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All the Information in the ‘FEPOW Family’ belongs to the writer and are not ‘Public Domain’. Permission must be obtained before any part is copied or used.
Killed in Action
Cambridgeshire Regiment
2nd Battalion
History
Compiled by Ron Taylor
In Memory of David Langton
Japanese Attack
8th December 1941 - 15th February 1942
By David Langton
On January 13th the Mount Vernon arrived at Singapore in the middle of an air raid, for which the ship was meant to be the target; but a sudden squall of heavy rain and mist providentially concealed the vessel and the aircraft unloaded its bombs somewhere else instead. In heavy rain the Battalion disembarked and proceeded to a makeshift camp on the Bukit Timah racecourse, which consisted largely of mud, expecting to spend some weeks reorganizing and training after a long voyage. However, owing to the critical situation on the mainland, these illusions were rudely shattered and the unit was rather unceremoniously pushed into battle on the 16th, without having time to unpack. It was attached to 15th Indian Brigade and dispatched to Batu Pahat in north Johore to relieve a composite Leicester-Surrey Battalion (the ‘British Battalion’) and prevent the enemy occupying the town and its airfield. Within a few hours of arrival on the mainland, the first causalities were sustained from dive bombing attacks.
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Malayan Action
The last few days in Batu Pahat were spent in active patrolling, contact was soon made with parties of enemy who had landed on the west coast behind Battalion positions and were threatening communications. Before long, many enemy forces driving south from Muar had built up a considerable force round Batu Pahat on the north of the river and began to attempt to break into the town. The British Battalion was brought back from reserve to reinforce the small garrison of the town which consisted of the 2nd Battalion, a company of the Malay Regiment and a battery of the 155 Field Regiment. Even with the addition of the British Battalion it was a very small force to hold a place of the size of Batu Pahat and meet attacks from every direction. In the meanwhile, the enemy continued to land troops behind the defence line, and before long the defenders found it necessary to form a complete circle, which perforce was only thinly held in parts. The Japanese attacked the troop positions of the Field Regiment, taking them by surprise; a company each from the British Battalion and the 2nd Battalion had to be sent to disperse the enemy and rescue the guns. This done with the loss of one gun only.
Having failed in their attempts to take the town by direct frontal attack, the enemy next sent out a flanking force to work round to the South-East and cut the Ayer Hitam road, the principal line of communication with the rear. They succeeded in doing this on the 22nd, ambushing part of the 2nd Battalion’s ‘B’ echelon and destroying a number of vehicles. The R.Q.M.S. who was in charge of this convoy was wounded, but managed to escape from the trap with two of his trucks. From this day onwards, no further food or ammunition could be delivered to the Batu Pahat and life became rather austere.
The enemy now began to feel their way towards the town by the Yong Peng road, after crossing the river some miles outside the defence perimeter. The garrison was by now so hard pressed for men that this road could not be effectively patrolled so far from the main defences, since all available reserves were in daily use attacking enemy infiltration parties nearer to the town itself. But though the Japanese were thus able to effect a crossing of the river, they soon ran against ‘A’ Company’s positions astride the North-Eastern entrance to Batu Pahat. They were promptly driven back into cover each time they tried to break through. Similar attempts to cross the Muar Road Ferry in the harbour area of the town were held by ‘B’ and ‘C’companies with the assistance of the gunners.
The last remaining line of communication with the besieged garrison was the coast road to Benut; but unprotected vehicles could not be sent up by this route since enemy landing parties some miles to the south were known to have reached the road and prepared blocks in places.
On the 23rd, orders were received by wireless for a withdrawal from Batu Pahat to a position some mile down this road, where it was intended that the garrison should halt and fight a delaying action to cover the establishment of a further defence line through Benut. Soon after nightfall the complete force broke off action and withdrew from the town without difficulty; the Brigade formed up on the coast road with its vehicles and began the march south, headed by the last armoured cars remaining to it, and with its guns disposed in the column.
