Outskirts Of Singapore (Feb 1942)

Singapore – Outskirts – Feb 1942

‘We were stunned to hear that we were to lay down our arms. I had wondered from time to time as the battle became fiercer, it seemed that this action would end in massacre or surrender. We were fighting in an area perhaps five miles wide and two miles deep, we were in the outskirts of Singapore, behind us was the town with its population of nearly a million. The Japs wee free to plaster us with shells, and mortars and dive bombing and pattern bombing. The reservoirs and ammunition dumps were in enemy hands.’

Source: Down To Bedrock, by Eric Cordingly,  Pg 23; permission by Louise Reynolds, daughter.

‘We are not in disgrace for letting Singapore be captured so easily, as we have feared we might be. Possibly it is now accepted that we were never given a chance to fight properly, never had the weapons and support which we should have had. To that we would add that political interference and ineptitude, coupled with military incompetence at high level in certain places, is a combination which the ordinary soldier cannot overcome. All he can do is fight and die or, as in our case, become a prisoner, while those responsible retire on undeserved pensions.’
Source: One Fourteenth of an Elephant, by Ian Denys Peek, 2005, Pg 490

Extracts from One Fourteenth of an Elephant by Ian Denys Peek reprinted by permission of Pan Macmillan Australia Pty Ltd. Copyright © Ian Denys Peek 2003