It was a speedy,
but well organised disembarkation, but as we walked down one gangplank, the
R.A.F. personnel were going up another to board the ship. They were leaving, and
so were the last few Hurricanes which flew overhead. As we marched away, sniper
fire was heard quite close by. We were hurried to the suburbs of the city, but
nowhere did we find any kind of defence in this so called fortress. Evidence
showed that people had left their houses in a hurry. It was difficult to
realize why we had gone to the other side of the world to this small island of
Singapore, but our job was to act out orders and not to reason why!
Formations of
bombers were systematically destroying the docks, warehouses and the city
itself. We learnt that the ship which followed ours, the Empress of Asia, was bombed and sunk in the harbour.
Lots of equipment was lost. Our first few days were spent among rubber trees,
to adjust ourselves to whatever was to come. My sergeant detailed me to erect a
screen for a latrine, and naturally I asked him what I had to use to do the
job. His answer came back quickly: "Use your ingenuity." So I began
to scrounge, unaccustomed as I was, to collect material for the temporary
screen. The job was done, with a little ingenuity!
We were moved again
soon after to a defensive location near to the causeway, which linked the
island with the mainland. By then the Japanese forces had leap-frogged down the
coast of Malaya, infiltrating and overrunning the combined British, Australian,
Indian and other forces. With no air protection they had to retreat. They came
back over the causeway, shells screaming over them and us, dropping not far
away. Our own guns opened up with deafening reports from close behind. It was
too close for comfort. We didn't sleep night or day for many days. Then the
inevitable happened. The Royal Engineers blew up the causeway and terrific
explosions ensued. The night sky was illuminated with flashes from all
directions. In the daytime the bombers picked off the guns one by one. Quite
soon afterwards we were told that the Japs had landed in large numbers on the
north-west coast. We were ordered to take up positions near Bukit Tima.
The platoon dug in
once more in the front lawn of a large house, which was situated on a hill. The
Battalion H.Q. took cover under or around the house. The Companies A, B, C and
D moved closer to the enemy. Fierce fighting took place when the Japs brought
up tanks. Our forces didn't have any. We could see soldiers running, several
yards to our left, and then we heard screams as one of our Companies had set
alight the wooded area where the enemy were. A few of our platoon were sent out
to join the Companies. We heard that they'd been killed. I was sent out with a
few others, to take ammunition to our lads. It was a perilous journey, because
a spotter plane overhead was machine-gunning us. A concrete monsoon drainpipe
was our saviour. We crawled into this with the ammunition and no-one was hit.
We delivered the ammunition safely then made a safe return to base. At this
stage, the battalion had put up stiff resistance and held positions, but the
Japs had closed three sides. Our platoon was ordered to take a position on a
hill.
We moved forward
towards the new position to occupy what looked like a Chinese burial ground. We
crawled to position ourselves along the top of the ridge. On the other side of
the ridge the Japanese had moved within mortar range of us. Their observation
planes flew above, machine-gunning us as we lay waiting for the attack. They
must have given our position to their mortars, because a terrific bombardment
began. They had our range perfectly. Mortar bombs fell amongst us, one whistled
just over my head and dropped on the other side of the grave where I lay. It
fizzed and popped! I thought "This one is for me." But fortunately it
was a dud. We were pinned down; waiting for the attack, but it never came.
Thankfully there was a lull. The word came for us to move to our original
position at the base of the hill, near B.H.Q.
In this position
the long range shells whistled overhead with menacing intensity. We had dug in
facing the main road, at the corner of Adam Road and Bukit
Tima Road. We were to help defend B.H.Q. at all
costs. Our water truck was hit by a shell and the driver was killed. Japanese
snipers tied themselves to the tops of trees and picked off our men, killing
and wounding several. They were tied so that they didn't drop when our soldiers
fired at them, so that we had no knowledge of success. Our mortar platoon had
laid down a heavy barrage against the advancing Japanese tanks, destroying
some, but we had no tanks at all, nor 'planes, to give us a chance to hold up
the Japanese on all sides.
We were told that
the commanding officer was preparing to break through the enemy lines at all
costs. It came as a great surprise, later, to hear the news that we were to lay
down arms. The ceasefire was agreed and the capitulation of all troops to the
Japanese forces was to take effect from four-thirty on this day, the fifteenth
of February.