No sooner had the move commenced than a further signal was received cancelling the withdrawal order and ordering the force to reoccupy the town, and hold it for a further 48 hours to enable certain British units on the east coast to be extricated first. It is profitless to question why and how mistakes such as this are made, from a wider point of view it may be but a small error and unimportant, but to the garrison of Batu Pahat it was an extremely serious matter. Had no withdrawal order been given in the first place, the town could have been held indefinitely without any trouble, since the defenders were well placed in carefully chosen positions on which the enemy had made little or no impression as yet, now however they had in pursuance of orders withdrawn from these positions which thus fell to the enemy without any necessity of fighting for them. The garrison had thus to recapture Batu Pahat by force before it could be held for a further period, and the enemy had now all the best positions in town.
 The reoccupation of the town was effected by night attack, delivered by the 2nd Battalion with the assistance of two companies of the 5th Norfolks, which with their Battalion H.Q. had been sent up to reinforce the Brigade just before the coast road became impassable. The attack was successful, though the enemy held on grimly to hill 127, an important feature, and were only dislodged from this after a series of company assaults in the course of which ‘B’ company commander Captain Cutlack was mortally wounded, and a number of officers and other ranks killed and wounded.
Throughout 24th, ,the Japanese made a sustained effort to retake the Batu Pahat and pressed heavily on the defenders from all sides, the brunt of these attacks were borne by the 2nd Battalion and causalities began to mount up. Street fighting developed in several quarters of the town and confused close-quarter actions prevented the use of artillery to support the hard pressed infantry; but the Battalion mortars were in constant demand. In the course of the day ‘A’ company captured an enemy infantry gun.
On the night of the 25th the Batu Pahat force, having fulfilled the demand made upon them, it finally withdrew down the coast road to the village of Sengarang where it found that the last way out of the trap had been already blocked and the force was surrounded. An enemy landing force had erected blocks across the road and prepared strong positions to prevent a break out.
From dawn on the 26th until 1630 hours in the afternoon continual attacks were launched against these blocks in the hope of being able to clear the road to allow the ambulances and other vehicles of the Brigade to pass through, but in vain. Once again, the brunt of this action was borne by the 2nd Battalion, and every man was thrown into the fight, including cooks, drivers, signallers and batmen, the opening of the road was a matter of desperate necessity, for the Brigade was still carrying with it the accumulated causalities of the last four days’ fighting in the town, for whom there was no chance of evacuation to hospital.
 The enemy positions were well chosen, the only way of attack lay over marshy ground, thickly wooded, with every clearing covered by both light and heavy automatic weapons. By reason of the limited visibility in this type of country the use of artillery to support the attacks was quite useless and even mortars were employed with difficulty. Up to their knees in mud and water, and hampered by the thick vegetation the companies struggled to reach their objectives, suffering heavy casualties from concealed weapons of the enemy, destroying one post after another only to find that the Japanese position was planned in great depth, with every position covered by another. While the battle was in progress, the guns in the village itself were constantly attacked by Japanese aircraft and threatened by infiltration parties who closed in on the houses, armed with machine guns and mortars. Behind the Post Office, the Field Ambulance staff worked under great difficulties, being continually under fire.
When finally it was found to be impossible to open the road for the passage of vehicles (there were found no fewer than six blocks and ambushes between Senggarang and Ringit) the Brigade Commander gave orders to destroy all guns and transport and to attempt to break out through the jungle and link up with the nearest British forces, who were believed to be at Ringit or Benut. A bitter decision had to be made, the wounded as were too ill to be moved were left in the village under the care of two doctors of the 168 Field Ambulance. When the 2nd Battalion Padre heard of this he elected to stay with them and share their fate.
When the break-out order was given at Senggarang, the Battalion was widely deployed amongst the swamps on both sides of the roads with every man in action. As a natural result, it was impossible to collect the scattered sub-units into a complete Battalion in the time given in the order; however, in companies, platoons, sections and groups of every size and sort, under their respective officers and N.C.O’s, the great majority of the Battalion managed somehow to break out of the enemy ring and make their way back to Singapore, 70 mile distant.
