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A

Sinister Twilight

THE FALL OF SINGAPORE 1942

BY NOEL BARBER

THE BLACK HOLE OF CALCUTTA A SINISTER TWILIGHT THE FALL OF SINGAPORE 1942

A Sinister Twilight THE FALL OF SINGAPORE

1942

by Noel Barber

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY BOSTON 1

9 G8

Maps on endpaper and pages by George

First Printing

Copyright reserved this

2

and 124

Annand

w

© 1968 by Noel Barber. All rights

including the right to reproduce

book or any parts thereof

i?i

Library of Congress Catalog Card

any form

Number:

68-16479 Printed in the United States of America

L445526 FOR

"Jamie"

The one and only James the novelist

Kinross,

— remembering

all

the

happy times we spent together and all

the encouragement he gave me.

"I confess that in

my mind

the whole

Japanese menace lay in a twilight,

needs.

sinister

compared with our other

...

If,

on the other hand,

Japanese aggression drew in America, I

would be content

to

have

it."

— The Second World War, Winston

S.

Churchill

Acknowledgments

My grateful thanks are due to the many people who made this book possible: Lady Thomas, widow of Sir Shenton Thomas, the Governor during the war, arranged for the embargo on her husband's unpublished private papers and diary extracts to be lifted for the

first

time. Brigadier Ivan Simson, the Chief Engineer

Director of Civil Defence in Singapore in 1942,

me his me many to

available

He

also gave

lengthy, detailed, unpublished reports.

Mr. A. H. Dickinson, Inspector-

hours of his time.

General of Police, lent

me much

me police reports,

of his time.

Sir

Robert

and gave

papers, letters

Scott, Director of the

Eastern Section of the Ministry of Information, and a of the

War

and

made

Council in Singapore, gave

me

Far

member

permission to use his

unpublished notes, and also spent much time reading the manuscript for

me. Mr.

Hugh

Bryson, Secretary of the British Associ-

ation of Malaysia, was directly responsible for leading

me

to

an

extraordinary cache of several deed boxes containing invaluable

who ranged Secretary. Many had

accounts of particular aspects of the war, by authors

from businessmen

to the

Acting Colonial

been compiled during the

first

months

of internment, concealed

from the Japanese, and had hardly seen the I

am

also indebted to Dr.

light of

W. McGregor

day

since.

Watt, Director of

Civil Medical Services in Singapore during the war,

who

cor-

rected passages referring to the civilian nurses; and to Mr. James

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

X

who made

Leasor

available to

me

a lengthy tape recording of

General Percival's views just before the General died. I

am

who

lent

B. C.

me

their day-to-day diaries or notes,

Canon A.

time:

M.

also indebted to the following (in alphabetical order)

J.

C.

compiled

Bennitt; Mrs. Freddy Bloom; Mr.

J.

at the

and Mrs.

"Tim" Hudson; Mr. and Mrs. Hay; Mr. George Hammonds; Mr. Leslie Hoffman;

Buckeridge; Mr. and Mrs.

Mr. C. T. Kitching

(for the

loan of his late father's diaries); Mr.

"Willie" Watt; Dr. Cicely Williams.

Mr. L.

Newsom

Davis,

who worked

closely with the late

Gov-

and Mr. C. W. Dawson, Minister of Defence at the time, both gave me much of their time and made many invaluable suggestions after reading the manuscript, though I should make ernor,

it

clear that the opinions expressed

by

me

are not necessarily

shared by them, nor for that matter, by the

many

others

who

read the manuscript. I

should also like to thank Mr. John

J.

Tawney, Director of

the Oxford University Colonial Records Project, for his help; the Superintendent of the

Rhodes House Library, Oxford,

for

London

Li-

Donald Dinsley,

for

searching out important documents; the

brary for their unflagging zeal, and the

many

An

patient

staff

lastly,

of the

months he spent helping me with

research.

alphabetical bibliography of the books consulted, includ-

ing those whose authors and publishers have kindly permitted

me

to use extracts,

appears at the end of this volume.

Noel Barber London & Singapore November 1965-October 1967

Contents

Part One: Before 1

2

3

4 5

6

THE THE THE THE THE THE

LAST DAY OF PEACE FIRST DAY OF

WEEK OF DISASTER MONTH OF INACTION MONTH OF THE BOMBS END OF THE MYTH Part

7 8

9 10

WAR

3

18 31

55 73 105

Two: During

AWAITING THE ATTACK THE ASSAULT BLACK FRIDAY THE DYING CITY

125 162

2ig 247

Part Three: After 11

12

THE ROAD TO CHANGI THE YEARS OF AGONY

287

BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX

345

32O

351

Principal Characters

THE CIVILIANS freddy retz, a young American widow philip bloom, a doctor whom she married during the siege the reverend jack ben n itt, of Singapore Cathedral george hammonds, a journalist karen,

his half-Siamese wife

"buck" buckeridge, lucy,

of the Singapore Fire Brigade

his wife

Leslie hoffman, a journalist

tim Hudson, of Dunlop Rubber Co., Ltd., and a Divisional Commander of Air Raid Precautions marjorie, his wife mei ling, the Hudsons' amah "wee-wee," a Chinese ARP warden working with Hudson jimmy glover, Managing Director of the Malaya Tribune julienne, m.

c.

French wife

hay, Inspector of Mines

marjorie, dr.

his

his wife

cicely Williams, an English doctor

THE GOVERNMENT shenton thomas, LADY THOMAS, his wife

sir

the

Governor

PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS

Xiv

Stanley jones, Colonial Secretary rob scott, a member of the War Council a.

h.

Dickinson, Inspector-General of Police

rt hon. sir alfred duff cooper, Churchill's special envoy group-captain r. l. nunn, Head of the Public Works Department

hugh fraser, Acting Colonial

Secretary

THE MILITARY AIR CHIEF-MARSHAL SIR ROBERT BROOKE-POPH AM, Commanderin-Chief Far East

general

sir

Archibald wavell, Commander-in-Chief,

(American, British, Dutch, Australian)

rear-admiral

e.

Command

spooner, Senior Naval

j.

lieutenant-general

a.

e.

ABDA

Officer

percival, General

Officer

Com-

manding Malaya air vice-marshal

c.

w. h. pulford, Senior

RAF Officer

brigadier ivan simson, Chief Engineer and Director-General of Civil Defence

major-general manding

all

h.

gordon bennett, General

Officer

Com-

Australian troops

THE OPPOSITE CAMP general tomoyuki yamashita, Commander-in-Chief

of

Japanese forces in Malaya

colonel masanobu

tsuji, Chief of Planning Staff in Malaya

all

PART ONE

Before

1

The

Sunday, December In the

last

j,

Last

Day of Peace

ipji

uneasy days before

its

decades of peaceful, unhurried

no city in the world quite like Singapore. With the outbreak of war in Europe, the leisurely ways of a steaming, opulent Eastern city had been transformed overnight into a life of almost unseemly frenzy. A Euexistence were to be shattered, there was

rope in turmoil, a rearming America, urgently clamored for raw materials

— and Malaya had over three million

acres of

under cultivation, and produced half the world's rubber planters and the the desperate race to

tin miners,

fill

tin.

rubber

To

the

one thing only mattered

—

the holds of vessels impatiently lining

the quays of Keppel Harbour.

Singapore was the focal point for for

it

was

this vast,

expanding

trade,

to this teeming, frenetic port, ninety miles north of

wagons rolled down the peninsula's ancient railway, bearing their cargoes of crude rubber tapped

the equator, that the single-line

by Tamils in lonely plantations sometimes 400 miles to the north near the Siamese border, or of tin dug by the Chinese from the mines that

impinged

like vast ant

heaps on the jungles of

central Malaya. First the railway reached the island

— diamond

shaped, measuring twenty-six miles across, fourteen from north to south

— which

lay at the southern tip of Malaya,

and which

connected to the mainland by a causeway across the narrow

4

A SINISTER TWILIGHT

Straits of Johore.

From

island, until

The

itself.

docks were

verdant

sprawling city

at the docks of the great

ended

it

there, the railway straddled the

but the

at the southern tip of the island,

southern boundary of the city stretched four miles along the sea, sometimes palm-fringed, sometimes an ugly span of docks, ware-

and shunting yards. was everywhere. Each street seemed

to lead to a lap-

ping water's edge, to ships shimmering on the

fiery horizon, to

houses, cranes

The

sea

the glimpse of a passenger liner in the outer roads attended by a

patched brown

flurry of sampans, to the square

of junks, to

sails

a hard-worked, battered, rusted freighter being loaded

human

endless streets

conveyor belt of chanting coolies.

did not lead to the

hub

River, the

heart of the

on which packed

Not

Down by

the docks

fish,

and

see agile

hopping

Chinese

across the river

foot.

river — and — a potent smell

and the

them

compounded

the smell of the tropics,

dried

one could

as steppingstones,

without ever wetting a clustering around

but one alive with sampans

were born, lived and died; sampans

so close to each other that

boatmen using them

the

which twisted through the

a large river,

entire families

if

then they led to the Singapore

sea,

of the metropolis,

city.

Or

by an

in the

narrow

streets

assailed the nostrils;

of drains,

swampland, of

a score of sweet spices that lay waiting to

be un-

loaded from the junks which had sailed north from Bali, Java

and the Spice smelled,

it

Islands.

Curiously,

was never forgotten.

from up-country

him he had

for a

To

weekend

it

was not unpleasant; once

the planter or miner

in the city, the

first

arrived as clearly as the big lettered sign

pore Railway Station.

It

was the smell of Singapore

of an exciting, polyglot city built

coming

whiff told

on Singa-

— the smell

on swamp, where the heat and like a blanket; where half a million Malays, Chinese and Indians jostled the gaudy, narrow streets while the European tuans drove past in their cars. humidity pressed down day after day

THE LAST DAY OF PEACE It

was

In Chinatown, whole

a city of extravagant contrasts.

families pecked at their Lunch with chopsticks

Lacquered ducks

hung from shops

5

by the roadside.

as flat as pancakes, birds' nests, sharks' fins,

more than

that were little

holes in the walls.

Chinese hawkers cried their wares, loping along with the heavy containers of food dangling at both ends of the bending

bamboo

bony shoulders. In every garish street colored washing on poles jutted out like flags from the windows of poles arched across

the

tall,

belong to another world, in flapping shirttails and of Chinese life

A few blocks away and bustle seemed to

This was China.

flimsy buildings.

the poles of washing vanished.

The

noise

streets filled

women

with languid Indians in

The

in vivid saris.

had gone. The men squatted on

hectic frenzy

their

haunches

or walked gently, almost indolently, often holding hands; the

women

sauntered by with their dressed-up children.

pavement was daubed with the pertly spat out to peppers

Every

scarlet stains of betel nut, ex-

by incessant chewers. The smells had changed

and curry and

tropical fruits.

Round

—

the corner, the

road became an Indian market, alive with shoppers in front of

mounds

of fruit spilling over into the street

— mangoes,

pa-

payas, star fruit, lichees, pomelos, chilies.

Yet

if

and jumbled but swarming, the government and

there seemed to be

confusion of houses, fragile

no end

to the color

business sections of the city were entirely different, with the

space and orderliness of a typical Colonial streets

were replaced by

verges

and sensuous

Traffic

policemen

spotless

city.

The narrow

wide avenues with trim grass

flowers, or exotic flame or frangipani trees.

at every

corner

still

wore basketwork "wings"

strapped across their backs, so they did not need to wave their

arms in the incessant heat, but leisurely turned their rect the cars. its

The

slim spire of

St.

feet to di-

Andrew's Cathedral rose from

island of cropped green, near the

dome

of the

Supreme

Court, and the ostentatious, soulless but gentlemanly govern-

A SINISTER

6

TWILIGHT

white and clean and slightly forbidding, clustered together as though for protection. Raffles Hotel was a block away facing the sea, as the road turned along the waterfront, past merit

offices,

the green padang of the Cricket Club, with cricket pitches,

football

its

and

tennis courts and bowling greens.

"White" Singapore was above all a beautiful city. Not only did the sea beckon at every corner, there were patches of green everywhere

— sports

tween straight

streets

grounds, golf courses, parks, gardens beleading out of the city to the island

vil-

where the gentle Malays lived on the edge of rubber or coconut plantations or by the sandy beaches with their fishing traps. It was as though the early planners had (with all their lages,

build some tangible copy of the

faults) striven to left

life

they had

behind in England, something to compensate for the wet

And somehow

heat from which nobody could escape.

Men

succeeded.

which demanded

collars

and

ties

and limp white

suits for office

(known

wear, dinner jackets or short white mess jackets

"bum with

— and tinel

freezers") in the evenings, yet

its

tang of adventure, its

they had

sweated and cursed at the Colonial shibboleths

its

noises,

as

everyone loved the city

its

smells,

opportunity for making a fortune.

its

A

leisurely life

man-made

sen-

dominating the narrow waters between the China Seas and

— and thus between East and West, between — Singapore those carefree days was

Ocean Asia and Europe

the Indian

in

irresist-

ible.

With new wealth, with money

to

burn,

new

trade

boomed. The skeleton-like rickshaw wallahs, each with a dirty cloth

round

his taut neck, the veins showing,

Orchard Road, carrying passengers tiny eight-horsepower yellow

ting

down men and women

Ford

at the

to the

taxies

twist of

bobbed along

Asian markets.

buzzed past them,

Cold Storage,

had

a

The set-

grand white

building selling everything from "French" bread freshly baked

THELASTDAYOFPEACE

7

each morning to Sidney Rock oysters flown in daily from Australia; to say

of

nothing of row after row of tinned foods nostalgic

home, of England, of the next

Irish stew,

and

supreme quality of being

The

leave; sausages,

baked beans,

cream which had the

for the children, English ice "safe."

heart of the city was Raffles Place and here, or in the

adjoining Battery Road, you could buy the latest books at Kelly

and Walsh, get an Elizabeth Arden Chinese

ladies) at

"facial" (very popular with

Maynard's the chemists, or

new

wait for friends in Robinson's

if

you were bored,

air-conditioned restaurant.

Everyone knew Robinson's, whose big new building dominated Raffles Place. Robinson's sold everything of aspirin over the counter to a a lonely planter

up by

coffee in Robinson's"

— from a bottle

motor lawn mower delivered

the Siamese frontier.

was a catch phrase.

"I'll

to

meet you for

In short, the place

was an institution.

For the white man, a gentle pace.

life

consisted of regular activities taken at

Nobody could hurry

in a country

where the tem-

perature stayed around the nineties for most of the time. started early, finished

around

five o'clock.

There were

Work

sports at

the various clubs before the sun set at six-thirty every day of the year.

And

House

in

men would

go home, past Government

grounds of a hundred

acres, often to a big, old-fash-

after that,

its

ioned bungalow in the outskirts; not pretentious, but big so as

room for the hot air compound with its glimpses to give

banana

to circulate,

leaves, all giving the impression of

removed from any

city.

and surrounded by

a

of attap huts, palms, broad, green

One

up-country jungle far

of the peculiar charms of Singa-

pore in those days was that the city never seemed to encroach on the outskirts.

The dripping

most over the

city,

and

jungle foliage seemed to hang

at night the

al-

bellow of bullfrogs in the

mangrove swamps kept some people awake. Even on the Bukit

A SINISTER

8

Timah Road, with

its

TWILIGHT

canal running

pick orchids by the roadside.

gin slings after a day's work.

Money was cards

plentiful but

you could

their stengahs or Singapore

— long before

— nobody carried any

to the sea,

At the Tanglin Club the occabeyond the tennis courts as on the

monkey would lope off veranda members gratefully downed sional

down

cash, for

the vogue of credit

under the

chit system ev-

eryone signed for anything from a tin of cigarettes to a In one's

own

and amahs,

house,

life

was

assisted

new

car.

by an array of Chinese boys

so that after tennis or volunteer snooker at the

phone home and order dinner for a dozen friends, secure in the knowledge that it would be ready in an hour, and that if there were not enough plates to go round, Cricket Club,

it

was easy

to

would have been borrowed from neighboring

they

(Guests often found themselves eating with their

and

forks

when

Whiskey, berries

and

own

boys.

knives

invited out.)

gin, cigarettes

were cheap in a duty-free

fresh roses arrived daily

Cameron Highlands, smoked and

from the

hills at

port. Straw-

up-country

salmon from Australia.

fresh

In those happy days, Singapore was the

last resort of

yesterday

in the world of tomorrow.

And

this

was especially true because the white man, the tuan,

not only lived a

life

which the

made more cocooned in a myth of

tropics of necessity

than usually comfortable, he was also

utter security. It was not smugness, nor was

went much deeper than fully fostered

after

that;

by authority

September

1939,

it

at

that

A

complacency.

It

was an absolute conviction, care-

home, even nothing

mother might send her sons

after

Munich, even

— nothing

could ever disturb the peace of Britain's racy."

it

—

on earth "arsenal of democ-

to fight in

Europe, they

might die in that distant war with Germany, but meanwhile life would go on in Singapore as it had done since Raffles snatched

THE LAST DAY OF PEACE

9

the magic island from under the noses of the Dutch in 1819 in order, as he said, "to secure to the British flag the maritime superiority of the Eastern seas."

the Japanese were behaving belligerently,

Certainly,

after all, the evidence of security

was indisputable.

it

been rushed out

The

was there for

all to see

but,

— and

Prince of Wales and the Repulse had

to the empire's mightiest naval base (though

without a carrier escort)

.

The RAF

flew overhead.

And

across

and breadth of the peninsula and island the troops stood to arms, thousands and thousands of men, all spoiling for a fight, and only disgruntled because they were convinced there would never be one. the length

"just in case"

—

was a limb of a Britain

at

People prepared for the worst of course for,

however remote, Singapore

still

—

war. Volunteer nurses, air raid wardens, auxiliary firemen, local

There had been practice brown-outs and sessions of bandage rolling. Men and women had volunteered for blood transfusions. Food for six months had been stored, medical supplies for two years. It had all been done with a will, yet it had sometimes been difficult for

defense volunteers had trained for months.

civilians to realize

for there

were few

be whipped into a

it

was not just an exaggerated make-believe,

visible signs of

impending war.

state of anxiety

shelters in the streets.

when

No one could

there were hardly any

Despite the war raging in Europe, there

no rationing. The clubs and hotels dispensed unlimited drinks. There was dancing every evening, bathing every Sunday, at the Tanglin or Swimming clubs, or on the beaches

w as r

virtually

facing Johore less than a mile across the Straits

— a shore

defended, but as yet unmarked by a single pillbox or

barbed wire. True, one saw large numbers of troops, but civilians

it

seemed they had no sense of urgency. The

to

be

roll of

to the officers

dressed for dinner in their best blues; the other ranks went

TWILIGHT

A SINISTER

10

dancing, souvenir-hunting, or

queued up

Mr. Mimatsu's the

at

Japanese photographer behind Raffles Hotel, who with eager hisses offered cut-rate photos of groups of soldiers to be sent

home

to wives or sweethearts,

like living in a big garrison

mood had

This

To

the

European

civilians,

it

was

town during peacetime maneuvers.

spread throughout Malaya.

It

touched not

only the 18,000 Europeans — half of them women and children — Malaya, but the Asians who had been caught up in

also

in

the fortune fever. For the polyglot population included 2,000,-

000 Malays, almost

many

trade,

at

as

— who

many Chinese

concentrated on

that time having no real roots in the country

—

and 1,000,000 Indians and Tamils, who worked on the rubber estates and the railways, plus Armenians, Arabs, Javanese, Burmese. Malaya absorbed them all tolerantly. But to them war was not only unlikely,

it

was an event they did not even compre-

hend. Britain had never conquered Malaya, first

footholds

— and

for over a century

warlike Malays the arts of peace.

War

it

it

had bought

its

had taught the once-

to the people of

Malaya

was a phenomenon that was completely mystifying, for there

had never been a military governor, no occupying army (apart from a small garrison in Singapore) and the whole country was "ruled" by a police force which employed

less

than 200 British

officers.

And

just to

make doubly

sure that

nobody became apprehen-

—

and military leaders reiterated almost daily and with the same insistence displayed by Chamberlain after sive, politicians

Munich

— that there would be no war with Japan.

very confusing.

And

it

was even more

It

was

all

difficult to forget that

next morning there was rubber to be tapped, tin to be mined, ships to be loaded

— and money

to

be made.

This was Singapore on December those

who

lived there,

it

was a

city

7,

1941.

No wonder

that for

on the brink of paradise; and

THE LAST DAY OF PEACE no wonder that

On

it

11

that with their blinkered eyes, they could not realize

was a

city

on the brink

of war.

Sunday morning, Jimmy Glover, the shrewd Yorkshiremanaging born director and editor of the Malaya Tribune was on the balcony of Dulverton, his house at Holland Park outside this

the city,

when

his

phone rang. Glover had worked

the top during fifteen years in Malaya.

man who, through

the Tribune,

man

Chinese, and he was a

showed, for across

Sunday edition of

Cambodia Point was

and the ships were, according ing west

— toward the

at the

newspaper

this

Cambodia

off

to the details that followed, steam-

east coast of

wish to spread alarm, but pressed, particularly

his

of the

was, how-

southern tip of Indochina,

Malaya or southern Siam.

Glover had hesitated before printing the

announcement

He

front page in black type stared the omi-

its

nous headline "27 Japanese transports sighted Point."

to

In his forties, he was a

championed the cause

unafraid of authority.

ever, afraid of the future, as the

way

his

news was too

when read

in

story, for

significant to

be sup-

w ith an

official

conjunction

telling people not to travel,

holiday to return home. Glover wondered

he had no

T

and urging those on

"how long

the peace

and serenity which I had come to regard as my right in Malaya would last." The telephone stammered again and Julienne, his French wife, called

To

Glover's

to

him, "F01 you, Jimmy."

astonishment

An

Chief-Marshal

Sir

Robert

Brooke-Popham, Commander-in-Chief Far East, was on the other end of the line in person, and \cry angry. Before Glover

—

could edge a word

in,

he complained bitterly about the Trib-

une's "pessimistic view of the Far East situation." "I consider

it

most improper

to print such alarmist views at a

TWILIGHT

A SINISTER

12

"The

time like the present," he snorted. serious as the

position isn't half so

Tribune makes out."

"That's not

Glover.

fair," retorted

by Reuter's and passed by the censor.

"The news was

To

presence of those Japanese transports off

released

me," he added, "the

Cambodia Point means

war."

Glover managed to keep his temper until Brooke-Popham had rung off. Then he and Julienne got out the car and drove

what had become almost a weekly

to play their part in

rite

—

Sunday morning drinks at the Seaview Hotel. Not far from Glover's house, in a bungalow requisitioned for four British officers, another man was reading the significant headline

— and

he, too,

was

filled

with foreboding.

Ivan Simson, Chief Engineer Malaya to

become deeply involved

Brigadier

Command, was

destined

in the siege of Singapore, not only as

a leading military figure, but ironically as a civilian too.

had been posted instructions

Malaya only four months previously with

to

from the

defenses in the area

Simson

War

Office to

— only

improve and add

to find himself

to the fixed

blocked by military

minds which seemed uninterested in everything he proposed. At fifty-two, Simson was a professional soldier of long standing

He

with a distinguished record.

with a trim military mustache

was handsome, straight-backed,

— and

urged him to be doing something. across the length

and breadth

times on horseback.

He had

traveled 6000 miles

Malaya by plane, by

He knew more

than any other soldier

Only

of

a restlessness that always

of the country

car,

even

and

terrain

at

— and more about the lack of defenses.

a few days previously he

had received the shock of his he had been struck by the ignorance of troops on the best methods of dealing with

life.

When

enemy Office

visiting formations up-country

tanks.

Yet he

knew

that large quantities of official

War

pamphlets giving non-technical advice had been sent from

London

before he took over his job.

THELASTDAYOFPEACE He had found pamphlets,

They had been

military headquarters.

had

densed

and asked leaflet

cupboards

of at

there for months, since

arrived.

Simson had been Percival

Hundreds and hundreds

die pamphlets.

lying, neatly tied in bundles, in the

still

the day they

13

so appalled that

he had sought out General

for permission to

compile quickly a new con-

on the

subject.

Percival

had agreed

— though

most military leaders in Malaya, he did not think the Japanese would use tanks. Simson was convinced they would and like

had gone ahead. But only

come

off the press less

Now

it

just in time, for the last leaflets

had

than twenty-four hours previously.

was Sunday morning

— and there was no time

to lin-

Nor would there be any Sunday. Simson drove down to his office

ger over the black type of the Tribune.

swimming at

for

him

Fort Canning.

ize

this

It

would take the

best part of

Sunday

to organ-

a Malaya-wide distribution of the only instructions Allied

way of dealing with the would soon be rumbling down the pe-

troops were ever likely to get

tanks Simson was certain

on the

best

ninsula.

By

far the

most popular place

on Sunday morning was miles or so out of Singapore on

for drinks

the Seaview Hotel, a couple of

the east coast road. It not only faced directly

on

to the sea, laced

with the long, spidery lines of Malay fishing traps and the low,

hot green islands beyond; but in the curious way that a place will catch

next —

on

— and

so

be popular one day, but shunned the

and lofty dome in the center, had become identified in the minds of Singaporeans with Sunday morning drinks at the local pub back

home

this unlikely

in England.

pore, but never

venue, with

Home

its

pillared terrace

always tugged the emotions in Singa-

more than on Sunday mornings, when one had

TWILIGHT

A SINISTER

14

time to think (and inevitably drink) while bridging the mental as well as physical void between breakfast and a large curry lunch. It

was a

fine

The

hot day by the time the Glovers got there.

violins of the orchestra struggled through palm court selections from Ivor Novello and Disney's Snow White. As Jimmy glanced

round, the Chinese boys, balancing trays of gimlets, stengahs or

Tiger beer, slithered from table

to table.

It

was

stifiingly

hot

before the monsoon. The sun penetrated everywhere, and one

could hardly touch the wooden

Sunday uniform of open-necked

tables.

shirts

The men

and

shorts

— in

their

— wiped away

the sweat that appeared at their necks every time they gulped a

drink or

made

the physical effort of grabbing for the chit to sign

(the worst insult in Singapore

was to describe a

man

as "pencil

in shorts — fanned themselves

shy").

The women — many

as they

gasped for air and with minute handkerchiefs daubed at

the beads of moisture

on

also

their foreheads as they leaned across to

talk to their neighbors, their fretting children left

amahs

at

home

or at the

behind with

Swimming Club.

Every table was occupied and everyone seemed to

know

ev-

There was a great deal of waving and beckoning and invitations to share the small, round, crowded tables facing the sea. Glover waved to Freddy Retz (Freddy being short for eryone

else.

Elfrieda), a

New

husband had died drifted

down

to

Yorker of twenty-seven and a widow, whose a year or so previously in

Penang and who had

Singapore to escape painful memories. She was

not a "typical" American, though she had the good figure, the long, elegant legs

her race.

and even white teeth that are the hallmarks of

Beside her

sat a

major

in the

Royal

Army

Medical

Corps, a South African called Philip Bloom, a gentle, intelligent

man

with a crinkly smile,

who was

obviously more than nor-

mally interested in Freddy. Leaning across from the next table

THE LAST DAY OF PEACE to talk to her

was George Hammonds,

15

assistant editor of the

Tribune, with his beautiful Eurasian wife. Tall but not gangling,

a

with serious eyes behind spectacles, and forever clutching

round

fifty tin

of Players,

George was one of those characters

every polyglot city produces.

A man

everybody knew, part of

the middle stream of the city, the sort of a

room

at Raffles

parsons,

pimps

itant voice,

when

there was

man who

no room

to

be had. Policemen,

— everybody knew George, with

and everybody was envious

of

could get you

his slightly hes-

him when they

first

saw Karen, his wife. She sipped an orange juice, uncomfortably aware that most of the

young

officers

eying her

ily

produced a ish

—

lounging round the nearby tables were greed-

for her

startling

Danish father and Siamese mother had

mixture of two handsome

races, a firm

Dan-

chin with wide, enormous soft pools of eyes framed by high

cheekbones; the

tall

figure of the

Viking with the slow,

effortless

movement of the Asian. She was stunningly beautiful. George Hammonds, now thirty-five, had fallen madly in love with her when he had arrived in Singapore ten years previously, had maraway and cheerfully resigned from the Tanglin Club, an all-white stronghold where her presence was unwanted. By now the Seaview was packed. Latecomers were being turned away, for the moment had arrived when the orchestra on

ried her right

its

stage struck

waiting.

up

As the

all

had been

starling-like chatter ceased abruptly,

everyone

the resounding chord for which

picked up small, rectangular cuds placed on the tables each

Sunday and bearing the Be an England."

verses

and chorus of "There'll Always

This Sunday singsong before lunch had become a

among

the British inhabitants, and as silence

gave the drinkers their

final

cue.

Then

fell,

ritual

another chord

the orchestra, almost

with the reverence of an organist in church, started the

first

TWILIGHT

A SINISTER

l6

By

verse.

the time the chorus had been reached, every single

man and woman was

the cheap, sentimental

lustily singing

words, "There'll always be an England,

And England

will be free,

England means as much As England means to me." If

It

was

as

if

to you,

the throaty, out-of-tune voices united everyone

briefly in a burst of shared loneliness;

the soldiers sprinkled

more away from

among them,

the last raid

not only the civilians, but of

all

Africa, the Russians defending the gates

Hammonds was not lump

them 8000 miles or fighting in North of Moscow. George

on London, the

sentimental but "the syrupy song brought a

away from a war which distance had made incomprehensible; and on this Sunto the throat" as

everybody sang so

far

day, unknowingly, unwittingly, "There'll

land" was more —

it

was a swan song

to peace

though hardly anyone seemed to realize plays

on

Sunday.

this last

no

diaries

it,

and a way of

life,

for a curious light

and papers

that were later

emotion and opinion, with frustration and

to be filled with terness, give

The

Always Be an Eng-

real clue to

how

people

abundantly clear by omission that

all

except to

felt,

bit-

make

it

sense of apprehension was

absent.

A

mile or so away, near

erend Jack Bennitt

it

Andrew's Cathedral, the Rev-

up

in his diary as "another hot

and apart from noting that

fine day,"

morning

summed

St.

—

slept

till

twenty to seven when

celebrate at the Cathedral at ten to"

cording.

went

To

for a

everybody

swim."

did on Sunday."

"I did a terrible thing this

it

—

was supposed to

little else

was worth

was an "ordinary day."

"We must have had a curry "I think

I

we went

tiffin

to the flicks."

"I

re-

suppose

I

— we always Nobody

re-

THELASTDAYOFPEACE members doing anything his diary,

Worked

"Up

all

for eight.

at 4 a.m. for

Now

a.m."

swim

Tanglin Club.

in

office.

he was preparing for a luncheon party

Cricket Club,

at the

though the Governor noted

urgent cable from Colonial

Hammonds

George

snooker at

special,

17

It

was looking forward to a game of

Jimmy and

was, in fact,

Julienne Glover to

one Sunday

like a

a

hun-

dred others, and with the monsoon ready to break, the lucky c

hance of a fine day stuck in people's memories more than any

other single

None

fact.

realized this was a

Sunday nobody

ever forget; for this was not only the last

day of a way of

"Come

life

in Singapore

day of peace,

it

would

was the

never to return.

on!" cried George

the second chorus rip!" as they

last

Hammonds

and hundreds of

to

Freddy Retz,

lusty voices swelled out

reached the words they knew by heart, "There'll always be an England,

And England

"let

will be free."

The

First

Day

of

War

Monday, December 8 At 1:15 a.m. precisely, while Singapore slept, a telephone call awoke the Governor, Sir Shenton Thomas, and banished all thoughts of sleep. General A. E. Percival, General Officer

Com-

manding Malaya, speaking from military headquarters at Fort Canning with agitation and urgency in his voice, informed the Governor that the Japanese had begun landing operations at Kota Bahru, a coastal town on the east coast near the Siamese border.

"Well," replied Shenton Thomas, "I suppose you'll shove the

little

men

off!"

Then,

still

Governor

in his pajamas, the

picked up the receiver of his direct "green" telephone and told the police to begin the long-planned rounding

nese males.

dered

Awakening

coffee,

warning him

his wife

and dispatched to stand by.

and the

up

servants,

of

all

Japa-

Thomas

or-

a message to his Colonial Secretary

Only when he had phoned

several

other departmental heads did the Governor scramble into a pair

and an open-necked shirt, while his wife poured out a much-needed cup of coffee which they sipped on the large firstof slacks

floor balcony of

Government House where they normally break-

fasted.

Here, for a few moments, they enjoyed their

last

Singapore at peace. Because Government House

is

glimpse of built on

a

THE FIRST DAY OF WAR rise,

1()

the balcony offers a magnificent view, and as they sat there

in the bright moonlight, the great

glowing port and

city

were

spread out before them, looking like one of those old-fashioned, slightly

blinked in the hot

The

gray etchings.

indistinct

air,

of

lights

and toward the center

it

the

streets

was possible

to

distinguish the silhouettes of the Cathay Building (Singapore's

only skyscraper) and the white municipal buildings in brighter light.

moon

Beyond, the

crowded with dozens of vessels of

On any

this tropical

fears,

night

played on the

harbor

all sizes.

was very beautiful, and

it

a ring of

still

if

either

had

they said nothing; the coffee finished, the Governor

told his wife to go back to bed.

Tomorrow would be

a busy day,

but there was nothing anybody could do now, for the war was still

400 miles away.

Shenton Thomas had

at this

years after an honorable,

if

time been Governor for seven

unexciting, career in the Colonial

and he was now approaching the time of retirement. Of average height, he was beginning to put on a little weight, but in a way this suited him, especially in his starched drill uniform with its white cockaded topee. He rather prided himself on "being easy to get on with." He liked being liked. He had alService,

ways believed that

it

was the duty of the white

the interests of "the natives,"

man

to look after

and though he appreciated the

trappings of high office (which included a yacht), he was not

pompous.

If

he had a

fault,

it

was a tendency

to

be over-optimis-

tic.

He had

inherited

ter of civil

many

government,

administration headaches in the matfor,

as

Governor, Shenton

Thomas

ruled one of the most complicated constitutions in the British

In 1941 Malaya comprised the Straits Settlements of Singapore, Malacca, Penang (with Province Wellesley on the

Empire.

mainland opposite) which formed

a British colony.

But Shen-

A SINISTER

2o

TWILIGHT

concerned with the Federated States of MaPerak, Selangor, Negri Sembilan and Pahang. A federal laya government at Kuala Lumpur administered their general polton

Thomas was

also

—

but in

icy,

many

respects each

was self-governing.

If this

were

not enough there were also the Unfederated States of Johore, each governed by its Trengganu, Kelantan, Kedah and Perlis

—

own

autocratic Sultan with a British adviser,

and incorporated

Empire by separate treaties. As Governor of the Straits Settlements and High Commissioner for both the Federated and Unfederated States, Shenton Thomas often had to deal with eleven separate governments before an agreement affecting Main the

laya as a

whole could be reached.

As Singapore slept on, there was nothing else the Governor could really do at that time of night. He could hardly rouse the city and alarm his people, for after all, the Japanese at Kota Bahru were 400 miles away, and might well have been driven back into the sea before dawn. anomalous.

And

his position

was somewhat

For though he bore the courtesy rank of Com-

mander-in-Chief, he had no

more

military authority than his

King who enjoyed a similar title. He might have become highly unpopular with the military, who had in this moment become the real masters,

had he acted without consulting them.

Below the veranda, the grounds bathed in moonlight looked Shenton Thomas descended the broad staircase

so inviting that (so

magnificent that "descended"

is

about the only appropriate

word) and strolled out through an equally pretentious porch onto the lawns in front of Government House.

He

was

still

pac-

when at four in the morning the telephone rang again. Air Vice-Marshal C. W. H. Pulford, who commanded the RAF, wanted to speak to the Governor. He had news as terse and frightening as Percival's. Hostile aircraft ing between the flower beds

were approaching Singapore. They were already within twenty-

THE FIRST DAY OF WAR miles of the

five

The Governor had

city.

21

barely time to

tele-

phone the Harbour Board and the Air Raid Precautions before the first bombs came crashing down at exactly 4: 15 a.m.

It

took

Jimmy Glover

less

than

five

minutes to get

his car out of

the garage and set off with Julienne for the Malaya Tribune, on Anson Road near the docks. The journey presented no difficulty for the streetlamps were on. Orchard Road was a blaze of light. So was military headquarters at Fort Canning. As they

approached the center of the

new law brightly

courts

—

the arc lamps picking out the

so did the illuminated clock tower of the Victoria

Memorial Hall. padang,

city,

and the municipal buildings shone even more

By

the time they reached the Cricket

waterfront

the

Club

had become crowded with people,

mostly Chinese watching the flashes of gunfire.

By Fullerton

Building an ambulance swerved past them into Battery Road; fire

engine clanged along Collyer

the red glow of a

The

raid,

Quay

to the

dock

a

area, chasing

fire.

by seventeen planes, was not big and, possibly be-

cause the streetlights remained on, thousands of bewildered

Chinese, Tamils, Malays ans

— refused

alert.

— together with hundreds of Europe-

to believe this

was anything but another practice

An Englishwoman who

Raffles Place

lived above her dress shop near

had been hurled out

of

bed by the

blast

from a

bomb, but when she phoned the police and cried, "There's a raid on!" the officer soothed her by saying it must be a practice; at

which she retorted,

son's has just

been

"If

it

is,

they're overdoing

it

— Robin-

hit!

Reverend Bennitt was convinced was "not the real thing."

He

was an

for

most of the night that

\RP

it

warden, and when the

guns started he had dressed quickly ("leaving

off the

dog

collar

A SINISTER

22

TWILIGHT

and reported to his post at Yoch Eng school near Kallang Airfield, where he and his fellow wardens decided, as he noted in his diary, that "it was a good idea to give us an for this sort of job")

unrehearsed practice spoilt the realism

Long

133 injured.

Sixty-one people had

bombs had fallen in direct hit on Robinson's

Most of the

Chinatown, though one had scored a

new

only thing that

was the lack of blackout."

before dawn, the raid was over.

been killed and

The

as realistic as possible.

air-conditioned restaurant in Raffles Place, and another had

shaken the police headquarters in

New

Bridge Road, where

"Dickie" Dickinson, Inspector-General of Police, was going

about his methodical task of seizing nese fighting vessels, and rounding

Japanese on

Mimatsu, the spired,

whom

forty-five suspicious Japa-

up every one

he could lay his

"official"

was a World

photographer to the

War

I

of the 1200

hands — (including forces,

who,

it

Mr. tran-

colonel seconded to Singapore to

photograph troops). Dickinson called a shower

and

it

a night

breakfast.

around

7 a.m.

So did George

and drove home

Hammonds who

Glover had worked without a break through the night. At

had been worth it for the Tribune had beaten the Times by two hours with its special edition.

it

for

with least

Straits

But the Tribune had not included one item of news which had not yet been released news of such staggering and world-shattering significance that it was, by a strange twist So

it

had.

—

of irony, to relegate the

coming

struggle in Malaya to secondary

importance in the global strategy of the war.

As Singapore prepared for its first breakfast at war, Chun hill had gone into the dining room at Chequers for dinner. Mrs. Churchill had not been feeling too well, and did not come down

THE FIRST DAY OF WAR

2}

but sitting with the Prime Minister were Avercll Harriman and John Winant from Washington. Churchill "looked very grim and sat in complete silence." Though news of the attack on Malaya had not reached him, he was certainly for the meal,

aware of the imminent dangers and was possibly depressed because he could see no clear hope that any such attack would

automatically bring in the United States. Just before nine o'clock, Churchill told Sawyers, the butler at

Chequers, to bring in the portable radio

Hopkins had given him). There was

— and for

a

(a

$15

moment

set

which Harry

or two of music

then an anonymous voice warned listeners to stand by

important news.

One can

picture the scene at Chequers as the three men, un-

suspecting, sat in silence, waiting.

then

it

came

— the news

change the fortunes of war and assure ultimate

vic-

BBC

an-

that

was

tory

beyond

to

And

all

In a calm, grave voice, the

doubt.

nouncer told them that the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor.

There were no Incredibly, of

what to

That was

all.

But

it

was enough.

none of the three men had had the remotest idea The BBC had beaten Churchill's own intelliby hours, with news that came as a profound

to expect.

gence service

and

details.

—

Churchill an almost exhilarating

Xo wonder

Churchill's

first

— shock.

emotions bordered on something

akin to elation. After months of cajoling, begging, bargaining

with Roosevelt, the Japanese had brought the United States into the war.

And no wonder

that

when

later that night

news of the attack

on Malaya came in over the air, it was dwarfed by the magnitude of what had happened at Pearl Harbor, by the profound implications of a disaster that had without warning changed the whole concept of the war.

TWILIGHT

A SINISTER

24

time that Churchill was dining, the radio anaround breakfast time in Singapore. nounced the same news For George Hammonds, breakfast was not eaten that morning

Almost

—

at the

at least,

—

not while

was

it

news.

knife

to

It

Retz was driving age

when

down

—

for "just as

murmuring by

spear an egg" the radio

He dropped his drop off me too."

warm and

fork,

I

was about

his side told

and "the

him

tiredness

to

the

seemed

was the same with everyone. Freddy

to Raffles Place to look at the

she was startled to see a friend

run

bomb dam-

straight out in front

and shout, "Hi! You're in the war!" Within moments the Japanese raid on Singapore and its implications had been forgotten, save by the curious Chinese who blocked Raffles Place and Battery Road. The electrifying news of Pearl Harbor

of her car

made everything

else

seem unimportant

— even

the prospect

of another raid that night, even the Japanese landings

on the

east coast of Malaya.

Singapore had ing,

its fair

when work had

share of Americans, and by mid-morn-

started again,

when

the dust

and debris had

been cleared away, there was visible evidence of the new nership in arms. Driving

part-

up Orchard Road on her way home,

Freddy Retz espied one or two small American flags which had suddenly appeared as though out of nowhere, blossoming myste-

windows of Chinese shops. By lunchtime George Hammonds and his friends were toasting their "new allies" at the long bar at the Cricket Club. More than one bemused American had a hazy afternoon siesta without ever hav-

riously from the

ing been permitted to sign for a single drink.

United

States into the

The

entry of the

war was received with profound

relief,

and the

feeling of elation was doubtless reinforced by the first war communique issued from General Headquarters in Singa-

pore. Briefly this

announced

that the

first

Japanese attempt to land

THE FIRST DAY OF WAR at

Kota Bahru had been repelled.

communique spread

the story that

25

A few hours later a second only a lew bombs had been

dropped on the

airfield outside the town without causing casuCrowding round the briefing officer for his copy of the communique, George Hammonds read the reassuring words: "All surface craft are retiring at high speed, and the few troops left on the beach are being heavily machine-gunned." Hammonds had already been tipped off that military operations in the north were not going as well as had been hoped, so

alties.

he read the words with a certain skepticism, but to an unin-

formed community of mingled races the pulse of the

first

official

news of the

re-

Japanese attack did nothing but inspire confi-

dence.

After

all,

the long, narrow Malay Peninsula stretched 400

miles from the Siamese border to the Straits of Johore and Sin-

gapore Island; a backbone of granite mountains rising to 7000 feet zigzagged

down

its

center.

Four-fifths of the country

covered with dense, tropical jungle

— the rain

anese had landed on the east coast, with

its

forests.

The

silvery beaches,

was Jap-

but

With the no troops already drenching the countryside,

with poor roads leading due south from Kota Bahru. first

monsoon

rains

could hope to advance southward through

Nor did

rain.

it

seem possible

to

armchair

this

impassable

critics that the

ter-

Japa-

nese could strike westward on the single road from Kota Bahru across the

neck of the peninsula where they knew they could

and railways in the west. For northern Malaya was crowded with troops and RAF fighters and bombers ready to pick out enemy troop coin en 11 at ions and slaughter them. For

find better roads

months they had been

eagcrl

\

awaiting

jus(

such an opportunity

moment to demonstrate the superiority in battle of the man over the Asian. How often had it been drummed

as this; a

white into

them

— and the

civilians too

— that

it

was one thing for

A SINISTER

26

TWILIGHT

the Japanese to fight the Chinese, but wait till they came in contact with British steel! It would be vastly different for the Japa-

World War

had hardly come face to face with white forces since the Battle of Port Arthur in 1905, when they had only been matched against a demoralized, cor-

who

nese

(despite

I)

rupt force of Czarist Russians.

And

tacked an isolated

bound

A

now, what had happened?

to

such rash

British outpost —

enemy

tiny

force

had

well, that sort of thing

happen, but they would pay the

at-

was

inevitable price for

folly.

communique that a mind, particulary among

Indeed, so graphic was the wording of the visual picture sprang

immediately to

the Asians. It was not difficult for

them

to

imagine the moonlit

beach, with a few khaki-clad Japanese left bewildered to their fate

by cowardly comrades who were bolting "at high speed" in

And

their boats.

since this

came

direct

presumably was what they wished the

Why

lieve.

from military sources civil

otherwise should they issue a

it

population to be-

communique which

was so manifestly misleading? Of course the surface craft were retiring "at high speed" (a phrase

which would give the simple

Asian the impression they were running away); they dawdle?

The Japanese had landed

and were naturally returning

The

why should

their troops successfully,

to their base as quickly as possible.

The beaches at Kota moonlight when shortly after

truth was significantly different.

Bahru had been bathed

in bright

midnight three transports anchored two miles offshore. Almost immediately the sparsely held defenses were being shelled by the attacking warships. craft

Within the hour the

— which had proved

difficult to

were making for the shore.

Japanese landing

launch in a heavy swell

—

defenders fought magnifi-

and though the Japanese captured two strong points bedawn after heavy hand-to-hand fighting, this first and crn-

cently,

fore

The

first

THE FIRST DAY OF WAR cial battle in

the Malayan campaign was by

everything was changed bv

holding the

Still

sudden

a

fto

g J

means

lost until

town when

vital airfield outside the

were

British forces

disaster.

a

rumor

swept the lines that the Japanese had broken through and were at the perimeter.

It

was quite untrue, though "the passage

su av bullets probablv gave credence to utes,

some unauthorized person

— gave

to this

instructions to evacuate the airfield.

ior officers false,

Within

it."

— never

it

made

a rapid reconnaissance

was too

a

oi

few min-

day identified

Though two

sen-

and proved the rumor

Everybody bolted by any vehicle they

late.

could grab. In their terror they did not even destroy the stocks of bombs, the petrol, or

make

matter of hours Kota Bahru was in enemy hands.

nous preface of the panic and disorder

The

Within a was an omi-

the runways unusable.

to

It

come.

bare bones of the situation were that the High

had been caught on the hop, Americans had suffered

just as

Command

thousands of miles away the

a similar late at Pearl

Harbor, and the

High Command natural ly enough was doing its utmost to cover up in the hope of better news to come.* But then, in these early days, even the High Command did not realize that the Japanese invasion of Kota Bahru, under the overall direction of General Yamashita

conquer Singapore prong

zones tend to

Tokyo

in

Siam and

7.

the Pa<

is

make nonsense

ol

ific

in

Tokyo

as far

bad;

that differing local time

comparisons, but by the clocks

the Japanese atta< ked Pearl Harbor, Malaya, Singora

Hong Kong

early hours of

within

Decemh<

•This was born out

Thomas

So

vast

to

onl) one oi a carefully timed four-

which had been do ided upon

attack,

November in

— was

— the man destined

h\

that "the original

Geni

a

lew hours of each other in the

Malaya ! i

mm" En

at 2: 15 a.m.,

Pearl

Harbor

W

ivell who in 1948 admitted to Shenton the lade of preparation must be placed on

the heads of the military who, Wavell Japanese invasion or prepared properly

tvai

for

convinced, uerei realty expected a it.

A SINISTER

28

at 3:25 a.m., Singora at 4 a.m.,

When

TWILIGHT and Hong Kong

at 8:30 a.m.

translated into local Pacific times, however, Pearl Har-

bor was attacked at 7:55 a.m. on the 7th and Malaya at 12:45 despite the fact that there was only an hour a.m. on the 8th

—

and ten minutes between the two. The timing of the attack on Kota Bahru was ironically determined only because it was Sunday in Pearl Harbor,

when

the Japanese expected most of the

U.S. Fleet to be in harbor.

Of

all this

after they

the

first

tions

the civilians in Singapore

— in

fact

had read the communiques the news looked good on

Monday

of war, even

though a number of uneasy ques-

were already being asked.

pened

knew nothing

And why

Since the

into action?

known about

Why

had hap

had they not

hadn't the British night fighters gone

High Command must obviously have

the Japanese landings shortly after one o'clock,

and had been presumably on the for Japanese

for instance

during the raid?

to the streetlights

been put out?

What

bombers

alert,

how had

it

been possible

to penetrate to within twenty-five miles of

Singapore without any advance warnings?

These questions could hardly have been answered

at the

time

without seriously undermining public confidence, and even to this

day they have never been properly answered, though what

had actually happened was standable) that

official

so simple (and in

reticence at the time

is

its

way under-

a little hard to

understand.

had been as follows: Pulford of the RAF had warned the Governor at 4 a.m. that hostile aircraft were approaching Singapore, which gave Shenton Thomas only fif-

The

actual situation

teen minutes to alert the Pulford's

"number two,"

thirty minutes'

city.

later

warning of the

Yet Air Vice-Marshal Maltby,

admitted that the raid.

RAF

had had

Nobody has ever explained With only fifteen min-

the mystery of the lost fifteen minutes.

THE FIRST DAY OF WAR warning

utcs'

it

would have been impossible Part of the city was

blackout in Singapore.

operated by

own

men

29 to order a crash

by gas lamps

lit

with old-fashioned poles. Some

had

districts

There was no central switch, and in any event, the ART was not on a war footing. Its leadas on any other night of peace. And it ers were in bed asleep true all was also the "top brass" the Commander-inthat their

electrical installations.

—

Commanders

Chief, the

Colonial Secretary

—

—

of the three services, the Governor, the

all

spent hours after

1

a.m. discussing the

landings at Kota Bahru and not one of them thought of ordering a blackout, because

not one of them thought a raid was remotely

possible, since the nearest

Japanese

airfields

were 600 miles

dis-

tant in Indochina.*

made by seventeen Japanese

Since the raid was

people in Singapore the

main

attack.

felt that a

airfield of Seletar

Unknown

planes,

few night fighters taking

many from

off

could have quickly broken up the

to them, three Buffalos of the

Royal Austra-

had been alerted and warmed up. The had been eager to take on what one of them was later to

lian Air Force actually pilots

describe as "the most perfect night-fighter target which

ever seen." last

Permission to take

moment by RAF

did not trust the

and feared that

off was,

however, refused at the

headquarters, apparently because the

AA gunners,

in their

some not

have

I

yet

RAF

blooded in warfare,

enthusiasm they might have shot at our

planes. So night fighters did not go up.

The main first

question, however, which lingered deeply

day of war was the distressingly obvious lack of

Most of Singapore had been

built so close to sea level,

on

this

shelters.

and on

such marshy ground, that deep shelters were held to be virtually

•On his way to police headquai u is. Dickinson, the Inspector-General of Police, had noticed that even Fort Canning, the military headquarters, was a blaze of light.

A SINISTER TWILIGHT

go

Even the most shallow slit trenches filled rapidly with water and provided breeding grounds for mosquitoes. In happier days it had almost been a joke that when a cricket match was about to begin on the Cricket Club padang, the captain who had won the toss invariably elected to bat were it low tide, but impossible.

chose to bowl were the tide lapping against the high water mark.

government committees had debated the shelter question thoroughly, but it is hard to escape the feeling that the very real problems had served in the twelve months preceding war as Several

excuses for misguided policies.

ernment, made

Swampy ground,

deep shelters impossible;*

slit

said the gov-

trenches were

But there were many who were thoroughly disgusted by the official government attitude, who felt that in a raid it was better to dive into a trench at the breeding grounds for mosquitoes.

risk of catching malaria;

might be impossible,

who

at least the

felt that

even

if

deep shelters

government could have put up

blast walls in the streets. Instead there

were virtually no shelters

Chinatown. and thousands of deaths.

for the ordinary people, especially in to result in thousands

But *

This

that was in January, the

is

a fallacy.

Raffles Place.

There

is

month

of the

And

this

was

bombs.

today a large underground car park in "swampy"

The Week

Tuesday, December g

Hammonds

George

of Disaster

— Tuesday, December 16

was not a

man

given to swearing, but as he

communique which the Tamil messenger had just handed to him in the Tribune office, he iet it flutter down on his desk and said blankly, "What a pack of bloody lies!" read the

It lie

was shortly after ten o'clock on the Tuesday morning. Les-

Hoffman, who worked

in the

He smiled faintly, Hammonds angry.

opposite.

George

for

it

took a great deal to

an Order of the Day," explained George

"It's

can't believe so

Tribune newsroom, was

it

—

I

can't believe

made and

tions are

tested.

.

make

bitterly.

"I

anybody could deliberately

tell

many lies. Here! Read it." Hoffman read over the more important

We are ready. We have had

sitting

passages:

plenty of warning and our prepara.

.

We are confident. Our defences

and our weapons efficient. Whatever our race, and whether we are now in our native land or have come thousands of miles, we have one aim and one only. It is to defend these shores, to destroy such of our enemies as may set foot on our soil. What of the enemy? We see before us a Japan drained for years by the exhausting claims of her wanton onslaught on China. Let us all umeinber that we here in the Far East form part of the great campaign for the preservation in the world of truth and justice and freedom. are strong

.

.

.

.

.

.

A SINISTER TWILIGHT

g2

George wiped the sweat from glasses of the ice-cold, fresh

mos on

lime juice he always kept in a Ther-

— including the incredible

truth than the average civilians

that this grandiose proclamation

months previously. "They say it was

"We

neck and poured out two

Both he and Hoffman knew much more of the

his desk.

George.

his

to give

fact

had actually been prepared

them time

six

for translations," said

could have done the whole job in the

office in

a

couple of days."

Hoffman was

a slim,

handsome young man

tined to have a big future in Malaya.

mixed blood

—

his father

instinctive intuition

of twenty-six, des-

Perhaps aided by his

had come from Ceylon

— he had an

where British officialdom was concerned, this document still remain obscure,

and though the authors of

Hoffman immediately put condescending tone, ation, could only

its

mean

his finger

on one

salient point.

Its

patent obliviousness to the true situthat

had come from the "Whitehall had made

it

wallahs." It bore their trademark. Official spokesmen

Hoffman or Hammonds at offthe-record briefings that their policy had been to avert war with Japan by treating the Japanese with kid gloves, while at the same time deliberately exaggerating our military strength to make them hesitate in case the first line of policy failed. Even BrookePopham, the Commander-in-Chief, had been forced to endorse this line of attack. Hammonds had toured the island and Malaya time after time. He had seen for himself that Whitehall's it

abundantly clear to

men

like

boast of an impregnable fortress, a powerful troops,

modern

aircraft

carrier to

highly trained

was nothing but a myth.

Barely a week previously the the Prince of Wales

fleet,

Navy had been on show when

and the Repulse had

guard them. Indeed

three cruisers, four destroyers

all

arrived, with not a

that could be mustered were

and some smaller

craft.

Few

peo-

THE WEEK OF DISASTER pie

on the island realized

that these

ft*

two great warships had been

ordered to Singapore by Churchill against the express advice of the Admiralty, fleet

who had urged him

of older battleships.

Churchill, however, had insisted on

new ships because really modern ship in

sending the effect of a

to dispatch instead a larger

of "the tremendous political

He had

the Far East."

at least

agreed that they should have air support and the carrier Indomitable

had been detailed

had run aground

to attend them.

was about

just as she

Unfortunately she

to sail for

Far Eastern

waters. Notwithstanding this setback to his plans, Churchill

Wales and Repulse should

insisted that the Prince of

Singapore

— without

Hammonds had

had

sail for

air cover.

good deal of the

also seen a

soldiers

who

con-

There were over 88,000 of them who halls when on leave. On several up-country he had found only a few who were "jungle

stituted the garrison.

crowded the Singapore dance tours

trained"

among

the 19,600 British, 15,200 Australians, 37,000

Indians and 16,000 locally enlisted Asians. single tank

on the

Yet few people in Singapore

Hammonds had

And

there was not a

island.

knew

this.

Only

that

morning

overheard Karen telling their eight-year-old

daughter Barbara the war would be over in a couple of weeks. She probably

felt

—

as

thousands did

— that

since the jungle

was "impassable," the Japanese would have to launch a seaborne assault against Singapore,

and could never survive against the In fact some of these

great 15-inch guns that faced out to sea.

guns (contrary to popular misconception) did have a limited traverse,

but they were

still

totally ineffective against

ammunition Even worse, the supporting gets as their only

rounds each.

land

tar-

consisted of armor-piercing shells. 9.2-inch

guns had only thirty

Since Whitehall reckoned that

—

if

invested

—

Singapore would have to hold out for six months before naval

A SINISTER TWILIGHT

34 relief

could arrive,

this

meant

that in the event of a siege the

gunners would be in the ludicrous position of only being able to fire

one

shell

each six days.

As for the communique's boast that "our defences are strong," George had actually taken the children bathing a couple of weeks previously, choosing a spot they loved on the north shore and they hadn't seen so much as a strand of barbed wire, a

—

pillbox, or a single trench. Just Johore, opposite.

Had Hammonds known

of the desperate plight of the

RAF,

he would have been even more shocked; he had had his doubts

when watching

the ancient Wildebeeste planes with their old-

fashioned open cockpits; he had wondered

why members

of the

Singapore Flying Club had dubbed the BufTalos the "peanut specials."

had

told

Yet after

all,

Hammonds

Brooke-Popham, only a week previously,

at a

conference that, "we can get on

right with the Buffalos here.

Malaya."

And

after

all,

They

are quite good

Brooke-Popham was an

enough

RAF

type.

all

for

He

should know. In

fact,

instead of the 366 first-line aircraft

which Whitehall

had promised Malaya "by the end of 1941" the RAF could only on a shop-soiled, bedraggled assortment of 141 operational

call

aircraft,

on the peninsula,

fields

Of

mostly obsolete or obsolescent.* fifteen

had only

its

twenty-two

air-

Of

the

grass runways.

four airfields on Singapore Island, pleted the day war broke out,

Tengah had only been comwhen officers and men laid 400

yards of metal paving in twenty-four hours.

But keep

of

this,

his eyes

even George

Hammonds

— who was

trained to

open and was frequently trusted with

record information

— knew very

off-the-

little.

* This force was composed of 17 Hudsons, 34 Blenheim bombers, 27 WildebeettC torpedo bombers, 43 Buffalos, 10 Blenheim night fighters, three Catalina flying

boats, four Swordfish, five Sharks.

1445526 THE WEEK OF DISASTER He

inter-service

vaccilation,

years

made

had, however,

;>,

;,

his business to study the history of

it

quarrels,

throughout

stupidity

the

from 1925 when London had met to disways of protecting Singapore's growing new naval service chiefs in

cuss the best base.

It

had

all

started then

— with the navy and army wanting

heavy fixed armaments to repel an attack from the air force

proposing the use of

sea,

and the

which they claimed could

aircraft,

enemy before it came within range of the big guns. The navy and army had won and this had precipitated an inter-service quarrel so bitter that by 1929, when Hammonds

attack an

—

attended military conferences, he had to travel

RAF

tween the army and

miles be-

five

headquarters while, incredibly, the

navy headquarters w as fifteen miles distant by road from the r

There was virtually no cooperation betw een the services. The army had insisted that no enemy could ever advance by land dowTi the Malayan peninsula. The RAF had a totally different conception, and as early as 1936 had started constructr

city.

ing airfields up-country, without properly consulting the army,

which would have

to

The army was

defend them.

furious.

George remembered one angry brigadier shouting, "Some of the bloody airfields can't ever be defended.

The damn

fools

have built them in the wrong places."

This bitter quarrel was no doubt one reason why British

Army

chiefs stubbornly refused to

down

nese force could ever advance "Officially"

—

for

more than one

Malaya had sent reports back

to

officially

admit that any Japa-

Malayan peninsula.

the

British

general

in

pre-war

Whitehall warning that such a

They had been quietly pigeonholed, not only "to teach the RAF a lesson," but because the navy threw its weight behind the army. Right from the start the navy had course was possible.

staked

its

reputation on the

come from

the sea,

i,i<

and now

I

it

that

any Japanese assault must

stuck to

its

useless

guns

—

so

A SINISTER

36

much

TWILIGHT

no one ever gave any

so that

serious thought even to de-

fending the north shores of Singapore Island.

As the quarreling continued, the picture to George Hammonds was one of "unrelieved stupidity." Even when war broke out in Europe, the services were still involved in inter-service disputes or were in disagreement with the civil government.*

The open

quarrel with the civil government had erupted into the

at

one bitter conference where

demand

the military

Hammonds had

listened to

conscription of civil labor, only to be told

by the Governor that the Foreign Office insisted on priority

for

and rubber production. The F.O. view was that Japan had been at war with China for over three years and was in no positin

"The

tion to attack.

threat to Singapore should be regarded as

remote, and nothing should interfere with Malaya's economic

Foreign

effort," said the

between the

Office.

As a

result, strained relations

were to spread rapidly to a point where

services

they also deteriorated into sharp antagonism between the military

and the

civilians.

In June 1940, the picture underwent a startling change with the collapse of France. Until this relied

on a French

fleet in

moment

Britain

had always

the Mediterranean to contain the

Italian Navy, allowing British warships to patrol Far Eastern

waters.

Now

keep her

laya to land

At long

and last

other choice

would be

the Mediterranean, leaving the defense of

Ma-

air forces.

Whitehall turned to the

— and

RAF — they

gave a promise that 366

had no

first-line aircraft

Malaya by the end of 1941. They also to do something about the "mu1940 jealousy and mutual determination to avoid co-operation" f

decided tual

Britain was dramatically faced with the need to

fleet in

available in

— in October

—

* Even as late as 1939, there was, according to the official history, The Japan, "insufficient consultation between the services in Singapore." f From The War Against Japan.

War

Against

TH between the

W

E

services,

1

1

O

K

F

1)

1

S

ASTER

^

by appointing Air Chief-Marshal

Sir

Rob-

Brooke-Popham Commander-in-Chief Far East. Brooke-Popham was sixty-three. He had served with the RAF in World War I, and in 1937 had become Governor of Kenya, only to be reinstated on the active list in 1939. The news of his ert

appointment reached Singapore editors before

terms of

ref-

made public, and consequently the first brief nouncement did much to cheer up those "in the know," for

an-

his

erence were

bitterness actly

between the

services

what was needed

—

a

was an open

man

other personalities and heal the

George

Hammonds would far

wounds between

war

the services.

never forget his sense of dismay,

when he was

told

that

from being overall commander, would have

no control over the navy; ate

This was ex-

of seniority to dominate the

even stupefaction, at Fort Canning

Brooke-Popham,

secret.

the

for survival in

so that, with Britain fighting a desper-

Europe, Singapore discovered

itself in

the

ludicrous position of having two Commanders-in-Chief, each responsible to a different authority in London, while the

Com-

bined Intelligence Bureau, on which each of the three services

on Japanese intentions, troop movements on (and which should obviously have been under the

relied for information

and

so

jurisdiction of the C-in-C)

remained under the control of the

Navy.

Brooke-Popham,

in fact,

was nothing more than a buffer

unkind might say an old buffer. By November 1940, Brooke-Popham had succeeded

—

the

up

a

GHQ with a principal

ters at

touch

staff

of seven

officers,

in setting

with headquar-

This certainly enabled him to keep in opposite number in the navy and with the Com-

the naval base.

w ith r

his

bined Intelligence Bureau, but on the other hand, he was fifteen miles away from the army and very forces of which he was in

it

meant that and the

RAF —

command.

These headquarters were served by an intelligence

service

A SINISTER

g8

which hardly lived up

to

its

TWILIGHT

name. Just before the Japanese

at-

tack, George Hammonds had gone with several spare-time ARP wardens to a lecture, where an RAF officer had insisted that

there was pilots

no need

could not

Ward had

to

fly

man ARP

in the dark.

stations at night as the Japanese

On

another occasion a Colonel

given a lecture stressing the magnificent fighting

and the intensive jungle training of Japanese troops. was not invited back to air his "defeatist" views. Another

qualities

He

instance of the intelligence service's abysmal talent for misinfor-

months before war broke out in Malaya, when the navy had asked the Chief s-of-Staff for some Hurricane fighters, and the Vice-Chief of the Air Staff (on their advice) had retorted that Buffalo fighters "would be more than a match for mation came

six

the Japanese aircraft which were not of the latest type."

This unfortunate appraisal was made only a month before a Japanese Zero had

made

a forced landing in

China and

details of

armaments, tankage, performance were passed to Whitehall.

its

But

"this valuable report

quence that when the

first

remained unsifted" with the conseBuffalo planes found themselves fac-

ing Zeros in combat, the British pilots were

under the delu-

still

sion they were flying the better machine.

Now been

war had come

fulfilled.

to Malaya.

Nor could

None

of the promises

had

they be now. Ships that should have

routed the Japanese, bombers that could have devastated their convoys of troops, Hurricanes that could have blasted the Zeros

out of the

—

tanks that could have matched Japanese tanks had been sent to meet the enemy on other fronts. No wonder that later, when the official history came to be writall

ten,

skies,

these

The War Against Japan remarked gloomily

Base at the Western Gateway of the ish strategy in the

Far East, was

Pacific, the

doomed

that "the Naval

keystone of Brit-

before the war started."

THE WEEK OF DISASTER The

first

thing Freddy Retz did

39

when America entered

the war

MAS) and

was to join the Medical Auxiliary Service (the

ar-

range to start work at the General Hospital; the second was to

up

fix

blackout in her

a

flat

in

Chatsworth Road, between

Tanglin and the Alexandra Hospital. was an old-fashioned

It

of a converted house;

it

flat

had

a big living

name

open Morris

small green

of

car,

A Chinese amah

Marsha was Freddy's

With

ited a massive pedestal desk seven feet

the

slave,

name

with the romantic

Spot" was Freddy's pride and joy.

floor

room, dressing room,

and bedroom and a garden with a tennis court. with the unromantic

ground

consisting of half the

of

and a

"Green

she had inher-

flat

long and four feet wide

with a knee-hole big enough for her and Philip Bloom, on his occasional It

later.

visits,

was a

to shelter

under during the

typical, agreeable, airy flat

raids

— "and

which came

practically im-

possible to black out."

But

a constant blackout

was virtually impossible in a humid

country where people sweltered the

women

closed,

where

conies;

where indeed

living

room

like

to

moment

window was

a

Freddy virtually lived on their

bal-

most people the balcony was the main

of the house.

pore compromised with a

So except during actual

brown-out — which

raids, Singa-

allowed the

in-

show a little light behind the balcony. On this morning Freddy drove down to Robinson's. Because of the bomb damage in Raffles Place, she had to park the Green Spot in Collyer Quay, and once inside the emporium with its crowd of shoppers, it took her an hour to get near the counter. habitants to

All

around her frenzied women were begging

terial.

Fortunately there was plenty

up

for

blackout ma-

— the trouble was a lack of bomb

debris; others col-

assistants.

Some were

lected the

remnants of the furniture from the bombed

rant

on the top

floor.

clearing

This had

to

the

be taken

down

restau-

to a basement,

A SINISTER

40

TWILIGHT

where Robinson's planned to set up a temporary restaurant so the ladies could still meet for morning coffee. People solved their blackout problems in different ways. In her

Amber Mansions Karen Hammonds

flat at

blacked out the

dining room by covering the windows and openings with bro-

caded Indian shawls which George had planned to take

on

his next leave in

Above

in the

Europe. first

days of war, people tried, almost desper-

emulate London's motto of "business

ately, to

came

ail,

a point of

honor not

than necessary with work

On

the very

dancing

first

hotels;

to let the

— and

night,

at Raffles Hotel.

mate in luxury

as gifts

as usual."

It be-

Japanese interfere more

for that matter, play.

Hammonds went

George and Karen

In those days this was Singapore's

ulti-

a rambling, ornate building, world-

famous, with a vast roofed-over veranda for dancing, flanked by

lawns where dinner was sometimes served in front of a majestic line of

tall,

ning out

been

fanlike travelers' palms.

at Raffles

invited,

but

all

Normally an expensive

was "an event," and the Hammonds' had day Karen had hated the idea of leaving her

daughter and baby son; George, however, crisis, it

eve-

felt that

was supremely important for the white

man

now, in to

Asian that he was not afraid, though he realized that

this

show the this

was

something that Karen with her mixed blood perhaps couldn't quite understand. In fact George

—

felt

"even more scared than

I had to insist I knew the people were watching us and would take their lead from the way we behaved." They almost had a row, but what finally won Karen over was the Order of the Day. George felt that in the circumstances it

Karen, but

was better not Raffles

was a dreary

brown out chestra

to disabuse her.

on

flop.

No

preparations had been

the vast, barnlike veranda where its

made

Dan Hopkins'

to or-

raised dais was playing old-fashioned dance music.

THE WEEK OF DISASTER The

41

were so dim that the only illumination seemed

lights

provided by the moonlight.

through a

series of

A

to

be

few couples struggled gallantly

slow fox-trots (dance music was invariably

played at a slow tempo as a deterrent to excessive sweating) and

amount of forced humor as couples bumped each other ("Oh! I knew it would be you with those big

there was a certain into

feet!")

and the men, with the aid of pencil

tinguish which chit they

Relief sirens

— and an

sounded.

had

torches, tried to dis-

to sign.

excuse to go

— came

home

when

only

Every waiter bolted (allowing more than one

shadowy figure a swig from the whiskey and Karen began

to feel terrified

bottles left

on the

about the children

at

As they drove down Stamford Road, however, the sounded —

it

had been a

Amber Mansions, amah

sitting

the

it

on the

was

false

all

table)

home. clear

alarm — and when they reached

to find the children asleep

floor in the dark,

wearing George's

and the tin hel-

met.

George could do nothing about making an improvised shelter, so he decided that the next morning he Living in a

would buy

a

rain-filled

slit

flat,

dozen mattresses and

them around the dining room table as splinter protection. Those who lived in houses were more fortunate. Though the government still insisted that

Jimmy Glover

pile

trenches were breeding grounds for malaria, realized that even the smallest rise of

ground

to seep away. He dug a zigzag trench, boring partly into the grassy bank leading from his house to the garden below. This he planked over, and covered the planks with earth from the trench. Then he dug a narrow ditch to carry the rain

would allow water

away.

"Buck" Buckeridge

of the Auxiliary Fire Service

— had a different kind of problem. Every

demand had been

refused.

He

Two

— the AFS

was short of helmets. requisitions

had been

TWILIGHT

A SINISTER

42

no helmets had So Buckeridge decided on more unorthodox tactics.

put in months ago to the Colonial rived.

Office;

ar-

eoatee beard, as he always did when Tuesinsr O O Co O on his bristling waited for a quiet period, then confessed worried, Buckeridge '

his

problem

who had

a

to a Swiss friend

week previously

who

J

ran an import business, and

told Buckeridge, with typical Swiss

caution, that he might be able to lay his hands

ment

of helmets

if

on

war came.

Well, Buckeridge

said,

war had

discovered that the helmets had been there

now under

shipment to Siam,

pride, the Swiss businessman

met. But of course

it

all

— and now he

the time, awaiting

the control of japan.

produced one

Buckeridge was taken aback.

come

definitely

a small ship-

It

— and

was exactly

couldn't matter

With some

moment German hel-

for a

like a

The only thing that He sent a lorry to

less.

did matter was getting helmets for his men. collect them.

To

other people, the problems were

nard's the chemists,

tered

windows

raid.

To Jimmy

it

more

meant getting wood

board up their

shat-

Glover, whose printing plant was near the

emergency printing plant

home.

May-

against possible looters in the event of another

docks and therefore highly vulnerable,

his

to

personal: for

in the large

it

meant

compound

problems. Without any hindrance he was able to

a

an

Dulverton,

seems incredible that he encountered no serious

It

an attap-covered print shop.

bought

installing at

new

He went

start

building

out and quite easily

linotype machine, a range of hand-set type, then

transferred a flat-bed printing press

and twenty tons

of news-

Anson Road to Dulverton. A hundred coolies from company worked in relays for thirty-six hours laving an underground cable to run the machines. The Singapore Telephone Company installed a special line. print from

the electricity

Though

it

seems strange that the Governor had not lonc ago r

THE WEEK OF DISASTER

43

conscripted every one of these coolies to erect blast walls in

Chinatown, getting

at least

Glover knew what he wanted and

set

about

with typical Yorkshire determination; a quality that

it

seems to have been sadly lacking in the more rarefied atmosphere of the

War Council.

For already in the ling of the bitterness

initial

and

days of war there was the

pettiness that was

doomed

to

first

ink-

break up

any coherent action, and in which Mr. Duff Cooper, Chancellor of the

Duchy

September

was

9,

who had

of Lancaster,

arrived in Singapore

to figure prominently.

He had been

on

sent out

originally to study ways of improving coordination in the vast territories

— ranging from India

to

New

Zealand

— under the

British flag in the Far East.

Already he had unearthed some absurd situations. In Singapore he had discovered two important

own

staff

— doing exactly the same job

officials

for

— each with

his

two different White-

Economic Warfare and the The two men lived in the same house, their information. Their only grouse was

hall departments, the Ministry of

Ministry of Information.

happily pooling that they this

all

were not allowed access

to

any naval information,

was under the control of an ex-naval

twenty years

officer

as a magistrate in the Fiji Islands

who had

as

spent

"and whose con-

ception of his duties," as Duff Cooper dryly noted, "was to pre-

vent anybody, especially the Americans, from obtaining any

in-

formation whatever."

Duff Cooper was a short have gone

far in politics

man

of remarkable ability

had he not been disposed

routine work as something to be despised.

He

who might

to treat dull,

enjoyed making

excellent speeches, he was a brilliant writer, with a remarkable sense of history,

and he had

a

shrewd brain. But he loathed any-

thing that smacked of routine.

ous success in

London

as

He had

hardly been a conspicu-

Minister of Information, possibly for

TWILIGHT

A SINISTER

44

but he was a close friend of Churchill's, and it is escape the conclusion that when he resigned the Min-

this reason; difficult to

he was sent to the Far East so that he could be found the sort of a job which hardly called for an exacting role, in an area where the Prime Minister had repeatedly emphasized that he istry,

did not expect an extension of the war.

The outbreak

of the

war had changed the picture completely,

and on the Wednesday landings (and

when

— three

days after the

had

the civilian population

the disastrous news about to descend

Japanese

first

little

inkling of

on them) Churchill sent

Duff Cooper a personal telegram which elevated

him

to Resi-

His

dent Minister for Far Eastern Affairs with cabinet rank. task

was

(in

Churchill's words)

to include settling

home"; but

way

to

emergency matters on the spot when

"time does not permit of reference

his terms of reference

warned him

was in no

"impair the existing responsibilities" of the Commanders-

in-Chief or government representatives rectly with their

who would

still

deal di-

departments in Whitehall.

Apparently Duff Cooper had other self

that he

president of a

War

ideas.

He now found

Council which met

daily,

him-

and he

pre-

Duff first meeting that Wednesday evening. Cooper had an aggressive personality that he sometimes found

sided over the

contain;

difficult to

and

like

many

highly intelligent men, an

ability to see quickly to the heart of a "ifs"

and "buts" a source of great

difficult to

but in

this

problem

to

which he

highly individualistic

dealing, not only with the

that

made

irritation to him.

understand his impatience

sions over a

problem

all

It is

he had the simple answer;

War

Council he found himself

Governor

(to

little

whom

he referred

man"), but with the

Commander-in-Chief and commanders of the three

services

instinctively distrusted the idea of a political figure telling to

run

their war.

not

at the often endless discus-

felt

scathingly amongst his friends as "the

how

the

who

them

THE WEEK OF DISASTER There was trouble

at the very first

~, |

meeting. Duff Cooper was

soon claiming that his instructions included "the development of a clearing house for the

matters" and

made

strong powers.

it

prompt settlement

Sitting across

Thomas made no bones about

of

minor routine

War

Council should have

the table

from him, Shenton

clear that the

the fact that he did not agree. In

Duff Cooper's appointment certainly didn't mean a

his view,

War Council

with executive powers to run the war.

Duff Cooper retorted that

if

the

War

Council had no

real

would be nothing more than political adviser. Duff Cooper had a special "stony stare" and now, leaning across, he fixed it on the Governor, and added in a steely voice, "As far as I'm concerned, the duty of the War Council is to wage powers, then he

war."

