Battle of Pasir Panjang
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The Battle of Pasir Panjang, which took place between 12 and 15 February 1942, was part of the final stage of the
Empire of Japan The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II 1947 constitution and subsequent fo ...
's
invasion An invasion is a military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitical entity aggressively enter territory owned by another such entity, generally with the objective of either: conquering; liberating or re-establishing con ...
of
Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. The battle was initiated upon the advancement of elite
Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...
forces towards Pasir Panjang Ridge on 13 February. 13,000 Japanese troops had made an
amphibious landing Amphibious warfare is a type of offensive military operation that today uses naval ships to project ground and air power onto a hostile or potentially hostile shore at a designated landing beach. Through history the operations were conducted ...
in northwestern Singapore near Sarimbun (see
Battle of Sarimbun Beach The Battle of Sarimbun Beach was the first stage of the Japanese assault on Singapore in February 1942 during World War II. Sarimbun Beach, in the northwestern corner of mainland Singapore, was the area in which Japanese troops, under the dire ...
) and had started to advance south towards Pasir Panjang. They had already captured
Tengah Airfield The Tengah Air Base is a military airbase of the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) located in the Western Water Catchment, in the western part of Singapore. The air base is the most important airfield of the RSAF as it houses the majo ...
en route. The 13,000 soldiers constituted a significant part of the total strength of 36,000 Japanese troops deployed in the invasion of Singapore.


Preparations

The 1st Malaya Infantry Brigade, comprising the British 2nd Loyal Regiment under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Mordaunt Elrington, together with the 1st Malaya Regiment commanded by Lieutenant Colonel J.R.G. Andre, consisted of less than three sections of the Mortar Platoon, Anti-Aircraft Platoon along with the
Bren Gun Carrier The Universal Carrier, also known as the Bren Gun Carrier and sometimes simply the Bren Carrier from the light machine gun armament, is a common name describing a family of light armoured tracked vehicles built by Vickers-Armstrongs and other ...
Platoon under Captain R.R.C. Carter, all of which were held in reserve. These units were tasked with defending the approach to Pasir Panjang Ridge, also known as "The Gap". The 44th Indian Brigade were positioned on their right flank. A Malay platoon, consisting of 42 soldiers and their officers, commanded by Second Lieutenant Adnan Saidi, was holding a critical part of the British defences at Bukit Chandu. Adnan and his men would take the brunt of the Japanese assault shortly after.


Battle

The first battle between the Malay Regiment and Japanese soldiers occurred on 13 February at around 1400 hours. The
Japanese 18th Division The was an infantry division of the Imperial Japanese Army. Its tsūshōgō code name was the . The 18th Division was one of two infantry divisions newly raised by the Imperial Japanese Army immediately after the Russo-Japanese War (1904– ...
started to attack the southwestern coast along Pasir Panjang Ridge and astride Ayer Rajah Road. The Japanese 56th Infantry Regiment under Colonel Yoshio Nasu, supported by a considerable force of artillery, attacked the ridge during the morning. One of the units defending the line was B Company of the Malay Regiment. Under heavy fire from the Japanese, who had artillery and tank support, B Company was forced to retreat to the rear. However, before the retreat could be completed, the Japanese succeeded in breaking through B Company's position. In the battle, the troops fought hand-to-hand combat using bayonets against the Japanese. A few from B Company managed to save themselves while others were captured as prisoners-of-war. This penetration led to the withdrawal after dark, of both the 44th Indian and 1st Malay Brigade, to the general line at Mount Echo (junction of Ayer Rajah and Depot Road, around present-day
Buona Vista Buona Vista is a housing estate located in the subzones of one-north and Holland Drive in the residential township of Queenstown in Singapore. The housing estate is served by the Buona Vista MRT station which links it up with the MRT system. ...
).


