A history of Singapore and Malaya prior to World War II

A history of Singapore and Malaya prior to World War II

My manuscript Pounding Along to Singapore originally contained this chapter as background for why the Malayan Peninsula was of such importance to the British Empire. However as the story of the 2/20 Battalion developed and became longer, I decided to remove this chapter completely.

Pounding Along to Singapore, a story of the 2/20 Battalion AIF with the letters and diary of Capt. EW (Bill) Gaden of “D” Force POW 1940-1945  was published 2012, ISBN 978 1876344849 and  copies can be obtained from the author at cagaden@iprimsu.com.au.

The Island of Singapore is at the southernmost tip of the Malaysian peninsula, located with the Indian Ocean to its west and the South China Sea to its east, an excellent position for maritime trade. As far back as the 16th Century Portuguese ships noted Indian, Cambodian, Chinese and Siamese vessels were all trading there. It was in 1511 that Europe’s first modern colony in Asia had been created when the Portuguese captured Malacca which became a replenishing base for their expeditions.[1]

In 1589 Queen Elizabeth was petitioned by London merchants seeking permission to send a fleet of ships round the Cape of Good Hope. Three ships were sent, one being the Edward Bonaventure which eventually made its way to Penang on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula. Here sickness took a dreadful toll with only 34 of the crew of 97 left, and only ⅔ of them were fit to work and only a few eventually made it back to England.[2]

The Dutch joined the competition for Oriental commerce. They dispelled the Portuguese from Malacca in 1641 and they ruled the peninsula until Napoleon invaded Holland and the Dutch ceded Malaya to the British in 1815 in an uneasy alliance.[3]

The British were still looking for a good trade route to the South East Asian markets but business had so far been dominated by the Dutch. The only British outpost in the Far East had been at Bencoolen, a port on Sumatra with no significant commercial routes flowing past. The Dutch then handed trading rights to the British East India Company to use the port of Malacca, 300 miles south of Penang on the west coast of Malaya. The British were determined to stay in the area.

On 29 January 1819 the newly-appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Bencoolen, Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, dropped anchor off Singapore. He had been Governor of Java and now returned from leave to a posting in Bencoolen. He had been assigned an additional task. His mission was to explore the possibility of establishing another trading settlement around the tip of the Malayan peninsula without offending the incumbent Dutch. He managed to do the former, but, understandably, not the latter.

The resident Malayan aristocrat gave Raffles permission to establish his trading facility, and Raffles and his garrison set up camp. The Dutch were not impressed, so, leaving his small force of troops and their cannons behind, Raffles sailed to Penang for Company reinforcements. Despite a half-hearted blockade of the Island by the Dutch, the British prevailed and the Singapore trading facility was established under the British flag.
However trade was slow to develop in Singapore as the new ‘branch office’ was mismanaged by the East India Company’s superiors who were based in India. Also the Company had by now lost its monopoly on the China trade. The new ports located at Hong Kong and in the French and Dutch colonies were all more in favour with shipping merchants and traders.

In 1831 the Australian whaler “Lady Rowena” put into Hokkaido, Japan, for repairs. The Captain was unaware that since 1600 the Japanese had a self imposed exile from the rest of the world; the people were under pain of death to assist foreigners and any foreign ship was to be destroyed and the crew killed. He managed to escape with his ship and wrote a letter of protest to the Emperor.[4]

In 1854 the Japanese ended over two centuries of self imposed exile where no one was allowed to enter or leave the country.  The US naval commander Matthew Perry had arrived with his well armed ships and ‘persuaded’ the Japanese to give his country trading rights. In return the Japanese were to be given western technology... the sleeping dog was awakened. [5]

In 1869 the Suez Canal opened, the new steam-powered ships were able to do the Asia run more quickly than the old clipper ships and Malaya was better able to sell its tin and tea to Europe. Trade was able to expand. Penang and Singapore became prosperous financial centres. [6]

By 1877 Malaya had imported rubber tree seeds from Brazil via Kew Gardens in London. They were first grown in the Singapore Botanical Gardens laid out by Raffles. Rubber trees grew well in the country and produced a commodity in high demand for the voracious needs of the rapidly developing motor car industry.