The stories of the adventures of the parties who found themselves alone in the jungle, desperately weary and hungry, hampered with many walking wounded in need of assistance, and constantly harried by enemy ambushes on the few practicable tracks and river crossings, would alone be sufficient to fill a book. One can only say that by the qualities of great endurance, faith and unconquerable cheerfulness these men won through; mud-covered, exhausted, their clothing in rags they came back, their weapons in their hands, the strong helping the weak. Some marched through swamp and jungle till they contacted British units in Benut or south of that town, others found sampans and paddled down the coast, while a large group of 9 officers and 400 men were taken off by naval craft from a fishing village on the coast.
All those who escaped were sent to Singapore in the hope that there would be sufficient survivors to reorganise as a Battalion again.
But there were many who did not come back, and these were killed or captured in the trap or succumbed to their wounds and exhaustion in the mud of the mangrove swamps.
Singapore 1942
Map Supplied by Tim Lloyds
As the survivors returned, the Battalion was able to reorganise and re-equip at a temporary camp on Serangoon Road outside Singapore. As the days went by and more and more of the ‘missing’ turned up, each with stories of wild adventures to tell, the spirits of all ranks rose high and the Battalion had it’s tail up as never before.
The rest of the Division had now arrived on the Island and contact was made with the1st Battalion again. But this rest period lasted a bare five days, after which the unit found itself once more in the line, taking over a sector of coast to the east of the naval base. Here there was a complete lack of any sort of defence works, and much digging and wiring was involved, principally by night and often under shellfire from the enemy batteries across the Straits, any movement by day drew artillery and mortar attention. Here the Battalion returned to 53 Infantry Brigade. Air attacks increased in intensity daily.
Shortly afterwards, as a result of the Japanese landings on the west coast of the Island, the 53 Infantry Brigade was ordered to carry out a withdrawal in stages to the south, to conform with the movement of the left of the general line. This operation was successfully concluded although at one time the enemy cut the road behind the Brigade, and nearly caused a second Senggarang. Finally positions were taken up on the evening of 13th February to the north of Braddell Road, but owing to darkness the positions could not be thoroughly reconnoitred the same evening and information of the positions of other units were scanty. The same evening, the C.O. with a small party of officers and other ranks of the Battalion was ordered away from the Island on an official ‘escape’ party, and in spite of his forceful protests to Brigade was compelled to leave his Battalion. Major Stephen took over command.
Soon after midnight, the enemy attacked the Battalion line in several places, and a force which outflanked the Brigade came in from the left and assaulted Battalion H.Q., which though mustering only 15 all ranks, fought back stoutly and thus contained a complete company on its own. Confused and bitter fighting ensued in the darkness, and the Battalion found itself assaulted from front, flanks and rear. The C.C. was killed while manning an L.M.G., and the Adjutant with several of the Battalion H.Q. met their deaths in a gallant attempt to drive back the enemy with the bayonet. All communications were cut, and part of the defence line was temporarily overrun, but Major P.T. Howard took command of the Battalion, and at dawn the line was reformed and gaps closed; the enemy withdrew into cover and seemed to have exhausted his strength for the time being.
The following night further attempts were made by strong enemy patrols to find a weak spot in the defences, but these were countered and the line held. Throughout the 15th the Battalion continued to hold its ground though its left flank was now in danger and communication with the rear was no longer possible.
In the late afternoon the Brigade Commander came in person to deliver the order to cease fire, lest this be disbelieved.
Singapore had Surrendered
To avoid Capture an ‘Escape Party’ was formed in advance of the surrender.
The 2nd Battalion Escape Party consisted of Lt.Col. Thorne, Capt. Page, Capt. T.A.D. Ennion, Lieut. Squirrel, C.S.M. Randall, and Pts Bray, Clarke, Desborough, Powell, Pells, and Johnson. These were the only men of the Regiment detailed for this venture, since the 1st Battalion did not receive the order until too late for it to be complied with.
On leaving the Battalion this party made its way to Brigade and there joined similar parties from 5th and 6th Norfolks, afterwards proceeding to the docks, here it was found that shipping was not available for the whole Divisional party, and the greater part were returned to Y.M.C.A. building to wait for the next night. Here Lt. Col Thorne was informed of the true nature of the ‘Special’ mission for which he and his men had been selected, and they at once asked permission to return to their unit, only to be informed that they were under orders to escape and must do their best to obey the order.
