Singapore and the 18th Division

Discussion in 'War Against Japan' started by Cpl Rootes, May 25, 2008.

  1. Cpl Rootes

    Cpl Rootes Senior Member

    Does anyone know much about the 18th Division and the battle for Singapore? Did any members of the 18th get evacuated or fight on in small pockets of resistance or did they all surrender with Percival?

    Did any of the regiments in the 18th reform and fight in other theaters (e.g. booth battalions of the Cambridgeshires were taken prisoner. Did they reform? Where did the other recruits from Cambridgeshire go?

    Thanks for any help
     
  2. eastsurreys

    eastsurreys Junior Member

    I can put you in touch with a man who was in the 18th Division and who was taken prisoner. He can probably give you information.
     
  3. eastsurreys

    eastsurreys Junior Member

  4. martyx13

    martyx13 Junior Member

    Does anyone know much about the 18th Division and the battle for Singapore? Did any members of the 18th get evacuated or fight on in small pockets of resistance or did they all surrender with Percival?

    Did any of the regiments in the 18th reform and fight in other theaters (e.g. booth battalions of the Cambridgeshires were taken prisoner. Did they reform? Where did the other recruits from Cambridgeshire go?

    Thanks for any help
    hello

    I'm working on a listing of fatalaties 5 btn Beds & Herts '42-45, which formed part of 18th Div.
    Records deal with action in Singapore, Thai Burma rail camps, place and date of death, local burials and re-interments. These assist in tracking movements during captivity.
    If this listing is of interest you are welcome to copy once its neat and tidy, hopefully fairly soon.
    regards
    M
     
  5. Patwalker

    Patwalker Junior Member

    I have written a book about 6HAA which includes their whole Roll of Honour for the war and the survivors from the Far east after their terrible time as guests of the Japanese, see next post.
     
  6. Patwalker

    Patwalker Junior Member

    I can help with one of the Regts. 6 HAA I have written their history from BEF to Far East and it gives for the first time their complete story by Battery of Singapore, Sumatra and Java before the horrors of being a Jap POW. It also covers their time in France and then back in the UK after Dunkirk. London blitz, Midland defence and then the posting to Iraq which was cancelled when the Japs attacked Malaya and they were diverted to Singapore. For more info please contact me on Patwalker37srpen@aol.com
     
  7. Andreas

    Andreas Working on two books

    18 Division is a tragic outfit. They could have had a distinguished war in the Med if not for the decision to re-rout them to Singapore while they were at sea.

    All the best

    Andreas
     
  8. dryan67

    dryan67 Senior Member

    All the battalions of the 18th Division were ex-Territorial Army and were placed into suspended animation until after the war. All of the regular British Army battalions, not part of the 18th Division, but serving with the Singapore garrison or Indian Army Formations, were reformed shortly after by converted ex-Territorial Army or War-Raised battalions of the line regiments. The Indian Army regular battalions were also suspended until after the war while the war-raised were not reformed.
     
  9. davidbfpo

    davidbfpo Patron Patron

    Dr. Robert Lyman in his latest email praises, with slight criticism, Michael Snape's book, published May 2023, 'Forgotten Warrior: The Life and Times of Major General Merton Beckwith-Smith 1890-1942', who was the 18th's divisional commander at Singapore.
    Link: Forgotten Warrior

    There are many threads on him here, some on the book, others on his previous service, mainly with the Welsh Guards
     
  10. Osborne2

    Osborne2 Well-Known Member

    Whilst on their way to their eventual fate in the defence of Singapore and Malaya, the 18th Division were actually diverted from their intended destination which was Basra in Iraq. They were being sent as the last ditch defence force in case the German advances in southern USSR broke through to the oilfields of Iraq and Iran.
     
  11. Andreas

    Andreas Working on two books

    Thanks for the clarification. I had only seen 'Middle East' as destination. I presume that if they had gone to Basra, they would eventually have ended up in the Western Desert, like so many other formations.

    All the best

    Andreas
     
  12. Osborne2

    Osborne2 Well-Known Member

    Andreas. At least two units in the division knew they were going to the Middle East for months before hand as at least one infantry battalion was holding tropical uniforms which were destroyed in a barracks fire weeks before and were replaced. Another one had painted its vehicles in desert camo before they set off. Having looked at their training up to October 28 when one unit departed, their training for desert warfare left a great deal to be desired. They worked with Churchill tanks for less than a week and most of those went u/s. What price combined arms training when you add the fact that air/ground training was Lysanders dropping flour bombs?
     
    Andreas likes this.

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