By now the whole of the Malayan peninsula was under now British control with many ‘ex-patriots’ supervising the tin mines and managing the rubber plantations. A garrison of soldiers was posted to protect the colony.

Many Chinese migrants moved into the country to provide the much-needed labour for the mines and plantations and the rail transport system. Malaya became a multicultural population with two million Malays, almost as many Chinese and one million Indians and Tamils.[7] However Malayan society could be seen as pluralist in that they had different ethnic groups living side by side but not really intermingling.[8] There were also Armenians, Javanese and Burmese and an increasing number of Japanese also arrived, mostly fishermen or to run small businesses. Soon a Japanese Consul General was appointed by Tokyo.

Politics in Europe affected South East Asia. In 1902 the Anglo-Japanese Alliance was signed. The British hoped that by combining with the Japanese ally in the East it would allow them to keep their fleet in home waters to counteract the expanding German fleet of dreadnoughts.

In 1904 the Japanese government was in expansionist mode. With no formal declaration of war, the Japanese attacked the Russian ships berthed at base in Port Arthur, to the west of Korea and leased from China. In 1905 the Russians were defeated by a Japanese attack in the Straits between Korea and Japan. Eight warships were lost; it was the first time an Asian power armed with modern weapons had defeated a European one.

The outbreak of World War in 1914 saw the British Navy concentrating on the northern waters in battles against the Germans.  The Australians, Japanese and Indians helped the British by dealing with any aggression by German colonies and German ships sailing in Asian waters. The Japanese helped to escort Australian troops to Gallipoli. [9]

In February 1915 the Crown Colony of Singapore was down to only a skeleton of troops as most had been sent to the fighting in Europe. Those remaining were gunners of the Royal Garrison Artillery and the 5th Native Light Infantry, an Indian army regiment. They were young, Muslim, and led by an unpopular colonel who was not respected by his officers. Their role was to guard the German Prisoners of War in Tanglin. Some of the captured German sailors made sure the young Indians knew that the German Kaiser had signed an alliance with the Muslim Ottoman Turks.

On 15th February 1915 the Indian regiment was told they would be leaving the island for an unknown destination. It did not take long for the rumours to circulate that the young Muslim soldiers would be shipped to Turkey to fight against their fellow Muslims in the Ottoman Empire. Although the rumour was incorrect [they were in fact destined for Hong Kong] half the regiment mutinied.

They liberated the POW camp, killed several local militia, and started on a killing spree which caused the death of about thirty Europeans. Amid fears for the future of British rule in the colony, the Governor, Sir Arthur Young, sent wireless messages for help to all the Allied ships in the region. Response came from a French warship, a Russian salvage vessel and two Japanese cruisers which all came to the aid of the depleted garrison and the few sailors from HMS Cadmus which was in port.[10]

The Japanese ships sent landing parties ashore. They took an additional 180 rifles ashore for the four hundred special constables who were sworn in. Half of these constables were Japanese citizens living in Singapore under their own Japanese command. They helped round up the mutineers. [11] In Japan the role of their navy and civilians in putting down the mutiny was exaggerated with the roles of the French and Russian being downplayed.

The British were pleased that their power had prevailed, albeit by proxy, with the assistance of the Japanese. However by the end of the Great War the British realised that the Japanese were, in fact, a far greater threat to their South East Asian empire than the previously feared Russians. 