We were tired out,
mentally and physically, with no sleep for many days at a time, and very little
food in the last few days. Now we had to wait, for what? We had no idea. The
only thing we knew was that we had to wait where we were fearful of what might
happen to us. One of our sergeants was heard to say, "Why did the Good
Lord let me come to this, and leave my wife and children?" as he shed some
tears.
We had trained for
two years before embarkation, but not for the kind of action which was forced
upon us. The Japs had come down from north to south of Malaya by way of a well
prepared method of infiltrating agents. They knew where to strike, and strike
hard. With the help of unhindered navy and air force, the same method quickly
rolled back some of the best units in the British Army, right to Singapore. On
the island of Singapore there was nowhere to hide or to retreat to. We were
trapped, civilians and soldiers. Those who did try to get away by boat were
either machine-gunned or sunk, by the Jap navy or air-force.
We waited in
silence, looking in front and left to right wondering where the enemy would
come from, as we had a good field of view. If they came in the direction we
were looking we would see them approach. Our rifles, ammunition, grenades and
equipment were laid out in front of the trench. Apart from the lads in our
platoon we couldn't see anyone.
Quite suddenly, at
the back of us, appeared a Jap officer with one of ours, and a few equally
small Japanese soldiers, heavily laden with equipment and camouflage. For a
moment it was quite frightening as they stood above us shouting orders or
something that we couldn't understand. Then in English we heard "All men
come. Hurry, hurry." We got out of the trench and followed to the front of
the house on the hill. We only had our tropical kit on, and our haversack with
a few personal things in. We were searched and many watches, pens or valuable
items were taken away. Then we were led to the tennis court on the other side
of the hill below the house. The house had been our B.H.Q. and was now occupied
by the Japs.
There were about
five hundred Cambridgeshires and a few Suffolks squeezed into the tennis court.
A Jap machine gun was manned at each corner outside the wire netting, pointing
menacingly inwards. We were locked in and at the mercy of our captors and we
feared the worst. There were no toilets provided, which made conditions worse,
and no food given. It was getting dark and cold then, so we just huddled
together trying to rest until next morning.
The next day the
worst wounded were permitted to receive attention nearby, some of whom were
badly burnt when their post was set on fire. Our officers were taken away,
leaving us with sergeant-major's rank and below. They had the immediate task of
clearing one corner of the area for latrines. This they were able to do with
willing hands, and very few tools. Even so, it soon became intolerably smelly,
getting worse as the sun rose high above. Those who were nearest to it came off
worse, and I wasn't far away. During the day a few at a time were let out
escorted, to get water, but it wasn't clean tap water. We'd had little chance
of a wash at all since we'd landed on the island; in fact we hadn't had our
shoes off all that while. We were treated like animals penned in a cage, when
the Japs threw some hard army biscuits and ration chocolate over the netting.
We had to suffer this treatment for five days before we were taken out of those
cramped, stinking conditions. I was glad and thankful that I had survived the
fighting without being wounded.
It was a great
relief when we were herded out of the tennis court to line up and move off. The
sick and wounded that could walk were in front, followed by the more severely
wounded, aided or carried by any method. The rest followed behind and took
turns to help. Along the roadsides as we walked, we passed dead bodies of
soldiers and civilians, still lying in the position where they had been shot or
burned to death with flame throwers. We passed by a public building surrounded
with a cast iron spiked railing. On the spikes were the heads of a number of
Chinese, with blood dripping. They were more than likely executed and put on display
for us to see. There were Japanese flags everywhere on buildings as we
staggered on away from the city. The Japanese troops were celebrating their
victory.
Our celebrations
were over for longer than we realized. The sun was hot again and we were very
tired. Thankfully we were given a rest in the shade of some trees. As we
rested, some of our army trucks came up with British and Australian drivers.
Our medical officer asked the Jap in charge to allow the severely wounded to
ride. The drivers told us that everyone was now at Changi, and that was where
we were going. It seemed as if we had been the last to be captured, or kept to
suffer longer. The wounded got the ride to Changi, the rest of us had to walk,
which was a few more miles on. While we were on that walk, we got a taste of
the way life as a prisoner of the Japs was going to be. They had no respect for
the sick or lame. Anyone who lagged behind was prodded with any weapon or
slapped. If anyone failed to act on a command they were slapped, even though
not a word of Japanese was understood. The first words we understood were
"O.K. car", American slang plus "car", which they used
after many question words. The other word was "dami-dami"
which was a scolding word for "no good."