At

this

point Brooke-Popham, the C-in-C, opened his eyes and

spoke up. Brooke-Popham had an unfortunate habit of falling

—

a trait

on the slightest pretext, particularly at social functions which may have been due to the onerous duties imposed

on

advanced

asleep

his

years.

It

was

a habit that

enraged Duff Cooper,

uncompromising brain. And he made no secret of the fact that he didn't like Brooke-Popham. This did not deter Brooke-Popham. In the council chamber at Duff Cooper's

who had an

home

in

alert,

Dunearn Road

there was dead silence

among

bers as the Air Chief-Marshal said politely, but with

the

mem-

ominous

determination, that he took his orders from the Chiefs-o.f -Staff in

Whitehall and not from Duff Cooper

— and he didn't propose

to change.

Duff Cooper could hardly control himself. "You've produced the worst example of the old school tie I have ever met," he cried.

Brooke-Popham

"smiled

sweetly"

and

merely

"That's not fair!"

Shenton Thomas supported Brooke-Popham

drawled,

— which

meant

A SINISTER

46

TWILIGHT

from that moment Duff Cooper and the Governor were so much so that Shenton Thomas privately sworn enemies that

—

summed up

with the words, "From the

to a friend their relations

time of his arrival to the time of his appointment as of the

War

Council, he was as pleasant as could be; thereafter he

was exactly the reverse."

Perhaps the impatient Duff Cooper

had forgotten one sentence buried

gram

to

Chairman

in Churchill's personal tele-

him: "The successful establishment of

depends largely on your handling of

it

this

machinery

in these early critical

days."

Dramatically enough this unseemly wrangling took place at almost the same time on that Wednesday evening as the people of Singapore were to receive the

which

civilian

Unaware

first

morale was never destined fully to recover.

of the wrangling in high quarters

such a devastating influence on his

had

just

but dusk was

following morning — to prevent

In the hot,

stifling

open room with air.

its

It

life,

which was

George

at the Cricket

to exert

Hammonds Club

to the

had been a suffocating day

The Tamils were

falling.

backstop nets so they could

vating

own

walked out of the long bar

veranda overlooking the padang.

was cheap)

major shocks from

of two

mark out

taking

down

the tennis

courts in fresh places the

a simple expedient (providing the labor

brown worn patches

at the baselines.

evening, the lazy fans turning in the big

array of silver cups hardly stirred the ener-

Music blared from a

radio, but

nobody paid any

at-

tention as the showered tennis players emerged from the locker

rooms boisterously demanding long, cool drinks. Hammonds remembers that he was in a "long chair," the sort, always popuwith swiveling extensions on which one could and George was tired after long journeys between the Tribune and Dulverton helping to organize the Tribune's lar in the East, rest one's legs,

relief printing works.

He

hardly realized the music had stopped,

THE WEEK OF DISASTER that a voice

den stop

was speaking out of the radio. loud talk

in the

chair, for

now

the

at the

room was

It

47

was more the sud-

bar that brought him out of his

utterly

still

announcing impersonally that the Prince

except lor one voice,

Wales and the Re-

of

pulse had been sunk.

The silence continued old member dropped his shattering noise began a

George

tion.

— until one

glass; like a starting pistol, the

pandemonium

sudden

of bewildered conversa-

ran out of the club," got into his

"literally

which was parked

for perhaps thirty seconds

members' enclosure, and raced

in the

Fullerton Building to the Tribune

office,

car,

past

forgetting Karen, for-

getting everything. All

who were

ber this moment, ill,

who "In

felt

... As

of the

news sank

war

.

down

.

.

in

for the night.

and

horror

who worked at the Blood Transfushift when a doctor came running

told her the news, adding in a rasping, his

emotion, "You'd better stay

The casualties may

Freddy Retz was in her at the

full

day

brusque voice, possibly to hide

on

bed the

in

upon me."

just finished her

the passage

and who remem-

never received a more direct

turned over and twisted

I

"Dickie" Dickinson's wife,

had

that evening

the same, awful stunning shock as Church-

the

all

shock.

sion,

on

in Singapore

fiat

start

coming

waiting lor Philip

General Hospital, never turned up.

in soon."

— who, being

But there was a

knock on the door, and her neighbor Mr. Jim Henry, who lived in the flat above, came to offer advice. He was going to buy a stock of food

and whiskey and bury

the garden.

"It's

in

for

Freddy

at

the

same time?

the news reached Raffles Hotel, the famous veranda

emptied "as though the Leslie

under the tennis court

the beginning of the end," he said gloomily.

Could he get some supplies

When

it

last

waltz had just been played," and

Hoffman, who had been meeting someone

there,

"had

a

TWILIGHT

A SINISTER

48

feeling that everybody suddenly felt terribly guilty

— caught

out drinking." After the

first

Jimmy Glover turned

shock,

he had invited up to Dulverton first

bitter thoughts entering his

Japanese have

bombed

to a friend

whom

and gave voice to the head: "Within 48 hours the

for drinks

Singapore, landed troops, captured an

and sunk two battleships. It looks like bad unified conon our part." The disaster had a profound effect on Singapore. Only a mat-

airfield trol

hours before, the two great ships

ter of

Navy — had

— pride of the British

and up the east coast. the cheers as they had berthed at

out of the harbor

secretly slid

Their very presence there

—

had greeted

the naval base, the publicity that

had somehow seemed an augury, a proof needed

— that the naval base

their arrival

—

—

if

proof were

after all these years

meant some-

thing tangible and real.

Now

they had gone, and

waiting at the Tribune

it

seemed

office to

to

make up

George Hammonds, a

new page

one, as

though "not only the ships had gone to the bottom, but the bot-

tom had

fallen out of everything else as well."

What had happened? guaranteed

air

Despite a warning that he could not be

cover from land-based planes, Admiral Sir

Tom

had decided that the two battleships with four destroyshould sail up the east coast "looking for trouble." He had

Phillips ers

hoped

for air cover, plus

monsoon weather.

On

an element of surprise because of the gth

the

cable that "fighter protection sible."

Yet, while the

.

Then

received a

will not, repeat not,

be pos-

skies hid the British

the sky suddenly cleared

Phillips radioed Singapore that he

cided to return to the naval base.

when

.

heavy rain and gray

warships they steamed on.

and immediately

.

— Tuesday — he

They were on

Phillips received a report that the Japanese

their

had

—

de-

way back

were invading

THE WEEK OF DISASTER the township of Kuantan,

He

north of Singapore.

on the

49

east coast, barely

140 miles

decided to "go in and help." Unfortu-

nately two unaccountable things happened.

For some extraor-

dinary reason, Phillips did not trouble to notify Singapore of his

And

change of plans. false.

The

result

the report of the invasion of

was that the Japanese

pilots

Kuantan was

were offered a

sit-

had identified the bombers and fifty-one torpedo

ting target after their reconnaissance planes

warships. Thirty-four high-level

bombers went into the of 840 officers

By now worst

attack, sinking

total loss

and men.

— though the

— the

both ships with a

tactical

civilian population did not

advantage had been

British troops in northern

Malaya were

nese thrust inland from Kota Bahru. iantly the defenders fought, this

was

lost forever.

falling

It

a

know

back

On

the

land

as the Japa-

did not matter

how

val-

kind of war for which even

While the British staggered under a burden of heavy equipment in blinding rain, swarms of Japanese commandeered bicycles and rode pell-mell through the rubber plantations. Often they wore nothing but shorts and singlets. They resembled the Malays so the

few seasoned troops were

closely that to

many

totally

of the British

whether they were friend or

foe.

unprepared.

it

The

was impossible

to

tell

Japanese bypassed the

"impenetrable jungle," moving swiftly through dripping rubber plantations or the narrow roads that linked one to another, often so silently that the British

knew nothing

attacked from the rear or cut

To

off.

the rubber plantation presented

an

unknown world

no

until they

were

the Japanese, the jungle or

fears.

To

the British

it

of elephants, tigers, snakes, flying foxes

was

— of

unearthly noises, of buzzing insects, dripping vegetation, of

humid rubber rain,

plantations,

which bred a damp,

could be anywhere

now

monsoon the enemy

hissing with torrential

isolated gloom.

— or everywhere.

In there

A SINISTER

50

TWILIGHT

This was bad enough, but due to faulty strategy at headquarters, British troops were falling into a trap which was to have disastrous consequences.

It

most immediately after the

warned the commanders ware

was a trap of which Churchill,

in Malaya, in a

assault,

troops required for ultimate defence of Singapore

lest

al-

had gravely cable which ran, "Be-

Japanese

first

Is-

Malay Peninsula. land and fortress are not used up Nothing compares in importance with the fortress." But already the Japanese, by moving rapidly over all kinds of country, by using enveloping tactics rather than head-on assault, were acor cut off in

complishing just what Churchill had feared. Added to decision

War

and hesitancy

at

Against Japan put

Popham] did not

The need

for a

this

"It

is

fully realize the

possible that he

The

[Brooke-

importance of speed.

Wednesday, December

.

atic

Japanese attacks on

lost,

the

— the

10,

when command

quality.

.

at

of the

and most of these were being withdrawn from Malaya

Singapore Island.

.

RAF was falling back too. After systemRAF planes — many of them refueling RAF had only fifty planes fit for opera-

had been

on the ground

that, as

Command."

seas

tions

it,

was so disastrous

quick decision was not apparently realized

headquarters, Malaya

And by

GHQ

this, in-

The

Japanese had 530 aircraft

—

all

to

of better

Daylight bombing of Japanese troops were stopped

—

because our bombers could no longer be given sufficient fighter protection. As a result of this decision, Dutch air reinforcements flown in from Java were already being flown back again because they had not been trained for night bombing.

—

Now trophe.

it

was the turn of the civilians to have a

Although the

nevertheless tal.

disaster occurred far

had a profound

effect

on

all

taste of catas-

from Singapore,

it

the people of the capi-

THE WEEK OF DISASTER The Malaya Tribune

51

printed a local edition at George

Town,

the only city in Penang, the beautiful hilly island off the west of Malaya,

coast

On

nearly 400 miles north of Singapore.

Wednesday evening Glover put through a routine call to Paterson, the local editor, who assured him that all was well; the island was calm. Japanese aircraft had been "buzzing around all day" without dropping any bombs, though they had attacked the

RAF airfield at

raid

had been

The

Butterworth on the mainland opposite.

clearly visible

from Penang, said Paterson, and

wardens and police had found

it

impossible to stop crowds of

Asians lining the seafront for a grandstand view of Butterworth

being blitzed.

About eleven ber 11

—

flew over

a

o'clock the next

— Thursday, Decem-

formation of twenty-seven Japanese bombers again

George Town, and again thousands of people rushed

out to see the "free show." in perfect formation.

sounded

as if every

They looked

There was not a

nor the bark of a single it

morning

AA gun,

bomb had

when

up, watching the planes

British fighter in the sky,

the

bombs

fell.

"At

first

fallen simultaneously; then for

some minutes there was an earthquake-like rumble of explosions." In a second, the hot, steamy morning had been transformed into chaos. One of the first bombs demolished the fire station. Another hit a main police station. Hundreds were

more were badly injured, and left There were virtually no shelters. There

killed instantly, thousands

writhing in the

streets.

was no defense, and altogether over a thousand people were killed.

This was the

first

terror raid

on Malaya

— and though

it

was

perhaps hard for the people of Singapore 400 miles to the south to visualize the chilling catastrophe in terms of

killed

more

and maimed, the long-term disastrous than the raid

itself,

effects

for

human

beings

were to prove even

even when the

first

shock

A SINISTER

52

TWILIGHT

was over, the more penetrating shocks

remained

still

to come.

Town

Before the attack the colorful streets of George

had

been plastered with the boldly printed Order of the Day, "We are ready; our preparations have been made and tested; our defences are strong

and our weapons

main "weapons"

allotted to the defense of the island against at-

tack consisted of nothing

This

realization,

efficient."

more than two

In stark truth the

six-pounders.

which soon reached Singapore on the Asian

grapevine, provided the

first

shock.

The

second was to have

even deeper implications and exert a calamitous

morale throughout Malaya. in Singapore,

Unknown

effect

to the civil

on Asian

government

which had firmly guaranteed that no discrimina-

and Asians should be shown in the event of any evacuation, the military commander of Penang now took it upon himself to order the secret evacuation of all European women and children. Without warning, European women who had played a magtion between whites

working alongside Asian

nificent role,

them

for leadership,

were told

women who

to prepare to leave

looked to

by night.

was a military order "which could not be disobeyed." strictest secrecy

tion."

And

this

The

was "a military opera-

morning the Asians in Penang awoke the invincible tuan had deserted them.

so the next

discover that

Worse

was enjoined, for

still,

when

It

to

the few troops were evacuated, together

with the European men, their ineffective scorched earth policy

was so palpably clumsy that the Japanese were

left at least

one

and oil and petrol in warehouses, scores of launches, sampans and junks including twenty-four self-propelled craft which they were using oil installation, large

quantities of tin ingots,

—

—

within a few days to infiltrate behind British

lines,

and, worst of

Penang radio station from which they were soon transmitting propaganda to the people of Singapore.

all,

THE WEEK OF Unaccountably, news of the

D IS ASTER

loss of

until three days after the disaster,

5^

Penang was not

and when

it

released

reached London

there was little reaction, despite the earlier report of the sinkings of the

home the

two great warships. Penang was remote.

— immersed in the great

To

those at

and the entry of raid on Penang must

issues at stake

— an

United States into the war

air

have seemed insignificant and a long way away.

Penang had a far more stinging effect even than the loss of the Prince of Wales and the Repulse. The delay in the official announcement of the news In Singapore, however, the

fall

of

had resulted in the wildest rumors from refugees reaching Singapore. Suddenly, instead of being treacherous

and cunning, the

Japanese had become monstrous and inhuman.

Penang

in a

dramatic sort of way crystallized to ordinary people in Singapore

new and terrifying picture of the Japanese. It was as though the enemy had been invested in the eyes of both civilians and soldiers with superhuman qualities.

a

Infinitely worse, air

and give

"It has tion,"

Duff Cooper chose

been necessary

he

this

a totally distorted picture of

said.

"We

to evacuate

many

moment

He

go on the

of the civilian popula-

can only be thankful so

been safely removed."

to

what had happened.

many

people have

was of course thinking only of the

Europeans, and the Asians realized

this, for

every listener

knew

Europeans had been evacuated. incensed Shenton Thomas summoned a meeting of the

that virtually only the

An

leading Chinese, Indian and Malay representatives in order to apologize.

In a dramatic confrontation he told them bluntly

that the civilian evacuation of

Penang had been carried out

without his knowledge or that of the Colonial Secretary, but

though

this

was undisputed

it

was too

done, and a wave of defeatism swept

white and colored alike.

late.

down

The damage was to Singapore,

to

A SINISTER

54

TWILIGHT

Duff Cooper had opened his broadcast with the homely words, "I consider that

one of

my duties

should be to keep in close and

constant touch with the people of Singapore by speaking to

them on It

the radio from time to time."

was perhaps

as well for the tattered

morale that he never broadcast again.

remnants of

civilian

The Month

Up

to

New

After the

of Inaction

Year's Eve, 1941

first

terrible week, the raids ceased, leaving the people

of Singapore in a state of unreal calm.

Though

up-country was increasingly depressing,

its

the news from

implications were so

masked that the people of the island continued to exist kind of dream world. They were in the war but not a part of

carefully in a it.

Gasping with heat, drifting uneasily from one day

(in

much

the same

way

as the

to the

next

people of Britain had done during

"phony war"), they existed on rumors. This was all too understandable. The newspapers were compelled to fill their columns with long dispatches from the North African and Russian the

fronts since almost all local

news was

rigidly censored.

Only the

communiques, studded with meaningless phrases like back to prepared positions" and "strategic withdrawals," attempted to conceal a multitude of disasters. George official

"falling

Hammonds, however, was

able to follow the progress of Japa-

December by studying Kong and Shanghai Bank advertisements which gave

nese advances throughout

the

Hong

a daily

list

of branches "closed until further notice."

Despite the generals, the red tabs, the

staff cars,

the troops

dancing and sweating in the barnlike halls known

as the

World" and the "Happy World,"

realization of

war

in the air.

there was

Up-country Malaya was

as

no

"Great

remote from Singa-

A SINISTER

56

TWILIGHT

pore as France had been from England in 1940, and possibly the fact that each was separated by a strip of water helped to

And

heighten the illusion of security.

then too, the

— accompanied now by — have drained away seemed soon rain

humid

heat

spells of

drenching mon-

all

energy, to have

to

robbed the

leaders, military

even the ability

to face

up

and

stifling,

civilian alike,

of all drive,

to facts.

Up-country, however, the hard-pressed troops were falling

back on one ill-prepared position after another, worn out, hungry, tired, in the

unceasing rain.

Singapore, where

many

was

still

It

foods were

buy two

still

unrationed; where milk

morning by

delivered promptly each

vans. People could

was a different world from

tins of

the

Cold Storage

member

food a day for each

and even the butter and meat rations were three

of the family,

times as large as in Britain. Eating out presented no problems, for

though

Raffles, the

Seaview and other hotels scrupulously

observed two meatless days a week, this poultry and

made

little

difference as

game "did not count."

There was

still

plenty of petrol, for almost everybody drew

the extra allowance allotted to civil defense workers,

many large

people had two

one and use

its

cars, it

was a simple matter

and

to lay

since

up

the

generous ration for the Morris Minor.

Schools went on as usual, and one which had had to be hastily

evacuated from up-country

opened

in

now

advertised that

it

Tanglin for the benefit of anyone wanting

had

"re-

to further

the education of their children."

On

the last day of the

to pick (in

autumn

up her daughter Barbara

term, Karen after the

Hammonds went

annual Nativity play

which Barbara played one of the wise men).

Bennitt's wife

Reverend

had spent Friday the nineteenth mixing her

Christmas pudding; the next day her husband led his annual carol concert,

which raised a gratifying

profit of $47,

and no

THE MONTH OF INACTION doubt the Bcnnitt family at the

Swimming Club

felt

57

they had earned the dip they took

later.

For some there were terrifying echoes of the enemy guns that could not be heard and the

enemy

aircraft that

The wounded started arriving in increasing numbers. One morning, Freddy

seen.

could not be

Singapore in ever-

Retz was phoned onward two she never returned the easygoing day routine where there had always been time

And from

o'clock.

talk or to slip

Now

that day

out to Robinson's for

at

to

to

tiffin.

every room, every corridor of the General Hospital was

crowded with the wounded. Day lances waited

day a queue of ambu-

after

by Singapore's railway station

for the trainloads to

from the north. Suddenly the hospital was overflowing,

arrive

and Freddy was giving morphia

injections, cutting badly

burned

from open wounds, changing dressings every hour. For over a month she had to go round the wards night after night with a torch, a pair of forceps and a kidney basin, and take the maggots out of open wounds maggots that had come from the

clothing

—

eggs of the ever-present Mies.

Confusion seemed

rife

throughout the

Deputy Municipal Engineer, was asked

Mr. Gilmore, the

city.

to dig trenches six feet

wide and three feet deep on the many sports grounds in Singapore in order to prevent Japanese aircraft from landing.

managed work was

to

round up

several

half finished another

must be re-dug.

If

machine-gunning.

straight trenches

piled

but when

that the trenches

The

would be

easy tar-

coolies filled in parts of the

trenches which they had laboriously others;

coolies,

people crowded into them during a raid, Gil-

more was solemnly warned, gets for

hundred

official insisted

He the

dug and staggered the

Mr. Gilmore asked what to do with the displaced earth

up on each

came another

side.

officious

He

was

busybody!

told,

"Leave

it

there."

who pointed out

Along

in horrified

TWILIGHT

A SINISTER

58

tones that soft earth ists.

With

away.

a sigh,

made

ideal landing

His coolies had just finished

when along came

grounds for parachut-

Gilmore made arrangements to cart the earth this

back-breaking

task,

the Health Authorities. Trenches in low-lying

ground were breeding grounds

for mosquitoes, they insisted.

At first they demanded that every trench should be filled in, but after some argument, agreed they should be half filled. Most of the dispersed earth was carted back, and the bottom two feet of each trench

filled in.

In the docks confusion was just as bad. Vital rubber stocks lay

awaiting shipment because incoming ships could not always be

unloaded. Yet the same vessels often contained equipment desperately needed by troops up-country. Whitehall, however, was

unable to agree on rates of pay for coolie labor, and so quently there were not enough coolies to unload the

They were working

rubber or

for

ing the military could do about

fre-

ships.

and there was nothEven though the army

tin firms, it.

wanted conscription of labor, Shenton Thomas received a cable from Whitehall instructing him that "the ultimate criterion for exemption [from military

service]

should be not what the

G.O.C. considers practicable, but what you consider maintain the necessary production and

ment."

labor manage-

efficient

Such a vague instruction could apply

from a coolie tapping rubber on a plantation

essential to

to

anybody

broker

to a

—

sitting

in his Singapore office.

In some cases the civilian reaction was arrogant. "We're pro-

ducing

all

things up."

the rubber

The

mission to turn

— but

down

a

row

army seems

to

be mucking

secretary of the golf club refused the

it

into a strongpoint until he

committee meeting; another cut

the

of trees

his line of fire until

officer

on the

army

had called

per-

a special

was refused permission

outskirts of the city to

he had produced written authority.

to

improve

THE MONTH OF INACTION Up-country similar confusion existed military

and

Tanjong Malim (on the west

at tor

from General

Sir

in relations

During December the

civilians.

r)(

)

between

British Resident

coast of Malaya) received a

let-

Lewis Heath, Commander of the 3rd

In-

"The army no longer requires civil assistance line Cameron Highlands-Tapah-Telok Anson-

dian Corps, saying,

north of the

Bagan-Datch and

this

warn any such persons etc."

an indication that you have authority

is

as

you consider may wish

to

withdraw

Naturally enough, the British Resident warned

ians to leave.

another

Four days

officer (not

Send authorities

later

ture civil authorities

all civil-

he received an insolent wire from

Heath) saying, "No

run security police

to

to

etc.

.

do not run away from

civil .

.

authority Ipoh.

ensure that in

fu-

their duty."

Ipoh was of course well north of the line General Heath had drawn. In the small settlement of Port Dickson on the west coast, Jack Masefield, in charge of the police, was suddenly presented with

twenty

women and

children evacuated by order from Singapore.

Port Dickson was a tiny township with perhaps

They housed, uees,

and had

fed

— and

just got

some

in

them

even clothed

nicely settled in

ordered them back to Singapore

Thomas was warning

cases

—

fifty

at the

Europeans.

— the

when an

same time

as

evac-

official

Shenton

evacuees from the north that Singapore

was too crowded to receive any more.

As December dragged on, the news got gloomier and gloomier. The whole of Kelantan and Province Wellesley was falling into Japanese hands together with the greater part of Perak.

Within three weeks of the

first

clash of aims, the Japanese

were

in control of over 100 miles of territory clown the west coast,

made deep penetrations from the as Kuan tan, about 140 miles from

while on the east they had coastal areas as far south

Singapore. Everywhere the tale was one of unrelieved defeat.

TWILIGHT

A SINISTER

60 Jitra

had been

a disastrous loss four days after the outbreak of

war; so had been the decision to abandon the defensive line

above Penang on December

Yet

17.

it

make geographical sense of Jimmy Glover said, "The constant

for, as

references to towns

behind positions previously mentioned

villages

frank explanations of retreats It is

for the average

the wordy communiques

civilian to

and

was hard

— was exasperating."

— without

equally hard to understand the thinking of some generals

When

at this time.

Brigadier Simson, the Chief Engineer, went

Major-General Gordon Bennett (commanding the 8th

to see

Australian Division) he found that there was an urgent

impossible to

it

make him

need for anti-tank defenses. "At

did not wish to discuss the matter at

all,"

Simson noted

realize first

he

after the

meeting. Simson was horrified. Couldn't the Australian general

understand that "there was nothing on the long road to prevent

enemy racing to Johore"? Apparently Gordon Bennett could

the

night he wrote, "Malaya discuss with

road.

.

.

.

me

sent Brigadier

Simson

to

the creation of anti-tank obstacles for use on the

Personally,

preferring to stop

No wonder

Command

not, for in his diary that

that

I

have

little

time for these obstacles

.

.

.

and destroy tanks with anti-tank weapons." the Japanese never slowed down, no wonder

that time after time British, Australian or Indian troops were

annihilated by skillful Japanese enveloping ish side

wrong

decisions were made.

down. Orders went off.

The

first

astray.

Whole

tactics.

a jungle country

who had

pockets of troops were cut

where the British had

crack troops, relieving

as a great sur-

not one single tank in Malaya. In

never operate, the Japanese tanks cious rows of rubber trees.

the Brit-

Communications broke

Japanese tanks appeared and "came

prise" to the British

On

And

insisted that tanks could

moved

easily

between the

spa-

while the Japanese rested their

them with other

who had been fighting or on the move

forces, British "troops

for a

week" could only

THE MONTH OF INACTION

Gl

automata and often could not grasp the simplest order." And with the occupation of Penang, the Japanese had fight 'like

been presented with a considerable barges which the they

army had "forgotten"

now shipped

hind our

lines,

their

to destroy,

and

in

which

the west coast, landing be-

who had never been warned

men who had

not slept for a week,

and nervous and weary with constant

By Christmas

half of Malaya's tin mines

rubber plantations were in

enemy

of the prow-

As confusion spread, panic

speedy, mobile enemy.

often set in amongst sluggish

men down

junks and

then going straight into the attack against inade-

quately trained troops ess of this

fleet of boats,

hands.

men

retreat.

and a

The

sixth of the

"arsenal of de-

mocracy" was going bankrupt.

One

senses that

War

Council was rapidly coming to a head. Even in the

official

papers a note of glee creeps in as one rival scores a minor

victory

about

this

time the tug-of-war for power in the

over another in a free-for-all that was utterly divorced from the realities of a

war rapidly engulfing them.

There could be

little

doubt that Duff Cooper was winning.

The Governor was being

increasingly relegated into a figure-

head stripped of any power. So was his Colonial Secretary, Stan-

whom

Duff Cooper had taken a violent dislike. This was understandable, for though Stanley Jones was con-

ley Jones, to

scientious

and hard-working, even

bled to dispel the picture of a qualities,

his close friends hardly trou-

man who,

could be arrogant, and

despite

some excellent

at times intolerably rude,

even

though to his close friends he might have been charming, considerate and witty. He was a strange mixture. He was an ex( ellent musician, he collected with discrimination,

and he had

turned his house in the grounds of Government House into a

TWILIGHT

A SINISTER

62

warm and personal place. But his abrupt manner, his "cussedness" as Hammonds described it, made him many enemies. Now Shenton Thomas and Stanley Jones came up against Duff Cooper again,

this

time over the question of evacuation.

Duff Cooper wanted priority for Europeans. Shenton

Thomas

War

Council

was rigidly opposed to

became

little

it.

The argument

in the

more than an acrimonious wrangle, but before Shenton Thomas

could be resolved

it

received a cable from the

Colonial Office stating that there was to be no discrimination in

any evacuation. was a

It

was one of those odd coincidences

coincidence — which almost

for Duff

— and

it

Shenton Thomas

his job,

Cooper was convinced the Governor had asked

for the

cost

had arrived without request and Thomas never did discover what had prompted its dispatch. "Anyway," he admitted gloomily to Dickinson, of the Police, cable to be sent, whereas in fact

"Duff Cooper never believed the

it

it

was a coincidence, and

was in

mud."

Dickinson was to have startling confirmation of affairs,

had

I

and from no

less

a person than Duff

several times invited

Road

for

him round

this state of

Cooper himself, who house in Dunearn

to his

man with few men against

an evening stengah. Dickinson, a handsome

a penchant for "spit

and polish," is one of the no subsequent historians have ever uttered a word of criticism. He combined iron discipline with a charm and kindness that had earned him the nickname of "the gentle policeman."

whom

For some time Dickinson had sensed that Duff Cooper was anxious to ask finally got

him something. On

round

the night that Duff

to the question, the

two

men were

on the veranda, each with a whiskey and tired and hot and with his shirt sticking to

soda.

Cooper

sitting alone

Duff Cooper,

his back, waited for

the boy to depart before telling Dickinson that he was extremely dissatisfied

of the

war

with the effort.

civil

administration over their prosecution

Their abysmal

effort

could not, he

said, stand

THE MONTH OF INACTION up

to

asked

any severe

Looking Dickinson

test.

him what would happen

straight in the eye, he

Duff Cooper, could per-

he,

if

63

suade Whitehall to recall the Governor.

Dickinson was completely taken aback.

To

he retorted.

weak or strong ain. "It

It

was unthinkable,

millions of people in Malaya, the Governor

— was

much

as

a

symbol

as the

King was

—

in Brit-

was just not on," and would be a fearful blow to civilian

morale.

Duff Cooper did not seem put out, and changed the subject by suggesting that the civil government might be improved ley Jones, the Colonial Secretary,

son said that

it

went

if

Stan-

Again Dickin-

instead.

should not be done, though he had to admit that

Stanley Jones had an unfortunate manner. It is

an extraordinary feature of

this semi-secret

tween Duff Cooper and Dickinson that a

man

meeting be-

of Duff Cooper's

experience should have exhibited such an astonish-

political

ing lack of caution in canvassing

men

in the Governor's service

must be remembered that for all his power, Duff Cooper remained an uneasy stranger in the midst behind

of an

his back,

it

establishment which instinctively regarded

Nor did he know

suspicion.

(One of the

but

his favorite

gum

the country,

grumbles was

"Why

trees before the Japs get

or

don't

him with problems.

its

we burn down

them?" without the

local

knowledge that with an average of eighty rubber trees to the acre, there were over 300 million rubber trees in Malaya.) Above all, what Duff Cooper failed to realize was that, though Shenton Thomas was not a dynamic personality, he was greatly liked by the leaders of the various racial communities. He was "for them."

standing, to

He

was, in fact, approachable, helpful

and even

if it

and under-

took a great deal of time for suggestions

go through the cumbersome

mill of civil government, the

country was used to this easygoing tempo, and

Malay and Indian leaders trusted him.

its

Chinese,

A

64

SI

xNISTER

TWILIGHT

After his unsatisfactory meeting with Dickinson, Duff Cooper

"some senior

sent an airmail letter to Churchill suggesting that civilian officials"

could not cope with war conditions and that

other changes might later be necessary.

One

Duff Cooper was quietly

of these was already en train.

hastening the recall of Brooke-Popham. Even before war broke

out in the Far East,

it

had been agreed

(who had been Chief of Expeditionary

Force

Staff to the

in

that General Pownall

Commander should

France)

of the British

succeed

Brooke-

Popham. He was a younger man, and had practical experience of modern war. No fixed date had been decided for the takeover, and when the Japanese attacked, the Chiefs of Staff in Whitehall had decided that it would be unwise to change horses in midstream.

They pointed out

to Churchill that in

Brooke-Popham had no authority

any event

to control or interfere with

the actual military operations which lay in the hands of the three service commanders.

Cooper who found

Popham

so

it

intensely)

This decision was relayed

Duff

so unsatisfactory (and disliked Brooke-

that he

took the unorthodox step of

bringing pressure to bear on Churchill through his

This ruse proved

secretary.

to

effective,

War

Cabinet

with the result that the

Chiefs of Staff found themselves the recipients of political directives

which forced them into taking an action they thoroughly

disapproved. General Pownall was instructed to leave for Singa-

pore as soon as possible.

He

arrived on

over from Brooke-Popham four days

We now of the

come

war

peace of

to

later.

one of the most extraordinary

in Malaya,

mind

December 23 and took

and

it

that he did not

the day he assumed

command.

was perhaps

know It

secret meetings

Pow nail's

as well for

of this, for

it

took

pl.u e

on

was between General Percival,

THE MONTH

INACTION

or

65

Commanding Officer, and Brigadier Ivan Simson, his Chief Engineer the man who had discovered the bundles of antithe

—

tank

leaflets.

Simson's attempts to improve and add to the defenses had

been balked

seemed

to

at every turn, largely

by General Percival,

who

have a fixation against such measures. Above every-

Simson was most concerned about the complete lack of any defenses on the north shores of Singapore Island, Eacing thing

else,

Johore, and

now becoming

increasingly vital as the Japanese ad-

vanced southward. Nothing had been done, nothing was being done, despite

many

previous pleas. Simson had

time that his only chance of ever persuading Per<

throw up any defenses on the north shores general alone, so that he could talk to

not before other senior

At

long

ival to let

him

lay in getting the

as

man

to

man, and

officers.

the opportunity arrived

last

him

felt for a

—

at

11:30 p.m. on Boxing

Day, December 26. Simson was on his way ba< k from the front

and General Heath had given him an urgent message

for Perci-

During the long journey down the peninsula there had been two air raids. The brigadier was dead tired, grimy and unwashed, but Heath's message gave him the excuse he had longed val.

for,

and he made

his

way

directly to Flagstaff House, Percival's

residence.

some When, however, Simson an-

Percival was just about to go to bed and looked with

astonishment at

this late visitor.

nounced

that he bore an important message, Percival invited

him

Simson took

in.

off

Percival politely offered gratefully accepted.

The

Sam Browne and

his

him

a

Brigadier gave Pen ival the message

and then instead of leaving, drew that he talk

would

revolver and

whiskey and soda, which Simson

like to take this

a

—

deep breath and announ< ed

opportunity

<>f

a

on the subject of defenses. Percival looked "a

heart-to-heart trifle

startled"

A SINISTER

66

but

down with

sat

was a

difficult

TWILIGHT and

a tired expression

man

to

"warm

listened.

The General

up." Tall, thin, with two protrud-

ing teeth, he was a completely negative personality, and his instinct

—

when

faced with a problem was that

whose

in direct contrast to Simson,

"Well

—

let's try."

first

thought was always

This was why Simson had elected

risk all at this strange

first

couldn't be done

it

to stay

and

meeting in the dead of night, and now

he spoke with the passionate eloquence of the professional. De-

main job. He believed implicitly in their value which history had repeatedly proved in modern war. And he had all the materials at hand. Indeed they had reached Malaya long before the Japanese attacked. He had the staff and materials, he said to Percival, to throw up fixed and semi-permanent fenses

were

his

underwater

defenses, anti-tank defenses,

obstacles,

fire

traps,

mines, anchored but floating barbed wire, methods of illuminating the water at night.

And

since

it

now seemed

inevitable that

would soon reach Johore and attack the island across the narrow straits, the matter was now one of extreme urgency. But it could be done, said Simson. He could throw up the Japanese

defenses on the north shore, covering the Johore Straits, "and the water surface

To

and shore

line

would be the main

killing area."

the Brigadier's dismay, Percival refused his pleas, but Simson

— "knowing must not give way the situation was — put down whiskey leaned forward and said "Sir — must emphasize the urgency of doing everything

so critical"

as

I

his

intently,

glass,

I

help our troops.

and

tired

miles.

They're often only partially trained, they're

dispirited.

And

please

better equipped,

to

They've been retreating

remember,

and

sir,

for

hundreds

of

the Japanese are better trained,

they're inspired by an

unbroken run

of

victories." It

had been a powerful

plea.

At

first

Simson had

tried to

speak as dispassionately as possible, but as the clock moved

THE MONTH OF INACTION round

one in the morning and he seemed

to

impression, Simson found

"And

it

hard to control

has to be done now,

comes under

fire,

now, we can do

cried,

still

"Look

here,

was

General —

me any

if

we

start

at last in despera-

I've raised this ques-

reasons.

— why on earth are you taking

morale of troops and

What's more,

At

least tell

me

this stand?"

at this point that Percival finally

believe that defenses of the sort for the

room and

You've always refused.

you've always refused to give

It

But

refused to change his mind.

alone in the

tion time after time.

one thing

he pleaded. "Once the area

civilian labour will vanish.

The two men were Simson

sir,"

be making no

to

his anger.

it."

Incredibly, Percival

tion

it

67

you want

gave his answer. to

"I

throw up are bad

civilians."

This was the commanding

officer speaking, and Simson was remembers standing there in the room, suddenly feeling quite cold, and realizing that, except for a miracle, Singapore was as good as lost. One can understand Simson's horror, and wonder too why Percival had found it necessary to make such an illogical excuse. For Percival must have been well aware that, long before he had taken over command of Malaya, defense lines in Johore and

"frankly horrified" and

on the north shore of the island had been the frequent subject of discussion. The reason they had never been built before the war

(when there would have been no labor shortage) was simple; every department in Whitehall had refused to foot the

war that might never take place. Now,

at least, in

war

bill for it

a

could

and should have been done.

As he put on

make one "Sir,"

Japanese

last

he

his

Sam Browne, Simson could

said, "it's

start

not forbear to

remark.

going to be

running

all

much worse

over the island."

for

morale

if

the

A SINISTER

68

Then he

closed the door behind him. It was just two o'clock

on the morning of December

By one

TWILIGHT

27.*

of those astonishing coincidences that

permitted in a work of

fiction,

would hardly be

Brigadier Simson was the central

character in another equally astonishing scene three days later,

when, by pure chance, he became involved in the struggle

power between the Governor and Duff Cooper. to

do with the

secret

It

for

had nothing

meeting that had taken place between Per-

cival

and Simson. Not a soul knew about

ever

met Duff Cooper, while he had only

this.

a

Nor had Simson

nodding acquain-

tance with the Governor.

Nevertheless

it

seems that Duff Cooper had heard good

whom

re-

and resoon December 30, the Brigadier received an urgent summons to attend that morning's meeting of the War Council. Unknown to Simson, Duff Cooper had decided that an "overlord" was needed to handle and control the various branches of civil defense which came under Shenton Thomas, and while Simson was making his way to Dunearn Road, Duff Cooper announced to the startled War Council that the civil ports about Simson,

he described

as "a sensible

lute officer," for

defense organization was unsound, and that he had detected "a certain lack of confidence"

proposed that one *

Why

man

among

the civilian population.

should be appointed to run

all civil

He de-

did Percival have such an idee fixe about defense works? Simson believes some other Commanders in Malaya who were indifferent, "somewhere in their military education such a dictum on morale had been impressed upon them or they possibly misunderstood the value of defenses in the circumstance! such as now existed." It is interesting to note that when Hore-Belisha was Se< ie tary for War he visited the BEF in 1939 and was aghast at the lack of defense works, and plainly showed his annoyance, with the result that, according to nil diary of December 2, 1939, "Ironside (GIGS) after his visit to BEF, came to see me and with great emphasis told me that the officers were most upset at the
THE MONTH OF INACTION fensc

t)<)

— and the man should be Brigadier Simson.

had timed

when

choosing a day

the Governor was absent from the

Council, for the appointment he had in official

Dull Cooper

dramatic announcement with political acumen,

this

prerogative of the Governor.

mind

War

was, of course, the

In fact

Thomas

was, as

Duff Cooper well knew, on an up-country tour, and Stanley Jones was deputizing for him. Duff Cooper hoped that in the Governor's absence he could bulldoze the appointment through the Council.

Simson had arrived and was waiting

by a summons from

pletely mystified

He

was called

in,

an anteroom, com-

man he had

a

never met.

and Duff Cooper said he had defense and had given some lec-

offered a chair,

heard he was an expert on tures

in

civil

on the subject in Malaya. Would he care

to give the

War

Council a brief resume of his lecture?

Simson was

He had

given a series of

but they were based only on a modest acquaintance

lectures,

with

as startled as the others.

civil

defense in

London during

the blitz.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you," he replied. "But I'm not an expert.

I

suppose

as a regular officer in the

Royal Engineers,

have the necessary background and training, but

I

that's all."

Nevertheless he described as best he could the civil defense organization in London, gave details of

its

equipment, and was

asked to retire.

A him,

few minutes later he was called back and Duff Cooper told

"The Council

has unanimously agreed to offer you the post

of Director General of Civil Defense

— subject of course

to the

approval of General Percival." (Duff Cooper had no qualms on this

score.

He had

already sounded out Percival,

who had

agreed that Simson could take the post while also retaining his military position of Chief Engineer.)

"I'm extremely sorry," said Simson, speaking straight from the heart, "but

I

can't possibly accept

it."

A SINISTER

JO

TWILIGHT

Duff Cooper's 'voice sharpened"

as

he asked brusquely,

"Why

on earth not?" Simson told him that he believed Singapore would shortly be invested, and during a siege the Chief Engineer became a key

man often second in

importance only to the G.O.C.

In an almost comical fashion, Simson was

once again.

A

few minutes

later

Cooper, fixing him with his special stony

but the

sorry, Brigadier,

War

now

asked to retire

he was recalled, and Duff stare, said firmly,

"I'm

Council had decided that you

must take over Civil Defence." He indicated that the subject was now closed. Simson had been ordered into this job.

The Governor,

Cooper poohSimson's questions of possible opposition, and then of course, was away, but Duff

poohed all and there gave him in writing plenary powers to cover both Singapore Island and Johore. He also made certain that the text

Times

be-

Shenton Thomas reached Singapore before breakfast the

fol-

of Simson's commission was published in the Straits fore the

Governor returned.

lowing morning. Jones had already advised him of what had happened, and by the time the Governor reached Government House, ready for coffee on his favorite balcony, he was fuming with rage at what he considered "a despicable trick" by Duff

Cooper. His

ADC

in such a rage.

remembers

What

had rarely seen Thomas

that he

particularly angered

him was

to learn that

Duff Cooper had already told several of his friends

"put one over on the

little

man."

Stanley Jones was waiting for him. of coffee

and

He poured

and quietly advised Thomas

without demur. flatly

The

refused.

He

cancel

bluntly that

if

it.

out two cups

to accept the situation

Governor, however, showed more

was the one

appointment, not "the Chancellor,"

He would

how he had

who as

spirit

should have made

ail

he called Duff Cooper.

After some discussion, Jones warned him

he canceled the appointment

— especially

as

it

THE MONTH OF INACTION had already been lead to an

open

announced

officially

rift

and

Shenton Thomas calmed down

He

— and

all

offered

it

could

And

he

hold Cabinet rank.

Then he thought of a Simson by now in an in-

—

promptly canceled

plenary powers, substituting them with

He

—

a little.

sent for Brigadier

position

tolerable

in the press

that "anything could happen."

emphasized that Duff Cooper did after

compromise.

71

Duff Cooper's

more modified

orders.

Simson no explanation.

"You can have

full

powers in

civil

defense on Singapore

Is-

land only," he said, adding coldly a warning, "but they'll be subject to the existing law,

challenged, you

must

and

any one of your

if

refer the matter to the

activities

Malayan

is

legal de-

partment." Johore, he added, was "out."

As patiently

as

he could Simson pointed out that

refer questions to the legal department,

the

whole object of speed

in

it

him

to allow

powers in Johore.

said, for there

was

he had to

Duff Cooper's plenary powers.

Simson then begged the Governor It

if

completely stultified

vital,

he

to retain his

was a large

untapped labor force of evacuees from up-country remaining there to avoid

working in Singapore.

"That's impossible," replied the Governor. legal rights to

do

such a thing. If

we

"We

did, the Sultan

have no would blow

up."

Johore was an unfederated erful,

state

fabulously wealthy old man,

who had

— and the Sultan was a powwho dined

off

gold plate, and

Thomas, who, on (which had heard some un-

already crossed swords with Shenton

the advice of the Colonial Office

seemly rumors from Johore) had at one stage virtually barred

from entering Singapore. Yet the Sultan had power own state of Johore. Shenton Thomas thought he could

the Sultan in his

have been awkward.

On

the other hand,

the Sultan was a

staunch British patriot (he had, indeed, presented Britain with a warship)

and Simson made the obvious suggestion: "Well," he

A SINISTER TWILIGHT

72

go and talk to him.

said, "let's

He

seems a reasonable sort of

chap."

Shenton Thomas refused to abandon

There was

his stand.

Fortunately, the Governor's

only one consolation for Simson.

substitute orders were never printed in the local press

Simson spent the

rest of the

war with the Governor's

— and

restricted

orders in one pocket and Duff Cooper's plenary powers in the other.

Duff Cooper knew and accepted the situation, but

"The

Percival admitted privately to Dickinson,

as

General

situation cre-

ated by [Duff Cooper's] appointment of the

DG

of Civil De-

who

was,

I

fence was fiably,

made over

the Governor's head

think

justi-

rather incensed at the proceeding."*

New

Budget celeand answering in its leading article "If inrather sweepingly, one must admit stant dismissal had been the unavoidable consequence of proved incompetence, the ranks of the Malayan Civil Service would have been seriously depleted since 8th December." The article appeared on the first day of the New Year, when, as though awakened from a drugged sleep, the people of Singapore were suddenly plunged into a chilling awareness of reality. brated

Year's

it

Eve came and the weekly

by asking

—

For

"Who

—

was the month of the bombs.

this

Straits

are our leaders?"

discover themselves thrown brutally

Now

upon

the civilians were to

their

own

untried

re-

sources. * The War Against Japan put it more bluntly: "The selection of the senior Royal Engineer Officer in Malaya for the appointment of DGCD at a time when it wai possible that Singapore might be invested seems in retrospect to have been a mistake. Brigadier Simson accepted the appointment only under prd sure. Not only did he consider his task as Chief Engineer to be the more important, but in his opinion it was too late to reorganise effectively the civil defence. Nevertheless he did what he could, and it was largely due to hil efforts and to the devotion to duty of the members of the various units that, when put to the test, the civil defence service functioned as well as they did." .

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

The Month

Bombs

of the

January, 1942

Even

to this

day no historian has come near an accurate compu-

number

tation of the

January

1

of civilian deaths in Singapore between

and the day on which the island capitulated.

In England during the heavy periods of a very different story; the

with documents.

however

No

had been

Ration and identity cards had made

who had

it

com-

vanished in the course

such aids to identification existed in Singapore,

— particularly

in

Chinatown, whose influx of refugees

from up-country was daily increasing the tion of half a million. After a raid,

of

it

whole population had been provided

paratively simple to trace those of a raid.

bombing

it

city's

normal popula-

was discovered that scores

men, women and children had simply vanished

— and more

no idea as to their idenIn some of the heaviest attacks whole sections of Chinatown were obliterated and hundreds of bodies were never dug

often than not the

officials

had

little

or

tity.

out.

The

hospitals

and aid

but even most of these were

posts did try to lost in the

keep some records,

confusion following sur-

render.

From now

on, hardly a day was to pass without

raids.

Overnight Singapore became a

trasts.

Houseboys and amahs stayed

city of

stolidly

its

quota of

bewildering con-

with their masters,

on serving "formal" meals. Before men went to work each day, however, those who had no modern plumbing had, insisting

A SINISTER

74

TWILIGHT

because of the coolie shortage, to dig a hole at the bottom of the

garden and bury the night residential

Tanglin

area,

soil (as it

with

its

was politely

called).

In the

up-to-date houses, a friend

with a modern lavatory was a friend indeed.

Down

at the

docks the labor force was dwindling under the

incessant strain of sirens

and

falling

bombs. Hundreds of work-

ers had fled with their families to villages inland. No shelters meant no labor. British troops were soon forced to unload their gear under a hot tropical sun. As for the vital raw materials so urgently needed at home, huge stocks of rubber remained piled high on the wharves without a single man to load them into the

waiting ships.

The raids were

made by formations of twenty-seven, fifty-four or eighty-one planes. They rarely needed any fighter escort, and their method of bombing was simple. The formation was led by one marksman who, when he felt he was on target, signaled to the accompanying pilots. All then dropped their load of bombs at the same moment. almost always in daylight, and

had devastating

and Brigadier Simson reckons that throughout January at least 150 people a day were buried in the cemeteries, though obviously many more were killed and never It

results,

traced.

Despite Duff Cooper's gloomy forebodings, the

civil

defense

behaved magnificently, the Chinese volunteers in particular working under constant bombing with a fortitude many Europeans might have envied. Despite a shortage of hoses and mets, the

and

fires.

end

as

hel-

ARP

and the AFS coped with hundreds of incidents Often there were no canteens, no food for hours on

one raid was telescoped into another.

Most Tamil native burial squads disappeared after two out ol three Tamil camps had been bombed. In the hot and humid city bodies

began to decompose quickly. After a raid they were

THE MONTH OF THE BOMRS

75

laid out for a brief period so that relatives

could identify them

and arrange

But

(at

for decent burials.

first)

mained unclaimed,

was carted away

it

to a

if

a corpse re-

mass grave. In severe

raids

men

tains

of smashed-up houses, and when the stench of putrefying

flesh

became noisome, nobody would

could not always reach the bodies under the moun-

week the danger of typhus was

Within a the government or-

collect them.

so great that

dered free injections.

Though

communiques were still noncommittal, even emhopeful, everyone knew now that the Japanese

the

barrassingly

were advancing toward Johore of

Singapore Island —

tants

when

steel

of the Cricket

so that

— the

it

state

immediately north

was no surprise

Club

(though the club

as a deterrent to gliders

bar remained open).

The Golf Club was

finally

military strongpoint, with anti-aircraft guns

The Coconut

clubhouse.

to the inhabi-

pylons sprouted on the beautifully kept padang

turned into a

and troops in the

Grove, Singapore's most fashionable

nightclub, closed down, together with two of the three "worlds."

Though

the dance

band

at the

Swimming Club had packed up

and departed (leaving a notice by the stage "We'll be back!") the club remained a popular center for swimming, and lunch was

still

served on

its

broad veranda overlooking the pool. In-

deed there was an added, served,

macabre, "attraction." As lunch was

one could sometimes watch

sonally as

At the

if

one were watching

Raffles

a

a raid

war

on the docks,

its

as

imper-

film.

Hotel the management had

satisfactory blackout for still

if

at last perfected a

large dance room,

and the orchestra

played from eight to midnight, though transport soon be-

came a major problem, as most taxis vanished after dusk. By day it was better, though more and more bewildered evacuees, often with children, crowded the streets, passing endlessly in dejected little

groups through Raffles Place

as they

made

for

TWILIGHT

A SINISTER

76

Robinson's, whose cellar had by shift restaurant

—

hot,

quently packed with

but

now been turned

into a make-

— now

at least a shelter in itself

women

fre-

searching for friends evacuated

from up-country. For the price of a

coffee, they

would wait

for

and sure enough the friend always seemed

to

turn up.

one waited long enough, "everybody" turned up

at

Robinson's,

hours,

especially those

who

had fled on military orders with

If

no money,

and who now, as though turning to an old friend, went to Robinson's which had been a part of their lives since the day they

had first landed in Malaya. the wife of Buck Buckeridge, the AFS Lucy Buckeridge worked in chief who had acquired the German-style helmets the accounts department at Robinson's, and solved their prob-

—

With

lem.

—

the agreement of the manager, she

opened a private

"bank" which made loans of a hundred dollars or so*

to those in

urgent need of "petty cash." (All the loans were entered in the

which were kept open until the day before surrender,

ledgers,

when

they were locked in Robinson's strongroom.

opened by the Japanese. Not

It

was never

a single survivor failed to repay

his or her debts.)

As soon post

as

shops, private firms

offices,

sounded though

it

to

the sirens sounded, everything closed

was "business

make up

as

existence.

The

free periods,

— but the moment the

all

clear

usual" with a sort of added frenzy, as

for lost time.

oddly enough, comparatively

mainly for the docks and

— banks,

The

safe, for

airfields.

center of Singapore was,

the

But

bombers were aiming it

was a crazy sort of

big shops calmly sold their wares during raid-

but a

woman

setting off for Raffles Place could

never be sure whether the shop would be open. Things worked

— but they worked in different ways, and the

result

was often

bewildering.

Freddy Retz, on her way *

The Malayan

dollar

is

worth 33 U.S.

to the hospital cents.

one morning, was

THE MONTH OF THE BOMBS

77

driving her Green Spot near the municipal buildings planes

came

over. She ran into the

where Tamil laborers

(at a

the

Supreme Court building and

open doorway

sheltered inside the

when

—

roadway

in front of the

moment when dock

labor was des-

perately needed) were diligently scything the grass verges.

Karen

Hammonds

home

rushed

for

Barbara at school and noticed that her different.

It

Lunch after picking up

amah somehow looked

took her a couple of minutes to realize that instead

amah had changed why (for such a

of wearing the traditional white blouse, the into a black one. liberty

And when Karen

was unheard

the Japanese pilots

The

schools

of) the

amah

would not

had

asked her

replied stolidly that

it

was so

see her.

started their spring term, as Buckeridge

discovered after he had received an urgent instruction to take

over a

school in Tanglin for an extra

girls'

AFS

post

— and

ar-

rived to discover the girls in the middle of an exam.

Mundane

chores were

remembered refrigerator

As the

still

the order of the day.

Hammonds

that evening to pay the fifteenth installment

— "only seven payments

Straits

on

his

to go."

Times gloomily remarked, "Everybody

country seems to have been lulled into a

in this

false sense of security

by confident statements regarding continuous additions to our

armed might. The only people who have not been bluffed by them are the Japanese." It

was on

this

evening that Leslie Hoffman, Hammonds'

league on the Tribune, invited George and Karen

dinner party for

to Raffles for a farewell

ised to leave for Australia before the

man had been married nant.

less

than

his wife

end

a year,

Convinced that Singapore would be

Hammonds

who had prom-

of the

and

month. Hoff-

his wife

was preg-

invested, he insisted

that she should leave. Raffles if

the

was crowded.

tempo was slow

The

orchestra was in great form

— and the boys

col-

— even

in their starched white

A SINISTER TWILIGHT

78

uniforms bustled from table to table taking orders. There was a sprinkling of

officers,

one of

whom

sat

ogling Karen for

minutes before coming across to their

fully ten

table,

bowing

and announcing simply, "You're the most beautiful woman I have ever seen," and left. It put them all in a good he mood and George, after his second whiskey and water decided to stop trying to persuade Karen never touched soda politely,

—

—

to leave, at

any rate for that evening.

Karen was looking stunningly beautiful. She was more

re-

laxed, she was not as afraid as usual, for the simple reason that

the children were in the safe hands of two sergeants

had invited to baby-sit

Two

to share her

when

Christmas turkey, and

merah had been

due when the still

excellent.

sirens sounded.

shook the cavernous room.

was

who had

she

offered

off duty.

drinks stretched into three or four.

fried ikan

whom

The

The

fish

steaks

course of

were almost

Fifteen seconds later a near miss

The

effect

was

electrical.

George

dancing with Karen when a Chinese boy, bolting for

the door, almost knocked her down, slithered across the crowded floor and disappeared. By the time that George had fought his way back to their table with Karen, every boy had vanished. As Karen sat down, Leslie Hoffman (one of those imperturbable characters who always seem capable of a smile in moments of stress) calmly announced that as their steaks seemed destined to be delayed, he had better go and cast an eye over the kitchen front. He had a languid way of moving and he uncoiled his slim body from his chair, strolled across the empty room and pushed his way through the doors leading to the kitchen. In less

than quarter of an hour Leslie,

who was an

excellent cook, had

returned bearing a tray with four steaks and four cold Tiger beers.

THE MONTH OF THE BOMBS While the

civilians did their best to

tations to "carry

much more

on

difficult

fense organization

and thus helping

Cooper

changes in the

it

civil

been given a job.

Simson was finding

than he had imagined to put the

on a more

realistic basis.

but with making their work

told Duff

obey the Governor's exhor-

as usual" Brigadier

with the bravery of individuals

facilities,

79

w as

beyond dispute

to save lives.

For though Simson had

m?ke

defense system, he was no defeatist.

Now

he

radical

He had

about doing what he could

set

—

providing them with better

too late in the day to

r

civil de-

His concern was not

— that was

easier,

it

to im-

prove the defenses against air attack. Before anything

else,

he had decided

to

spend two or three

days watching the volunteers of civil defense at

work during

There was no point, however, in appearing in uniform; would have put the men on their "best behavior." So he took off his red tabs, and in the denching rain put on his old macintosh and became part of the crowds. He gave assistance whenraids. it

ever he could

— but always

as

His disguise resulted in at

an unknown

least

civilian.

one unusual experience.

He

was helping to carry the wounded out of a small hotel in Mac-

pherson Road which had been

hit,

when

the sound of screeching

horns and car sirens heralded an approaching VIP, complete with a convoy of outriders.

Thomas

ARP

It

was the Governor.

Shenton

stepped out of his car with his wife, mixed with the

workers ("he showed great sympathy and understand-

Simson shrank into the anonymity of the crowd. The following evening Shenton Thomas asked Simson round

ing") while

for a drink to see son's ability to

how he was getting on. men that he and

handle

mained on good

(It says

much

the Governor

for Simstill

re-

on the veranda, with the last rays of the sun glinting on the windows of the Cathay Building, Shenton Thomas suggested, "You know, Simson, if I terms.)

As they

sat

TWILIGHT

A SINISTER

80

were in your

around and

shoes, I'd get

men

was out yesterday watching the

know,

"I

At

first

sir,"

at

see things for myself.

I

work."

replied Simson, "I was there

and

I

saw you."

the Governor refused to believe him, but Simson de-

scribed the scene with such a wealth of detail

Thomas said, "But I didn't see you, Simson!" "No sir," replied the Brigadier, "I was working

that finally

as a stretcher

bearer."

Simson had hoped quickly discovered

stemmed from

ble

choose his

it

to

make some rapid

was not going

to

be

easy.

Part of the trou-

had not been permitted

the fact that he

own second-in-command. Duff Cooper had

own man, Mr.

F.

Company, one

D. Bisseker, chairman of the Eastern Smelting

of the biggest

men

"government apathy," with the

in "tin."

him on

sight (a

Before getting small to the

ask

result that

many members of the Malayan

Simson met Bisseker liked

staff,

and

to

picked his

Unfortunately for

Simson, Bisseker had long been one of the sternest

liked by

but he

changes,

down

he was heartily

dis-

Civil Service.

for the first time early in first

critics of

— and

January

impression that he never changed).

to work, they

in all innocence,

had

to find

an

office

and

a

Simson drove with Bisseker up

grounds of Government House to see Stanley Jones and

him

to provide the necessary

To

accommodation.

Simson's

astonishment the Colonial Secretary refused to help in any way.

This seems incredible, considering that Simson was trying save

some of the 200 or more

killed in raids.

find a small

civilians a

day who

to

were being

Yet Stanley Jones refused point-blank even to

office,

and, according to Simson's notes, "his refusal

was couched in very rude terms."

It

the bitterness that existed between

was Simson's

many

officials

first

inkling

oj

and business-

men. "I was soon to discover,"

Simson noted, "that no

civil

servant

THE MONTH OF THE BOMBS

8l

would help Mr. Bissekcr or anyone associated with him." In point of fact Shenton Thomas on several occasions pressed Simson to get rid of Bisseker, but Simson always gave the same reply: "I'll

do

so immediately

if

he

But

fails at his job.

until

then. I'm not prepared to challenge Duff Cooper's choice."

The

first

office in

of his

thing Bisseker did after leaving Jones was to rent an

pocket.

headquarters until

and they took over Simson and

his office.

his assistants did a magnificent job against

were almost

that

—

staff and furnish it and pay for it out Here the two of them made their modest later in the month when Duff Cooper left

Tanglin Road,

own

— but not

quite, at that time

odds

— overwhelming.

They concentrated on finding men and transport. They organized pools of labor, commandeered vehicles right and left, so that when the services asked for men to work at given spots, they could often oblige. Simson, of course, had his military duties Chief Engineer

as well as

Director-General of Civil Defence.

"By working nineteen hours far as civil defense

the

a

Governor

a day,

I

was able to do both." As

was concerned, Simson managed

to sack the chief of the

more vigorous

leader.

as

He

to

persuade

ARP and replace

him with

tightened

up

the volunteer force,

rearranged duties, produced more mobile canteens, so that

though there were never enough es o

men

al-

to deal with the increas-

ingly heavy raids, the volunteers at least got

some

spells of rest,

and a few creature comforts, during the long hours of digging out bodies or fighting

fires.

Every day Simson reported progress after

to

Duff Cooper, usually

lunch and again each evening. Soon the evening meetings

became more informal, taking place after a quiet dinner at Duff Cooper's house in Dunearn Road. Duff Cooper liked the modest,

efficient soldier,

problems with the

and appreciated the

civil

government, he

fact that, despite his

still

managed

to

keep on

TWILIGHT

A SINISTER

82

speaking terms with the Governor. Usually they dined quietly

with Lady Diana, the toast of London and

men

New

York, the two

taking their coffee into Duff Cooper's study after the

"scratch meal" was over.

Naturally, Simson reported his brush with Stanley Jones to

Duff Cooper, and

two

men

dinner together, the

after the fourth or fifth

talked iar into the night. It was

why he had Simson told him

Duff Cooper asked Simson tackling civil defense.

defenses facing Johore. For the

first

ence he unburdened his soul, telling

on

first

this occasion that

refused the job of

of the urgent

favour things

him

every detail of the dra-

if

you'd prepare

— and

of the

Cooper asked Simson, "I'd take

me

— both military and

a

list

civilian

for

time in Duff Cooper's pres-

matic midnight meeting with General Percival general's obtuseness. Duff

need

of the ten

it

as a

most important

— which you think should

have been done in the past months." This

"list"

was

to

have

a

curious sequel, for Duff Cooper dispatched a copy to Churchill.

Duff Cooper also broached his favorite

topic.

"Can you

someone," he asked the Brigadier, "who could take over ernor and Commander-in-Chief?

He would need some

suggest as

Gov-

sort of

Simson suffered from none

military experience of course."

the loyalties that had affected Dickinson

posed a similar question to him.

He

of

when Duff Cooper had

hesitated for another rea-

and Duff Cooper, thinking he was embarrassed, added, "It would be very distasteful to me to depose the King's representason,

tive.

On

the other

hand

I

won't hesitate to do so

if

we can

find

the right man."

Simson had only hesitated because he could not think of "the right

man." "Like you,

the country.

And

I've

sir,"

been

he explained, "I'm a newcomer so

busy I've refused

all social

to

en-

gagements."

This conversation took place a few days

after General Sir Ai

THE MONTH OF THE BOMBS

83

— on the — Supreme Commander of President Roosevelt

chibald Wavcll had been appointed

suggestion

a

ABDA

(American,

British,

Dutch,

newly formed

Command,

Australian)

comprising forces in the various war theaters in the Far East

The

apart from the Pacific).

the idea of having Wavell

British Chiefs of Staff

(who had up

U.S. troops

effect

if

bad news from Malaya. Nor did Wavell his first

wry comment was,

the baby, but this sibly flattered

is

been Comnew command, no of having

there were to be

relish the

"I have heard of

twins." Churchill,

men

new

more

post, for

having to hold

on the other hand

(pos-

by Roosevelt's confidence), urged Wavell not

shirk this "unenviable

Within

had disliked

on American public opinion

under a British commander

to

command."

a matter of days

new headquarters

(as

to that time

mander-in-Chief India) taking over this

doubt fearing the

of

Wavell flew into Singapore from

his

At nine in the morning, after a meetwho had showed him Simson's "list," he

in Java.

ing with Duff Cooper,

and cross-questioned the Brigadier for an hour, demanding details of every obstacle that had been placed in his way. Then Wavell sent for Percival. It seems that Wavell still sent for Simson,

could not believe that Percival had really deliberately ignored

and the advice of his Chief Engineer. Perhaps Wavell might have wondered if Simson, as an engineer, had been exaggerating, or was biased. At any rate, he said nothing to Percival at first, but reached for his cap and asked the the north shore defenses

General to accompany

him on an

inspection of the island's de-

fenses.

The two generals drove up to the north shore, and of this historic moment when Wavell first realized the shattering truth, we have only the sketchiest account from a letter Wavell later wrote. But we do know that as they got out of their car and stood facing the Straits of Johore, with the mainland a bare

A SINISTER

84

TWILIGHT

thousand yards away, Wavell, in his

own

words, was 'Very

He

shaken that nothing had been done."

much

turned to Percival,

and speaking "with some asperity" demanded why no defenses had been started and asked for some explanation "for his neglect."

The G.O.C.'s answer must have taken Wavell aback, for Percival made precisely the same reply he had made to Simson

—

that the construction of defense

works would have had a bad

on morale. Wavell retorted sharply that the effect on morale would be infinitely worse were the troops on the peninsula to be driven back into the island. And, he warned Percival, the danger now seemed quite possible. effect

One can

sympathize with Wavell's "asperity"

from the danger

for,

quite apart

to the island, British negligence of this sort

hardly calculated to inspire the Americans under his Wavell's

new

job was a big one

— and

it

was

command.

had one immediate

consequence, even as the shaken general drove back with Percival to Fort

new

Canning. There did not appear to be a place in the

hierarchy for Duff Cooper,

who

at this very

moment had

received a telegram. It was from Churchill, and Duff Cooper

who

naturally already

been half expecting

knew In

it.

it

of the

—

ABDA Command — had

the Prime Minister told his old

now at an end. The Prime Minister's return home "by the safest and most

friend that his mission was cable instructed

him

to

suitable route."

Duff Cooper and Wavell were to have a evening,

when Duff Cooper

farewell dinner.

The

invited

to remain.

to

meeting

Dunearn Road

thai for a

situation was discussed at length, and

Wavell made no bones about the

Cooper

him

final

fact that

They both knew

he would

that since

like Duff

America had

generously agreed to allow her forces in the area to serve under British

commander, any

political adviser

would have

a

to be an

THE MONTH OF THE BOMBS American. Yet Wavell a

felt that

useful function even

if

Duff Cooper could

85 still

perform

he were restricted to Malaya.

(It

should be remembered that though events had forced Duff

Cooper

to

remain in Singapore,

had covered

his original terms of reference

a vast area of Asia.)

Duff Cooper didn't like the idea sent to

do

a job. Events

at all.

had overtaken

He it.

had, he said, been

The dinner

party

broke up at midnight after Duff Cooper had given a firm "no."

Duff Cooper went straight to bed, but he had hardly fallen

awoke him. An urgent message had

ar-

rived by hand. Sleepily Duff Cooper tore open the envelope.

It

asleep before a servant

contained a note from Wavell, together with a draft of a

gram which he proposed

to

tele-

send to Churchill requesting that

Duff Cooper's orders to return be canceled and that he be

jumped out of bed hastily, managed to telephone Wavell and begged him not to send the cable. He stressed the fact that, in view of Wavell's new job and the ABDA Command, he would have no position, nor any au-

retained in Singapore. Duff Cooper

thority.

In fact he was not even needed, and could probably do

much more useful work elsewhere. Wavell tried in vain to persuade him to change his mind, but Duff Cooper was adamant. In any event, there was little time for discussion as Wavell flew

back to Java the next day.

on January 13, Duff Cooper left with "an uncomfortable feeling that I was running away" but with the knowledge, which was true, that despite the pleas for him to stay, he could not do So,

so because "if I stayed

I

should be without any power or

signifi-

cance."

Before leaving he sent a final cable to Whitehall expressing

once again his conviction "that there existed a widespread and

profound lack of confidence

in the administration

breakdown might well paralyse the

and

that, as a

fighting services, changes

86

A SINISTER

were desirable."

This was

to

TWILIGHT have significant repercussions.

Within a week, a cable brought the revelation Jones had been ignominiously dismissed.

We

have a fascinating picture of the

that Stanley

moment

Jones's dismissal, because just before this time

of Stanley

an old friend

of

had arrived out of the blue. She was Marjorie Hay, wife of M. C. Hay, government Inspector of Mines, who had joined the volunteers as a corporal. She was well read and she kept an excellent daily diary. and intelligent the Colonial Secretary

—

After midnight, Marjorie, accompanied by

Ah

Lit,

her house-

and made straight for she had cabled Stanley Jones

boy, drove over the causeway from Johore the Colonial Secretary's house, for

(whose wife was in England) asking for a bed.

had never arrived but Jones came gown and found a "bed" for her.

to the

The

telegram

door in his dressing

Life in the Colonial Secretary's official residence in Govern-

ment House grounds had changed visit.

a great deal since her last

Half a dozen other evacuees, including

Hugh

Fraser, the

Federal Secretary, were now all "doubled up," some sleeping under the piano in the corner of the living room, others under

"L" part of the dining room overlooking the grounds. Yet despite this influx, Stanley Jones had managed to keep up some pretense at normality, and though he scrupulously refused to buy any food which was not available through normal sources (for a black market was already springing up in the big table in the

the city) dinner was served each evening with beautiful silver

and

and lace mats, and the vases were filled with fresh flowers. Only the clothes of the diners seemed a trifle bizarre. Instead of black ties the men wore open-necked shirts, and Marjo-

rie

glass

Hay remembers

that

was dressed in a blue

The

on the

first

shirt, shorts

evening, just after a raid, she

and red

slippers.

devastating news of the dismissal overwhelmed the Colo-

THE MONTH OF THE BOMBS There had been

nial Secretary four days later. 4

87 a

heavy raid

at

and Marjorie, together with Stanley Jones and the other had made for the shelter, leaving Hugh Fraser, who

\.m.

evacuees,

said "he couldn't

be bothered," to sleep peacefully in

a

deep

armchair throughout the raid and afterward despite the strident tones of the

all clear.

While the

sirens

were announcing the end of the raid

Sir

Shenton Thomas was returning with his wife from the shelter through the spacious grounds of Government House when a retary

handed him an urgent

Since

cable.

it

sec-

was franked "Top

nobody except the Governor possessed the key to the code and he hastened to his study at the far end of the big downstairs reception room. Before he had decoded the first line he became aware that in Whitehall orders had gone out that somebody should be sacked. But who? As he afterwards confided to a friend, the cable was worded in such a devious manner that until he had reached the very last line, the Governor was conSecret"

vinced that he was decoding news of his

knew

that Duff

Cooper wanted

own

dismissal, for "I

me."

to get rid of

vital one on the last line of But Stanley Jones's most certainly was. There was nothing for the Governor to do but pen a personal note and

His name, however, was not the

the cable.

send the cable

down

where Marjorie Hay,

to the other big

after

house in the grounds,

an early breakfast, was on the veranda

when Stanley Jones walked out

after reading

freshly starched white drill trousers

and

it.

Immaculate

a buff-colored

in

"palm

beach" jacket, Jones's face was grim as he carried the cable in his hand. Without a word he handed

it

to her,

waited until she had

and then announced that Hugh Fraser would be taking over. Even at that moment the natural courtesy of this strange, mixed-up man did not desert him and he told her, "I'm sure Hugh will let you stay on." But his control was only surface

read

it

TWILIGHT

A SINISTER

88

He went

deep.

to see the

Governor, and in tears begged to be

allowed to stay in Singapore.

ARP

warden, but Shenton

He

Thomas was unable

friend. Fearing that his presence ties,

even offered

become an

to

to help his old

might encourage divided

loyal-

Whitehall had insisted that he must be flown out on the

first

available aircraft.

The

dismissal broke Stanley Jones.

During the next few days

he said his few private farewells, including a special "thank you"

Jimmy Glover whose Tribune announced bluntly that the wrong man had been sacked and that Stanley Jones had been made a scapegoat. Jones had much to answer for. He could be awkward and obstructive, as Simson had discovered. Yet those who had to

pierced his aggressive and unpleasant exterior liked him, and Jones's last hours in Singapore left a lasting impression

members ing, the

of his circle.

Over farewell drinks with

on other

Tommy

Kitch-

Chief Government Surveyor, he confided that the rea-

son Whitehall had advanced for his recall was that of lack of

coordination between the services and the

civil

administration.

And though Jones's manner toward friendly, well-mannered men like Simson had been appalling when they met for the first and only time in their lives, many senior civil servants like Kitching

still

were ready

to

felt

that this was the grossest slur of

all.

They

admit that Jones had an unfortunate manner, but many felt, was not his fault and lay fairly

lack of coordination,

and squarely on the shortcomings of the military. Although a question was to be asked later in the House

Commons,

the news of Stanley Jones's recall

made

little stir in

England. The Economist commented,

No

clear report has

come

out, but quarrelling

tions are obviously going on,

of

and recrimi na-

with past maladministration

as

THE MONTH OF THE BO M

BS

89

the background with the Governor, the Colonial Secretary, the

Command,

Military nity

the Civil Servants, the non-official

and the journalists

partial information,

it is

Through

as protagonists.

not

a

pleasing picture; and

seem easy for some Britons in Malaya Malays as allies instead of coolies.

to

commu-

the haze of it

does not

regard Chinese or

Desperately the Governor tried to restore confidence. circular to the

The day

Malaya

Civil Service he declared:

minute papers has gone. There must be no more from one department to another, and from one department to another.

of

passing of officer in a

files

"The announcement is about two and commented the Straits Times acidly. Indeed

In a

for

w^as,

it

by mid-January,

around the Muar River on the west

a half years too late,"

after a ferocious battle

coast, eighty miles

north of

Singapore (in w hich out of 4000 Indian troops only 800 T

turned), British forces

had been pressed back

line stretching across the

re-

to a ninety-mile

southern tip of the Malay peninsula

from Mersing to Batu Pahat.

It

was barely

fifty

miles from Sing-

apore Island.

seems incredible, but even when the news filtered through

It

to

Singapore

—

as

it

was bound

to

do

—

that the Japanese

were

overrunning Johore, the civilian population did not seem able to grasp

its

implications.

Even now, many preferred

to believe

had deliberately retreated to Johore where the clubs) the terrain would be "more favour-

that British troops (so

it

was said in

able to us." Despite the evidence before their eyes

city,

the inces-

bombing, the lack of any serious defenses against

air attacks

dispirited,

sant

wounded

— streams of

— people victories,

troops in the streets of the

did not see these

but more

latest

enemy advances

as Japan*

as a skillful Allied delaying action leading

TWILIGHT

A SINISTER

go

up

to the

moment where

the tide of

war would turn

in Johore,

the battlefield of our choosing.

The

Chinese, however, were far

doubts about what had happened swiftly along the

realistic. They had no Muar. The news traveled

more at

Asian grapevine with the result that suddenly

overnight, as though a secret order had gone out, an event oc-

curred which was to shake the fortitude of white Singapore more

profoundly than any raid.

Every Chinese shopkeeper abruptly terminated the age-old chit system.

down was only

Except in the clubs and some of the big

now

the startling order of the

mean one

thing.

As George Hammonds put

Chinese way of telling us we'd had

stores, cash

day — and it,

could

this

"It

was the

it."

In a city which had lived on credit since the days of Raffles, a

community

in

which even the humblest

monthly, thousands of

men now

literally

out sufficient loose cash to buy food.

clerks paid their bills

found themselves with-

The

situation

acute that the government was forced to start paying

employees twice a month; also offered advances of

up

as

an added incentive

to

S30 to anyone

became

many

of

to stability,

who wanted

to

so its it

buy

food stocks. Inevitably there was a run on food by those of substantial funds.

still

in possession

Indeed the government unwittingly exacer-

bated the situation by urging people to lay in stocks.

Bucker-

idge bought five

pounds of tea, five pounds of coffee, twenty pounds each of sugar and flour, a case of condensed milk and a bag of rice. His wife Lucy insisted that goods like tea and coffee should be

stored

in

tins,

but

everybody seemed

to

have

conceived the same idea and there was a sudden shortage of con-

Buck got hold of some four-gallon kerosene tins, washed them out and eventually got rid of the smell of kerosene by repeatedly swilling whiskey in them, round and round. tainers. Finally

THEMONTHOFTHEBOMBS

Ql

Glover, with the aid of a tribune van, was able to stock his

compound

"shop" in the

at

Dulverton with provisions, and even

acquired special uniforms for

now been appointed heads guard against

theft.

Hammonds and

them up with sticking But while

it

it

who had

Freddy Retz bought some tinned salmon,

coined beef and rice and packed

tennis court, lined

himself

of a small private police force to

it

plaster, after

in old bread tins, sealing

which she dug a hole

with sacking, and buried the

remained possible

in the

lot.

to lay in tinned stocks, there

was a sudden shortage of fresh food. Japanese troops were ready fighting

less

ern Johore with

than seventy miles from Singapore in north-

its

lush market gardens which since time im-

memorial had been Singapore's kitchen garden. fresh food like chickens, fruit

noticeably. these each to

travel

women

al-

and vegetables began

Supplies of to dwindle

In the old days the Chinese cookboys had fetched

morning from still

relied

villages

further afield,

on the

island.

often during

more and more on

Now

raids;

they had

inevitably,

the food from the Cold Stor-

Here strange figures in uniform were now in evidence strolling around the store like military shopwalkers; volunteers who not only had to keep an eye on distracted Asian assistants who

age.

often did not creetly

know

making sure

the prices but were also charged with disthat

no customers got more than

their fair

share.

