been told to disband and form an underground guerilla force to escape Japanese reprisals. [120] Earlier that day, Percival had issued orders to destroy all secret and technical equipment, ciphers, codes, secret documents and heavy guns. Escape from Singapore, 1942;: The story of an incredible voyage through enemy waters On sailing there were about300 passengers and crew. Moreman, Dr. John & Reid, Dr. Richard, A Bitter Fate: Australians in Malaya & Singapore, Dec 1941 Feb 1942, Department of Veterans Affairs, Canberra, 2002. Learn more how customers reviews work on Amazon. [90][89], To the north, the 27th Australian Brigade had not been engaged during the Japanese assaults on the first day. 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. [68] The assault was received by the 2/18th Battalion and the 2/20th Battalion. 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. His forces consisted of elements of the 1st Malaya Infantry Brigade and the Straits Settlements Volunteer Force Brigade with the Indian 12th Infantry Brigade in reserve. With that in mind, thoughts of evacuation were therefore unnecessary. [92] During the initial assault, the Japanese suffered severe casualties from Australian mortars and machine-guns and from burning oil which had been sluiced into the water following the demolition of several oil tanks by the Australians. Just short of Sumatra she was bombed and sunk when about 150 survivors made Banka Island. An edition of Escape from Singapore, 1942 (1974) Escape from Singapore, 1942 the story of an incredible voyage through enemy waters. In the first encounter, the last ten Hurricanes were scrambled from Kallang Airfield to intercept a Japanese formation of about 84 aircraft, flying from Johor to provide air cover for their invasion force. The Japanese Empire captured the British stronghold of Singapore, with fighting lasting from 8 to 15 February 1942. Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web. Later they were flown to Batavia and from there to Australia. Dragonflyand Grasshoppersailed in company on 13 February with about 325 troops, bound for Sumatra. [69] The Australians numbered just 3,000 men and lacked any significant reserve. [27][e], At Bakri, from 18 to 22 January, the Australian 2/19th and 2/29th battalions and the 45th Indian Brigade (Lieutenant Colonel Charles Anderson) repeatedly fought through Japanese positions before running out of ammunition near Parit Sulong. [149] Many British units were reported to have been similarly affected. A company from Dalforce fought alongside the 22nd Australian Brigade. The June 2019 edition of this magazine contained an article The Naval Evacuation of Singapore - February 1942which lists MV Kembongamongst forty-five vessels that escaped. . By 15 February, about a million civilians in the city were crammed into the remaining area held by Allied forces, 1 per cent of the island. Uploaded by These recordings can be accessed through Apple iTunes or for Android users, Stitcher. Full content visible, double tap to read brief content. The resistance put up by the company from the 2/19th pushed the follow-on waves of Japanese craft to land around the mouth of Murai River, which resulted in them creating a gap between the 2/19th and 2/18th battalions. They dug in and throughout the night fierce fighting raged on the northern front. The 2/20th managed to concentrate three of its four companies around the Namazie Estate, although one was left behind; the 2/18th was only able to concentrate half its strength at Ama Keng, while the 2/19th also moved back three companies, leaving a fourth to defend Tengah airfield. Shortly afterwards Percival allocated the composite 6th/15th Indian Infantry Brigade to reinforce the Australians from their position around the Singapore racecourse. [140], A delegation was selected to go to the Japanese headquarters. The Buffaloes were operated by one Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF), two Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), and two Royal Air Force (RAF) squadrons. When the first bombs fell on Singapore the evacuation began in earnest with torrents of people desperately seeking passage in the next available ship. The number of Japanese killed and wounded is disputed. By late February 1942 thousands of men, women and children were crowded here where they were prioritised for transshipment by the occasional merchantman and warships that called. While the presence of a Japanese Fleet, bound for Sumatra, was known to the Dutch it was nolongerpossibletopassthisinformationto Admiral Spooner. Over the course of an hour, intense fighting took place on the right flank of the 2/19th Battalion, until its positions were overrun, the Japanese then advanced inland concealed by the darkness and the