At the Treaty of Versailles talks in 1919 the Japanese were open in their request for more space for their increasing population and their need for colonies rich in raw materials to help develop their manufacturing industries. They also wanted the Western nations to recognise their racial equality. [12] In fact the Japanese considered themselves to be a superior race, as they were of ‘divine origin’, and it rankled with them that Western Nations refused to recognise their claims.[13] The Japanese were very angry with this snub from the West and they conceived the idea of the Great East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere which would remove the European colonists and allow the Asian countries to pursue their own destiny.[14]

The British ended the Anglo Japanese Alliance much to the displeasure of the Japanese who by now had 30,000 acres of rubber under cultivation in Malaya and so had a vested interest in the future of the country. They considered themselves ‘discarded like a used pair of sandals.’[15]

In 1920 the Imperial Japanese Navy sought British help with the development of military aircraft and, surprisingly under the circumstances, the British agreed, instructing the Japanese in basic flying, deck landings, engine maintenance and armaments. They even allowed British firms to tender their most modern equipment and the Japanese firms procured patent rights to produce the equipment in Japan. [16]

The British Admiralty decided they should provide a secure strategic base southward of Hong Kong to cover the routes to Australia and the East Indies. In 1925 Winston Churchill, newly appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer, opposed the navy budget for Singapore, holding the view that the Japanese would never risk an Asian war with Britain unless most of the Royal Navy was engaged elsewhere. This was thought to be highly unlikely considering the disastrous economic and humanitarian effects of the recently-ended Great War on all European countries. The Government of the day overrode Churchill’s objections and in 1926 agreed to build a large navy base on Singapore Island.[17] 

By 1927 the Malayan colony was sending half its rubber to the United States of America as the fledgling automotive industry expanded exponentially. Tin mining was also vital to the export economy and Singapore’s Keppel Harbour had three miles of wharves and warehouses [known locally as ‘go-downs’].  The peninsula was rich; one of the few British Colonies which did not require subsidy by the Mother Country.[18] Malaya was the ‘Dollar Arsenal’ of the Empire. [19]

In 1933 the local Malay Regiment was formed to help defend the country. Up to then Malays had been recruited as police but the people were unfamiliar with the concept of having to defend their own country. There had never been an occupying army or military governor, there had only been a couple of hundred police. This changed with the formation of the Malay Regiment who initially trained at Port Dickson then moved to Singapore for advanced training.[20]

In 1937 the Japanese, again in militaristic and expansion mode, invaded China. At this stage the British Naval Base at Singapore, protected by heavy fortifications, was close to being completed. On 15 February 1938 it was declared open; a naval base soon dubbed, wrongly as events were to prove, ‘Fortress Singapore’. Some members of the Malay Regiment attended the opening of King George VI’s Graving Dock at the Singapore Naval Base. [21]

The Base had cost sixty million pounds but provided 22 square miles of deep sea anchorage, huge fuel tanks and a large floating dock. Onshore accommodation was built for 2000 sailors and officers. There were palatial messes, churches and seventeen football pitches. Tanglin hospital was considered too small so a new hospital was built at Alexandra. The welfare of the servicemen was foremost and the Manchester Regiment, arriving in October 1938, were most impressed with their new billets.[22]

The requirement was that the Army provide a garrison capable of holding the base for three to four months until a British Naval Task Force could sail to the rescue from Europe. An underground bunker to house a command post was constructed at Fort Canning designed to withstand direct bomb hits. [23]

The naval base was protected by 29 artillery pieces. There were five 15 inch guns; three were located at the Johore Battery which had the ability to swivel the full 360°, the other two were at Buona Vista battery and were the only two guns able to turn just 180°.[24] There were six 9.2 inch guns and eighteen 6 inch guns, all capable of moving through the full 360° so all could fire in any direction to sea or over land. It was realised that threats had to be addressed from both land and sea.

British thinking was that if the Japanese, or any other aggressor, were to attack it would be most likely overland, from assaults emanating from northern landings on the Thai border area, or northern Malaya.[25] Transport south would be via the trunk roads conveniently constructed to transport tin and rubber to the port. Malaya had about 7,000 km of metalled road, among the best in the world. There were 1,600 km of rail line linking Malaya and Thailand. There would be little hindrance to any Japanese advance if they decided to invade.[26]

The strategists knew the whole Malayan Peninsula would need to be held in times of war, the Johore Straits would be no barrier. [27]

In November 1935 a new army hierarchy arrived to take up their postings in Singapore. Major-General Sir William George Shedden Dobbie was the new army commander, and his second-in-command was Colonel Arthur Percival, a gallant and decorated soldier who had been awarded two DSO’s and a Military Cross in the Great War.[28]

