 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
'One of our other batteries was over on the west coast and they ran into a solid Jap tank attack
and did very well. Those tanks never got through. But on
465
our side the Japs never used any tanks at all. There were skirmishes, and
although the infantry wanted to stand and fight, it wasn't allowed. Towards the
end of January we pulled back into the island of Singapore and dispersed. The
causeway to the mainland was blown up, but it was botched. They only blew up
part of it, and the Japs quickly fixed it. The British were incompetent. It was an
absolute debacle. I don't know how good our own general was, Major General
Gordon Bennett. I don't think he came up as well as he should. At the time we
thought he was a great fellow. He was certainly a brave man, right up in the
front line. But I don't think he was all that brilliant a soldier - for a professional.
Most of his officers were part-timers. They came out of a business, were given a
commission and sent off to war. The English commander, General Percival, was
absolutely useless.'
^
On 21 January 1942, Singapore was attacked by about 100 Japanese planes, 13 of which
were shot down. Nearly 300 people, civilians and soldiers, were killed and over 500 injured.
Many other air-raids occurred. Some were intercepted by British Hurricane fighters on the
island, to little avail, although at least 120 Japanese planes had been destroyed since the
invasion began.
At the end of the month, on the night of 30/31 January, the last British and allied forces were
withdrawn from the mainland, the causeway was partly blown up, and the siege of Singapore
began.
For a week there was an ominous lull, apart form some minor air attacks. Then on the night of
Sunday, 8 February, 1942, the Japanese invaded the island in force, an amphibious attack
concentrating on the north-western shores. The invasion was preceded by a heavy artillery
barrage that pounded the northern coastline and the interior and lasted all that day and into the
night.
'The night they landed I'll never forget for as long as I live. For a start, I ended up being cut off
behind the Japanese lines. They came ashore in boats and on rafts and their biggest assault was
against the Australians, who had the smallest amount of men guarding the largest amount of
coast. Percival's idea was that the Japs would attack on the other side, on the east. So he had
the greatest concentration of his forces over there. But the Japs first laid into us. Their fifth
column, you see, was absolutely brilliant. They knew everything that we were going to do and
where we were. They had artillery spotters up on the roof of the Sultan of Johore's palace. We
could see them through our glasses. But we weren't allowed to blow them out of there, because
it was a sultan's palace [In fact it was used as the Administration Building in Johore Bahru].
The shelling started early in the morning and they shelled all day. There was a hell of a noise and
they made a hell of a mess. Our guns were right on the water, and we were in slit trenches not
far away. About four o'clock in the afternoon the barrage lifted for a while and we went down
to the guns. Ours was
466
wrecked. One wheel had been blown off, and the sights. We couldn't use it. Then they started
 |