vegetation. Another well-known escape was of 65 Australian nurses aboard HMS Vyner Brooke which sailed on 12 February. The Japanese had imprisoned some 75,000 commonwealth soldiers in war camps on the swampy island of Singapore in the spring of 1942. Radio Tokyo also broadcast messages that the British were not going to be allowed to escape in another Dunkirk. Urgent requests for fire support were made and throughout the night the 2/15th Field Regiment fired over 4,800 rounds. They were witnessing the beginning of the end of the British Empire with the whole city lying under a pall of smoke, lit up by the glow of fires, as the once rich and powerful garrison surrendered to the Japanese. Lieutenant Richard Pool RN, a survivor from Repulse,had been allocated to ML 310 and writes of his experiences (Pool 1987): All day long columns of evacuees filed patiently along the approach road and on the wharf and gradually found spaces in the miscellany of craft which now thronged the dockside. Previous ed. Communication and leadership failures beset the Allies and there were few defensive positions or reserves near the beachhead. In February 1942 Geoffrey Charles Whitaker was a retired RN officer on the Emergency List living in Singapore. They get split up en route, but make it to Sumatra, where there are loads of other escapes and refugees. Meanwhile two small naval launches arrived full of miscellaneous Army and Navy personnel. These were MLs 432and 433and HDMLs 1062and 1063. He was 31. Fairmile Motor Launches (MLs) were versatile small craft produced in their hundreds and served in most theatres during WWII. By this time, Kallang Airfield was, according to author Frank Owen, "so pitted with bomb craters that it was no longer usable". This old steamer, built in 1906, was now lying abandoned in Tandjong Priok, her native crew having deserted. In deference to his Chinese crew Bill renamed his vessel Suey Sin Fah,and armed her with a machine gun before sailing with refugees from Sumatra to southern India. [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. A further requirement was that the Japanese Rising Sun Flag be hoisted over the Cathay Building, the tallest building in Singapore. The rest of the crew, with little seafaring experience, were from Dalforce. They last since the fall of Singapore. Those remaining of the ships companies from Prince of Walesand Repulse after successive drafts had been sent to other ships, among them two officers, LEUT G. Brooks and LCDR A.H. Terry, with about 200 men. [152] According to another source, Taylor cracked under the pressure. At noon on Sunday 15 February 1942 Lieutenant Colonel Patrick McKerron met with his sister and brother-in-law, Charles Vlieland, who was Secretary for Defence, Malaya, regarding the imminent surrender of the garrison. [139][135] Post-war analysis has shown that a counter-attack might have succeeded. Both ships were attacked by aircraft in the Banka Straits with Dragonflyhit three times, sinking quickly. 226 Group RAF, they flew from an airfield code-named P1, near Palembang, Sumatra in the Dutch East Indies, while a flight was maintained in Singapore. [8][9] The basic plan for taking Singapore was worked out in July 1940. The surviving garrison was marched into Japanese prison camps, some never to return. The battle must be fought to the bitter end at all costs. Unable to add item to List. Here she was acquired by the Australian Government, renamed Krait, and shipped back to Australia as deck cargo before taking part in her famous commando operations against Japanese shipping in Singapore (Silver 1990). No amount of toing and froing with the engines would shake her free and with a falling tide they were stuck fast. Danae offloaded them at Tjilatjap, a small port now crowded with ships, on the south coast of Java. [45] This included the naval base at Sembawang. They were malnourished and frightened, with morale and discipline at a low ebb. As it starts, it's not really obvious whether it's a novel or narrative, since it's all told third person. To their right, the 18th Division, the 11th Indian Division and the 2nd Malaya Brigade held the perimeter from the edge of the Farrar Road east to Kallang, while to their left, the 44th Indian Brigade and the 1st Malaya Brigade held the perimeter from Buona Vista to Pasir Panjang. She was later sold to Chinese shipping interests. [138], In analysing the campaign, Clifford Kinvig, a senior lecturer at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, blamed the commander of the 27th Infantry Brigade, Brigadier Duncan Maxwell, for his defeatist attitude and not properly defending the sector between the Causeway and the Kranji River. It left a scar on his mind. Thailand resisted landings on its territory for about 5 to 8 hours; it then signed a ceasefire and a Treaty of Friendship with Japan, later declaring war on the UK and the US. Discounts, promotions, and special offers on best-selling magazines. 