Yet,

though the shoppers could no longer pick and choose the

food they wanted, most of the big stores

still

carried vast stocks

Freddy Retz, walking down Battery Road, found a choice of a dozen makes of refrigerators. Kelly and Walsh had just received a new shipment of the latest books from

of luxury goods.

England; gas cookers and electrical appliances were "featured at reduced prices" in one store; and with a grim irony, Robinson's

had an extensive display of the

"latest fashions" for

women and

A SINISTER TWILIGHT

92

children; garments at which the penniless evacuees could only stare longingly.

Many women

evacuees and their children were reduced to

They had

liv-

no money, apart from who in some cases the small amounts lent to them by offered the lucky ones a bed. But the more unfortunate were ing out of one suitcase.

little

or

friends,

billeted in hastily prepared dormitories in Raffles College or

where families and

schools,

who had been

their fretting babies,

used to half a dozen servants, had no privacy and often nowhere to

cook even simple baby foods. Few had the faintest idea what

had happened time was to

The

to their husbands.

go out — but now the hot

by swift downpours of drenching even cars were forced to stop. almost unbearable,

it

rain,

only way to pass their

streets

were often cut

sometimes so

And though

the heat in

was the humidity that made

it

mildewed books,

itself

was

really intol-

Everything was dripping wet to the touch

erable.

off

fierce that

—

clothes,

and floors. Never, so it seemed, had the northeast monsoon been so fierce. Some resourceful women

who

salt,

walls

hardly possessed a change of clothing did the only thing

possible

— they took a

taxi or

Club, changed into bathing their clothes in the ladies'

came

out, they

swam

begged a

suits,

lift to

and while

it

the

Swimming

rained washed

changing rooms, then when the sun

after laying out their clothes

on the lawns

to dry.

This

crazy, unfamiliar pattern

which now dominated the

of the civilians in Singapore was complicated

alarming by a

fifth

column

lives

and made more

scare shortly after the introduction

of martial law in January.

Martial law in

the civilian population.

was a precautionary move, and the

Governor

felt

It

that he should

go

to the

itself

hardly affected

microphone and reassure

the population that they need not entertain any fears on account of

it.

Unfortunately, though Malaya had virtually no

fifth col-

THE MONTH OF THE BOMBS

93

umnists, he linked the two subjects together, by saying that

... I signed the proclamation because it was necessary to make certain that evil-doers against the state shall be punished quickly. ... I know you "there

is

no need

for

anyone

men who

will agree that

to worry.

conspire against the state

.

.

.

should

be dealt with properly and quickly." This was an unfortunate choice of words. Although Sir Shenton

Thomas' intention had

merely been to reassure the public that martial law would make comparatively

little

difference to their day-to-day lives, his refer-

ence to evil-doers and conspirators aroused an uneasy suspicion

column was

that the existence of a large fifth

the sole reason for

imposing martial law, and soon hundreds of people were looking nervously over their shoulders.

One morning soon

after this

announcement Hammonds arcup of tea and discovered that

rived at the Tribune, called for a

one of the messengers had been arrested things, of

being a

German

spy.

Angry

— suspected,

of all

at this ridiculous news,

Hammonds drove to a sub-police station in River Valley Road. He discovered that although the Chinese boy had not been officially arrested

he had been seized by a group of angry Chinese,

and was now being manhandled. One waved of the

his

helmet

— one

German-type helmets which Buckeridge had acquired,

and given later the

to

Hammonds

for 'office use."

a couple of days

happen to one of Buck's men, had no alternative but to withthat Buckeridge

same misfortune was

with the result

Only

to

draw every one of the suspect helmets, leaving

his

men

unpro-

tected against falling shrapnel.

On

another occasion, a messenger reported for duty

at the

hands and crying that the police were seizing all the bicycles they could lay their hands on. He begged for a chit to prevent the police seizing his precious machine, the

Tribune wringing

his

only piece of property he possessed in the world.

Hammonds

A SINISTER

94

TWILIGHT

phoned the police. The story was well founded. The military had demanded over a thousand bicycles, and the police had been given power to seize any machine in good condition unless the owner could produce on-the-spot evidence that he could be ex-

Why were

empted.

the bicycles needed? asked

Hammonds. No-

body apparently knew. George gave the Chinese a chit, but also advised him that the simplest way to save his bike was to remove all

the air from the

tires.

Within twenty-four hours the great bicycle fiasco came to an abrupt end when the army, which had originally demanded

—

1200,

"found they had made a mistake" and required only

So nine out of ten bicycle owners could theory only) have their machines back

now

—

if

(in theory,

100.

but

in

they could ever find

them.

By now

woman

virtually

every

was doing some

able-bodied

sort of

European man and

war work. All Europeans reach-

ing Singapore from up-country had to register at a

Bureau where Marjorie Hay "had

Manpower

to confide crudely

my

exact

age to a beauteous young Chinese maiden, at which she gave a

vague though charming smile.

that far." sion,

No man

while for the

I

doubt

if

she could count

to

go or

up

was allowed to leave without special permis-

women who wanted

to leave, there

was an

evacuation committee with priority to those with the most dren. But

me

many women could not make up

their

chil-

minds whether

stay.

—

Some would have gone immediately and Karen Hammonds was one of them except that in some curious manner the word had gone around that it would be like running away. A woman like Karen with a family would have found no difficulty in obtaining a passage. But she and many others felt that

—

they could not ask to go. to

What

they wanted in their hearts wai

be ordered to go, what they needed was an

official

lead from

THE MONTH OF THE BOMBS the government, "useless

was

It

implementing a demand by Churchill that individual — and

to the

sailed

from Singapore

Some were being

RAMC — who it

in

mid-January the Nar-

for Australia half empty.

at the hospital.

worked

also

who

at

the

Philip

of the

Hospital — had

General

plain that he wished to marry her

Bloom

and

that he

wanted

her to go. But Freddy refused, even though as an American zen

it

would have been

hospital,

For she

—

—

r

but by the wide eyes of the Eurasian and Chinese

unteers; eyes

would be

On

easier for her to get a passage.

citi-

was haunted not so much who w orked with her hundreds of wounded overflowing into every nook of the

like others

by the

all

such lead ever came.

pressed to go, including Freddy Retz,

was working full-time

made

No

mouths" should be evacuated.

left

kimda

95

all

which somehow seemed

right in the

Tuesday, January

of their raids,

end

20, the

and eighty-one

if

the

to say that everything

memsahibs elected

plane in the air

—

AA

guns. For the

first

to stay.

Japanese stepped up the intensity

waves of twenty-

aircraft in three

seven flew leisurely over the heart of the city ish

vol-

so high that they

— with not a

Brit-

were undisturbed by the

time Orchard Road was badly damaged.

Tim

Hudson, manager of the Dunlop Rubber Purchasing Company (and a divisional ARP commander) was driving his wife Marjorie to the General Hospital where she worked in the

MAS, and was

opposite Wearne's garage

appeared, looking to sea."

He jammed

the nearest drain.

Hudson

the

first

bombers blue

the brakes of his Hillman and both dived for

But there was barely room

the smelly concrete ditch so

20 yards away.

when

"like silver fish floating in a

Tim

for Marjorie in

ran for the shelter of a

The bombs seemed

to straddle

them.

doorway

One

oblit-

TWILIGHT

A SINISTER

96

Tim, who was lifted across the pavement into the road. He had a vague impression of a body flying through the air, but almost simultaneously two bombs landed either on or near the drain. A third tore a hole at the side of the road, uprooting a lamppost and hurling a car through erated the shophouse next to

the broken plate glass front of a shop.

Hudson groped

his

way

through the fog of dust to look for Marjorie. Three blazing cars

— and next

them was a petrol tanker. A European with his right arm blown off, the stump bleeding, yelled, "Get the bloody tanker away!" Somewhere behind that dust Marjorie must be lying. Tim had to discover her and drag all

but stopped him

to

bombed drain. "For Christ's sake get a move on

her out of the

—

ment," yelled the man; an instant later road, dead or unconscious. this

Tim had

blow up at any mohe had flopped in the

it'll

never driven anything like

monster before. Somehow he climbed into the high cab,

— he never knew — and was a the tanker lurched forward

discovered the switch and crashed a gear in

which one jumps.

it

in

that he couldn't change gears.

of

series of

Something now went wrong, he suddenly discovered

Orchard Road, now

and came

to a halt

the opposite side.

He jerked across

alive with figures, hit

with his front

off-side

the wide stretch

an uprooted

tree,

wheel in the ditch on

Only then did he scramble out and run back

for Marjorie.

The

all

clear

sounded

as

he reached the drain and started to

dig with his hands, dragging out three dead Indians

who were

on top of her; with a tremendous effort he managed to pull them aside and discovered Marjorie, covered with dirt and de-

lying

bris.

Before he even saw her, his hands, scrabbling in the

felt soft invisible flesh,

she was dead. face,

He

and

his first sickening

tore the debris away,

and leaning down,

dirt,

thought was that

uncovered her ashen

tried to pull out the

body from which

THE MONTH OF THE BOMBS most of the clothes had been ripped

97

She did not move.

off.

bottom of the deep trench, but Tim reach it, cupped his hands and threw some in

Filthy water lined the

clambered in to her

face.

After what seemed like an age her eyes suddenly

flick-

— the

blast

She owed her

ered and opened.

that killed the Indians

tected her

A

when

life to

one thing

had thrown them on top of her and pro-

the second

bomb

fell.

few yards away the Cold Storage had had a "near miss."

Jimmy Glover was

outside, waiting for his wife Julienne

had gone in to do some shopping. As

seemed

store

happened

inside;

cloud with

unknown

to shake;

Jimmy

watched, the entire

him something

terrible

had

without warning the whole store started

and

gas,

to

who

to

as the horrified yet strangely fascinated

shoppers watched the visible wraiths creeping toward them, one

screamed "Gas bombs!" It

was not

The bomb had damaged

gas.

the refrigerator room, causing a leak of

knew

and

this,

in a

pandemonium

the pipes leading to

ammonia, but no one

woman

every

ran for the

doors which were always kept closed because of the air-conditioning.

women

Screaming, coughing, spluttering

assistants to

fought with

wrench the doors open. Julienne covered her

face

with a handkerchief and, in acute danger of being trampled underfoot,

somehow managed

to crawl to a side door, forced her

way out and ran stumbling across the road where she found Jimmy. Still choking and gasping she promised him, "From

now on, Some

I'll

do

my shopping at six in

distance

bombs had

away

in the

fallen killing

garden of Cathedral House two

Archdeacon Graham-White's secretary

but leaving Mrs. Graham-White,

untouched.

the morning."

who was

knitting beside him,

In the grounds of Government House, twenty-six

bombs had fallen, killing only Nine alone had exploded in

and some chickens. the Colonial Secretary's com-

a

tawny

cat

TWILIGHT

A SINISTER

g8

pound. Marjorie Hay,

had had no time as blast

blew

all

who had been

to reach the shelter,

the ceiling, showering the

room

in plaster

the veranda,

under which she was

debris.

A

second

The phone

instal-

was damaged, and Marjo-

pajamas, which were drying on a veranda rail "were

reduced by blast to a network of the driver's quarters

ploded

and

blast slicing off the top

its

sheltering.

lation was smashed, the water system rie's silk

but dived under the piano

the doors off their hinges, tore a gaping hole in

bomb landed just outside of the piano

alone in the living room,

and

bomb embedded

slits."

One bomb demolished Another unex-

set several cars alight.

itself in

a corner of the veranda of Gov-

ernment House, and the grounds between the two houses were pitted with scars and craters and littered with torn-up trees. Just as

Hugh

Fraser, the

new

Colonial Secretary, and his

were returning for lunch, the bombers struck again.

pushed Marjorie under the long dining

staff

Fraser

table; the others

man-

There they brown feet be-

aged to squeeze in crowding her uncomfortably. waited for

half an hour — watching a

pair of

longing to

Ah

who was

Lit,

Marjorie Hay's boy,

calmly setting

the table for lunch.

Soon the raiders had trating

on the docks. At

left

them

in peace

Raffles the boys

and were concen-

returned to duty and,

dressed in spotless white uniforms, started to serve the corner, by the synagogue off

Beng Swee

tiffin.

Place, the

Round

dead were

being laid out on the pavements for identification.

There were three raids that day and in the evening Shenton Thomas and his wife visited Hugh Fraser to inspect the damage. Marjorie Hay found them "pleasant, ordinarily devoid of pomposity, but if now they are just a trifle puffed up over their unexploded bomb, it must be forgiven them." Stanley Jones was still waiting for the plane due to take him away from Singapore to

South Africa on Friday;

all

he growled was, "I'm damned

if

THE MONTH OF THE BOMBS I'm going on that Friday plane as ness

brought

relief

if

if

QQ

I'm running away." Dark-

not peace, and Leslie Hoffman spent the

night in the Tribune building, after coping with a linotype op-

who had

erator

arrived at five-thirty with the news that his wife

had been killed and there was nobody

By

to look after the children.

time Hoffman was nsed to such disturbing reports and

this

refused to believe him. "I'd heard about the office boy and his

grandmother's funeral." Putting on a stern front he explained that

was too

it

late to get a substitute

and the man went on night

duty "quite happily."

Next morning the Japanese bombers returned and proved the heaviest raid the city had yet experienced. At

this least

383 people were killed and over 700 wounded, most of the casualties in Chinatown. Over 100 aircraft attacked the Asiatic quarter of Beach

Road where

forty-seven shophouses were de-

Another bomb scored a direct

stroyed.

hit

on Clyde Terrace

market. Scores of people were burned to death

when

a third hit

Havelock Road Market.

George

Hammonds

friend had just asked

snooker fused

(at

was in the Cricket Club

him

if

at the time.

A

he would like a game of "volunteer"

which George professed some

and the man went moodily

skill)

but he had

re-

room

to

off to the billiard

knock a few balls around.

on the padang. The second hit the members' car park by the main entrance, lifting one car like

The

first

bomb blew

a crater

through the side of the building into the billiard room, where the man who only a minute or two ago had

a toy

and hurling

it

asked George to play was killed instantly.

people had miraculous escapes. At the time when the second wave had been on the way, Buckeridge's fire engine had

Many

been en route, Court.

He had

its

bell clanging, to a fire

left

Lucy

to

behind the Supreme

spend the morning with a friend in

A SINISTER

100

Malcolm Road on the

TWILIGHT

outskirts of the city.

Hours

turned to fetch her, racing past Dickinson's big house on Pleasant, then crossing

Whitley Road

he

later

re-

Mount

to reach the winding, hilly

—

There was nothing nothing but a pile of smoldering debris. The house had received a direct hit and his own AFS men told him everybody inside had been killed. At that very moment Lucy ran toward him. "I thought she was a ghost," recalled Buckeridge. She told him that she had been trying to phone but couldn't get through. Just before the bomb fell she had walked down the road to a small Chinese shop to buy a bar of chocolate. It was in this raid that the godown in Keppel Road which was by the docks, used by Tim Hudson to store Dunlops rubber, suffered its first bomb; however, thanks to his foresight, it was hardly damaged, for after the very first raid on Singapore, Hudson had constructed an enormous shelter for 200 inside the godown by stacking up scores of squat, tightly packed bales of rubber, supporting a rubber roof six feet thick with planking. Now, lane on which the house had stood.

dozens of pieces of shrapnel tore the roof into "a piece of lace,"

and

in the next

godown eleven

coolies

were killed outright. But

not one piece of shrapnel penetrated more than a few inches into

own rubber shelter. Hudson was a a spare-time divisional ARP commander remarkable man who throughout these perilous days somehow his

—

—

managed

to

do three

jobs.

In addition to buying rubber for

Dunlops, and controlling his

Tiong Bahru matters.

in

ARP

Chinatown, he

wardens

also broadcast regularly

on

at

ARP

Indeed, he was becoming something of a local radio

hero, for his talks were factual,

down

mising, in direct contrast to the

handed

station with 300

to earth

official

and uncompro-

platitudes so often

out.

In his early

forties,

Hudson was

still

trim and slim enough to

THEMONTHOFTHEBOMBS look well in his khaki

ARP bush jacket.

a thatch of thick, dark

brown

hair,

101

Of average

he sported a

height, with

tuft of

brown

beard which stuck out at an aggressive angle so that he looked not unlike Captain Kettle.

One

feels

he would have been

pleased with the allusion, for he could be aggressive, short-

tempered with fools and his

astute; three qualities badly

needed

in

job which entailed buying 4000 tons of crude rubber a

month from running an

a variety of Chinese (not office staff of

handled the heavy

all

of

them honest) and

twenty, together with 500 coolies

who

bales.

That night Hudson was broadcasting and he dispensed with his normally censored script. Throughout the day he had worked alongside Asiatic AFS and ARP men who toiled without helmets, without food, without drink, and now he spoke passionately and movingly of the Chinese describing the heroic work they were doing, the example they were setting; and painting a word picture of the fatalistic attitude to life and death that made them carry on impassively. He described how after the first big raid he had driven down to Beach Road where bodies

—

lay

untended in the

friends

and

streets,

the

flies

crawling everywhere as

relatives waited for the burial squads.

mind were two

pictures he

would never

forget.

Etched in

The

first

his

was of

Chinese children nonchalantly playing ball while lorries un-

ceremoniously loaded up a grisly assortment of corpses, and a little

boy, running too fast as he chased the ball,

—

them on his smock. And the other picture was of while four grave hoses playing on a burning shophouse

before wiping fire

over a man's

and as he got up, looked at his bloody hands, then smelled the blood on them uncomprehendingly

headless body,

— perhaps

fell

—

old Chinese ladies were carefully throwing cigarette tins of

water on the flames in an effort to help.

Hudson had been

in the thick of

it,

but to others

this big raid

TWILIGHT

A SINISTER

102

had hardly made an impact. Freddy Retz dived into a shelter to find it occupied by several elderly ladies, each with her own cushion, and all occupied with needlework or knitting. Leslie Hoffman and his old father were in their shelter when a polite Chinese arrived and announced that he had come to read the gas meter.

George

Hammonds was at the Singapore who occasionally used to

with the two sergeants Karen.

They had asked him time and

again

a visit to this temple of the Singapore tuan. special passes

— and on

Golf Club, baby-sit for

he could arrange

if

He had

obtained

had been astounded

his arrival

to find a

dozen golfers putting out on the greens, and could hardly believe that

he himself was

drinking a

sitting there, peacefully

gimlet in front of the lake, with the war so close.

There were other evening George Chinese taxi

girls,

visited the

New World

next

with

its

only to find that he couldn't get in because of

the crowd of waiting soldiers

World was

The

strangely peaceful interludes.

Hammonds

— possibly

because

New

the

advertising in the Tribune, "Non-stop dancing and

cabaret and the usual

tiffin

dance on Sunday." This was only

one of the bizarre advertisements now appearing in the Tribune, and as the

staff

which normally handled these

ments had shrunk, George often had staggered

when one came

in:

For

sale

to help out

advertise-

— and

was

— European guest house

Good business proposition. Reply The Goodwood Park Hotel still adver-

in select non-military area.

with bank references.

and tourists. The Alhambra cinema offered Greta Garbo and Ramon Navarro in Mata Hari. The Cathay advised readers to "fling away your troubles and have a fling at love and laughter" by tised itself as

Charmingly

watching their

latest

situated.

Ideal for visitors

comedy.

But the Personal Column

of the

with heartrending advertisements:

Tribune now began

to

fill

THE MONTH OF THE BOMBS Mrs.

J.

IO3

Norman Milne

of Lower Perak and her two children Newton Road, Singapore, and anxious for any

are staying at 27

news of her husband, Sergeant

Can anybody

Ah Chan,

please give

N. Milne.

J.

news

husband

of her

to Mrs.

Wong

c/o Maynards', Battery Road.

Lim

Will Mrs. Jennie soon

as possible, as she

Day

after

is

please write to her sister

now without

a

Lamoon

as

home.

day the Tribune carried a large government public

notice ordering

evacuate a stretch of the northern

all civilians to

— an

advertise-

to the

calm and

coastline "purely for precautionary measures"

ment which was presumably reported back

peace of Chequers, causing Churchill to cable angrily, "I

am

concerned about the fullness of the information given in the Singapore papers.

.

.

.

Why

is it

necessary to state that a mile

on the northern side give everything away about

has been evacuated for defensive purposes of the island?

.

.

.

They seem

to

themselves in the blandest manner. After

all,

they are defend-

ing a fortress and not conducting a Buchmanite revival."

There were other

signs of war. In Singapore the

Cold Storage

and produced, in its common with all other bakers, a new government "health bread" which resembled something like a wholemeal brown loaf. As the army fell back across Johore, some of the governstopped baking

delicious French bread

—

though ment food stores were thrown open to the public when the new s first reached Singapore it was treated as just another rumor. But at night, when Jimmy Glover was in his ofhce, 7

one of his newspaper vans returned from Johore Bahru, the capital of the state, and the driver had two cases of tinned milk

which had been given

to

him.

The next morning Tommy

Government army. Could his

Kitching, the Chief

Surveyor, received a telephone call from the

A SINISTER

104

TWILIGHT

department do a rush job printing new bank notes? Money was

running

short, partly

body was now forced

army needs, partly because everypay cash. Not far away, yet in another

owing to

to

government department, Mr. Eric Pretty was almost simultaneously being asked to consider the possibility of burning $5 million in notes, in order to stop the Japanese

from getting them.

Day by day life became crazier. Tim Hudson drove an old main ARP store headquarters in order to get some

lorry to the

desperately needed picks and shovels. serted.

hours.

ema.

A

sign

the place de-

pinned to the door announced: Back

The man

Two

He found

in charge

had taken time

miles away George

went into the Cricket Club just in time to see

two

Hammonds,

off to visit

in four

the cin-

after locking his car,

and returned Having no key,

for a pre-lunch drink,

men

stealing his car.

they had torn out the floorboards and were already starting the ignition with a piece of wire; as he yelled at them, the car leapt

away, leaving the floorboards on the ground. there shouting after them, until a

not

know

said quietly,

George drove back let.

to

George stood

member whose name he

"Take mine. I'm leaving

Amber Mansions

in

did

an hour."

in a large shiny Chevro-

6 The End of

The Last Days Xot

until this

pear to have

— and,

—

moment

as the battle for

and

last

Johore moved inex-

days of January

— does

it

ap-

dawned on Churchill that Singapore was indefeneven more terrible, that Britain might have to

make what he described island

Mvth

of January

orably toward disaster in the

sible

the

as

an "ugly decision" and abandon the

diverting reinforcements to Burma.

fortress,

For

it

was not until January 19 that the myth of Singapore was finally

exploded for Churchill himself

who had been taken

in

— the one man above

by the grand illusion of the

all

others

fortress that

never was.

The news came

in the

form of a cable from Wavell,

in reply to

one which Churchill had sent him asking, "What would happen in the event of

your being forced to withdraw on the island?"

How many

Churchill posed a series of vital questions.

troops

How

would landings be prevented? What were the defenses on the landward side? Could the "Fortress Cannon" command the Straits of Johore? Was everything pre-

would be needed?

pared?

"It has always

the vital last

need

is

seemed

to

me," his cable read, "that

to prolong the defence of the Island to the

possible minute, but of course

I

hope

it

will not

come

this."

Wavell's reply came on January

19.

It

told

him

bluntly:

to

A SINISTER

106

TWILIGHT

all plans were based on repulsing seaborne on the Island and holding land attack in Johore or farther North, and little or nothing was done to construct defences on North side of Island to prevent crossing Johore Straits, though arrangements had been made to blow up the Causeway.

Until quite recently attacks

Churchill was horrified. In place of the legendary fortress in

which he had believed, there was "the hideous spectacle of the almost naked island." "I ought to have known," he wrote

"My told

later.

known and I ought to have been have asked. The reason I had not asked

advisors ought to have

and

I

ought

to

.

.

.

was that the possibility of Singapore having no landward de-

no more entered into

fences

my mind

than that of a battleship

being launched without a bottom." Churchill's immediate reaction was to dictate a blistering

minute I

to

must

General Ismay for the Chiefs of

me

for a

moment

fortress of Singapore,

with

its

was not entirely to be

To

Committee:

confess to being staggered by Wavell's telegram.

never occurred to

What

Staff

is

.

.

.

It

splendid moat half-a-mile wide,

fortified against

an attack from the northward.

the use of having an island for a fortress

made

...

that the gorge of the

if it

is

not

into a citadel?

and combined with immense wiring and obstruction of the swamp area, and to provide the proper ammunition to enable the fortress guns to dominate enemy batteries planted in Johore, was an elementary peace-time provision which it is incredible did not exist in a fortress which has been twenty years building. construct a line of detached works, with searchlights

crossfire

And

he added

bitterly, "I

warn you

this will

be one of the

greatest scandals that could possibly be exposed."

To

Wavell, Churchill cabled personally:

want to make it absolutely clear ground to be defended, every scrap I

that I expect every inch of of material or defences to

THE END OF THE MYTH

IO7

be blown to pieces to prevent capture by the enemy, and no question of surrender to be entertained until alter protracted fighting

To tress"

among

the ruins of Singapore City.

the Chiefs of Staff he sent his

own

ideas for

how

the "for-

should be prepared against attack:

made at once to do the best possible while the Johore is going forward. The plan should comprise: An attempt to use the fortress guns on the northern front by firing reduced charges and by running in a certain quantity of high explosive if none exists. By mining and obstructing the landing-places where any considerable force could gather. By wiring and laying booby-traps in mangrove swamps

Let a plan be battle in (a)

(b)

(c)

and other (d)

(e)

places.

By constructing field works and strongpoints, with artillery and machine-gun cross-fire. By collecting and taking under our control every ceivable small boat that

is

found in the Johore

field

con-

Straits

or anywhere else within reach. (f)

(g)

(h)

By planting field batteries at each end of the straits, carefully masked and with searchlights, so as to destroy any enemy boat that may seek to enter the straits. By forming the nuclei of three or four mobile counterattack reserve columns upon which the troops when driven out of Johore can be formed. The entire male population should be employed upon construction defence works. sion

is

to

be used, up to

The most

rigorous compulwhere picks and the limit

shovels are available. (i)

Not only must

the defence of Singapore Island be main-

tained by every means, but the whole island must be fought for until every single unit and every single

(j)

strongpoint has been separately destroyed. Finally, the city of Singapore must be converted into a

A SINISTER

108 citadel

and defended

TWILIGHT

to the death.

No

surrender can be

contemplated.

There is a note of grim irony in this detailed list of instructions. At least seven of Churchill's points had been contained in the list which Brigadier Simson had compiled for Duff Cooper, and which Duff Cooper had passed on to Churchill. Not even the order had been changed by Churchill. In other words,

ment

it

had taken Churchill himself

to order Percival to imple-

the precise ideas which the Chief Engineer

had been advo-

cating in vain for months.

The

Chiefs of Staff sent their version of this dramatic minute

though for some unexplained reason they decided

to Wavell,

not to include the

Wavell replied telling

him

final three

to Churchill in the only

the doleful truth: "I

Now

depressing picture." issue:

paragraphs.

am

way he could

sorry to give

— by

you [such

a]

Churchill was faced with a cruel

should the reinforcements already on their way by sea to

Singapore be diverted to Burma? "There was to turn their realized, as

prows northward

he told the Chiefs of

to

Rangoon."

still

ample time

For Churchill

Staff:

Obviously nothing should distract us from the Battle of Singapore, but should Singapore fall quick transference of forces to Burma might be possible. As a strategic object, I regard keeping the Burma Road (to China) open as more important than the retention of Singapore.

That evening he could not make up his mind. In the utmost secrecy for this was a matter which concerned the Australians

— — deeply Churchill

asked his Chiefs of Staff to consider the

problem and meet him

"We

later,

advising them to bear in

mind

th.it

may, by muddling things and hesitating to take an ug\)

decision, lose both Singapore

and the Burma Road."

THE END OF THE MYTH

1O0

By some extraordinary chance the Australians in London obtained a copy of this minute. How this came about has never been explained, but Sir Earle Page, the Australian delegate in

London, promptly cabled

its

on the Australian cabinet was lian premier, cabled

The

contents to Australia. electric.

effect

Mr. Curtin, the Austra-

an angry protest to Churchill.

all the assurances we have been given the evacuation of Singapore would be regarded here as an inexcusable betrayal.

After

Singapore

is

Empire and

a central fortress in the system of the

We

understood that it was to be made impregnable, and in any event it was to be capable of holding out for a prolonged period until the arrival of the main fleet.

local defence.

Even

in an emergency, diversion of reinforcements should be Netherlands East Indies and not to Burma. Anything else would be deeply resented, and might force the Netherlands East to the

Indies to

On

make

a separate peace.

the faith of the proposed flow of reinforcements,

We

acted and carried out our part of the bargain.

we have

expect you

not to frustrate the whole purpose of evacuation.

The for the

phrase "inexcusable betrayal" had an unpleasant ring

Prime Minister, and though he was

that Curtin's message to infer that this fact

had not decided the did influence

him

later to

issue, it

is

maintain

difficult

not

to a considerable degree.

Churchill became very conscious of "a hardening of opinion against the East."

renowned key point in the Far though he had "no doubt what a purely military

abandonment

And so,

of this

decision should have been," ish

was decided

to fight on.

The

Brit-

18th Division (composed of territorial units recruited in

East Anglia), as

it

planned

now on

the long sea route, proceeded to Singapore

— even though by January

naling Wavell,

"We

are fighting

all

26,

we

find Percival sig-

the way, but

back into the Island within a week."

may be

driven

Percival was so worried

TWILIGHT

A SINISTER

110

that he sent a private letter to Wavell, backing

looks as

we should not be

if

is

now reduced

"Our

now on the edge was the moment when

ulation doubled to a

and

more than

total

fighter

of disaster, and, in terms of his-

— the great — should have been a million city

dynamic leader with the soul of

ors

"It

to nine."

Singapore was tory, this

his cable.

able to hold Johore for

another three or four days," he wrote. strength

up

its

normal pop-

rallied

under

Raffles to prepare for the rig-

and street fighting. It is easy to what might have been the thousands

terrors of siege warfare

—

conjure up a picture of

—

up defense works; the civilians dropping everydanger upon them

of troops hurriedly throwing

—

suddenly aware of the

thing to barricade the streets and fortify each corner; the issue of small arms to eager squads of to

defend each

under

street

and each house

docks. Alas, there was

no dynamic

Shenton Thomas

if

to the death; the coolies

leader.

more grim than

is

.

.

.

was

involved.

is

all

very well

total war,

in

be grim, no and China, and

It will

in Britain, Russia

the people of those countries can stand

we.

It

"This

to broadcast,

which the whole population doubt, but no

in ill-assorted uniforms, ready

unloading precious war materials from the

fire stoically

for Sir

men

up

to total war, so can

Europeans, Indians, Chinese, Malays

— we

all

stand

together side by side, shoulder to shoulder."

They were "shoulder their energies

and

how

Who

to fight?

their families

was that

all

if

loyalty?

was to

they

men

to shoulder"

of

Who

to direct

them where, when, feed them? Who would look after was to

left their jobs? all

— but who was tell

The

tragedy of Singapore

creeds were prepared to fight, but the

flowery exortations were never crystallized into direct, unified action.

Troops

as well as civilians

were confused and insecure.

THE END OF THE MYTH

111

For nearly two months they had been fed on pompous pro-

A ruthless censorship

had hidden the truth from them. Never once in the campaign had loyal and patriotic men

nouncements.

had a "father figure"

And now,

at its

to

moment

whom

they could turn and offer help.

of destiny, Singapore was like a storm-

There was no single mind, no direct and control the thousands

tossed ship without a captain.

man cast in who awaited At ill's

this

very

call.

moment

of great urgency

clarion call to action

and the

civil

ment on the

heroic mold, to the

—

it

actually took the service chiefs

government ten whole days

rates of

— and despite Churchto thrash

pay for the desperately needed

War

problem was discussed in the Singapore

the navy labor.

and the

RAF demanded now

Brigadier Simson,

for higher wages, protection

injury.

The

civil

War

on the

First,

Council, where

conscription of

also

out an agree-

coolies.

all

available

Council, asked

during raids and compensation for

government inexplicably

danger pay "was undesirable since

it

insisted that special

would lead

to inflation."

After three days of argument the government agreed to some

wage

increase in so, it

For

took the

now

ity to

rates

and a measure

of compulsion. Yet even

W ar Council another five days to agree on details. r

commanders

the service

spend money on increased

Governor and the three multaneous cables

to

said that they

service chiefs

London

had no author-

rates of compensation.

The

thereupon dispatched

(where, one

would have thought,

a single cable would have sufficed) asking for a free hand to

wages.

On

January

29,

pore announcing the

an emergency

new

labor

(

Bill

was passed

onditions. But

two days later, on January 51, that Whitehall and gave the military authorities a free hand.

By then

the Japanese were

less

si-

it

fix

in Singa-

was not until

finally capitulated

than thirty miles away.

TWILIGHT

A SINISTER

112

In London, Churchill, fearing the worst, asked the House of

Commons

for a

Vote of Confidence on January

the course of his survey of the war, told the

had a great deal of bad news think

highly probable

it

Wrapped up

in this

.

bad news

lately

we

.

.

will

and during

Commons, "We have

from the Far

shall

be

27,

East,

and

I

have a great deal more.

many

tales of

blunders and

shortcomings, both in foresight and action."

Hammonds

George few hours flat

in

heard

later, sitting in

Amber

this

the dark, listening to the radio in his

He

Mansions.

"Churchill's given

up

speech broadcast to Singapore a

the fight.

turned

You and

Karen and

to

said,

the kids are off on the

next ship. Don't argue." Within a couple of days he was told by the government evacuation committee she could go

"when you

can get her on a boat."

To

all

who heard them,

— and the

Churchill's grave

behind them

clear implications

and somber words

— stood out

like a

warning beacon. Within a matter of hours, almost minutes, the

word had gone out along the grapevine. The four troopers which had recently brought in the 18th Division were due to leave. It was now or never. As though compelled by some instinctive urge for survival, the rush

began by

civilians to

war had now become

the larger issues of the

personal, agonizing decisions that

would

whom

crystallized into

affect their lives pro-

foundly.

Tim Hudson when an

was

off

duty that night and was already in bed

old friend rang

him

at

wife was leaving the next day.

midnight and told him that

He

urged

Tim

away. She was on night duty at the hospital, but that she

must

leave, so

his

to get Marjorie

Tim

decided

he got the car out and drove through the

name with

P and O. But to his consternation, when Marjorie returned from the hospital, she refused to go. All through the morning he tried to persuade her blackout to register her

the

THE END OF

MYTH

Till

\

\

>\

but her resistance was so strong thai in the end he was forced to

phone the P and

O

and cancel the

ticket.

"They thought

was

I

crazy."

For others the simple equations of "stay" or "go" was tor

de< ided

them. Leslie Hoffman had already booked his wife

place

a

on the Empress of Japan. Now suddenly he was told officially that in view of the bitterly anti-Japanese articles he had writ ten.

man

he would, with his Asian blood, be a marked nese took Singapore.

him still

his wife.

But

and

the Japa-

permission had been granted for Leslie's old

widowed

father was

him would return? After position had been explained, the government immediately living in Singapore

alone.

the

go with

to

Official

if

Who knew when — if

Leslie didn't want to leave

— he

ever

gave Leslie's father permission to go too.

Knowing

the danger of remaining under Japanese rule, Leslie

drove through the blackout to his father's house and told him to pack.

But he had reckoned without the old mans stubbornness.

His father absolutely refused to budge. "I've lived in Singapore for fifty years,"

he

said.

"It's

my

home, I'm not going

to

be

pushed out by a bunch of Japanese."

and

Leslie

made no

his wife implored, begged, cajoled, threatened;

difference.

Hoffman now

heartbreaking decision.

If

it

found himself faced with a

Singapore

fell,

he could expect no

mercy from the Japanese; he might never again see his wife and unborn child. If he went, he might never again see his father. In the end, he decided to send his wife and stay himself.

During that night there were six Japanese raids, and at dawn George Hammonds received a phone call from the military, telling

him

that

all

service wives had been ordered out, that

was leaving that night, and

it

was time

for

Karen

though "H.E. will make no evacuation order lower British prestige."

as

Karen gulped a cup

he

to

go

feels

of tea,

a

boat

— even

it

would

grabbed

a

A SINISTER TWILIGHT

114

piece of toast and, leaving the children with the amah, set off

with George for the P and

The government had and

O

O

office.

centralized

which had moved

its office

all

from the center of Singapore

dangerous Agency House

to the less

town.

When

off the

main

bookings through the P

at

Cluny,

five

miles out of

they reached the bottom of the long uphill drive road,

George

left her,

promising to return

he had attended the morning military briefing.

as

heart sank.

some order. verges where the main road

In vain police were trying to

Scores of cars lined the grass

met

the drive,

ging

down

some

of

soon

as

Karen's

instill

them askew with their wheels Several had obviously been

into the ditches.

by machine-gun

And

fire.

women and

dren stretched almost out of sight into the

office.

— the

slowness of

it,

hit

winding, climb-

at the foot of the

ing drive, a long, slow-moving procession of

almost biblical picture

sag-

It

chil-

was an

mothers tugging

on the verge of tears, the hurt, brittle words with which they tried to mask their fear, some with children in at their children,

their arms, all seeking the shade of the trees that lined the drive.

The

lucky ones had their amahs with them.

The

winding,

white procession kept to the left-hand side and hardly seemed to

move

as

Karen joined the

women moved more

tail

end.

Down

quickly, aware of a

had reached the bungalow, they had got off.

They almost ran

new

the opposite side

their tickets, they

to their cars, eager to pick

be on their way. Karen noticed a friend further

who wished her good

luck — and

They

excitement.

up up

were

a suitcase, to in the

told her that she

queue

had been

queueing since midnight.

Twice during the

hot, sticky procession

anese air raids forced the

women

toward the

office

to take cover in the concrete ditch at the side of the road. after three

hours

Jap-

and their whispering children But

— during which time George had not returned

— Karen Hammonds reached the house.

In more normal times

THE END OF

MVTH

T11K

~ I

1

had been the pleasant private residence of the P and O chief. It was a big bungalow, with a handsome porch and a Large this

veranda with rattan shades which could be lowered against the rain. sit

Now

it

had

all

the frenzied atmosphere of an evacuee tran-

camp. True, the orchids in their pots were

the trees, but the beautiful green lawns

muddy brown,

still

hanging from

had been turned into a

whilst indoors the two big downstairs

rooms were

bare of the "best furniture," which had been carried upstairs

and replaced with rows of cane chairs. Karen almost stumbled into the welcome shade of the room, and gratefully gulped a long drink offered to her. She found herself facing

two

tables.

One was

for bookings to

Colombo, the

other to Britain. She had already decided to go to Britain, but

even

as she

walked towards the "U.K. table" she remembered

George and her resolve weakened. sign at a crossroads.

I

knew

it

"I felt

I

was standing under a

was immensely important that

I

should not take the wronor road." In the hot, crowded room, distracted P and gled to cope with a horde of heat,

many on

the verge of

they really wanted to go.

mind

It

was typical of

At

that

"Come on now,"

said

officials strug-

undecided officer

and

moment George

gripped her arm, and steered her to the

chief,

this

that Karen should suddenly turn to an

don't really want to go!"

O

women, some half fainting in the hysteria, and undecided whether state of

wail, "I

appeared,

table.

Mr. Frank Hammonds, the P and

kindly and asked for her passport.

he made the startling discovery that

Hopefully George produced

it

Thumbing

had run

his military

and

it

through,

out.

press permit, to-

gether with an identity card which Karen had been issued civil

defense work.

Politely but firmly

the fault of the

must return

to

P

It it

O

lor

bore a duplicate of her passport photo.

was rejected and she was told that

it

wasn't

and O; regulations were regulations and she

Singapore and get her passport renewed.

A SINISTER TWILIGHT

Il6

In tears she set

off

down

the

George four hours (and two

and she was once more able

"way out"

side.

It

took her and

raids) to get the passport

renewed,

end of a new queue. Finally she reached the U.K. table again and got her ticket a slip printed on a duplicating machine with her name on it and a few brief embarkation instructions. She was told to take her place at the

—

that mattresses

would be provided, but not bed

be necessary to take her

some sandwiches

for the

own

first

plate, knife, fork

few hours.

The

linen.

It

would

and spoon and

scrap of paper bore

no berth or cabin number. Karen barely remembered the return journey to Amber Mansions. Her first necessity was to obtain some money for the jour-

now

ney, but by

all

the banks were closed.

In desperation

George phoned the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank, said he was speaking from the Malaya Tribune, and demanded to speak to the

manager. "It created the right impression. " Karen was

promised £25 in

traveler's checks

her way to the docks. She had fore she

had

to

which she could

little

collect

more than an hour

on

left be-

be on board, no time for good-byes, just a few

much had happened, and happy together. Then George was bun-

minutes in the living room where so

where they had been

so

dling the suitcases and the children into the back of his shiny

new Chevvy.

—

Karen was to be far luckier than many others for she had a car, money and a man to help her. But for all too many women and children this was a time of complete confusion. Many did not have the faintest idea what to do. Authority appeared nonexistent.

No

left to their

orders were issued to the evacuees,

own

The government could have used the Company to give them official guidance

devices.

Malaya Broadcasting

and

who were

advice, but not a

confusing period.

word was heard over

the radio during this

Many women who had been

up-country had neither

money nor

papers. Yet

evacuated from

when

they came

THE END OF THE MYTH crowding into the P and

O

office,

"7

they discovered that regula-

tions forbade their obtaining their vital tickets until they

had

been issued with documents which regularized their positions

and gave them the necessary authority

to leave.

Hoffman had been at Cluny helping some friends when a middle-aged woman, distraught and in tears, arrived at the table with the news that her mother of eighty-one had lost her passport when ordered out of Kuala Lumpur, and was now in hospital. Both wanted to leave Singapore and her mother was able to travel, but the old lady couldn't get a new passport beLeslie

cause

man

all

the Japanese photographers had been interned.

drove back to the Tribune, found a

staff

Hoff-

photographer and

was able to send the pair of them gratefully on their way.

Some women were alert enough to bypass officialdom. One young married woman had been living in a remote rubber plantation and had never been near enough to a government office to have her maiden name changed on her passport. On arrival at the U.K. table with a baby in her arms she was told that her passport was not in order. Refusing to accept defeat she walked across to the sistant

"Colombo

who looked

baby. "It's

at the

mine —

table," stood in front of a different as-

"Miss" on her passport and then

at the

— and

sailed

illegitimate," she said curtly

that night.

Many

"useless

mouths" had no idea

sult

in case

it

did not want

lowered Asian morale. As a

re-

Marjorie Hudson was awakened in the middle of the night

by an old friend children.

and

news

government had

The government

agreed to stake their fares home. to publicize this

that the

it

With

who had come from

up-country with her three

three children she should have left weeks before,

was only when she begged Marjorie for money that she

discovered that every shipping agent had been instructed by the

government that in

cases of hardship,

children could "sign" for the

trip.

European women with

TWILIGHT

A SINISTER

Il8

But many women

who had

still

resolutely refused to go. Freddy Retz,

the hospital after twenty-four hours of nearly non-

left

became involved in such an argument with Philip Bloom who had come to fetch her that he stopped his car and they had a blazing row. Finally Philip turned to her. "Well if you stay, will you marry me?" Without a moment's hesitastop work,

—

tion Freddy told

him

that she

was February

And

after that

6.

the subject of leaving again.

tioned

it

would

— on her birthday, which

promise they never mentioned

Two

who never men-

other people

were Dickie Dickinson and

his wife

Bunny.

"It never

entered either of our heads to go." Dickinson was obviously doing vital work, and fusion.

Bunny was

in virtual charge of

Jimmy Glover's French

blank to leave

— "with

Blood Trans-

wife Julienne also refused point-

typical

French vehemence."

So did

Marjorie Hudson, despite more arguments. She "had a job to

do" and that was "Well,

if

spade," said

you

that. insist

on

staying, you'd better

Tim Hudson,

tisement in the Straits Times.

This was a fervent appeal

compound

every householder with even the smallest

growing vegetables. Supplies of in the near future

—

start

to

to start

would be distributed

fertilizers

by the Food Production

government announced through the

tomorrow

go out and buy a

pointing to a bold government adver-

press,

Office.

Eagerly the

"Don't put

it

off

till

growing vegetables today!"

All night and half the

morning the docks and

their approach

roads had been heavily attacked by formations of Japanese twin-

engined bombers with Zero fighter

escorts.

downs

The

in the docks

were raging

fires.

gled with that of burning tar and rope.

had been

killed,

and

as the carloads of

Half the big go-

smell of rubber min-

Hundreds

women

of civilian!

approa< hed Col-

TIM

END

Ol

Quay and moved on along

lver

It

the waterfront,

was ever} woman

for herse

had long since given up an) attempt driven by husbands or servants,

— and then people walked.

ambulances kept

to

marshal the

drove

they could

to

three-mile

*

die-

— not only because of the conon their way,

lorries,

racing to get the military stores away from the

docks and into Singapore Island so the ships could

Japanese sunk the sitting targets

had brought

in the

twenty-six

h

bomb had

landed that morning killing

as the troops sweated to unload military equip-

ment. Newly arrived soldiers of the 18th Division the dockside, lolling

on

They had only

spirits as

before the

now at the Main Empire Dock. One had a hole in

of the big. rectangular

men

sail

— tour huge troopships whu

18th Division, berthed

her iron deck where a

high

and too

at last

freedom, but because the\ dashed head-on with convoys

irmy

ment.

Cars,

traffic.

as Ear as

5

I

ed stream of "useless mouths

Wharf

smoking

ol the

Hie police and the army

t.

just

he

1

dock area were often impassable

late, to

IK)

running while bodies were dug out

their motors ruins.

M VTH

Till'.

their

just

mountains

sat

of luggage

been disembarked, and

about on

and equipwere

all

in

they waited to go forward into an action about

whose outcome they were pathetic

The monsoon

ally optimistic.

rain had ceased, but there were

many who humid

would have preferred a wetting to sultry, steaming, weather that made the sea they faced look tray hurtful to the eyes.

women and them

off,

The

Even- inch between the

i

<>ulcl feel

|<'stling

for their turn to pass through the

O man — one

pencil

who had come

— who

took

lonely

down

steel

man

to see

the heat through shoes.

lowns and the ships

lin<

jammed with gasping women, and

burnished

quays, which were seething with

children and their menfolk

were so hot that one

like a

or just waiting patiently

one small gate where

with

a

-

very small table 2

\

sat a

and one

name, writing

beautifully but with painful slowness in a ledger.

I'

it

A SINISTER

120

Among

TWILIGHT

who were converging on the Reverend Bennitt, driving his wife and daughter who had passes for the Empress of Japan. "The Rev" drove the thousands of people

docks, was

them down

early past big fires

on a

heavy with the

air

Mrs. Bennitt always remembered

smell of burning godowns. the look

and through

British soldier's face as he helped

them out

and noticed her husband's "dog collar." "Bless cried. "Where did you come from?" car

Because they had got there

us,

The Rev was

early,

of the

Rev!" he

able to see

them on board, but somehow he couldn't bear to stay. Neither could Leslie Hoffman whose wife was also going on the Empress. As the women disappeared in the throng every man, as though to hide his feelings, made off as quickly as he could. George Hammonds with Karen and the children reached the docks a little later, for the normal route to their ship had been blocked by a direct hit which had caused a huge arrival they

luggage

fire.

On

their

saw an indescribable scrum of women, children and

— without a

single porter or coolie to help.

Every

man

had vanished as they stood in the "sweaty mess of humanity." With George carrying the suitcases, they moved in the labor force

forward toward the

man

with the pencil

at the rate of a

yard

They were still queueing with other women including Marjorie Hay and Lucy Buckeridge when the

every half hour.

—

siren

—

sounded and George

shambles that would result

felt if

a

cold and sick at the thought of the

bomb

fell

But the

in their midst.

planes passed over, the crowd calmed, and the P and

O

pencil

plodded steadily on as the thin trickle of women flowed up the gangway and into the ship. Like the other men, George could not bear to wait. After what seemed like an eternity of pushing and shoving, carrying Karen's luggage, he saw her and the children past the P and

O

man, and on

to the

gangplank.

Then

they vanished into the big vessel just as the sirens sounded again.

THE END OF THE MYTH George dived

and children

for the nearest shelter,

outside, he left

121

women

but when he saw

and squeezed down by the

side of a

godown.

As the embarkation proceeded,

the

changed into a sunset the color of blood,

hot to

day

suffocating

be followed by the

swift

pink twilight of the tropics and a period of blessed dark-

ness.

Then

ing the

a bright

city, as

big ships a

moon broke

though

last

over the edge of the sky light-

to give the

women

lining the rails of the

indelible picture of the waterfront of Singapore,

now almost deserted. Behind the make out the tall, flimsy Chinese houses more ornate buildings of the merchants

once a great thriving port but scarred docks they could

cheek by jowl with the

And

and the occasional row of palms.

silhouette of the city, sometimes silver, was

with the crimson glow of

Back

here and there

lit

fires.

bungalows the

in their

background, the

in the

farewells to those they loved

better they should go," wrote

had each other eight and

men

wrote their

and might never

The Rev

a half years

own

private

see again. "It

in his diary.

"We

is

have

— eight and a half years

with the best wife in the world and nearly

five

with the loveliest

ever daughter."

In those

leaguered

last

city,

few hectic hours before Singapore became a befour ships

managed

West Point and the Wakefield

to get away.

Two

troopers,

on the Friday, carrying a large number of European women and children and some Asians. Now, a day later, under the tropic moon, the Empress of the

Japan prepared

—

all

women and children and the 900 on board. And as the big ships

to leave with 1500

Duchess of Bedford with sailed out

left

to arrive safely at their destinations

tired troops of the Imperial forces

causeway for the

last

was already doomed.

— the

first

were preparing to cross the

stand in the "fortress" they did not

know

PART TWO

During

Awaiting the Attack

Sunday, February

As

if

to

i

compensate

beautiful.

It

- Sunday. February S for war, the

first

few days of February were

was hot, but the humidity had dropped with the

passing of the northeast monsoon, and

shower washed the grimy, bomb-scarred

poured on an awakening most exciting pecked away

tropical

only an occasional

city.

The burning

sun

world that was always at

Thousands

the rains.

after

now

its

of Java sparrows

upturned earth of the Cricket Club padang;

at the

brightly colored birds flashed

among

the rubber trees.

In the

down to the edge of moon shone out of a jet-

Botanic Gardens, monkeys gamboled almost Tyersall Road.

And

black sky laced with

The

at night a bright

stars.

crossing of the causeway on the night of Friday

day (January 30-31) had been such

a closely

guarded

twenty-four hours elapsed before Singapore

morning

of Sunday, February

and read

1,

pers that the island was invested.

— Satur-

secret that

woke up on

in the local

the

newspa-

Thirty thousand troops had

crossed the 1100-yard causeway, miraculously without a single casualty.

The

last

men

to cross

were the

Commanding

Officer

and the pipers of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders,

way from the Siamese frontier, and

had fought every inch

of the

had by now been

but de< imated.

all

faded away at 8:15 a.m. on

who

As the

skirl of the

the Saturday — when

the last

pipes

man

was

TWILIGHT

A SINISTER

126 safely

on the

— the causeway,

island

which was 40 yards

wide, was breached. Railways, water mains, lock gates, boulders

weighing a ton or more were blown sky-high, and when the dust had cleared, the water was racing through a gap of 60

feet.

This had been the actual moment — twenty-four hours — when the of Malaya had Singapore realized

be-

fore

battle

it

And

ended, and the siege of Singapore begun.

yet, in the first

few beautiful days that followed civilians hardly realized the difference in their lives, for this was the brief interlude between

and

siege

assault.

The

Japanese had reached the causeway, yet

they needed time to regroup and prepare to that civilians

who

pore glittering with tus

on the

island, so

lived through this lull before the storm seem

remembered not

to have

fall

so

much

staff officers,

the daily

bombing

or a Singa-

but in retrospect a strange

hia-

between two episodes of a tragedy.

It must have been a strange moment of time, for as the British and Japanese prepared for the battle, the opposing armies, with

a bizarre irony, could even catch the occasional glimpse of each other.

Separated by

little

more than

a thousand yards of water,

British troops could at times plainly see Japanese soldiers walk-

ing about on the other side of the

Straits.

It

seemed wildly im-

possible that this ''peace" could ever be interrupted, that the figures they

could clearly make out were not law-abiding citizens

of Johore.

When

General Gordon Bennett visited his forward

Australian positions he looked across the Straits and saw a Japanese all

staff

car drive along the waterfront.

the world as though

"had a long gaze

To

An

officer alighted, for

war were a thousand miles away, and

at the Island."

the people of Singapore, this was the classic beleaguered

citadel of military history

—

stoutly defended, well prepared for

siege warfare and,

all,

surrounded by Churchill's "splen-

above

did moat" across which, given a determined defense, no enemy

could hope to force a passage.

At

first

Europeans compared

AWAITING THE ATTACK

127

their role in history yet to be written with the embattled de-

fenders of Malta and Moscow, not realizing thai the circumstances

were completely different —that Malta was an impreg-

nable

fortress

honeycombed

with

rocky

shelters,

whereas

Singapore was a shelterless, swampy island; that Moscow was the heart of a country whose citizens preferred death to dishonor,

whereas Singapore was a hotchpotch of many races with hundreds of thousands of people

who

hardly

knew what

the struggle

was about.

— or — thought they knew of the preparations which had been made — preparations which seemed such a moment Their

illusions

were heightened because everyone knew

for just

as this

There was food enough for six months. Singapore's tw o largest cinemas, the Capitol and the Pavilion, together with other caches, had been turned into food dumps. Nine thousand cattle had been imported from Bali for slaughtering; there were 125,000 pigs on the island. Milk rationing would

adequate for any

siege.

T

be unnecessary

as the tw

r

o large dairy herds normally kept in

Johore had crossed the causeway

late in

January

—

in fact they

could be seen grazing by the roadsides or on the golf course.

Hong Kong had this

capitulated because

it

could never happen in Singapore.

million gallons a day normally

been

lost,

but the

pumped

had had no w ater r

— but

It

was true that the ten

in

from Johore had now

island's three reservoirs assured the popula-

tion of seventeen million gallons a day

— more than the island

was using under war conditions.

To

the civilians in those early days, the feeling was one of

unqualified optimism.

What

the military felt

— or did — was,

however, a very different matter.

would take the Japanese "at mount an offensive against the island, and now

General Percival reckoned that least a

week"

to

it

A SINISTER

128

he and his

staff officers set

menting an

TWILIGHT

about the complicated task of imple-

meet the three Japanese

overall plan of defense to

divisions across the Straits of Johore.

Singapore Island, which Churchill had insisted "must be fought for until every single unit and every single strong point

we have seen, roughly the Wight, diamond shaped, twenty-six

has been separately destroyed" was, as

and shape of the Isle of miles across and fourteen miles from north size

much

undulating,

of

it

was

to south.

Generally

time covered with luxuriant

at that

jungle or swamp, together with rubber and coconut plantations

and many orchards and small market gardens. In contrast

to the

massive granite mountains of the mainland, the island boasted

nothing higher than two

Timah was

the center, of which Bukit

hills in

the largest, rising to just under 600 feet.

The

vast

majority of the population was concentrated in the city at the island's

southern

tip,

while the few villages were clustered

around junctions dividing the excellent seventy-two miles of coastline, creeks

or rivers,

There were

much

scarred with small

it

no defenses apart from those protecting

The two northern

the naval base from seaward attack.

facing Johore across the Straits

ered to his horror

or near the

frequently edged with mangrove swamps.

virtually

causeway — were

of

roads,

—

east

and west

virtually undefended, as

when

shores

of the shattered

Wavell had discov-

inspecting the area with Percival early

in January.

— and preoccupation with not up— morale seemed obvious had been bad enough,

Percival's indifference

setting

for

that an attack

even more after

his

difficult to

WaveU's

understand

fateful visit.

and Wavell was, have thought

it

must be launched from the mainland, but what

it

after

all,

is

why

Percival did nothing

Wavell had plainly shown in

is

his anger,

supreme command. One would

a simple matter for

him

to

have ordered Percival

AWAITING up

build

to

ATTACK

Till

120

the defenses on the northern shores

—

in

words, to implement Brigadier Simson's suggestion^ instead of "ordering" he "urged,"

parently,

Against Japan little

says,

Eoi

as

other

But, ap-

The War

"Despite considerable pressure from Wavell

more was done

until the 83rd [January]

when an

outline

plan for the defence of the island was issued, followed by a more detailed one

on the 28th. IK

that time

it

was too

late, for

(

ivil

labour was no longer available."*

The

truth

is,

of course, that Percival, despite his weak, unpre-

possessing appearance, was a

and

as

man

of peculiar stubbornness,

long as books are written about

on

speculate

combine

n g: pore, historians will the character of this military leader who seemed to

the opposites in

all

ble personal

charm

if

human

Si

1

nature.

one met him

He had

socially,

considera-

but an irritating

stubbornness in front of a military map; a completely negative, colorless personality

when

dealing with a group of men, but a

career at staff college which had been brilliant.

He had

an

abil-

work out military schemes which looked excellent on paper, but which somehow frequently got bogged down in pracity

to

tice.

(as

Even

his detractors

admit he had a penetrating mind but

Wavell and Simson had discovered) he did not always take

kindly to the advice of others.

When

Ian Morrison of

The

Times met him he found a man who "had a mind that saw the difficulties to any scheme before it saw the possibilities." He would argue endlessly to gain a point (his point) and it is possible that Wavell — clearly anxious — was talked out of convk

to fortify the

tions

his

northern shores

and retired exhausted from

the verbal battles. • 'Little

island

provision had been

itself.

Even when

made

against the possibility of a struggle on the 'H\ obvious as the Jap-

this possibilil

anese forces swept into Johore. nothing uas undertaken which reflected the British Prime Minister's demand for heroic measures." The Japanese Thrust (Official

Australian

War Hisu

A SINISTER TWILIGHT

130

On

paper Percival could match the Japanese strength, for he

—

but this had approximately 85,000 men to defend the island were baseline least noncombatant, was on paper only. At 15,000

unarmed

The

troops.

infantry battalions (thirteen British, six

Australian, seventeen Indian,

two Malay, plus two

British

one Australian machine-gun battalions) with supporting

and

artil-

and 152 AA guns, were in a pitiable state. Six of the British battalions had only recently landed, the other seven were under strength. The plight of the Australians was even worse. All exlery

cept one battalion had been

reinforcements.

Some had

weeks of enlistment.

"The

Many

"made up" with many untrained sailed

from Australia within two

hardly

knew how

to

handle a gun.

decision to select these untrained Australian reinforce-

ments

for

Japan.

Malaya was unfortunate,"

The

says

The War

Indian units were also in a woeful

Against

state, after bear-

ing the brunt of heavy fighting on the peninsula. Their losses

had been appalling,

many good

so that all except

raw, untrained troops.

one battalion included

There was a desperate shortage

of

officers.

men on whom

These were the

Percival could call to face the

Japanese across the Straits of Johore, which varied in width from seven hundred to shita

five

thousand yards, and where General Yama-

was assembling three crack Japanese divisions

perial Guards, the 5th

and the 18th

divisions

— The Im-

— the

18th hav-

ing been landed unopposed in southern Johore. All were fresh

and jungle-trained. They were backed up by strong armored forces, including tanks. They also had over 200 aircraft against one token squadron of Hurricanes all that was left of the

—

RAF. As Percival saw

He

it,

he was faced with two broad

could either spread out his

men

alternatives.

along the coast to prevent

the Japanese landing on the thirty miles of northern beaches, or

AWAITING

ATTACK

ill E

1

alternatively he could hold the coastline only thinly large reserves of troops to fight the battle

Though admitting

itself.

forces at

that

our disposal ...

morale

to build

effect of a successful

and keep

on Singapore Island

wis not possible with the

*'it

defence," Percival opted for this

ft]

up

first

a really strong coastal

alternative because "the

Landing would be bad both on the

troops and on the civil population."

No doubt

made

Percival

knew he did not have

how

triguing to note

on a

dec ided

because he

the forces to

implement

it.

But

Percival had changed his mind, for

strategy for

felt it

the right decision, even though he

which he did not have

would be good

it is

in-

now he

sufficient troops

for morale; yet

only a

month

had refused Simson permission to erect fixed the very same spot bee ause he felt it would be bad

previously, he

de-

fenses at

for

morale.

Anyway,

this

was

his

broad

strategy,

and the island was

split

The

18th

which covered the entire

into three areas

coastline.

and the 1 ith Indian Division were placed in the Northern Area which extended along the north coast, from Changi in the east to the causeM <\. Cordon Bennett's 8th AusThis tralian Division was deploved in the Western Area. British Division

stretched from the River Jurong in the south (but west of Sing-

and including ti way in the north. The less important Southern Area was entrusted to the fortress garrison together with locally recruited troops. There was also a apore

city)

up

to

small Reserve Area in the

One

thing

the forces.

is

Two

c

entCl

i

>t

immediate! v apparent about the disposition of divisions had been allocated to the area east of

the causeway, but only on<

way.

the island.

This provides yet

trca

try

anotfa

way in which Percival Waved. For Waved (rightly

west of the causeinstance of the

ainst the advice of as

it

turned out) was convinced

132

A SINISTER TWILIGHT

that the Japanese

would

attack the

the other hand, seems to have

would had firmly suggested

northa^

had an idee

coast.

Percival,

on

fixe that the Japanese

attack the northeast coast, despite the fact that Wavell

newly arrived troops of the

that the fresher,

18th British Division should defend the northwest shore, where

he was certain the Japanese would be most likely

to attack.

no doubt partly influenced by the fact that 400 one Japanese troops had landed on the island of Pulau Ubin Percival was

—

of the

many outlying

islands. It lay

on

this

between the northeast

The Japanese met

tip of

no resistance chunk of rock surrounded by muddy shores, and which

Singapore and Johore.

virtually

could never, by the wildest stretch of imagination, have been Japanese springboard for invasion. Even

used

as a

told

Wavell (no doubt

at great length) that

so,

Percival

he believed the

Japanese would attack east of the causeway, and in the end, Wavell, probably with a sigh,

that

felt

'

'since

Percival

.

.

.

seemed convinced of the probable direction of the enemy attack" he had to allow the man on the spot the final say in the disposition of his troops.

Possibly

it

were placed

did not

— the

make much

British troops

difference

were

soft after

whereas the Australian contingent contained troops

where the troops weeks

many

at sea,

untrained

— but what did make a difference was yet another

traordinary decision which Percival shoulders.

It

was one which was

now

to

took upon his

ex-

own

rob the Australians of

even the slim chance of defending their coastline. So obsessed

was Percival with his belief that the Japanese would attack the northeast coast, that without warning he suddenly ordered Brigadier Simson's Royal Engineers to shift vast quantities of defense material

from the northwest coast

All Simson's military training,

all his

to the northeast coast

knowledge of military

engineering, cried out against the futility of the order.

For

A

W AITI NG

rn

E

ATTACK

1 i

— though he had received

weeks

i

DO direct orders from Percival

— Simson

had been quietK "stocking" the northwest shores oi Singapore Island, which "everybody, including General Wavell, had predieted

barkation

main danger point owing

as the

faeilities

available

the

to

enemy on

booby

Lyon

traps,

lights,

landing points, barbed wire of

drums

all sorts

opposite

the

Johore shore." At suitable places the engineers had of mines,

good em-

to the

left

stoeks

of petrol for fires at

and

Simson had

pickets.

even coneeived the idea of stripping the hundreds of dereliet ears in the city of their

headlamps and

batteries to light

up

the

water in the killing areas.

Abruptly Percival ordered the Kngineers quantity of materials.

was

difficult to

and

their staffs

To

Simson, the order "was incredible.

follow the minds

on the subject

<>{

all

if

the responsible leaders

problems

to the Japa-

they wished to launch an attack on the island.

had previously reconnoitered the Johore shores both

He had

causeway.

facilities

ing men. tanks, stores, for a

major

and road

No

attack.

marshes and mangrove iwampi

access for

such

had

to be

moved — in 5.

it.

Everything

By a stupendous moved and dumped east of the

double-quick time.

the defense stores weie

causeway by February

embark-

facilities ex-

east of the causeway.

Vet there was nothing Simson could do about

effort, all

Simson

sides of the

discovered that only to the west of the cause-

way were there reasonable isted in the

It

ol defeiM e w»>iks." For the north-

east coast did, in fact, present insuperable

nese

to transfer this vast

that night, however, reports ol

During

heavy Japanese troop concentratio

rig

the northwest coast

reached Percival, and the following morning Simson was told to

move

all

the material back

this time.

then, of course,

it

was too

late.

in IVrc aval's mind at make sense. This was eviNothing he did seemed to conference at which Gordon Bennett (who found the

It is difficult to

dent in a

1>\

know what

ivas

going on

A SINISTER

134

TWILIGHT

meeting "depressing") was present. appoint a military adviser to the

"who should be could force the Percival

the strong

civil

Bennett

civil

they should

government

man behind

— someone

who

the throne, one

administration out of

seemed impressed with the

felt

its

peacetime groove."

idea, and, waiting until the

other

officers

had departed, he drew Gordon Bennett

asked

him

he would take on the job. Bennett said that he

would

if

aside

and

—

become Military Governor of Singapore though he did agree to become military adviser if Shenton Thomas would "act under his instructions in all things." Nothing came of Gordon Bennett's idea, so Percival considprefer to

ered the alternative of taking over complete control himself.

He

was, after

in military

all,

command, and

course would have been perfectly proper

under

siege.

Thomas was

historically, such a

now

the "fortress" was

His excuse for not doing so was pathetic. Shenton the King's representative, and he, Percival,

knew

nothing of the organization of the various government depart-

He

ments.

diminish

Of

it.

all this

ance.

might, he said, even increase confusion rather than

the civilians were, perhaps mercifully, kept in ignor-

There

from them

was, however, one fact

— the

from two huge

gushing, writhing, black plumes of smoke

fires far to

at the naval base,

which could not be hidden

the north.

They were

and they had been burning

jumped

to the natural conclusion that

scored two lucky this

itself.

hits.

But

slowly,

The omiand now started

At

first

people had

Japanese aircraft had

rumors began

to spread that

was not the work of the Japanese, but of the

seemed absurd, of course,

dumps

for days.

nous clouds had drifted across the green island to darken the sky above the city

the oil

yet the stories persisted,

British.

It

and when

AWAITING THE ATTACK Hammonds

questioned

his military friends

l

who could normally

be relied upon to help him. they closed up like clams

him

suddenly, the truth was revealed to

,

in

— until

an off-the-record

press conference.

The eign

briefing

room was crowded. Local newspapermen,

correspondents — with

Cathay Building where

ground

American and Australian

British.

— jammed

newspapers predominating

staff officers

the stuffy

room

Hammonds had been warned that be historic. The briefing officer gave a up Hammonds)

in the

sometimes held their backthe meeting

talks.

promised to

for-

few prelimi-

nary remarks ("a softening

process," whispered the corre-

spondent next to

before he finally

came

to the

point.

There had been words) about the

a lot of speculation, he said (in so

fires at

the naval base.

came suddenly of

room

he should put

Hammonds

tough newspapermen beimpending drama, the sense

full of

and aware

silent

felt

Suddenly, as

the correspondents "in the picture."

always remembered, the

He

many

of

momentous news. None, however, could have guessed

whole truth — that not only had the

British fired the oil

the

dumps,

but that the entire naval base had been evacuated by the Royal

Navy.

A

note of despair at the useless waste creeps into George

Hammonds' the defeats

notes.

— did

I

"Never throughout ever feel such

a

all

the fighting

—

sense of utter dismay,"

wrote. "It seemed impossible that this naval fortress which cost

£60 million and taken seventeen

been thrown away

like this

been excavated when flected;

hills

six mil lion

had

where eight million

<

l><

ubii

had

<>t

a fight for it."

cubic feet of earth had I

feel

he

years to build could have

— without even

This was the place where

all

aside

and

a river de-

earth had been used

to

reclaim swampland before construction had even been started.

Out

of nothing a vast

and mighty base had

arisen, with pewter-

A SINISTER

136

colored

oil

TWILIGHT

tanks holding a million gallons of fuel, with machine

underground munition dumps, dry docks, graving docks, giant cranes, a floating dock so big that 60,000 men could stand shops,

on

its

bottom, twenty-two square miles of deep-sea anchorage.

There was even

a self-contained

town

for thousands of

with cinemas, churches and seventeen football Britain's great

and

it

had been built

just such a

moment

for

This was

fields.

symbol of naval dominance in the

Pacific Ocean,

one reason, and one reason

of destiny as Britain

now

faced.

this story of equivocation, of ineptitude, of the

men

only; for

And

myth

in

all

so assidu-

ously fostered, nothing can match in grim irony the fact that

moment

when

the

ueless

and impotent.

Worse was

of destiny finally did arrive, the base was val-

yet to come. After a series of probing questions the

briefing officer was finally forced to admit that the base had in

been evacuated before the troops had crossed the causeway. "But I thought they'd been withdrawn to the island to defend

fact

the base?" one voice asked.

There was no answer. Nor could

there be, for the navy had pulled out

thousands of pounds

w orth T

— leaving

the Japanese

of equipment.

Over the next few days George Hammonds was able to piece together the incredible chain of events which had brought about this catastrophe effect

—

a catastrophe that

on the morale

of troops,

was

from

to

have a shattering

whom

the guilty secret

could not be hidden for long.

Though most ary, there still

had gone by mid-Januhundred men and a labor force

of the few naval vessels

remained

several

some thousands, and it appears that on January 2 the Admiralty in Whitehall had warned Rear-Admiral Spooner, the Naval Commander-in-Chief, to get his skilled personnel many of them civilians away from the base. When the army had

of

1

—

—

been ordered

to

withdraw

to the island,

Spooner had decided

to

AWAITING rHE ATTACK transfer the entire

Singapore. This

European Naval and

1 ;

civilian

move was made on January

dockyard

g8; by

stall to

January 31,

however, Spooner had done move; even before the island had

been invested, he had unaccountabl) sent most of them lon, leaving

to Cey-

only a few to give technical advice to the army unit

which would be responsible because the army

for the

work of demolition. Perhaps

"being

felt bitter at

left to

carry the baby,"

senior officers quietly let slip another astounding bit of news.

For some extraordinary reason. Spooner had not mentioned either to that

al lv

Malaya

Command

or even to General Percival person-

an elaborate scorched earth scheme, which should have

been carried out by the naval dockyard

Not only

over to Percival's troops.*

had been handed

stall,

but without telling

that,

anybody, the silent service had silently disbanded

—

its

invaluable

danger areas

a force used working and which the army would have welcomed, Not a word of

civilian labor force

had reached Percival

to

— but when

in

finally

this

did reach him and

it

his senior officers, their natural conclusion

was that Whitehall

and the navy had already given up the

In his diary Gordon

Bennett

summed

it

up

in his

manner, "This demolition the It

mainland

is

.

hara<

(

.

istk Australian forthright

even before

.

reflects the lack of

an admission of defeat."

tei

fight.

confidence in our cause.

Later,

was to emphasize: "The hurried

know

.

.

.

The War Against Japan

eva< uation of the Base left

unfortunate impression in the minds of not

we withdrew from

many

soldiers

who

an did

that the Admiral, although perhaps precipitately, was

acting under instructions."

We first

have a picture of the bewildV

troops

when they stumbled

-

ne that greeted the cited acres of this

command was assumed !>\ Percival f>nt despite 'Ik- urgency of the no overall control of both dvil and military affaiis was established."

•"Operational situation

<>n

The Japanese Thrust.

A SINISTER

138

TWILIGHT Hammonds

once-thriving nerve center, for George

visited the

who

base with some correspondents, including Ian Morrison,

described

it as

"my most

tragic

memory

of the

whole Malayan

campaign." Lolling Indian sentries at the gates waved them inside with-

out bothering to inquire what they wanted.

They walked

past

deserted barracks which had housed a labor force of 12,000 Asians; near the

was

littered

empty administration

with equipment

offices

— everything

an acre of ground from shirts and

truncheons to gas masks and wooden lockers. that could

order;

lift

out an entire gun turret was

enormous

The

great crane

still

in working

ships' boilers stood in the boiler

shop awaiting

the Japanese Navy, together with lathes, spares for seaplanes, shelves of radio equipment, scores of boxes of valves; one ware-

house was

filled

with huge

causeway George could

coils of rope,

still

In the

wire or cord.

upper works of the giant

see the

way from England. To Hammonds it looked as though every man had bolted at a moment's notice in panic, and though this was not true (and much of the equipment was valueless to the Japanese) condifloating

tions

dock that had been towed

all

the

on the base did give that impression.

A football still

lay by

the goalpost of one pitch. In the Mess Hall was a table of halffinished meals.

The cooking

boxes of cutlery and

plates,

galleys

were crowded with opened

and pans

— some

still

dirty

—

to

feed thousands, as though a hurried meal had been interrupted.

In the barracks half-cleaned belts and buckles lay on beds. "It was like the

Marie

Celeste/' Flies

moved

unmade among

busily

the edible rubbish, swarming away in angry black clouds as the rats

came

out.

Scavenger dogs

— lean and hungry and mean —

fought over morsels of food or scratched and bit at closed doors

behind which they could smell food.

A

party of troops arrived in four trucks on a "legitimate

AW A scrounge."

Hundreds

i

i

\

i

(.

i

ATTACK

r

ii

of tropical shins

were tossed unceremoniously into one

men who had treat;

I

and shorts and boots Lorry

—

to

warehouse stacked with

a

bully beef, tinned fruit and cigarettes, and as one

pocket with fags he turned to

mey! In ries,

It's

like

fact, as

1

George was

oil a

warm

to discover, the

each making three trips a night lor left

filled his

said, "Bli-

body."

army needed 120 lora week, to remove the

behind by the na

the siege of Singapore had indubitably started

would have been

re-

eases of

man

lammonds and

I

pinching the rings

portable equipment

Though

be used by

hardly changed their clothing during the long

other soldiers raided

ftQ

difficult for

newspaper correspondents

anybody

still

to

deny the

— and — those

it

fact

remaining on the island

now

re-

ceived an incredible order: on no account must they use the word siege in their cables. To the amazement of Hammonds, the word was also banned from the columns of the local press. The word "siege," said the briefing officer solemnly, was bad for local morale. The word "investment" should be used instead. However, after some heated argument, the spokesman did finally give the irate newspapermen permission to say that Sing-

apore was "besieged."

what was the

difference, while as Ian

his elegant prose, "it

tain English verb

was

but

Hammonds

Bewildered, George

in<

asked

Morrison pointed out

in

onsistent to permit the use of a cer-

to den\

noun which

us the use of the

cognate with that verb, for possible

ill

effects

is

which that English

noun might have on a population whose native tongue was not English." (In fact, when Morrison cabled to The Times the cenbut inadvertently put in a word sor struck out the word that does not exist, so that Morrison's (able reaching London started

"The besiegement

ipore

began

.

.

.")

A SINISTER

140

TWILIGHT

Relations between the press and the censors had been deterio-

— understandably they frequently do — but suddenly they took a turn the better

rating for weeks

times of stress

in

as,

for

with the appointment on the

War

Council of

Rob

Scott, a

young Scotsman whose propaganda skill had long been a byword in Asia, but whose opportunities to look after the press had until now been limited. Scott had been appointed Director of the Far Eastern Bureau of the Ministry of Information just before the Malayan war. He was thirty-five, with "a broad open face, a dark moustache, very Scottish both in voice and manner." A man of tireless energy, he was always accessible. But though his job had been to organize propaganda, and though he was known to every newspaper correspondent, he had not been able to help them as much as he would have liked in such problems as censorship. Now, however, Scott was suddenly asked to become a member of the War Council, sitting together with the Governor and the commanding officers of the three forces. Such was his personality that within a few days he was threatening

to resign

from the

control over press

War

Council unless he was given

full

and censorship. He was immediately granted

the powers. It

but

was a small thing that had caused Scott to become so angry, it

was the

sort of ridiculous incident that

vast gulf existing ple.

A

emphasized the

between officialdom and the ordinary peo-

United Press correspondent, Harold Guard, had

ten a homely

little

story

about

writ-

his everyday life in Singapore

— how he had done his own washing in his bombed house, how

.

he had bought a leg of pork and cooked

it.