Percival was disappointed in the local civilians’ attitude to the military.  They didn’t believe war was likely so they thought the fortifications were unnecessary. Even though they recognised that Japan was in military mode they didn’t think Europe would go to war again and so resented any military interference with their business and parties. There were the inevitable clashes of interest when construction of a fortress was proposed on top of a rich and prosperous commercial centre.[29]

In 1937 Japan did go to war with China. In December they perpetuated the horrors of what came to be known as the ‘Rape of Nanking’. Percival, with his professional soldier’s eye, noted that they had excellent landing craft suitable for shallow water such as was found in the Straits of Johore between Singapore and the mainland.[30]

Around this time Percival sailed home from his two-year Singapore posting, leaving behind an excellent summary of tactics the Japanese were likely to use, especially their probable arrival at the ‘back door’ via Thailand. He made suggestions for the appropriate steps to be taken to prepare for defence including many more infantry and aircraft along the Malayan coast. When Percival left, the Senior Naval officer of the day said Percival’s assessment was too pessimistic and did not hand it on to the Singapore Defence Committee.[31]

Dobbie recognised the need to defend the whole peninsula and he also recognised that, contrary to accepted thought, the monsoon season would not be a barrier to Japanese landings on the coast. Dobbie asked for more troops and light tanks to be deployed to Malaya.[32]

None of the reinforcements that Dobbie and Percival had called for had arrived by 1938, but a year later, in 1939, defence had at least been strengthened to 9 infantry battalions and 100 aircraft, although no front line fighter planes were deployed.

Dobbie left his Singapore posting in August 1939. His replacement, Major-General Lionel Bond, disagreed with the priority set by the Navy and Air Force commanders for the use of his troops. Bond thought the only thing that mattered was to defend Singapore and the naval base; Babbington of the RAF thought that the whole of Malaya should remain under British rule and therefore the army should be deployed to defend the new northern airfields which had been constructed.

More troops arrived at this time, the 2nd Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and more Indian Battalions. [33]

Reports then emerged of fighting between Japan and Russia over a disputed area of Manchuria, with skirmishes which escalated into full scale war. The Russians inflicted defeat on the Japanese but not before some 18,000 troops had lost their lives.[34] The Japanese troops had gained valuable fighting experience.

By the time Britain was again at war with Germany, on 3 October 1939, the majority of building in Malaya had been for commercial reasons not military constructions. Dobbie and Percival’s detailed plans had gone unheeded.

In August 1940 the British Chiefs of Staff reviewed the position for the Far East. They concluded they would have to defend the whole peninsula, not just Singapore Island; the British Fleet would be tied up fighting in Europe; without a fleet they would have to rely on air-power until sufficient land forces could be deployed. They considered that 336 first line aircraft were needed; Malay Command had just eighty four. [35]

The British navy was again fully occupied in European waters. There were some Allied ships in South East Asia; the Dutch had 3 cruisers, 5 destroyers and a dozen submarines. The French also had some war ships but they remained loyal to the appeasing Vichy Government not the ‘Free French’ of de Gaulle based in Britain. For political reasons the French ships were unavailable to the Allies, then the Japanese took over French airfields and ports in their Colonies of Indo-China after July 1941. [36] The British colonies in South East Asia became even more vulnerable.

The Australians sent three RAAF squadrons to Malaya but their aircraft were Hudson bombers and Wirraways, planes never intended for use as fighters. In addition Brewster Buffaloes were  to arrive from March 1941, but these ‘flying barrels’ were also to prove no match for the excellent Japanese Zero fighters which had been developed by 1940. [37]

In September 1940 Germany, Italy and Japan signed an alliance, the Tripartite Pact. The three countries were then subject to more crippling trade sanctions by the British and Americans, seriously affecting their economies, their food supply and their ability to import raw materials.

