80th Anniversary of the Fall of Singapore

timuk · Feb 15, 2022

Today is the 80th Anniversary of the Fall of Singapore 15 Feb 42.

Tim

davidbfpo · Feb 22, 2022

Originally found on LinkedIn and posted by a historian on the anniversary. The subject is regarded as a hero for both Malaysia and Singapore. I have only read a little on the campaign and have never encountered a reference to Malays fighting, so, this was a revelation:

As Japanese forces pressed their relentless advance toward the gates of Singapore in February 1942, Sir Winston Churchill instructed his commanding officer, General Arthur Percival, to ready his troops to “stand to the last man.”

Among those men stood 27-year-old Lieutenant Adnan bin Saidi who, in his position as leader of “C” Company, 1st Battalion of the Malaya Infantry Brigade, was entrusted with organizing the first line of defence in the hills of Pasir Panjang – the last British bastion that protected the district of Alexandra; its military hospital, and other key installations vital to the British Armed Forces.

With nine years of military service behind him, Saidi had already built a strong reputation for his aptitude and competency, for he had risen rapidly through the ranks of his regiment when he volunteered for it in 1933, and, during that time, had distinguished himself as one who, whilst “firm and fierce, had a huge heart and care for his men.”

When Japan’s elite Imperial “Chrysanthemum” Division struck Saidi’s position eighty years ago on this day, his leadership qualities would elevate the fighting spirit of the 42 infantrymen under his command to its highest fervour and, in so doing, would immortalize himself and them in perpetuity:

Despite being grossly outnumbered and undersupplied, for 24 hours Saidi and his fellow Malays held their ground in the face of Japanese efforts to dislodge them using human “Banzai” waves, sustained artillery, and mortar fire.

So frustrated the Japanese commander, Lieutenant General Renya Mutaguchi, became with the resistance Saidi was orchestrating, that he ordered a renewed offensive the following day which, after it succeeded in overwhelming Saidi’s line, left him and his platoon surrounded and alone in their fight.

Undeterred, they fought-on until all of their ammunition was spent and, when it was, Saidi – his arm broken and mangled by shrapnel – led his soldiers in a most-heroic last-stand:

Bayonets fixed, they charged the Japanese invaders, only then for Saidi to fall first with a mortal wound and, minutes afterward, his regimental brothers too when they formed a phalanx to shield him from the hail of bullets that killed them.

Owing to his refusal to surrender and, in view of the death toll he had exacted upon them, the Japanese decided that they would “make an example” of Saidi:

Not only did they drag him to a tree where they hung him from his legs, beat him, and bayoneted him repeatedly but, they then slit his throat, mutilated his body, and burned it so that he could not be returned to his family.

At the war’s end, one of his closest friends, the late British Army Captain, Mubin Sheppard, had this to say about Lieutenant Adnan bin Saidi:

“Adnan adopted a motto for his platoon just before the fighting: ‘Death before dishonour’. He emboldened his men to fight to the last by invoking it – The sacrifice he and they have made shows they lived the true meaning of it.”
Click to expand...

Looking around the information is on: Adnan Saidi - Wikipedia and
https://www.warhistoryonline.com/instant-articles/story-of-adnan-bin-saidi.html

timuk · Feb 22, 2022

From the above extract:
“C” Company, 1st Battalion of the Malaya Infantry Brigade,

Not quite correct. It was the 1st Battalion of the Malay Regiment. This together with the 2nd Battalion Malay Regiment and the 2nd Battalion of the Loyal Regiment formed the 1st Malaya Infantry Brigade.

Tim

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80th Anniversary of the Fall of Singapore

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