It

was the

sort of

"human interest" story that thousands of women would read. The censors, however, thought otherwise. Who could possibly be interested in reading about pork in grave times like these?

There was something

sinister,

something mysterious, about

this

AWAITING THE ATTACK seemingly innocuous ligence.

They

article.

It

was passed on

141 to Military Intel-

too did not like the look of what must surely be

The

an elaborate code.

upshot was that Guard was brusquely

ordered up to Fort Canning for interrogation and told could send no more messages city

— until

Rob

a furious

he

any sort out of the "invested"

of

Scott heard about

rescinded and then personally

th.it

it,

had the decision

demanded more powers.

Friction

between the press and government diminished from that moment.

To

new hazard was now added

the civilians a

daily

bombing. Early

ing artillery

in

February the Japanese opened harass-

from the mainland. Long-range guns

fire

high ground in Johore

w ere T

This was unlike anything

guns

unopposed Japanese loads.

ome

for granted,

had ever imagined

fatalistically

where the bombs were

take shelter except

Xow

t ,

w hen the

away

after

from the

Few bothered

to

Lives.

There was something almost

about this sound which they had never heard before

low whine

in the

became

a wild,

it

Likely to fall.

tell

however, an utterly different and alto-ether more men-

inhuman until

dropping

raiders were directly overhead.

T

acing element entered their

—a

thud

were launched with an almost

raids, too,

clockwork punctuality, and the civilians could whistle

used to the

to take the dull

e\en the regular sight of

aircraft lazily peeling

The

on

itv as well.

bombs; they had learned

of the anti-aircraft

bomb

<.

else the civilians

or expected. In a way, they had bet whistle of falling

sited

able to bring within range not only

the island's four airfields, but the entire

their

to the ruthless

cli^t.i

i

:<

e

that slowly crept

up the

screaming noise culminating

scale

in a pierc-

And no one knew where the noise would end. Marjorie Hudson had just driven her husband to Dunlop's

ing crescendo.

godown, and was queueing

for her butter ration in the

Cold

A SINISTER TWILIGHT

142

when

Storage

the

first shell

landed in Orchard Road. "At

first

nobody had any idea what the sound was," she remembered later, "the noise seemed to hang in the air for an age. I felt though

as

been hypnotized

I'd

—

— then a soldier shouted,

I

can't describe the terrible

and the queue scattered and I dived under a counter. I can't remember what happened to the others." Freddy Retz heard it too. "At first I thought it was an automobile revving its motor."

scream

Now,

'It's

a shell!'

were being stepped up. Using four

too, the raids

re-

paired airfields in Johore, the Japanese were sending not only

dive-bombers but fighters to cruise low over the

gunning the

streets or

bombs which

city,

machine-

dropping showers of small anti-personnel

burst in the air into hundreds of tiny, sharp frag-

ments of shrapnel. The pockmarks of war showed more and more. Hardly a street did not have

mark

dusty ruin to places

seemed

only been first

night

the end.

The

the

nel scars.

gaping hole or a jagged

bomb or shell, though some charmed lives. The Cricket Club had

the path of a

to bear

bombed

its

Robinson's was never hit again after

once.

— and was

to

remain open

for business right to

Singapore Club was untouched except for shrap-

But

in

some

parts of

Chinatown

entire streets

had

been obliterated. The Singapore railway station had been badly damaged. In the nearby dock area half the godowns had gone

now

so acutely short that,

Gordon Bennett noted, "the unloading

of the ships was slow,

up as

in flames

the

and

men working

civilian labor

only one shift per day. That leaves the ship

idle for two-thirds of the

By

was

day in a constantly bombed area."

end of the first week of the siege, at least two hundred people a day were being killed not including those whose the

—

bodies were never found. Raids could no longer always be

naled by

sirens.

The

sig-

blue sky and the sun were obliterated by

smoke from the burning

oil

tanks that

hung over

the city. Each

AWAITING THE ATTACK

143

—

day there was mounting evidence of an uglier

mood particularly among the troops. Bewildered knots of men wandered, "grimy, lost, leaderless, without orders." They were sprawled haphazardly rect

all

over Singapore, seemingly without anyone to

them. Without warning,

pound

for

hour

after

of troops could not find an officer to

Many

ing to take.

"who

all

The road from Tim Hudson's house

Orchard Road was blocked

umn

di-

Kitching found the com-

of his house filled with convalescent soldiers

looked hale and hearty." to

Tommy

hour because a

tell

them which

col-

turn-

of the troops were desperate with fatigue

—

but often they could not find their units and had to sleep on the

YMCA after a supper of

and buns. Others who did manage to find their commanding officers still had nowhere to sleep because there were not enough tents, and billeting officers had been unable to requisition enough rooms. Gunners could not find their guns, army cooks could not find their raw floor of the

tea

—

materials.

reeling

Inevitably,

drunken and disheveled troops appeared,

around the main squares, waving

(Creme de menthe was a great

more

bitter

— and

more

bottles of

cheap liquor.

Their mood became

favorite.)

belligerent with each

new

raid or

rumor.

Sometimes the sullen troops became

"Willie" Watt,

violent.

head of the famous Singapore import firm of McAlister's, a straight-backed Scot well over six feet his office after

an all-night

stint

tall,

with the

was being driven

to

Observer Corps when

two drunken soldiers forced their way into his car during a traffic

jam,

and

chauffeur-driven,

fought in

started

non-fighting

World War

the insults passively. scruff of the

making

I

— was

insulting

civilians. fifty,

He managed

remarks

but not the to get

neck and hurl him out of his

about

Willie — who

man

had

to accept

one soldier by the car; as the

followed, however, he landed a vicious swipe with his

second

rifle

butt

A SINISTER

144 across Willie's his

arm

TWILIGHT

arm and almost broke

it.

Willie spent weeks with

in a sling.

Looting was rapidly becoming widespread. clanging along to a

fire

beard, jeered, "Let

it

pelt

him with

big,

Leslie

bunch

a

burn, dad!

too late."

It's

Buckeridge was

of drunks,

amused by

They

his

started to

oblong "missiles," two of which landed by

his

They turned out to be cartons of cigahis way home when he noticed,

side in the front seat. rettes.

when

Hoffman was on

with the precise eye of a newspaperman, a Chinese boy laboriously trying to ride a

brand-new bicycle

group of Chinese children in

in

far too big for

an enormous abandoned American

car.

A

Further on, a family

when

outside a smashed dwelling was eating rice girl

him.

nearby Beach Road were playing a tiny naked

ran breathlessly toward them carrying a chicken.

The

under her clothes and hurried

inside

mother

guiltily

bundled

it

the ruins.

Thomas

In Government House Shenton

Each morning

according to his station."

which invariably ended with brought the day's

menu

toast

on guests wearing

collars

and

personal problem.

that

it

doctor diagnosed

though lunch was now

ties,

He now

faced an urgent,

His w ife had been taken seriously as

amebic

in-

though he dispensed

T

it

—

— the cook

Shenton Thomas, however,

with a dinner jacket in the evenings.

new The

after a breakfast

and marmalade

for his approval,

largely reduced to cold cuts. sisted

struggled to "live

dysentery — which

ill.

meant

was quite impossible for her to go to the shelter in the

grounds. Yet the

bombing

raids

had

killed several of his

staff,

torn a vast hole in one corner of the enormous white "palace,"

and now the Japanese guns suddenly found the range of Government House. Firing from Johore, at 24,000 yards range, and aided by an artillery spotting balloon floating high over the 7

Straits,

they

bombarded

the Governor's residence with devastat-

AWAITING rHE ATTACK Lady Thomas could not

ing accuracy.

Governor's dress

ADC

did the best he could.

1

, j

leave her bed, but the I

sing ever) sjfare mat-

he could hud, together with bales of wool sent up

to

Gov-

ernment House by the Red Cross, the ADC made a shelter of ts under and around the big banqueting table in the formal, ground-floor dining room.

enough

to allow the

he small entry hole was just high

1

Governor's wife

be wheeled in on a very

to

low stretcher. In the chaos of this refugees

"phony

war.'' the civilians

more and more bewildered.

felt

and

a host of

Almost everything

they were told seemed to be contradictory.

In his "Battle of

Singapore" Order of the Day, Percival had made great play of phrases like "the

"rumor

mongering" —

in fact there

w as

Wavell issued part

is

enemy within

r

his

all

virtually

Order

"loose talk"

oui

and

calculated to alarm civilians (when

no

fifth

column

\

few days later

which he said that "our

of the Day, in

time for the great reinforcements" which he

to gain

demanded that "we must leave nothing behind undestroyed that w ould be look to you all to fight of the least service to the enemy. ... promised would

arrive.

Yet

next breath he

in the

r

I

this battle

without further thought

bombed, shelled

of retreat/'

To

the million

civilians with their backs to the sea,

clear

how anybody could

how

the scorched earth policy which Wavell

retreat

from

a

it

was not

beleaguered island, nor

demanded would

be of help to the reinforcements whii h he had promised were on their way.

There was no inspiration them, no leaders to take

whom

up arms. Xo wonder

intelligent

making

man

to the

<

mlians. no direct appeal to

the) <<>u!d turn, d

tl

no clarion i>ennitt

—

a

calls to

highly

— was primarily concerned with the problem of

his will (leaving

one copy with the P>ishop and posting

another to his wife) or disma \cd when

"I

played bridge too long,

A SINISTER TWILIGHT

146

and made

a fool of myself in the last rubber through sheer ex-

While some played bridge or quietly got drunk, others, as Ian Morrison discovered, formed queues outside the cinemas. With a rare understanding, Morrison did not think haustion."

it

was altogether complacency. "I could understand that people

should prefer to watch a film rather than waiting for news of the fighting."

Donahue

of Minnesota, the

in Britain,

pore.

He

was now

flying

first

Flight-Lieutenant Arthur

American

to fly

and went with some

after days of

RAF non-

friends to Ziegfeld Girl at the

Alhambra Theatre. "The shock was quite rude was over; completely

with the

one of the last Hurricanes in Singa-

was given a couple of hours' leave

stop flying

around mopingly

sit

lost in the lovely

for us

when

it

atmosphere of American

and song and gaiety and peace, we stepped out into the teeming oriental traffic and the sweltering tropical sun to be reminded that we were halfway round the world from America, girls

with our enemies only a few miles away."

Small pleasures (or small problems) loomed larger than

life.

Jack Bennitt noted with satisfaction that "the Municipality fixed us a gas heater" for his hot bath.

when he unexpectedly acquired $5;

Tim Hudson

twenty-four tins of sardines for

Freddy Retz was equally pleased

dry ginger ale and two Hoffman took time off for

cial

was normal, the place coffee."

George

was delighted

to pick

up

bottles of salt ("very

a dozen spe-

hard

to find").

a haircut at Robinson's, "where

full of

Hammonds

all

people having their morning

received his monthly bill for $4.50

from the Swimming Club and

felt,

"I suppose we've got to go

supporting them but they might cut

down

die sub

on

when nobody

uses the place." It

was a curious, unreal existence. There were now more

diers than ever before

tion of

impending

on the island and

battle

—

to say

sol-

despite the antic ipa-

nothing of impending defeat

AWAITING THE ATTACK

— the

thing the troops did

first

when

was to buy souvenirs to take home. the narrow, stifling er's

Change Alley

they got an hour's leave

The

small shops

— traditional

— which helped

their up-country trade. sales of "serious

stalls in

Quay

— were

in peacetime.

In Raffles Place, Robinson's reported

than ever before

and

bargain hunt-

paradise linking Raffles Place with Collyer

jammed with more customers than sales

147

more over-the-counter

to offset the collapse of

Kelly and Walsh reported increased

Round

books."

the corner in Battery Road,

Mrs. Lily Jackson worked on at Maynard's the chemists, super-

intending Elizabeth Arden beauty treatments. Fraser and Neave still

bottled their soda water; Tiger beer was

brickworks carried on making bricks

still

brewed; the

— while Percival was plan-

ning his scorched earth policy.

Wearne's Garage in Orchard

Road was inundated with minor

repair jobs because cattle from

and motorists regularly hit them in the blackout. At night you had to book a table if you wanted to go to Raffles. The Cricket Club was filled with noisy drinkers, and many members went there dithe dairy herds

rectly

from

had reached the outlying

offices

or

ARP

headquarters for a quick shower be-

cause the club was centrally placed.

"World," a soldier had

to

districts

queue

At the

for half

could get a twenty-five-cent dance with a

sole

remaining

an hour before he

taxi-girl

— unless he

and waved them, whereupon the percentage) would attach herself to him for the

invested in a roll of tickets, girl

(who got

rest of the

a

evening

her polite but firm

— until "God Save the King," that amah

or mother

is,

when

would whisk her away from

and take her home in a rickshaw. For some, the war brought sudden riches. Since December Singawhen all the Japanese fishermen had been interned a disappointed soldier

—

—

pore had suffered from an acute shortage of the delicious that

abounded

in the coastal waters, for the

fish

Malay fishermen

A SINISTER

148

now

TWILIGHT The Chinese

only caught sufficient for themselves.

— until

make good fishermen

did not

a few enterprising ones discov-

ered that after Japanese raids on the docks (in which

bombs

fell

hundreds of dead or stunned

in the sea)

by the water front waiting

Sometimes

Hudson was

acts of

be picked up.

kindness had unforeseen sequels. Marjorie

asleep one afternoon, after night duty at the Gen-

eral Hospital,

when Mei

Ling, her amah, announced that two

on seeing

soldiers insisted to

to

many

fish floated

her.

Marjorie got up, sleepy-eyed

—

be confronted by two muscular Australians whose faces were

"Don't you remember us?" asked one

vaguely familiar.

in

pained tones. Suddenly she did. They had been brought into the hospital slightly

after treatment she

them and had taken them home

sorry for

Now

wounded, and

they wanted to show their gratitude.

had

felt

for a square meal.

One solemnly

pre-

sented her with a Mills bomb. "If the Japs try to rape you," he

explained gravely, "just pull out the pin.

Then

you'll

know

nothing."

For many, gone, George

life

had changed

Hammonds

left

Now

drastically.

that

Karen had

Amber Mansions and moved

into

Dulverton with the Glovers. Leslie Hoffman, whose wife had also left,

moved

in with his eighty-year-old father into the house

where he had been brought up in bling old bungalow on in a

compound

stilts

St.

that raised

Michael's Road, a ramit

six feet off the

cluttered with frangipani

and

ground

tulip trees.

The

house lay out in the suburbs on the way to Serangoon, and nothing in

it

had

really

changed

— including the old Chinese amah

— since Leslie had been born there twenty-six years previouslv. The

first

thing Leslie did was to go out and buy a powerful

shortwave radio

set.

monds, "I'm going

"When to

Hoffman's wife had

Tim Hudson

the balloon goes up," he told

be in touch with the left,

but other

Ham-

rest of the world."

women

still

refused to

spent hours vainly trying to persuade Marjorie

to

A\v A [TING

Jimmy

leave.

So did

mantly

— until

It

happened

ATTACK

Mil

Glover, but Julienne also refused ada-

Tribune received

the

a direct hit.

noon. Glover had gone

at

i.|<)

Rob

to see

headquarters in the Catha) Building, but Scott was ence, so Glover

had stayed talking

never hatted an eyelid

when

Kenny was

his

would never allow her while she was Scott

came

Glover always reckoned

"barometer"; he knew that

to stay

at

in.

He

was dressed

ings until the admiral, the genera]

Volunteer Defence

at

the-

War Council

and the

a

From

when

— a "terrible and awe-inspiring sight"

anese aircraft

Glover

it

bombed

looked

as

the docks and

offices

could see the

twenty-seven Jap-

Anson Road

he-

His premonition had been

To

right.

The Tribune

— a night-

dream he had realized. One look told the Tribune could not possibly be printed in the

mare ending

to the

wrecked building.

The

stall

was rushed out to Clover's emei

gency printing plant at his home-, and the Tribune the

area.

drove there through the dust

were a shambles of broken, twisted machinery

Glover that

was

though the entire Tribune area was being

pattern-bombed, and somehow

and smoke.

as

He

the sirens went.

men

the fourth floor of the Catha] the two

em-

mild ticking

Scott was tired, for he had been on dut) that night.

relaxing with one of his acrid cheroots

meet-

air marshal,

me

barrassed by the uniform of a corporal, "gave off."

Scott

hope.

still

in his local

Corp uniform, which he even wore

raid

Rob

Singapore were doomed; but

it

her desk there was

still

She

secretaries.

bombers were overhead, and

Bft)

she had to be driven to take shelter." that Irene

in confer-

Rob's confidential secrc

to

among wartime

Irene Kenny, 'a jewel

tary,

Scott at Ins

compound

— came out the next da)

cars taking the papers in

as usual,

hay,

I

— printed

in

with relays

ol

where Glover

had organized a central distribution depot. That was the day rostei when Clover put down his wife's name on the P and This was

also the

day when Britain

Lost

the only vessel out ol

A SINISTER

150 all

TWILIGHT

convoys of reinforcements that arrived. She was the Empress

of Asia

— an old tub loaded with

automatic weapons, heavier

guns and other war material, mostly for the 18th Division. One of a convoy of four ships bringing in supplies, she

the vessels passed through the

When

Sunda

astern as

Strait in the early

morning.

she was only seven miles from Singapore, nine Japanese

dive-bombers spotted her and

set

was small when she sank,

life

fell

her on

all

fire.

Though

the loss of

equipment was

the precious

lost.

There was one cheerful note

On

Friday, February 6

in this period of

— Freddy's

birthday

gloomy

— she

Bloom were married. Both were on day duty

waiting.

and

at the

Philip

General

Hospital, and they had arranged to take an hour off during the

morning, though a heavy raid their plans.

Freddy

at ten o'clock

— the only American

almost wrecked

girl in the hospital

—

was in ''Comforts Corner" near the X-ray Department and Philip was in the operating hit

room when

on the X-ray Department.

there, started to run.

danger of

room

—

bomb

scored a direct

knowing Freddy was

Then he slowed down

panic" — and

to find

Philip,

a

—

near

"I realised the

walked slowly toward the shattered

Freddy on the

floor,

under the bulky form

of an

RAF orderly. Freddy had brought a clean uniform it

was ruined, and "looked

coal mine."

as

though

However, she borrowed

it

to the hospital,

but now

had been worn down

a clean white

.1

uniform from

("Mind you return it by lunch-time!") and about eleven o'clock she and Philip set off for the registrar's office in Fullerton Building, stopping on the way at da Silva's, the jewelers, in High Street. They had seen the perfect star sapphire there, which Philip wanted to present to her as a combined ena colleague

AWAIT

I

\

i;

i

in

\

a

l

l

c.

k

i,i

and birthday ring imc after time they had trio! to sneak an hour off to bu.) it, !>ut had never been able to leave the anient

Philip had,

before the shops closed

hospital

phoned

l

to say they

The) stopped

would

the car

on

ill

(

tins pai

Silva's

at d.\

ti<

ular morning.

but every jeweler's in High Street boarded

up

aftei

the raid.

Philip banged and rattled the big \u^\ bai across the

with

a tray of

stars"

jewels on the

— but

wooden

empty. They were on the

shutters, but obviously the place u.is

point of getting into the eai

tele-

Bind not only his shop,

- to

-

however,

when Philip spotted a street tradei ground in front of him. He had no

he did have a beautiful cabochon sapphire, so

Freddy got her ring.

They had

barely reached Fulleiton Building before the sirens

sounded again. This big building had

tem of

its

own

so that the General

Boor and government

Tommy there

offices

above

Kitching — who had

— had

knocked out

all

<

"business as usual"

a

Post Office

ould function during

Ins

government surveyor's

the

i;lass

in

sys-

on the ground raids. offices

the building, which

was largely air-conditioned, and boarded up ever) window. Certain sections

were "safe spots" where people could work during

sounded klaxons

alerts until roof-spotters

to

indicate aircraft

were directly overhead.

One room other wasn't.

in the registrar's office

The

registrai

in a "safe spot"

wis eld

anxious to get this routine and as

was

I

to loin

it

tie

— the

worried, and

unromantic) chore over

quickly as possible. Despite the siu-us. he agreed to start the

ceremonv

in

the "safe

suitably solemn.

who that

did intone)

meant

a

mad

Philip and Freddy stood there,

:

The registrai when rush to

I

potters'

til

ihelfc

I

-

klaxons went

lindei the stairway,

spent ten minutes until the) heard

"Now. where were we?

intoning 'he was the son

isked

the ih».

— and

where they

"raiders passed" signal. rar

benignly,

and

TWILIGHT

A SINISTER

152

Freddy, secretly amused at this evidence of British phlegmn, suggested, "Can't

we

start all

over again?"

They

did.

Then

klaxons went again — and back they scuttled under the All this took a considerable time

late back.'

lives, for

stairs.

"and Philip kept on looking

his watch, apparently forgetting that this

day in our

the

at

was a highly important

he never stopped muttering,

mustn't be

'I

"

Finally they were married.

The "ceremony" was

followed by

a brief embrace, the perfunctory congratulations of the registrar,

and then Mr. and Mrs. Philip Bloom were driving

pell-

mell back to the hospital. "See you this evening," cried Philip before leaving for his

office.

"We'll have a celebration some-

how."

Freddy ran toward the nurses' changing room, and returned the clean white uniform to her colleague, changing back into the old one.

whole crowd

When

"You'd better hurry," said the nurse, at

'Comforts Corner.'

Freddy got

like wife of

there, Mrs.

Graham-White, the

the Empress of Asia. She

nothing but towels round their waists

to

— survivors from

had distributed mugs

Freddy reached the long line of

as

frail, lady-

Archdeacon Graham- White, was vainly trying

look after a queue of grimy, half-naked sailors

but

"there's a

"

men

of steaming

— some

— Mrs.

tea,

wearing

Graham-White

turned to her thankfully, and announced blandly to the nun.

"This

is

Freddy. You'll be glad to hear, gentlemen, that she go!

married just a few minutes ago." gize for this

And

then as though to apolo-

unseemly conduct, she added vaguely, "She's Amer-

ican."

One

sailor started to cheer.

The

others took

it

up

— and

thai

queue

was Freddy's wedding reception. She was toasted by

a

unkempt men, clutching towels round their one hand, holding up mugs of tea with the other.

waists with

grimy,

o(

AWAITING THE ATTACK

153

Philip had promised her "a night out to celebrate" but by

DOW

the shelling

made evening

drove her back to the

flat

excursions too difficult so he

He had

instead.

buy

tried in vain to

K>me champagne, but Jim Henry, the neighbor who lived above, came down with an extra bottle of Scotch and that, it seemed, was to be their "celebration"

come

surprise.

They were

lorry swept into the drive,

shouted, "It's

sitting

and

— until

they got a wel-

on the veranda when a

big-

in the dark, a cheerful voice

Jim Patterson."

Patterson was an old friend of Freddy's from up-country to

whom this

He had no

she had written giving her address.

idea that

was her wedding night, but he was a cheerful, gregarious

iharacter,

and when Freddy

he shouted back,

cried,

"Fine!

I've

"Hi! I've just got married!"

brought you just the right

present."

He

had.

To

was

their astonishment, the lorry

rilled

with an

unlimited supply of champagne. Philip, Freddy and Jim Henry ran outside with torches, and with an assumed nonchalance Patterson said,

"Help

yourself!"

and heaved not one, but two

cases

champagne out of the capacious interior. "Plenty more where that came from!" he cried cheerfully. There was a simple explanation. Patterson had hitchhiked all the way from up-country, one jump ahead of the Japanese.

of vintage

Every time he found an abandoned until there

he drove

car,

was no more petrol in the tank.

until

he came across another.

been

this lorry

The

last

loaded with champagne.

The Blooms

this

day to

visit

southward

Then he walked on

abandoned vehicle had

causeway toward the end of January, hid by chance chosen

it

He it,

drove

it

across the

and now had quite

them.

spent "a hilarious evening" but they never saw

Patterson again, possibly because within two days, the shelling

became

so

bad around the Chatsworth Road

area, they

decided

A SINISTER

154 it

was

safer to live in the

moved out

neighbor,

TWILIGHT

General Hospital. (Jim Henry, their

Freddy took her pictures

too.)

off the

wall, threw the frames away and packed the pictures in the one

suitcase she took with her.

She gave Marsha, her amah,

her

all

Malay money and begged her to go to her kampong. Then they after one last, lingering look at the Green left in Philip's car Spot which she never saw again.

—

Three days

It

was about

later the

this

house was obliterated by

time that

Tim Hudson made

broadcast which was to bring

him

peans (even intelligent ones) he fined

local fame.

this

an uncensored

Like

many Euro-

entertained some unde-

still

hope that a miracle would occur

was in

shellfire.

to save the island.

And

it

frame of mind that he asked the heads of the Malayan

Company to allow him to give an uncensored talk. He had spent weeks now helping to dig out corpses of people, many of whom could have been saved had there been sufficient Broadcasting

shelters, or

mind

even blast walls.

He

begged the right to speak

— and indeed, announced firmly but

wise he would rather stop broadcasting.

his

politely that other-

The

situation was deli-

Tim Hudson

had without question become their star speaker, with a big following; but the MBC was a government

cate:

Somewhat

department.

MBC MBC

agreed.

No

were

bored

as

to

Hudson's

doubt the many

alert

as the listeners

however,

surprise,

minds working

—

—

Hudson gave Marjorie heard the anger

would be

and

for the

with the uninspiring pro-

grams which government policy had forced them

And Hudson could so they felt who knew what he was talking about.

the

be trusted.

to broadcast.

He

was a

man

news that night and when the nurses' common room, "I went pale at

his broadcast after the it

in

bitterness in his voice."

arrested.

She was convinced he

AWAITING THE ATTACK no use telling people and has stuck it out,"

"It's

155

had thousands of

that Malta has

air

Hudson over the air, "or that Chungking has had worse than we have had. They have ideal Singapore has nothing except drains and odd slit shelters. trenches. The official shelter policy has been bungled." He

raids,

went further. "Scores of

tin

nothing specialized to do.

Many hills

town.

I

The

effect

I'll

was

urge the government to round them

of coconut trees that could easily be cut

And

if

the

government

guarantee to go out and get Listeners

electric.

jammed

though fortunately Eric Davis managed son and

tell

him

the

to get

it

says

it

can't

myself."

phone

lines

—

through to Hud-

immediately to the Cathay, and Hud-

to return

down expecting a moment he walked

— not that

son remembers, "I drove

rocket

gave a damn." But the

into the

—

— but

work tunnelling into the hills around the are of soft earth and tunnelling would be easy-

to shore the tunnels.

find the labour,

knowledge

specialized

to

There are thousands

down

miners have arrived in Singapore

They have

from up-country.

up and put them

said

office,

I

Eric

—

and canary-colored stockings got up, gripped his hand and said, "I want to shake your hand. If there's any trouble, I'll be behind you."* Because, of course, there would be trouble for, after all, the Malayan BroadcastDavis

in khaki shorts

—

ing

Company was

to reflect

a government institution,

government opinion.

There

was, however, another underlying, deeper reason

Hudson's

caused

broadcast

Though he had been * In his

MBC

and was supposed

in

government

why

circles.

broadcasting to the people of Singapore,

book Singapore Goes

at the time, wrote,

dismay

off

the Air, Giles Play fair,

"Hudson himself

is

majority of Europeans, though he's probably more

—

who was working on

fairly typical of the critical,

more

the

hard-working

aggressive,

more

than most of them more determined to push the administration into some kind of action or to assume the responsibilities of leadership himself. To my mind he's one of the men whose names shouldn't be forgotten when this war is over, and whatever the eventual fate of Singapore he deserves praise and fearless

recognition."

A SINISTER TWILIGHT

156

he was unwittingly the

man

first

— know the bombing — news

and

world

—

fully suppressed since early

which the censors had

par-

under

pitiable state of the civilians

ticularly Britain

shelling

to let the outside

success-

December.

For weeks, foreign correspondents based in Singapore had

been trying

to write articles

about the lack of defenses and

shel-

Every attempt had been ruthlessly cen-

ters against air attack.

As George Hammonds put it, "Shelters was a dirty word and you were never allowed to mention it." There had, howsored.

ever, always

MBC

been one exception to censorship. Since the

was a government department anything that went out on the

was "censor-free."

MBC" rally

correspondent quoted "as announced on

his dispatch automatically passed the censor,

assumed

George

this to

five

heard Hudson's talk and was round

minutes begging for a copy of the

that once the

government tumbled

to this

would do everything to stop the London. He managed to file to Britain within

loophole,

And

so,

officials

for the first time,

Even the the next

little

civilians

had been done

Straits

natu-

at the

script.

He

unexpected

story reaching

half an hour.

London learned something

grim way in which a million

— and how

who

be a reflection of government policy.

Hammonds

Cathay within

knew

If a

air

were living and

of the

suffering

for them.

Times was astounded, and

in a leading article

morning said,

Divisional

Warden Hudson seems

to

be the chief unoflu

i;il

spokesman for Singapore's Air Raid Precautions Department. We say "unofficial" because the very forthright nature of some of Mr. Hudson's remarks is so entirely out of tune with what we are accustomed to hear from official spokesmen. The most surprising thing about his campaign for more vigorous action that he is allowed to conduct it from the studios of the Malaya Kfl

Broadcasting Corporation.

AWAITING THE ATTACK

157

government reaction was one of unconcealed anger Hudson was called to ARP headquarters and told formally that "several senior members of the government are displeased with

The

first

what you've

You've done more harm than good. Your

said.

wis a serious blow to public morale."

however, he was

summoned

to another

talk

During the afternoon, meeting

—

this

time of

a

came from none other like all who came in contact than Brigadier Simson. Hudson found Simson "extremely charming and courteous, with him very different character, for the invitation

—

—

and most anxious to help," for Simson

"Try and put your ideas into you want

— money

isn't

practise.

important

many words, You can have anything

said, in so

— though

you'll

have to

find the labour."

Hudson was able to tell Simson that scores of European tin who had been evacuated from up-country had already phoned the MBC studios offering to help. They would supervise the tunneling and Tim was sure that his own coolie force would help. Within a few hours Hudson had commandeered a miners

of old lorries,

fleet

had

chopping down coconut palms,

started

and was digging scores of tunnels

to

They undoubtedly saved hundreds

of lives.

be shored up with timber.

Hudson's broadcast resulted in a complete reversal of the cial

government shelter

that

it's all

many more w ould be r

after

but

as

he wrote, "The tragedy

is

would have listened to me at who knows what would have happened, and how

too late now.

the beginning,

Soon

policy;

offi-

If

they

T

alive today."

dawn on February

8,

Tim Hudson and Buck

ridge were taking a shower in the Cricket

spent fighting a big

fire

Club

after a night

near South Bridge Road.

walked into the locker room, George

Bucke-

As they

Hammonds waved

a

good

A SINISTER TWILIGHT

158

Then

morning.

almost casually he mentioned that a Free

French boat was leaving that night. She was one of the last conand did voy, in which the Empress of Asia had been sunk

—

know Jimmy Glover's wife? She was going on it. Hudson and Buckeridge looked at each other. The same thought crossed both their minds. It was now or never. Hardly they

bothering to thank

Hammonds

for the vital

news he had im-

and Hudson

to the

Tim sent a message

that he

parted, Buckeridge drove to Robinson's

General Hospital. Marjorie Hudson was on duty, but

must speak

to her immediately.

He

waited patiently for twenty

minutes before she came out into the hospital grounds and

beckoned her

to sit in the car.

quarrel in our lives." felt that in

To Tim

Marjorie

it

''we

had the only

serious

was running away. She

her way she was doing a job as important as he was.

the

argument was simple:

be ten times better for for hali

To

There

Tim

me

if I

"If I'm caught,

know

an hour, with Marjorie in

but

going

to

They argued

you're safe."

tears,

it's

finally

—

— perhaps

more from exhaustion than a change of heart Marjorie gave in. She went back into the hospital "feeling terribly guilty and in tears" as she said her good-byes. Tim's klaxoning cut them short and when she came out, still in uniform, he drove her straight to Cluny. They queued for two hours, but when they finally reached the Agency House, the P and O officer recognized Hudson in his uniform and gave Marjorie her chit immediately

— warning her

that the Felix Roussel was sailing that

and she hadn't a minute to spare. Only one thing Marjorie insisted on.

night,

mean

it

Tim — without

"I

saying good-bye to

drove from Cluny to Stevens Road in silence.

minutes

to

won't go

finally

I

Mei Ling." Th<\

Tim

pack a suitcase and say her farewells

and when Marjorie

— and

gave her

to their

walked across the lawn

five

amah,

to the gar

AWAITING THE ATTACK

159

Mei Ling stood on the veranda. Mei Ling's last words were, "Better you go. I look after the tuan." "That was the worst moment of guilty/' wrote Marjorie

all

— when

I

to her

really felt

later.

Buckeridge had the same difficulty in persuading Lucy, but

w aste the best part of a day queueing at Cluny. One of the P and O men worked with Backer idge in the AFS, and Buck was able to go straight in. He got the chit, didn't bother to examine it, and drove to Robinson's, picked up Lucy and drove as far as he could tow ard the Felix Rousse which was berthed at the far end of Keppel luckily they

had not needed

to

r

r

Harbour. At the same time

Jimmy Glover and George Hammonds were

driving Julienne to the docks. It took

cover the three miles from Collyer

them over three hours to to the wharf. No-

Quay

body had organized parking. Cars cluttered up the dockside; often they

had been driven by women who were departing and

who had then just abandoned them. There was nobody to take them aw ay. There w ere no porters, no volunteers to help the scores of unattached women and their children. "The result r

of ail this,"

r

Glover noted

failed to reach the

later,

"was that over 300 passengers

wharf in time, and the ship had

to leave

without them."

Tim Hudson was

already on the quayside with Marjorie,

looking around for Buckeridge and Lucy, as they had agreed to stick

together so the wives could try to share a cabin.

they had been

Though

w arned to bring only hand luggage, there was utter confusion when some passengers arrived with carpets, packr

ing cases of furniture, while two highly placed wives insisted

(and succeeded) on having their cars hoisted on board during a raid.

Buckeridge was the

first

to reach a large four-berth cabin.

A SINISTER

l6o

Two women

had already

other two were empty. the

P and

at the

O

chit,

TWILIGHT

A

French steward bustled along, took

put Lucy's suitcase on one bunk, then looked

two other ladies

— and

Buck. Once again he glanced

at

the slip of paper that served as a ticket, ically,

two berths, but the

laid claims to

"But m'sieu, you

and

at

said almost apologet-

can't sleep with these strange ladies."

"Me! I'm not going!" grinned Buck.

The P and

steward pointed to the

O

had quietly made

most agonizing moment

it

Buckeridge's friend at the

ticket.

out to "Mr. and Mrs." "It was the

I've ever faced," said

Buck, for

it

was

not as though he had deliberately decided to run away. Here, suddenly, with a raid in progress, he was on a big ship

haps the

last

leave — and

to

with a

wrote Buck that night in his diary,

"But

ticket. "it

—

per-

of course,"

couldn't be done.

I

couldn't rat."

Tim Hudson

was also tempted. At the foot of the gangway

sergeant stopped

him

saying that passengers only were allowed

on board. Tim, who was

in uniform, said he merely

carry his wife's suitcase to her cabin. on, but just as

a

Tim started to climb

The

sergeant

wanted

to

waved him

the steep gangplank he

felt a

tug at his shoulder and the sergeant muttered, "If vou've got any sense you'll stay

on board.

And you

won't be the only one.

There's no hope here, mate." In the cabin die steward politely informed the four of them

some

that the ship wouldn't be sailing for

care to have a drink the bar was open. so

it

was

— providing

It

lounge was jammed with

when

a ship

men and women

well drinks with forced cheerfulness,

going

if

they would

seems incredible, but

a pathetic echo of the boisterous

scenes that always take place

women were

time, so

home on

leave.

is

sailing.

good-bu

The main

having their

last fare-

almost as though

the

Hudson and Buckei

faced the age-old problem of fighting their

way

to the bar when-.

AWAITING THE ATTACK

l6l

"we watched an extremely slow bar steward select a bottle, methodically pour a chink, hand it over, do a little arithmetic on a slip of paper, dollars to sterling, count the money, hand out the change, pick up a glass, polish it, hold it to the light, and take another order." Somehow, Buckeridge managed to get four bottles of beer and some glasses and carried them head-high to a table, where they in

Buck's words,

carefully take

had

an order,

drink before their brief farewells.

a last

Long before the Felix Roussel sailed that night for Bombay, the men had left. Jimmy Glover and George Hammonds had returned to Dulverton where there was work to be done getting out the next day's paper. Hudson, oppressed by the thought of returning to the loneliness of Stevens Road, had half decided to sleep at his

ARP

headquarters,

should spend the night at his

and

when Buckeridge

flat

suggested he

over the Central Fire Station,

Tim gratefully accepted the offer.

After a scratch meal of sardines

two

men

stengah.

sat It

ette of St.

on the balcony of the

was a warm,

station drinking a last

tropical, starry night,

with the silhou-

the air for a

moment, then

The

stars

seemed

his sense of

to

hang

in

the sky was black again.

time for fireworks!" cried Buckeridge,

a

after

was broken by a red and then a blue

rocket bursting far to the north.

'Maybe

beer, the

Andrew's Cathedral in front of them. Shortly

ten o'clock the black sky

"What

and bully beef and

who never

lost

humor.

distress signals," said

Hudson more

soberly.

and blue rockets had been fired by the Japanese to announce that the first crack troops of the 18th Chrysanthemum Division had crossed the Straits and had landed successfully on the island. In

fact,

—

the red

8 The

Assault

Sunday night, February 8- Thursday night, February 12 In

all

sions

the catalog of ineffectual leadership, unfortunate deci-

and wrangling

in high places

of Singapore, nothing

is

which contributed

to the

fall

quite so puzzling as the virtual absence

of any deterrent action during the last precious hours of daylight before the Japanese attacked. It ers

is

not as though the attack-

took the defenders completely by surprise.

Everything

pointed to an imminent assault on the northwest coast of the island,

and even though Percival had

of feint attacks, so easily ignore

it is

mind the danger modern general could

to bear in

hard to believe that a

what was happening around him.

At dawn on this fateful Sunday, a daring Australian patrol which had silently crossed the Straits of Johore during the ni»ht and penetrated nearly two miles into enemy country, returned with highly disquieting news.

They had

seen clear evidence

massive troop concentrations opposite the Australian

oJ

sector,

west of the causeway. As they skirted the jungle-lined roads opposite their shores, they

choked with military

had seen

traffic.

The

with collapsible boats. Here was

have made the commanders

for themselves

information which should

work

troop formations. Unfortunately the

at once,

dawn

planning new

report did not

General Percival until three-thirty that afternoon.

never been explained.

they were

inland creeks were jammed

vital

set to

how

rea< h

Why,

hai

THE ASSAULT Long before

163

had received the delayed message, how-

Percival

news was corroborated by direct

ever, the patrol's

dawn, the Japanese launched savage and sustained tacks

and

At

bombing

at-

from their airbombers came in low over the wave, for hour after hour. Some

on the forward Australian

strips in Johore, fighters

action.

positions. Flying

light

coconut palms in wave after

planes scattered anti-personnel

bombs. Others swept into

low dives, their machine guns blazing.

The

shal-

Australians, en-

trenched in hurried, often makeshift defenses in jungle country or plantations of coconut or rubber, could it

out,

which

do nothing but

stick

to their credit they did.

These sustained attacks might not in themselves have been

enough

to

convince Percival that landings would follow shortly,

but they were only a mild foretaste of what was to come.

By mid-

morning, the Japanese planes were being rested, and then the Japanese opened

up with

the most fearful barrage of the entire

campaign. For hours during the blazing day

enemy guns reBy sundown they

pounded the Australian positions. had wreaked such damage that every telephone line between the Australian units and headquarters had been cut. And yet, British artillery hardly opened up in reply. Here unless the Japmorselessly

anese were executing a colossal bluff

probable point of attack.

where

in the

this in

rubber jungle across the

men were waiting landing

And

— was

—

clear evidence of a

turn meant that someStraits large

groups of

for zero hour, together with concentrations of

craft, artillery,

army

vehicles

—

in short, all the compli-

cated paraphernalia required to launch an attack

on

a heavily

defended island. True, the British had virtually no aircraft to spare, yet a sustained

counter-barrage would surely have done

something toward disrupting the highly organized Japanese plans.

with

Instead the Japanese were permitted to carry

little

Even

or

no

them out

interference.

after sunset

— or when the barrage against the Austra-

1

A SINISTER TWILIGHT

64

not diminish, but

lians did

the British guns

may

remained

if

anything increased in intensity

silent.

seem, ''Neither Malaya

Why?

Command

Incredible though

nor Western Area

— it

[i.e.

Percival or Bennett] was however seriously perturbed by this,"

The War Against Japan, "each apparently thinking that it was the first of a number of days of softening up, or that the enemy would switch the bombardment back next day to the

says

Causeway and northeastern shores

of the Island.

As

orders were given during the evening for artillery

a result

no

to

be

fire

brought down on the probable enemy forming-up places."

Had this extraordinary decision been who did not believe the Japanese were have been understandable. But

this

the

judgment

of generals

ready to attack,

was

far

it

might

from being the

case.

General Percival had predicted that the Japanese would require a week to prepare. He had been right In point of

fact,

—

now when

week was up, he refused to believe in his own judgment. Ironically, Percival was wrong on two counts. He was certain the Japanese would attack the northeast shore and but

the

stuck to this rankling fear which was unfounded; he gave the

Japanese eight days

ment was

In a story of so

what difference the siege

to prepare,

and ignored

this

when

his judg-

right.

it

many

and "buts," no one can be sure would have made to the ultimate outcome of "ifs"

had Percival opened up

none, though

it

a counter-barrage. Probably

might have lengthened the defense by

a feu-

days.

A

curtain of shells on the Japanese positions might have

made

it

impossible for the

enemy

to cut all Allied

tions lines in the northwest of the island

the gateway to disaster in the

At

intensive

this

communicawas to prove

night.

enemy attacked. The Japanese had made preparations. They had evacuated every civilian from zone ten miles deep. They had set up their military

half-past ten the

a coastal

coming

— and

THE ASSAULT

165

headquarters in the imposing brick and green tiled Imperial

dominated the

Palace of the Sultan of Johore, which

which had the next

a

Straits,

and

high square tower from where General Yamashita

morning could plainly

Three

see his troops

winding

their

way

had been assembled together with 3000 vehicles, 200 collapsible launches powered by outboard motors and a hundred larger landing craft. For a w eek they had (as we inland.

divisions

r

DOW know) been carrying out

practice landings day

and night

and small rivers jutting into the secret the rubber plantations. The 4000 troops se-

in the countless creeks

hiding places of lected for the

first

assault

wave were

veterans of fighting in

all

dusk — and

Now after secure in the knowledge that would not be exposed to air attack the spearhead troops carried their boats on their shoulders several miles from the inChina.

—

they

land creeks to the shore.

The

first

troops attacked

on

a broad front

on the northwest coast of the island

Tanjong Murai (Tanjong

is

under cover of devastating

the

between two bays

— Tanjong

Malay word

artillery

for

and mortar

Buloh and promontory)

fire.

The

first

Australian sentries on the Singapore shoreline spotted the boats

The alarm was given, and hundreds of Australians opened a withering fire. The first wave of enemy troops was destroyed. So were many in the second wave. bobbing across the black w ater. r

Yet such successes could not continue, for the Australians were fighting against

one overwhelming disadvantage. According

plan, the killing area in the Straits should

come

as light as

lights,

day

which were

suddenly have be-

— illuminated by scores of

brilliant search-

there, waiting to be switched

fenders could blow the 7

enemy out

of the water.

on

so the de-

Instead there

was blackness everywhere, and the Australians could only haphazardly against invisible targets.

How

to

fire

could they be sure

where the weaving small boats were? All they could see was

TWILIGHT

A SINISTER

l66

the occasional blacker shadow against the water,

they could

all

Men

hear as a guide was the high whine of outboard motors.

cursed and shouted for light as they stumbled against each other

And

in the dark. lessly,

still

cloaked in blackness.

And

to the artillery at this critical

been planned

for the

came on relentwhat had happened counter-barrage had

the small rubber boats then, too,

moment?

moment

A

of the attack.

Instead, British

guns remained mute.

There was tralians

Nobody was or the guns.

know

it

at that time.

able to get a signal to either the searchlight teams

Long before

the Japanese

had begun

— and

instructions ever reached either the searchlight crews or

the artillery. action.

And

without those signals they could not go into

In other circumstances, the searchlight teams might

have been adventurous enough

to use their

own

initiative to

throw their beams across the water without waiting but

it

happened

structions that

on

to scram-

communication had been cut

ble ashore, every line of

no

though the Aus-

a simple, tragic explanation,

defending the beaches could not

that they

had been given the most

on no account were

for orders,

explicit in-

searchlights to be switched

until the signal was given. Apparently

it

was thought that

if

would be destroyed by the Japanese. Thus it was left to the infantry to send up SOS signals before a few guns opened fire. By then, however, the Japanese were ashore along the entire front, and before the Australians realized what was happening, they were fighting with bayonets in the damp, somber plantations, and the Japanese, as always, seemed to be everywhere in front, behind, on either side, inthey were

lit

too soon they

—

filtrating swiftly

behind disorganized pockets of Allied troops

cut off from their colleagues. Swarming through the close, cate country, each Japanese party was led by an

compass strapped

to his wrist. Carefully

officer

intri-

with

avoiding any frontal

a

at-

THE ASSAULT

167

they sought out the gaps in the Australian lines and

tacks,

pushed through behind them. Once the Australians no compasses

—

and were attacked from

lost sight of the Straits

the rear; they did not even

the

maze of the jungle,

lit

— who had

know which

direction they faced in

only by the stabs of light from gunfire

and the occasional Japanese barge burning offshore. By 1 a.m. the Australians were withdrawing from

ward

positions. It

which Kenneth

was a catastrophe of the

Attiwill,

who

first

magnitude, of

fought throughout the campaign,

"Groups of men became separated from

gives a graphic picture: their

comrades in the bewildering darkness. Others

way.

Many

Some

died.

their for-

lost their

Timah.

straggled back as far as Bukit

Others even reached Singapore City, and long before they could be picked up, re-organised and sent back the disorganisation was complete.

The

withdrawals was to dislocate the

effect of the

and by ten o'clock on the morning of the 9th less then twelve hours after the assault had been sighted the 22nd Australian Brigade, on whose fighting power had whole brigade

area,

—

—

rested the defence of the northwestern area of the Island, was

no

longer a cohesive fighting force." *

By then nearly 4000 Japanese had secured

a firm foothold

on

the island. Their forward elements were already advancing toward Tengah Airfield, west of the city. And by then, the High

Command had nounced with taken to

issued

first

communique,

mop up

the enemy."

white

lies, it

which

though no doubt some

To

be wiped out.

civilians

were

being

left

with the impres-

on the island would soon

Percival, however, suffered

Story

an-

anyone familiar with Perci-

sions himself, for in his battle report to

The Singapore

is

it

was possible to read between the

sion that the few foolhardy Japanese

* In

in

irritating blandness that "offensive action

val's polite little lines,

its

from no such delu-

Wavell he said bluntly:

TWILIGHT

A SINISTER

l68

"Enemy landed

in force

trated about five miles.

on west .

.

.

coast last night

Situation

in view of the very extended coastline

Have made plan this

and has pene-

undoubtedly serious

which we have

to watch.

for concentrating forces to cover Singapore

if

becomes necessary."

He it

is

had, indeed.

leaked out

During the

The

plan was top secret, but unfortunately

— with disastrous

results.

night, few people in Singapore City

had the

re-

motest idea of what was happening barely twenty miles away,

though everybody could hear muffled

hammering

sounded

like a far-off

— and had heard

of the guns to the north.

storm

— an

illusion that

all

day

— the

At times

it

was heightened

when, during the evening, a brief but violent thunderstorm

As the thunder clapped directly overhead, it until, was as though the distant storm had finally come closer in each period of silence that followed, the sullen sound of the drenched the

city.

—

distant guns echoed through the streets, with the rain hissing

down on

A

bombed, charred buildings. knew what was happening. Shenton Thomas

the skeletons of

few civilians

was having a

last

the news. Freddy

nightcap

when

Bloom had

finished extra duties

ing through a corridor to her

when an army "It's started!"

—

Percival telephoned

room

and was walk-

in the General Hospital

up and whispered conspiratorial ly, but no more than Leslie Hoffman had a hunch the village Timah, telephoned a friend in Bukit sister

bustled

—

a hunch so on the main road linking Singapore and

know

him with

the causeway. "I don't

anything," said the friend, "except that

loose over to the west,

and

I

all hell's

can't sleep for the noise."

broken Bucker-

idge was not told anything but, though technically off duty, re-

ceived a friendly warning to stand by "in case of urgent calls."

THE ASSAULT 'Tve been standing by

169

months," he retorted

for a couple of

dryly, "so another night won't hurt me." Around midnight, an

army contact phoned Jimmy Glover at Dulverton and told him that "a small party of Japanese" had landed on the west coast but warned him that on no account must the news be released before the official communique had been issued. There was nothing he could do, so Glover told the boy not to awaken him or Hammonds unless the nearby AA guns went into action, and

—

they both slept fitfully through the night, with Glover "subconsciously aware of the increased

the north of the island." ever, for the

Tribune had

tempo

of the artillery activity

They were both up to

on

before dawn, how-

be printed and on the

streets before

lunch.

About nine o'clock the official news of the landing was announced on the radio. Ian Morrison was in the press room at the Cathay starting to type out a story of the bombardment for The Times when the news came through. He had no time to think,

but tore the piece of paper out of his typewriter,

crunched

man had

new

dispatch. Leslie Hoff-

driven to the Cathay in his open

MG sports car to pick

it

into a ball,

up any news on

and

started a

As he ran down the stone steps after hearing the bulletin, knots of bewildered men and women were already clustering round the entrance as though knowing the importance of the building and waiting hopefully his

way

to Dulverton.

for fragments of information.

groups of anxious

Men

of

all

When

men and women

he drove

outside the

off,

he saw other

Supreme Court.

races — Europeans, Malays, Chinese, Indians —

jos-

round the entrances to all the public buildings, as though gathering some strength from the proximity to officialdom, as tled

though

it

somehow

eased the intolerable suspense that he could

already sense around him. Driving past

he saw a most unusual sight for a

St.

Andrew's Cathedral,

Monday morning

— streams of

TWILIGHT

170

A SINISTER

men and women

crossing the greensward

and going

into the

church to pray.

At Dulverton, Hammonds was looking over Glover's shoulder communique, which had been phoned to them, was typed out, and muttered, "Aren't you glad you got Julienne away?" for it seemed that the JapaGlover must have been relieved inland from the northwest coast, could nese, who were thrusting not be more than thirteen miles away from Dulverton. Not that they had any time to reflect on anything except one fact: if the Japanese advance were not held, the Tribune might be driven from its emergency printing office in a matter of hours. "It's all over bar the shouting," Leslie Hoffman said to Hamas the

—

monds when he you've

got time."

still

It says

arrived, "you'd better pack a suitcase while

much

for the loyalty of the Asian

workmen

setting

type, proofreading, preparing the flatbed press, that the Trib-

une came out at all that morning, for "the war and the noises of war were coming closer." Several hidden artillery positions had been established in the jungle not far from Glover's bungalow

— and

they were obviously inflicting

troops, for

damage on

the Japanese

throughout the morning the area was raided at

half-

hourly intervals by Japanese planes searching for the guns.

From

and Hammonds could screeching down, like Nazi Stukas,

the veranda of Dulverton, Glover

easily see the

enemy

aircraft

into shallow dive-bombing attacks.

caped damage.

At

a time

were being disrupted

phone

to the

all

Miraculously, Dulverton

when water mains and

over the island, Glover was

Cathay and keep in touch, while the

still

able to

special elecu

cable he had had installed for his machines bore a charmed

Bombs

tore

up

the surrounding compounds.

es-

telephones

The

u

life.

dusty spurtl

of machine-gun bullets danced in straight, savage lines on eithei side of the cable.

But apart from the occasional nervous

fli<

kei

THE ASSAULT the

power kept on

— and the men

171

in the attap shed

remained

at

their machines.

When

the

loaded them

first

wet copies were gathered

Hammonds

center at the Cathay.

man

the third.

They

pers,

traffic,

to his distributing

took the second load, Hoff-

faced increased hazards in getting through

to the center of the city

military

Glover

off the press,

and took them down

in his car

along roads virtually monopolized by

After he had

dumped

his last load of

newspa-

Glover climbed the stone steps of the Cathay to have a

word with Rob ticed that

Scott.

Irene

Kenny had

And when

fallen."

The moment he

entered the

vanished.

office

he no-

"The barometer had

he asked for news of her, Scott replied that

he had ordered her to leave

—

an hour's notice. She had

at half

been furious. There had been an outbreak of tears and protest, but Scott had packed her into a car which had stopped for

minutes

at the

YMCA

to allow

five

her to pack a grip, and then

taken her straight to the airport.

"What does

that

mean

in terms of

your opinion of holding

out?" asked Glover.

"Oh! They've dropped a shade

— say forty-nine

to fifty-one,"

replied Scott with a smile.

By now island

it

must have been

clear to those in authority that the

was doomed, and Brigadier Simson was urgently demand-

ing from Sir Shenton

Thomas

the right to put a comprehensive

scorched earth policy into practice. misingly .

.

.

to

made

it

Churchill had uncompro-

clear that he expected "every scrap of material

be blown to pieces to prevent capture by the enemy"

but so far

little

had been done, even though

as far

back

as early

January Simson had suggested to the Governor that "a phased

TWILIGHT

A SINISTER

172

programme

of destruction" should be prepared

Simson wanted

and approved.

at all costs to avoid a repetition of the disaster at

Penang when much valuable equipment had been Japanese.

left for the

Despite his urgent representations to the govern-

ment, however, Simson had been unable to extract any decision until toward the

Though on

end of January.

the surface

it

would seem

to

have been a relatively

simple matter for a beleaguered city to implement Minister's orders to

blow up anything

that

Prime

its

might be useful

to

the enemy, the situation was fraught with certain complications.

The Governor was had

responsible for civil affairs

still

to consider the fact that

many

if

or

when

— and

he

the city capitulated,

would no doubt try to carry on as best they could. The military naturally wanted to deny as much as possible to the enemy, but since Percival had refused to

of the Asian businessmen

assume the authority of military governor, Shenton Thomas

did in fact have the

done

to the

last

hundred or

word on what so

major

Simson wanted carte blanche

should, or should not, be

civil installations.

with them

to deal

all as

soon as

and on the evening after the Japanese landing, the two on the Governor's favorite veranda overlooking the city,

possible,

men

sat

sipping their stengahs.

need

for speed.

after time

The

Brigadier tried to emphasize the

His arguments were simple but cogent.

Time

during the retreat down the peninsula engineers had

been unable

to get

government sanction

dredgers or stocks of rubber until too cally impossible to get the orders

that the Japanese

ble material.

to destroy items like tin

late.

through

had been presented with

He wanted

at all costs to

It

had been

— with

physi-

the result

a great deal of valua-

avoid delay.

The Gov-

ernor, however, felt Simson was taking too pessimistic a view oi

events to come, and had

Public services such as

made up

his

mind what should be

gas, electricity,

done.

water and sewage were

to

THE ASSAULT

173

remain untouched. The Governor would

also

undertake to

ar-

range for the demolition of rubber and tin stocks and the radio station.

Though Simson might have chafed with and

tience,

felt

a secret impa-

he could get results more quickly, he could

not cavil at these decisions, for though Churchill had demanded

complete denial, such a course was incompatible with a the death. It was one thing for an retreated;

it

army

to scorch the earth as

was quite a different matter for an army

the earth of a fortress

it

fight to

had been ordered

to

it

to scorch

defend to the

last

man.

But then the Governor dropped a bombshell. After going through the

list

of civil plants, he told Simson politely but

firmly that he refused to sanction the destruction of about forty

Chinese-owned engineering works.

As Simson listened openoff the list. There

mouthed, the Governor calmly crossed them were big workshops,

many equipped with

the latest

and most

modern machinery. Others were stacked with brand new

vehi-

cles.

Simson,

who could

hardly believe his

be invaluable to the Japanese.

The Governor into

it

Why

sir?

ears, cried, ''But they'll

What's the reason?"

held up his whiskey glass and gazed reflectively

before uttering, quite calmly, a phrase that seemed des-

tined to haunt Simson throughout the campaign.

words of General Percival

Echoing the

at another, earlier, historic

Shenton Thomas said simply, but with complete

would be bad for morale." "But we can't make a present

meeting,

finality,

"It

of all this to the

enemy!" cried

hard, long look"

and then

Simson.

The Governor coldly, "I

"gave

me one

would remind you, Simson,

that

we

said

haven't lost the

island yet."

And

that

was

all

he would say on the matter.

Most of the

A SINISTER

174

TWILIGHT

more important Chinese engineering works were left in running order for the enemy and Simson could only study the names still left on his list: some forty-seven British-owned plants. These

—

he could deny

to the

enemy, together with

liquor and stocks of petrol and

which would be destroyed by companies themselves.

oil

the military authorities or the oil

The

vast quantities of

Governor's decision "resulted in the enemy receiving

welcome present of new vehicles and well equipped workshops":* and we can only surmise the reasons behind it. Of course the Governor was rightly proud of the way in which he "looked after the natives" who would have to carry on after any surrender. He believed Malaya was their country and that he was there to protect them (against themselves if necessary). But one must also remember that the Governor's responsibilities, though unchanged in theory, had in practice been whittled away. Duff Cooper had seen to that and so had a war which had not only swept across a country, but had swept away the cobwebs of Colonial government. Slowly but relentlessly the Governor had found himself becoming more and more of a figa

—

urehead, whose

he was

at

many

friends could plainly see horn miserable

not being permitted to do more than sign unimportant

make "public appearances." Even his critics admit that Shenton Thomas was incapable of a mean action, and without any doubt he believed that the Chinese would have to "carry papers and

on" and must be

left

with the means to do

it

— though

ory hardly tallied with the ruthless way in which

all

this the-

fishing boat!

had been smashed up or sunk. Ironically, there is no doubt that Shenton Thomas would have been appalled had anyone sug gested that his decision was hindering the global war effort.

The meeting broke up shortly before dinner. enough, neither man had mentioned the problem of *

The War Against Japan

Curiously destroN

THE ASSAULT the vital

machinery and

1

75

the sprawling dockyards.

facilities in

These were run by the Singapore Harbour Board, which was law unto

itself

dens and

fire

with

its

brigades.

hours, however,

it

own

electricity plant,

even

own

it

a

war-

In view of what was to happen in a few

was a significant and unfortunate omission on

the Governor's part.

Simson had already gathered

Men from

work.

lition

PWD),

sufficient

the Public

men

to start the

demo-

Works Department

(the

and Indian volunteers, started the complicated task of destroying the machinery of the forty-seven firms. They faced tremendous physical hazards, for the shelling of the city was beginning to assume drumfire

together with courageous Chinese

proportions, while one air raid followed another so swiftly

seemed

thev

to

The

be incessant.

and wide, and were often

firms

difficult

w ere T

also scattered far

to reach, while

sented serious technical problems for engineers

and

some

PWD

pre-

men.

Tanjong acres and emmanaging di-

Thorneycroft's ship repair and boat building yards at

Rhu,

five

miles east of the

city,

covered nearly 12

ploved 700 people under Mr. Stewart Owler,

The

rector.

its

sprawling boatyards and repair shops, the slipways

by the shore, the machine rooms and power plants, represented the best part of a life's

worked

there.

It

work

to

was heartbreaking

the senior Europeans

— but

so

who

generous was the

cooperation that the denial team largely finished the work of destruction in twentv-four hours.

Not

all

firms were so cooperative.

Some

plants

w ere only r

de-

stroyed ''despite the active opposition of the owners or their agent." nial

Several owners did everything possible to delay the de-

scheme.

Some lodged

Big plants with head tioned their cases there

personal appeals with the Governor.

offices in Britain,

home governments

were hand-to-hand

for

Australia or India peti-

exemption. In one or two

scuffles as

Europeans

tried forcibly

TWILIGHT

A SINISTER

1^6

to prevent Simson's

men from

doing their job. "British firms

were most reluctant," wrote Simson every obstacle in the

way

of the

later,

PWD

"and one or two put

when demolition was

finally ordered."

Perhaps the worst case of

was no question that

it

concerned a big garage. There

all

had

to

even the Governor had admitted list.

So,

Simson's

be rendered unserviceable this

by leaving

it

—

on Simson's

thinking that this was just one more "job to be done,"

men went round and

started work.

Unknown

to them,

however, the garage had powerful friends at court. So powerful, in fact, that Simson's

men were

actually in the process of destroy-

ing workshops and vehicles belonging to the garage their astonishment they

were abruptly ordered

when

to

The

ga-

to stop.

rage owners were able to wave a slip of paper before their eyes.

Written instructions

to

from the government

exempt them had been received directly with the result that, as Simson noted

—

enemy reaped the advantage." By contrast, few civilians attempted to defy the order to smash up the liquor stocks. The horror stories of the Japanese drunken rampage in Hong Kong were too fresh in people's minds to be forgotten or ignored. Sir Shenton Thomas had not only announced that a total ban on all liquor would come into force

wryly, "the

noon on Friday the 13th, but had ordered big firms smashing up their stocks immediately. The Customs led

at

to start

the way

by breaking tens of thousands of bottles of hard liquor, though as Buckeridge pointed out to Hudson, "That didn't hurt. Sim t

when have

the

Customs had any

feelings?"

city, people were destroying their own precious some cases the results of years of "collecting." Jimmy Glover had for years been storing the finest French wines Eor the

All over the

stocks, in

time when he and Julienne would retire to Cameron up-country.

Now, he and George Hammonds spent

I

[igh lands,

the evening

THE ASSAULT

1

"smashing bottles of precious liquid from some of the

77

finest

vineyards in France."

Buckeridge was helping out at Robinson's after one of Lucy's colleagues

had phoned,

worth of strong Friday.

—

stuff

"We've got half a million dollar's and we've got to smash it all up by

saying,

We need volunteers."

— while the customers in had no inkling of what was happening — Chinese boys

For the best part of a day and a half the store

lugged case after case of whiskey, gin and brandy out of Robin-

courtyard behind the store where other boys

son's cellars into a

were waiting

There, a team of six

to rip off the tops.

smashed the bottles in the only way possible one by one

at a brick wall opposite.

Buckeridge in his diary, "just

else

had

"I never realised," wrote

long

it

takes to pull twelve

throw them against a wall."

bottles out of a case, then

Something

how

men

— by hurling them

be destroyed

to

— bank

And

notes.

this

was even hotter work than smashing bottles under a blazing sun, for the notes ior official.

retary.

had

The

to

be burned under the watchful eye of a sen-

task fell to Eric Pretty, the

Acting Federal Sec-

Despite the run on money, the Treasury reserves

still

and early in the morning Pretty went to the below the government offices in Empress Place, not far

totaled $5 million, vaults

from Fullerton Building.

In the next cellar was the furnace

used by the government to destroy confidential papers.

day to burn the money, for though there was a Si 00 bills, "it

seemed

an awful lot of messengers to to

fives

to

me," said

and

toss the

Pretty, "as

tens." Pretty

fair

It

took a

proportion of

though there were

could not just allow the

bundles into the furnace. Each batch had

be checked and the numbers of the notes recorded

as the

boys

brought them in from the vaults. "I never imagined I'd have so

much money All this

to burn," sighed Pretty.

work

of destruction

—

to say

nothing of the problem

A SINISTER

178 of living

TWILIGHT

— was being enacted against a grim background of

in-

creased shelling and bombing.

Chinatown was badly hit time and again, and it was after one typical raid in one of the poorest districts that Rob Scott and Ian Morrison found "a marvellous atmosphere of helpfulness and fellow-feeling. One could not help admiring these people who, with so

direction from

little

above, were doing what they could."

Malays, an Arab with a

fez,

some Chinese,

a couple of Euro-

pean wardens were digging the victims out of a ruin that had received a direct

Scott

hit.

In

started digging too.

all

and Morrison

they found thirteen bodies, and

last Scott

— many

mutilated one could hardly recognize

happened. As Scott

lifted the

—

it.

of

And

body out of the

children started howling miserably, with one

so

then something hole, a

group

little girl,

ously the eldest, struggling and crying and trying to self

all

them children reached the body of a woman

the time a ring of stoic Chinese

stood watching. At

seized shovels and

of

obvi-

make

her-

understood. Realizing that she was the daughter, Scott held

her back.

"She continued to struggle and was trying to say

something through her

tears."

Eventually, with the aid of a Chinese, Scott discovered what

it

"Her mother had some money tied in a sash round her waist. The little girl wanted the money. She was afraid that someone might take it away." Rob Scott bent down, unfastened the red sash tied around the woman's waist, and found a purse containing four dollars and a few small coins. "It was probably was.

the family's entire worldly wealth." girl

who

snatched

a snuffle."

Scott

it

Scott gave

without a word, though "her crying became

It

at least saving

the

was the natural reaction of generations

Chinese, scratching a bare living out of the

whelmed them.

to the little

found nothing cynical or grasping about

little girl's action.

was

it

soil.

The

oi

little girl

something out of the disaster which had

over!

THE ASSAULT Not only was Chinatown bombed

now

singled out Orchard

Road

wide, straight street was the

and military headquarters garded of the

All

This

link between the city

The

Fort Canning.

Japanese

re-

— despite the presence

Cold Storage, the municipal market and other big shops. traffic tore along it, running the whined and crashed. Half the build-

day long the military

gauntlet of the shells that ings

79

Japanese

as a target for their guns.

main military at

The

ruthlessly.

as a legitimate military target

it

1

seemed

to

have been hit by now. Abandoned or burned-out

Water gushed along the deep gullies from unmended pipes. Here and there bodies lay waiting to be collected, many of them civilians, for people had to live to cars littered every corner.

carry on.

George Hammonds, usually

went

to the

car at the corner of

much

like

everyone

else,

municipal market

Cuppage Road.

had

to

buy

food.

He

at 5.30 a.m., parking his

On

this

Tuesday there was

buy at the market, for only a handful of apathetic Chinese stood around in the vast hall lit by guttering candles. After buying some vegetables, George went across the road to not

to

empty as the market, with barely a dozen civilians wandering in the enormous building. At least in the Cold Storage George discovered ample stocks of butter and bacon. the

Cold Storage which was almost

as

After driving over to Robinson's to get a haircut, George

walked into Raffles Place. With the heat of a new pressing

down and

Hammonds wiped tin,

day

the bright sun already hurting his eyes,

his glasses, pulled a cigarette

and lingered on the

He remembers

stifling

from

steps of the big store for a

vividly the scene.

The famous

his

round

few minutes. square

— had hardly been touched.

— the

Even the noises of war were muffled by the high buildings, and the square was rilled with people of all colors some in white ducks, some in shorts, others in sarongs either busy or uncon-

real heart of

white Singapore

—

l8o

A SINISTER

cerned, going in

and out

Indian

of shops, talking at the corners.

Malay driver was car; a

containers dangling from the old,

on the pathway dozed over

street trader squatting

tray of cheap trinkets; a

wheel of a man's parked bearded white

man

TWILIGHT An his

fast asleep at the

food hawker bobbed along, two

bamboo

across his shoulders; an

in shorts, sports shirt

and sandals came

out of Kelly and Walsh, the booksellers, clutching a big new

volume with into

— and was already dipping

eagerly

he brushed past George on his way into Robinson \.

as

it

a shiny cover

perhaps for a coffee and a read.

Two

Chinese workmen were

walking along arguing when one suddenly turned to the other with an obvious

nowhere

a

insult.

In a flash they were brawling. Out of

policeman appeared to separate them. "It

so normal," wTote George, "It

a long, long

But then

way

Singapore in those hectic, tragic days was a con-

all

T

to his

own

his conscience

told

him

clergy to

interned.

to face

could resolve.

The Bishop

of Singapore had

though he hoped the Japanese would allow some

remain

at liberty,

this

If

man had

problems. Jack Bennitt faced one which only he

and

that,

seemed

off."

fused pattern, a w orld in which each and every

up

all

made even Orchard Road seem

he was sure some would have

happened, he

classed as "non-essential"

felt

that

to be

Bennitt should be

and be interned with the other

ci-

vilians.

The at the

who had never missed an hour of his double dm: cathedral and Yoch Eng first-aid post, accepted the do Rev,

sion stoically

— until a friend suddenly appeared with

and announced dash for Java. priest,

a suit*

that a small coastal vessel was going to

He

begged The Rev

he argued, was

less

to

come

along.

i-

An

make

I

interned

valuable than a priest at liberty. Aftei

wrestling with his conscience, Bennitt went to the cathedral and

wrote a note to the Bishop saying he was leaving. suitcase hurriedly,

he got out his car and drove

Packing

his friend to the

THE ASSAULT

l8l

docks, reaching the rendezvous during a raid.

As they scrambled

out of the car they had to step over bodies lying in the greet

A

wounded child was crying piteously and instinctively The Revbent down to comfort it. while his friend urged him to hurry, shouting that there was not a

moment

As he calmed the child and

reach his wife

ship

Rev stood up. shook he couldn't go.

him

Not

the shelling

The

Of course

hand.

how many

word he watched

his

friend disappear

the blazing docks to

and destroyed the note.

On

as usual/'

daily "collar

o[ a

his

suddenly

from the cathedral the Governor was

far

on

a

Then he drove back from

into the ship.

"carry

head and waved

And

comfort and help in the long years of

to

Without

the cathedral

his

to

there in front of his eyes.

come.

he could comfort people now,

If

would he be able captivity?

chance to escape and

his last

His friend was yelling for

The Rev

stopped whimpering.

it

— perhaps and daughter — was

The

looked up.

to lose.

and

tie"

trying to

still

the one

hand he continued to hold a conference at Government House but

—

was so bad that he had moved

his

bed

to the

corner

downstairs drawing room, while his wife spent the night

He made

ander the dining room table. heavily

bombed

almost daily

areas in an effort to bolster morale

answer the Japanese

who were now

visits to

— and

to

using the captured radio at

and Lady Thomas had run away. The grounds of Government House to say nothing of the city were not only plastered with bombs, but with an incredPenang

announce

to

that he

—

—

ible

assortment of

enemy

leaflets.

One

bore

a

crudely drawn

picture of a girl languishing in the arms of a soldier, with the

puzzling caption,

Tommy!

I

am

"Nightmare

going

of

'Oh

your neglected wife:

Another announced that Singa-

crazy.'

pore was rioting, that British and Australian troops were cretly

evacuating the island.

up your troubles

in

It

your old

urged the Asian troops kit

to

se-

Tic k

bag and co-operate with the

l82

A SINISTER

Nippon Army."

A

TWILIGHT

third bore a drawing of an obese British

planter lolling under a fiery sun. Yet another showed a glutton-

ous British

officer

tucking into steak and chips while his starving

Indian troops looked on with drooling

became

never collected cigarette cards in their

On

lips.

lives.

the other hand, adults were busy collecting something

quite different

— a few surreptitious

bottles of precious liquor

hide before the governor's edict that

to

stroyed

came

into force.

The

odd bottle nursing his bad arm

the right to save the

— soldier — hid several

Watt

still

behind

his

stocks

must be

de-

many

civilians felt they

"for an emergency." after the swipe

had

Willie

by a drunken

bottles of Scotch in the thick coarse lallang

bungalow;

Tim Hudson

godown, and two more

On

all

big stocks had already gone down

the drains, but, understandably,

his

"Leaflet collecting"

hundreds of Chinese children who had

a passion with

at

put a couple of bottles

in

home.

the last "wet" night in Singapore before sales of drinks

were banned, more than a few

— particularly

at the Cricket

civilians

had

their share of drink

Club, for Buckeridge was not alone

in feeling, "Just

imagine the Cricket Club without being able

get a stengah.

had

I

to

go and mourn

at the funeral."

The

to

club

had a stock of 150 cases of whiskey, to say nothing of other liquor, and members flocked to drink as much as possible. All but two of the club stewards had left, and for once the moderate measure that normally comprised the Singapore stengah was forgotten.

Perspiring Chinese boys filled everyone's glass with

anything up to four fingers of whiskey before adding of Fraser

and Neave's

who

soda.

The

a splash

only thing lacking was water

As Buckeridge noted. "Though nobody could have had the remotest idea how payment was to be exacted, members still had to go through th€ for those

preferred a whiskey ayer.

rigmarole of signing chits for each drink."

THE ASSAULT

l8j

Despite the finality of the occasion, despite the desperation of

few

these last days,

if

any of the so-called "whiskey-swilling

planters" got drunk — perhaps because they knew that

scores of

wounded were being temporarily housed in a wing of the club after a hospital

with 100 patients had been trapped during a

hasty Allied withdrawal.

bled back to Singapore

only to find there was nurses, orderlies atre across the

After dark

its

ambulances had rum-

under the very noses of the Japanese

nowhere

were housed

for the

wounded

Patients,

to go.

in the club until the Victoria

way was turned

—

into a hospital of two

The-

hundred

beds.

As the rate of

wounded

— both

military

and

civilian

creased daily, every available building was turned into a shift hospital.

post.

Even

Chairs, pews,

St.

Andrew's Cathedral became a

was turned into an operating theater.

moved

in-

make-

first-aid

hymnbooks, hassocks were hurriedly cleared

from the nave to make room for stretchers and beds. try

—

The

ves-

Nurses and doctors

in with bottles of antiseptic, rolls of bandages, splinters

and drugs. By nightfall,

The Reverend

Bennitt was recording in

down from the east end of the famous building and see rows of wounded men lying on the floor, orderlies and doctors doing their rounds among them his diary, "It

was a strange sight

to look

with pinpricks of lighted cigarettes showing in the dark corners."

About

half the casualties

were

was even one Japanese soldier

British, half Australian; there

among them.

Hundreds

of

wounded men received their first treatment in the cathedral. Doctors and nurses worked round the clock, and when the taps dried up, volunteers carried pails from the nearest broken water

mains.

And

round the corner in the beautiful green first rough crosses were being placed to mark

soon,

churchyard, the

the graves of those

who had

The devotion and courage

died.

of the Asian nurses at

all

the hospi-

tals

TWILIGHT

A SINISTER

184

was magnificent. They never

7

Freddy Bloom saw a young Chinese nurse

ing,

down

kneel

and

as the

General

wounded

soldier, shield his

screaming

shells fell

around, cover the man's ears with

Some

duty" would have been almost comic

Boys

close.

at the

shell-

beside a

her hands to blot out the sound.

the

During heavy

faltered.

who had

first-class

body with

instances of "devotion to

if

tragedy had not been so

served meals to the tuans in

European male ward

sorb the fact that three or four despite the shelling, they

still

hers,

— found

men now insisted

it

Ward Four —

impossible to ab-

shared one room. Yet,

on serving the

meals of bully beef on trays complete with tray

cloths,

scratch

and

cruets

carefully set out, with the silverwork shining.

Every hospital had

its

quota of direct

though nothing

hits

matched the terror raid on the Tyersall Indian Hospital, a hutted

camp with

attap roofs northwest of the city. Shortly after

lunch a wave of Japanese

medium bombers

though the buildings were clearly marked with red hastily built

camp was

the brigades arrived, the worst sight

I

it

a firetrap,

dry

it,

even

crosses.

The

attacked

as tinder,

and long before

was one sheet of searing flame.

ever saw," said Buckeridge.

"Every building

was an inferno — and you couldn't get from one

to another."

Stretcher patients were roasted to death in their beds.

who could walk attempted

to escape

"It wai

Those

but often could not

force

way through flames up to thirty feet high. Buckeridge remembers how "half a dozen men screaming with pain suddenly their

rushed out into the open. They were in flames from head feet." as

The

smell of burning flesh

they worked.

The

other noise — even

now

made

to

scores of helpers vomit

screams of the trapped overshadowed ever) the staccato rattle of machine-gun

fire.

