by Chris Brown
As British interests became more closely aligned with mainland Europe, Singapore and Malaya became more focused on the fast-developing Asian and Australian markets, but had a difficult relationship. In 1963 Malaya, Singapore, Sabah, Brunei and Sarawak united into a federal state to be known as Malaysia. The marriage was not a happy one. The central government adopted policies of affirmative action to improve the standing of the Malay population, which – rightly or wrongly – were seen as discriminating against Chinese and Indian citizens. By 1965 disagreements between the federal government and the state government in Singapore had become so marked that the Malaysian parliament voted unanimously to expel Singapore from Malaysia. Although the Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, had been a strong advocate of the union with Malaya, by 1965 he too had become convinced that the experiment was failing and on 9 August Singapore became an independent republic. The situation was not propitious since Malaysia, and now the new republic of Singapore, were engaged in the ‘Confrontation’ with Indonesia, a conflict which has received little attention from historians. The Indonesian government had not been strongly opposed to the creation of Malaysia, but had changed its position on the grounds that it was no more than a political front to disguise continuing British control in South Asia.
Indonesia had recently gained control of the former Netherlands colony of West Papua and it is possible that President Sukarno hoped to acquire Sarawak, Sabah and even Singapore by force of arms. Although he was well aware of the extent of British military assets in the region, Sukarno was not convinced that the British government would be prepared to wage a war to protect Malaysia or Singapore, and may have believed that the experience of 1941–42 indicated that they could not do so successfully. What he may not have seen is that the experience had helped to encourage the people of Malaya and Singapore to reject colonialism from any source whatsoever.
ORDERS OF BATTLE
Japanese Order of Battle
Twenty-Fifth Army (GOC Gen. Yamashita)
18th Division (Lt Gen. Renya Mutaguchi)
23rd Infantry Brigade
114th Infantry Regiment
A detachment of 1st Independent Anti-Tank Battalion
18th Mountain Artillery Regiment
21st Heavy Field Artillery Battalion
12th Engineer Regiment
Engineer Unit of 21st Independent Brigade and 3rd Field Hospital
23rd Independent Engineer Regiment (attached)
15th River Crossing Company (attached)
22nd Bridge Building Material Company (attached)
5th Division (Lt Gen. Takuro Matsui)
21st Infantry Brigade
2nd Independent Anti-Tank Company
One medium tank company
5th Field Artillery Regiment
5th Engineer Regiment
9th Infantry Brigade
1st Independent Anti-Tank Company
15th Independent Engineer Regiment (attached)
A detachment of the engineering unit of 3rd Tank Group (attached)
21st River Crossing Material Company (attached)
27th Bridge Building Material Company (attached)
58th Construction Duty Company (attached)
26th Independent Engineering Company (attached)
41st Infantry Regiment (reserve)
5th Reconnaissance Regiment (reserve)
14th Independent Mortar Company (reserve)
1st Tank Regiment (reserve)
2nd Field Hospital (reserve)
4th Field Hospitals (reserve)
Imperial Guards Division (Lt Gen. Takuma Nishimura)
3rd Battalion, 4th Guards Infantry Regiment
3rd Guards Infantry Regiment
3rd Guards Anti-Tank and Regimental Artillery Units
Two companies of 1st Independent Anti-Tank Battalion
One company of Guards Engineer Regiment
A medical unit
2nd Battalion, 5th Guards Infantry Regiment
Regimental Artillery Company
Regimental Anti-Tank Company
14th Tank Regiment
Two companies of the Guards Reconnaissance Regiment
Guards Artillery Regiment (support)
20th Independent Engineer Regiment (attached)
One company from 26th Independent Engineers Regiment (attached)
5th Guards Regiment (reserve)
Commonwealth Order of Battle
The field army that was available to General Percival at the beginning of the campaign consisted of the two divisions of III Indian Corps under Lt Gen. Heath, the two brigades of 8th Australian Division under Maj. Gen. Bennett and one independent infantry brigade under Brigadier Paris. In the last weeks of the campaign Percival received reinforcements in considerable number, including 44th and 45th Indian Brigades, 7,000 Indian and 1,900 Australian replacements, 2/14th Australian Machine Gun Battalion and, on 29 January, the British 18th Division.