Around this time HMS Illustrious transported twenty Swordfish biplanes into the Mediterranean Sea and launched a successful night attack on the Italian Fleet berthed in Taranto. This was the first time a modern navy had been dealt a devastating blow from the air. The tactic was duly noted by the Japanese who later combined it with their policy of attacking before declaring war, to have such devastating effect on Pearl Harbour just over a year later.[38]

By October the British Chiefs of Staff raised the figure of required front line aircraft from 336 to 582.[39]

In November 1940 Air Chief-Marshall Brooke-Popham was made Commander-in-Chief of all land and air forces in South East Asia. This reflected a growing conviction that it would take the Royal Navy at least six months to spare enough ships to relieve Malaya if the Japanese attacked.[40]

 By December 1940 the ships of the Italian Mediterranean fleet had been reduced in number, so there was a suggestion that more British warships could be freed up for the Far East. Churchill accepted Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies offer of a brigade group for Malaya as a stopgap until May 1941. It would then be replaced by an Indian Brigade and the AIF would be sent on to Egypt.

Churchill assured Menzies that the Allies would sacrifice the Mediterranean to help their ‘kith and kin’ in Australia if it were seriously threatened with invasion. However Churchill never actually believed that Australia would be under such treat from the Japanese.[41]

On Singapore Island, a new grass airstrip was developed at Kallang. One of the best in the world, it was built for the expanding airline industry. Imperial Airways flew flying boats into Keppel Harbour. Travel and trade were expanding. Australia was within easy reach of Japanese aircraft.

Menzies fulfilled his offer of men and in February 1941 six thousand Australian Imperial Force troops arrived on the ‘Queen Mary’ which had been converted from luxury liner to troop ship the year before in the Singapore Naval Base, well away from prying German eyes.[42]

The AIF troops were the 22nd Brigade, part of the 8th Division and one of four volunteer divisions of the AIF [the other three divisions were fighting in the Middle East]. They were under the command of Major-General Gordon Bennett who had written publicly about the failures of the Permanent Staff Corp of the Australian Army. This had led to a feud with Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Blamey, the overall commander of the Australian Imperial Forces and Bennet was only grudgingly given his commission[43]. Such ill feeling in the command was not a good omen.

Both Blamey and Bennet had had distinguished careers in the First World War. Blamey was born in Wagga Wagga and had been a member of the 2^nd Battalion AIF. He was mentioned in dispatches seven times and awarded the DSO and French Croix de Guerre. Bennett was with the 6^th Battalion AIF and had also been mentioned in dispatches and awarded the DSO. He lived in the Sydney suburb of Cremorne Point. [44]

Commander-in-Chief Brooke-Popham was also dealing with feuds between his army and air force commanders so both were replaced. On 15 May 1941 Lieutenant-General Arthur Percival returned to Singapore as the new Army Commander and Air Vice-Marshall Pulford became new air force commander.  Fortunately the two ‘new boys’ became friends, shared accommodation and started a new mood of cooperation. [45]

By early 1941 Australian troop strength matched that of the British garrison. Indian troops numbered more than both their allies put together. [46] The strength of the air force in Malaya was 158 planes [including 24 obsolete Wildebeestes]; the commanders knew they needed 582 aircraft.[47] There were a total of 32 Allied battalions to defend Malaya; G.O.C. Lieutenant-General Percival knew he needed 48. He also needed light tanks; when the invasion began there was not one single Allied tank. The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders had to use Rolls Royce armoured cars dating from the First World War; they faced 230 Japanese tanks.[48]

It was going to be a difficult battle.

---

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Malaysia

[2] Miller, The Seafarers: The East Indiamen,   pp. 12-14

[3] Frei, Malaya in World War II, < http://www.kasei.ac.jp/library/kiyou/2001/3.FREI.pdf >

[4] Forbes, Hellfire, p. 18

[5] Smith, Singapore Burning, p. 7.

[6] Frei, op cit.

[7] Frei, ibid.

[8] Furnival, quoted in Malik, <http://www.kenanmalik.com/papers/new_formations2.html>

[9] Forbes, op cit, p. 16.

[10] Smith, op cit, pp. 8-9.

