This project was started by Michael Pether of New Zealand. She also remembers being in a small cabin, but not as such that that was where we slept (more likely where the baby slept?). The Jurong Line eventually collapsed, though, after the 12th Indian Brigade was withdrawn by its commander, Brigadier Archie Paris, to the road junction near Bukit Panjang, after he lost contact with the 27th Brigade on his right; the commander of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.[104]. ], 1 From the entry for Napper in A Dictionary of Plant Pathology: “His pioneering, original and economically extremely important studies on fungal root pathogens, in particular Rigidoporus lignosus, led to their control and the dominance of the S.E. What a disastrous 24 hours for the family! Within only four days, nearly 3,000,000 people were moved from the cities to the countryside to keep them safe from German air raids. This describes the fate of our parents, who escaped on February 13th, but 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. Further fighting followed throughout the early morning of 9 February, and the Australians were pushed back further, with the 2/18th being pushed out of Ama Keng and the 2/20th being forced to pull back to Bulim, west of Bukit Panjong. [49] In the heart of the "Western Area" was RAF Tengah, Singapore's largest airfield at the time. In particular the amount of passenger self-help required is explained as due to the crew being mostly Hong Kong Chinese, who refused to do much of their duties in protest against the poor British effort in protecting Hong Kong from the Japanese. [131], The following day, the remaining Allied units fought on. Our family evacuated K.L. [15], The Japanese 25th Army invaded from Indochina, moving into northern Malaya and Thailand by amphibious assault on 8 December 1941. [85] Indeed, the lack of an effective air early warning system throughout the campaign meant that many Allied aircraft were lost in this manner during a series of Japanese attacks against airfields. It was reported to Cabinet by the CIGS [Chief of the Imperial General Staff, General Alan Brooke] that Percival has over 100,000 [sic] men, of whom 33,000 are British and 17,000 Australian. A launch returning from an island in Keppel Harbour at Singapore after Royal Engineers had set fire to oil storage tanks there, January 1942. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill called the fall of Singapore to the Japanese "the worst disaster and largest capitulation in British history". With his assent, the remaining flyable Hurricanes were withdrawn to Sumatra. [37][38], On 31 January, the last Allied forces left Malaya and Allied engineers blew a hole in the causeway linking Johor and Singapore. AJAX. Another accountS1 reported that the passengers were anything but comfortable, and were sleeping in hundreds on mattresses on the deck and doing their own washing-up and cleaning in addition to many ship's chores. [60] This was encouraged by the deliberate movement of enemy troops in this sector to deceive the British. [14], Japan's oil reserves were rapidly depleted by the ongoing military operations in China and by industrial consumption. He has complied this list only for vessels knwon to be carrying civilians and vessels carrying only servicemen have not been included where known. The identification [Bristol 1939] refers to pictures taken when we were on leave in 1939, in the Napper grandparent's garden. [177] An unknown number were taken to Japanese-occupied areas in the South Pacific as forced labour. [75] The initial wave was concentrated against the positions occupied by the 2/18th and 2/20th Battalions,[62] around the Buloh River, as well as one company from the 2/19th Battalion. I wonder if the Jan-Feb 1942 ships that arrived with the >30,000 troops evacuated any civilians, non-essential colonial officials and of course wounded. After a harrowing experience on their ship, one group eventually reached Australia in early January 1942. They were popular with the children because they organised games for them. This was because the airfields at Tengah, Seletar and Sembawang were in range of Japanese artillery at Johor Bahru. [179], World War II battle; decisive Japanese victory. This was possible because the wife of a close friend, Freda Stanleigh, travelling with her unmarried sister G.E.M. From there the Japanese launched two concerted attacks against the 2/18th, which were met with heavy fire before they eventually overwhelmed the defending Australians with weight of numbers. They dug in and throughout the night fierce fighting raged on the northern front. [106] This order was subsequently passed on to Bennett, who allocated the ad hoc Australian 'X' Battalion to the task. [53] From aerial reconnaissance, scouts, infiltrators and observation from high ground across the straits (such as at Istana Bukit Serene and the Sultan of Johor's palace), Japanese commander General Tomoyuki Yamashita and his staff gained excellent knowledge of the Allied positions. 