Bukit Chandu

On 14 February, the eve of
Chinese New Year Chinese New Year is the festival that celebrates the beginning of a New Year, new year on the traditional lunisolar calendar, lunisolar and solar Chinese calendar. In Sinophone, Chinese and other East Asian cultures, the festival is commonly r ...
, the Japanese again launched a large-scale attack at 0830 hours with heavy support by intense mortar bombardment and artillery gunfire, on the battlefront held by the 1st Malay Brigade. The defenders managed to beat this off and a number of other attacks, despite suffering considerable casualties. The fighting also included bitter hand-to-hand combat and losses on the Japanese side were as heavy as their Malay foes. At 1600 hours, another attack, this time also supported by tanks, eventually succeeded in penetrating the left flank and the defenders on this side were forced back to a line running from the junction of Ayer Rajah Road to Depot Road through to Alexandra Brickworks and along the canal leading to Bukit Chermin further southeast. Owing to the failure of units on both of its flanks to hold their ground, the 1st Malay Brigade had to withdraw at 1430 hours the following day. It was at this point that C Company of the Malay Regiment received instructions to move to a new defence position sited at Bukit Chandu. Bukit Chandu (meaning "Opium Hill" in Malay) was so named after an opium-processing factory located at the foot of the hill. This was also where C Company of the Malay Regiment made their final stand against the imminent Japanese attack. Bukit Chandu was a key strategic defence position for two important reasons. Firstly, it was situated on high ground overlooking the island to the northwest and secondly, if the Japanese gained control of the ridge, it gave them direct passage to the Alexandra area just behind. The British military in Singapore had its main ammunition bases and supply depots, one of their military hospitals (
Alexandra Hospital Alexandra Hospital (AH) is a hospital located in Queenstown, Singapore that provides acute and community care under the National University Health System. The hospital's colonial-style buildings were constructed in the late 1930s on of land. ...
) and other key installations (such as the Normanton Oil Depot) located right next to Alexandra. C Company's position was separated from D Company by a big canal. Oil was burning in the canal, which flowed from the bombed-out and severely-destroyed Normanton Oil Depot. The burning oil in the canal prevented C Company's soldiers from retreating further. The company was under the command of Second Lieutenant Adnan Bin Saidi. He encouraged his men to defend Bukit Chandu to the last soldier, and was killed together with many of his fellow soldiers in the last desperate defensive battle at Pasir Panjang. The Japanese military pressed on their attack on Bukit Chandu in the afternoon, but this time they did so under the guise of a deception attempt. They sent a group of their soldiers, dressed in captured British Indian troops' uniforms (with their faces and skin smeared with dirt and soot and the wearing of turbans to pass off as
Punjabis The Punjabis ( Punjabi: ; ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ; romanised as Panjābīs), are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group associated with the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of eastern Pakistan and northwestern India. The ...
), to present themselves as allied Indian soldiers in the British Indian Army. C Company saw through this trick as they knew that soldiers of the British Army typically marched in a line of three columns while the supposed Punjabi soldiers in front of their lines were moving in a line of four columns. When they reached the Malay Regiment's defensive line, C Company's troops opened fire, killing many disguised Japanese soldiers. Those who survived escaped downhill back to friendly lines.


Last stand

Two hours later, the Japanese forces launched an all-out
banzai charge Banzai charge is the term that was used by the Allied forces of World War II to refer to Japanese human wave attacks and swarming staged by infantry units. This term came from the Japanese battle cry , and was shortened to banzai, specificall ...
in great numbers in an attempt to wipe out the Malay troops ahead through sheer numbers and over-arching strength. The attack, conducted again with artillery shelling and tank support, overwhelmed the Malay Regiment and the defence line eventually broke. Despite being greatly outnumbered and short of ammunition (with only a few grenades at hand and not many rounds for their machine guns and rifles left) and much-needed combat supplies (including medication and bandages), the Malay Regiment continued to resist the Japanese. Both sides engaged in fierce hand-to-hand combat as well as using bayonets. Adnan was seriously wounded but refused to retreat or surrender and instead encouraged his men to fight to the end. Soon after, with the whole area of Pasir Panjang falling under Japanese control, Adnan, who was badly wounded and unable to fight, was captured. Instead of taking him prisoner, the Japanese continuously kicked, punched and beat him before tying him to a tree and stabbing him to death with their
bayonet A bayonet (from French ) is a knife, dagger, sword, or spike-shaped weapon designed to fit on the end of the muzzle of a rifle, musket or similar firearm, allowing it to be used as a spear-like weapon.Brayley, Martin, ''Bayonets: An Illustr ...
s (some sources claim that Adnan was brutally beaten up before being thrown into a tied-up
gunny sack A burlap sack or gunny sack, also known as a gunny shoe, hessian sack or tow sack, is an inexpensive bag, traditionally made of fibres which are also known as "tow," such as hessian fabric (burlap) formed from jute, hemp or other natural fibre ...
, which was then stabbed repeatedly by his Japanese captors, while others indicate that they stabbed him to death before hanging him upside down from a tree).


Casualties

During the entire
Malayan Campaign The Malayan campaign, referred to by Japanese sources as the , was a military campaign fought by Allied and Axis forces in Malaya, from 8 December 1941 – 15 February 1942 during the Second World War. It was dominated by land battles between ...
, but mostly from 12 to 15 February 1942 in Singapore, the Malay Regiment suffered a total of 159 killed. Six of them were British officers, seven Malay officers, 146 other ranks and a large but unspecified number wounded. About 600 surviving Malay Regiment soldiers reassembled in the Keppel Golf Link area. Here, they were separated from their British officers. They later joined prisoners-of-war from the
British Indian Army The British Indian Army, commonly referred to as the Indian Army, was the main military of the British Raj before its dissolution in 1947. It was responsible for the defence of the British Indian Empire, including the princely states, which co ...
battalions at the
Farrer Park Farrer Park is a subzone of the Rochor planning area in the Central Region of Singapore, bounded by Serangoon Road, Rangoon Road, Race Course Road, Northumberland Road, Tekka Lane and Bukit Timah Road. This article is about the Farrer Park ...
concentration area. It remains unclear as to how many casualties the Japanese suffered.