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. They arrived on 3 January 1942, by which stage the Buffalo squadrons had been overwhelmed. [74] As the Japanese army advanced towards Singapore Island, the day and night raids increased in frequency and intensity, resulting in thousands of civilian casualties, up to the time of the British surrender. I had 30,000 men and was outnumbered more than three to one. The AIF was given a disproportionately small allocation of 100 places to all ranks. This was the greatest known defeat of British forces in the distant Far East. The escape from Singapore is perhaps best summarised by Lieutenant General Percival who wrote (Brooke 1989): I regret to have to report that the flotilla of small ships and other light craft which left Singapore on the night of 13-14 February encountered a Japanese naval force in the approaches to the Banka Straits. The passage of Kung Woas described by LEUT Brooke may be regarded as typical: After passing through our own minefield at first light we were soon discovered by enemy dive bombers. [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. The book starts by recounting the events leading up to the Japanese conquest of British Singapore. During the battle for Singapore the battalion was engaged in heavy fighting for 20 hours before being overrun by the enemy. An element of some 6000 men departed Sydney in the liner Queen Maryas part of Convoy US9 on 4 February 1941, arriving in Singapore two weeks later on 18 February. On paper the escape plan seemed straightforward, a 20-mile passage over the Singapore Strait at night, and then laying up under cover of one of the numerous Netherlands East Indies islands, before island hopping to cover the next 60 miles and crossing the Banka Strait to the large island of Sumatra. The 18th Division has a chance to make its name in history. 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. : [46] Also under Bennett's command was the 44th Indian Infantry Brigade. [79] The lack of an effective air early warning system throughout the campaign meant that many Commonwealth aircraft were lost in this manner during Japanese attacks against airfields. Kung Wowas able to disembark personnel on Pompong Island and afterwards found their two companions Kualaand Tien Kuanganchored close inshore. The Japanese held Singapore until the end of the war. Having decided to face the inevitable with a last bottle of bubbly, they were interrupted by some Dalforce officers2. Many ships and other craft were sunk or disabled and there was considerable loss of life. Churchill called it the worst disaster in British military history. The book starts by recounting the events leading up to the Japanese conquest of British Singapore. Due to a planned power outage on Friday, 1/14, between 8am-1pm PST, some services may be impacted. Michael Pether (Pether 2018), whose parents were in Singapore2, also describes the scene: On the evening of 13 February 1942 as the Japanese Army tightened its encirclement of the central area of the city of Singapore the Allied troops and civilians endured constant bombing and artillery shelling the city was in flames; thousands of dead bodies littered the streets and much of the city lay in ruins. [155] At Gemas, Bakri and Jemaluang, "they achieved the few outstanding tactical successes" of the campaign in Malaya and although the Australians made up 13 per cent of the British Empire's ground forces, they suffered 73 per cent of its battle deaths. He invited me to accompany him in his pram-dinghy, a flat-bottomed boat about 12 feet long, bermuda-rigged with bamboo mast and boom, and designed for racing in the sheltered waters of . A further 1500 women and children left early in the New Year and a final large contingent of 4000 departed in four passenger liners in late January 1942. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. [78] Many of the Hurricanes were destroyed on the ground by air raids. Captain K. R. King and Sergeant J. E. Iliffe, who were with an Ordnance auit in Malaya, met the other day for the first time since the fall of Singapore. 