Eof

Japanese fighters swooped low over the furnace, machine-

gunning the rescuers and those wounded who had been got out and laid on the grass away from the huts. Many who had man-

THE ASSAULT

185

aged miraculously to escape were killed in cold blood as they lay

moved. Over two hundred patients died.

there waiting to be It

was about

the story. the time,

woman

doctor enters

Dr. Cicely Williams, unmarried, was forty-seven at

and

in a hospital

sense of

time that a remarkable

this

outbreak of war had been quietly working

at the

up-country. Tall, good-looking, with an infectious

humor

masked an iron determination, she had Singapore and asked "for a job of work."

that

made her way to Somewhat to her astonishment, she was asked if she could take charge of a group of children, some of them air raid victims, others orphans. She had only sporadic help. She had little in the way of equipment and now suddenly "out of the blue I found myself mother of 120 children." She managed to house the ill-assorted babies in the Tan Tock Seng Hospital on the outskirts of the city, where doctors visited her during the day "when possible" which was not often. With the aid of the few nurses and amahs she had managed to round up, together with one or two volunteers, Cicely Williams housed, fed, washed

—

—

her suddenly-acquired family of

"scrounged" milk

had

to

and other baby

tots.

A

foods,

born organizer, she

and

at times she

even

help with the cooking. But not only was she "mother" to

120 children

— she had a full-time job

as doctor to

them, for

her charges not only included babies orphaned in raids, crying for their

mothers, but

many

others

who were

either

ill

w ith T

tropical diseases or in a state of shock.

Alone

at night,

Cicely Williams coped as best she could,

Sometimes even she had to on the night when she heard the clangan ambulance bell at the hospital entrance, and ran out the ambulance disappeared down the drive. Shells were

helped only by Asian volunteers. leave the children

ing of just as

—

bursting everywhere

as

— but

whimpering bundle. At

there,

first

on the front

steps,

was a tiny

she thought the driver had bolted

A SINISTER TWILIGHT

l86

because of the shelling, but look told her the

it

when

had diphtheria

she took the baby inside, one

— and she had 120 children

same building. She could not keep the child

Seng for an

instant.

There was only one thing

to

at

in

Tan Tock

be done

—

get

the baby to the Middleton infectious diseases hospital in Pegu

But

Road.

that

was half a mile away, and the only car had

broken down, while the phone had long since ceased tion.

to func-

Apart from a few Asian helpers, she was on her own.

Carrying the baby, Cicely Williams

walked the half mile

to the

set off in the shelling

and

Middleton, handed the baby over,

and walked back — arriving of year-old babies threw

tahan!" ("I can't stand

just as the amah in charge of a ward up her hands and cried, "Ta boleh

it!")

the rest of the night in the

and

bolted.

Cicely Williams spent

ward with wounded children who

had the screaming horrors.

A

day or two after the beginning of the

assault, a startling

rumor passed among the civilian women of the nursing services both professional and volunteer working at the General

—

—

Hospital. It was nothing less than a report that

Australian military

sisters

all

and nurses were about

British

to

and

be evacu-

— leaving the nurses behind. The General had been rained with bombs and Since Freddy Bloom's wedding day — when she had survived a near the X-ray department — more bombs had landed on the ated

civilian

shells.

direct hit

hospital,

several

and she

had had some narrow escapes. Understandably, many women were in danger of becoming jittery. Yet the hundreds of civilian women of all races carried on courageously herself

—

some work

in the large hospitals, others at first-aid posts.

They had

to

At times there was such a shortage of water that doctors and nurses operating on raid casualties had to wash their hands and sterilize their instruments in soda water. in twelve-hour shifts.

Women

used to a dozen servants

nearest

corridor

—

if

it

were

now

not

gratefully slept in the

already

crowded

with

THE ASSAULT

187

wounded. Some volunteer nurses were weighed down by agonizing personal problems, particularly those

news

for

unteers.

who had had no

weeks of husbands fighting in the Local Defence VolYet in

the bloody history that was being written

all

(luring the siege, they

worked

and unremit-

quietly, efficiently

tingly,

drawing strength and courage from the trained profes-

sionals

who now

— so

it

was said

— were going

to pull out.

Dr. R. B. MacGregor, the energetic Director of Civilian Services, felt

ical

he had to scotch the rumor

were only a rumor

— without

government

sisters

and nurses and

as

indeed,

if,

morale of

delay, or the

would plummet, particularly

ians

—

Med-

his civil-

he had promised his

MAS volunteers

Gregor immediately sought out Shenton

Thomas it

civil

the same op-

Dr. Mac-

portunities for evacuation as military nursing sisters.

surance that the whispers were unfounded, and

it

for

some

happens

as-

that,

when virtually all written records were lost in the conwe do have a carefully compiled list of times and meet-

time

at a

fusion,

ings

between the chief figures in

this

drama, which was to have

such an unsavory climax.

On that

by and large

wanting the

MacGregor told Shenton Thomas there was no question of the civilian nurses' "The majority are willing to carry on under

Tuesday, February

to leave.

same conditions

10,

as the military sisters,"

he

said,

though ad-

MAS are showing signs of strain,"

mitting that "some of the

should be given a chance to go

if

they wished.

The

first

and and

most important point that needed clearing up, however, was the

movements of the army sisters. The Governor promised to make inquiries. That same evening he met General Percival, and asked him bluntly, "Is there future

any proposal to evacuate

Army

ished at the direct question. that

Sir

he "seemed surprised that

cival replied emphatically,

sisters?"

I

Percival looked aston-

Shenton Thomas remembered should ask." In any event, Per-

"No. None

at all."

A SINISTER

l88

TWILIGHT

This was the reply the Governor had expected, and

at seven-

morning he telephoned Dr. MacGregor that the were definitely staying. He had had the news di-

thirty the next

army

sisters

rectly

to

from

Percival.

Sir

Shenton suggested that the regular

and the MAS should be asked to volunteer remain, but added, "Those who don't volunteer should be

civil

nursing

staff

given the chance to leave without the stigma of desertion." Dr. MacGregor

now called all

the civilian nurses together and must have been a dramatic meeting. Freddy Bloom remembers that the evening was suffocating as they all trooped into one of the lecture rooms. There was no raid on, but the evidence of war was all about them. Half the windows had been smashed, and outside they could see fires burning. Hot and sweating, the group of women waited for the doctor to

addressed them.

It

speak.

Dr. MacGregor told them there was no foundation for the ru-

mors

that

army

the

sisters

would

leave

— they

had been

scotched by Percival himself. Yet he did not minimize the dangers that lay ahead.

Though

every

work, he could not force them to

woman was stay,

but he did ask them

volunteer. Reassured by the news, every

ernment

sister

and every volunteer

doing invaluable

European

in the

MAS

to

civilian gov-

decided to

re-

main.

—

profesMacGregor then turned to the Asian nurses sional and volunteers and asked how they felt about staying, for their case was rather different; many of them could have

Dr.

—

returned to their kampongs.

From

the back of the group a voice piped up,

going to do,

"What

are you

sir?"

Slightly flabbergasted,

MacGregor

—

stay, of

in a chorus,

"Then

retorted,

"Why

course!"

Almost simultaneously every voice joined

we

stay too!"

THE ASSAULT

189

them knew that within a matter of days every sinexcept one who regle military sister and nurse in Singapore would have been quietly evacuated, that without fused to go a word they would have left their wounded behind, to be tended Not one

of

—

—

by a totally inadequate

band

of civilian sisters helped only by a

staff

of semi-trained volunteers.

The

exception was a remarkable young Scotswoman, Eliza-

beth Petrie,

who had

joined

up

in Singapore,

had served with

down the peninsula. She flatly refused to leave the wounded. The other army sisters had not of course, "deserted." The army had Indian units on the Siamese border, and fought her way

posted

them

to the civil

to other areas,

but they had done so without a word

government, and despite Percival's categorical assur-

ance that such a step was far from his mind. Shenton

remembered someone coming up terly,

"The

to

Thomas

him and exclaiming

ideals of Florence Nightingale

bit-

have been scrapped

in favour of safety first." *

This extraordinary action would have been easier stand had

it

been decided

to serve elsewhere.

result of a

under-

to get these battle-trained sisters

But, in

chance remark

when, fuming

to

fact,

—

as

away

the decision was an error, the

Shenton Thomas discovered

what he considered a betrayal of his civilians, he demanded an explanation from an embarrassed Percival. The order had been given by an officer without reference to higher authority after Percival had made a casual remark that at

—

—

"The

number of sisters." Presumably the officer had taken this to mean that they ought to go. In any event, the officer had made the decision Australians seem to have an unduly large

himself

— and the entire

been ordered to go. *

elected

One can

British as well as Australians,

had

sympathize with Shenton Thomas'

civilian nurses and MAS women were interned, though only four women were interned; three were the wives of high-ranking soldiers who to remain. The fourth was Elizabeth Petrie.

Over 200

service

staff,

and

bitterness,

the

TWILIGHT

A SINISTER

190

army

he made to Percival: "Apparently

at the retort

places the welfare of

its sisters

before the care of the

wounded."

The army

sisters

were not the only ones

to

be evacuated in

circumstances amounting almost to secrecy. Another extraordi-

now took place, and again without the one man who should have been told being informed this time Briga-

nary evacuation

—

dier Simson.

For

now

was the senior European

it

officials

of the all-impor-

Harbour Board who quietly left the island. we have seen, was a self-contained unit, run on autocratic lines by officials who brooked no interference. Its record during the campaign had not been particularly noteworthy, though its staff had not been found wanting in bravery. But it had "decided not to erect shelters along its extent of some miles of great wharves; and the decision has been criticised." * The lack of shelters had resulted in the frequent refusal by coolies to unload vital war materials from the convoys. And nottant Singapore

The Harbour

Board, as

withstanding the

fact that the

get for bombing, the

harbor area was a legitimate

Board had

tar-

foolishly allowed vast stocks of

food (including 12,000 tons of flour) to be stored in some of

its

Much of it had gone up in flames men managed to start transferring

sixty-four cavernous godowns.

before Brigadier Simson's

stocks to safer areas "after considerable pressure

on the Gover-

nor and the Chairman."

Shenton Thomas had barely ended

his conversation with

Gregor on Wednesday morning when Japanese bombers a savage attack

and guarantees

fought.

own *

The

From The

Civil

started

areas.

of compensation for

which Simson had

bombed out Shenton Thomas

Brigadier had by this time been

house, and

-

There had been a good turndoubtless attracted by the new, improved pay

on the dock

out of coolies, rates

Mai

—

at the

suggestion of

Defence of Malaya.

of his

— was

THE ASSAULT living at

Government House, and

it

1Q1

was there that he was called

urgently to the telephone.

The dock

was an

caller

and

area,

—

Simson

left

for the

have to report

I

Harbour Board

the island."

The

thought there must be some mistake.

at first

Governor had

said, "Sir,

Europeans working

that all the senior

have gone

charge of parties working in the

officer in

an agitated voice he

in

down

laid

in unequivocal terms that

no Euro-

peans could leave the island without permission.

"We've managed

to get a

"but there's nobody "I'll

get

on

labour force here," the

them what

left to tell

to Rodgers, the

officer

added,

to do."

chairman," Simson suggested on

the phone.

The officer gave a short laugh. "He's gone like Then he added something that Simson found even more difficult to believe. "The story down here, sir, is that the "Rodgers!"

the rest, sir."

Governor gave them permission to go." In fact the

Harbour Board

officials

—

like the

army

had not "done a bunk." Shenton Thomas had previously ceived a cable from Whitehall saying that

be held, senior Harbour Board

were trained ever,

men who would

was quite unaware of

sibility of

staff

if

—

sisters

re-

Singapore could not

should be evacuated.

They

be needed in India. Simson, how-

this,

even though he had the respon-

finding labor for the docks.

The Governor's

study was at the far end of the house, and

was there that Simson asked Shenton uated the Harbour Board.

Thomas

Thomas why he had

it

evac-

explained the telegram he

had received. "Well, you might at least have let me know," said an aggrieved Simson. "The coolies at the docks are probably being killed at

this

very moment."

The Governor had events, the matter

the grace to apologize.

"had slipped

All that Simson could

do was

his

In the stress of

mind."

to arrange for the Engineers

and

TWILIGHT

A SINISTER

ig2

Works Department to destroy the valuable machinand equipment which the Harbour Board Europeans like

the Public ery

the navy at the base

Now

much

that

of this heavily

Tim Hudson and

protection of

and

— had "forgotten"

to

Harbour Board had ceased

that the

rate unit,

—

very

afternoon

bombed

ARP

his

fifty-four

deny

to the

enemy.

to function as a sepa-

came under the team at Tiong Bahru, area

twin-engined

bombers

launched one of the heaviest raids of the campaign.

was an oppressive afternoon.

It

The

blue skies of the morn-

ing had turned into slate-gray clouds which looked as though they would burst with heat or rain. Nothing stirred in the bare, breathless schoolrooms

headquarters

the schools

all

which had been turned into Hudson's

— looking somehow empty and unused now had been

closed.

that

Normally, the Chinese wardens

would have been full of their own particular brand of boisterous fun. Sometimes they played football in the schoolyard. But not today. Today it was too stifling. Every "roster "on

call"

bed" used by the night wardens was

men, and study,

At

ARP on

filled

with snoring, sleeping

Tim Hudson himself had dozed off in

slumped

the headmaster's

in a rattan chair.

precisely eleven minutes past two, the direct

him

into wakefulness. Raiders were

Hudson sounded

the klaxon, but even as he ran

headquarters shrilled

their way.

phone from

out into the schoolyard the planes were overhead, flying "with the sort of uninterrupted precision

I

used to see

at

an

air

show."

They appeared almost motionless. "Get ready

to

move. They're over the docks," yelled Hudson,

knowing from experience what to expect. The wardens ran for their assorted vehicles, lined up with bonnets pointing to the school gates. Behind them was an ancient lorry which Hudson

THE ASSAULT

193

had transformed into a mobile canteen with

a tea urn.

This was

under the charge of a young Chinese with an unruly fringe of black hair and the unlikely nickname of

Wee-Wee, who had

become the mascot of Tiong Bahru. As they all prepared to move, with Hudson leading the way in his Hillman, Tim could actually see the planes

bomb

drop their

mo-

loads at the same

was like looking at a film," he remembered. "The bombs seemed to float down so slowly I couldn't believe was real." As usual, the Japanese bomb aimers had waited for

ment.

"It

sticks of it

had then dropped

the leading pilot to give his signal. All

bombs

same time, and

at the

it

seems that the peculiar sunless

pewter color of the afternoon sky provided just the right

up the bombs, for hundreds Hudson had done.

ing to show clearly as

All this

had happened

their

in a second.

them

of people saw

The bombs had

light-

as

not even

reached the ground before the cars were racing for the docks. Shattering explosions rocked the cars on their way, then the air-

turned

craft

lazily in a semicircle

created.

One

plosions

and

air.

Another

stock of

bombs

above the inferno they had

hit a fuel

sheets of flame shooting hit a

godown

filled

dump,

triggering off ex-

hundreds of

with rubber.

A

feet into the

third set

some

As Hudson and his men reached Keppel Harbour a twisting column of acrid smoke darkened the gray sky like an umbrella. In the outer roads a few hundred yards stocks of sugar

off

shore

—

on

fire.

—

a Chinese

junk was blazing

furiously,

and Hudson

make out figures jumping over the side, into water daubed with patches of blazing oil. Before Hudson could do anything, three of his Chinese wardens, jabbering and pointing, could

were running to a sampan by the edge of the docks. gesticulating figure chased them. of

Wee-Wee's black fringe

boy was actually grinning.

as

Hudson

he darted

He

just

past.

A

fourth

caught a glimpse

The Chinese

tea

caught the others up, jumped in

TWILIGHT

A SINISTER

194

and they set off frantically for the burning junk and the black dots bobbing in the water around it. the big sampan,

Hudson could not

stay.

dump

Flames from the fuel

were

roaring across Keppel Road, west of the railway station, and

were already licking the flimsy shophouses around Kampong

Bahru Road behind. Here, hundreds of Chinese families had

home

refused to leave the ramshackle rooms they called

story buildings so flimsy, so jerry-built, they looked as

—

four-

though a

wind would blow them down. Out of every window brightly colored washing hung on poles. Children crawled in the gutters, oblivious to the black smoke curling around them. puff of

Stoic old ladies squatted

by their front doors,

One

ant of the disaster a few hundred yards away. started a late, interrupted lunch. circle, their

though ignor-

as

family had

re-

Squatting on their hams in a

chopsticks dipped rhythmically into a bowl of rice

flavored, perhaps, with a

few morsels of

fish.

To

them, and to

around them, the bombs had missed. The raid was over and they were alive. Nothing else mattered. those

Hudson's

first

thought had been to get everyone out of the

but then he vaguely heard a

street in case the fire spread, bell clanging

ning,

It's

ear,

"Don't worry about the houses

the sawmill behind." Buckeridge's

unwinding

their hoses.

lot'll

Here

"One spark from go up like a bomb."

lay the real danger.

the oil

in

and the

the city.

grown by the so

they'll

men were

dump and

mills provided

This particular

up

logs

mill —

like

so saw-

was a major Chinese

one of the gravest

fire

most others

hazard*

— had

up which logs were floated, fire hoses down to the shallow,

side of a tidal creek

Buckeridge was running his

be

run-

the whole

This was one of twenty or

mill areas in Singapore, for sawing industry,

—

"Clear out the sawmill," yelled

Buckeridge.

damn

fire

behind him, and the next moment Buckeridge was

shouting in his all right.

—

THE ASSAULT dirty water. acre,

The

other side of the mill, which covered about an

backed up against Chinese houses.

and

stocks of petrol

drums and

195

oil

The

scantlings.

In another were

to drive the saws.

In another was a

of paint.

In one corner were

flick

small mountain

of shavings

of a cigarette lighter could have

turned them into a roaring furnace.

As Hudson forced his way inside the untidy yard, past stacks of newly sawn planks, he saw to his dismay that this mill was a timber box factory, and that fifty or so men were quietly workwhine of saws, the noise of men sweeping up shavings, hammering planks into boxes, shouting for tins of paint all ing to the

—

this despite

the fact that, apart from the narrow, shallow creek of

water, the mill

Hudson out,

but

was

yelled to it

hemmed

one of

his

in by inflammable approaches.

Chinese wardens to get the workers

seemed impossible

to

make them understand. With

an almost supercilious arrogance they appeared to be saying,

"You may be

scared,

but we're not." Like the people of the

them

adjacent street, they felt the raid had passed

was

what

the fuss about?

all

Not

by, so

a

man

spoke a word of English, and

ing and arguing,

den was

it

helpless.

scattering,

had been

was obvious to Hudson that the Chinese war-

But then something happened

running secretly

they stood shout-

as

for their lives.

dreading

It

was

a

them Hudson

that sent

sound that

— the low whine of a

shell,

rapidly

reaching a crescendo.

The

shell scored a direct hit

on the paint shop. As

Tim

threw

himself behind a shed at the other end of the yard, the ramshackle building burst into fragments smothered in flames. after another, the

of anti-aircraft son.

It

drums

pom-pom

One

of paint exploded with a noise like that fire.

Something

was the decapitated body of a

soft

man

and wet

hit

— half a body,

— which had been tossed across the open space.

Hudreally

A SINISTER

196

Hudson's only thought was

TWILIGHT

to get rid of the

drums of petrol at and heat, he

the other side of the yard. Half dazed by the blast

groped

his

way

across the yard.

"Our only chance "We've got

to try

and

is

to get

them

float the stuff

Buckeridge appeared.

into the creek," he shouted.

away."

He had

brought one

trailer

pump

round a back way, and already had a hose drawing water from the creek. His men were playing it on the huge pile of shavings. Another trailer rattled up as Hudson and his men started to roll the fuel drums toward the water. More shells followed, but now they screamed over into the docks. rolled the

drums

into the creek.

One by

one, the wardens

Three Chinese wardens waded

and started pushing them into deeper water. As Buckeridge tried to prevent the fire spreading he let the paint shop burn itself out other trailer pumps were dealing with big fires on the docks. Meanwhile Hudson's men were piling up the dead in one corner and trying to make the score or so wounded men as comfortable as possible. Hudson had sent a messenger back to Tiong Bahru to phone for three ambulances. Finally one arrived. Two had set off all that could be spared but one had broken down on the way. The ambulance men loaded up the most seriously wounded and drove off with clanging bells. Tim could do nothing about the dead, except leave them piled up in a corner. The wounded presented a much more pressing problem. "I'd better take as many as I can to the General," Hudson said to his number two, and managed to squeeze three Chinese ar« penters with bloody head wounds into the Hillman. Just as they were about to set off, Japanese raiders appeared again, but, as Buckeridge noted in his diary that night, "They flew right over. in

—

—

—

—

(

Obviously they didn't see me."

Tearing up Cantonment Road with

his

groaning passengers,

THE ASSAULT Hudson branched

Outram Road and

the corner of

at

left

1Q7

reached the General Hospital in a few minutes, where, as ordercarried the

lies

had

raid

those

wounded inside, he lit his first cigarette since the He remembered afterward how wonderful

started.

first

few puffs were

— until suddenly he saw something so

horrifying that the cigarette dropped from his mouth.

choly procession of first,

Tim

men

its

way toward him. At

hardly noticed them, but then he saw they were order-

They moved toward

carrying corpses.

lies

was wending

A melan-

a place where the

once beautiful gardens and lawns had been torn apart to

way

for

two vast

at least a

one forty

pits,

hundred

feet long, the other stretching for

yards.

Tim moved

Impelled by a morbid fascination, closest pit.

It

make

was half

filled

with bodies, neatly laid out in

tightly packed rows. "It reminded

me

As he stood

gigantic tin of sardines."

toward the

much

of nothing so there, rooted

as a

and with a

handkerchief over his nose to shut out the overwhelming stench, half a

dozen more Chinese orderlies came down the steps of the

more

hospital carrying

bodies. Carefully they laid the

bodies at one end of the

them quickly with

mumbled an

bury them

that a nurse

apology.

"Don't apologize

the Asians at the other,

—

I

at opposite

was standing beside him and

In an American accent she replied,

understand."

Then

she added,

He

saw

a

blood,

and

at first

her more

above a uniform covered with

he did not recognize her. But then neither

him

—

until suddenly, because of the

Tim cried, "It's Freddy "Freddy B loom please!"

spoke,

at

good-looking woman, almost dropping with

fatigue, a grimy, dirt-streaked face

did she recognize

"They

ends for religious reasons."

Something in the voice made Hudson look closely.

and covered

a sprinkling of lime.

Hudson was aware he

pit,

European

Retz, isn't it?"

way she

1

"Of was

TWILIGHT

A SINISTER

98 course.

heard a rumor that you'd got married.

I

When

it?"

Freddy looked

"Last Friday."

Tim's

at

gray, lined face, the

shoulders bent with weariness., his uniform also smeared with blood, and she said. "I heard you on the radio. Fine."

"Too late,"

said

Tim tiredly.

"Marjorie get away

"As

far as I

all

right?"

know. How's

Tim remembers

it

that, despite the

"a sort of chuckle" and told pecially as she'd

had

a

now

that

it

so short by I

with you?"

him

surroundings, Freddy gave

that she couldn't complain

es-

bath that morning. Water was becoming

was practically impossible

did get one this morning.

A

Chinese nurse told

to bathe, "but

me

that she'd

prepared a tub of hot water for cleaning bloodstained uniforms.

She

let

me

staved in

have

all

a

day.

dip

first.

The

Was

Boy!

it

good!

—

I

only thing was." she added,

could have "it

was

my

job to wash the unifonns."

Tim Hudson pital grounds.

was etched in later

always

remembered

that brief scene in the hos-

For some reason he could never understand, his

memory

like a

dream

that recurs, so that

he would sometimes relive the whole scene

earth of the once beautiful grounds,

bodies into the huge

pit,

feet.

words she spoke that tugged always

"It's a

long time since we

Hudson's brain was

men

the stench, the pretty

nurse barely able to keep on her last

the

last

And at his

it

much

— the scarred

more young American piling

perhaps

it

was the

memory.

met," said Freddv.

so fuddled with weariness that he hadn't

the faintest idea what she meant.

"Don't you remember?" she jogged his memory.

morning drinks at the Seaview." Of course. The last dav before tables at the Seaview, the

it

had all

women

started

"Sunday

— the crowded

in shorts singing "There'll

THE ASSAULT Always Be an England." hide his emotion,

Tim

It

was another

K)<)

another

age,

said good-bye almost gruffly,

life.

To

and strode

away.

When

one analyzes these

first

gloomy picture that emerges

few days of desperate fighting, the

one of almost

is

Everything that could go wrong went wrong

no bad luck about

it.

WavelTs

confusion.

— and

there was

Fuddled errors of judgment, panic

treats against orders, the

plan, even

total

unaccountable leaking of a top-secret

final visit to the island

a military debacle rarely

re-

if

—

all

contributed to

ever equaled in British military his-

tory. It

no

was

now

a simple battle for survival.

overall plan; consequently the

vers

There appeared

during these two days degenerated into a

which each

be

series of decisions

commander hardly seemed know; what anyone else was doing. Though the in

to

crumbling defensive maneu-

local

to

care

(or

fighting was

— and the defenders greatly outnumbered the attackers — coherent being carried out over a comparatively small area

at first

all

plans

(if

ever they truly existed) seemed to have vanished into

the powder-laden hot air or the gles

deep

recesses of the

rubber jun-

and swamp. Time and again apparently unaccountable de-

cisions

were taken.

The

Japanese would be unable to advance

— until for no apparent reason Allied opposition melted away. moment the hundred rounds per man

Japanese were

burying their ammunition in

pits.

At one bizarre

— while

From

down

to their last

the British defenders were

the start of their invasion, Japanese troops had been ad-

vancing toward Tengah Airfield which had to be held, so both Percival

and Gordon Bennett agreed

launch a counterattack in force.

It

that the only chance was to

was planned

— yet

for sev-

TWILIGHT

A SINISTER

200 eral reasons,

some obscure,

The

never took place.

it

attack was

commanding an Australian brigade, but when Gordon Bennett managed to get through to him on the field telephone and inquired how the attack was to have been led by Brigadier Taylor,

progressing, Taylor, according to the astonished Bennett, 're-

plied that just as the advance was to commence, the

enemy

at-

tacked in strength and that his line had fallen back behind the

[Tengah] aerodrome. This meant that the aerodrome was in

enemy hands." In found

fresh bread

fact the retreat

was

so swift that the Japanese

and soup on the dining

tables.

Bennett could

hardly believe the news, and nobody has ever explained

Taylor should have abandoned the cant that

when Bennett spoke

airfield,

though

later to Taylor,

that "he seemed confused." Percival was also had a small command reserve, to say nothing

guarding the unattacked northeast shores. loath to throw

them

into the

it is signifi-

Bennett noted

to blame, for

Yet Percival was

Western Area because he was

launch a counter-attack

puts .

.

.

it,

"The

he

of two divisions

convinced the Japanese might attack in the northeast, so

The War Against Japan

why

still

that, as

fleeting opportunity to

and confine the enemy

to

the

north-west corner of the Island was lost."

Despite the

were

still

loss of

Tengah

Airfield,

in the northwest of the island,

however, the Japanese

and there was

still

one

hope of pinning them there and preventing them pushing in toward the city. It was necessary to defend a partly reconnoitered and prepared stretch of country between Tengah and Singapore.

Two or three miles long,

it

was euphemistically called the

Jurong Line, and consisted of undulating jungle and swamp country linking the headwaters of two broad rivers, the Jurong and the Kranji, the former flowing due south, the latter due north.

(The Jurong

spilled into the sea

on the southern shores

of the island, the Kranji flowed into the Straits of Johore a mile

THE ASSAULT The two

201

and the country between them did in fact slice the island in two from north to south, and if this natural line could be held, the Japanese would be con-

west of the causeway.)

rivers

tained in the western sector of the island.

There were enough troops

defend the Jurong Line against

to

a frontal attack — but there was one sTave danger.

What would

mouth

of the Kranji

happen

if

the Japanese landed between the

and the causeway? They would obviously be able

turn the

to

Jurong Line. This was precisely what the Japanese planned to do. and once a^ain thev oblis:mo;lv °:ave the British clear notice of their intention, for while the battle was rasing crah in

around Ten-

the west. Japanese artillery started a massive barrage

the mile-Ions: strip of coastline between the

mouth

and the point where the causeway reached the

Here was an exact copybook replica fore the

first

The

Japanese landings.

of

of the Kranji

island.

what had occurred be-

Australian positions were

dive-bombed and pounded mercilessly. At one

stage of the bar-

were landing every ten minutes.

sixty-seven Japanese shells

Yet aeain Percival refused to commit troops to threatened

area.,

even though,

on

as

this

newlv

The War Against Japan

points

out.

"The onlv way

line

defended by a skeleton garrison with a high proportion of

.

.

.

was

to leave the north-eastern coast-

machine-guns, and to withdraw the 18th Division. risk

.

.

The

was not great; the threat of a landing on the north-eastern

sector

No first

.

had receded." such

'"risk"

was taken, and when evening came, and the

Guards were being ferried

units of the Japanese Imperial

across the Straits near the causeway,

we

find Percival

a plan for the defense of Singapore City.

It

drawing up

seems that by

now

he feared the worst, and had decided

that, if the inevitable

happen, troops should

perimeter that would

fall

back

clude Kalians: Airfield near the

to a

citv.

and two

did in-

of the three island

A SINISTER

202

TWILIGHT

During the evening he called in two of his three senior commanders (Gordon Bennett could not leave his headquarters) and explained his plans to them verbally, enjoin-

reservoirs.

ing them to the night,

Percival

strictest secrecy.

After they had

members

of his

'

issued the plan in writing as a

personal instruction" for the three staff.

about mid-

left

'secret

commanders and a few

Secrecy was absolutely essential.

and

senior

Morale

was bad enough anyway, and there was no point in depressing

and alarming

officers in the battle areas.

The wisdom

on secrecy became appar-

of Percival's insistence

ent almost before his clerk had finished typing the plan, for sud-

denly

— and most unexpectedly — morale

given a rousing, exciting

tempting

to

fillip.

The

headquarters was

at

crack Japanese guards

at-

land near the causeway were being thrown back

into the water.

At

first

Percival could hardly believe

Brigadier Maxwell,

way

area

his

Gordon Bennett had

men must

were doing

fight

it

out.

— magnificently.

— partly

because

the Australians in the cause-

had already requested permission

further inland.

him

commanding

it

And

to

withdraw

curtly refused,

now,

this

is

just

As the minutes ticked

to a line

and

told

what they

by, Percival

waited impatiently for news via Gordon Bennett. After half an

came

— good news.

Even though the Japanese landing barges carried mortars which they fired at speed, throwing up a screen of spray from a creeping barrage, the Australians were forcing most of them back, while those Japanese who did manage to gain a foothold on the muddy bank found themselves Lu hour

it

-

ing a stubborn, determined defense quite out of character with

what they had been led to believe. Nothing they could do would dislodge the Australians, who were duo; in five hundred yards from the shoreline.

The few Japanese who

tried to rush

swamp and undergrowth were raked with machine-gun At times the ranges were down to ten yards. the

fire.

THE ASSAULT As the night wore on, the news got even

203

and

better,

in the

morning news was rushed to Percival that the Japanese had apparently given up the attempt to land. It was true. As we now know, the commander of the landing troops early hours of the

had sent a signal

to

General Yamashita in the Sultan of Johore's

palace, asking for permission to call the attack off

and endeavor

to land elsewhere the following evening.

Yamashita was undecided.

which was only gence

officers to

He

decided to wait until dawn

few hours away

a

wake him with

And when

area at that time.

— and instructed

a fresh report

the report came, everything

nese had been unable to dent was

astonishment, he was told

shita's

away."

How

this tragic reversal

The

The

Maxwell ordered

no longer there and, to Yamathat "all resistance had melted

had come about

at a

his troops to retire,

moment of we know is

and

he had been given permission to withdraw.

later that

had

stubborn,

line the Japa-

heroic defense has never been fully explained. All that Brigadier

his intelli-

from the causeway

suddenly, unaccountably, inexplicably changed. heroic resistance of the night had vanished.

—

insisted

Gordon

Bennett insisted with equal vehemence that Maxwell had never

been given such permission. Whatever happened, by dawn on

had been abandoned and the road

the 10th the causeway area

to

Singapore lay open. If this disaster

were not enough, another now followed hard

— and

was never explained. For somebody

on

its

in

Gordon Bennett's Western Area

heels

been identified "secret

this, too.

— issued

and personal" plan

Moreover,

it

was issued

tain circumstances.

manders

When

culprit has never

for the last-ditch defense of the city.

as a military

From

in the field acted

initiative.

— the

to subordinate commanders Percival 's

that

order to be obeyed in cer-

moment on

the 10th, the com-

on the instructions

— and

their

own

Brigadier Taylor (who had already "seemed

confused" to Gordon Bennett; received the order

"its

limited

He

nature escaped him."

meaning

as

TWILIGHT

A SINISTER

204

new

the

him

and

that he

He

positions.

for his actions" *

read

his

did

men so.

through

it

should retreat immediately

Bennett

but by then

be wondered

late.

The

last pre-

had vanished, and nor

is

The War Against Japan com-

for as

at,

it

to

later "tersely reproved

was too

it

tense at any coherent plan of defense this to

— and interpreted

mented,

To

these

weary and distracted

officers,

sorely in

need

of rein-

forcements and encouragement to fight on despite their culties, the receipt of

mission that the higher hopeless.

The

diffi-

such an order was tantamount to an ad-

command

regarded the situation

as

psychological effect of this order had a consider-

able bearing on their actions during the 10th.

on that day shows

A study

of events

throughout it Western Area its subordinate formations. Thus, despite the fact that the enemy during the day had done nothing more than probe defences with his advance troops, the Jurong Line was abandoned clearly that

failed to co-ordinate the actions of .

.

.

.

On

.

.

day Wavell flew in

this critical

where the fronts were shrinking.

to visit the island.

He

Every-

was horrified to hear

that

had been abandoned and immediately, over the Percivai, ordered a counterattack which was a disaster,

the Jurong Line

head of

resulting in even tail

more confusion "and

in the destruction in de-

of the forces involved."

WavelTs unfortunate decision

to

launch a counterattack was

possibly inspired by an extraordinary telegram from Churchill

which had reached him

just before

he had flown out of Java.

Churchill "no longer nursed illusions about the protracted fense of Singapore.

The

only question was

doubt the Prime Minister was worried by the defeat •

x

long.'

effect

an ignoble

would have on American public opinion, and was

The Japanese Thrust

de-

how

1

dcter-

THE ASSAULT mined

205

that the "fortress" should fight for as long as

possible, for in his cable to

humanly

Wavell, he said:

way we view the situation in was reported to Cabinet by the C.I.G.S. [Chief of Imperial General Staff] that Percival has over 100,000 men, of I

think you ought to realise the

Singapore.

It

whom

33,000 are British and 17,000 Australian. It is doubtful whether the Japanese have as many in the whole Malay Peninsula ... 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. There must

be no thought of saving the troops or sparing the population. The battle must be fought to the bitter end at at this stage

all costs.

history.

troops.

Army

is

The 18th Division has a chance to make its name in Commanders and senior officers should die with their The honour of the British Empire and of the British at stake.

I

on you

rely

to

show no mercy

to

weakness

in anv form. With the Russians fighting as they are and the Americans so stubborn at Luzon, the whole reputation of our country and our race is involved. It is expected that every unit will be brought into close contact with the enemy and fight it

out.

However eloquent and

w as hardly the sort of signal to send to a hard-pressed commander, for it took no account of the fact that control of the air and the sea had long since been lost, nor that the Japanese had about two hundred tanks and Britain had none; nor that the bulk of the vast body of inspiring, this

T

Empire troops was inexperienced, badly trained, yet pitted against veteran fighters

blooded

in the

war against China. Even

worse was the absurd comparison with the fighting between the

Americans and the Japanese in Luzon. Japanese troops in the Philippines (they Singapore after the fortress.

fall)

There were no crack were sent there from

and Corregidor was

in fact a

genuine

A SINISTER

206

TWILIGHT down this injudicious Dav dated February 10,

Wavell, however, did nothing to tone cable; instead he issued an

Order

of the

which he made use of every argument put forward by and indeed almost the same words. It bore an ex-

in

Churchill

—

traordinary similarity to the original:

It is certain that

our troops on Singapore Island heavily out-

number any Japanese who have

crossed the Straits.

We

must

destroy them.

Our whole

fighting reputation

the British Empire.

is

at stake

The Americans have

and the honour

of

held out in the Bataan

Peninsula against far heavier odds; the Russians are turning

back the picked strength of the Germans; the Chinese, with almost a complete lack of modern equipment., have held back the Japanese for four and a half years. It will be disgraceful if we yield our boasted Fortress of Singapore to inferior enemy forces. There must be no thought of sparing the troops or civilian population, and no mercy must be shown to weakness in any shape or form. Commanders and senior officers must lead their troops and if necessary die with them. There must be no question or thought of surrender. Every unit must fight it out to the end and in close contact with the enemy. Please see that the above is brought to the notice of all Senior Officers and by them to the troops. I look to you and to your men to fight to the end to prove that the fighting spirit that won our Empire still exists to enable us to defend

it.

This might have been or

it

all

very well for local consumption

—

could have been had Percival's secret retreat plan not been

leaked

— but

mischievous papers.

wTong

if

it

had one unfortunate repercussion. For

these

inspiring words appeared in several British news-

Naturally they gave the people of Britain an utterly picture of superior Allied forces

who

have the courage to defend the "boasted

did not apparently

fortress of

Singap

THE ASSAULT against inferior

enemy

WavelTs

tion to

of

some troops

see

.

.

he made no bones about the not good, and none

Everything

.

Nor did the words bear any for when he started drafting

forces.

real feelings,

ply to Churchill, is

207

is

is

as

high

fact that as I

and optimistic outlook, but

efforts

have been entirely successful up to date."

be WavelTs

to

a re-

"Morale

should like to

being done to produce a more offensive

spirit

This was

rela-

cannot pretend that these

I

last visit to

and during the Gordon Bennett near

the island,

day he drove with General Percival to see

Timah village. The Australian headquarters was heavily bombed at the time and as Percival put it, there was the "unediBukit

fving spectacle of three General officers going to tables or

ground under

any other cover that was available." They were in

lucky not to be killed, for one Japanese

on Bennett's own

office.

It failed to

That evening Wavell called

how

was appalled to discover insist that

she should

fly

bomb

scored a direct hit

explode.

to see Sir

ill

fact

Shenton Thomas, and

Lady Thomas was. He

tried to

out of Singapore with him, but Lady

Thomas would not hear of it.

He had one flying boat at

and

RAF

airfield

last

decision to

make

before returning to Java by

midnight. Wavell ordered

all

serviceable aircraft

personnel to the Dutch East Indies. Kallang, the

on the island in Allied hands, was "so pitted with

craters that

it

For days the

was no longer usable."

RAF

pilots

had fought

brilliantly against over-

whelming odds, even though the few remaining been pinned

last

bomb

down

to Kallang, the boggy,

swampy

aircraft

had

airfield

near

Even

this had been kept open only by teams working round the clock on the 750-yard-long landing strip. The British

the city.

losses

had been

severe.

Out

of "the

meagre reinforcements" of

A SINISTER

208 fifty-one

TWILIGHT

Hurricanes which had arrived in crates in mid-January,

only twenty-six remained serviceable by the end of the month,

and even these had rapidly dwindled. By now only eight Hurricanes and six ancient Buffalos were left to carry on the fight. This token force attempted to prevent the Japanese from divebombing troops and broke up enemy attacks on shipping. On their last full day's flying over Singapore Island

any

real

ground control — they shot down

six

— and without

Japanese bombers

and damaged fourteen more.

Among the

last to fly

out his Hurricane was Flight-Lieutenant

Arthur Donahue, the American with the RAF. Together with the other

officers,

he had been billeted in the Seaview Hotel,

had

where

civilian guests

pagne

for every Japanese aircraft shot

arrived for

Donahue and

clinging on

in

a standing offer of a bottle of

When

the order

his colleagues to leave, the old civilians

Seaview

the

down.

cham-

— the

''useless

mouths" which

Churchill had in vain asked to be evacuated weeks previously

could not believe

"No

it.

matter

how bad

noted, "as long as they could see the

was hope." Donahue

RAF

—

the news,"

Donahue

they

felt there

flying,

left an indelible picture of his last sight of

Singapore as he flew away:

My

final memory of Singapore, as it appeared to me looking back for the last time, is of a bright green little country, restexing on the edge of the bluest sea I'd ever seen, lovely cept where the dark tragic mantle of smoke ran across its middle and beyond, covering and darkening the city on the seashore. The city itself, with huge leaping red fires in its north and south parts, appeared to rest on the floor of a vast cavern formed by the sinister curtains of black smoke which rose from beyond .

and towered over cloak of doom.* *

Donahue won

it,

.

prophetically, like a great over-hanging

the D.F.C. in the Malayan campaign and wrote an excellent

count of his experiences in Last Flight from Singapore. war.

.

He was

ac-

killed later in the

THE ASSAULT

200,

While Flight-Lieutenant Donahue and

RAF

were

flying

Hammonds were

bewildered George

They,

too,

though gone

had

preparing to leave by

lunchtime on February

Cathay

to

a

sea.

been ordered out by the military,

in effect

as late as

to the

his colleagues in the

Jimmy Glover and

out to Java, a stunned

make

when Glover had

11,

sure the distribution of the Tribune

was proceeding smoothly, he had not had the faintest idea that this

would be

his last

the last issue of the

He had seemed

day on the

island,

newspaper that was

since defeat

for,

Timah Road, and have them

the veterinary surgeon in Bukit

He

could not bear the thought of them being

At the

treated by the Japanese.

vet's

had been there with

his

two cocker

ill-

he had joined a queue of

Europeans, each with their unsuspecting dogs. spaniels.

Tim Hudson

Many men had

"Despising myself thoroughly," Glover remem-

tears.

bered, "I

now

he had decided to take his two dogs to Forbes,

certain,

been in

would be

this

his life.

spent a wretched morning

put down.

nor that

handed them over

and watched them

to the attendant

led away. I have hated myself for this act ever since."

was in

It

made

his

frame of mind that he reached the Cathay and

this

way

Captain Steele, senior Press

"Have you got

The first person he saw was Officer, who asked him abruptly,

to the press office.

a suitcase packed?" Glover told

him

it

was in

his

car.

"Good," said Glover's

Steele.

"You're leaving tonight

immediate reaction was

to

blurt

if

you're lucky."

out,

"But what

about tomorrow 's paper?" "There'll be

and

Hammonds

no tomorrow's paper," retorted are leaving with

all

Steele.

"You

the other press correspon-

dents."

At

this

moment Hammonds was making

Dulverton with the ing

if

last

his final trip

from

few copies of the Tribune and wonder-

he would ever reach the center of the

city, for as

he drove

TWILIGHT

A SINISTER

210

gingerly toward Orchard Road, "it was like no-man's-land."

Trees were slumped awkwardly across the road, attap huts

burned as

in a

nearby kampong,

shells burst

around

his Chevrolet

he reached a roadblock manned by a handful of British

diers,

including one

tall

holding an automatic

Tribune and passed

blond boy stripped

rifle.

to the waist

George gave him a

free

sol-

and

copy of the

As the young waved him through he cried cheerfully, "Better not come back the Japs are coming this way. They must have seen that sign!" He jerked his gun in the direction of an enormous street hoarding. It bore the words, Join the army and see his tin of cigarettes round.

soldier

—

the world.

Somehow Hammonds reached Captain

Steele.

As they waited

the Cathay, to find Glover and

for the other correspondents to

be rounded up, Leslie Hoffman rushed in to say good-bye.

Hammonds

tried to persuade

with that engaging grin of

him

to

come

his, just said,

along, but Leslie,

"Don't worry about

me —

I'll become part of the scenery." That night Glover and Hammonds carried their suitcases aboard an ancient coastal steamer which had been elevated to the status of "naval sloop." There they waited until darkness had fallen when Hammonds walked aft and took his last look at the city ringed with fires. Then, as the improvised man-o'-wai slid stealthily away and turned her prow to the south, Hammonds found a corner on the cluttered, oily deck and tried to

blot out everything in sleep.

Another party was

Rob

Scott

and

his

also leaving that night

staff,

the Japanese "wanted"

for

he knew that

lists,

and

in

all

— none other than

of

any event,

them would be on there was no point

open a Ministry of Information office any longer, Scott had always planned to remain with a reduced staff right to the end. Indeed "I had not anticipated that this last group would in keeping

THE ASSAULT *et

But now he rounded up his team of men, together with the skeleton staff of the Malaya Broad-

away

ten

211

casting

the

Singapore

if

Company,

MBC

had

of

fell."

which Scott was

a governor.

He

at first refused to go.

was

still

Eric Davis of

broadcasting

with improvised emergency equipment, even though one tion

was under continual

Drder

him

to leave,

and

In the end, Scott had to

shellfire.

late

on the

1

sta-

ith they all set off to

board

H.M.S. Giang Bee, an ancient 1200-ton Chinese-owned coaster which had been requisitioned by the navy, and which carried a

gun and depth charges. Here they ran into a problem: the captain would take only twenty-five on board, and refused point-blank to include the two women on the MBC >taff. The Giang Bee was offensively armed, he said, and thus to the Japanese would be a warship. Scott and his staff of ten men were taken on board, together with the MBC engineers. The rest of the MBC staff including Eric Davis and the two Pour-inch

—

*irls

— were

taken to another

vessel.

(Davis was never heard

3f again.)

For some extraordinary reason the navy Malays

who formed

now

ordered

all

the

the backbone of the crew to be sent ashore,

leaving the ship without stokers, deckhands, stewards, signalers dt radio operators,

lowed by another,

and

when

this

unaccountable order was soon

fol-

the British Naval Shipping Control or-

dered the Giang Bee back into Singapore's inner harbor, and instructed the captain to take

on two hundred old men, women

and children. In vain he pointed out that he had only four boats, each

designed to carry thirty-two passengers.

crew consisted of a handful of gers

RNVR

life-

His only

and those passenwho had volunteered. He did not have enough food and

water.

All his pleas

ping Control. their part.

It

was

officers

were curtly overruled by the Naval Shipto

prove a disastrous error of judgment on

A SINISTER

212

TWILIGHT The MBC Chu Yu-Min

Later that night the Giang Bee slid out of harbor. engineers became radio operators. Scott's servant

— who had been with him thirteen years China — became cook "and produced meal out of whatever he in all parts of

for

a

And

could lay hands on." fourteen stone, so

I

Scott himself? "Well,

volunteered

I

weighed over

doing the midnight

as a stoker,

to four a.m. watch."

The

following morning, Singapore awoke to find a

newspaper on the

had been leaving the Straits Times his publicity

—

— as

new kind

of

During the evening as Hammonds Shenton Thomas had decided to take over a government printing office. A member of

streets.

department was appointed acting

editor,

and

be-

tween them they rounded up an assorted batch of Singhalese linotype operators, Chinese printers, Asian sub-editors and one

The

reporter.

and

camped managed

in the

staff

shelling, they

to

office.

Despite the

bomn

produce 7000 copies of

a sin

Times on the morning of the 12th. All the Tamil newspaper sellers had vanished but the Governoi sheet edition of the Straits

arranged for dispatch riders to deliver bundles to

all

ART

the

posts.

The six

paper was quarto

news

size,

and the

first

issue contained onlj

items, with the "lead" story consisting of the latest

<>m-

<

munique — eight unadorned paragraphs with no comment. color,

no

interpretation.

It was,

studded with

as usual,

n<>

the

meaningless phrases Singaporeans had come to know so well -

"enemy pressure slackened during stabilise

our position

situation."

Of

.

.

.

the night

Elsewhere there

.

is

.

.

It i>

hope

no change

in the

the other five stories, one noted a modest

contribution to the Malaya

War Fund and

1

two had nothing

whatsoever to do with the war in Malaya. As Kenneth

Attiwill

TH1 ASSAULT

213

commented, "To look at these news-sheets now is to wonder whether the courage and enterprise of the staff were worth

dryl)

u."

On

determined to try

to

it

make one

last

effort

—

out of a job

persuade his old father

to

He had heard that several boats planned to Dutch last Indies on Friday the 13th. Leslie felt

and escape.

leave tor the that

— now

same day Leslie Hoffman

this

his father

would only

go,

he too might be able to reach

Australia and rejoin his wife.

The

congestion in the center of the city was

now

so wide-

spread that he found the utmost difficulty in getting through

it.

Manx Asians had "given the city up," producing a new and brightening problem. Roads and squares in the heart of Singapore, already crowded with military vehicles, now began to be lammed with long streams of Chinese and Indian civilians who were heading for the east of the island

— anywhere,

was away trom the advancing Japanese. in the small seat of his sports car,

of the

women

To all

Hoffman, crouched

the pathetic vividness

carried everything they pos-

— beds, followed carrying food —

on their backs, staggering under immense loads

bedding, bits of furniture. usually sacks of rice

One

possessions.

shaw.

had

it

newsreels of the French fleeing before the Germans.

first

Wrinkled old men and sessed

it

so long as

An

mother

Women

— and every child was loaded with precious

lucky family had found an abandoned rick-

old wizened

woman

— she might

— had been put between

hind her a

man

the shafts to pull the load.

carried a bed on his ban

rice tied together.

Half

a

have been a grand-

k.

a

woman two

Be-

sacks of

do/en children straggled along, with

and pans or dishes dangling on their backs. Where they were making for didn't seem to matter or that was Hoffman's pots

—

impression.

enough.

A

The Japanese were on kind of

dumb

instinct

the

island

— that

was

compelled them to get out of

TWILIGHT

A SINISTER

214

the city; probably they felt they stood a better chance of survival

kampongs. As Hoffman approached the big open space by the Cricket Club padang he had to slow down for a family which had managed to find an empty coffin. They had loaded it up and were in the village

now

carrying

Once

handles.

now

— irreverent

it

the pride

— by

pallbearers

and joy

trees, lighting

poles torn down,

skeletons of burned-out cars

brass

— smashed windows,

bore the stark evidence of recent raids

uprooted

heavy

its

of Singapore, the civic center

and

and on every

side the

Behind the

Victoria

lorries.

Theatre was a huge column of smoke. As Hoffman moved inch by inch tow ard the edge of the T

electricity pylons still

drunken traffic

bungalow in the Serangoon 7

the city

fight,

angles.

took Hoffman nearly an hour, driving along the roads

choked with military

At

he was halted by three

which had been almost uprooted. They were

standing, but at

It

city,

off

and comparatively

eighty,

and

refugees, to reach his father's

area,

which was well

to the east

<»l

quiet.

Hoffman's father was

but his obstinacy seemed

ceeding year. Since the day

to

when

a

grand old

man and

full of

have increased w ith each 7

Leslie

in vain to persuade his father to leave, he

and

had

his wife

suc-

dried

had never brought up

the subject, for though his reason had insisted that Singapore

w as doomed, perhaps in his heart he had mon w ith so many others) the vague hope T

T

entertained (in

occur to disprove his forebodings. Now, however,

Now

(

that a miracle would it

was

differ-

no hope. As Hoffman walked into the big airy living room w here he had spent his childhood and his father hunched by the veranda in a long chair, he d< mined that this time there would be no nonsense. He would ent.

7

there could be 7

make him go In

fact,

— whether

Leslie

his father liked the idea or not.

Hoffman

failed completely.

He

found

hi* old

ASSAULT

I

215

more obdurate, more difficult than ever. This was his This was his house, and he was going to sit it out. It made

father city.

no difference that Leslie quoted Churchill's demand that "usemouths" should be evacuated. His lather hardly seemed to hear

when

Leslie painted lurid

against

especially

men

when

dly bothered to reply

the prospect of starving

word

pictures of Japanese atroci-

with Chinese blood in them. asked him

his son

under the new masters

if

He

he relished

Malaya who

of

would be completely indifferent to the welfare of old and "usemen. Thev must have argued

for over

an hour

— though

•oilman wryly remembered, "the arguments were rather onesided, for

I

did

all

the talking: and

my

lather just kept

on shak-

head."

his

Eventually the old

and

himself,

jer beer.

man

ordered some pale Chinese tea for

Leslie searehed the refrigerator for a bottle of cold It

was, he

remembered,

beautiful

a

afternoon.

Apart from the growl of distant gunfire, the war seemed

moment with

compound, blossoms. Only the smell

curiously remote as thev Looked over the

luxuriant creepers and exotic

its

ordite in the air, instead

brpught Hoffman back to

Then,

after his father

ther,

had put down

it

just

and

was a long speech.

By now island

—

as

I

special smell,

said

cup

of eggshell

something which Leslie t«>

come. For his

fa-

"What does

a

ol suffering?

All this will pass over.

another storm. m\ boy,

hospital just because

own

his small

never forget in the days and nights

matter in the world's historv It's

arc's

reality.

china, he turned to his son :
at that

m

t

of misery

I'm not going to run off to

my feet wet."

Friday the 13th approached

had been irretrievably

lew- years

lost,

and

it

— the battle

was only

for the

a question ol

TWILIGHT

A SINISTER

2l6

time. Japanese tanks thundering

down

the Bukit

Timah Road

and then the village, together with vast military stores of food and petrol. Hand to hand fighting had flared up in places whose very names were evocative of "the good old days" on the racecourse, across the greens and had captured the

strategic hill

—

fairways of the Singapore Golf Club, at the Dairy Farm. Gen-

who had been operating from an advanced headquarters in Sime Road near the Golf Club, had been awakened at dawn by Japanese machine-gun fire barely a mile distant. He made his way to the famous Bukit Timah Road and drove along eral Percival,

it

as far as

he dared, to find in the early morning that "this great

road, usually so full of

was almost deserted. Japanese

were floating about, unopposed except

craft fire,

traffic,

looking for targets.

One

wide road in a lone motor

man added

a rare cry

to

car."

Then

our

naked driving up

this strange,

air-

anti-aircraft that

complicated

from the

heart, a cry that echoed the

feel-

now

trapped inside a perimeter

that

ings of a million civilians

had shrunk

felt terribly

for

two and a half miles. "Why,

I

asked myself, does

Britain, our improvident Britain, with all her great resources,

allow her sons to fight without any air support?"*

Yet Percival knew that he could not surrender, despite the fact that

General Yamashita had sent him a courteous "airmail"

invitation to

Command

do

so,

dropping a note addressed "to the High

of the British

Army" from

a Japanese aircraft.

read:

Your Excellency, High Command

Nippon Army based on the have the honour of presenting this note to Your Excellency advising you to surrender the whole force in Malaya. My sincere respect is due to your army which true to the traI,

the

spirit of

* Percival,

of the

Japanese chivalry,

The War

in

Malaya.

It

THE ASSAULT ditiona] spirit of Great Britain,

is

217

bravely defending Singapore

which now stands isolated and unaided. Many fierce and gallant fights have been fought by your gallant men and officers, to the honour of British warriorship. But the developments of the genera] Avar .situation has already sealed the fate of Singapore,

and the continuation of futile resistance would only serve to inflict direct harm and injuries to thousands of non-combatants living in the city, throwing them into further miseries and horrors of Avar, but also would not add anything to the honour of your army. I expect that Your Excellency accepting

up

this

my

advice will give

meaningless and desperate resistance and promptly order

the entire front to cease hostilities

and

will despatch at the

same

time your parliamentaire according to the procedure shown at the

end of

neglect

this note.

my

If

on the contrary, Your Excellency should

advice and the present resistance be continued,

I

shall be obliged, though reluctantly from humanitarian con-

siderations to order

my army

make

to

annihilating attacks on

Singapore.

In closing this note of advice, to

I

pay again

(signed) 1.

my

sincere respects

Your Excellency.

The

Tomoyuki Yamashita

Parliamentaire should proceed to the Bukit

Timah

Road. 2.

The

Parliamentaire should bear a large white flag and the

Union

Jack.

Whatever Percival might have felt he was faced with Churchill's firm dictum that "there must be no thought of sparing the troops or the civil population." to Wavell,

He

cabled Yamashita's message

adding with unconscious irony, "Have no means of

dropping message, so do not propose

would

On far.

of course in

the 12th

to

make

reply,

which

any case be negative."

Government House received

though Shenton

Thomas

still

its

worst shelling so

refused to evacuate the build-

A SINISTER

2l8

ing despite one direct

"House at

shelled.

hit,

TWILIGHT

which he described in

Several boys

[i.e.

back of house killed by direct

boy were lying exposed

to view.

all.

No

with yellow dust and unrecognisable.

went under house

including

hit,

Ghurkas, and an amah. Twelve in

his diary,

house servants] underneath

My

my

boy and

boy, three a

bedroom

sign of hurt, but covered

Ah

Ling,

my

head

boy,

more but reported none. Later we heard that others were missing, so I went down with Simson and found four or five including an amah and two Ghurkas in one passage. All like statues, sitting or kneeling, and no marks." By sundown Allied forces had withdrawn to a line roughly similar to that outlined in Percival's secret plan, but no one for a moment was optimistic enough to believe it could be held for to look for

long.

Mr. V. G. Bowden, Australian government representative

in

Singapore, had to cable Canberra that "a group of Australians and others" had boarded a vessel without authority and sailed for Java. The city was crowded with sullen, armed deserters "in greater numbers" (according to The War Against Japan) "than

could be controlled by the Military Police."

Now,

at last,

morale was beginning

to crack.

9 Black Friday

Friday, February 13 It

was a beautiful morning, of a kind which only the tropics can

produce, and then only occasionally.

The

light

was not yet

—

his when Tim Hudson awoke in the headmaster's study "bedroom" at Tiong Bahru, where he was by now spending

harsh

—

He pulled on his khaki slacks quickly, and walked into the common room where the indefatigable Wee- Wee, grinning below his mop of unruly black hair, was pouring out ugly-

most nights.

colored, stewed tea to several wardens

corned beef

slices

"on

and some bread stood

call."

A

plate of

in the

middle of the

Tim

pointed out in

table. Breakfast.

The

tea

forceful,

was undrinkable

—

a fact

which

unmistakable language to Wee-Wee. "I make fresh tea

for you, tuan," issue of the

he bustled away, and

Tim

picked

up

the second

government's single-sheet newspaper, several copies

of which

had been delivered to main headline read "Japanese

ARP Suffer

posts for distribution.

Huge

The

Casualties in Singa-

pore" but the story below, which contained only

five

paragraphs

and Australian newspapers, told him nothXor did the other items. One dealt with a meeting between Xehru and Chiang Kai-shek, another with an American plan to raise an air force of two million men. It all seemed so remote, as though the newspaper had been edited thousands of

culled from British ing.

A SINISTER

220

TWILIGHT

miles away by people completely uninterested in this island a

few degrees north of the equator. There was nothing in the way of inspiration,

ing for the

one excepted

if

a

new

slogan mysteriously appear-

time below the masthead and consisting of a

first

phrase from a broadcast by the Governor, ''Singapore Must Stand;

SHALL

it

who had

And underneath

Stand."

lost all sense of

time

sense of foreboding, the date:

Hudson was never

that,

Hudson

— suddenly noted, with

it

—

a chilling

was Friday, the thirteenth.

cup of freshly brewed tea, for he newspaper back on the table when

to get his

had barely tossed the

useless

bombers overhead brought every warden to his feet and the room emptied in a mad scramble. Ironically, Hudson the drone of

probably owed his still

life to

the fact that, having slept

As the other wardens made

in his slippers.

late,

off in

he was

the direc-

Hudson ran back to his bedroom moment a stick of bombs straddled

tion of the "operations room," for his shoes

— and

at that

the school.

Tim Hudson sitting

never knew what hit him.

on the edge of

his

One moment he was

hard camp bed, the next, he was wak-

ing up, as though from a nightmare, spluttering and choking in

He

Dimly he registered camp bed had been blown half through the open window. He had a vague impression of men hammering on the door, shouting in Chinese as they tried to break it down, the smoke-filled room.

was on the

floor.

the fact that the

to force their

seemed

way

in.

Gingerly he

o-ot

to his feet.

No

bones

to have been broken, though there was an egg-sized

lump on

The pounding continued, for the door had become jammed when a desk had been blown across the room. Hudson managed to tug it away and the door colthe back of his head.

lapsed.

"We

thought you'd been killed," gasped one of the Chines

they stumbled

in.

BLACK FRIDAY

— what's happened?" — and stopped

mind me

''Never

221

Tim.

cried

dazed, he stumbled outside swift seconds, half the school

had been pulped into a

ble over which the dust

hung

still

and roof supports stuck out in the yard

pile of rub-

morning mist. Girders angles. Three of the six cars

like a

at crazy

had been twisted into

scrap.

Bodies lay everywhere

the grotesque, uncomfortable attitudes of death.

in

Still

In a few

aghast.

"It

was

nothing compared with some of the other incidents," wrote

Hudson

later,

differently.

"but the

Until the

fact that

every incident with a cold, time.

knew what

I

Seven

friends."

With

was ours made

it

felt

men had been

like

killed

a sick feeling in his stomach,

head down, over the counter of

his

when

The phone was control.

it

Tim

yet

— almost

to get

so, telling

the General Hospital, barely half a mile away.

to decide

down

post into the College of tired doctor took

Your

lot

first

him

it

was decided

the

to

thing

to

move Tim's

Medicine in the hospital grounds.

can take that corner

little left to

A

into the assembly hall and, pointing, said,

—

at least

it's

move from Tiong Bahru was completed

very

up

Tiong Bahru. The second

got a phone."

was better than nothing, and with the help of a couple of the

to

where the post should now operate.

After hurried consultations,

'

to

The

on

one of the

Chinese to take charge of the wounded, he decided to race

was

as

tea.

was imperative

it

Wee-Wee.

found him slumped,

mobile canteen

Tim's car was undamaged,

was to get the ambulances

quite

they lost their

— including

though he had fallen asleep while making the

ARP

see

of

the others

dead —

me

Tiong Bahru, I had sized up professional eye. Now, for the first

bombing

swiftly.

It

lorries,

There was

be carted away after the ambulances had taken

wounded, and the bodies had been piled up in a corner

to

await the burial squad. All except one body, for almost on an impulse,

Tim went

over to the wreck of the mobile canteen of

222

which they had

all

A SINISTER

TWILIGHT

been

and

so proud,

lifted

up

the slack body of

Wee-Wee. There were others among the wardens who had been closer to Tim, others he had respected and liked more, but in a curious way Wee-Wee, with his grin and tousled hair, had become a sort of mascot to the post. Tim managed to get him into the untidy interior of the Hillman and drove up to the General. There he carried the light body toward the burial pit. At least one man from Tiong Bahru would have a mourner at his funeral.

Tim Hudson

never forgot that

aware of something

behind

his back.

else that

on the

— though he was un-

was happening within

Freddy Bloom saw

picture which she, too, tailed to wait

moment

would never

it all

— a complete,

forget, for she

side of the "picture" as she stood in the

bearded

man

but

biblical

had been

de-

steps for Dr. Cicely William's 120 children

who had been evacuated and were now coming At one

sight,

to the hospital.

porch was the

against the burning skyline, holding the limp,

small body across his two arms in front of him, before he gently

lowered

it

into the pit.

And coming up

the drive toward her

was a straggling, winding procession of scores of children.

A few

could toddle. Others were being carried. Some were laughing.

Some had bandaged lowed

heads, or arms in slings. Stretcher cases

fol-

at the tail end.

The composite picture — of the beginning and the end of — was there and gone in an instant Freddy hurried forward

life

as

to help.

For Dr. Cicely Williams and her family of children the day had started in earnest at

dawn when

the shelling around

Seng Hospital had become so intense that agine

why we were not

hit

—

bits of

"I simply

Tan Tock cannot im-

metal seemed to be flying

BLACKFRIDAY

22 ^

about everywhere." She had picked up the babies in armfuls

and put them under beds with three or four mattresses, and tried to snatch a few minutes' sleep under her bed. She seemed to

have barely closed her eyes, however,

with the news that the hospital had

to

when

she was awakened

be evacuated

—

in twelve

way to pick up her charges. The Bishop of Singapore arrived with some MAS volunteers to help, and between them they loaded the ambulances minutes. Ambulances were already on their

with the children tive,

—

sick,

wounded, orphaned, mentally

defec-

even some in plaster frames.

In ten ambulances they set off to cross the six miles of cratered roads that separated

Tan Tock Seng from

the General Hospital.

Cicely Williams drove ahead to find out where she

— and discovered that she had been Department — or rather the of the Depart-

to put the children

the Dental

would have allotted

floor

w as floor and that was that." A woman of infinite managed to persuade three amahs to help her clean out while Freddy Bloom waited at the hospital entrance to tell

ment. "There

r

resource, she it

the convoy of babies

which direction

to take across the spreading

grounds.

By the time the babies arrived the floor of the Dental Department was at least clean, and Cicely Williams had managed to persuade the hospital to provide a few mattresses. There was, however, a much more pressing problem. She had no food, and many of the children were already whimpering with hunger. Cicely Williams had to go "on the scrounge." Food was valueless unless she could cook it, and she had no utensils.

So she started with a

visit to

the surgical stores, where

managed to borrow a couple of large saucepans. Then she made a "determined onslaught" on the man in charge of the hospital storeroom, who was horrified to learn that 120 more mouths needed feeding small mouths, moreover, which she

—

TWILIGHT

A SINISTER

224

needed tins of

special food.

Grudgingly he gave her a bag of

milk and loaves of bread, a few packets of prunes

He

some beef bones.

also let her

charcoal for the small

made

these locally

Now hoped

rice,

— and

have two coalpots and a bag

of embers used

when cooking

of

with

pots.

at least she

to set

fire

some

had

food, fuel

up her kitchen on

and

utensils.

At

first

she had

the veranda of the Dental De-

partment, but one glance showed her this would be impossible

because of flying shrapnel. In the end she started cooking rice in

when it came to Though there was no

the coalpots in one of the dental rooms. And,

heating the milk, she had a stroke of luck. gas stove, the gas supply was section,

And

with

its

still

on

in the dental mechanic's

array of false teeth that had never been

fitted.

there were a couple of bunsen burners. Just the thing for

heating milk.

Somehow

Cicely Williams lived through this awful day, often

without help. Three of the wounded babies died.

Many were

They were

— Chinese,

still

shell-shocked.

a motley assortment

with faces that looked prematurely crinkled, Indian babies with

and even a couple of European orphans, It made no difference to Cicely Williams, even though she lacked all modern sanitary arrangements. There were no such things as nappies. But when the children were fed and quieter, she raided the storerooms again and found pools of eyes, Malays,

never to be identified.

a supply of mackintosh sheets.

That helped. Then

the day, Cicely Williams, the "mother"

who had

for

most of

never had any

children of her own, was busy cleaning, washing, feeding and

doctoring the strange, polyglot family she had inherited. Cicely Williams was not alone in facing almost superhuman difficulties.

Across the grounds, in the hospital proper, each of

the four major operating theaters had two operating tables in

use twenty-four hours a day,

manned by

surgeons like Professor

BLACK FRIDAY J.

R.

Monro, who worked

2

in relays, four

2^

hours in the theater,

Water was so short that Monro remembers "a water tarried from a supply outside the theatre had to

eight resting.

basin of

serve for washing the hands for several operations."

the

day — the

unlucky 13th

— when

a shell

This was

exploded on the

Ramsey was performing a delicate brain operation on a wounded Chinese. Half the roof seemed to cave in. The doctor and nurses w ere covered with plaster. Pieces of cement hit the doctor on the head, another knocked out a nurse. Calmly Dr. Ramsey went on roof of one of the operating rooms where Dr. Xeil

r

with the operation

— and

though

face looking as

passively by his side,

it

just as calmly the theater sister, her

has been dusted with flour, stood im-

handing out the instruments until the two-

hour operation was over.

To Tim Hudson the 1

first

ARP

it

was "a

instruction he

hectic, brave, tragic day."

wardens must bury the dead

Almost

new headquarters was

received in his

as best

they can, anywhere,

phone functioned, sometimes it unaccountably went dead. More and more he and other divisional commanders had to rely on their Chinese dispatch riders, of

anyhow." Sometimes

whom Hudson Brave

bombing and It

wrote, "Still they

the answer,

of incidents.

who rode through

shelling as best they could, carrying

approaching

"Withdraw or

on

as best they

— please

give instructions"

and

disperse to your homes, whichever

best."

The whole burning

T

was a day of cryptic messages from outlying posts to

HQ — "Japanese you think

came w ith reports

these Chinese despatch riders

lads,

could."

his

flesh,

city

reeked with a

smoke and

recorded in his diary,

compound

cordite, as

when

"I

of decaying bodies,

General Gordon Bennett

made my way through

the

now

deserted streets of Singapore, streets that previously were a

seething mass of industrious humanity,

I

could smell the blast of

A SINISTER

226

bombs

TWILIGHT

There was devastation everywhere. The shops were shuttered and deserted." Yet there were moments of faith. When Leslie Hoffman went into St. Andrew's Cathedral, and walked along the nave still filled with wounded he came across a dozen soldiers in one corner behind the choir. They were on their knees praying, then rose and one man with a mouth organ started to play "Onward Christian Soldiers." The men joined in, and their voices must have carried out into the nave, for Hoffman could hear the aerial

in the air.

—

—

reedy voices of wounded

More than

war,

men trying to sing.

more than bombs and

shells,

more than

the

shadow of defeat, Friday the 13th left a legacy of bitterness which persists to this day, became of another extraordinary "se-

The manner in which naval technicians, then and senior Harbour Board officials had been evacuated had been bad enough. Now, however,

cret" evacuation.

army

the

sisters

stealthily

eighty-seven members of the Singapore Public Works Department (PWD) including their chief, Group-Captain Nunn, suddenly left the island. And Nunn had been expressly told by the Governor that he had to stick to his post. Nunn was a curious man, whose character, it would seem, left

something

to

be desired. In view of what later happened,

interesting to record that Shenton

(and

made

made

special visits to

Thomas

plainly

notes of) two occasions in February

it is

remembered

when Nunn

Government House to ask what he should became obvious that the island would have to capitulate. On the first occasion, the Governor reminded Nunn of a Standing Order forbidding any head of a civil government depart-

do

if it

ment told

to leave the island.

Nunn

firmly,

"If the worst

"your proper place

comes is

at

to the worst,"

he

your department;?

BLACK FRIDAY When Xunn

headquarters."

227

again raised the question, "it

made

me wonder," noted the Governor, "whether he was ready to pack up." The discussion was quite brief, for as the Governor added, "The subject was a most distasteful one and I should have preferred to look upon

Nunn, however, had

raised."

And

unless he did.

it

as

it

one that could not possibly be

a wife

who

flatly

realized that his only chance of saving her get

away

Now the

refused to leave

seems obvious that he had for some time

would be

for

him

to

too.

Brigadier Simson enters this tangled episode. Early on

morning

of Black Friday he received a

phone

call

asking

him

Canning at 9 a.m. for an important conference. By the time Simson arrived, the room was crowded with officers. Rear- Admiral Spooner, the naval C-in-C, was in the chair. Air to report at Fort

Vice-Marshal Pulford was present. Simson squeezed his way to a small chair

and

sat

down.

The meeting had been

called to plan an urgent evacuation

that very afternoon of about three thousand key

and

civilian

They were and

— who would be useful

to

to the

war

men

— military

effort elsewhere.

go on dozens of small boats that lay in the harbor,

after the various

branches of the forces had been given their

quotas, the admiral told Brigadier Simson that he was being

hundred places. The Admiral pointed out deliberately, "They are for younger technical men, who will continue the struggle from overseas." There was no time to be lost. Evacuees had to report with hand luggage Telok Ayer basin at four o'clock that afternoon. Before Simson left, Spooner warned him that, since this might

allotted three

be the

last official

and he

stressed again that this

men" — though three

evacuation, the strictest secrecy was necessary,

hundred

was for "key men" and "young

he did add that

in time, he could

if

Simson could not

make up

collect

his allotment

with

TWILIGHT

A SINISTER

228

women and

But

children.

it

was made quite plain that

this

was

not to become a civilian evacuation of old and sick or even

women on compassionate grounds. It was a military plan to save which was doubtless why the conference had taken key men

—

place at military headquarters, under the presidency of an admiral.

The meeting broke up about phone messages sent

to

Nunn,

and Simson had number two) and

eleven-thirty,

Bisseker (his

the president of the Municipal Council, asking

him at

He

them

to

meet

the municipal offices at twelve-thirty.

had nearly an hour before the meeting, and though

still

no doubt

there was

Simson

felt

in his

mind

he should go and

curred, so he drove

up

to

that this was "a military show," tell

the Governor

Government House.

what had

oc-

Civilian evacua-

came under the Governor's wing, but this was a and Simson noted that "I remember no dissent," except that "the Governor suggested the Civilian Evacuation Committee should be represented." Simson readily agreed especially as, apart from anything else, he was already very tion normally

military exercise,

—

with half the phones down, he could find three hun-

doubtful

if,

dred key

men

in the few hours that remained.

son had reached the Municipal a

member

brook

of the Evacuation

later

made

offices,

up

S.

Committee, had arrived. Middle-

a detailed report of everything that happened.

— and the great concerned — Simson decided

In view of the time factor ing

Mr.

By the time SimM. Middlebrook,

the people

difficulty of

round-

to give fifty

passes to Bisseker, to be distributed to important businessmen.

He

gave 125 to the Evacuation Committee for Europeans and

Asians on their

list;

distributing them to had now come to a passes to

Nunn

he kept officials

stop.

for the

fifty for

on

He

himself, with the idea of

services like the railways

which

gave the remaining seventy-five

PWD

which totaled 105 men.

He

BLACK FRIDAY warned Nunn, however, must be

left to finish

that an

2 2()

adequate party of

PWD

officers

urgent demolitions under Mr. McConechy,

man

immense zeal and loyalty who was working night and cla\ with Simson on scorching the earth. and it was headed by Nunn soon had his list of names ready his own name, together with that of his wife. Simson immethe State Engineer,

and

a

of

—

Heads of departments had been specifically ordered to stick to their posts "until," in the words of the Governor, "the flag was hauled down." Nunn then made the ingendiatcly objected.

Group-Captain in the

ious excuse that as he held the rank of

R \F

Reserve, "I could be useful in aerodrome construction in

Simson didn't

Java."

pied with far too

about

a list of

ment, so he

As soon

when

to

spend

all

all,

occu-

afternoon arguing

names. That was the job of each head of depart-

left

as

but he was, after

like the idea,

many problems

Nunn

to act

according to his conscience.

he reached his

office

Nunn

started signing passes,

—

McConechy. Without a word and despite Simson's warning that McConechy must carry on Nunn wrote something on a piece of paper and handed it to the Scotsman. in strode

"What's this?" asked McConechy,

who

—

also kept a detailed

record of everything that happened that day.

"A ticket for you on a boat leaving this afternoon," replied Nunn. McConechy asked on whose authority it was issued and received the extraordinary (and quite untrue) assurance, "The ernor's." And when McConechy asked to see it, Nunn replied evasively, "It's a verbal instruction.'

McConechy asked how many

passes

replied that he had seventy-five. officers in

happen

1

Nunn

was signing.

Nunn

"But there are 105 engineer the department," cried McConechy. "What's going to

to the rest?"

A SINISTER TWILIGHT

230

Nunn at

hesitated then replied,

which McConechy

replied, "I don't

and a brother-in-law

a son-in-law

them.

"It'll

be just too bad for them,'*

want your

ticket.

in Singapore.

I've got

Ill stand by

Good afternoon!"

By three-thirty, there was pandemonium at the docks, and when Middlebrook of the Evacuation Committee arrived to make sure his nominees many of them Chinese got away, he found "a milling mob round the gates with armed military police on guard." A young lieutenant sat on a table facing the gates, nursing a tommy gun across his knees. Several leading

—

—

Chinese and Europeans were trying to get through the there appeared to be

some trouble over the

passes.

gates,

but

Middlebrook

who he was and forced his way young lieutenant who showed him his orders. There was no mention of Simson's passes, and though Middlebrook tried to explain what had happened, the officer refused to

explained to the military police

through

to the

change them.

As they were arguing, a wave of Japanese aircraft flew over and dropped a stick of bombs, killing several people in the crowd. Men were shouting and yelling that they had passes and should be let through. Children and their mothers who had passed through the gates were sobbing because their husbands

who

could be seen waving their passes were being refused admit-

tance.