[11] ibid, p. 10.

[12] Forbes, op cit, pp. 20-24

[13] ibid, p. 18

[14] ibid, pp. 23, 42.

[15] Smith, op cit, p.11.

[16] Forbes, op cit, pp. 122-3.

[17] Smith, op cit, pp.12-13

[18] Malaysian Guide, Changi to Hellfire Tour, February 2007, personal communication

[19] Ong, Operation Matador, p. 61

[20] Hoon, The Battle of Pasir Panjang Revisited,  <http://www.mindef.gov.sg/safti/pointer/back/journals/2002/Vol28_1/1.htm >

[21] Hoon, ibid

[22] Smith, op cit, p. 20.

[23] Smith, ibid, pp. 21-2.

[24] Ong, op cit, p.25.

[25] Smith, op cit, p. 23.

[26] Ong, op cit, p.61.

[27] Ong, ibid, p.26.

[28] Smith, op cit, p. 23.

[29] Smith, ibid, p. 26.

[30] Smith, ibid, p. 27.

[31] Smith, ibid, p. 28.

[32] Ong, op cit, pp. 64-7.

[33] Smith, op cit, p. 29.

[34] Smith, ibid, p. 32.

[35] Pownall, Lieut-General Sir Henry,  Singapore Defences Memorandum  <http://www.britain-at-war.org.uk/WW2/Malaya_and_Singapore/html/body_singapore_defences.htm

[36] Smith, op cit, pp. 39-43, 55.

[37] Smith, ibid, p. 38.

[38] Smith, ibid, p. 47.

[39] Pownall, op cit.

[40] Smith, op cit , p. 49.

[41] Smith, ibid, p. 53.

[42] Smith, ibid, p. 49.

[43] Legg, The Gordon Bennett Story, p.156-9

[44] Johns, Who’s Who in the Commonwealth of Australia - 1922, p.21, 26.

[45] Smith, op cit, p 73-76.

[46] ibid, p. 55.

[47] Pownall, op cit

[48] Taylor, British Preparations< http://britain-at-war.org.uk/WW2/Malaya_and_Singapore/html/body_british_prepare.htm >

References

Britain at War  < http://www.britain-at-war.co.uk > Accessed many times.

Forbes, Cameron, Hellfire, the story of Australia, Japan and the Prisoners of War, Sydney, Pan Macmillan, 2005.

Frei, Henry P, Malaya in World War II, The Revolving Door of Colonialism: Malaya 1940-46, < http://www.kasei.ac.jp/library/kiyou/2001/3.FREI.pdf > Accessed 23 March 2007.

Hoon, Lim Choo, The Battle of Pasir Panjang Revisited,  <http://www.mindef.gov.sg/safti/pointer/back/journals/2002/Vol28_1/1.htm > Accessed 23 March 2007.

Johns, Fred, Who’s Who in the Commonwealth of Australia-1922, Sydney, Angus and Robertson, 1922.

Legg, Frank, The Gordon Bennett Story, from Gallipoli to Singapore, Sydney, Angus and Robertson, 1965.

Malik, Knene, Race Pluralism and the meaning of human difference, <http://www.kenanmalik.com/papers/new_formations2.html > Accessed 26 June 2007.

Miller, Russell,  The Seafarers: The East Indiamen,  Amsterdam,  Time Life Books, 1980.

Ong, Chit Chung, Operation Matador World War 11, Britain’s attempt to foil the Japanese invasion of Malaya and Singapore, Singapore,  Eastern Universities Press, 2003.

Pownall, Singapore Defences Memorandum by Lieut.-General Sir Henry Pownall <htttp://www.britain-at-war.org.uk/WW2/ Malaya_and_Singapore/html

/body_singapore_defences.htm >         Accessed 20 September 2007.

Smith, Colin, Singapore Burning, heroism and surrender in World War II , London, Penguin Books, 2005.

Taylor, British Preparations, < http://www.britain-at-war.org.uk/WW2/Malaya_and_Singapore/html/body_british_prepare.htm  > Accessed 23 July 2007.

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