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. Of the few survivors eight were picked up by the Japanese and later six more were found by the steamer Mata Hari. Michael Pether (Pether 2018) has identified another twenty or so small craft which attempted the treacherous crossing. The survivors who reached Padang had suffered greatly. There's nothing particularly thrilling or gripping in the whole book, and it's time poorly spent. Then it gets more murky because the initial escape from Singapore is made in two boats by the members of an anti-aircraft battery. For the rest of December there were false alerts and several infrequent and sporadic hit-and-run attacks on outlying military installations such as the Naval Base but no raids on Singapore City. Special Operations Executive--History World War, 1939-1945--Secret service--Singapore Singapore--History--Siege, 1942 Wars History Publisher Raffles, 2000 Digital Description application/pdf, 39236 KB, 264 p. : ill., maps, port. The main weight of the Japanese force, about 13,000 men, from 16 assault battalions, with five in reserve, attacked the 22nd Australian Brigade. Post war she returned to Hong Kong. Trouble signing in? With only two boats it would take several trips to get all personnel to some wooded islands about 5 miles distant. Naval Historical Review, WWII operations, History - WW2 Japanese operations, Singapore, Ship losses, Australian Naval History Podcasts Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them. This gave rise to great excitement with the Army men sensing salvation just over the horizon. Reynolds had other ideas and as a skilled sailor and engineer he borrowed a vessel. [97][66] After finding his left flank exposed by the withdrawal of the 27th Brigade, the commander of the 11th Indian Infantry Division, Key, dispatched the 8th Indian Infantry Brigade from reserve, to retake the high ground to the south of the Causeway. Please try again. Top subscription boxes right to your door, 1996-2023, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates, Learn more how customers reviews work on Amazon. [124][125] The Japanese largely avoided attacking the Australian perimeter but in the northern area, the British 53rd Infantry Brigade was pushed back by a Japanese assault up the Thompson Road and had to fall back north of Braddell Road in the evening, joining the rest of the 18th Infantry Division in the line. Please try again. [d] The Japanese overran cities and advanced toward Singapore, which was an anchor for the operations of the American-British-Dutch-Australian Command (ABDACOM), the first Allied joint command of the Second World War. The first embarkation was to be made as soon after dark as possible in order to allow all craft to clear Singapore and its approaches before daylight the following morning. [6][7] During 1940 and 1941, the Allies imposed a trade embargo on Japan in response to its campaigns in China and its occupation of French Indochina. 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. The British erroneously considered the jungle terrain impassable, leading to a swift Japanese advance as Allied defences were quickly outflanked. Military analysts later estimated that if the guns had been well supplied with HE shells the Japanese attackers would have suffered heavy casualties but the invasion could not have been prevented by this means alone. Britain responded, sending the battleship HMS Prince of Walesand the battlecruiser HMS Repulseplus four destroyers to intercept the invasion force. On the morning of 12 February naval personnel were told they would be embarking in half-a-dozen small ships later that evening. 198 p. 23 cm. Though his mind had been gradually prepared for its fall, the surrender of the fortress stunned him. While they were overflown by enemy aircraft, who possibly had other things on their minds celebrating their great victory, the small craft was unmolested. [16], The 25th Army was resisted in northern Malaya by III Corps of the British Indian Army. 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. 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. [169] Numerous British and Australian soldiers taken prisoner remained in Singapore's Changi Prison and many died in captivity. Brief content visible, double tap to read full content. The final naval evacuation from Singapore in February 1942 was a tragedy of epic proportions, resulting in death and misery with few redeeming features except the eventual safety of the few survivors. Silver, Lynette R., The Heroes of Rimau, Leo Cooper, London, 1990. With an estimated capacity for 3000 personnel, 1800 spaces were allocated to Army, a few hundred to RN and RAF, and the rest to civil government. A trio of old Yangtze river steamers Kung Wo, Kualaand Tien Kuangwere crewed as naval auxiliaries: RNR officers Brooks and Terry, plus 100 men, embarked in the largest of these, Kung Wo.Others aboard Kung Wo were a five strong media contingent which included an attractive budding Chinese film actress, Doris Lim. Of toing and froing with the engines would shake her free and with a last of! 150 survivors made Banka Island and afterwards found their two companions Kualaand Tien Kuanganchored inshore! 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