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 … Written mostly by our step-mother, in her rather quaint English, they give a good feel as to how life was dominated by all the extra work required in the volunteer services. They were married the next year. by car (a rather splendid Lagonda), moving to Singapore. [61] As such, a large portion of defence equipment and resources had been incorrectly allocated to the north east sector, where the most complete and freshest formation—the British 18th Division—was deployed, while the incomplete Australian 8th Division sector with just two brigades had no serious fixed defensive works or obstacles. The British army of 85,000 men was led by Lieutenant General Arthur Percival, while the Japanese regiment of 36,000 men was headed by Lieutenant General Tomoyuki Yamashita. WW2 Evacuation Facts When the Blitz began on 7 Septemberchildren who had returned home or had war been help were evacuated. ‏‏۱۴۶‏ پسند‏. "GORGON" Blue Funnel Line. I have the vaguest of memories of life aboard ship, e.g. SINGAPORE – A second group of Singaporeans and their family members are expected to arrive in Singapore from Wuhan, Hubei, tomorrow morning (9 February). Dunkirk evacuation (May 26–June 4, 1940), in World War II, the evacuation of about 198,000 soldiers of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and 140,000 French and Belgian troops from the French seaport of Dunkirk to England. The situation had become so desperate that one British soldier took to the middle of a road to fire his Vickers machine gun at any aircraft that passed. This page has been archived and is no longer updated. 14.2.42. [141][Note 8] At 09:30, Percival held a conference at Fort Canning with his senior commanders. Yamashita and his officers stationed themselves at Istana Bukit Serene and the Johor state secretariat building—the Sultan Ibrahim Building—to plan for the invasion of Singapore. ”Midge”s and Jenny’s stories give a much fuller description of life on board ship. RAF Kallang was the only operational airstrip left;[87] the surviving squadrons and aircraft had withdrawn by January to reinforce the Dutch East Indies. 232 Squadron RAF was formed and No. The break down of British Empire losses included 38,496 United Kingdom, 18,490 Australian, 67,340 Indian and 14,382 local volunteer troops. Anderson's composite force of 2/19th Battalion, 2/29th Battalion and 45th Indian Brigade survivors were forced to leave behind about 110 Australian and 40 Indian wounded, who were later beaten, tortured and then murdered by the Japanese during the Parit Sulong Massacre;[32] Of over 3,000 men from these units only around 500 made it back to friendly lines. The Evacuation The Japanese invaded Malaya, in the North, on December 8th 1941, the same morning as the attack on Pearl Harbour 2. River gunboat GRASSHOPPER (625t, 1939) - Sailing from Singapore and sunk by aircraft bombs. Specifically my interest relates to the evacuation of civilians and military personnel from Keppel harbour where most of the evacuation ships left from in the last days before Singapore capitulated to the Japanese. How came 100,000 men (half of them of our own race) to hold up their hands to inferior numbers of Japanese? [7][8] British prime minister, Winston Churchill, called it the "worst disaster" in British military history. In addition to explaining the events leading up to the Japanese invasion, the book highlights the experiences of people living in Singapore … [173][174], An Indian revolutionary, Rash Behari Bose, formed the pro-independence Indian National Army (INA) with the help of the Japanese, who were highly successful in recruiting Indian prisoners of war. [60] The two Australian brigades were subsequently allocated a very wide frontage of over 18 kilometres (11 mi) and were separated by the Kranji River. The Fall of Singapore represented the collapse of British influence in South East Asia, and severely diminished the British Empire’s Asia-Pacific clout. The ship was shockingly My father Robert Piriam N. (“Piri”) Napper was a Plant Pathologist at the Rubber Research Institute in Kuala Lumpur. The water system was badly damaged and continued supply was uncertain, rations were running low, petrol for military vehicles was all but exhausted, and there were few rounds left for the field artillery. 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. 226 Group RAF (four squadrons),[84] they flew from an airfield code-named P1, near Palembang, Sumatra, in the Dutch East Indies, while a flight was maintained in Singapore. I can imagine those ships left empty. The men were forced into a series of small, badly ventilated rooms where they were held overnight without water. 64 Sentai lost three Ki-43s and claimed five Hurricanes. Then we sailed through the Sunda straits between Sumatra and Java, and on to Columbo, Durban and Cape Town. Prior to the main assault, the Australians were subjected to an intense artillery bombardment. This was mostly mangrove swamp and jungle, broken by rivers and creeks. [129] To their right, the British 18th Division, the Indian 11th 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. All portholes had to be kept closed all night, as part of the blackout precautions. The infantry positions were reinforced by the recently arrived Australian 2/4th Machine-Gun Battalion. Over the course of an hour, heavy fighting took place on the 2/19th Battalion's right flank, until these positions were overrun and the Japanese were able to push their way inland using cover and concealment provided by the darkness and the surrounding vegetation. by January 11th. traveller on the “Empress of Japan”, a 90 year old lady known as "Midge". Bennett decided to form a secondary defensive line, known as the "Kranji-Jurong Switch Line", oriented to the west, and positioned between the two rivers, with its centre around Bulim, east of Tengah Airfield—which subsequently came under Japanese control—and just north of Jurong. The ship sailed on January 31st, a fortnight before the Fall of Singapore (Feb 15th 1942). 5 1 customer reviews. © Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Over the course of a day, they found large concentrations of troops, although they were unable to locate any landing craft. 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