Whenever

the gates were opened, there was a concerted

surge toward them, and only with the utmost difficulty were the

them again. The psychological effect of having got a permit and then being refused permission to leave was too much for many of the desperate men. Some of them, Middlebrook noted, were crying and sobbing. Others tore the gates in vain, trying to force them open. Still others, waving police able to close

;it

their passes, screamed abuse at the police cally silent,

while the young

who

stood there

stoi-

lieutenant sat on the tabic with his

BLACK FRIDAY tommy

gun.

lieutenant

Finally,

jumped

when

23

fighting started to break out, the

off the table

and ordered the police

to fire a

crowd

few rounds over the heads of the crowd. This calmed the

— and by then word had reached Brigadier Simson that

a little

He

down

Telok Ayer, and soon "Simson passes" were recognized. Simson remained by the gates until the last passenger was aboard, carefully examining the passes. was not well.

all

Soon car

—

drove

after 5 p.m. the

Japanese planes struck again. Simson's

— was obliterated

than a hundred yards away

less

rect hit.

to

But the most

in a di-

young

tragic death of all occurred as a

couple with their baby in arms stood w aiting for their turn to r

pass

through the

gate.

Their passes were

in order.

As the

fighter-bombers swooped low over the crowd the wife was hit by

—

and killed instantly. Her dazed husband her and still clutching the baby was un-

a piece of shrapnel

standing next to

—

harmed. At his side lay the body of his wife. In front of him was of freedom. Buck Buckeon the wharf, saw it all, and wrote "Never have I seen a look of such agony on a man's face." Buckeridge watched as the husband, dazed and crying, hesi-

the ship that was the child's sole

hope

ridge,

who had been

tated.

A sailor yelled at him to come aboard. He looked back —

one

last

fighting a fire

glance at the body on the pavement

blinded with

tears,

— and

then,

took the only decision he could take for the

sake of the baby. Stumbling, he passed through the gate, leaving the mother's

unburied body on the wharf.

After that, the Japanese bombers

6:30 p.m. the

last

for the last time.

—

the docks alone

and by

passenger was on board and the gates were shut

That night an armada

ranging from naval sloops launches

left

sailed south

(of

a

for Java.

board. So was Group-Captain

kind)

of forty-four ships to

—

outboard motor

Admiral Spooner was on

Nunn. So was Air Vice-Marshal

Pulford, whose last words to Percival, as he said good-bye,

had

TWILIGHT

A SINISTER been, "I suppose you and

knows we've done our

There was another

I

will

best with

— though

be blamed for

this,

but God

what we've been given."

less

spectacular

— evacuation

that

Government House which by now had of an enormous white ghost villa. Its empty corridors and

evening, this time from the air

— the only word, describe the splendid but tentious rooms — echoed with the crump of bombs, the swish

salons

shells

really, to

and the bark

pre-

of guns surrounding the building.

of

By now

the shelling was so severe that people hardly dared to climb the

handsome

staircase to the first floor.

with the city had been cut.

been killed or had

fled,

Many

The

last

telephone link

of the servants

had

either

and though the Governor had been

de-

termined that the Japanese should not drive him from his home,

now had no alternative but to go. The few remaining servants hurriedly packed one suitcase for Lady Thomas who was still ill in bed. Because of the shelling,

he

Sir

Shenton refused to allow any servants

clothes,

ADC

to

go upstairs to get

but insisted on going himself to pack a

his

His

suitcase.

ran to the deserted kitchens and quickly shoveled any

There was not much meat and fish and processed cheese but they would be useful later on. At half-past six an ambulance left with Lady Thomas while the Governor remained behind for a few minutes longer. Only his ADC avis tinned food he could find into a

—a

few

—

with him lawns,

carry-all.

tins of biscuits, milk,

as

now

he stood for the

last

time on the spacious green

pitted with craters, in front of the palace that was

once the symbol of his prestige and power and rious fashion, the symbol, too, of Whitehall's

yet, in

some

outmoded

<

a(

u-

pre-

occupation with impressing "the natives" rather than taking

adequate measures

to

defend them. Then, with a

sigh, the

Gov-

BLACK FRIDAY ernor stepped into his

down

cai

and drove

winding road

the long,

-';; ;;

for the last

time in his

For the

ornate gates.

to the

time the sentry presented arms as Sir Shenton set off for his

home

— the Singapore Club

Bor

— one

to

luxury of

made ready

be shared by the Governor and Lady Thomas,

the other lor his small ful

last

new

Fullerton Building.

in

Here, two of the members' bedrooms had been

him

life

remaining

staff.

shower room

a small

They enjoyed

— doubtful

the doubt-

because the tap

only worked intermittently, and already most of the water had

be carried from a standpipe in the

to

Governor had ito salad,

ate

dinner

his first ''club"

washed down with

tea

That evening the bully beef and tinned

street.

—

and tinned milk

perched on the edge of his bed. Lady

— which he

Thomas was

too

to

ill

take food.

Nearly a hundred VIP's were now crowding into the few bedrooms usually reserved for up-country members. Some had

broughc their

own camp

beds.

one man now held four or

who took

his

Rooms normally occupied by

meals in his room

— everyone had

what scratch meals were available Their

plight,

wounded on

r

"The

queue up

to

for

in the makeshift cafeteria.

was nothing compared with the

the low er floor which

shift hospital.

wrote.

however,

—

Apart from the Governor

five.

had been turned into a make-

conditions were appalling," the Governor

"Civilian doctors and sisters and

MAS w orkers r

will bear

me

out [that] there w as practically no nursing

for

hours with their wounds unattended." Using the standpipe

r

in the street,

two

MAS

girls

made

staff

"a canteen"

and men

lay

and between the wounded.

them kept

a supply of tea goir

Amidst

the tragedy and bitterness of Black Friday, there was

all

one moment of extraordinai

\

rid

iei

night for

io-comedy. At almost the same

A SINISTER

234 time

as the

quarters,

Governor was

Tim Hudson

event of his

life.

settling in at his

it

was so wildly improbable that had

Hudson was day.

blue

I

later to recall,

First I

was

damn

it

would have been ridiculed the truth. Yet it did happen, and as

fiction,

an implausible travesty of

my

new, temporary head-

was experiencing the single most bizarre

Indeed

been included in a work of as

TWILIGHT

it

"Friday the thirteenth certainly was nearly killed

— and then out of the

was offered a fortune."

Dusk had just fallen when Hudson, after a meal of sardines and baked beans and a stiff brandy (from the "medical supplies") set off

from the General Hospital in

his

Hillman

for

Dunlop's godown. This was a nightly chore, for early on in the

bombing he had arranged for the European on duty during the day to leave him a report each evening so that he could keep track of what was happening when he couldn't get in during the day.

Keppel Road, by the docks, was by now an appalling jumble of potholes, craters, twisted wires

bombed-out Tribune the deserted street.

offices,

The

and smashed

trees.

Passing the

he drew up outside his godown in

coolies

had gone, and he knew the

office

would be empty. As he looked round, he noticed a large American car drawn up by the side of the road about a hundred yards away but his mind hardly registered the fact (until later) for the streets of Singapore were littered with abandoned vehicles. With the aid of his torch he entered, closed the big sliding godown door behind him, and once in his blacked-out office, switched on the light and sat down. The report was on his desk. There had been no shipments.

—

Hudson noted tons,

that stocks of rubber totaled just over a thousand

He remembers

thinking "the Japs are going to get the

But there was nothing he could do about it. There were one or two minor points to be noted in the report. The coolie lot."

BLACK FRIDAY labor force had fallen

And

a raid.

that

off.

was about

One

235

of the clerks

had been

he had got

as far as

killed in

when he was

sud-

denly startled by violent banging on the big door of the godown.

His

first

instinctive thought

— but that of course

What would anybody do with

Was Laughable.

The

was burglars

a thousand tons of

equipment and furniture? Nothing had any value any more. If there were thieves abroad they would be making for those godowns containing food food that would always fetch a price on the black market. The banging was rerubber?

office

—

peated. it

Picking up his torch ("I was quite unafraid,

I

thought

must be somebody who wanted help") he crossed the godown,

passed his rubber air raid shelter,

and cautiously

slid the

door

open an inch or two. Outside stood four Chinese. As he shone the torch briefly he could see they were well dressed and two of them carried bulging briefcases. Before he could speak, one said in the polite, un-

dulating tones of his race, "Please do not be afraid, Mr. Hudson.

May we come

and

talk to

you?"

Hudson opened

Mystified, ther,

in

the big sliding door a

little fur-

and one by one the four men squeezed into the big and followed him into his office. One offered him

cavern, rette.

Another courteously held out a match. For the

airless

a ciga-

first

time

Hudson was able to take a good look at the mysterious quartet. They seemed to be all right. In fact they looked like four prosperous Chinese businessmen, neatly dressed in European white suits,

with collars and

"Forgive

us,

spokesman, and added, "Please fingers.

ties.

Mr. Hudson," said one who was obviously the as Tim started to speak, he held up his hand and

— may we show you something?"

The two men

clicked his

with briefcases stepped up to the desk,

stood in front of Hudson, and of nods they

He

opened the

when

briefcases

the leader gave the slightest

and tipped out the contents.

TWILIGHT

A SINISTER

236

Suddenly, the whole of Hudson's flat-topped desk seemed to

be covered with a small mountain of money

now beginning

bundles in rubber bands. "I was

Hudson remembered, but There are

can be yours

if

to get

of

mad,"

before he could speak, the leading

Chinese said smoothly, "You thieves.

— hundreds

Mr. Hudson, we are not

see,

on your

half a million dollars

They

desk.

you wish."

Angrily — seemed be joke in the worst possible — Hudson asked them who the they were, and what for this

a

to

hell

taste

sort of a trick

was

this,

and why the

come

devil did they

in at this

time of night?

Their gesture might have been

theatrical,

the spokesman

hoped that in this way they could esgood faith. Their names didn't matter. The object was very simple. They wanted to buy his rubber

apologized, but they had tablish their

of their visit

—

for half a million dollars.

"But you must be crazy

Hudson, "Does exactly

his eyes it

o-osrsrlinQ;

—

it's

not

my

at the fortune

rubber

on

to sell," cried

his desk.

matter any more?" asked the spokesman.

how much rubber

The war would

there was

— down

be over in a matter of days and Hudson,

pointed out, had no means of getting rid of his rubber. all

He knew

to the last pound.

It

as

would

go to the hated Japanese. But they had a boat provisioned

leave for Java,

and

if

Hudson only gave

get the rubber away, instead of leaving

"and you, Mr. Hudson, could pocket half

he

to

the order, they could it

for the

Japanese

—

a million."

moment Hudson was sorely tempted. He would hardly human had his reactions been otherwise. For he knew that there wasn't another cargo ship left in the harbor. He knew he could never get the rubber away. He knew the Japfl would take the lot. The trouble was the rubber wasn't his. For a

have been

—

It

didn't even belong to Dunlops.

Weeks ago

the government

BLACK FRIDAY

L>

,

7

had asked him to help in centralizing stocks of rubber saved from various plantations up-country.

whom

it

'I don't

belonged and think

vet. the

The

about

I'd like to

We

I

I

later.

"The whole

The

All

— and

during

tension

that's all there

this day,

when

one point w here T

was

three thousand yards

I

I

meant

with the

saw them

to

much was happening, an extreme Canning. The British perimeter, and

for twenty-eight miles,

Timah Road, was

from Orchard Road.

rection, however, that the

enemv launched

armor on Friday. This was reserved

It

less

was not in

than

this di-

the full weight of

its

for the coastal area to the

by the fishing village of Pasir Panjang, wmich was

being stubbornly defended by the lent attacks

and then

men

to it."

crossed Bukit

it

impossible.'

so

prevailed at Fort

west, a ridoe

it's

a bit of course, so thev realised

which was clearly defined, stretched at

afraid

big fellow gave a nod. the two

briefcases started shovelling the notes in,

the door

into an anticlimax.

but thev had been so polite that

it,

accommodate you, but I'm

said.

money

business had a

with some formality, 'I'm sorry, gentlemen.

said,

had already talked

what

to

it.*'

couldn't do

I

unconsciously

know

Japs would surely grab the lot

moments degenerated almost

final

decided

"I

didn't really

ever thought seriously of keeping the

I

myself Hudson wrote 1

Hast) taste

He

ist

Malay Brigade against

vio-

by the Japanese Chrysanthemum Division. Behind

the ridge lay the Alexandra

District containing

the island's

ammunition dump and a big military hospital. For two days the Mala) Bi made had held out until it was

largest

most

obliterated.''

A

regular, locally raised unit

mostlv by Malay-speakiim British

dying illustration of the

folly of

officers,

it

"al-

commanded

was a living and

not having raised more such

A SINISTER

238

local forces before the

homeland,

their

"showed what

for,

esprit

war as

TWILIGHT

which men could defend what was Percival noted, the Malay Brigade in

de corps and discipline can achieve. Garri-

sons of posts held their

ground and many of them were wiped

out almost to a man."

—

Here was direct fighting a battle that could be joined against an enemy which could be seen and the Malay Brigade

—

fought as hard as any in the campaign. In other parts of the

however, Allied troops were becoming more and more

now

line,

jittery,

it had become a war and Australians who had rarely been able to snatch more than an occasional hour of sleep in the racket of screaming shells and crumping bombs. And even if they had slept, it had never

for

of nerves against the dog-tired Brit-

ish

been a

real rest.

In the thick, luxuriant jungle outside their

perimeter, the Japanese waited hidden and unmolested.

To

the Allied soldiers whose morale was crumbling, the spec-

ter of certain defeat

was linked with a strange sense of

tion, a deep-seated feeling that

frustra-

by rights they ought to have been

winning, not losing. As they lay in the coarse lallang round the

Dairy Farm or crouched in the sandy bunkers of the golf course, often in the same sweat-soaked clothes they had all

worn

for weeks,

they could feel was that this could never have happened

the brass-hats in their armchairs back

down.

It

home

hadn't

let

them

was a deep, bitter feeling that contributed much

lowering morale, and

even more

it

was hard for them

to

if

to

understand — and

— that

in Russia

and

North Africa events of such magnitude were being enacted

thai

difficult for officers to

the siege of Singapore could never in the

momentous

history

explain

become more than

now being

written.

a footnote

The one

thing

they did know, however, was that the fight was as good as lost

—

and inevitably morale sagged still more. Officers as well as men "had developed a withdrawal complex" and were already thinking of plans to escape.

The number

of desertions increased.

So

BLACK FRIDAY

12

\()

did the ugly scenes on the docks where in some cases armed de-

women

serters tried to force

By lunchtime on Friday val called a

off

escape launches.

the position was so grave that Perci-

conference at Fort Canning for two o'clock. All the

commanders, together with principal staff offiwere ordered to attend. Gloomily they discussed future op-

area divisional cers,

erations, particularly the possibilities of staging a counterattack.

All the generals

were against

One

it.

after

another they empha-

on their troops of continuous day and night opwith no hope of relief." They had to take into account

sized "the effect

erations

the plight of the civilians

Bennett remembered that

which was by now hopeless. Gordon "it

was unanimously considered that

new enemy attacks would succeed and that sooner or later the enemy would reach the streets of the city." He noted that "it was decided to send a message to General Wavell urging him to agree to immediate capitulation."

memory was

In fact Bennett's

at fault, for

although Bennett

had advocated immediate capitulation, Percival that

it

was possible to

fight

on

still

for a little while longer.

when

however, realized that there "must come a stage interests of the troops

and the

civil

shed will serve no useful purpose."

ask that he

when

When

possible

to

be used

moment arrived.

inflict

maximum damage on enemy

by house-to-house fighting

if

"Your action in tying down enemy and have

had

to Wavell.

suggest an immediate capitulation, he did

Wavell 's reply was brief and uncompromising. continue to

in the

the conference

might be given wider discretionary powers

the right

he,

population further blood-

ended he cabled a candid appraisal of the situation

Though he did not

believed

Even

vital influence in

"You must

for as long as

necessary,"

he cabled.

inflicting casualties

may

other theatres. Fully appreciate your

sit-

uation but continued action essential."

Gordon Bennett had fought hard

at the conference for

an

A SINISTER

240

TWILIGHT

immediate surrender, and possibly uted

to

his lack of success contrib-

an extraordinary action which he

commanding

back.

officer's

now

Without reference

took behind to

anybody

his

the

aggressive red-haired Australian cabled his prime minister in

Canberra that "In the event of other formations falling back and allowing the enemy to enter the city behind us" it was his "intention to surrender to avoid further needless loss of

This decision was, of course, contrary fight on,

life."

to Percival's orders to

which was perhaps why Bennett did not take the

trou-

ble to inform Percival.

Gordon Bennett was

also "giving close consideration" to an-

other significant and private matter

—

a plan to escape, for he

had no intention of languishing in a Japanese prison camp. It was not a sudden impulse, brought about by the emotional stress of heavy fighting. fact

The

he had discussed

it

idea

had been long

in his

mind, and

in

with the Sultan of Johore before crossing

the causeway. Bennett's forces had been stationed in Johore and it

seems that the Australian general had got on famously with

the colorful Sultan.

Possibly he was impressed with the

and ceremony, the Oriental trappings

pomp

of a life he could hardly

have envisaged before. In any event, the Sultan entertained him lavishly,

heaped

gifts

upon

the Australian (which he certainly

did not refuse) and almost on their Sultan invited ask the ruler

him

if

to dinner,

last

evening together the

when Bennett was emboldened

to

he could perhaps provide a boat in the event of

his escape.

This plan he had of course kept friends.

to himself

and

a few close

Now, however, that dinner party and conversation

must have seemed a world away in time, and the original vague idea had to be crystallized into something approaching action. He had now only a matter of hours, not days, if he wanted to get away.

He

set

about getting a boat.

He

did not, however,

ai

-

BLACK FRIDAY

8

quaint his prime minister (or Percival) with this news bly because he

must have known

that in

1

possi-

no circumstances would

approval have been given for a general to leave the his

—

\

men under

command.

The

fact that

Gordon Bennett kept

his escape plans secret has

an intriguing significance because another Australian, Mr. Bowden, the civil

government representative

in Malaya, did ask for

permission to escape, and even though he was a civilian of

two he met with a firm refusal.

Bowden,

a typical

fifty-

no non-

had produced a stream of invaluable reports

sense Australian,

enabling the Australian prime minister to face Churchill with the authority of local knowledge,

but the government denied

his

request because, amongst other reasons, the effect "on morale

The

could be bad."

dered whether reassure

him

it

Australian government must have won-

had been too hard on Bowden

in a second cable promising

comes, you and your

matic immunities.

.

staff .

him

for

full diplo-

Through Protecting Power we

.

tried to

that "if worst

on receiving

are to insist

it

shall in-

on you and your staff being included in any evacuation scheme agreed on with the Japanese government."

sist

The Malay Brigade had been Pasir

Panjang ridge, but

defense

— the

first

through into the for the

desperately trying to hold the vital

at last

—

after

wave of the Japanese troops was pushing and making straight Alexandra Area

—

vital

Alexandra Hospital.

The advance enemy

troops were sighted behind the hospital,

which was crammed with wounded, After a hurried conference ternative but to surrender. at the

an heroic and stubborn

it

just

before two o'clock.

was decided that there was no

al-

As the Japanese reached the grounds

back of the building, a young lieutenant called Weston

A SINISTER

242

TWILIGHT

was deputed to go from the reception room to the back entrance.

He

carried a white

flag,

and stood

there, unsuspecting

and unflinching, as the first few Japanese reached the porch. Without a second's hesitation the soldiers charged in and bayoneted him repeatedly. As Weston lay dying, more and more

One

troops surged in over him.

made

for the operating

In the corridor outside the main theater, pa-

theater block. tients

party

were being prepared

by the noise of

stretchers, puzzled

As they lay there on fighting and screams they

for operations.

could not comprehend, several Japanese faces appeared at the

windows above them. Some scrambled through. Others barged in through the corridor door.

All the Royal

Army

Medical

Corps personnel put up their hands, and Captain Smiley, who

was in charge, stepped forward and pointed to the Red Cross

on their arms. With a flick of his gun, the leading Japanese motioned the handful of British to move along into one corner of the corridor. As the unarmed men obediently did so the Japanese, for no apparent reason, set upon them with bayobrassards

nets.

The

first

man

to

go down was Lieutenant Rogers,

who was

bayoneted twice through the throat and died immediately. Captain Parkinson, standing next to him, was also killed, together

with two orderlies. Awaiting an operation the table

— was Corporal

Bill

Holden

of the

he could do anything, he too was bayoneted anese

now lunged

deflect the first

at

Captain Smiley.

bayonet thrust and

— and actually

on

2nd Loyals. Before to death.

Two

Jap-

Somehow he managed

to

the blade hit his cigarette

wounding his left arm. When the second Japanese wounded him in the groin, he fell over and owed his life to the fact that he feigned death as the Japanese ran

case in his left breast pocket,

from the corridor.

While all

this

was happening, other Japanese troops were forcing

the patients to get out of the wards.

Two men who could

not

BLACK FRID.W move were bayoneted. In tients

— together with

many

could barely hobble and

Herding them

RAMG

personnel

—

hundred

collapsed. It

into groups of four or

them together with

their

five,

pa-

were paraded

All the patients were desperately

the grounds.

in

the broiling heat, two

few

a

243

made no

Some

ill.

difference.

the Japanese roped

hands behind their backs. They were

then marched to the old servants' quarters behind the hospital

—

ranging in

a building consisting of several small rooms,

size

from 9 feet by 9 to 10 by 12. Between fifty and seventy patients were jammed into each room. Wedged together, it was impossible for

them

to sit

down and

it

took several minutes for some

patients to get their arms above their heads and make a little more room in this modern version of the Black Hole of Calcutta. There they were left for the night. Water was promised but none arrived though those nearest the open windows

—

could watch the Japanese soldiers sitting

From time

ing tinned fruit.

erable pressure of bodies

eased in a fearful party out

screams

from

it

away.

down on

the grass, eat-

time during the night the intol-

wedged

manner when

and lead

— then

to

tightly against each other

the Japanese

would take

was

a small

Those left would return wiping blood

behind could hear

a Japanese soldier

his bayonet.

Only three men escaped when

a shell scored a

doors and windows.

direct hit

on the building, blowing

Though

killed several of the patients, the confusion did give

a

it

handful of

and though

men

five

their only chance.

off

Eight

were gunned down, three

were the only survivors of

this

made

men

a dash for

got away.

it,

They

night of horror.

In Europe, the speed of the Japanese thrust was being studied

with jubilation

—

at

Berchtesgaden in Germany. As

allies,

the

Germans and Japanese might have been uneasy bedfellows, but

A SINISTER TWILIGHT

244

Hitler had been watching every

because

it

had succeeded

in

move

drawing

of the off

war

in Asia, merely

such substantial forces

from Europe, and he had ordered Admiral Raeder, head of

German Navy,

In his report to

East.

man

admiral

the

on the ''prospects" in the Far the Fuehrer on Friday the 13th, the Ger-

to prepare a report

made an

elated assessment of the future, saying,

Rangoon, Singapore and, most likely, also Port Darwin will be in Japanese hands within a few weeks. Only weak resistance is expected on Sumatra, while Java will be able to hold out longer. Japan plans to protect this front in the Indian Ocean by capturing the key position of Ceylon, and she also plans to gain control of the sea in that area by means of superior naval forces. Fifteen Japanese submarines are at the

Bay

moment

operating in the

and in the straits on both sides of Sumatra and Java. With Rangoon, Sumatra, and Java gone, the last oil wells between Bahrein and the American continent will be lost. Oil supplies for Australia and New Zealand will have to come from either the Persian Gulf or from America. Once Japanese battleships, aircraft carriers, submarines, and the Japanese naval air force are based on Ceylon, of Bengal, in the waters off Ceylon,

Britain will be forced to resort to heavily-escorted convoys

if

and the Only Alexandria, Durban, and Simonstown will be

she desires to maintain communications with India

Near

East.

available as repair bases for large British naval vessels in that

part of the world.*

As Hitler was reading

Downing

Street,

this,

Churchill, across the water in

was reading a very different assessment of the

problems of the vast

area. It

Wavell who reported

to his

had arrived

in a

gloomy cable from

prime minister that

The unexpectedly rapid advance of enemy on Singapore and approach of an escorted enemy convoy towards southern Sumatra necessitate review of our plans lor the defense of the Netherlands East Indies, in which southern Sumatra plays a .

*

.

.

Fuehrer Conferences on Naval

Affairs.

BLACK most

important

was clear

yet he

now

1)

1

A Y

2

With more time

part.

But ground not

could be built up.

It

FR

yet

.

.

to Churchill that the

strong

.

.

.

.

end was approaching,

was loath to give up the struggle. Ever since he had made

Burma

the decision not to divert the 18th Division to sion

;,

defense

prepared

lull)

|

made much

against his will

and

tralians

— Churchill

Wavell

to delay the capitulation.

had exerted

—a

deci-

partly to mollify the Aus-

the pressure possible on

all

He had

realized that Singa-

pore could not resist indefinitely. There was no longer any possibility of

holding out until naval relief arrived.

now

tion of time, but until

only chance for,

...

It

was a ques-

Churchill had believed that "the

of gaining time,

which was

all

we could hope

was to give imperative orders to fight in desperation to the

end."

Churchill had

fears entertained in

may be

strongly that, despite

felt

Whitehall, "It

the doubts at the

the spot should have instructions

summit

is

all

the doubts

and

always right that whatever

war direction the general on

of

no knowledge

of

them and should

receive

w hich are simple and plain." r

Now, however, the Prime Minister received

a second cable

from Wavell warning Churchill that the Japanese were close to the city, that the Allied troops a counterattack, to

and

were incapable of launching

that he feared resistance was "not likely

be very prolonged."

Wavell had not asked the Prime Minister for powers to capitulate. it

Indeed, he told

him

that he

had ordered Percival

to fight

out house by house. Nonetheless the implication of the mes-

sage was clear sion

and Churchill now had

whether or not

insisted

on fighting

to

for

to

make

the ultimate deci-

continue the struggle, knowing that

much

longer, he

would have

if

he

to bear the

responsibility for thousands of civilian deaths. It

was possible to argue

that, in

terms of power politics and

A SINISTER

246 global

war

TWILIGHT

strategy, the sufferings of

Singapore would be negligible

if

prolonged resistance

in

they contributed to a great

surge in the British fighting "image" comparable to that

in-

American defenders in the Philippines. Though the terrain and the conditions were vastly different, Churchill must have been sorely tempted, but he cast the temptation aside, for he "was sure it would be wrong to enforce needless slaughter, and without hope of victory to inflict the horrors of street fighting" on the civilians. He asked General Brooke, Chief of the Imperial General Staff, to come and see him in Downing Street, and told him "where I stood." Brooke agreed, and Churchill prepared to send a cable to Wavell, telling him, "You are of course sole judge of the moment when no further result can be gained at Singapore, and should instruct Percival spired by the heroic

accordingly."

That cable marked

the end of Churchill's dreams and hopes

— hopes that by a heroic defense against inevitable

defeat, Singa-

pore would rank in military history with Warsaw; that instead of handing over intact this glittering symbol of Britain's Colonial power, the ashes of certain defeat

would provide

history

with a matchless epic of unyielding British courage that would

echo round the world.

10 The Dying

Saturday February

To all who now

City

— Sunday February 75

/_/

remained, Saturday and Sunday became blurred

into

one long, agonizing

and

ate,

even slept a

Men and women worked rare exceptions, none who

spell of time.

little,

but. with

two days could distinguish one from the

lived through these

next in the hazy outlines of their personal nightmares. As they struggled

on

like

automatons,

and every one of their ears to blot in the

senses.

total II a

war viciously attacked each

woman

held her hands to her

out the sound of shells or bombs, her eyes

mangled

flesh of the

wounded.

But worst of

sense of shame, for in the once-beautiful city

from burning

filth

physically,

sounds

like

him

—

I

I

nipped down

didn't

MAS women

mounting throb

the

want

was the in

a

(

to talk to

orridoT

deep wound.

"It

saw an old friend

in

in a

—

I I

didn't

want

to

anybody." Freddy Bloom

who, because of long friendships

had stuck together,

all

— now clothed

— the sense of humiliation was hurting

wrote Hudson, "but when

silly,"

the hospital,

oil

took

she covered her eyes,

If

the smell of corpses assailed her nostrils.

still

now tended

to

in

meet

felt

it,

happier times

avoid each other

when

off

duty.

In the streets

and squares, thousands

dered about aimlessly.

Tommy,

Some were

of dejected soldiers

bitter,

like

wan-

the brick-red

stripped to the waist outside Fullcrton Building,

who

A SINISTER

248

TWILIGHT

was haranguing a crowd of troops,

way

we're fighting for a

most of the

"It's

of life that's finished, anyway."

But

leaderless, listless troops were, like the civilians, con-

what had hap-

scious of a vague feeling of shame, not only at

pened, but at their dirt and squalor. heat

—

time to surrender

demanded two

In a country where the

or three clean shirts a day soldiers were

still

wearing stinking clothes they had not changed for days. Some

washed

— and

did their laundry

— by

the side of busy roads

where the water gushed from broken mains. Others made

for

the Singapore River or the small creeks leading to the Chinese

timber yards.

The

water was

filthy

— but

it

didn't matter,

it

was wet. For water, even more than bravery, had become the most ical factor in

holding out since the

captured McRitchie, the

Now

last

moment when

station called

crit-

enemy had

remaining reservoir on the

the only water to reach the city

pumping

the

came from one

island.

solitary

Woodleigh, within 800 yards of the Jap-

unnamed civilian engineer and his wife heroically kept the pumps working while the bullets flew around them. Who they were, nobody seems to know. The few water engineers of that time who are still alive are uncertain anese front line.

Here, an

because the handful of engineers was constantly being rushed

from one key post

to another. Brigadier

Simson managed

to tel-

Woodleigh urging him to carry on, but noted in his report, "I regret I have no record of his name." already thinking There seems little doubt that the Japanese in terms of occupation problems refrained from bombing ephone the engineer

at

—

—

Woodleigh, for the engineer and

his wife

were allowed

to con-

pumping after

the Japanese had overrun the station. By now, the water problem was simple: two-thirds of the

tinue

"Woodleigh supply" was running

to

waste.

Due

to

broken

mains, water had already failed in the higher parts of the

city.

THE DYING CITY

249

Most of the Asian staff had vanished, and though Percival had given Simson a party of Royal Engineers to help with repairs, the obstacles were insuperable. And now, inevitably, the water shortage brought

its

concomitant of

Many

bombed buildings drinking contaminated water. More and more

ot bodies in the reservoirs.

were carelessly people

There were reports

disease.

— children

particularly

Asians in

— were

in danger of typhoid.

Just before ten o'clock on Saturday, Brigadier Simson re-

ported to Percival that the failure of the water supply seemed

imminent, and Percival immediately drove round to the municipal offices for a

gineer.

conference with Simson and the Municipal En-

appeared that with luck the supply might

It

forty-eight hours,

last for

but the mains were more likely to run dry in

half that time.

"While there's water," announced Percival grimly, "we fight on."

Then he

left to tell

the

Governor

at the

Singapore Club of

his decision.

Though

every corner of the club had by

now been

filled

with

managed room where Percival and the Governor could talk privately. Shenton Thomas was haunted by one dread the danger of an epidemic. He told Percival so frankly, and when the two leaders had parted, Shenton Thomas felt he was duty bound to find a small luggage

VIP's, the harassed secretary

—

to

acquaint the Colonial

General Officer

now

office

Commanding

closely invested.

There

with his

fears.

He

cabled them:

me that Singapore City now one million people within

informs

are

radius of three miles. Water-supplies very badly

damaged and

more than twenty-four hours. Many dead lying and burial impossible. We are faced with total deprivation of water, which must result in pestilence. I have felt unlikely to last

in the streets

that

it is

my

manding.

duty to bring

this to notice of

General Officer Com-

A SINISTER TWILIGHT

25O

Percival was also sending off a signal

ing

him

had

to

Wavell in

Java, ask-

wider discretionary powers to capitulate.

for

Wavell

again,

—

to reply,

— not

"In

Once having yet received Churchill's cable

—

places

all

where

troops they must go on fighting.

sufficiency of water exists for

Your

gallant stand

is

sen

purpose and must be continued to limit of endurance."

To

and the million civilians, the Japanese must have seemed all-powerful, and yet unknown to the defenders there was an element of bluff in the enemy attacks on the outskirts of the city, for the Japanese had nearly exhausted their ammunition. As Colonel Tsuji, their Chief of Operations, later admitted, they were down to a hundred rounds for each field gun, "and less for our heavy guns. The divisional Chief of Staff came reluctantly to the conclusion that it was a sheer the weary troops

.

.

.

.

.

.

impossibility to proceed with [the attack]

.

.

troops were

.

hausted by the violent bombardment of the enemy. Arms legs

were

flying

through the

air

where." * With supreme irony,

it

and heads

scattered every-

was not only the

the Empire, but the soldiers of the

ex-

and

soldiers

Emperor who had

ol

but

all

reached Wavell's "limit of endurance."

On ning

the other hand, though Japanese

short, there

were bombs

and

British up-country),

from

it

to spare

ammunition was

run-

(some captured from

seemed that the

city

was never

the free

At least five hundred civilians were and by now the raging fires had become the city's greatest problem after water, for here, too, water was at a premium. killed

raids.

on

Satur-

day,

Central Fire Station had been hit several times and the water

supply was so limited that on Saturday Buckerid^c had

his firH

bath for three days, washing his uniforms in the water afterward

and keeping

The

fires

it

for the next bath.

seemed

to follow a particular pattern.

Buckeridge described a big one in Old Road from *

Singapore:

The Japanese

Version.

In his di.uv his

own

sp*

Tin

DYING

technical viewpoint.

cializedj

rubber,

shellac'

all

and 50ya beam.

bomb

Buildings collapsed b\

jobs.

n

251

had spread over

It

>wns on the Singapore River, like

ci

filled

"It

was typical OJ air raid

explosions, cargo well in-

upper door contents piled on ground doors

volved,

This

bonfire sixteen feet high.''

lire

manager brought him

it.

bucket

a

Another time, when

his head.

Buckeridge's

make

ol

when

just

a

the fac-

water to sluice over

icy

row of shophouscs had been

a

men had

to

was near the Singapore ice

works, and Buckeridge was gasping with the heat tory

or six

five

with combustibles

extinguished the blaze

set

when

an old Chinese lady emerged from an untouched shop with half

me

en cups of tea on a tin tray. "She thanked for sa\ ing her

home."

There were other moments >nal

opportunity to grin,

one occasion

jumped out

been told

fire,

relief

— even the

only at the futility of

if

it all.

oc-

On

drove up in a military truck,

a British sergeant

on the shoulder, and

to destroy this lorry.

Mind

if I

drive

it

mate?"

"Good God!" ire

welcome

of the cab, tapped Buckeridge

veiled, "I've

into your

of

very politely

cried Buckeridge.

"I'm trying to put

this

out!"

—

"Okay, mate no offense," replied the sergeant cheerfully, and drove the lorry fifty yards down the road before setting fire to

it

himself.

Xo

historian has ever

come

<

lose to

recording the details of

great fires of those final di\s in Singapore.

ords

— apart from personal

in the confusion. t

The

every street of the

Almost

ones like Buckeridge's g

Barnes started

up

lost

in every part,

The) ranged from one

city.

all rec-

— were

in the car

park in Collyer Quay, in which hundreds of abandoned vehi-

in a

were burned out

godown

Xew

filled

aftei

a

Japanese incendiary attack, to one

with cases

of

firecrackers (popular

Year; which exploded and jumped

in

all

on Chi-

directions.

A SINISTER

252

Not

TWILIGHT

until nearly the end, however,

new and menacing kind which culminated bloody great

(in

conflagration — the

fire

a

"river fires"

Buckeridge's colorful language) "in

where no

fire

of

was Singapore faced with

could possibly be." This was

a

the

fire of Pulo Saigon Bridge which crossed the Singapore River, and the sight was so extraordinary and unbelievable that scores

of people rushed to the river bank,

and stood gaping

at a sight

never to be forgotten. For the bridge was constructed entirely

and it was ablaze from end to end. had started in a bizarre fashion. A huge patch of from a bombed vessel at the mouth of the river had

of steel girders,

The

fire

blazing

oil

floated upriver with the turn of the tide.

kind of enemy,

As the

this floating, blazing

burning pool

thick, black,

the incoming tide of the city, the oil

"It

was a sneak-thief

scum," wrote Buckeridge.

— forced along

relentlessly by

— reached the crowded sampans

in the heart

and the flames twisted and writhed between

junks, lighters, sampans packed so closely a child could have

scrambled across them. Scores were

set alight,

and tongues

of

on the banks. Finally the blazing pool reached the steel "trellis work" of the Pulo Saigon Bri< one of the oldest in Singapore. At least it did not seem possible

flames even reached buildings

that this ancient, Meccano-like structure could be set on

A

fire.

Nor would

it

attempt to

bomb the bridge resulted in a near miss — but

blast burst

an

have been but for an unlucky chance.

oil

oil

below.

ti it-

pipe running along the side of the bridge, and

immediately a stream of ing

Japanese

The

oil

was spurting down

to

meet the

blaz-

flames leaped toward each other at incredi

and long before the bridge stopcock could be turned off, the asphalt roadway on the Pulo Saigon Bridge and the lai ironwork was blazing. Only when the tide started to go out did ble speed,

J

the oil patch below the bridge begin drifting downriver, and the red-hot, twisted girders of the bridge start to cool p.m., the strangest fire in

Singapore had burned

off.

By

itself out,

10

and

thf

l) \

\

CITY

c;

253

return to Central Eor a supper of cold

Buckeridgc was able

to

ham,

"and

biscuits, coffee

i

a

quiet whiskey salvaged from de-

lta >yed stock."

Inevitably,

the

and bomb-damaged buildings created

fires

more and more opportunities Eor the looting which was now belling to assume dangerous proportions. When Buckeridge was tailed to

a fire in a

aged to keep the I

(

fire

godown

Eood

in

Havelock Road,

under control and saved the

"I

godown

man-

— but

The) arrived in hordes. Some, in unashamedly loaded them up swiftly and drove off. Others

couldn't stop the looters." ars,

came trundling "the

The

naked

In a few minutes

shell."

behind '"white" Singapore, where the public markets,

normally selling left

a

worst Looting, however, occurred in the teeming sections

of the city

or

carts or pulling rickshaws.

godown was

meat, fruit and eggs, had either been hit

fish,

unattended, and where

now gangs

of

men w ere r

systemati-

and shops until it looked as though locusts had passed by, leaving them naked and empty. Next the octets turned to the big warehouses, smashing doors and barri-

cally stripping the stalls

1

caded windows in search of clothing, merchandise

from bicycles to radios and cameras

which until

now had

barrier of a plate-glass

Even Jack Bennitt pore) admitted to a

The

— treasures

— anything

beyond price

only been admired longingly behind the

window. (to say

little

nothing of the Bishop of Singa-

"looting"

—

o\ a sort.

According

to

Rev's diary, "I went with the Bishop to scrounge a wheel

his car."

For the Bishop had

body could find the time

a

puncture in his car and no-

to repair

Bennitt, however, had

it.

abandoned car similar to the Bishop's, near Yoch Eng aid post. They found it and pin< bed the wheel. Things were quiet at Y<>< h Eng, so the Bishop and The Rev

seen an

decided to

visit

the village

the east coast road.

ol

Siglap a mile or so further along

Bennitt had

made

a

good friend of the

vil-

A SINISTER

254

TWILIGHT

and was certain he could get some fresh bread there. It did not seem to have occurred to either of them that Siglap was outside the perimeter and therefore theoretically occupied by the Japanese. Yet when the Bishop and Bennitt reached the village they found all the small Chinese shops open. Outside one, a man was having his hair cut, and 'everything was completely peaceful and quiet." Having penetrated enemy terrilage baker

'

tory,

one can understand Reverend Bennitt's rather pained

action,

"When we

got back, people

would not

believe

re-

we had

been there."

And

yet everything

standable

— even

was

so confused that anything was under-

Tommy

stupidity.

Kitching,

vious day had been ordered to destroy

all his

who on

maps

the pre-

of the island,

received an urgent phone call from Fort Canning.

Command now

maps of Singapore he very maps he had been warned

urgently wanted

could lay his hands on

— the

Malaya

all

the

must be destroyed. Kitching noted the following

conversation

in his diary:

"But damn

it all,

man, they gave

me

orders yesterday to

de-

stroy every single copy!"

"Yes, but

now they think they might want them."

"Well,

haven't got any

I

— haven't

you any

at Fort Can-

ning?"

"No, they're

all

destroyed too."

Kitching had turned his

office

into a

shelter ready to withstand a prolonged

enough tinned food

to last

supply of kerosene.

He had

bomb and shell-proof siege. He had bought

two months, an

oil stove

also filled kerosene tins

and

good

and bottld

with a reserve supply of twenty gallons of water for the

who slept and ate in his offices. People now slept anywhere they could.

a

five col-

leagues

Cicely Williams.

hausted by her brood of children, had not slept for three

and had

to get

away

to rest

\(

nights,

and recover her energy. Leaving

the

Till

DYING

c

l

|

Y

255

children in charge of her Asian nurses, ihe sank gratefully onto

camp bed where

she had the besl night's sleep of the war, find-

that "the noise of shells m

positively pleasant as

ls

Outiam Road

Surprisingly, there

they were

unwilling

Jail.

were few

A

suicides.

on the Japanese death to get

heard from

But then, her bedroom was

the relative security of thi< k walls." a cell in

a

few Chinese

who knew

and had been unable

list

away, quietlj took then

Among

Lives.

ropeans there was only one recorded case

of a

(or

the Eu-

suicide pact

—

be-

who had Nobody really ever with girl. to the bottom of their story, though it was known that Johns, who had been evacuated from up-country, had become hopelessly infatuated, had resigned all his lubs, and had set up house tween

a

young English planter

fallen in love

called

Colin Johns

Chinese

a beautiful

*

with the It

girl in a flat in a

converted old mansion in Nassim Hill.

was obvious, too, that she was desperately in love with him >ne

who had caught

the 00

together had been able to see

I

th.it lor

glimpse of them dancing

themselves. She obviously

tme from a good family and one rumor had refused to let her marry Johns.

Another

wife conveniently tucked away in the very simple reason that

On

this

Saturday

— or

and agreed

No

nobody bothered

that her father

Johns had a

one knew

— for

to find out.

perhaps dining the night of Friday-

trday — the couple appai entl} ble

it

said that

ngland.

I

—

to die togethei

and gassing themselves with

1

ealized the

b) sealing

up

end was

inevita-

their garage

door

There they w ere overed when their amah arrived earlier than expected and forced open the garage Petrified at what she had discovered, she ran down Nassim Hill Tanglin Circus, wailing, 'Tuan and mem both By the time the ambulance reached the garage, Johns was their car fumes.

1

r

TWILIGHT

A SINISTER

256 dead.

The

rushed

to the

girl

seemed

to

show

Reverend Bennitt was not only

known

and was

a faint sign of life

General.

figure,

man

he was a

a highly respected

and

well-

without an enemv in the world.

The Rev and admired the sterling work he had done, particularly among the Chinese at Yoch Eng. But now, in the Raffles Place area.. Tim Hudson found his conduct intriguing, to say the least of it. Eor The Rev worn Everybody

in Singapore liked

come out with

into a shop,

and

a tiny purchase, go into another,

buy an equally small, mvsterious packet. Einallv, after happened half a dozen times. Hudson, who knew him

had

this

slightly,

could contain his curiosity no longer, and asked him point-blank

what he was buying. ''Buying?*' asked

The

''Oh! These:

Rev.

Razor blades, mv

dear fellow.*' In

fact.

The

Rev, like thousands of others, was already think-

ing ahead to the grim davs of internment, and he had one pet

aversion

— growing

ing

of "'letting vourself go.*'

in,*'

a beard.

ting scarce, he was going

time —

in

all,

enough

would, he

It

be a sign of

So. since razor blades

from shop

to give

felt,

him

to

"giv-

were

shop buying a few

a shave every other

get-

at a

day for

several years.

There was not only precedented rush

one

cliffe.

a

There was an unStamford Road, where Rad-

run on razor

to the dentist's.

of the dentists,

had

blades.

his consulting

rooms, was

be

constantly shelled, but even that did not deter the queue of people

who

least

I

felt,

didn't

like

Tim Hudson,

want toothache

the fear of toothache

able-bodied

men more

that "if

I

as well." In

had become

a

had

to

be interned,

some undehmv

minor

obsession, won--

than the prospect of the d\senter\ or

beri that was to kill hundreds.

.it

beri-

THE DYING CITY There was Raffles Place.

a rush.

When Tun

were empty, and the bleak,

Hi;

unwelcome look

knew

going out oi

had the

so well

Despite

sale.

isu ess

bbled tor the tew books that were

oesegir] took the money, and apologized because she had run out oi wrap-

while a smiling, lining

counted

g c,

ping paper.

When

the mar.

tomer, he beckoned

kept a few back

him

volume of Somerset Maugham Most shopkeepers refused mom

When

chemists, the

"I've

Tim

of books you'd like,

Hudson managed

old cus-

and whispered,

to the inside office

a

customers.

who was an

ludson,

_

— pick any couple

harge of course.*'

and

there halt die shelves

I

he

2

I

the heat, a milling thr> left,

the booksellers in

ih,

I

—

Shakespeare

to find a

short stories. their old

and trusted

Freddv Bloom went into Mavnard's the

manager

on thrusting upon her three paste and a box of soap tablets, and

insisted

toothbrushes, three tubes of

had used daily

then, unconsciouslv relap>m£ into the words he for twentv vears. asked brightlv.

all,

Mrs. Bloom?"

bothered about buying tinned food.

Cairiouslv. few people

Perhaps instinctivelv thev

felt as

And

be a bloody long stay."

"Will that be

I

Buckeridge did,

"It's

going

to

innot have seemed worth-

while buying a '"luxury" that would have lasted only a few days.

On

the other hand, there was a run on one luxury

Even the most philosophical were di^maved facing

up

to the rigors of

them over the first En matter." Hudson remembers, but

must." Others invested pipes.

stocks

to

dwindle

^hop"

d.

cigarettes

a lair

became

ind a dozen

in

supplies to individuals, though n

a

"Booze somehow

Overnight, pipe cleaners vanished too.

began

cigarettes.

at the prospect of

internment without cigarettes or

pipe to tide didn't

—

a

new

As the tobacco

shopkeepers tried to limit va

successfully.

In the

Gian Singh, the big food store in Battery three Europeans had to be taken to hospital after a freeat

A SINISTER TWILIGHT

258 for-all

those

when one man demanded ten cartons of cigarettes and queueing up behind shouted, "Share 'em out!" The man head of the queue

at the

ately the others fell

scrum.

The

underfoot.

manager

Immedi-

tried to grab the cigarettes.

on him with the

tigerish ferocity of a

rugby

counter was wecked, precious stocks were trampled

Nobody knew who was

tried to get the police

fighting

whom. The

— but there were no

the end, he left the scrum to fight

itself out,

tearful

police.

In

while in the adjoin-

ing departments of the big store, assistants and customers tried to ignore the unedifying spectacle of white

men

fighting like

animals.

Without doubt those in the most pitiful plight were the mothers with young children. For weeks now the pathetic groups of women, mostly young, living out of one suitcase, with their children tugging at their soiled dresses, had been a daily spectacle in Singapore. Some had obstinately (and stupidly) refused to leave without their husbands, taking heart from the spurious military communiques. Others, who were penniless, had not realized in time that the government was ready to stake their passage money. Now this unhappy band faced one common problem. Not for them the mad rush to buy cigarettes or toothbrushes or books.

Now

that internment was all but a reality, only

tered: the welfare of the children.

the sun, baby foods

special foods

body

to

these

had now become dire

they could

— were

whom

all

necessities.

— and would — have go withBut the children — often deprived of milk and

The mothers knew out themselves.

—

one thing mat-

Clothes, shoes, hats against

different.

to

And

yet there

was no

official

they could turn for help, not even a charitable-

organization with a "treasure chest" able to dole out the hand-

me-downs of other, luckier children who had left. Then, in the last hours, something very close to

a miracle hap-

THE DYING CITY

How

pened.

torn

roads,

known, but the

fires

came

buildings, it

did,

— how

—

smashed telephones

and while the

shells

bypassed shelled

it

will

never

be

whizzed overhead and

raged round the corner, Raffles Place unaccountably be-

filled

in their

word got round

the

2jC)

with excited, laughing children suddenly decked out

"Sunday

best."

was an astonishing

It

pirouetted as they showed off spotless, cool

sight.

little

Boys proudly displayed trim shorts and white

Little girls

white dresses.

There

shirts.

were floppy hats and shining new sandals for everyone. In addi-

— or mother — carried parcel containing — everything from underpants or panties duplicate spare pair of Even the mothers — their impressed clothes — seemed throw back shoulders with each child

tion,

a

a

its

outfit

to a

shoes.

still

old,

their

to

new

in

a

surge of pride and thankfulness.

"I'm not sentimental," said

them

— as excited as

if it

thinking there must be a

Tim

Hudson, "but when

was Christmas day

—

God somewhere who

I

saw

I

couldn't help

looks after kid-

dies."

For the "miracle" had been performed by Robinson's in Raffles Place,

whose manager, Mr. L. C. Hutchings, had,

eternal credit, decided that every

European mother now facing

internment could come to the' store and get two free each of her children. said

cost?

outfits for

"Let's talk about that later,"

Mr. Hutchings.*

Around officers,

*

The

to his

this

time Brigadier Simson heard that one of his

Major George Coode, was planning

Though most

to escape

if

staff

the city

—

Asians would not be interned, the offer did apply to those such Asian wives of Britishers who would go into internment. Most Asian mothers, however, did not face the same problems as the European women who had often been evacuated from up-country and did not have any friends in Singaas the

pore.

—

A SINISTER

260

The Major

capitulated. fine sailor

— had

TWILIGHT

— who happened

managed

to acquire

to be an extremely and provision a motor

launch, but Simson had been so occupied with his denial

schemes that he and Coode had hardly seen each other for

The Major had

eral days.

sev-

asked Percival for permission to

es-

and Percival had agreed, on the understanding that if the British had to capitulate, any escape would be during the vital period between the arrangements and the time the capitulation came into force. There was bound to be a few hours' delay and Percival was sure the Japanese would insist on a promise that no attempts to escape would be permitted. Percival would have to honor this pledge while his troops were still at large. cape,

By chance Simson ran

into Coode,

Simson immediately asked, "Can

who

told

him

of his plans.

book a seat?" "Why, of course," replied Coode. So Simson also asked I

Perci-

He

val for permission to escape in the event of surrender.

wanted, he told the General, "to carry on the

made no

objection

that

Percival

— apart from the same understandable con-

had imposed on Coode. Simson thanked him, and

ditions he

from

fight."

moment

until the following evening did not give the

matter another thought. After

all,

there was

still

plenty of work

to be done.

Another man was suddenly offered the opportunity to escape none other than Mr. Bowden, the Australian government

—

representative,

who had been

refused permission to leave the

land. General Percival felt that vilian of fifty-two

— he should

— perhaps because he was a

go.

Though

he had been an

valuable link between the island and his government, the

is-

ci-

in-

War

Council no longer functioned, and civilian administration was grinding to a

halt.

Bowden was

offered a place

on the Osprey,

launch designed to seat ten people, which was due to leave

on Saturday likable

man

night.

—

Bowden

at first

— an extremely honest

a

late

as well as

demurred, but when he was told categori-

THE DYING CITY

26

was 'Very close," he made up

cally that capitulation

his

together with his two assistants. But, he insisted, he

go,

mind

to

must

let

government know. This was none too easy, for by now there was only one way to get a wireless message out of the island. All bis

communications had been reduced

to a single, small handset op-

erated within a few feet of the edge of the lapping fringe of the

harbor where the cable actually entered the dirty water. Some-

how Bowden's

We

pleted.

known.''

message was tapped out: "Our work com-

last

from another place

will telegraph

Then

Bowden and

at 6:30 p.m.

at present un-

the others

met by the

launch.

The

"small party" had swollen to thirty-eight. As they tried

was barred by deserting troops seek-

to get aboard, their passage

Some were armed with hand

ing to escape. carried fire

tommy

The

guns.

on the launch unless

body was

hit,

and

Others

uglier elements threatened to

out, rifle shots

in mid-harbor,

open

were taken aboard, and

they, too,

moved

deed, as the Osprey

grenades.

were

fired at her.

in-

No-

and under cover of dark, the

party transferred to a 40-foot diesel-engined vessel called the

Mary Rose. Behind them, black smoke from the naval base canopied the sky.

In the heart of the

blazing furiously.

A

shellac

Pulau

that "even the

Back

Bukum had

Shenton

Thomas was

night in the Club. therefore

we

Across the water, the

been deliberately

ocean seemed to be on

in the privacy of his

a soap factory was

godown and timber sheds spurted

flames hundreds of feet into the air. reserves in

city,

bedroom

at the

set alight, so

Singapore Club, Sir

writing his daily diary,

Percival told

oil

fire."

me

"Much

position

quieter

no worse and

will carry on."

Sunday morning dawned without a breath of nett

still

remembered

it

as "a hopeless

dawn

of

Gordon Bendespair. There is no air.

A SINISTER

262

TWILIGHT

hope or help on the horizon. The steamy heat on the dying city which All over the

tropical sun is

sending

is

writhing in

its

people, as though sensing that the

city,

of destiny was at hand, joined in

the General Hospital, Freddy

its

agony."

moment

Sunday morning prayer. In

Bloom and

the other nurses gath-

ered in a bleak anteroom for a brief service. In the cathedral,

which was

still filled

many pews

The Rev had put back

with wounded,

Every one was

as possible in the choir.

filled,

as

and

every inch of space was crowded with standing worshipers.

Those who could not get

compound. They could not hear the service but, as if impelled by some primitive instinct, they stayed there, silent and devout, until it was over and those inside

inside stood in the green

filed out.

General Percival was also at church form, attending

communion

at Fort

— in

freshly starched uni-

Canning. But he at

least

thing — that

knew one at long last the "wider discretion" he had demanded had been granted, for in the early hours of the morning he had received a cable from Wavell, reading: So long

as

you are

enemy and your must

fight on.

importance

in a position to inflict losses

and damage to so, you

troops are physically capable of doing

Time gained and damage

at this juncture.

When

to

you are

enemy

are of vital

fully satisfied that

this is no longer possible I give you discretion to cease resistance. Inform me of intentions. Whatever happens I thank you and all your troops for gallant efforts of last few days.

Now,

the decision was

up

calling a conference of all civilian

— Dickie

and he lost no time in senior commanders, together wth one to Percival,

Dickinson, the Inspector-General of Police

who had been phoned

at his office at 8 a.m.

and

told to present

himself at Fort Canning at nine-thirty. Percival had not invited

Shenton Thomas to the conference, but the ever-loyal Dickinson, a firm believer in protocol,

had no intention of going

to

THE DYING CITY

263

Canning without the Governor's permission. He managed get through to Shenton Thomas at the club, and the Gover-

Fort to

nor immediately

said,

"Of course you must

go."

(In fact, Dick-

inson had quite rightly been invited instead of the Governor

because "I was in effect one of Percival's since the police

Commanding

had come under the army, and

this

Officers

was a purely

military conference.")

Simson of course was present, together with the three senior

commanders and an

RAF

officer.

Grimly they made

bomb-proof room under Fort Canning

to a small

their

way

Percival

Hill.

and Dickinson remembers that the solemn occasion was marked by "a considerable amount of spit and polish." No aides were present as each commander gave his the head of the table

sat at

own gloomy

recital of the

crumbling defense. Simson repeated

an earlv morning warning that the water situation had worsened

and then Percival announced briefly Wavell had granted him the power to capitulate. From then on, the discussion on any possible counterattack was purely academic and pointless, for everyone present knew there was alsince the previous evening, that

most no water, that army food reserves were only few days, and that the only petrol

left

vehicles.

The

when,

Gordon Bennett recorded

sadly

as

conference lasted barely twenty minutes, ending

we decided

As soon

sufficient for a

was in the tanks of the

as the

in his diary, "Silently

and

to surrender."

meeting had broken up, Percival sent

Fraser, the acting Colonial Secretary

Jones),

and Brigadier Xewbiggin,

Officer,

and told them

meet the Japanese and

for

(who had replaced his

Hugh

Stanley-

Chief Administrative

Timah Road to truce for 4 p.m. when

to drive up the Bukit try

and arrange

a

terms of capitulation could be discussed. his final military orders

codes, documents, secret

— for

That done, he

the destruction of

equipment and guns. •

all

issued

ciphers,

A SINISTER TWILIGHT

264

Hush

Fraser had been a highly popular, cheerful Federal Secre-

tary up-country before taking over the

and he did not the enemy.

mantle of Stanley

Jones,

relish the "distasteful task" of going out to meet

He

only undertook

it

because Sir Shenton Thomas

was adamant that in no circumstances would he parley with

the

Japanese.

This was the

meeting with the enemy, and

first

ment which should have been marked with journey and the meeting

Had

film.

episode, It will

had a car

at

gravity.

times resembled a

it

was a mo-

Instead,, the

Marx

Brothers

documented account of the not Fraser written a lone, O'

would be difficult to believe what actually happened. be remembered that in his "airmail" letter,. Yamashita

it

told Percival that,

if

he wished to surrender, he was to send

with a Union Jack and a white

along the Bukit

Timah Road. At

Newbiggin, carrying

Commission,

with an interpreter.

A to

in

could proceed

an open

Hieh

car, together

second car followed in case of accidents. be

at the

Japanese headquarters by noon.

but were hopelessly wide of the mark, for hours, instead of half an hour, to

Right from the

it

a letter addressed to the Japanese

from Fort Canning

set off

Thev had reckoned

flag as far as

exactly 11:30 a.m. Fraser and

start

make

it

took them over two

contact with the enemy.

everything seemed to go wrong

—

ironi-

moment when lives would be saved. They had planned to drive to N ton Circus, a roundabout where they would turn up the Bukit cally

on

a mission

whose main object was

to speed the

Timah Road, but had to turn back twice because craters made the roads impassable. Somehow they reached Newton

had Cir-

way alone back roads and alleys. There second car and set off slowly along Dunearn

cus after winding their

thev dismissed the

Road.

Halfway toward the Japanese headquarters, their car cross the bridge over the canal into Bukit Timah Road. Their

THE DYING CITY was

fairly clear until

i»(>-,

they reached a point where

major east-west highway, crossed Bukit

Adam

Road,

Timah Road. Here

a

they

found the entire area heavily defended by a barbed wire barrier.

The

three Britishers scrambled out with the intention of re-

moving enough of the obstacle Ji^t in

time they discovered

There was nothing

for

it

to allow their car to get through.

"it

but

was

stiff"

with anti-tank mines.

to recross the canal into

— where to their chagrin they were held up

Road

of a revolver by a British patrol.

Dunearn

at the point

Laboriously they explained

that they

were not defecting to the Japanese. But not until the

officer in

charge was called did anybody realize

The

officer

then warned them that the wide

they would have

to cross,

who

Adam

Road, which

was heavily mined, and

impossible to drive a car across, even

if

they were.

it

would be

they could get the barrier

down.

Now they had no alternative They unfurled

foot.

but to leave the car and

their flags

and

started walking

set off

on

— "picking

our way carefully, very carefully, through the mined area." All this

time

enemy planes were bombing and machine-gunning

and "the whine of came almost monotonous." British front line

With

the sweat pouring off

strode along

— until

matics at the ready,

Through

tion.

their

finally, a

shells passing

them

in the

the

overhead be-

midday

sun, they

party of Japanese troops, auto-

emerged cautiously from a rubber plantainterpreter, Fraser and Newbiggin pointed

out the significance of the white flag they carried.

Here, at the

long road, with its orchids growing on the canal bank and the somber rubber trees behind, was a rare moment of his-

side of the

came face to face with the the war in Malaya was as good as

tory as the sweat-stained Britishers first

Japanese to realize that

over.

ously

The

British officers

might have been forgiven

for nerv-

wondering what their reception would be from the Japa-

A SINISTER

266 nese. to

It

TWILIGHT

could have been anything

being gunned

down

— anything from jubilation

in savage retribution.

The one

reaction

they could not possibly have expected was what in fact did happen. Excitedly the Japanese crowded

pushing

litely

do was

and

to take pictures.

round the three men, pothem for a group

arranging

The war might

photograph. to

them,

not have existed. All they wanted

All the Japanese seemed to be

fes-

tooned with cameras slung round their necks. They begged the Britishers to line

make

up

— they

squeezed them a

little

closer to

a better photographic composition, they turned

they faced the sun until they

— and

had shot the

flatly

last

dazed Britishers wondered

if

them

refused to send for their

Only

spool of film. their senses

had

rived quickly from Japanese headquarters.

officer

then, as the

them, did the

left

Japanese soldiers deign to send for two senior

so

who arwas now two

officers

It

o'clock.

In his letter Percival suggested that a cease-fire should be

dered on both sides

commanders

To ous.

at four o'clock, giving the

or-

two opposing

the opportunity to discuss terms of capitulation.

Yamashita, however, the idea of "discussion" was preposter-

He would

have nothing to do with such a proposal.

He

would not order a cease-fire, he said, until Percival had "signed on the dotted line." And he would treat with nobody but Percival in person. Meanwhile, the shelling would go on. Yamashita had drafted a letter for the two envoys to carry to Percival. It set out in general terms the Japanese conditions Eoi

a cease-fire, at the

and

a

demand

that Percival should present himseli

Japanese headquarters in the Ford factory

that evening.

Yamashita guaranteed him

at

Bukit Timafa

a safe conduct,

volunteered to send a car to await him near the mined ban

Adam

and

ii

Road.

This was

all

Fraser and Newbiggin could achieve, though

THE DYING CITY their eventful afternoon fact that

was by no means ended. Despite the

they -were retracing the very same steps they had taken

barely an

hour or two previously, the Japanese now unaccounta-

bly insisted

on blindfolding them

for the trip

back

Adam

to

Since they were properly led, this absurd procedure

Road.

might have seemed more childish than the journey was terrifying, for

it

irritating.

But

instead,

coincided with a time

when

gunners were laying down a heavy barrage over

British area,

267

and the

shells

whined uncomfortably

close to the

this

men who

were temporarily blinded. Eventually they reached

one more

adventure lay

Timah and

Adam Road and

their car,

and only

ahead of them. At the junction of Bukit

Stevens Road, a British sergeant who, as Fraser

noted, "had quite obviously not destroyed his private stock of

liquor" fired a revolver at the British party, missing miracle.

Then he ordered

his platoon to

car.

a

The

must have had second

sergeant was itching to fire again, but thoughts, though the danger

them by

surround the

remained acute until two

officers

arrived and, "at the point of their revolvers, persuaded the ser-

geant of his error." Tired,

dispirited,

drenched with sweat,

the

little

party

reached Fort Canning just before 4 p.m.

It

more than

most humiliating mo-

ment

half an

hour

to prepare for the

gave Percival

little

of his military career.

Together with three trace the

staff officers,

General Percival

set off to re-

journey taken by Fraser and Newbiggin. At the ap-

proaches to the village of Bukit Timah, they got out of their car,

unfurled the Union Jack and the white

enemy tional

flag,

escort to the Japanese headquarters

Ford Motor

factory.

and marched under

— the

bleak, func-

Perhaps understandably, British

rec-

A SINISTER

268

TWILIGHT

ords have been reticent about this meeting, though Japanese

documents and verbatim reports give a detailed picture of what happened, together with photographs of the two generals face to fact at last

—

Percival, thin, tired

and

dispirited;

Yamashita

like

on

the

a heavy, thickset bulldog, with his clenched right table ready to

pound

it

as

fist

he emphasized a point.

Yamashita arrived several minutes

late

— and from

any hopes which Percival might have entertained

set

conciliatory terms vanished.

''Pale,

the out-

for getting

and with bloodshot

eyes,"

Yamashita announced, "The Japanese army will consider nothing but unconditional surrender at

dumbly

Percival listened

10 p.m.

Nippon

"But can't

I

as

time." (8:30 p.m. Singapore time.)

can't guarantee it," blurted out Percival.

submit our

final

"We

just

reply before midnight."

Yamashita raised his voice and thumped the

table.

"Are our

We

terms acceptable or not? Things have to be done quickly. are ready to resume firing."

As Percival of

him

a

list

hesitated,

one of Yamashita's aides pushed in

front

of questions in English. Percival looked at the

first

army surrender unconditionally?" cried, "Please, wait until tomorrow morning

one: "Does the British

Again Percival

for the final answer."

And

retorted, "In that case

we

row morning.

Is

again Yamashita, leaning forward,

will continue the attack until tomor-

that all right, or

do you consent immediately

to

unconditional surrender?"

With "bowed head and consent.

The

in a faint voice," Percival gave his

surrender would take place at eight-thirty that

night.

Yamashita briskly picked up val that the British troops

cept for a thousand

He

his pile of papers

and

told

Pen

should be immediately disarmed

who would maintain

(

i-

\-

order during the night

agreed that, in order to prevent incidents, Japanese troops

would be forbidden

to enter the city until the following

morn-

THE DYING CITY

!>()()

"But," he warned Percival, "if there

ing.

these terms, a full-scale attack

commence." Percival had one

Army

protect the

last

on Singapore

request to make.

women and

any violation of

is

immediately

will

"Will the Imperial

children and the British

civil-

ians?*'

"Please rest assured," replied Yamashita in a tone, "I shall positively

Then, pushing a "Please

sign

Back

slip

this."

across the table, he

Percival

concilitory

it."

signed — and

ramrod, turned on his heel.

straight as a

February

guarantee

more

It

urged Percival, then,

standing

was 6:10 p.m. on

15.

at Fort

Canning, Percival drafted his

final signal to

Wa-

"Owing to losses from enemy action, water, petrol, food and ammunition practically finished. Unable therefore to continue the fight any longer. All ranks have done their best and \ ell:

grateful for your help." It

was the

last

message out of Singapore.

Meanwhile, Brigadier Simson had been making his rations to escape.

given

him

final

prepa-

Secure in the knowledge that Percival had

permission, the Brigadier drove for what he thought

would be the

last

tour of the

city.

"I

saw that

all

my

scorched

—

would be completed by 6 p.m." Coode in whose boat he was going had warned the Brigadier that he planned to sail soon after seven p.m., and when Simson was satisfied that he could do no more, he drove to Fort Canning to say

earth responsibilities

—

good-bye to Percival. Percival was sitting at his desk looking utterly dejected.

He

hardly seemed to realize that Simson had entered the room, that the Brigadier was holding out his

One

will

never

know what

hand

to say good-bye.

passed through Percival's

mind

at

A SINISTER

270 that

TWILIGHT

moment. Was he envious because Simson had been

about defenses? straight"?

Was he

so depressed that

In any event, he looked

up

he could not

right

''think

at the Brigadier and, to

him

Simson's astonishment, refused point-blank to permit

to

leave.

moment Simson was

For a

he blurted out, "But

And, what's more,

it's

sir,

Then

too flabbergasted to reply.

you've already given

me

permission.

the duty of every soldier to escape

he

if

can." Percival did not agree.

"Officers,"

he

insisted,

"should

stay

after their units." It did not seem to make any differwhen Simson pointed out that he had no units. He had been attached to the staff. "And anyway," added Simson, "for and the last six weeks I've only been Chief Engineer in name

and look ence

—

Director-General of Civil Defence, I've no

as

prevent

"I'm

on

his

ties of

any

sort to

me from going." sorry,

desk —

Simson," Percival abruptly turned to the papers as

though

to indicate that

he did not wish

to dis-

Without another word Simson walked the room, drove straight to Major Coode and told him to

cuss the subject further.

out of

cancel his place.

Around

Then he

the same time,

started to prepare for internment.

Gordon Bennett

such niceties as obtaining permission for the docks.

— unhampered

— was preparing

Originally his escape party had

grown

three had fallen out, including a Captain Curlewis,

by

to leave

to six, but

"who

ex-

pressed doubts about the propriety of leaving the men." Gor-

don Bennett had no such doubts. Instead he entertained a feeling "that I must at all costs return to Australia and tell our people the story of our conflict with the Japanese." Bennett's escape has been a source of controversy for twentyfive years,

and

to escape,

one might wonder what

since

it is

accepted that part of a soldier's all

dim

ifl

the fuss has been about,

THE DYING CITY and why nett's

(as

army

we

shall see later) the escape

career.

The answer

27

did in

Eact

ruin Ben-

not only in the devious man-

lies

ner in which he concocted his plans without informing Percival,

but also in the fact that

when he did

he

go,

thousands of

left

Australians behind, and practically his last order to strict

injunction not to escape. For on this

them was

last night,

a

while he

was itching to be gone, other Australians were also discussing the chances of escape. After talks with his senior

came

to the

Bennett

conclusion that "to allow any large-scale unorgan-

ized attempts to escape ter.''

officers,

would

result in confusion

and slaugh-

This was an incredible decision considering that Bennett

was almost on his way.

Bennett

now

issued an order that

all

Australian units were to remain at their posts until eight-thirty the following morning. great bitterness)

A

copy of the order (which aroused

was preserved during captivity and included

the unequivocal sentence, "All precautions

sure that the spirit of the cease-fire action."

Having drafted the

troops to be issued with

handed over command

must be taken

to en-

not destroyed by foolish

is

order, Bennett arranged for all

new

clothing and two days' rations,

to his artillery

commander

— and

set off

for the docks.

At 8:30 citv.

p.m.,

an uncanny, eerie silence

Almost from one moment

ing, the

fell

across the

to the next, the din

bombing, the bark of guns

burning

— the

shell-

— which had been a part of

everyone's lives, was abruptly stilled. It was the silence of death.

Only one kind of

and falling provide a grim re-

local noise, the crackling flames

timbers of uncontrolled

fires,

remained

to

minder that war does not end with the breeching of the guns.

To

many, the news of the

cease-fire

shock. Dr. Cicely Williams, having

came

had a good

as

an astonishing

night's rest in the

A SINISTER

272 local jail,

had returned

TWILIGHT

to her children in the

Dental Depart-

ment, and was snatching an hour's sleep on the floor when

a

doctor poked his head round the door and cried, ''There's an armistice!"

"Wh\?*' asked Cicely Williams. "Who's given in?"

"We have," said the doctor abruptly. Tim Hudson was awakened by the silence. He had off

on the

floor of the

dropped

Medical College and suddenly,

for no

apparent reason, found himself wide-awake in the dark,

sur-

rounded by recumbent, snoring men. Something "was uncanny and at first I couldn't understand what it was." He lit a cigarette

and

for

some moments

lay there, puzzled, unconsciously

waiting for the shriek of a shell or the

crump

none came he jumped up and ran out

of a

bomb. When

across the lawns to the

hospital proper.

"What's happened?" he

yelled,

grabbing the

first

man

he saw.

"Haven't you heard? We've surrendered!"

"Are you sure?"

"Of course." And then the man added good-humoredly, "No need to shout, old man." For the first time Hudson realized that for days he had been shouting, as though talking to deaf men, in order to be heard above the unending pandemonium. Hudson made his way toward the central ward. Every nook and cranny was overflowing with wounded, and as he picked his way carefully between the stretchers, he came to the junction of two long corridors stretching away. A pretty young nurse in a

Tim

knew

though more than once she had helped

to re-

soiled, blood-stained

her only by

sight,

ceive patients he "Isn't

As

it

Tim

uniform was weeping

had brought

awful?" she

quietly.

in.

said.

tried to console her, she looked up,

wiped her

tears,

forced a smile, and then without warning, asked quietly. "Will

THE DYING CITY ,ive

me

Wc

a kiss?

know

don't

what's going to hap-

pen now."

Tim remembered

that "the idea gave

me

an awful shock.

What an awful thine to kiss a nurse in uniform.'' He hesitated said. *Do you think I should, with you in uniform?'' He d her gently. He never did discover who she was, and he

and

never saw her again.

At

first

umnists.

The Rev believed the truce was the work of fifth colHe had spent a busy day, starting with a communion

managing nonetheless to play a rubber of bridge after lunch/ and now he could not believe the "uncanny quiet." Finally someone told him it was official and, as he noted in his diarv, "I wandered around a bit." He had an objective in mind, for he "had a wash at the Adelphi Hotel, one of the few es where there is still some water." The citv was still ringed with flames and the very last entrv in his war diarv in which he had kept a meticulous daily note of the weather/ ended with the sen

ice

'but

dry remark. "Weather fine for

Buck Buckeridge

fires."

also 'celebrated"

with a wash

— or rather,

a

bath at the Central Fire Station, in the same dirtv water he had

used to wash his uniform.

was

it.

We'd

single

as

wearv

as

I

had.

that

'"So.

The gang

of

men

was. but I'm sure that everv

one was willing and eager to carrv on the struggle. But

there was

no

struggle.

It

shared a dreadful secret. didn't

that night, he wrote.

Or someone

given up.

round the table was

And

know what

We

was over. Dreadful

i

r .

the hell had gone wr> >na

talked as though at secret, no.

We

were

damn

we

We sure

sn't us."

Some people never knew

When

McAlister's closed

—

it>

until later that the

doors

— and

war was over.

the Observer Corps

had been disbanded Willie Watt had decided to move out from his Singapore headquarters to his house, "San Remo,"

A SINISTER TWILIGHT

274

on the coast near Changi. Though had no Japanese troops yet penetrated this area, Watt was several miles outside the British perimeter, and was going to find it eight miles east of Singapore

extremely

difficult to

surrender

when he

tried to.

In one of the Asian wards at the General, the beautiful Chinese lover of Colin Johns, the planter

who had committed

had regained consciousness and was

cide,

off the

danger

suilist.

Over and over she kept wailing in Chinese, "Let me die, let me die." As so often happens, while so many people who had wanted to live were dying, the doctors had been able to save the one person who had only wanted to die. That night the Bishop of Singapore, the Right Reverend John Leonard Wilson, held a service in the cathedral. The stone floor of the nave was still crowded with rows of wounded, some on camp beds, others lying on blankets, but the pews still remained in the choir, and hundreds of men and women

—

many

of

them Asians

sang "Praise,

my soul,

— crowded

While the Bishop

the

King

inside as the congregation

of Heaven."

offered

up

prayers

for

morrow,

the

"Dickie" Dickinson was standing on the balcony of his police station in

had

New

Bridge Road with his chief

just returned

from a

assistant.

Governor

visit to the

Dickinson

— "a miserable

The shame of it was the worst." The city was dark except for the fires. The two men hardly talked. Dickinson was wondering how Bunny, his wife, was coping at the Blood Transfusion. The street below seemed fairly crowded with people meeting.

suddenly free to walk about without noticed, for his

remembers,

were over

mind was on

that, despite the

—

it

avenge

other things.

shame

of

but Dickinson hardly

He

it all,

was thinking, he

at least the

dan

was the end of blood and death and bombs.

Then, unaccountably, ity of the

fear,

it

happened. From the dark anonym-

crowd below, someone

— perhaps with an old

— celebrated the end of the war by tossing

s<

a Mills

01

bomb

THE DYING CITY

275

up onto the ten-foot-wide balcony. It landed at the feet of the two men. Dickinson remembers his number two "hurling himself in

front of me," but

it

was too

late.

The

full force of the

bomb caught Dickinson, one fragment going through his jaw. He had a vague recollection of falling but that was all, as

—

blackness engulfed "the gentle policeman."

In his Japanese version of the fall of Singapore, Colonel Tsuji

makes the fascinating point that he found among the conquered British

"an expression of resignation such

as

and though

losers in fierce sporting contests"

shown by the

is

it is

doubtful

if

a

Japanese could penetrate and analyze the thoughts of the defeated British,

a curious fact that

it is

on

this last

night of "free-

dom" — the unreal interval of suspended time between war and — feelings of apprehension seem have been abPerhaps the dismaying shock of defeat — or some the — had anesthetized thoughts of temporary feeling of

captivity

to

all

for

sent.

relief

all

the perils that lay ahead, so that cate (especially that since the treat the

many

when reading between

war had been

diaries

and papers

indi-

the lines) a naive belief

honorably, the victors would

lost

vanquished in an equally honorable fashion.

George Wade, a

member of

MAS — and in civilian life

the

expert on controlling Singapore's voracious white ants

an

— noted

in his diary, "That night we had a steak and kidney pie, Christmas pudding and strawberries and cream, all out of a tin for our

Surrender Dinner." Leslie Hoffman in his father's

troops

who

pressed

black Scottie

him

to

house

dog

— was surrounded by British stocks of tinned food — and

Serangoon

a on him vast Whisky which one of the soldiers asked almost as though he would be returning

called

look after

soon to collect

at

— secure for the moment

—

it.