Malaya Command (GOC Lt Gen. Percival)
Singapore Fortress (Maj. Gen. Keith Simmons)
1st Malaya Brigade (Brig. G.G.R. Williams)
2nd Battalion, Loyals
1st Battalion, Malay Regiment
2nd Malaya Brigade (Brig. F.H. Fraser)
1st Battalion, Manchester Regiment
2nd Battalion, Gordon Highlanders
1/7th Dogras
Coast and Anti-Aircraft Artillery
7th Coast Regiment
9th Coast Regiment
16th Defence Regiment
35th Fortress Company
41st Fortress Company
3rd Heavy AA Regiment
1st Heavy AA Regiment (HKSRA)
2nd Heavy AA Regiment (HKSRA)
3rd Light AA Regiment (HKSRA)
1st AA Regiment, Indian Artillery
5th S/L Regiment, Jind Infantry ISF
Kapurthala Infantry ISF
III Indian Corps (Lt Gen. Sir Lewis Heath)
11th Indian Division (Maj. Gen. D. Murray-Lyon)
3rd Cavalry
137th Field Regiment
155th Field Regiment
80th Anti-Tank Regiment
23rd Field Company, Sappers and Miners
43rd Field Park Company
6th Indian Brigade (Brig. W.O. Lay)
22nd Mountain Regiment
17th Field Company, Sappers and Miners
2nd Battalion East Surreys
1/8th Punjab
2/16th Punjab
15th Indian Infantry Brigade (Brig. K.A. Garret)
3rd Field Company, Sappers and Miners
1st Battalion Leicester Regiment
2/9th Jats
1/14th Punjab
3/16th Punjab
9th Indian Division (Maj. Gen. A.E. Barstow)
8th Indian Infantry Brigade (Brig. B.W. Key)
21st Mountain Battery
19th Field Company, Sappers and Miners
2/10th Baluchi
3/17th Dogras
1/13th Frontier Force Rifles
22nd Indian Infantry Brigade (Brig. G.W.A. Painter)
21st Mountain Artillery
22nd Field Company, Sappers and Miners
5/11th Sikhs
2/18th Royal Garwhal Rifles
2/12th Frontier Force Regiment
Penang Fortress (Brig. C.A. Lyon)
11th Coast Regiment
35th Fortress Company
5/14th Punjab
Airfield Defence Troops
1st Bahawalpur Infantry ISF
1st Hyderabad Infantry ISF
1st Mysore Infantry ISF
28th Indian Infantry Brigade (Brig. W. St J. Carpendale)
2/1st Ghurkha Rifles
2/2nd Ghurkha Rifles
2/9th Ghurkha Rifles
12th Indian Infantry Brigade (Brig. A.C.M. Paris)
122th Field Regiment
15th Field Company, Sappers and Miners
2nd Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders
5/2nd Punjab
&nb
sp; 4/19th Hyderabad
8th Australian Division (Maj. Gen. H.G. Bennett)
2/10th Field Regiment
2/15th Field Regiment
4th Anti-Tank Regiment
2/10th Field Company
2/12th Field Company
2/6th Field Park Company
22nd Australian Infantry Brigade (Brig. H.B. Taylor)
2/18th Battalion
2/19th Battalion
2/20th Battalion
27th Australian Infantry Brigade (Brig. D.S. Maxwell)
2/26th Battalion
2/29th Battalion
2/30th Battalion
18th British Division (Maj. Gen. M.B. Beckwith-Smith)
118th Field Regiment RA
135th Field Regiment RA
148th Field Regiment RA
125th Anti-Tank Regiment RA
287th Field Company RE
280th Field Company RE
560th Field Company RE
251st Field Park Company RE
9th Northumberland Fusiliers (Machine Gun Battalion)
18th Battalion
Reconnaissance Battalion
53rd Infantry Brigade (Brig. C.L.B. Duke)
5th Battalion, Royal Norfolk
8th Battalion, Royal Norfolk
2nd Battalion, Cambridgeshire Regiment
54th Infantry Brigade (Brig. E.H.W. Backhouse)
4th Battalion, Royal Norfolk
4th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment
5th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment
55th Infantry Brigade (Brig. T.H. Massy-Beresford)
5th Battalion, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment
1/5th Sherwood Foresters
1st Battalion, Cambridgeshire Regiment
FURTHER READING
Barber, Noel, Sinister Twilight, London, 1968.
Bennett, Henry G., Why Singapore Fell, Sydney, 1944.
Chippingto, George, Singapore: The Inexcusable Betrayal, Hanley Swann, 1992.
Cooper, Duff, Old Men Forget, London, 1954.
Elphick, Peter, Singapore: The Pregnable Fortress, London, 1995.
Percival, Arthur, The War in Malaya, London, 1949.
Owen, Frank, The Fall of Singapore, London, 1960.
Simson, Ivan, Singapore: Too Little, Too Late, London, 1970.
Thompson, Peter, The Battle for Singapore, London, 2005.
Tsuji, Masanobu, Singapore: The Japanese Version, London, 1966.
Woodburn Kirby, S., The War Against Japan, Vol. 1, London, 1957.
FEPOW: www.fepow.com has many links to very useful websites relating to the campaign.
Glasgow University is involved in The Adam Park Project, conducting battlefield archaeology.
Malayan Volunteers Group: www.malayanvolunteersgroup is an excellent source of material relating to volunteer units in the Malayan campaign.
The National Archives of Singapore has two websites: Memories of The Ford Factory and Reflections at Bukit Chandu.
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First published in 2012
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