Aftermath

The battle of Pasir Panjang had little strategic significance. From a purely military operational perspective, the Battle of Pasir Panjang could not change the outcome of the fate of Singapore and it was a matter of time before the British would surrender to the Japanese 25th Army. The Allied units stationed there were simply tasked with defending the approach to the ridge, but instead had to resist the main invasion force. Bukit Chandu itself is situated on high ground overlooking the island to the north, and it controlled the direct passage to the Alexandra area where the British army had its main ammunition and supply depots, military hospital and other key installations. The fall of Bukit Chandu allowed Japan access to the Alexandra area, indirectly contributing to the Alexandra Hospital massacre. Adnan Saidi is described by many Singaporeans and Malaysians today as a hero for his actions on Bukit Chandu – he encouraged his men not to surrender and instead fight to the death. In Singaporean and Malaysian school textbooks, he is also credited as the soldier who noticed the error in the marching style of the Japanese soldiers disguised as Indian troops. Fighting continued after his death and the subsequent British signing of surrender of Singapore to the
Empire of Japan The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II 1947 constitution and subsequent fo ...
at 1810 hours on 15 February 1942 in the area around
Alexandra Hospital Alexandra Hospital (AH) is a hospital located in Queenstown, Singapore that provides acute and community care under the National University Health System. The hospital's colonial-style buildings were constructed in the late 1930s on of land. ...
,
Tanjong Pagar Tanjong Pagar ( alternatively spelled ''Tanjung Pagar'') is a historic district located within the Central Business District in Singapore, straddling the Outram Planning Area and the Downtown Core under the Urban Redevelopment Authority's urb ...
and
Pulau Belakang Mati Sentosa Island, known mononymously as Sentosa, and formerly ''Pulau Belakang Mati'', is an island located off the southern coast of Singapore's main island. The island is separated from the main island of Singapore by a channel of water, the K ...
(
Sentosa Sentosa Island, known mononymously as Sentosa, and formerly ''Pulau Belakang Mati'', is an island located off the southern coast of Singapore's main island. The island is separated from the main island of Singapore by a channel of water, the K ...
) where some of the Malay Regiments regrouped. On 10 February 2021, it was reported that on the day before, 100-year-old Ujang Mormin, the last of the survivors of the battle at Pasir Panjang and then a private of the Malay Regiment, had passed away in a hospital in
Selangor Selangor (; ), also known by its Arabic language, Arabic honorific Darul Ehsan, or "Abode of Sincerity", is one of the 13 Malaysian states. It is on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia and is bordered by Perak to the north, Pahang to the east ...
,
Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
due to the worldwide
COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
pandemic. Ujang had been 21 years old when he fought the Japanese.


See also

*
History of Singapore The history of the modern state of Singapore dates back to its founding in the early nineteenth century; however, evidence suggests that a significant trading settlement existed on the Singapore Island, Island of Singapore in the 14th century. ...
*
Battle of Singapore The Fall of Singapore, also known as the Battle of Singapore,; ta, சிங்கப்பூரின் வீழ்ச்சி; ja, シンガポールの戦い took place in the South–East Asian theatre of the Pacific War. The Empire of ...
*
Japanese order of battle during the Malayan Campaign The Japanese Imperial Army landed the 25th Army under the command of General Tomoyuki Yamashita on the east coasts of Malaya and Thailand on the night of 7 December 1941. History The Japanese Imperial Army invaded Malaya and Thailand on 7 Decembe ...
*
Malaya Command The Malaya Command was a Command (military formation), formation of the British Army formed in the 1920s for the coordination of the defences of British Malaya, which comprised the Straits Settlements, the Federated Malay States and the Unfederat ...


References


External links


Pasir Panjang Battle Diary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pasir Panjang 1942 Conflicts in 1942 World War II operations and battles of the Southeast Asia Theatre Battles of World War II involving Japan
Pasir Panjang Pasir Panjang is an area located at the southern part of Queenstown in Singapore. Kent Ridge Park is a topographical feature which runs adjacent to Pasir Panjang. History Pasir Panjang Road, which once hugged the coastline, was laid down a ...
Military of Singapore under British rule 1942 in Japan 1942 in Singapore February 1942 events