Everyone was busy preparing their "internment kits"

— some

A SINISTER TWILIGHT

276

bulky and unwieldy, since many people innocently assumed in a climate as hot

and humid

would obviously have

to provide transport.

Changi," Freddy heard one

walking the nine miles.

me

transport

heads of

— or leave

many people

Japanese would have

as Singapore's,

MAS woman

their

minds

Nor did

it

the Japanese

"If they put us in

say briskly, "I'm not

And if I refuse to walk, they'll have to me free." It never seemed to enter the

that

if

as little

they started getting "cheeky,

compunction

swatting an irritating bluebottle. the rape of

that

In the

Hong Kong, which had been earlier in the year,

enter the heads of

in killing first

them

5

'

the

as in

flush of "peace"

imprinted starkly on

seems to have been forgotten.

many men and women

that correct

behavior on their part would not necessarily be a passport to correct treatment by their jailers.

Tim Hudson

was not of

this school of

thought.

small bag, soberly prepared for the worst, above

He

packed

all

thankful

a

once again that Marjorie had got away. His only real concern

was that he had promised Marjorie that

do

all

he could to

he found

it

if

the city

help Mei Ling — but now on

fell

he would

his last night

impossible to get through to Stevens Road.

It

was

army refused to let him pass, but he would have liked to give her all the Malay money still in his pocket. He would have no use for it, anyway. Tim remembers that as the night wore on he felt "fed up and anxious to do something." There was no ARP post left. Everyone had gone to make some new start in life. The Chinese who had worked so courageously had vanished, probably to their kampongs. And above all, Tim wanted a bath. He had spent and in order to most of the day helping to bury the dead place the bodies close to each other, he had had to stand in the pits where "the yielding feeling of the lower bodies was appalling." He felt he wanted to throw away every stitch of clothing, not his

fault, for the

—

THE DYING CITY luxuriate under a shower,

and come out

277

new man, divorced

a

from the reek of death.

On

an impulse he

set off in the Hill

man from

the General

Hospital for the Central Fire Station on the off chance of findIkickeridge. petrol.

It

Halfway there

his car stuttered to a stop, out of

was symptomatic of those

final

hours that

Tim

got out

with his small suitcase, banged the door behind him, and set

off

walking without ever again sparing a thought for the sturdy

lit-

tle car.

He

arrived at Central just as Buckeridge was

"Come

leaving.

somewhere "All

that

on," he said to

might

"Might be able you

fix

"I'm going

mysteriously.

interest you."

want," replied Tim,

I

Tim

on the point of

"is a

to fix that,"

bath."

Buckeridge grinned.

"But can

me up with a drink?"

Hudson suddenly remembered

the two bottles of whiskey

hidden in Dunlop's godown. "Well,

I

might be able

to,"

and

he explained what he had in mind.

Buckeridge off for

still

had plenty

Keppel Road.

street lamps,

few

lights

two old friends

were appearing now

set

— not

but friendly square patches shining here and there

out of buildings.

bombed

A

of petrol so the

streets

They had

to

make

several detours

but Dunlop's godown was

Buck waited outside

in the car while

Tim

still

ran

in,

round

standing, and

and found

his

two bottles of whiskey.

As he came out, a small figure emerged from the surrounding shadows.

It

was a woman, carrying a parcel wrapped in brown

paper.

"Mei

Tim. Mei Ling

Lins:!" cried

Hesitatingly,

— who

had somehow never seemed

verv interested in her job or her employers she had been waiting since six o'clock.

— told Hudson that

She had

felt

sure the

A SINISTER

278

tuan would come to his ridge pooled

all

accepted the

money

office

sooner or

the dollars they politely,

"What's that?" asked

TWILIGHT later.

Tim and

had and gave them

BuckeShe

to her.

then held out the paper parcel.

Tim Hudson.

"The man's dhobi," answered Mei Ling and opened up

— two

parcel drill

spotless shirts,

And on

trousers, socks, a lightweight jacket.

clean-smelling pile was a photo of Marjorie which

taken from Tim's desk. nearly cried,"

"Come

"It

top of the

Mei Ling had

was one of the few times

Hudson admitted

on." said Buckeridge

for a nice cold bath before

the

two freshly starched pairs of khaki

I

damn

later.

—

gruffly for

you ruin those

him.

"I'll

take you

clothes."

There was nothing they could do for Mei Ling except drop Her family lived somewhere along the east coast, and she was confident she would make her way there unharmed.

her in the middle of town.

"I don't suppose a

bloodv

asked,

thins;

more

I'll

war

ever see her again,"

Tim

Then he turned

is."

to

"What

cheerfully, "What's this about a bath?"

Almost gleefully Buckeridge explained. treasures

sighed.

Buckeridge and

Lucy had

left

behind

entrance used by the senior

Among

few

the

was a small key to the private

staff at

Robinson's. Almost the

last

folds

Lucy had given him was to go to Robinson's "if the citv up" in case he needed anything to take into internment.

And

only a couple of days previously, one of Robinson's

advice

men

had casually passed on the information that as soon as the water supply had been threatened, ail the bathtubs on sale in Robinjust son's plumbing department had been filled to the brim

—

in case.

They parked people

— and

the car behind Raffles Place

— now

filled

with

Buckeridge led the way through the courtyard

where he had helped

to

smash up the hundreds of bottles

of

THE DYING CITY

8^g

They had barely entered the vast, deserted department when a cheerful woman's voice hailed them, "Who's there?

whiskey. store

Come on up!" The stairs to

—

the upper floor were set at the back of the store

handsome, wide

a

pers could go

ing — and

cause

up one

staircase that split left

side

and down the

other.

light

was shin-

instinctively they took the left staircase, simply be-

"Why!

recognize the beard.

Don't be alarmed

It's

Lucy's husband," she cried. "I

more upstairs — though we don't want cup of

In

A

so shop-

was marked "Up." At the top stood Mrs. Hutchings,

it

wife of the manager.

nice

and right

the

—

there's half a

How

a crowd.

dozen

about a

tea?"

furniture department,

glowed brightly.

A

dozen or so

a

couple of electric bulbs

men

sat

lounging in the deep

armchairs and sofas that nobody would ever buy now.

Busily

Mrs. Hutchings bustled from one to another with a big teapot.

Almost

guiltily

— because

Hudson opened whiskey.

He

some

all,

and produced

his suitcase

against the law his

—

two bottles of

was about to take a swig before passing the bottles

round when Mrs. Hutchings get

was, after

it

said in shocked tones,

"Oh And

no!

I'll

and soda from the restaurant!" this rewoman called for volunteers who accompanied her to basement restaurant, returning with plates and glasses, while glasses

markable the

two

men

struggled

up

the stairs laden with cartons of tinned

meat and pineapple. Then, before they started supper, every

man

raised his stengah

Tim a

and the

toast

was "Absent Friends."

got his bath. In fact he had two, for he had the choice of

dozen tubs

filled

with water.

In the ladies' hairdressing de-

partment he found some soap, then lay in the

first

bath, scrub-

bing himself until the water was black, after which he w ashed T

the rest of the dirt off in a second bath. ladies' hairdressing,

found some

toilet

Then he

returned to the

water and rubbed himself

A SINISTER TWILIGHT

280

Only when he was finally satisfied that he was clean did he put on the freshly laundered clothes Mei Ling had brought all

over.

him.

Like the others in Robinson's,

Tim Hudson

spent his

last

night of freedom in the luxury of the most expensive and comfortable beds that Singapore

had

to offer, taking his choice

dozens lined up in the furniture department.

most before

his

was asleep

al-

head touched the pillow.

Down by

the docks,

looked

though

as

He

from

Gordon Bennett was would

his plan to escape

in trouble,

get

him no

and

it

further

than the edge of the harbor. Various accounts of his bid for

freedom (including party of planters

his

own) have told how he "gave a

who had

bent on escaping.

a

joined the volunteers and were also

In truth,

Gordon Bennett's escape

lift" to

it

was the volunteers who made

and by a remarkable coincidence they were led by Lance/ Bombardier M. C. Hay none other than the husband of Marjorie Hay, who gave us such a vivid description of the dismissal of Stanley Jones. Hay had possible,

—

thrown up

his

important job

as Inspector of

Mines

to join the

way from Kuala Lumpur to the island. On this last night, with a bunch of friends, he had received permission to escape, and they had set off for the docks. Hay happened to be a brilliant linguist, who spoke amongst other languages Hindustani and Chinese and like Marjorie, volunteers,

and had fought

his

—

his wife,

he kept an excellent, detailed diary.

Deciding

to

go on

foot,

the grimy, tired

men made

their

way through the city to the docks "waving lighted cigarettes about to show we were not Japs." They were repeatedly challenged by sentries, but as most of them were Indians Hay was able to answer in Hindustani. Eventually they reached a land-

THE DYING CITY

281

where "we met Genera] Gordon Bennett and two other Australian officers. I'hev had found a sampan, but could not find the oars, and appeared to have no idea of how to row bag stage

a."

mien

Ik

Hay

told

thai he

planned

make

to

on

Cor Malacca,

the wesl coast of Malaya, in the hopes of finding a large boat.

(Since Malacca was near fohore, Bennett was possibly

on help from the Sultan.)

1

how ever,

lav.

banking

had

said firmly that he

wen anchored in the outer roads, and one and make straight tor Sumatra. It was obvi-

heard that some junks

planned

to find

and

ously a far better plan than Bennett's,

it

did not take the

Australians long to agree that the two parties should join forces.

Hay

—

a

man

of infinite resource

ing oars for the sampan. 1

As

it

— quickly found the miss-

was not big enough for them

lay agreed to take along the Australians, leaving his

all,

own com-

moment. He wanted to find a boat them into the harbor to search for the

rades on the dockside for the <

ipable of taking

all

of

He soon found one — a twakow with better oars, lying offshore. Then he started to return to pick up his friends. At

junks.

this point,

once.

I

"the General said he wanted to start out to sea at

pointed out that the object of coming to find a larger

boat was so the parties should proceed together, and that

not propose to leave

my

friends."

offered to give the General the

Slightly

twakow and

disgusted,

find another

did

I

Hay

one

for

whereupon the General's ADC — obviously realizing the value of keeping Hay — hurriedly they should

his party,

said

all stick

together.

Eventually they did find three junks.

which had

a

kong (master) "was flatly

refused to

the sort of

They boarded one

Chinese crew on board, only to find that the

man

sail

to

down

just settling

to a

until the following

be put

oil.

1

tai-

pipe of opium" and

morning. Hay was not

or years, he

had been used

to

dealing with recalcitrant Chinese in the tin mines. Without a

A SINISTER

282

TWILIGHT

moment's hesitation he jerked the skipper's pipe out of the man's mouth and "confiscated" his opium, telling him in forceful,

fluent Chinese that there

would be no smoking

until the

junk was under way. Then — having established authority and knowing Gordon Bennett Chinese — Hay suggested his

his

to

that he should give the taikong a present, at lian

handed over

a

hundred

Ten minutes later

which the Austra-

dollars.

the old junk slipped her moorings and they

were heading south.

Barely a mile away from the escaping junk

only by the brief stretch of Battery inson's

— the hundred or

— and

separated

Road from Hudson

in Rob-

so leading civilians of Singapore were

freedom before the Japamade their triumphal entry into the city on the fol-

also preparing for their last night of

nese troops

lowing morning.

Some

culate.

The

first

vague rumors were beginning

said all civilians

would be lined up on the

to cir-

Cricket

Club padang. Others that "senior officers will be allowed to remain at large we'll be needed to run the city for the Japs."

—

The

Governor's wife was responding to treatment for her

entery, but she was

still

too

weak

to leave her bed.

Sir

dys-

Shenton

Thomas, however, left their small room after a makeshift supper, and late that night stood with Hugh Fraser looking out of Fullerton Building at the light of a watery moon dancing on the sea, the pale gold mingling with the scarlet of the flames down by the docks. The Governor had

just

heard that Dickie Dickin-

son had had a major operation, but had not recovered conscious-

would be touch and go whether he lived. For hall an hour the two men stood there, alone and busy with their ness.

It

thoughts.

The

days of war

time was almost midnight.

— was

it

After just seventy

really only seventy days since the

first Jap.'.-

THI

D\

ncse air raid on Singap

N

1

C.

CITY

the city was quiet. Fraser recalled

afterward that the) hardl) exchanged

him and —not

Governor mined

to

ing

in a

aloud — said

2S;^

von

e that

a

word, except

really speaking,

It's

their country

the

but think-

echoed everything he most

sionately believed in, "It doesn't matter about us.

ple I'm sorry for.

when

It's

pas-

the peo-

— and somehow we've

let

them down." It

war to

was the end of the siege in

Malaya. But for

come.

ol

many

Singapore.

It

was the end of the

thousands, the real killing was yet

PART THREE After

11

The Road

to

Changi

Monday, February i6-Monday} March 9 11

dawn on Monday, the first Japanese troops entered With an irony hard to match, almost the first step the

after

the city.

victors took

was

to ask the British officials in

key posts to carry

For now the Japanese unexpectedly faced overwhelming administrative problems. They had advanced 650

on

as usual.

miles from Singora in Siam to the harbor in Singapore in sev-

enty days sult they

— a remarkable average had

of nine miles a day.

so overstretched themselves that not

sanguine Japanese

staff officers

re-

even the most

had been prepared

The Japanese High Command had

As a

for victory so

would take a hundred days to reach and storm Singapore. They had expected the "fortress" to fight to the last man. Instead, their forces had taken the city with a month to spare a city now crowded with a population ol a million civilians, and over eighty thousand hungry troops. Japanese civil government offi-

soon.

estimated

it

—

cers

— their

were

at the

plans for running Singapore

moment

of capitulation

still

enjoying

unfinished

life in

—

Bangkok,

over a thousand miles to the north.

There was only one thing to the British to help.

engineers, health

to be done.

The Japanese appealed

British firemen, doctors, nurses, water

and sanitary workers were asked

to

their posts until their Japanese counterparts arrived.

remain

at

Fires were

A SINISTER TWILIGHT

288 still

burning,

to waste.

wounded were

And

still

dying, water was

still

the only people in a position to restore

running

some sem-

blance of order were the conquered British.

The

city

was in a

When Tim Hudson

fantastic state.

walked

out of Robinson's into Raffles Place, after his night's sleep in the furniture department, he found

crowded with hundreds

it

of

and Indian soldiers, squatting quietly on the pavements, smoking as they philosophically awaited their future. One group of noisy Australians was dominated by the figure of a soldier wearing a top hat. As though unable to realize the significance of what had happened,* many soldiers were laughing and joking especially those whose shirts bulged with tins of looted cigarettes. Round the corner in narrow Battery British, Australian

—

Road, Hudson could not walk along the path, for by half a dozen kneeling

was barred

game of solo, and "the kitty." Above them, the

soldiers, intent

with a huge pile of loose cash in

it

on

a

—

met Tim's eyes a couple of white sheets hanging from an upstairs window. Already small Japanese flags were fluttering from scores of shops, almost as though they had been furtively hidden for weeks for just such an occasion. Some first

signs of defeat

Indian soldiers boasted Japanese

on

their tunics. Others

had

flags

hurriedly sewn or pinned

tied strips of white cloth

round

their

helmets.

On

Collyer

Quay Tim came

across the extraordinary sight of

an Indian soldier in an abandoned car discarding his uniform for a suit of civilian white drill.

boarded up, and in the main was

to

had been hardly a Chinese or Malay

All the Asian shops

streets

be seen. Even Change Alley was

scavenging coolies.

The

silent except for a

few

area was like a ghost town in which a

* Empire military casualties for the entire campaign totaled 138,708, of whom more than 130,000 troops became prisoners of war. Japanese battle casualties

totaled 9,824.

THE ROAD TO CHANGI million men, their houses

women and

and shops

—

289

children hid behind the shutters of a

curious contrast to the tens of thou-

sands of soldiers aimlessly thronging the streets.

Soon Hudson caught short,

his first

glimpse of the conquerors

tough sentries at most corners and bridges, "lugging

with bayonets that were bigger than they were."

more Japanese city,

recklessly

staff cars

dodging

started to screech

rifles

More and

and blare through the

fallen cables, potholes or corpses.

thousand Britishers, armed with

—

A

staves, patrolled the

center of

the city trying to prevent looting or disorder; for the

most part

the Japanese sentries

River Valley Road,

seemed uninterested

Hudson came

in their activities. In

across a free-for-all

between

and Indian troops wrangling over the contents of three abandoned army trucks. Half a dozen Japanese sentries idly watched without making any attempt to stop the fight. British

On

the other hand, Japanese officers

forcibly illustrating that they

had no compunction in

were the masters,

as Brigadier

Simson discovered when, for no apparent reason, he was taken for a

two-hour ride round the city sitting in the back seat of a car

between two young Japanese

It

officers.

gave

him "an

early

demonstration of Japanese mediaeval culture," for as they ap-

proached the docks, Simson saw about cruelly trussed

fifteen coolies, their

arms

behind their backs with barbed wire. They had

been caught in the act of looting. Eight were Chinese, who, the horrified brigadier watched, were

cutioner

with

a

pushed forward.

An

as

exe-

two-handed Samurai sword appeared and

promptly beheaded them Indians and Malays

in front of the

— were

crowd.

The

others

—

released with a caution, for they

were part of the new Co-Prosperity Sphere, while the Chinese were sworn enemies.

Even though the Japanese ers

—

ruthlessly

for they reserved a special

beheaded Chinese

loot-

vengeance for the Chinese

—

A SINISTER TWILIGHT

290

many Japanese and friendly terms.

seemed

British soldiers

Men who would later

be on almost

to

be brutally beaten merely

manners now replied as equals to those Japanese who spoke to them in English. Colonel Tsuji

for

some technical

was so astonished

damaged

offense of

at the

that he asked a

number young

of vital installations

British officer,

"Why

un-

still

didn't you

destroy Singapore?" Spiritedly, the officer retorted, "Because will return again!"

Unperturbed, Tsuji

you believe Britain

beaten in this war?"

is

ninety-nine times," replied the

officer,

persisted,

we

"But don't

"We may be defeated

"but in the

final

round,

we'll win."

Amongst

the other ranks, a similar tolerance sometimes pre-

One

vailed.

British platoon

was loading

before setting off for prisoner-of-war

when

its

camp

luggage on a truck in

Changi barracks,

a Japanese soldier beckoned the sergeant to follow

him

into a nearby house. Neither could speak the other's language,

but with excited signs the Japanese pointed to an old upright piano in the abandoned house, urging the British soldiers take

it

along.

Though

They did

— and

the Japanese

it

survived three and a half years.

had announced on the radio

that those

would not be immediately Hudson had no delusions that he would fall into this

in "essential occupations"

Some, however, were not the Governor —

hopefully the

if

still

Tommy

room

interned, category.

Kitching sought out

at the club

— and asked him

he could stay out. Sir Shenton thanked him for

work he had put

nese ask

sure.

in his

me why

in,

but told him, "Kitching

the Chief Surveyor

is

after

—

if

The two men

which Kiching returned

all

the Japa-

essential, I'd find

hard to say why." Kitching didn't argue.

hands and parted,

to

it

very

shook

to Fullerton

Building, where his Chinese clerk, waiting to say good-bye,

asked

him

for a personal souvenir. Kitching gave

ring,

and

"after expressing his sorrow

parted immensely pleased with

it."

him a serviette and sympathy, he de-

THE ROAD TO As

befits a

C

HAN G

2()1

I

surveyor Kitching was an extremely methodical

man, and he had long since prepared what he considered the bare essentials tor his "internment kit."

Now

to

be

he made a

note in his diary of every item as he packed his small suitcase.

makes

a fascinating

— and highly

practical

—

It

list:

Iodine, Dettol, Andrew's Liver Salts, Elastoplast, toilet soap, 2 prs. shorts, 3

mv

shirts, 2 prs. stockings, 1

pr. flannels, 2

1

pr. shoes, a sheet,

handkerchieves,

2

sweat

shaving tackle, pencil, paper, hair brush, comb, aspirin,

rags,

vitamin

pills, plate,

serviette

A

sweat

dark blue blazer,

(as

mug,

knife, fork, spoon, towel, 2 face towels,

dish cloth), Asepso soap, scissors, electric torch.

couple of floors below, in his bedroom, the Governor was

receiving another visitor officer

who

told

—

this

time a Japanese intelligence

Shenton Thomas that

all civilians

should assem-

Club padang the following morning. This, visit. As Sir Shenton listened coldly, the Japanese said he had been instructed to ask the Governor one specific question: How had Britain and the ble at the Cricket

however, was not the only object of his

United

States divided their spheres of influence in the Pacific?

Though obviously he knew that he tion.

had not the

slightest intention of divuloinor the informa-

you,

sir," said

the Japanese in a matter-of-

"We're bound

to get the

information sooner or

"It's a pity for

fact voice.

the answer, Sir Shenton retorted

later,

anyway."

While most

of Singapore uneasily awaited a fate of

which they

could not be certain, the General Hospital was in a turmoil.

On

Monday, the Japanese announced that every single one of the thousands of patients had to be evacuated within twenty-four hours. They wanted the hospital for their own wounded by Tuesday afternoon. Over a thousand civilian patients who

A SINISTER

2g2

TWILIGHT

could walk had to leave for their homes almost immediately.

More than seven hundred

civilians

were

hastily sent in convoys

of ambulances to the Singapore Asylum,

from which mental

pa-

had already been evacuated to an island in the harbor. The military, numbering about 1300, were sent either to the tients

Singapore Club in Fullerton Building, the Cricket Club or the

By Tuesday morning every single Chinese boy and amah had vanished. Freddy Bloom remembers that it was impossible to cook any lunch, though she did find a case of sardines and some bread which the nurses and patients shared. Freddy at least had one stroke of

Victoria Memorial Hall.

It

was chaos.

Normally she might have expected

luck.

with the

civilians,

but Philip Bloom,

to

go to the asylum

major in the

as a

RAMC,

was able to arrange for her to accompany him to the Singapore

Club to tend wounded troops rather than civilians. At least they would be together until the last moment. There were others who longed desperately to be together for the few hours of liberty that remained, including two members of an unusual eral.

stair

It

group gathered in the matron's

included a young, good-looking lieutenant called Ala-

MacKenzie

of the

had been an executive cial

the Gen-

office at

Malay Regiment, who before the war

in the Singapore branch of the

Union Assurance Company, and by

Commer-

his side, a pretty volun-

teer nurse called Sybil Osborn, dressed in hospital white spat-

tered with blood, her dark square, for she

had come

brown

straight

hair covered in a white

from an operating

theater.

Facing them stood the

frail

figure

White

And

there, in the matron's office, he

finally

of the cathedral.

came

to the

of

Archdeacon Graham-

magic words, "I now pronounce you man and

wife." Sybil and Alastair had been engaged war had divided their lives. Now that

for it

some

was

all

time, but the over, he had

THE ROAD TO CHANGI wanted

married in the brief

to get

had taken him two hours

He had had no

hospital.

ment

Sybil

remembered

had kept in her pocket. the

Archdeacon wrote

Within

time to buy a ring, but at the

a

keepsake

He

slipped

— too big on her

it

for her

It

last

finger, after

by the matron) on a

had

mo-

— that she

from memory, the marriage

out,

a few minutes, Alastair

He managed

iment.

spell of liberty still left.

to find Sybil in the confusion of the

cate (which was witnessed

paper.

2() J

which certifi-

slip of hospital

left to

rejoin his reg-

more moments with Sybil and a half years before they

to snatch a few

before internment, but

it

was three

saw each other again.

Life in the General Hospital had been hard, but it was nothing compared with the primitive conditions that awaited Freddy

Bloom and

ten other

MAS women when

they reached Fullerton

Building.

The

large

main club room, with

crowded with rows of wounded stretchers,

some on

its

long bar at one

side,

was

— hundreds of them, some on

some on the floor. Freddy and the the bar and offered a glass of lime juice.

beds,

others were steered to

As she stood there sipping

it,

looking round the incongruous

surroundings, the sober walls of the lofty room, the pretentious

marble

pillars,

the plain

reflecting that this

the club that

mahogany

was probably the

women had

bar, first

she could not help

time in the history of

penetrated this male holy of holies.

Going on duty, Freddy found that every corridor, every room, was overflowing with wounded. Feeling helpless in

antethese

new, unfamiliar surroundings, she stood talking to a soldier

when

a doctor bustled

up

and, seeing her nurse's uniform, said

briskly,

"Prepare the patient for an operation. Give him a quar-

ter of a

grain of morphia and dress his arm." Before Freddy had

A SINISTER TWILIGHT

294

time to reply, the doctor had hurried on. given an injection in her a start by dressing the

more than

he asked with a light

the

for

it

He

a boy.

grin.

life,

arm

but

at least she felt she

could make

who seemed

of the soldier,

was, however, very cheerful.

to

be

"Got

little

a fag?"

Freddy pulled out a pack. "You'll have

me," he apologized, and

"arm" she had

Freddy had never

to dress

as she knelt

to

down, she saw

was nothing more than a bloodied

stump. "Just a minute," gasped Freddy before rushing into a corner

and vomiting.

That was Freddy's introduction lasted

two weeks

— two

women had

trained

water up

to a

nightmare world which

weeks in which a handful of semi-

do everything

to

flights of stairs,

— hauling

emptying lavatories by hand, giving most of the cooking. At

injections, improvising bandages, plus

night the only illumination in the big

electric clock.

The

— apart from being purled — came

room

occasional in-and-out glow of a cigarette

from the lighted

buckets of

the

nights were filled with cries

The water shortage heightened her as much as the sight of pain, for often

of "Sister" or "Water!"

sense of despair almost

there was not

more than

a single

cup

to share

amongst a score

of

The best she could hope to do was to pass the cup from man to man so that each one could at least wet his swollen cracked lips. More than one man went mad. Some tried

groaning men.

hour

after

tion that

When

it

hour

to get

out of bed, motivated by a wild hallucina-

was their duty

the patients

to escape

and

fight again.

had been quietened, Freddy had

to take

her turn at cooking. Luckily there was plenty of food, though

was

all

tinned, but the kitchen was

on the fourth

floor

and

it

the

only water was on the ground floor until an engineer found an ancient petrol engine and was able to the building where

it

pump

water to the top of

was mixed with tinned porridge and soup,

the mainstays of the patients' diets.

THE ROAD TO CHANG

much

Inevitably in makeshift surroundings,

MAS women now

training of the

world

that

had no rules of

MAS

the

with

strict

impersonality.

that

jobs

like

They

Because they were volunto regard each patient

had, for instance, been warned

body washing had

They had

to

be done "with discre-

Now

been warned about "nakedness."

also

Katherine de Moubray, the volunteer

passed unnoticed. wife of a high

to a rigid set of rules in a

own.

had been carefully trained

teers,

tion."

its

of the careful

frequently had to be forgotten

Nobody could adhere

or ignored.

2Q5

I

government

official,

recorded

how

it

MAS

she went to

help two orderlies washing blood-stained uniforms, "and had a

good two minutes conversation with one of them, scrubbing clothes

on the

floor,

before

I

even noticed the second

man

was

naked."

Some

of the orderlies kept a predatory eye

last-minute affairs, as Katherine de the darkness her.

one

man

open

for possible

Moubray discovered when

in

suddenly took her in his arms and kissed

Katherine got rid of him without any trouble

ing out gently that they

— by point-

w ere almost standing on a row r

of

corpses sewn in blankets.

Dr. Cicely Williams

and her family

of children were also facing

more and more difficulties. Abruptly she had been told to evacuate them from the Dental Department to a maternity block behind the hospital. Somehow she and a few volunteers carried the babies to their

new

quarters, after

discovered there was no water. She herself the tal

set

about carrying water

two hundred yards from the General until hospi-

authorities

Then

now

which Cicely Williams

w ere able r

to

send over a water

the next morning, "just as

straight," Cicely

I

cart.

was beginning to get things

Williams was ordered to move again

—

this

time to the Singapore Asylum. As she noted despairingly in her

A SINISTER

296 diary,

TWILIGHT

"This shifting about from place to place

that people get in war-time,

and

is

one of

is

its

a sort of disease

worst horrors."

Dreading the move that lay ahead, Cicely Williams knew she and her helpers could not carry

on much

Her

longer.

that

health

was rapidly giving out. She had started a bout of dysentery, and

due

to the

walking and lack of washing in the tropical heat, "my

feet

were only kept together with

Haunted by charges

if

the fear of

elastoplast."

what would happen

to her tiny

she were taken to hospital, Cicely Williams hit on

— one

would

a

some of her babies a sporting chance in life. She began to give them away. It had started by chance, when Cicely Williams found herself facing more and more distraught parents who had arrived to see their wounded children, only to discover they had died. To weeping mothers she could not even give any records of what had happened, for all papers had been lost in one of the moves. Nor brilliant idea

that

at least give

could she hope to find the bodies in the mass grave to console

one

hysterical

mother than

for

pits.

More

any other reason Cicely

Williams suggested that she should take another baby in place her own.

The

Williams tried

it

on

of

was accepted with such alacrity that Cicely

offer

again.

Soon delighted parents had told

neighbors, and a stream of Chinese

who had heard

their

that the white

doctor "was giving away children for nothing" arrived at the hos-

many ways it was a heartbreaking business, for Cicely Williams could not know any details of the prospective parents, pital.

In

and had

judgment and instinct. Yet "I felt that almost any sort of home might be better than the treatment we were producing.'' She gave ten away that morning.

On

to trust her

the floor below Cicely Williams in the asylum, a

arrived from the General Hospital

— Dickie

VIP

Dickinson,

had

who

THE ROAD TO CHANG] was so badly injured that he remained

He woke up

days.

to find himself

a

coma

still

For the

first

Two

three

His major operation had

on the danger

would be three months before he was well enough ferred to Changi.

for

with hundreds of civilian

patients on the floor of the asylum.

been successful, though he was

in

2()7

things had helped to pull

and

list

to

be

it

trans-

him through.

three or four days Bunny, his wife, was able to stay

with him, before she was taken off to the women's camp.

And

though the Japanese had warned the British to leave every item of medical

equipment and drugs behind when evacuating the Bunny had managed to slip a Dunlopillo

General Hospital,

more

mattress into his ambulance; it,

and then stuffed

lay her

it

w ith T

all

— she had

the drugs

secretly deflated

and medicines she could

hands on.

By ten o'clock on Tuesday morning, 2000 men, together with 300

women and

children,

w ere r

lined

up

in the blazing sun

on

Club padang. The men were at one end, the women and children at the other. It was one of the hottest days of the year. Not even the sea, which almost lapped its edge, could prothe Cricket

vide a breeze to temper the stifling heat that beat lessly

on

this beautiful sports

down

relent-

ground, w ith the blue water on T

one wide and the municipal buildings, flanked by flame

trees,

on

the other.

This w as the T

Buckeridge and tial"

and

first

batch of internees

women

at liberty

like

— and

it

—

for

some men

Freddy Bloom were

still

like

"essen-

was a heartrending scene.

Men

stood miserably by their pathetic bundles of salvaged luggage.

The women

—

their frocks already

limp with sweat

— were not

allowed to talk to the men, but tried desperately to hold back their tears as they

made

sure the children, playing cheerfully,

a sinister

298

twilight

kept on their hats against the sun.

prams in which

Some women had brought

A few dogs scampered

to carry their belongings.

about, unable to realize their mistresses

would soon be

'

them. Inevitably a few of the 'heartier" business to try to cheer little

they could do.

up

The

women made

leaving it

their

the despondent ones, but there was

confusion reminded one

woman

of

on a Bank Holiday, with mothers losing children, mislaying packages and occasionally fainting. And around the padang, framed in the flame trees, a crowd of Asians squatted, silent and sympathetic. If the Japanese had hoped for scenes which would humiliate the whites, they were disap-

a railway terminal

pointed.

In a knot slightly apart from the other

government

officials

who had walked

from the Singapore Club.

Sir

men

across

stood the senior

Anderson Bridge

Shenton Thomas was dressed

newly pressed clean white ducks. Already he had come in tact

with the enemy.

head high, for he people,

Now on

felt (as

and he wanted

in

con-

the padang, the Governor held his

he said

to take his

later)

that he was with his

punishment

they did, with-

as

out fear or favor. Already, however, he was to be singled out

as

"a special case to be humiliated," for though the Japanese per-

mitted several senior

camp, they

spe-

Governor should walk the whole

dis-

officials to

cifically insisted that the

drive to the

first

tance.

Everybody had been told

officially to

bring clothes for ten

would be provided. After a wait of two houn a Japanese officer climbed on a w ooden box and addressed the assembly. The Japanese would observe international law and

days but that food

r

protect all internees, he promised them. for a point

Hotel

at

the

civilians

were

to

— which he didn't specify — near the many had spent Katong — the ornate building where

make

last

The

Seavievj

so

day of peace.

They would remain there

for a

few day!

THE ROAD TO CIIANGI

2Q0

The Japanese would provide transport children, women and and for baggage. The men would for walk. And then he dropped a bombshell. "Everybody," he announced, "must provide their own food." This was disastrous. The official order had categorically said

before going to Changi.

food would be provided. Some, like

Tim

Hudson, had put

or two of food in their suitcases or rucksacks.

Tommy

Kitching,

made

Others, like

a quick dash to the Cricket

ion and found "a very dry

a tin

Club

pavil-

two" and some water for

biscuit or

the march.

Since

thought

ment

nobody seemed

now

to

be moving

He had

struck Kitching.

drive

officials

off.

He

drive out to the Seaview?

had

also It

padang, another

off the

a car

noticed some govern-

and

Why

petrol.

not

was twelve-forty-five and already

they had spent nearly three hours in the hot sun. So Kitching

and four colleagues just walked not restrained coast road.

padang

— observed, but

— got into Kitching's car and drove out along the

Occasionally they were stopped by Japanese sentries

"who seemed

to

be more bewildered than us," before arriving

a big block of flats near the

must be their It

off the

first

Seaview Hotel. This, they

felt sure,

internment camp.

was a forlorn hope. Before long a Japanese

that, for the

at

time being, the

houses a few hundred yards

women would

down

officer

announced

live in a

the road, while the

group of

men were

given the option of either staying in the local police station or in

another group of four old houses. All houses, for their large It

compound

was nightfall before the

last

who

could made for the

at least led to a strip of beach.

of the long procession of civil-

had been a grim march, with Sir Shenton bravely leading the straggling column through the heat of the day. One of his closest friends, who had

ians finally arrived at this, their

been allowed to use his

first

stop.

car, deliberately

It

drove behind the

col-

TWILIGHT

A SINISTER

300

umn

Governor needed help, but he never

in case the

faltered;

he had been sustained, he said afterward, by the sympathy Asians lining the route

of the

— weeping women or men who rushed

out with a handful of biscuits or a bottle of water.

Now The

had

the civilians

their

and

taste of filth

first

squalor.

houses had been stripped of every item of furniture. They

were scrofulous. The mosquitoes never seemed

though Kitching managed sleep by

to snatch

to stop biting,

an hour or two of

wrapping himself completely in a sheet and covering

his face with a handkerchief.

was that

His

(As the tong, the

—

so

would

I."

thought

last

as

he drifted

For

it

was Shrove Tuesday.

on the stone

first

civilians tried to sleep

first

troops were arriving at the military barracks

floors at Ka-

Changi, where they would be housed separately from the

who would go

else

and

Changi

to

miles in one day, in a diers

off

England) "would have liked

his son Brian (safely in

pancakes today

ians,

fitful

column

colonels, each

he could manage to

During the

Jail.

They had marched

led by generals, four

man humping

files

at

civil-

the nine of briga-

his kit bag and anything

carry.)

days at Katong, the Japanese showed no signs

first

of the bestiality that was later to

smear forever their honorable

code of Bushido. True, there was not enough food, and the condition of the children was already pitiful, but

was due more

and the

several

camp

at

to

it

seems that

this

maladministration than to deliberate cruel

men were Katong

if

t

v.

surprisingly given permission to leave

they could produce a sufficiently valid

reason.

Hugh

Bryson, clerk to the courts (amongst other jobs), per-

suaded a Japanese sentry

to let a small

group borrow a

lorry and

up anything that would be during internment. Bryson reached his home in Mount

drive to their houses to pick

ant, only to find

it

had been stripped of every item except

useful Pleas-

a fevf

THE ROAD TO CHANCI which had been swept into

old photographs

went

the next-door bungalow.

to

He

touched.

took what

assortment of

ladies'

women's camp on

his

lie fell

So he

a corner.

There, nothing had been

would be

useful, including an

which he handed over

clothes

way

KOI

the

to

back.

Christopher Dawson, the Secretary of Defence, was also

lowed out on a foraging expedition. stic

his

ker for his car and

wav back

to

warned

camp, where

everything he had collected. that this

would be

He

was given a special

to report to the

Japanese

a

Daw sou,

Tanglin Club on

would examine prompted by a feeling officer

a long, long internment, gathered together

the books he could find

The

lit

on one word

One key.

word on the

when

He knew

title

page

to take along P. G.

other item was of course banned from Katong

But even so one bottle went into camp

— for most

Dawson permission The Code of the Woosters.

refused

flatly

house's

Hugh Bryson remembers

Care-

in a suspicious title.

he examined the book over and over again.

implications of that secret service !

Japanese

scrutinized each book, finding nothing contra-

band, until his eye fully

—

the

— and Wode-

— whis-

well, in a fashion

standing by the

camp

gate

a straggler arrived clutching a bottle of Scotch. It was full.

all

from the houses of friends and toward

evening presented himself at the Tanglin Club. officer carefully

al-

Sternly the Japanese

warned the man

that

on no

al-

ac-

"Okay!" cried the man cheerfully, it in. and pulling out the cork, put the bottle to his lips and drained it count could he bring

to the last

drop before staggering into camp.

Across the dead calm seas south of the island a ships

flotilla

— Singapore's "Dunkirk" — struggled vainly

of small

to reach the

sanctuary of Sumatra or any of the hundreds of islands sitting

TWILIGHT

A SINISTER

302

astride the equator.

Sampans, rowing boats, junks, yachts from

the Singapore Yacht

Club with

feeble, puttering

the

idly flapping sails, launches with

outboard motors, tourist launches ("Round

Harbour $5") and the occasional ancient gunboat carried men and women. To a Dutch reconnais-

over three thousand sance pilot

who saw

the scene far below, the stream of slowly

moving boats amidst the tiny islets on the unrippled sea "looked just like models on a sheet of glass." Every strata of humanity crouched in the vessels. There were generals, an admiral, an air marshal. There were hundreds of woman and children. There were deserters who had slipped away secretly under cover of dark. "Some of the larger boats also carried deserters who had forced their way on board at the point of the pistol."*

nearly

were sailing under

fifty vessels

evacuation schemes, not a soul aboard them had formed

official

any

Though

real plans.

Every

man

— from general

to deserter

— was

bound by only one compelling human instinct: to put as many miles as possible between them and the nightmare through which they had somehow managed to live thus far. At

first all

had seemed

to

be going well. Unseen currents of

now on

them slowly

in

a southwesterly direction toward Sumatra; the bigger vessels

(a

the northeast monsoon,

the wane, guided

comparative term) were routed for Java via the Banka strip of

water separating the east

Island.

With each hour

that passed, with each mile of

that receded astern, fears

began

For not one of them had the

Strait, a

coast of Sumatra from Banka

to dwindle,

flat

water

hopes began to

faintest inkling that

Ozawa of the Japanese Navy was already lying in wait

rise.

Admiral for

them

with two eight-inch cruisers, a carrier and three destroyers.

Tokyo pore. *

radio had cried, "There will be no Dunkirk at Singa-

The

British are not going to be allowed to get

The War Against Japan

away with

THE ROAD TO CHANGI All ships leaving will be destroyed."

time.

this

it

Ozawa was

<•;

there to

make

Admiral

certain the threat was not an idle

boast.

The

almost before they had

Dutch

know another

people in the boats did not

in

Ozawa

Singapore, with a warning that

set in

his warships across the

from

fleet

frantically tapping out messages to the last re-

maining wireless had spread

fact:

the blazing harbor of Singapore, the

Sumatra had learned the whereabouts of Ozawa's

and had been

aircraft

left

dreadful

his carrier

approaches to the Strait while

were scouring the waters

Naturally the messages had been in code, but

to the north.

— irony of ironies

— the man with the codebook had been evacuated, and he had The

taken the only codebook with him.

messages were received,

but nobody could unravel the jargon of the ciphers.

Ozawa launched ers

and

aircraft,

his first attack at

which blew the

out of the water.

Out

defenseless,

official

cruisers, destroy-

overcrowded

vessels

which had

sailed

of the forty- four ships

under Admiral Spooner's forty

dawn with

evacuation on Black Friday,

were sunk by bombs or gunfire. Scores of other

including an evacuation

flotilla that

had

left

vessels,

on the Thursday,

suffered a similar fate.

Those who escaped were ^nrecked on the small desert islands that dot the archipelago. Some starved to death, some died of thirst, some of tropical diseases. The small launch carrying Admiral Spooner, Air Vice-Marshal Pulford officers

and men was beached on

and

a small party of

a small malarial island barely

twenty miles from Banka. For two months they suffered agonizing privations.

Eighteen died, including the Admiral and the

Air-Marshal before the remnants managed to cross to Sumatra in a native boat

Xo

and surrender.

one has ever been able

of boats

and

lives that

were

to assess accurately the

lost, for

number

the simple reason that scores

A SINISTER

304

TWILIGHT

of deserters or private parties of civilians left unofficially, with-

out any record having been kept. certain.

If

Yet one thing seems

fairly

only the fleeing vessels had been able to make some

form of contact or understanding with the Japanese, many,

many

lives

would have been

saved, as the story of the

Giang Bee

shows.

This was the

vessel

on which Rob Scott had

sailed,

and

pro-

it

vides a typical example not only of the awful fate which over-

took

many

vessels,

but of the frustrations and errors caused by

and we have to thank Scott for a detailed official report of exactly what occurred. Though damaged by repeated air attacks, the Giang Bee managed to survive until she was 170 miles south of Singapore, when Japanese warships appeared on the horizon. The captain ordered the white ensign to be lowered and told all the women to show themselves on deck. As two destroyers came toward them at high speed, the Japanese signaled the Giang Bee in incomprehensible Morse code, and the Giang Bee tried in vain to signal that she wished to surrenthe language barrier,

der.

Finally the Japanese appeared to understand that the

Giang Bee wanted them to send a party on board, for a launch took off from one destroyer. It was within 150 yards of the Giang Bee when an RAF bomber from Sumatra suddenly appeared and started circling overhead. the plane flew

destroyers, of their

Japanese opened

inc.

—

and enemy launch was recalled only opportunity of making contact with

off,

British lost their

The

the

which two remained about half a mile away

the

the

with

guns trained on the Giang Bee.

Now

followed a period of eerie, uneasy waiting.

the destroyers sink them?

What were

Why

didn't

they waiting for? Nolwxh

knew. Nobody could find out. As the hot day cooled

off,

the red sunset turned to dusk with tropical swiftness, the

and

J

nese destroyers trained their searchlights on the Giang Bee. And

THE ROAD TO CHANG yet

—

nothing happened. Finally, around seven-thirty the

still

captain decided to order

He

boats. 'It

was

about

children to take to the at

any moment.

heart-rending business," Scott remembers.

into each boat.

soon

the lifeboats astern as

searched for their children family alone

"In the

by the gleam of enemy searchlights, we packed

lit

fifty

— "but

all

A

heavy sea and a strong tide swept

as they cast off."

Distracted mothers

— there were eleven

we could do was pack

lower the boat and

sible,

women and

all

was convinced his ship would be sunk

a

darkness,

>,()-

I

in

one Eurasian

in as

let it go, regardless of

many

as pos-

missing children

and friends."

damage now came

Earlier air-raid

7

to light.

The

ropes sup-

porting one lifeboat parted as she was being lowered, spilling her passengers into the darkness.

lowered, but she

we could hear

astern

foundering."

were

a party

make

When

nearest destroyer

and

Somehow Scott,

To

splinters

and

to

"as she drifted

the passengers crying out that they were the last lifeboat had been cast final

off,

there

despairing

w ith the enemy, the captain decided that row the ship's 13-foot harbor dinghy to the

contact

should try to

children

second lifeboat was successfully

about a hundred on board and in a

still

effort to

A

had been holed by

T

and ask the Japanese

make

it

to help the

women and

clear that he wished to surrender.

the dinghy was lowered into the heavy seas,

and Rob

together with three others, set off for the destroyers. their

amazement, the Japanese destroyers refused

anything to do with the tiny, unarmed cockleshell. hours, in heavy seas, in frantic

but vain

lit

up by Japanese

searchlights,

efforts to reach a destroyer."

In a

to

have

For two

"we rowed bizarre and

game of ocean "tag," played in the dark, the British boat would almost reach a destroyer, which would then adroitly move just out of range. Time after time the tiny dinghy was incredible

within a few yards of the enemy, but "it was hopeless for a small,

A SINISTER

306

unseaworthy dinghy in heavy

which did not wish

They were

to

TWILIGHT

seas to try

and catch a

be caught."

trying when, about 10:30 p.m.

still

destroyer

what they had

expected happened. Without warning one of the destroyers

all

fired six

rounds

Giang Bee. She glowed red from stem

at the

and sank in a few minutes. The Japanese dimmed searchlights, and the destroyers quickly made off.

stern

To they

Rob

this day,

first

Scott

is

later that a

convinced that the Japanese, when her.

why not have done it on sight?" he asked. "I learnt number of other ships caught in that area were op

dered ... to surrender.

enemy gained

a ship.

I

This involved no

think that

stand the Japanese signals this

About 200

to do.

their

intercepted the Giang Bee, did not intend to sink

''Otherwise,

to

lives

is

if

loss of life.

we had been

The

able to under-

what they probably wanted

us

might have been saved."

In the darkness, Scott's dinghy managed to pick

up

a few

sur-

vivors and, after five days, the exhausted party reached a fishing

on the coast of Sumatra, where at first Scott was hidden and looked after, but later denounced, when it was discovered that his name was on a "wanted" blacklist. He was finally

village

shipped back to Singapore. For

war was just about

Rob

Scott the worst part of his

to begin.

While Scott had been trying to catch the Japanese destroyers and offer to surrender, other strange fates were overtaking some of the characters

became the

whom we have come

to

know, and one,

central figure in a true saga that

would tax the in Nunn, head of

ination of any fiction writer. Group-Captain

Public

Works Department

at least,

the

had, in the words of the Governm.

"thoroughly blotted his copy book" by leaving with his wife on

Kuala when he knew perfectly well that he was under orders remain at his post. When the Kuala was sunk, Nunn, Ins

the to

wife,

and some

of the

PWD officials who had left with him, were

THE ROAD TO marooned on Ponipor., island.

those

to

_

who

i in the

la

He had of cours*

:i.

Kuala

his partv orl the

had enough

be:'

to eat until

from Sumatra.

R bin-

went

c

s

help

a

s

to the

bottom,

in the

form of

parties

had

and now when the unexpected prompdy commandeered the onh

engine for himself, his

RAF

for

Xunn

queue of

the

many

of

the SS

Gene

to

arrived,

its

with an auxiliary rallies, leai

i

whom

into Japai

fell

reached Sumatra, bluffed his way

Colombo on

Among

ind his

personnel,

escapers.

rea

ghly confidential docu-

carrj

W'avell.*

hands.

trie:

la

ments from the Governor which he had to hand over

hind kev

j

establish

announcement that he was

he

the

g

but heals

b

to get a tan

Other small

Nunn had

Pompong. but

w

Niinn.

.ere

\

son Crusoe fashion he managed

natives

v

1

sir.

have shown considerable resourceful]

they

NCI

C H A

and on Februarv

to the :th his

i

wife

Rooseboome.

his fellow passenger-

Lieutenant

ifficer,

!

The lonsr vovas^e across the Indian Ocean and when the Rooseboome was a bare thirty-six

G. G. Gibson.

uneventful,

including Nunn. ol

hours out of Colombo, the pass course,

met

a safe port. a

impending

in the saloon to celebrate their Spirits

were high when,

Japanese submarine surfaced.

at ten

She

minutes

fii

•

to

arrival in

midnig

one torp.

which hit the old Dutch steamer amidships. Three of the four lifeboats

were smashed. The Rooseboome b

minutes, but

Xunn's

last

action

w

ib

ink in four

hold of

his wife

and

push her through an opening in the torn side of the sinking

* There was of course no truth in this. quiry on the evacuation of Nunn and

The Governor

PWD

.

ors,

which remain today in

his private

officials,

pap

later held

with legal

an

official

affidavits

in-

from the

A SINISTER TWILIGHT

308 vessel.

He had no

time to escape himself and went

down

with

the ship.*

Not

all

who

tried to escape died,

for the privilege.

an adventurous

after

though some who lived paid

General Gordon Bennett reached Sumatra

bourne, Australia.

trip,

and almost immediately

There he

called

Chief of the Australian General

flew to Mel-

on General Sturdee,

Staff,

where "to

my

Bennett remembered, "my reception was cold and other

member

of the Military

Board called in

cape was ill-advised, or words to that say

much.

He

effect.

I

dismay,"

hostile.

No

me. After

to see

few minutes' formal conversation, Sturdee told

the

me

that

my

was too shocked

then went on with his work, leaving

me

a

es-

to

to stand

aside in his room." f

One other important Australian managed to reach land. Henry Bowden, the Australian government representative who had at first

been refused permission

to escape,

was plowing through the

* The story does not end here. Mrs. Nunn, clutching a piece of wreckage, survived the night, and when dawn broke the few who had scrambled into the only remaining lifeboat found there were 135 survivors, most of them in the sea. Eighty

managed

to get into the lifeboat.

to see

The

rest

clung to the

sides.

Hoping

for the

from Colombo, they waited for a passing ship them. None appeared. Even worse, the boat, with its human beings cling-

best, for they

were not very

far

ing to the gunwales, started drifting remorselesslv eastward. For twenty-six dayi no ship appeared. Day after day under the tropical sun, more survivors died of thirst or sunstroke. Mrs. Nunn lasted some days but finally according to a signed statement by Gibson in Sir Shenton Thomas' papers "she died in the lifeboat where, before her death, her conduct was beyond praise. I personally put her body over the side. She said that Nunn himself had sacrificed his life to get her off the sinking ship." By the time the lifeboat beached itself on a a Chinese remote island sixty miles west of Sumatra, only four were left alive girl, two Malays, and Gibson, of whom Gibson was the only one to survive Japanese torture after capture. f After the war, General Percival wrote to the Australian Army Board about Bennett's conduct, and a judicial inquiry was held into his escape. The finding was that Gordon Bennett should have remained with his troops "until surrendei was complete" but that his escape was "inspired by high patriotism and bv the belief that he was acting in Australia's best interests." He was never a^.nn

— —

—

asked to serve in the field, and retired from the army. tack in 1962, aged sixty-five.

He

died of a heart

at

THE ROAD TO CHANG1 Banka

Strait in the

Mary Rose when

;',(><)

a searchlight from a Japa-

There was

nese patrol boat suddenly stabbed the darkness.

nothing to do but surrender, and the captain seems to have ized the urgency of eed, for

making

real-

the Japanese understand that they

though they had no white Bag

to hoist,

one of the

and waved them. The Japanese understood, and the men were taken to Banka Island where, as party took off his underpants

their

baggage was being examined, Bowden complained to a

guard and brusquely demanded

to see a

Japanese

he could furnish proof of his diplomatic den, a tough Australian

who

officer so that

Possibly

status.

Bow-

did not pull his punches, was not

quite as tactful as the situation demanded, for though he was

punched and threatened with the bayonet, and when he showed no signs of meek obedience, was taken out by two guards. "Squaring his shoulders he was led from the hall. About half an hour later two shots elderly

and white-haired, he was

.

.

first

.

were heard, and the guards returned cleaning their

They had taken him outside, made him shot him at the edge of it.

All this, of course,

bomb-scarred ians

city,

was unknown

dig his

own

in Singapore.

rifles."

grave,

Back

and

in the

the bewildered troops and the stunned civil-

were preparing in their different ways for the grim years

that lay ahead.

Now,

as before, the

men and women went

war caused inequities: Some

into internment, others were

still left

in

comparative freedom to help the Japanese to get the city on

its

feet again.

Typical of these was Bui k Bin keridge,

who had fought throughout least painful transition

painless, for as

who

of

all

the civilians

the siege, experienced perhaps the

from wax

to "peace."

Buck wrote, "One could

It

was not wholly

never, never forget the

A SINISTER

310

TWILIGHT

But while thousands

feeling of humiliation."

now

of civilians

suddenly found themselves with endless idle hours in which think, Buckeridge was

working from dawn

On

tensive fire damage.

asked

him

the very

(In fact,

a colossal task.

it

was to be

ridge was interned at Changi.) His the dock

fires,

for at least

ex-

day the Japanese had

first

to help in putting the city

to dusk, trying to

which had suffered

restore order, particularly in those parts

to

back on

its feet,

and

it

was

months before Buckeproblem was to control

six

first

twenty godowns were either blazing or

on fire. A Blue Funnel liner was burning alongside the Empire Dock. On the shore opposite was the wrecked skeleton of a crashed Hurricane. Here and there in the adjoining streets were corpses and also, Buck smoldering. Mountains of coal were

still

—

noticed, several dead cows that

Farm

herd.

dozen

fires still

tion.

One

ment

must have belonged

to the Dairy

A

"It gave the place a curiously Indian look."

licked goods carriages in Singapore Railway Sta-

platform was strewn with abandoned army equip-

— everything from

official

papers to a searchlight.

Buckeridge had been told to tour the few godowns that had not been bombed, to make certain they contained nothing

Some were

flammable.

of crude rubber. pected, but

filled

with tinned food, others were bales

These were the

when he

in-

sort of items

he had half

ex-

forced open the sliding doors of one partic-

ular godown, Buckeridge (who was not unfamiliar with colorful

language) exploded into a string of oaths. For there, in front of his eyes,

ARP

was the one item of equipment for which he and the

chiefs

had begged time and

again, only to be told repeat-

edly that none existed in Singapore

— neatly

new

there since before the war

helmets.

started.

They must have been

"While every

for helmets, little lot."

someone

civilian in Singapore

in authority

stacked rows

of

had been begging

had forgotten

all

about

this

THE LiukiK "an

found lish,

tion.'"

take

Buckeridge,

for

charge of the

R O A

fire

T

I)

NCI

follow

was well travelled, broad-minded

During the

him on

gl

military

Lieutenant Nakani,

a

nice

exceptionally

A

11

Japanese

the

brigade was

C

whim Buck

lull of

excellent

considera-

lew days, Nakani asked Buckeridge to

first

Most of the shops were were deserted, and to Buckeridge it was

a tour of the city.

dosed, the streets

in

officer

who spoke and

1

still

like

some unreal dream, sitting by the side of this intelligent, courte-

who seemed genuinely

ous man. for

concerned, almost apologetic

He remembers

winning the war.

that as their car

swung

round from Xassim Road into the wre< ked, smashed-up Orchard Road, Nakani almost as though to make polite conver-

—

—

new acquaintance turned to Buckeridge and "What did you feel like when you heard we'd sunk the of Wales and the Repulse?" For a moment Buckeridge

sation with a

asked,

Prince

could think of nothing in the way of a reply, until he blurted "Naturally," agreed the Japanese

out the single word, "Sad!"

with genuine sympathy.

Buckeridge had a particular talent situation in to

*

stick

which he found himself,

making the best of any and had made up his mind for

out with a grin," but once his determination faltered,

it

and he could actually

feel

cheeks.

He and Nakani

Road on

their

the blush of

shame flooding

"guided tour." At the corner they had

nothing could enter the

his

were driving toward the East Coast

big,

broad road, which was

to stop, lor

filled

with

a

of men. some carrying suitcases, others humping rucksacks or with p All Is under each arm. were marching east. They weie the civilians many of them tired, straggling

column

—

his friends

— on their wa\

Tim Hudson, was in his

fire

to

(

hangi

Jail.

He

caught sight of

straight-bac keel, beard jutting out.

brigade uniform, and "I

sitting there in a big,

felt like a fifth

Buckeridge columnist,

comfortable car with a Japanese

officer.

I

A SINISTER

312

tried to smile cheerily at

My

face

TWILIGHT

them but

I

had nothing

do

to

it

with.

was out of commission." Lieutenant Nakani, seeing

his

obvious anguish, gave a rapid order in Japanese to the driver,

who backed the car swiftly away from the corner. "I am sorry," murmured Nakani, with even more consideration

very

than

usual.

Not

all

occasions

the Japanese were as considerate, particularly

when Buckeridge was endeavoring

to

on

the

buy communal

food supplies, for like other civilians in essential services, he

went out twice a week it

to

buy what he could

seemed a simple operation

— but now

bread and vegetables had by

in bulk.

In theory

in fact, all fresh meat,

fish,

Occasionally

disappeared.

Buckeridge would find a Chinese shop with a slender stock of tinned goods, but as he was completing his purchases, a Japanese sentry

would

inevitably appear

ing to the British."

and

arrest the

Chinese

his written slip of authority in

Japanese

—

the other hand, while the

fires still

still

little

He

remaining.

ipal Veterinary Surgeon,

who

for the time being

and "who appropriated certain

offered to

buy him a piece

across his old

of beef.

— the Munichad not been

pieces daily for exami-

nation purposes." But perhaps the best meal of

one of Buckeridge's firemen ran

quiet looting"

also received the

occasional leg of pork from an unexpected source

interned,

When

all

arrived after

Malay

driver,

on

who

the joint arrived, "it

turned out to be a refrigerated chunk of cowmeat, but serole with tinned carrots.

soldiers.

burned by the docks,

Buckeridge had ample opportunities for "a

from the stocks of food

— and

selling to the British

was a heinous offense in the eyes of ordinary Japanese

On

''for sell-

Despite Buckeridge's protestations

in a

ca*

Simpsons in the Strand had nothing

it."

While people

like

Buckeridge were

still

technically at liberty

because the Japanese needed their help, Willie Watt of McAlis-

THE ROAD TO CHANG! tor's

was finding

it

313

absolutely impossible to drive the eight miles

from San Remo, near Changi, into Singapore purpose of surrendering.

On Tuesday

lor the express

morning,

as

soon as the

announced that all civilians must parade on the padang, Watt and three friends who had been sharing his house set radio had

off for

Singapore.

try posts

Bridge.

English

guage.

They were allowed

past several Japanese sen-

along the East Coast Road until they reached Kallang

Here the Japanese

— who did not understand a word of

— were obdurate.

They could not

Watt

tried to explain that he

Using sign

lan-

to surrender,

but

pass.

wanted

the Japanese, wielding bayonets, "demonstrated in

no uncertain

manner

last."

would be our

that our further approach

was nothing to do but return to San

from their whiskey hidden

what

their next step should be.

there was

no "next step"

Remo and

in the lallang,

pour out drinks

while they discussed

Incredible though

two weeks,

for

There

for

it

may

seem,

though the small

make contact with the enemy refused to do anything about their plight. And soon it did become a plight, for though they had enough money, and Watt had had the Eoresight to hide in the lallang a party of Britishers did from time to time

Japanese, the

Old Rarity whiskey

plentiful supply of his favorite

(for

which

McAlister's fortuitously held the agency for Malaya) they had

very

little in

the

way

Some Japanese

of food.

tried to be helpful,

and went away with vague promises that never materialized. Others were aggressive like the oifn er who hit Watt across the

—

forehead with the scabbard feet.

Another

radio

—

seemed

oi

officer arrived

at least

his

sword, knocking

Leading

Watt assumed he

to consist entirely of the

a

him

off his

party searching for

a

was, lor his limited English

words "Buzz, buzz!" Through

an interpreter he warned Watt and the others to remain just where they were without moving until the house had been thoroughly searched. Watt couldn't have been more delighted, for

A SINISTER

314

TWILIGHT

he was standing three inches from the back cushions of an old cane sofa under which the radio had been hidden.

One man

for him. Leslie father's

at liberty

still

house

wondered what the future would hold

Hoffman was

at

quietly keeping out of sight in his

knew that somewhere the and him the anti-Japanese articles on

Serangoon, but he

Japanese must have a

file

he had written. There was nothing he could do wait.

at this stage

but

On

the

His powerful new radio was working splendidly.

morning after capitulation he had listened in to Churchill's somber broadcast which had been relayed to the world. "I speak to you all under the shadow of a far-reaching military defeat," Churchill had said. "It is a British and Imperial defeat. Singapore has fallen. All the Malay peninsula has been over-run." At least, thought Hoffman, straining to catch every word from the whispering radio, Churchill had offered no lame excuses. Indeed he had cried, "This is one of those moments when [The British Nation] can draw from the heart of misfortune the vital impulse of victory."

As

yet Hoffman's plans for helping in that victory

vaguely defined.

were only

He had the radio. He could, he hoped, keep in He would have to find a way of passing

touch with the world. that information

on

to those interned in Changi.

and doctors at the Singapore Club had realdays of freedom were limited. Most of the civilian

All along, the nurses ized their

nurses at the mental hospital had been swept into internment

within the

first

week, and

now

the Japanese gave notice that

Fullerton Building had to be cleared by the end of the month.

The

next morning the doctors and nurses started the heart-

breaking evacuation of desperately

ill

patients to the military

prison at Changi. All extension splint cases were given a shot of

morphia before being loaded up into the ambulances, but even

THE ROAD TO CHANGI

315

more than half would survive the rigors of the journey. Sick with the inhumanity of being forced to move them, Katherine de Moubray felt "as the most optimistic doctors admitted that not

so,

though iron bands were compressing ical

my chest,

it

was sheer phys-

pain."

On

the last day, Freddy

went on

Bloom and

the other

a "scrounging" expedition in the

MAS women

bedrooms of the

Sin-

gapore Club, which were cluttered with suitcases and steamer trunks, left by

evacuated.

they had

members and

Now

the

their wives

MAS women

— not only

had

who had been

hurriedly

their pick of everything

and blouses, but linen, towels and anything they could carry. Freddy Bloom "hated the idea of opening somebody else's suitcases" but she behind

left

dresses, shorts

consoled herself with the thought that clothes, the

ished her selection

with an to

air of

when

for

when you

handsome fur coat

up

to her

the

women

a doctor rushed

knowing, "I've been told

be repatriated. Take

warm

she didn't take the

if

Japanese most certainly would. She had almost

my

tip,

all

and

fin-

said,

are going

Freddy, and grab something

get to England."

On an

impulse she seized a

it

until she did arrive

— and doggedly kept

in England, nearly four years later.

On

the final day at Fullerton Building,

had gone, the nurses and doctors had a

— their itive

last

when

the last patients

special "farewell

lunch"

square meal for over three years. Despite the prim-

nature of the "hospital," the suffering had welded doctors,

women

volunteers,

ambulance

drivers, orderlies, into a

warm-

hearted community, more closely knit than they could ever have

been in the antiseptic atmosphere of a

real hospital.

The ambu-

lance drivers had gone out "on the scrounge" to return with a

chunks and

— from

some mysterious source they refused to reveal more than enough beer to go round. It was a sad, but wonderful lunch, and after it was over and the time came for good-byes, Freddy turned to Philip, her husband

case of pineapple

—

A SINISTER TWILIGHT

316

from the heart, "You know dardespite everything, I've never been so happy as I have

of three weeks, ling

—

and

said, right

been here."

There were no opportunities were leaving in one

moved

off

for long farewells.

set of lorries, the

immediately. Almost at the

object, expertly thrown, hurtled

—a

Almost

doctors

last

moment,

toward Freddy.

It

a large soft

was a

fare-

from Philip, "the most precious thing he could give

well gift

me"

The

nurses in another, and they

mattress.

at the

same time

as

Freddy, clutching her mattress, was

watching Philip's lorry take him away to internment, Willie

Watt was ing his

standing, a

own

tommy gun

digging into his back, watch-

grave being dug. For two weeks he and his friends

had been living

"off the land."

They had

trying to surrender, for each time they

virtually given

up

had made contact with

another Japanese patrol, nobody had seemed interested in helping them

—

until suddenly, a

new

patrol arrived at the bunga-

low which was "obviously not so friendly."

The

four Britishers

were marched for a couple of miles along the East Coast Road a big Japanese

camp near

Siglap.

to

"Several officers were ap-

proached," Watt remembers, "but would have nothing to do

with us until eventually

we

struck one

who appeared

to

know

the answer."

The hill.

four

Out

men were marched

of the

to

an open space on the

side of a

crowd of Chinese and Indians which had

inevi-

tably appeared, the Japanese soldiers plucked half a dozen at

random, gave them spades, and ordered them

four graves for the Britishers.

gun was

in charge,

An

to start digging

Anglo-Indian with a

and Watt remembers

men

that his entire

tommy

Malayan

vocabulary seemed to consist of "Lekas! Lekas!" ("Hurry up!

Hurry up!") In

the broiling heat of noon, the gravedii^n^

THE ROAD TO CHANGI reached a depth of four

Watt's friend muttered under his

feet.

breath, "I don't like the look of this!"

regarded

as

"a.

317

— a remark which Watt

mild understatement of the situation as

He remembers

that, despite the

only prayed that

we would have

hot sun, "I a clean

I

saw

it."

quite cold.

felt

I

and quick despatch and

not get knocked about in the process."

The Britishers were surrounded by Japanese with and tommy guns. The officer in charge held "a sword big as himself" and

it

was painfully obvious

to

Watt

bayonets nearly as

that he was

about to be beheaded. As the minutes ticked by, the gravediggers hurled out the last of the earth at the

and looked up expectantly

Anglo-Indian guard and the Japanese

And

then suddenly

Japanese

officer burst

— in

an unbelievable

To

Watt never had the

—a

senior

As the arguing was

faintest idea

day he does not know.

this

finale

through the guards. Furiously he shouted

to the officer in charge of executions.

Japanese,

officer.

all

in

what had happened.

He remembers

that at

first

he

wondered whether perhaps the senior Japanese was only angry because of the large crowd of witnesses. But then it began to dawn on Watt that the execution officer was looking crestfallen and he was being roundly abused. The first wild hope of a re-

make Watt's heart beat quickly. With an agonizing slowness the minutes ticked away in violent argument. Then Watt knew that for the moment, anyway he was saved. Abruptly, the execution officer turned on prieve began to

—

—

and the senior officer, with polite gestures, ordered the four Britishers to march away from the graves. In the Japanese camp, they were presented with passes to return to San Remo, his heel,

together with a firm promise that arrangements

would be made

men

"celebrated our

shortly for

them

to

be interned.

escape with half a bottle of

The

four

Old Rarity whiskey recovered from

thelallang."

The

officer

who had

for

some mysterious reason

so dramati-

A SINISTER

318

TWILIGHT

cally intervened to save their lives

was

as

good

as his

Within a week, they were given passes to enter Changi deed, they were even allowed to drive to the

jail in

word.

Jail.

In-

Watt's car.

Only one thing had changed since the awful moment a few days previously when Willie Watt had stood waiting to be beheaded.

His

fine

head of thick

fair hair

had turned snow white.

—

—

the men were the beginning of March About this time moved from their temporary quarters near the Seaview Hotel into Changi Jail. A week later, the second great march of the women and children covered the seven miles on foot from their temporary camp in Katong to Changi, where they were to be lodged separately. By now, the numbers of women and children had swollen to four hundred with latecomers including Dr. Cicely Williams, who had been forced through dysentery to give up her family of children. She had given away as many as possible, and had left the few who remained with a Chinese nurse and

—

two amahs. The Bishop of Singapore, who was not being

had promised

terned,

Only the

them.

and ten pregnant women were allowed had to walk in a procession that straggled

old, infirm

transport.

The

for miles.

Some

filled

to look after

rest

of the

women pushed

dressed in whatever clothes they

head.

old prams or rickshaws

with pots and pans, towels, even newspapers.

woman

in-

near Freddy

Bloom wore

Freddy recorded

how

had been able

All were

to salvage.

A

a lampshade to protect her

she was dressed for comfort

khaki trousers, a long-sleeved white evening blouse

—

in

(as a protec-

tion against mosquitoes) her nurse's veil tied like a turban, and a big, black umbrella.

The march

took almost a day, with rests each mile or

so,

often

THE ROAD TO CHANGI in the shade of village half

Leaves of

rubber

trees,

319

or close to a Malay

kampong

hidden by waving coconut palms or the deep green

papaya

trees.

Sometimes the

villagers shyly

with offerings of fruit. Others offered bottles of water thirsty It

women did not dare

was four o'clock reached

gates, the

its

as the

bedraggled procession, carrying its

collective shoulders for the

from the prison

moment, as though to brace its march-in. At the head of the proces-

for a

sion was one of the civilian matrons. She was tiny feet tall

its

perambulators and rickshaws,

destination. Fifty yards or so

column stopped

emerged

which the

to drink.

hand luggage and pushing finally

or

— about

five

— but she was a human dynamo of immense courage.

"Come on now," Someone

she cried, "let's sing our

way

in."

started the "Seaview tune" and, as they reached the

—

as hundred tired, cracked voices though given new strength and impetus for this one moment were singing the tune so many of them had sung on that last sunny Sunday of peace. With the tiny matron leading the way, the women marched through the prison gates singing "There'll Always Be an England." They must have sung lustily, for the sound of their voices penetrated to husbands, lovers, lifetime friends on the other side of the high wall that divided Changi Jail in two. A great burst of cheering from the other side of the wall drowned the noise of the gates being closed, and then the sound of men's voices, deeper, gruffer, more resonant, joined theirs in the tune that belonged to them all, a tune that was a way of life put to words and music:

prison walls, nearly four

"There'll always be an England,

And England

will be free"

—

12 The Years of Agony

For three and a half years thousands of men, ful of children

a hand-

were interned on the island of Singapore. None

of the civilians

had the remotest chance

freedom from a speck in the ocean

—

women and

And though

as Devil's Island.

of

making

as escape-proof

it

was hope and

a dash for

— and

as evil

faith that sus-

it was hard even to have any hope in those months when it seemed that nothing on land, in the skies and on the oceans could arrest the all-victorious Japanese. "We

tained the majority, first

never really

was damned

lost

hope,"

difficult

Tim Hudson remembered

when you

later,

"but

it

tried to analyse the reasons for

hoping." Life was wretched. Malnutrition caused

many

deaths. So did

the peculiar Japanese indifference to illness, so that (for example) chronic diabetics

to issue the insulin

died simply because the Japanese refused

which existed

in Singapore.

the added privations advanced old age.

White,

who had

press of Asia at

The

frail

Others died

as

Graham of the Em-

Mrs.

introduced the half-naked survivors

Freddy Bloom's wedding "reception," quietly

faded away because she did not have any hidden reserves of

stamina to sustain her. disease

Tommy

Kitching died of a malignant

which he had probably contracted before internment. Thomas who was afforded no privileges of any sort

Yet Lady

—

THEYEARSOFAGONY

— managed

32

from which

to survive despite the severe dysentery

she had been suffering.

In the soldiers' tinct

from the

camp

at the

civilians in

Changi military barracks

Changi

Jail) the

trek to the Siamese railway of death soon began.

stayed in Changi, for those

who were

(as dis-

long and terrible

The

sent to the

lucky ones

work camps

died in the thousands. Yet both soldiers and civilians managed to

keep their sense of humor

anese.

When

— and

occasionally, so did the Jap-

Captain H. L. Greener, an education

interrogated by Lieutenant Yamaguchi,

hearted conversation (of which Greener

was

officer,

the following light-

made

a note

immedi-

ately afterward) took place.

Yamaguchi:

Is it wise,

do you think,

only one eye [Wavell] to watch over

all

to

appoint a

man

Greener: India can be fixed firmly with the glass eye. the other he will watch the Japanese.

with

India?

With

(Japanese laughter)

Yamaguchi: Are the Australians not worried that there are so many Americans in Australia, making advances to their women while they are away at war? Greener: They do not seem to worry. You see, we have great confidence in our women. (Laughter) Y: It is said that they are marrying many of your girls. There will be perhaps none left when you get back. Is that not bad? G: Oh no. Those Americans will stay in Australia and we wish to increase our population. Y: And who will your young men marry? G: We shall send for some girls from America. It is only fair.

(Laughter)

We

Americans in India have better condiand they are stuck up. G: People are often stuck up when they have more money. Y: But will not such jealousy impair your war effort? G: In the last war there was much jealousy. American and Y:

are told the

tions than the British,

British troops used to fight in the estaminets in France. Yet

won

the

war

together.

we

TWILIGHT

A SINISTER

g22 Y: lied

I cannot believe there is affinity of Nations sufficient to win the war.

spirit

between the Al-

G: Do you believe that there is much affinity of spirit between the Germans and the Italians? (Loud and prolonged mirth) *

Everybody made the best of a bad morale, but in a practical manner.

job, not only to bolster

Gardens started sprouting.

and concerts were produced. A school was started for the children in the civilian camp. Cicely Williams had never Plays

worked so hard doctoring the sick. Freddy Bloom became editor of the woman's camp paper, while beyond the wall that separated men from women, clandestine shortwave radio sets went into operation, giving the

happening in the

camp

rest of the

lously contrived out of bits

camp with

a daily bulletin of

The

world.

and

radios were miracu-

pieces often

smuggled into the

the help of the Chinese in Singapore

magnificently to the aid of the internees.

what was

Many

who

rallied

of these Chinese

were discovered and tortured. Scores paid for their loyalty with their lives. Yet there always

seemed

to

be another

help, ready to step into the shoes of the

man

eager to

one who had mysteri-

ously disappeared.

camp was not difficult if one many Europeans were at lib-

Contact between the city and the

had nerve and courage. At first, erty. But even when men like Buckeridge were interned after six months (to join Tim Hudson in a cell with flaking walls

bearing the roughly painted sign "Hudson's Bay") the Japanese

needed

to

send small but regular parties of Europeans into Sin-

gapore for a variety of reasons, and though they always went

under guard, sometimes the guards could be bribed, while others were so lazy it was easy to deceive them.

One man who had *

Quoted

in

to

make frequent

The Japanese Thrust

trips to the city

was Nor-

THE YEARS OF AGONY man

Coulson, a

PWD

leave with the ill-fated

323

who had flatly refused to The water system at Changi

water engineer

Nunn

party.

was constantly in need of repairs and replacements

— no doubt

helped by a

only expert,

little

sabotage

— and Coulson,

as the

was detailed to buy the spare parts in Singapore. Before long he

was in touch with the Chinese underground, and

betweens

— through go-

— with Leslie Hoffman, who was daily operating the

shortwave radio he had concealed from the Japanese.

In the

hope that the news would seep into Changi, the British in India were broadcasting hours of morale-boosting personal items from wives, relatives fully

a

down

wrote

man

and friends of those in camp. Hoffman the simple, poignant messages

in prison the

to act

how

to

telling

to know The problem now

one item of news he most wanted

— that the wife he had evacuated was arose of

— many

faith-

safe.

smuggle the news into camp, and Hoffman had

with the utmost discretion, for almost immediately after

and beaten up by the Kempetei (the Japanese equivalent of the Gestapo); and though he had been released after some weeks, he was still under sus-

capitulation he had been interrogated

picion.

However, he and Coulson contrived an ingenious plan.

Hoffman wrote

the notes

on

These were then de-

rice paper.

livered to a Chinese plumber,

and each time Coulson

visited

Singapore he was able to hide the precious messages in the pipes

and at

Changi. is)

he bought from the plumber for the ancient pumps

joints

Changi. In It

all,

Hoffman

was then a simple matter (comparatively simple, that

to relay the messages

(So efficient

sent several thousand messages into

from the men's

was the camp smuggling

that,

women's camp. though Freddy Bloom

to the

was only allowed to see Philip once for a few minutes in three

and a half

years, they

kept in touch with smuggled messages, and

even managed to exchange Christmas

For

some,

the

black

deeds

gifts.)

of

the

Kempetei

started

A SINISTER TWILIGHT

324

While most

early.

best they could,

pore in

civilians

Rob

were

Scott was taken

handcuffs and kept

down

settling

camp

in

from Sumatra

as

to Singa-

and

in solitary confinement for eight

months in a cell with no light. Each day he was taken to the Kempetei headquarters in the old YMCA building for cross-examination. At first the sessions lasted fourteen hours a a half

day, but as Scott laconically noted, "later the interpreter got

The

tired."

Japanese demanded to

know

— everything from the name of — wildly of Shakespeare's

details list

the most incredible

grandfather to a

Scott's

plays

this last

irrelevant topic be-

cause the Japanese had discovered a slip of paper on which Scott

had written the quotation, "Seeking the bubble reputation even mouth," and seized upon it as a code. During months the Japanese used bluster, threats "even beer on some occasions" but no actual physical violence. And in the cannon's

—

these

—

then in February 1943, "I was suddenly released to the comparative paradise of

The

ordinary internment."

indefatigable Scott was not idle for long.

playing a leading role in the secret

committee of creasing

five

number

of hidden shortwave receivers.

—

known to many did not know

worked with astonishing

The

this

day

— known

a large force of

in-

identities

the

names

efficiency for

of their colleagues.

many months

—

until

the fatal day of October 10, 1943.

On

a

and of the camp operators, scouts, only a few, and even inside the

messengers were

It

organization

which coordinated the operation of the

of the committee of control

organization

camp news

Soon he was

in Singapore as the

"Double Tenth"

—

Kempetei and Japanese troops without warning

raided the camp. Scott remembers that "I had the dubious hon-

our of being the

first

to

be arrested." Every inch of the camp

was searched and inevitably the Japanese discovered several discreet diaries of fatal,

war news and camp

but then, in the

cell of

activities.

one of the key men

in-

These were not in the

commit-

THE YEARS OF AGONY tee

— a man who had operated BBC

covered notes of a

At

first

news

a radio set

bulletin.

325

— the Japanese

The man was

arrested.

he feigned ignorance, but after weeks of torture he

vealed the

names

and Hoffman.

It

of his colleagues

— including

was a disaster of the

first

Scott,

dis-

re-

Coulson

magnitude

to the

two women — Freddy — Bloom and Cicely Williams were rounded up, together with

camp, for about

a similar

fifty

internees, including

number of Asians

Some were

in Singapore.

released after a few days of questions; others were

incarcerated for

more than

a year,

and

in this terrible period,

many men died in the Kempetei cells, of disease after torture. One was tortured to death. One man committed suicide rather than face the prospect of more torture. A man in Scott's cell cut his

tongue out in front of Scott so that he could never betray his

colleagues.

Many who suffered diabolical torture were innocent One man was arrested, never once questioned,

of any "crime."

and kept

for five

months

until he died of dysentery

As the torture proceeded, the waves

neglect.

to the entire

concerts,

camp. Rations were

plays,

lectures,

school

cut,

and medical

of suffering spread

even for children. Games,

lessons

were forbidden for

months.

Soon

Double Tenth, the Kempetei swooped on the on stilts in Serangoon where Leslie Hoffman was living. As luck would have it, Leslie was not listening in that night and he had concealed the radio so well that the Japanese were never able to find it. Nonetheless he had been betrayed, and the after the

old house

Kempetei were convinced the was brutally tortured spy"

— but

as

with

set existed.

For months Hoffman

— he was accused of being "a Rob Scott

Scott, all the sadistic tortures the

could invent never broke him.

Despite months

Kempetei

in the cages,

often starved for days at a time, beaten daily for weeks at a time,

he never divulged the

name

of

one single accomplice.

Freddy Bloom and Cicely Williams spent several months in

A SINISTER TWILIGHT

326

one tiny cage which they shared with several men. They had no beds.

— in

Indeed, the sole item of "furniture" consisted of a full

toilet

men and

the guard who watched them They had no protection against The only way to get any water for drinking

view of the

unceasingly through the

bars.

and mosquitoes. or washing was to flush the

lice

grilled, refused sleep,

Night

lavatory.

after night they

were

Norman Day after day the man who had camp was flogged with such severity For several weeks

denied food.

Coulson shared their cage.

smuggled the news into that, in Freddy's

words, "his back and legs were as raw as liver in

a butcher's shop." After each beating, his

when

the guards threw

limp body back into the cage, Freddy and Cicely cleaned

mangled

flesh

secreted,

dipping

his

with the aid of one small handkerchief they had into the lavatory water to

it

make some

sort of

a cold compress.

Coulson must have been a

man

of extraordinary courage, for

Freddy remembers that one morning, just

as

he was about

to

be

taken out for grilling, he said to her with a grin, "You don't look

your usual cheery

self this

morning!" Freddy told him not

worry

— but she had suddenly got a raging toothache.

later,

when

a bleeding Coulson was

and the women clenched

fist

tried to

wash

his

dumped back one

in the cage,

had kept

it

tightly

tablet of aspirin

a Japanese had given him, but instead of crunching intolerable pain, Coulson

Hours

wounds, he held out a

to Freddy. It contained

to

it

which

to ease his

for Freddy's toothache.

The most vicious torture of all, however, appears to have been reserved for Rob Scott, and his punishment included one week in which he was never allowed to sleep, lie down or relax, and during which he was on half rations for the given no food for the rest of the time. tioned, he

who could

had

first

When

four days, and

not being ques-

to squat, Japanese fashion, in front of the sentry,

see at a glance everything inside the cage.

During

questions he was usually forced to kneel on a rack, sometim'

THE YEARS OF AGONY tied

arm fully extended. Japaunder him and jumped on the feet until the open wounds exposed the ligaments He was flogged repeatedly. He would be called out

by a wrist

soles of his

and bones.

at

night"

window, with

to a

doubled

nese sentries

about

of his cell

327

p.m.

1 1

his

his legs

— "my interrogator preferred working

— put on a rack

for a couple of hours in silence, then

up

questioned for twenty minutes and beaten

would be

for

an hour. At

and by two-thirty in the morning, Scott would be sent back to his cell. Then would come the worst torture of all. Tottering with fatigue and pain, he would be called last it

over,

out again only half an hour later

—

to

go through the entire

procedure once more. At the end of "one hectic session" he was told

he had been sentenced to death and compelled to write a

farewell letter to his wife.

sentence

and

left

"I

me unmoved,

was then in such a

state that the

even when he announced the date

and brought in the sword with which I was to be beheaded, making me run my finger along the blade to test its place,

keenness. In a

way

I

welcomed the

and regretted the meant that the ex-

prospect,

reprieve twenty-four hours later, because

it

amination would be continued."

Some died ser,

— including Coulson and Hugh Fra-

the acting Colonial Secretary,

Timah fact

after torture

to

make

the

first

remains that though

driven out to Bukit

arrangements for surrender. Yet the

Rob

Scott

had been singled out

Kempetei were never able

arch-criminal, the

body.

spirit or his

who had

It

to

as the

break either his

was not only a question of bravery; a

man

— an understanding of the way the Japanese — mind worked lucid brain, was one of and Rob with needed reasoning

Scott,

the few to

men

keep on

the

his

able to analyze afterward just

and indeed how he had been able the physical and mental battle that

living,

Kempetei

in

how he had been

able

to outwit

lasted for

over twelve months. Scott realized immediately that

behind the Double Tenth

ar-

TWILIGHT

A SINISTER

328 rests lay a

camp harbored

Japanese suspicion that the civilian

a

big spy, sabotage and counter-propaganda organization in radio

Early on this absurd suspicion became

contact with India.

most a certainty in their minds, and because of Scott nal."

was

cast in the role of

They

He

background,

master spy. "I was the super crimi-

From time

to time they even

was, said the Kempetei,

"more dangerous

firmly believed this.

flattered Scott.

his

al-

name "was known

than a division of the British army." His

to

every schoolboy in Japan." Scott,

however,

ened them, in

knew

the mentality of the Kempetei.

his brilliant

unpublished report,

Red

lots,

lik-

to "spoilt boys of

They had

"the school-

mind teems with images

of fighter pi-

fourteen, headstrong, selfish, brutal." boy's imagination. As his

He

Indians round the corner, spies, hidden treasures, so

the Kempetei seemed to live in a world of

everyone and everything was suspect,

melodrama where

foreigners were spies,

all

and the wilder the story the more fascinatingly probable it became." Nothing was too outragous. At one time Scott was accused of running a secret radio station in a tomb in a Chinese cemetery during the very time he was locked up in

confinement miles from the trait

which was

spot.

And

"Like children they are

to prove invaluable.

insensitive to criticism," so that in the

had

Scott, despite his suffering,

avoid traps

was

to

— he found one sure

flattered,

he would

of being "the

insist that

man who had

wary

battle of wits that

after night — a

followed day after day, night

solitary

he discovered another

battle in

be constantly on the

line of defense.

which

alert to

Whenever

he

he was unworthy of the honor

turned the people of South East

Asia against the Japanese." Inevitably he would then be asked

who was

responsible.

him

if

the interrogations then took

1

— Scott the Kempetei were trap — he always had one further of defense: The Japa-

dangerous turn for

And

if

setting a

felt

line

THEYEARSOFAGONY nese themselves, he

he made

this

would

say,

were

to blame.

<}2()

Time and

again

it

never

point — which, of course, was true — and

failed to infuriate

them. As he wryly noted

"Anti-Japa-

later,

nese criticism of this type was most useful in distracting

when questions began sults for

me were

resort. It

The immediate

to get embarrassing.

usually painful, so

I

used

them re-

this device as a last

never failed to work."

As the months dragged on,

Scott, despite his suffering,

able to realize that his tormentors were getting less of their ground.

Many

and

less

was sure

internees had been tortured into giving

They would say anything to avoid torture, and as Scott puts it, "The Japanese had collected too much evidence and did not know what was true and what was false. I began to sense a lack of certainty and assurance, however much

conflicting stories.

they blustered and shouted. time; could

I

It

became, in

my mind,

a race with

by denials convince them that they were

after a

mare's nest, or at any rate so discredit the evidence collected as to

shake their faith in

it

before

I

collapsed?

I

won, but only by a

short head."

With

typical modesty, Scott in his report glossed over the ter-

rible suffering tight

he endured. But

it is

a fact that by keeping a

hold on his reason. Scott was able to beat the Kempetei,

even though after months of torture and neglect he was ing from bacillary dysentery, edema, scabies ailments.

And

in the

suffer-

and many minor

end the Kempetei gave up. They sent him

back to the civilian camp, convinced he was about to die. Scott,

who

had weighed fourteen stone six pounds, had shrunk to seven stone ten pounds, and even with all the care the British doctors in camp could lavish on him, it was months at the capitulation

before he could walk. In camp, however, he was at least able to get

some extra food

out by the Japanese.

to

supplement the miserable rations doled

A flourishing black market had

sprung up,

A SINISTER

330

TWILIGHT

and internees could buy goods on credit, signing chits to be paid butter cost at the end of the war. The prices were fantastic $430 a pound, jam $280 (Malay) a jar, while a tin of powdered and is conmilk cost $700. Scott signed the chits cheerfully

—

—

vinced to

this

day that without that extra nourishment he would

have died.

Slowly the years of agony rolled on until

men and women who

could hardly remember anything other than the

phere of the camp, suddenly began to scent — the scent of

On

went.

victory, of liberation.

the secret radios

atmos-

new and heady

V-E day came and

— now operating again — news

tered through of the massive cific,

sniff a

stifling

American naval

fil-

victories in the Pa-

be followed by the details of Hiroshima, so that almost

to

before the prisoners realized what was happening, Cicely Williams,

was

on one of her occasional medical

visits to the

men's cam}),

startled to see a cheerful British soldier pat his Japanese

guard on the back, whereupon the guard offered him a bar

of

chocolate.

Were

the rumors of Japanese surrender true, asked Cicely

Williams, whereupon the

Tommy

gave a reply that only a

sol-

dier could give. ''Don't worry, lady," he grinned.

"The Emperor's

signing on

the dotted line next week."

One more

scene of internment must be recorded.

Two

men,

round the perimeter of thin and gangling, the other of more

ath-

One

wafl

talking earnestly, walked slowly

camp.

One was tall, One was

letic build.

Percival, the other

a general, the other a brigadier.

was Ivan Simson. Despite their

the

differcne tt

THE YEARS OF AGONY during the

Avar,

33

despite that dramatic midnight meeting, despite

even Perceval's last-minute refusal to give Simson the opportunity to escape, a strange

up between

kind of friendship seems

the two men.

after all, a loyal soldier to

And val,

Perhaps

whom

it

to

have grown

was because Simson was,

army meant more than

the

life.

was during one of these long walks together that Perci-

it

though unburdening himself of

as

a secret

he could no

longer keep to himself, finally admitted to Simson that he had

been wrong in refusing

"He was

to build

the only one of

opinion to expiate his

first

"That goes

Rob

to greet

who had

admit that

a very long

5,

The Times

Scott was Ian Morrison of

secret of his

At

last

later,

way

admiration for

Scott, ill

one of the

1945,

arrived with the advance troops.

could sense that his old friend was

a

to

his

add-

in

my

error."

freedom came on September

rassed.

men T

ing with characteristic charity,

no

the defenses of the island.

on defences had been wrong," w rote Simson

decision

When

up

the senior

all

first

of

men

London

Morrison had made

but in a curious way Scott at ease.

He seemed embarHe had written

Morrison blurted out the truth.

book about the

fall

of Singapore

obituary notice" of Scott.

and

it

For Morrison

contained "a sort of

(in

common

with the

Foreign Office) had for years assumed he had perished on the

GiangBee. Scott I'll

managed

a grin

and

write your obit for you!"

To

others, release

came

said to Morrison, "Don't

in different ways,

ing was so typical of Chinese loyalty

* Scott did.

When

—

but perhaps noth-

— and Chinese memory —

Morrison was killed in the Korean War, Scott happened to The Times and wrote Morrison's obituary

be in London, and went straight to notice.

worry

*

A SINISTER

gg2

TWILIGHT

moment when Tim Hudson

as the

stepped from internment to

freedom.

Hudson had kept

—

though he had lost a good health and he walked sturdily to the camp gates

in fairly

—

great deal of weight

— a breath of

moment of his life And he had barely moved outside

to savor the greatest air.

fresh, free

before a small figure

clutching a parcel elbowed her way out of the dense waiting and she looked as though crowd. She looked a little older she, too, had suffered but it was Mei Ling, carrying, just as she had done the night before Tim went into camp, a parcel of freshly laundered clothes. "They were still warm with the

—

—

beautiful smell of a hot iron,"

Rob

Scott was involved in

lowed

liberation,

Tim remembers.

one

last

macabre incident that

when Lieutenant-Colonel Sumida,

chief of the

Kempetei, was tried in Singapore. Scott was called to give dence, which "I gave reluctantly because

war crimes

In fact Scott

trials."

ate as ever

— went out of

ble for so

much

torture

—

I

fol-

evi-

did not hold with

and

as impartial

dispassion-

way to show that the man responsihad only been behaving in "his own his

Japanese way." Sumida was, however, sentenced to be hanged,

whereupon he of

sent Scott a message "thanking

me

for the fairness

my evidence." Rob

Scott

now did an extraordinary thing, which own inimitable way. "I thought that

scribed in his

is

best de-

the least

I

could do, to close that chapter, was to go out and see him hanged.

Which

I

did

began to pour with

— rather

rain,

closer than

it

and the only covered, sheltered spot I mounted it with the exc(

in

the prison yard was the scaffold, so tioner,

whilst

and stood it

to

one

meant

as

side,

I

to,

u

an inch or so from the trap door,

was sprung with Sumida on •

it."

THE YEARS OF AGONY

333

Considering the years of rigorous confinement and torture,

how many of those who lived through that time are One would have thought that the starvation fit.

astonishing still

it is

extremely

sapping

diet, the

effect

on morale, would have lopped But

years off the later years of their lives.

no difference. found

it

If

any needed time

normal

difficult to start

it

a few

seems to have made

to adjust themselves,

if

any

they solved their

lives again,

problems successfully in various ways. Brigadier Ivan Simson,

and

the Japanese for three to rid his

his secret report

from

a half years, decided that the best

way

system of the nightmare would be to expand the report

into a longer work. (in fact it

and

who had hidden

It

was not written so

was never published)

to erase painful

memories.

took

for publication

himself and his friends

as for

It

much

him many

Today

years.

Brigadier Simson, in his seventies, lives in an old rambling

house of oak beams at Witney, the market town in Oxfordshire

famous for

its

blankets.

An

old walled garden, with pear trees

flattened against the dull bricks, gives

Simson's back

is

not as straight

as it

Percival in Flagstaff House, but he

and though is

his hair

is

now

him

Perhaps

privacy.

was the night he bearded

still

has an alert, quick mind,

white, his mustache

is still

an indefatigable correspondent, he drives a

car,

trim.

and

He

in the

summer of 1967 blithely set off on a motor tour of Austria. The imperturbable Dickie Dickinson, who had been so

horri-

Duff Cooper's unseemly conduct, is another who has grown gracefully into old age. Still handsome with a faint trace of spit and polish subtly transferred to his well-cut suits Dickinson, in his seventies, lives a few yards from the River Thames at Maidenhead, twenty-seven miles from London. He fied at

—

bears

no

trace of the

balcony watching the the

summer

Canada.

grenade that hit him first

moments

of 1967, to Italy

as

of peace.

—

he stood on the

He

too set off in

and Greece, followed by a

visit to

A SINISTER

334

TWILIGHT

Because of the tortures which he endured,

have been expected to

Rob

might

Scott

require an exceptionally and long period

of readjustment; indeed, there were

some who doubted

if

he

would ever be able to resume his brilliant career in the Foreign Service. But his courage and energy brought him back to a healthy and active life. For some months he lay in a hospital in India, little more than a bag of bones. But he soon began to fret wanting above all to get his so much for some work to do

—

impressions on paper while they were

still

fresh in his

him

that he persuaded the Foreign Office to send

When

she arrived, Scott firmly grabbed the typewriter

the

young lady

his

own

typing;

his

herself.

He

—

a typist.

and

told

preferred to do

and it two brilone on the sinking of the Giang Bee, the other that summed up so well the conflicts between was in hospital that he wrote his

— torture —

liant reports

on

go away and enjoy

to

mind

the different races.

After his

had a predictably meteoric rise in the becoming Minister at the British Embassy in

illness, Scott

Foreign Service,

Washington, followed by

spells of

General in South East Asia,

duty

as British

Commandant

Commissioner-

of the Imperial De-

fence College, and finally Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Defence until he retired in 1963 tive term, for

he

still

serves

— retired being

a compara-

on countless committees. He

ceived a knighthood, and a string of letters after his name. Sir

Robert

lives in

house

set

Leslie

had transformed into

a delightful split-level

also

had a remarkable

moved from

the

rise in his profession.

Tribune

to the Straits

and he recently received the Malayan equivalent of Rob knighthood. Today he enjoys the is

in

amidst the rolling countryside he loves so much.

Hoffman

After the war, he

and

Now

an old disused railway station near Peebles

Scotland, which he

re-

now

title

of

Times, Scott's

Dato Leslie Hoffman, Times group.

editor-in-chief of the influential Straits

THE YEARS OF AGONY Others took up

less

Jimmy

guessed that

predictable careers.

who had

Glover,

335

Who

would have

so often crossed swords

with authority and government, would eventually work for the British

pore,

government

Jimmy was

in

London? After

from Singa-

his escape

reunited with Julienne in India where he

worked on propaganda until Singapore was liberated. When he returned to the city where he had made his career, he found it difficult to settle

moved

to

down, and

after

some

years he

and Julienne

England.

Tim and

Marjorie Hudson are two others

who have had

a full

life. Though he had not been tortured, Tim was when he arrived back in England on one of the first evacuation ships. Marjorie was waiting to greet him at the docks, and she whisked him away to a small village in Devonshire. And there she kept him for a year until he was fit again

and rewarding in

poor shape

—

from Dunlops that they badly needed

despite pleas in Singapore.

him

Tim would

have gone

was

see the letters until she

baby

and

so while they

A

girl called Bridget.

— only Marjorie never

satisfied

Tim and

there was something else. children,

his services

he was well. Besides,

Marjorie had never had any

were in Devonshire they adopted

Tim worked

when he

until 1954,

returned to England. Both he and Marjorie

felt that it

Bridget had a brother or

it

sister,

even though

would ever have any children

They now took an

whom

they

did not seem that

extraordinary, courageous step.

it.

It

was time

of their own.

offered, in exceptional circumstances,

contracted to take

a

year or so later the three Hudsons

returned to Singapore where

they

let

an unborn

They were They

child.

turned out to be another

little girl

named Melanie. And within a month after welto the Hudson household, Marjorie became

coming Melanie pregnant for the the

first

time in fourteen years of marriage. Before

end of the year Heather arrived, and today the Hudsons are

A SINISTER

336

TWILIGHT

one of the happiest, closely knit families it is possible to imagine. They live near Ashford in Kent, in a house facing the rolling countryside, with apple blossom in the spring,

and

fields of

tawny corn in the autumn; and where Marjorie Hudson all things,

become one

has, of

of Britain's leading breeders of Siamese

cats.

Dr. Cicely Williams,

who

so bravely cared for the children of

become famous. At the age of seventy-three she lives an active life that would be the envy of many women half her age. Though she is based in London, she still roams the world, mostly on lecture tours. In June 1967, she flew to Atlantic City to be awarded the Joseph Goldberger medal for her original work on nutrition. It was the first time in history that the award made by the American Medical Association in conjunction with the Nutrition Foundation had ever been made to a foreigner. A few months later, Cicely Williams had a farewell dinner with Philip and Freddy Bloom, then set off on a year's world tour, lecturing and advising in places as far apart as Australia and Jamaica. Oddly enough, while Cicely Williams, an Englishwoman, received an American award, Freddy Bloom, the American who shared her Kempetei cage, received a British award from the Queen the OBE (Order of the British Empire) for her untiring efforts over twenty-five years to help deaf and handicapped children. Her marriage to Philip Bloom has never looked back and today they have two fine grown-up children and live in London, near Philip's consulting rooms in Harley Street. Singapore, has since

—

—

—

Though

Philip was not the sort of

readjust himself to civilian in captivity

life,

the

man who needed

war

the pioneers in Britain in a field of

time

to

Malaya and the years

becoming one of medicine which had previBefore the war Philip had

were directly responsible

ously received only scant attention.

in

for his

THE YEARS OF AGONY been a gynecologist, but

much opportunity

—

as

Freddy puts

it

337

— "He didn't have

to practice his profession in

camp." Philip

had, however, always been attracted by the problems of sexual

maladjustment, and his interest in ing captivity.

As soon

this field

was heightened durhe became a

as possible after the war,

now

reached

1967, the

Blooms

consultant on sexual and marital problems, and has the peak of his profession.

On

February

6,

held a party to celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of that

wedding ceremony in Fullerton Building during an air raid. Freddy was still wearing the sapphire ring Philip had bought from a street trader on the way to the registrar's office.

strange

Some have alive, Sir

died, of course.

Though Lady Thomas

Shenton Thomas, who fought

vindicate the slurs cast

on "whiskey-swilling

1962, aged eighty-three. Duff Cooper, to

to the

a broken

planters," died in

at sea in 1954, a

man

in 1966.

the events of Singapore speak for themselves,

twinge of sympathy for the general

his life to

few

General Percival was

days before his sixty-fourth birthday.

when he died

still

who became Ambassador

France and later Lord Norwich, died

seventy-nine

end of

is

And

though

one cannot help

who was expected

a

to fight to

man without any air or sea power. And some could not bear to leave their beloved Singapore. Willie Watt, who watched his own grave being dug, is now in the last

his seventies,

Alister

and

and retired in 1965

after forty-three years

Co., the last twelve years as chairman.

ately addicted to racing.

The

walls of his

flat

are lined with photographs of his winners

ample lallang

him

stocks of

Old

Rarity, the

He

with Mc-

is

— and he

still

Singapore

(he, too,

George

worked

and then joined the

Straits

keeps

brand of whiskey he hid in the

during the crazy days when the Japanese refused

to surrender.

passion-

in Rochalie Drive

Hammonds in India

till

to allow

has not only stayed in

Singapore was liberated

Times) but has taken up Singapor-

TWILIGHT

A SINISTER

338

ean nationality.

He looks upon

that the only right thing to

home and

the city as his real

do was

become

to

felt

a citizen of the city

and country he had chosen. Two more will never leave Singapore Buck and Lucy Buckeridge. Buck is in his sixties, Lucy ten years younger, and when Buck retired from the fire brigade in 1957 he and Lucy took a trip round the world for the express purpose of choosing

—

They never found

the ideal country in which to retire.

a coun-

try they liked better than Malaya, so they returned, and will stay

Lucy Buckeridge, who had helped so many penniless evacuees with cash loans, left Robinson's when Buck retired, but in i960 the firm's chief accountant died suddenly, and Robinson's begged her to help out for three months until they could find a replacement. Lucy said she would and has remained at Robinson's ever since. in Singapore for the rest of their lives.

—

It

was the sameness of Singapore that had

when

internees

three

and a half

found

years.

been

very

Somehow they had vaguely expected the own imprint on the great city and

left their

have changed

it

astonished the

they were freed from their prison camps after

Japanese to have port, to

first

much

as

it

visually

they had

and

left

physically.

it,

Instead they

and though there have

vast changes in Asia since those far-off days twenty-six years

— changes involving the independence of Malaya and gapore — there in a curious, haunting way a sameness ago

Sin-

is still

about the of 1941

city to

and

Perhaps

remind the wanderer returned

1942. it

is

the weather

— the

pitiless

of the

grim days

sun or the pelting

rains of the

monsoon thrashing

against the rattan blinds.

perhaps

because Singapore

an island

it is

is

Or

port, so that as one's

ship steams in toward Keppel Harbour, past the hot, shimmer-

THE YEARS OF AGONY ing, outlying islands, one's first sight

whelming sensation

is

339

always was: an over-

as it

of green after days at sea, the lines of waving

palms, the unchanging apparatus of dockland, the same pewter-

colored petrol tanks. Fullerton Building Collyer Quay, and Battery Road, linking still

as

narrow

as ever,

and Gian Singh, the nearby food

is

now

city,

it

with Raffles Place,

facials,

store

is

has disappeared,

where Europeans

tins of cigarettes just before the capitulation,

But the shape of the streets in the center of the the squares, the sports grounds of those days are totally still

dominates Raffles Place. Kelly and

Walsh, where

Tim Hudson

was given two books to take into

camp, has been replaced by an airline booking the narrow bustling

ists

landmark on

a bank.

unchanged. Robinson's

it

a

though Maynard's the chemists, where

Mrs. Jackson used to superintend the

brawled for a few

is still

Change Alley

is still

office,

but behind

thronged with tour-

in search of bargains or sailors in search of girls.

But

it is

in

Chinatown

that

one experiences the greatest sense

yellow Fords, and

— larger now than the old air-conditioned too — and drives through

Chinatown with

families squatting over their rice bowls be-

of sameness,

and

if

its

one takes a

taxi

up near the Pulo Saigon Bridge, still looking like an outsized Meccano model, and unchanged since the day when its steel girders were neath the

flags of

washing, one will eventually land

blazing from end to end.

Below

it

the Singapore River

is still

covered with a patchwork quilt of sampans. Raucous voices cry

and food hawkers make their daily rounds. Agile, skinny Chinese leap from one floating family to another, past women cooking rice and fish in the same kind of their wares as the waterboats

coalpots that Cicely Williams used to save the lives of the chil-

dren she later gave away.

And

stink of the river, an odor

no old Singaporean can ever

recognize, permeates the air.

above

all,

the sweet

and sour fail to

TWILIGHT

A SINISTER

340 It gives

one an almost uncomfortable feeling of never having

been away, even

after all these years,

and the sensation

persists as

one drives back toward "white" Singapore, for though this is now an Asian country, nothing seems to have changed physi-

— the municipal buildings, the Supreme functions did under Court, the Memorial Theatre —

cally.

The

civic center

as it

still

previous masters.

The

cathedral,

surrounded by

much

as a stone or a

has not been changed by so

its

greensward,

new

flower bed

when Reverend Bennitt hurriedly cleared the nave to make room for the wounded. Raffles Hotel is still there, though its barnlike lounge, where Leslie Hoffman served steaks during a raid, is now enclosed and air-conditioned. The Central since the days

Fire Station in Hill Street still

the old balcony

still

looks the same

— and there

where Hudson and Buckeridge

a stengah as they watched the rockets to the north

sat

is

drinking

announce the

Japanese landings on the island. In South Bridge Road, the bal-

cony where Dickie Dickinson was hit by a grenade

And

along Bukit

Timah Road, down which

thundered in their

last

advance, orchids

is

unchanged.

the Japanese tanks

still

blossom on the

banks of the canal. With independence there are new schools,

enormous housing

projects,

new

buildings, so that the city has

spread, of course, but even so, the outskirts

ing mixture of city and jungle; with one cars,

lows

still

hold a fascinat-

moment

the roar of

the next the croak of bullfrogs; in the old-fashioned bunga-

Tamils diligently scythe the coarse

glimpses of attap huts, bright green banana leaves of papaya,

produce a nostalgia that

is

and the

lallang, trees,

the heavier

almost overpower-

ing.

In Stevens Road, where live,

Tim and

Marjorie Hudson used to

hardly a house has changed, and their bungalow

is

just as

bank of lawn leading down from the veranda the garden and the hedge of hibiscus still screening the gai

was, with the

it

to

THE YEARS OF AGONY where

Tim

used to keep his sturdy

Road, where

Tim dug

had been buried by few more bars, a

a

new magnificent

at the

corner of Cuppage

after

tall

Marjorie

buildings, a

but otherwise

hotel,

Orchard Road of yesterday, with the still

hands

more

boasts a few

Orchard

Hillman.

little

frantically with his

bomb

341

fruit

the

it is

and vegetable market

Road near

the splendid white

building of the Cold Storage where Julienne Glover was caught in the gas

bomb scare.

One might have thought

that with independence, at least

Government House would have gone,

whom

it

if

only to appease those to

was a symbol of centuries of Colonial government. But

no, Singapore has a rare tolerance (and for that matter a rare

and today nothing has changed

sense of gratitude)

The hundred

to the eye.

acres of green grass are as immaculately kept as

on

when Shenton Thomas paced the lawns after Percival had told him of the first Japanese landings. But no one lives any longer in the white elephant of Government House, and the vast dining room where Lady Thomas sheltered under the table is denuded of furniture. One corner of the ramthat fateful evening

bling, ornate building

is

used for government

offices,

and

an-

other wing has been refurbished to offer hospitality to important guests.

As the ans

still

day's

work

ends, as the heat begins to wane, Singapore-

foregather on the broad balcony of the Cricket

Club on

facing the padang for an evening stengah. Here, with the sea the one side to

and a

line of flame trees

stumble into an old friend

as

on the

other,

one

is

certain

one watches Asians and Europe-

ans happily playing tennis or football together in this club

where once only "whites" were allowed. last

bizarre thought

comes

to

end

And

it is

then that a

this tale of blunders, of ifs

and

buts, of the greatest debacle in the history of British arms, in

which thousands of men and

women

of

all

races

and creeds died

A SINISTER TWILIGHT

342

in the mythical fortress its

which no one would, or could, help in

death throes. It is

the trite observation that out of

all evil

some good can

come; that the Asians, whose country Singapore ironically to thank the Japanese in

some measure,

now

is,

for

was the

it

have

Japanese victories in battle that destroyed forever the legend of

and so set in motion a train of events throughout Asia which led to eventual independence. And though it is true that the Allies returned to liberate the countries, it was never quite the same again. The awe, the mystique surrounding the tuan bazar had gone forever, and in Sinapore it was only a question of time before the frenetic, humid, the white man's supremacy,

opulent port that

known way

as

to the

is

unlike any other in the world, ceased to be

Europe's gateway to the East, but rather as Asia's gate-

West.

Bibliography

Bibliography

An

asterisk

also has

marks those from which quotations have been used. If a book been published in the United States, that edition is noted.

BOOKS CONSULTED Abend, Hallett. Ramparts of the Pacific. London, John Lane Bodley Head, 1942; New York, Doubleday, 1942. Allbury, A. G. Bamboo and Bushido. London, Robert Hale, 1955. Attiwill, K. TJie Singapore Story. London, Frederick Muller, 1959; Philadelphia, Saunders, 1959. Bennett, H. Gordon. Why Singapore Fell. Bombay, Thacker, 1945. Bhargava, K. D., and Sastri, K. N. V. Indian Armed Forces in the Second World War S. E. Asia 1941-42. Combined Inter-Services, Historical Section, India, i960.

Braddon, Russell. The Naked Island. London, T. Werner Laurie, 1952; New York, Doubleday, 1953. Broad, Lewis. The War That Churchill Waged. London, Hutchinson, i960.

Buggy, Hugh. Pacific Victory. London, Robertson and Mullens, 1967. Bulcock, Roy. Of Death But Once. Melbourne, F. W. Cheshire, 1947. Chapman, F. Spencer. The Jungle Is Neutral. London, Chatto and Windus, 1949; New York, Norton, 1949. Churchill, Winston S. The Second World War, 6 vols. Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1948-53; London, Cassell, 1948-54. Clarke, Blake. Pearl Harbour. London, The Bodley Head, 1942. Cooper, Duff. Old Men Forget. London, Rupert Hart-Davis, 1953;

New

York, Dutton, 1954. Crew, F. A. The Army Medical Services, Vol. II. London, H.M.S.O., 1957. Donahue, A. G. Last Flight From Singapore. London, Macmillan, 1944; New York, Macmillan, 1943.

Ehrman, John. Grand

London, H.M.S.O., 1956. Concise History of World War

Strategy, Vols. II, V, VI.

Esposito, Brigadier-General Vincent J. London, Pall Mall Press, 1964.

A

II.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

346

Gallagher, O. D. Retreat in the East. London, George G. Harrap, 1942.

Gilmour, O.

W.

Singapore

to

Freedom.

,

Burrows, 1943.

Glover, E. M. In Seventy Days. London, Frederick Muller, 1946. Graves, Philip. Record of the War, The Tenth Quarter. London, Hutchinson, 1942. Grenfell, Captain Russell.

Main

Fleet to Singapore.

Faber, 1951; New York, Macmillan, 1952. Harrison, Kenneth. The Brave Japanese. London,

London, Faber and

Angus and Robertson,

1967.

Hough, Richard. The Hunting

of Force.

London, William Collins Sons,

1963; New York, Macmillan, 1963. Kase, Toshikazu. The Eclipse of the Rising Sun.

London, Jonathan Cape,

1951; New Haven, Yale University Press, 1950. Kerr, George F. Business in Great Waters. London, Faber

Kirby, Major-General

S.

and Faber,

Woodburn. The War Against Japan,

Vol.

I,

1951.

The

Loss of Singapore. London, H.M.S.O., 1957. Lockhart, Bruce. The Marines Were There. London, Putnam, 1950; New York, British Center, 1950. McCarthy, Dudley. Australia in the War 1939-45, S. W. Pacific Area (Army).

Melbourne, Australia War Memorial, 1959. MacKenzie, Compton. Eastern Epic. London, Chatto and Windus, 1951. MacMillan, Norman. The R.A.F. in the World War. London, George G. Harrap, 1950. Maxwell, Sir George. The Civil Defense of Malaya. London, Hutchinson, 1944-

Morrison, Ian. Malayan Postscript. London, Faber and Faber, 1942. Mountbatten, Vice-Admiral Earl. Report to the Combined Chiefs of Staff. London, H.M.S.O., 1957. Odgers, George. Australia in the War 1939-45, War Against Japan (Air).

Melbourne, Australia

War

Memorial, 1957.

Onn, Chin Kee. Malaya Upside Down. Singapore, Jitts and Co., 1946. Owen, Frank. The Fall of Singapore. London, Michael Joseph, i960. Percival, Lieutenant-General A. E. The War In Malaya. London, Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1949. Playfair, Giles. Singapore

Goes Off the Air. London, Jarrolds, 1944; New York, Button, 1943. Richards, Denis, and Saunders, Hilary St. George. The Fight Avails. London, H.M.S.O., 1952. Rivett, Rohan. Behind Bamboo. London, Angus and Robertson, 1950. Roberts, Denis Russell. Spotlight on Singapore. London, Anthony Gibbs

and

Phillips, 1965.

Rose, Angus.

Who

Roskill, Captain

The Navy

at

S.

Dies Fighting. London, Jonathan Cape, 1944. W. The War At Sea, Vol. II. London, H.M.S.O., 1956.

War. London, William Collins Sons, i960.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

347

Sleeman, Colin, and Silkin, S. C. The Double Tenth Trial. London, William Hodge, 1951; Philadelphia, Saunders, 1948. Stewart. Brigadier I. MCA. History of the Second Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. London, Thomas Nelson, 1947. Slim, Sir William. Defeat into Victory. London, Cassell, 1956. Strabolgij Lord. Singapore and After. London, Hutchinson, 1942. Tsuji, Masanobu. Singapore The Japanese Version. London, Constable,

—

i960.

Walker, Allan

S.

Australia in the

War

(Medical). Melbourne, Australia

1939-45, Middle East and Far East

War

Memorial, 1953.

Wavell, General Sir Archibald. ABDA Command. London, H.M.S.O., 1948. Speaking Generally. London, Macmillan, 1946. Wigmore, Lionel. Australia in the War, the Japanese Thrust. London, Angus and Robertson, 1958. Winant, John G. A Letter from Grosvenor Square. London, Hodder and Stoughton, 1947.

DOCUMENTS CONSULTED Brooke-Popham, Air Chief-Marshal Sir Robert. Official Dispatch (London Gazette, 1/22/48). Fuehrer Conference on Naval Affairs (Berlin, 1942). Lavton, Vice-Admiral Sir Geoffrey, Official Dispatch (London Gazette, '

2/26/46).

Maltby, Air Vice-Marshal Sir Paul. Official Dispatch (London Gazette, 2/26/48). Percival,

Lieutenant-General A. E. Official Dispatch (London

6/ 22 /48).

Gazette,

Index

Index

ABDA

(American,

Australian)

British,

Command,

Dutch,

Arabs,

10,

See

Argyll

and Sutherland Highlanders,

83, 85.

also Allied forces

J

Adam

Road, 265, 266, 267 Adelphi Hotel, 273

Lit,

Asians, 10, 25, 51, 52-53, 170, 172, 325; nurses, 183-184, 188; flee city,

213-214.

houseboy, 86, 98 See also Butterworth;

Johore, Kallang; Kota Bahru, Sel-

Tengah

Ma-

167,

212-213

Australia,

7, 8, 77, 95, 108-109, 189, 218, 213, 244, 245, 270-271, 281

Australian forces, 29, 60, 126, 130,

Air Raid Precautions 28-29, 38, 74, 81, 276; during

See also Chinese;

Tamils Attiwill, Kenneth, lays;

Airfields, 76.

etar;

25

Armenians, 10

Admiralty, 33, 136 Agency House, Cluny, 114, 158 Ah Ling, houseboy, 2 1

Ah

178

(ARP),

101,

104,

21,

156,

dock bombing, 192-

Tiong Bahru headquarters, bombed, 219-222 193;

Alexandra Hospital,

39,

237,

241-

132,

162-167, 181, 200, 205, 238,

271; Air Force, 29; 8th Division, 60,

131;

22nd Brigade,

167;

and

defense of Jurong Line, 201-203; headquarters, 207; withdrawal to Java, 218

Auxiliary Fire Service (AFS), 41, 74,

243 Alexandria, 244

77, 100, 101, 159

Alhambra Theatre (cinema),

102,

146 Allied forces, 89, 164, 166, 183, 199, 206, 238, 245, 342

Amber Mansions,

40, 41,

104,

112,

Bali, 4, 127

Banka

116, 148

Americans, in Singapore, 24, 43, 95 Anderson Bridge, 298

Anson Road,

Bagan, 59 Bahrein, 244

21, 42, 59,

149

Strait

and

Island,

302-303,

3°9

Bataan Peninsula, 206 Battery Road, 7, 21, 24,

91, 147,

339

INDEX

352 Batu Pahat, 89 Beach Road, Asiatic quarter, 144 Bengal, Bay

Beng Swee

of,

Bloom, Freddy cont'd: 99, 101,

ing" expedition, 315; internment, 318, 322, 323, 325-326; current life, 336-337 Bloom, Dr. Philip,

244

Place, 98

Bennett, H. Gordon, 60, 126, 131,

14,

39,

47,

95,

118, 292, 315-316; marriage, 150-

on

154; internment, 316, 323; current

evacuation of naval base, 137; on

336-337 Botanic Gardens, 125 Bowden, V. G., Australian govern-

133-134,

labor

199-200,

shortage,

202,

142;

207;

and with-

drawal of Australian troops, 203-

bombed

life,

city,

ment

225-226; on possibility of capitu-

cape,

on

204;

deserted,

lation, 239-240; escape plan,

240-

241, 270-271, 280-282; surrender

decision, 261-263; reaches tra,

Suma-

120,

260-261;

surrender,

Canon A.

J.,

145-146,

121,

x,

16,

256,

21-22, re-

340;

fuses to leave Singapore, 180-181;

on Cathedral

309 British Empire, 19-20, 205, 206 British forces, Singapore, 10, 33, 60-

as hospital, 183;

on

ter-service quarrels, 35-36, 37, 61;

and Brooke-Popham, with

civilians, 58-59;

fiasco,

37; relations

and

bicycle

93-94; 18th Division, 109,

looting, 253-254; reaction to cease-

112,

fire,

245; strength, 130, 163, 205;

273 Bennitt, Mrs. A.

J., 56, 120

rale

Berchtesgaden, 243

218,

Beri-beri, 256

tion,

Bisseker, F. D., 80-81, 228

Black market,

86,

British

British

!7>

91,

142,

24,

146,

168,

dilemma,

186;

154, 316, 320;

to duty,

222,

and evacuation

117-118; during air

95,

102,

197-198,

184;

marriage,

during

132, 150, 201, 205,

siege,

of

lack

238;

162-163;

143,

mo207,

147,

deterrent

casualties,

High Command,

ac-

288n

High

see

British

Naval Shipping Control, 211

Alanbrooke), 246 x,

39, 47, 57, 76-77, 90,

223, 257, 262, 297;

131,

Brooke, General Alan F. (Viscount

Blood Transfusion, 47, 118, 274 Bloom, Freddy (Elfrieda) Retz,

H*

119,

Command,

329-330

Blackout, 21, 26, 29, 39-40, 75 Blenheim (bomber), 34n

raids,

es-

308-

61, 74, 89, 121, 126, 181, 238; in-

308

Bennitt,

representative, 218, 241;

150-

on Asians' devotion and evacuation of

and city's humiliation, and evacuation of General 247; nurses, 188;

Hospital, 292, 293-295; "scroung-

Brooke-Popham, 3 2 > 34. 37'

Sir Robert,

Bryson, Hugh,

ix,

Buckeridge, B. C.

300-301 J.

(Buck), x, 41-

42, 76, 77, 90, 99-100,

161,

168,

11-12,

45-46, 5°> 6 4

194-195,

196.

144,

157-

231, 297,

340; on liquor ban, 176-177, 182; on Tyersall Hospital bombing, 184-185; on city's fires, 250-253; on preparations for internment, 257; and cease-fire, 273, 277-279;

INDEX Buckeridge, B. C.

J.

cont'd:

transition to "peace," 309-312; in-

ternment, 310, 322; current

338 Buckeridge, Lucy, 120,

life,

99-100,

x, 76, 90,

evacuated from Singa-

278;

pore, 159-160; current

life,

Timah

(village), 128, 167, 168,

7-8, 209, 216,

Burma,

in,

3, 4, 5,

108

of,

10,

173-174;

43;

air raid

bomb

101;

177-179,

219;

339

11,

14,

26, 53, 63, 101, 110, 169; 74,

22,

5,

30;

99,

73,

142,

postwar sameness

system, 90;

105, 108, 109

21, 24,

and

civil

terminate chit

101;

and engineering works,

assist in

demolition, 175,

from city, 213; special Japanese vengeance toward, 289-

Burmese, 10 Butterworth,

lack of shelters in,

defense,

237, 263-265, 266, 267, 327, 340

26,

206

China Seas, 6 Chinatown, Singapore,

Chinese,

Timah Road,

Burma Road,

31, 165, 205,

damage

207, 212, 267

Bukit

Chiang Kai-shek, 219 China, 110, 115; war with Japan,

casualties in,

338

Buffalo (plane), 29, 34, 38, 208

Bukit

353

178; flight

RAF

airfield, 51

290; aid to internees, 322-323

Chit system, 90, 182

Cambodia Point, Indochina, 11, Cameron Highlands, 8, 59, 176

12

Churchill,

Lady Clementine,

22

Churchill, Sir Winston, 24, 47, 111,

word

of attack, 22-

Canberra, Australia, 218, 240

241; receives

Cantonment Road, 196

23;

Capitol Cinema, 127

and Duff Cooper, 44, 46, 64 on importance of fortress 50, 128; and Wavell, 83, 204-206 207, 217, 250; and civilian evacu ation, 95, 103, 208, 215; on de 33;

Catalina (flying boat), 34n

Cathay Building, 155' l6 9>

i

:o,

19,

dispatches ships to Far East

79,

82, 84;

135,

149,

209

Cathay Cinema, 102 Censorship, 139-141, 155-156 Central Fire Station, 161, 250, 273,

fensibility of fortress, 105-106;

277. 340 Ceylon, 137, 244

confidence from

fense plan, 107-109;

de

and vote of

Commons,

112

and scorched earth policy, 171172, 173; dictum on holding for

Chamberlain, Neville, 10

Change

204-206, 207, 217, 244-246

Alley, 147, 288, 339 Changi, 131, 274; internment camp (Changi Jail), 276, 290, 297, 299-

announces fall of Singapore, 314 Chu Yu-Min, servant, 212

military

Civil defense, 51, 56, 64-72, 74, 79,

communiKempetei raid on,

82; blackout, 21, 26, 29, 39-40, 75;

300,

310-311,

314,

318;

barracks, 321; prisoner

cations in, 323;

324-325 Chatsworth Road,

39, 153

Chequers, 22-23, 103

tress,

trenches,

29-30, 41,

57-58,

155;

helmets, 41-42, 76, 93, 310; and morale, 67, 84; shelter policy, 155157, 190

INDEX

354 Civil Defense of

Malaya (Maxwell),

Curtin, John, Australian prime min-

igon

ister, 109, 240,

241

Civilian Evacuation Committee, 228,

230 Cluny, 114, 117, 158, 159 Clyde Terrace Market, 99

da

Silva's (jewelers), 150-151 Dairy Farm, 216, 238, 310 Datch, 59

Coconut Grove, nightclub, 75 Cold Storage, 6-7, 56, 91, 97,

103,

Davis, Eric, 155, 211

Davis, L.

141-142, 179,341

Newsom, x

College of Medicine. 221, 272

Dawson, C. W.,

Collyer Quay, 21, 39, 118, 147, 159,

Demolition,

Intelligence Bureau, 37,

Communications, 163, 164, 166; among Changi prisoners, 323 Coode, Major George, 259-260, 269-

3,

42-43,

190, 191, 234;

57-58,

101,

74,

pay controversy,

58,

111

Cooper, Sir Alfred Duff (Lord Norwich), 43-45, 53-54, 74, 79-80, 81,

and War Council, 45-46, 61-64, 68-72; and Wavell, 83-85; returns home, 84-86; death (1954), 82, 174;

99,

104,

defense

during

wounded, 274-275,

receives

22,

life,

282, 296-

333

Dickinson, Bunny, 118, 274, 297 Dinsley, Donald,

x

Docks, 58, 76, 98, 118-119, 148, 175, 190-191; bomb damage, 142, 192, 230-231; control of

fires

on, 310,

312

Donahue, Flight-Lieutenant Arthur, 146, 208, 209

11,

Dunearn Road,

42, 46, 48, 91,

148,

45, 62, 68, 81,

264-

265

Dunlop Rubber Purchasing Com-

24, 30,

pany, 95, 100, 142, 234-237, 277

157,

182,

preparations,

75;

Durban, 244 Dutch air reinforcements, 50 Dutch East Indies, see Netherlands

8,

17,

125,

142,

21,

147;

damage, 214;

wounded,

292; internees

siege,

ix,

161, 168, 170, 209

Coulson, Norman, 322-323, 325, 326; death of, 327

341;

263;

Dulverton,

Co-Prosperity Sphere, 289 Corregidor, 205

6,

(Dicky),

Duchess of Bedford, 121

337 Cooper, Lady Diana, 82

Cricket Club,

earth

2gn, 47, 62-63, 64, 72, 82, 100, 118; and surrender decision, 262-

297, 340; current

270 Coolies,

Scorched

de Moubray, Katherine, 295, 315 Dickinson, A. H.

141-142

46,

301

policy

288, 339; fires in, 251

Combined

x,

see

leave from, 297-298

East Indies

Dysentery, 256

Cuppage Road, 179, 341 Curlewis, Captain, 270 Currency, 103-104, 177

East Coast Road, 311, 313

INDEX Eastern Smelting Company, 80

Empire Dock, 119, 310 Empress of Asia, 150, 152, 158, 320 Empress of Japan, 113, 120, 121 Evacuation, European, 56, 59, 62, 75-76, 86-87, 92, 258; from Penan g> 52, 53= fr o m Singapore, 94112-121,

coastline,

miners,

Fullerton Building, 21, 47, 150, 151, 2 33» 2 47> 339'

wounded

transferred

292-295;

patients

evacuated

to,

from, 314, 315

of up-country tin

103;

on

157;

Roussel,

Felix

of nurses,

157-161;

>

northern

of

208;

Hugh, 86-87, 9 8 282-283; and truce negotiations, 263-267; death from torture, 327 Fraser and Neave, 147, 182

Fraser,

Economist, The, quoted, 88-89

95,

355

186-190;

of

Harbour Board, 190-192; of PubWorks members, 226-232; of Government House, 232-233; of

lic

General Hospital, 291-293; losses in official schemes for, 302-306; of patients to Changi, 314-315

General Hospital,

95,

150,

154, 168, 186, 221, 223, 277,

296-

297;

first

47,

39,

wounded

arrive

196-197; evacuation

General Post

of,

at,

57,

291-295

Office, 151

George Town, 51-52 Germany, 8, 206, 243-244 Giang Bee, H.M.S., 211-212, 304306, 331; Scott's report of sinking of,

334

Gian Singh, food

Felix Roussel (Free French vessel), 158, 159-161

Glover, Jimmy,

Fifth column, 92-93, 145, 273

190;

127,

by Har-

orphans, 223-224; at internment

camp, 298-299, 300. See also Rationing Office, 118

Forbes, Dr. veterinarian, 209

Ford Motor

factory,

at,

Japanese head-

>

first

on confusion of communiques, 60; and Jones's dismissal, 88; and liquor ban, 176; ordered to leave, 209-210; after

V-E day, 335 Glover, Julienne,

11,

12,

17, 21, 97,

18,

13,

21,

37,

84,

179, 227, 237, 239, 254, 262;

surrender decided France, 56; collapse

evacuated, 158, 159, 170;

149;

is

after

V-E day, 335

Golf Club,

75,

216

Goodwood Park

267

Fort Canning, 141,

21,

148, 341; refuses evacuation, 118,

Food Production

quarters

17,

reactions, 48, 170; 103,

evacuated

for

14,

91.97' 10 3> ll8

149, 159, 161, 168, 171;

148,

179, 263, 294, 312; stored

bour Board,

11-12,

22, 41, 42, 43, 51,

Fiji Islands,

43 Flagstaff House, 65 Food, 9, 56, 86, 90-91,

store, 257-258, 339 Gibson, G. G., 307, 3o8n Gilmore, Mr., 57

at,

of,

262-263

36

Gort,

Field

Hotel, 102

Marshal

(John

S.

S.

Prendergast), viscount, 68n

Government House, 61,

70, 80, 86,

7,

18-19,

20,

191, 341; air raid

1

INDEX

35^

Government House cont'd: damage to, 97, 217; "business-asusual" attitude

evacuation

at,

144-145, 181;

232-233 Graham- White, Archdeacon, of,

97, 152,

Hay, Marjorie, x, 86-87, 280 Health authorities, 58 Heath, General

Sir Lewis, 59, 65

Henry, Jim, 47,

153, 154

High Command,

292-293 Graham- White, Mrs.,

death

97, 152;

Hoffman,

Leslie,

325;

323,

Hammonds, Barbara, 33, 56, 77 Hammonds, Frank, 115 Hammonds, George, x, 15, 16,

life,

17,

22, 24, 25, 37-38, 40, 46, 55, 90,

112,

161,

157,

169-

reactions to siege, 31-36,

48; describes Jones, 62; "business-

as-usual" attitude, 77-78, 146, 179— 180;

and private police

during

air

raids,

force, 91;

102;

99,

and

civilian evacuation, 113-114, 120-

121;

on evacuation

134-^35,

1

of naval base,

37~ 39>

on

"siege," 139;

word

and

1

lack of shelters,

156; and liquor ban, 176-177; ordered to leave, 209-210; present life,

47-48,

275;

213-215; obreaction

144;

and Changi,

tortured,

325;

to

314,

present

334

Holden, Corporal Bill, 242 Holland Park, 1 Hong Kong, 27-28, 127, 176, 276 Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank, 55, 116

Hopkins, Dan, 40 Hopkins, Harry, 23 Hore-Belisha, Leslie, 68n

House of Commons, Hudson, Marjorie, 141-142,

148,

112 x,

154,

95-97,

117, re-

340-341;

fuses evacuation, 112-113, 118;

is

evacuated, 158-159, 197, 275; after

V-E day, 335-336 Hudson, Tim, x, 95-97,

100-102,

104, 112-113, 118, 143, 146, 148—

337~33 8

Hammonds, Karen,

15,

47> 5^, 77-78, 102, 148;

33,

40-41,

and

evac-

uation dilemma, 94-95, 112, 113117, 120

Happy World

210,

113,

looting,

cease-fire,

104,

31-32,

168-169, 170, 171, 340; stay-or-go decision, serves

first

x,

77-78, 99, 102, 117, 120, 146, 148,

Grenades, 148 Guard, Harold, 140-141

171;

British, 27-28, 167

Hiroshima, 330 Hitler, Adolf, 244

of, 320 Great World (dancehall), 55 Greener, Captain H. L., 321

93-94,

94, 98, 120,

(dancehall), 55

Harbour Board,

21, 175,

190-192

Harriman, Averell, 23 Havelock Road, 253; Market, 99 Hay, M. C., x, 86, 280-282

149,

157-161, 176, 182, 209, 339, his uncensored broad-

340-341;

dock during 154-157; bombings, 192-199; headquarters bombed, 219-222, 225-226; and cast,

Chinese offer 237;

notes

on

to

city's

buy rubber, 234humiliation,

preparations

for

217;

intern-

ment, 256-258; and news of cease-

INDEX Tim

Hudson.

Japan cont'd:

cont'd:

and

272-273, 275-280;

fire,

311,

first

288-290;

signs of defeat in city,

internment, 299,

357

322;

320,

V-E day, 335-

released, 332; after

ish evaluation of strength of,

war with China, strategy

206;

Hudsons

34n

(planes),

26, 31, 165, 205,

27-28,

of,

49-50;

toward,

policy

British

336

25-

31-32, 36, 38, 60-61, 66-67;

28,

32;

air

strength, 50, 74, 95, 130, 149, 163,

December penetration, 59-

Hurricane, British fighter, 38, 130,

170;

146, 208, 310 Hutchings, L. C, 259 Hutchings, Mrs. L. C, 279

60; troop strength, 130, 133, 165; artillery, 141, 163-164; spearhead

bombing

165-168;

attack,

of

docks, 192-193; surrender of, ru-

India, 43,

60,

radio contacts

244;

with, 323, 328 6,

Indians,

10,

5,

244 53, 63,

110,

169;

3rd Corps, 59; troops, 59, 89, 130, 138; 11th division, 131; assist in demolition, 175;

in,

29

Intelligence, see

Combined

i8gn,

180,

287;

297-301,

by,

Changi

strength,

242-243,

perpe-

325-3 2 9

Kempetei); ammunition enter

250;

288n;

casualties,

Singapore, raid

on

Changi, 324-325 Java,

Java

Marshal

W.

Ed-

mund, 68n Ismay, General Sir Hastings, 106

36

302

4, 50, 244,

Jitra,

Sea, 307

60

Johns, Colin, 255, 274 Johore, 34, 60, 65, 67, 70, 71, 90, 141, 240; Sultan of, 20, 71, 165, 203, 240, 281; Japanese advance, 75, 89-91,

82-84; Jackson, Lily, 147, 339

Japan,

130;

atrocities

^5>

Javanese, 10

Ipoh, 59 Field

1

33>

(see also

of patients, 314-316; torture, 325-

Ironside,

2

shortage,

320, 330-331; inequities in, 309;

Italy,

S°>

Intelli-

International law, 298

329. See also

(18th) Division, 130, 161,

5th division,

trated

gence Bureau

264, 287

Thrust,

themum 237; 1

Indomitable, British carrier, 33

Command,

The, Australian official war history, i2gn, i37n Japanese troops, 205, 268-269; Imperial Guards, 130, 201; Chrysan-

213

flee city,

Indochina, Japanese airfields

Internment,

Japanese High Japanese

Indian Ocean, 4,

mored, 330 Japanese, in Singapore, 22, 147

9,

10,

12,

33,

Harbor

of,

53,

91,

126;

attack, 23; Brit-

105-106,

107,

Japanese airbases in, 142, 163; Japanese gun emplacements 110;

attacks Malaya, 21-22, 24-25, 2627; Pearl

lack of defenses,

103;

battle

in,

144

Johore Bahru, 103

INDEX

358 Johore

105-

Straits, 4, 9, 25, 66, 83,

106, 126-128, 130, 162, 200, 201

Jones, Stanley, 61-62, 63, 70-71, 80, 82, 263-264, 280; dismissal of,

86-

Jurong

Line,

ment

of,

shortage

142;

for

civilian air raid shelters, 157.

See

138;

137,

200-203;

abandon-

From Singapore (Dona-

hue), 2o8n

Leasor, James, ix-x

204

Jurong River,

of,

also Coolies

Last Flight

98-99

88,

Labor cont'd:

Liquor, ban

200

131,

of, 176, 182,

301

Local Defence Volunteers, 187 Looting, 144, 253, 289

Kallang

Luzon, 205

Airfield, 22, 27, 201, 207

Kallang Bridge, 313 Kampong Bahru Road, 194 Katong, 298, 300, 318 Kedah, 20 Kelantan, 20, 59 Kelly

and Walsh

McAlister's (import firm), 143, 273

McConechy, F. M. G., 229-230 MacGregor, Dr. R. B., 187-188, 190

(booksellers),

7,

147, 180, 257, 339

91,

Kempetei, Japanese equivalent to

MacKenzie, Alastair, 292-293 Macpherson Road, 79 McRitchie reservoir, 248

Gestapo, 323-324; raid on Changi,

Main Wharf,

324-325; and torture of prisoners,

Malacca,

325-329 Kenny, Irene, 149, 171 Keppel Harbour, 3, 159, 193, 338 Keppel Road, 100, 194, 234, 277 Kitching, Brian, 300 Kitching,

103-104,

T.

C.

143,

290-291, 299; death, 320

Kota Bahru, in

18,

27,

of,

Kuala Lumpur,

306-307 280

111;

ended,

naval

composition

first

of,

independ-

postwar

ence, 338

l 55>

54>

J

57> 173; staff

116,

evacuated,

211, 212

Tribune,

31,

46,

George

47,

11-12, 169,

Town

13,

170,

edition,

advertisements

103; bombed, 149 Malaya War Fund, 212 Malayan Civil Service,

base,

of,

10;

20;

of,

51-52; battle

in,

126;

of,

Malaya Broadcasting Company,

234;

49, 59

at

55-56; economic

Unfederated States

bizarre

Labor, 58, 67, 71, 74, 77, 120, 191; pools organized, 81; conscription

demanded,

36;

3,

Federated States

19-20;

22,

20, 117,

Kuantan (township),

in,

Malaya

49

Kranji River, 200-201

Kuala, sinking

10, 27, 50,

effort

1

25-26, 28, 29;

20,

enemy hands,

119 281

terror raid

(Tommy), x, 88, 151, 300; on con-

fusion in orders, 254; "internment kit,"

Malaya,

19,

72, 82;

businessmen, 80-81; and

88-89

Malay Peninsula,

25,

50

in,

21,

209, 51;

102-

and

services,

INDEX Malays,

4, 6, 10, 21, 53, 63, 110, 169,

178, 211; troops, 130; 1st Brigade,

-^7-238, 241

359

Morrison, Ian, 178,

331;

129,

146,

139,

tion, 138

Malcolm Road, 100

Moscow,

Malta, 127, 155 Maltby, Air Vice-Marshal Paul

Mount Pleasant, 100, 300 Muar River, battle of, 89, 90 Munich agreements, 8, 10

C,

28

Manpower Bureau, 94 Marsha, Chinese amah, Maiy Rose,

39, 154 diesel-engined vessel,

261,309 see Medical Auxiliary Service

16,

127

Municipal Council, 228 Municipal Veterinary Surgeon, 312

MAS,

Nakani, Lieutenant, 311-312

Masefield, Jack, 59 Maxwell, Brigadier, Australian com-

Narkunda

mander, 202, 203 Maynard's the chemist,

42,

7,

147,

Medical Auxiliary Service 95,

188,

187,

223,

(MAS),

233,

247,

293» 295

Mediterranean Sea, 36 Mei Ling, amah, 148, 158-159, 276, 277-278, 280, 332 Memorial Theatre, 340 Mersing, 89

Middlebrook,

S.

diseases) hos-

Mimatsu, Mr.,

10,

207 Newbiggin, Brigadier, 263-267 New Bridge Road, 22, 274

Monro, J. K., 225 Monsoons, 14, 25,

48, 49, 92,

157, 173, 181, 202;

117,

128,

131,

and naval base word

evacuation, 136; and use of 139; of troops,

143,

L.,

226—

232 passim, 306-307, 323; death of,

308 L.,

307-308, 3o8n

119,

125

Morale, 52, 67, 84,

102

Africa, 16, 55, 238

Nunn, Mrs. R.

closed, 210

218, 238;

Circus, 264

New World (dancehall), New Zealand, 43, 244

Nunn, Group-Captain R.

22

Ministry of Economic Warfare, 43 Ministry of Information, 43, 140;

322

38, 48, 128, 261;

Nehru, Jawaharlal, 219 Netherlands East Indies, 109, 213, 244; RAF aircraft withdrawn to,

North

pital, 186

207,

95

Negri Sembilan, 20

Newton

M., 228, 230

Middleton (infectious

"siege,"

(ship),

Nassim Hill, 255 Nassim Road, 311 Naval base, 35, 37,

evacuated, 134-139

257' 339

39,

169,

on naval base evacua-

147,

of internees, 320,

Observer Corps, 143; disbanded, 273 Orchard Road, 6, 21, 24, 95-96, 142, 143,

180,

210,

237,

311,

bombed, 179 Osborn,

Sybil, 292-293 Osprey, launch, 260-261

Outram Road,

197; Jail, 255

341;

INDEX

3 6°

Owler, Stewart, 175

Persian Gulf, 244

Ozawa, Admiral, 302-303

Petrie, Elizabeth, 189

Philippine Islands, 205, 246 Phillips,

P and O,

112,

114-115, 116,

113,

Admiral

Pompong

Sir

Port Arthur, battle

119, 120, 149, 158, 159, 160

Tom, 48-49

Island, 307 of,

25

Pahang, 20

Port Darwin, 244 Port Dickson, 59

Parkinson, Captain, 242

Pownall, General Henry, 64

Pasir Panjang, 237, 241

Pretty,

Page, SirEarle, 109

Paterson, Mr., 5?

Eric,

bank

destroys

104;

notes, 177

Patterson, Jim, 153 Pavilion Cinema, 127

Prince of Wales, HMS, 9, 32, 33, 53; sinking of, 47, 48-49, 311

Pearl Harbor, 23, 24, 27-28

Prisoners of war, 288n, 290. See also

Pegu Road, 186

Internment

Penang,

19, 51-53, 172; evacuation of Europeans from, 52; Japanese

Province Wellesley,

occupation

Public

of,

60-61, 181

Perak, 20, 59 168,

172,

241,

18,

13,

262,

249,

3o8n, 341; and morale, 52, 67, 84, 128, 131; and defense preparations, 64-67, 72, 83, 108-110,

127-

128, 132; described, 129; troops of

his

command,

Works Department,

evacuation,

Pulau Bukum, 261 Pulau Ubin, island, 132 Pulford, Air Vice-Marshal C.

death, 303

and naval scorched

evacuation of nurses,

Raffles, Sir

147;

137;

lack of deter-

188,

187,

189-190; and defense of Jurong

Line, 201; defense plan for

city,

201-203; secret retreat plan, 206207;

on

and

capitulation,

lack of air support, 216; 239,

245,

provisions for

staff

250, es-

cape, 259-260, 269-270, 271; ceasefire

H.,

Pulo Saigon Bridge, 252-253, 339

rent action, 162-164, 167-168; and

267-269;

W.

20, 28, 227, 231-232; evacuation,

Radcliffe, Dr., dentist, 256 Raeder, Admiral Erich, 244 RAF, see Royal Air Force

earth policy,

175-176,

130; defense strat-

egy, 130-134, 199-200;

base

59

192; evacuated, 226-232

Percival, General A. E., x, 20, 82,

19,

Public services, 172-173

suggestion, 266, 267;

intern-

ment, 330-331; death (1966), 337 Perlis, 20

Thomas

Stamford, 8-9,

90 Raffles College, 92 Raffles Hotel,

6,

10, 40, 47, 56,

77-

78, 98, 340; defense preparations,

75;

during

Raffles Place,

siege, 147 7,

22, 24, 39, 75,

*79> 278,

147,

339 Railway, on Singapore Island, 3-4

Ramsey, Dr. Neil, 225 Rangoon, 108, 244

INDEX Rationing, 56, 73, 127

Red

Sawmills, 194-195

Cross, 145

Repulse, of, 47,

HMS,

53; sinking

9, 32, 33,

48-49, 311

Scott, Sir Robert, ix,

River Valley Road, 93, 289 Robinson's (department store),

7,

278-280,

259,

339;

defense

76;

increased sales

siege, 147;

and liquor ban,

preparations,

Board, 191 Rogers, Lieutenant, 241

Rooseboome, Roosevelt,

0-2

SS,

Bee, 304-305;

concept, 36-37; after

and George

50,

130;

51;

losses,

207-208;

D.,

9,

34;

25,

28;

defense attack,

first

Town

raid,

forces

with-

nese hands, 307

da Y> 33 1 "332; present

Corps,

14, 95,

208,

298-299;

ment

site,

and scorched earth

policy, 173

Russia, 55, 110, 205, 206, 238; Czar-

12,

13,

15, 56,

Siam,

318

3, 7, 11, 25,

42

Siglap (village), 253-254; Japanese

camp

316

at,

Simonstown, 244 Simson, Brigadier Ivan,

ix,

5,

16,

169-170; as first-aid post, 183

Michael's Road, 148

San Remo, 313, 317

161,

12-13,

132-133; and de-

88,

fense works, 65-67, 108, 129, 157;

defense post, 69-70, 71, 72,

and Duff Cooper, 81and coolie pay controversy, 111; and scorched earth policy, 171-177; and evacuation of Harbour Board, 190-191; and PWD evacuation, 227-231; and water 79-81, 83;

82;

render

St.

198,

Shells, 195-196, 201

shortage,

25

Andrew's Cathedral,

334

temporary intern-

escape provi-

248-249;

sions, 259-260, 269-270;

St.

V-E

Serangoon, 148, 214, 275, 313

civil

Roval Australian Air Force, 29 Royal Engineers, 132-133, 191, 249 Rubber, 3, 36, 58, 63, 74; in enemy 61;

life,

Searchlights, 165-166

60, 68, 74,

242, 243, 292

hands,

324-

Shark (plane), 34n

drawn, 208; personnel in Japa-

Army Medical

internment,

325; tortured, 326-329; after

Seletar airfield, 29

307-308 Franklin

President

operational aircraft,

city,

aboard the Giang

212;

11,

Selangor, 20

23.83 Royal Air Force (RAF),

ist,

1

Seaview Hotel,

177

Rodgers, Mr., chairman of Harbour

Royal

2

140-141, 149,

ordered to leave

178;

171,

21, 22, 39-40, 57, 91-92, 142, 146,

during

171-178, 229, 269; Japanese

incredulity at failure of, 290

Reuters, 12

79'

Sawyers, Churchill's valet, 23 Scorched earth policy, 52, 61, 137, 145,

Retz, Freddy, see Bloom, Freddy

J

361

decision,

atrocities,

Singapore

life,

(city),

and

sur-

witnesses

internment, 330-

289;

331; present

263;

333

19,

27,

168,

225-

226, 244; described, 3-8; defense

2

INDEX

362 Singapore

Singapore Island cont'd:

cont'd:

(city)

preparations, 9-11, 29-30, 33-34*

of..

36, 57, 65, 82-84; air raids, 21-22,

126;

109;

causeway breached, 125-

geography,

population, de-

28-29, 65, 73-74, 7 6 7 8 87, 95100, 113, 114, 118, 120-121, 250;

scribed, 128; defense strategy, 130-

General Headquarters,

total

>

>

"business-as-usual"

55~5 6

4*>

180;

>

effect

24, 37, 50;

40-

attitude,

75-/8,

79,

179-

104,

of disaster in, 48-54,

90-92; under martial law, 92—93; civilian evacuation, 94-95, 112121; Churchill's order for defense

107-108; lack of leadership

of,

110-111, 126,

162;

145,

134,

daily

139;

in,

begun,

siege

bombing,

141-142; shelter policy, reversed,

156-157; for,

plan

Percival's defense

Japanese landing, confusion,

postwar independence,

215-216;

838 Singapore 142, 194,

Railway Station,

Singapore River,

humiliation

in,

247-248;

fire

haz-

ards, 250-253; reactions to ceasefire in,

271-275; Japanese version

of

275; siege ended, 282-283;

fall,

Japanese entry, 287-291; escape attempts, 300-309; postwar sameness of, 338-342

John

Singora, Siam. 27-28, 287

of,

see

Wilson,

Singapore Asylum, 292, 295; nurses at, 314 Singapore Club.. 142, 233, 249, 298;

receives wounded, 292-295 Singapore Flying Club, 34

137,

71,

119;

227,

J.,

136-

231; official evacuation

ships, 303

Stamford Road, 41 Steele,

Captain, senior Press Officer,

Stevens Road, 158, 161, 267, 275, 340

off

the Air

Budget, 72

Straits Settlement, 19

Straits

Times,

22, 70, 118,

156, 334;

on country's false security, 77; as a government printing office, 2 Sturdee, General Vernon A. H., 308 1

(Giles

Suicide, 255; at Changi, 325

i55n

Singapore Island.

340

Spooner, Rear Admiral E.

Straits

Playfair),

157,

Spice Islands, 4

L.

Singapore Goes

252,

109-1 10

Bishop

Singapore,

251,

(Tsuji), 250 Singapore Yacht Club, 302

Smiley, Captain, 242

of

248,

4,

339 Singapore Telephone Company, 42 Singapore: The Japanese Version

South Bridge Road,

sense

57,

4,

310

262-263;

244-246,

161-168;

battle lost,

199;

201-204; surrender decision,

241,

70,

131;

25. 32-33, 34, 50,

British garrison,

10,

Sumatra, 244, 281, 301, 302-303, 305, 307

33, 131; naval defense, 35-36, 65,

Sumida, Lieutenant-Colonel, 332

128; defensibility questioned, 105-

Sunda Strait, 15a Supreme Court, building,

106; Churchill's plan for, 107-108, 128; Australian fear of evacuation

169,

340

5,

77, 99,

INDEX Swimming Club,

9,

14,

57, 75, 92,

Tamils,

3, 10, 21,

340

249; surrender decision, 262-263, 15,

39, 56,

264; internment, 298, 299; death

area, 74,

Thomas, Lady (Lucy Marguerita),

17,

301

O962), 337

Tanglin Road, residential

ix,

77.81

Tanjong Tanjong Tanjong Tanjong Tanks,

Malim, 59

320-321,337

Murai, 165 60-61, 130, 205 Hospital, 185-186,

222; evacuation ordered, 223

J.,

x

Taylor, Brigadier, Australian com-

mander, 200, 203 Telok, 59

232-233, ordeal,

and scorched earth policy, 173 Tiong Bahru, Chinatown, 100, 192, 193, 196; bombed, 219-222 Torture, 325-329 Trengganu, 20 Tsuji, Colonel Masanobu,

250, 275,

290

Telok Ayer

Tyersall Indian Hospital, 184-185

basin, 227, 231

airfield,

34,

199-200,

167,

Tyersall Road, 125

Typhus,

201

Thomas,

207,

Thorneycroft's (shipyard), 175 Times, The (London), 129, 169, 331 Tin, 3, 36, 58; in enemy hands, 61;

Rhu, 175

Tapah, 59 Tawney, John

181,

and internment

282, 341;

13, 38,

Tengah

144-145,

Buloh, 165

Tan Tock Seng

Sir

Shenton W.,

ix,

popularity

of,

249

134,

282-283, 290-291, 341; labor problems, 58; and evacuees, 261,

62;

75,

18-20,

28, 45-46, 53, 68, 69, 70-72,

63;

and

and Jones's and martial law, 92-93; inspects bomb damage, 98; civil

Times, 212; and shelling

of

46, 74, 77,

Tanglin Circus, 255 Tanglin Club, 8, 9,

Shenton W. cont'd:

Sir

Government House, 217-218; and Nunn, 226-227; and evacuation of Government House, 232an d water shortage, 2 33> 2 34'

Swordfish (plane), $4n

59,

Thomas, Straits

146

168,

363

United

States, 23, 24, 53, 244, 291;

and Wavell's appointment,

83,

84-85

defense, 79-81;

dismissal, 87-88;

"shoulder-to-shoulder" 110;

"business-as-usual"

broadcast, attitude,

V-E day, 330 Victoria Memorial Hall, wounded, 292

21; receives

icy,

and scorched earch pol171-174; and evacuation of nurses, 187-188, 189-190; and Harbour Board evacuation, 190-

Victoria Theatre, 183, 214 Volunteer Defence Corp, 149

191; Wavell's visit, 207; publishes

Wade, George, 275

144, 181;

INDEX

364

Wee- Wee, Chinese

Wakefield (troopship), 121

War

The,

Against Japan,

official

on civil on Australian troop reinforcements, 130; on evacuation of naval base, 137; on lack history, 3611, 38, 50, 129;

defense, 72n;

of artillery

in

fire

first

attack, 164;

on unimpiemented scorched earth policy, 174; on loss of opportunity to counter-attack, 200, 201; on abandonment of Jurong Line, 204; on numbers of deserters, 218

War

Council, 43, 44, 45, 46, 68-70,

140, 149; inter-service rivalry,

35-

and evacuation quesand coolie pay contro-

36, 37, 61; tion,

62;

versy, 111

Ward, Colonel, 38

War In Malaya, The War Office, 12 Water,

(Percival),

2i6n

127, 198, 225, 248-250, 263,

294; at Changi, 323, 326

Watt, Dr.

W. McGregor

(Willie), ix,

x, 143-144, 182; reaction to ceasefire,

273-274;

tries

on

108,

110,

217,

307,

321;

Island's defensibility, 105-107;

defense suggestions, 128-129, 1311

S2

>

1

33»

policy,

1

S4>

145;

an d scorched earth

final visit to Island,

199, 204-207;

and capitulation

cision,

245-246,

239,

Whitehall, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 38, 45, 63,

64,

136,

137,

245; and and defense

232,

coolie labor, 58, 111;

costs, 67; and Duff Cooper, 85-86; and Jones's recall, 86-88; and Harbour Board evacuation, 191 Whitley Road, 100

Wildebeeste (plane), 34 Williams,

Dr.

Cicely,

x,

185-186,

222-224, 254-255, 330, 339; and news of cease-fire, 271-272; relin-

quishes children to natives, 295296; interned, 318, 322, 325-326; present life, 336 Wilson, John Leonard, Bishop of Singapore, 145, 180, 223, 253-254, 274, 318

Winant, John, 23 Woodleigh pumping

station,

248-

249

Yamaguchi, Lieutenant, 321 Yamashita, General Tomoyuki,

life,

337 Wavell, General Sir Archibald, 27n, 83-84,

Weston, Lieutenant, 242 West Point (troopship), 121

to surrender,

312-314; escapes execution, 316318; present

tea boy, 193-194,

219; death of, 221-222

250,

130;

command

site,

ceives British surrender, 216-217, 264,

YMCA

266-269

(Young Men's Christian As-

sociation), 143

Yoch Eng:

school, 22; aid post, 180,

253

de-

262-

263; receives surrender signal, 269

27,

165, 203; re-

Zero (Japanese plane),

38, 118

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