During the evening of the 14th the Y.M.C.A. building came under heavy shellfire and received several direct hits. When the 53 Infantry Brigade party reported to the docks after dark they again found no ships, and received a message to the effect that they were to attempt to find boats and make their escape unaided. The night was spent searching the docks for seaworthy craft, and with the coming of daylight this task was hampered by continual air and artillery strafing. Finally on the afternoon of 15th , the party embarked 41 strong in a ship’s lifeboat and began to row in the rough direction of Sumatra.
After crossing over the Straits of Malacca and calling in at several islands for information and supplies, at one of which the lifeboat was bartered for a decrepit motor launch, the party reached Sumatra. Here they were taken in buses over to the west coast and conveyed by ship to Java. After a few days only on Java they were put aboard a small flat-bottomed river steamer and taken to Ceylon, being attacked with torpedoes on the way, but escaping by reason of the vessel’s light draught.
In the story of this party there is again a tragedy. While waiting in the Y.M.C.A. on the 14th, before making their escape from Singapore, Lt. Col Thorne was taken from them and ordered to join a number of senior officers who were to be evacuated first, regretfully, Thorne said good-bye to the other Cambridgeshires, and was sent off almost at once. He was never seen again. When the rest of the Battalion ‘Escape Party” finally reached Ceylon, they made every endeavour to rejoin their C.O., but could find no trace of him. After extensive inquiries amongst other Officers and men who reached safety, they learned that he had arrived in Sumatra and had been embarked in a vessel which was believed to have been lost in the Indian Ocean with no survivors.
The news of the loss of Lt. Col G.C.Thorne did not reach those of his Battalion who were in captivity until long after, when one of the few letters to arrive from home gave information that he was reported missing, even then, there was still hope that he might somehow have survived and been made prisoner somewhere in the East, but as the war drew to its close that hope died away. The best tribute that can be paid to the memory of this well loved Commander is this, that whenever in slave camps of the East two members of his Battalion met together they asked each other if there was news of the C.O.. For those of us who served under him, he is remembered as he was that morning at Senggarang, tired, hungry, and grimy as the rest of us, standing on the open road in full view of the enemy block, smiling and cracking jokes to cheer us on into battle, his helmet as usual forgotten.
Death Roll
Defence of Singapore
8th December 1941 - 15th February 1942
Please click on the  next to each date below to extend information
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Date
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Name
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Service/No
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1942/01/17
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Elsagood, George Henry Richard
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5932821
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1942/01/18
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Curtis, George Arthur
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5933072
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1942/01/18
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Rutter, Dudley Leicester
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74455
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1942/01/18
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Thorner, Percival James
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6026934
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1942/01/19
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Gilbey, Stanley
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5933065
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1942/01/19-1942/01/24
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Catchpole, Alfred Edward
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6204699
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1942/01/22
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Smith, Thomas Albert
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5832807
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1942/01/23
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Pearce, John William
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5824604
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1942/01/23
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Pikett, Herbert Alfred
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5932347
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1942/01/24
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Risby, George Charles
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5828528
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1942/01/24
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Mitchell, William Ernest
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6027022
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1942/01/24
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Cutlack, Cecil William Robin
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78249
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1942/01/24
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Douthwaite, Arthur James Percy
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124451
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1942/01/24
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Chambers, Leslie Charles
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5832948
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1942/01/24
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Buck, George Arthur
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5832495
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1942/01/24
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Baxter, Charles Henry
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5829685
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1942/01/24
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Howe, John Henry
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5933506
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1942/01/24
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Hodson, Bernard Thomas
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5829998
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1942/01/24
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Lee, George William
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5831221
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1942/01/24
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Burton, James Henry
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5932674
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1942/01/24-1942/02/16
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Thompson, Arthur Joseph
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6028658
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1942/01/25
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Parish, Arthur
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5823596
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1942/01/25
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Grounds, Frederick Ambrose
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79053
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1942/01/25
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Martin, Wilfred Arthur
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5828816
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1942/01/25
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Spriggs, Leslie John Edward
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5833706
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1942/01/25
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Burles, Archibald Albert
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5828820
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1942/01/25
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Chivers, Hugh John
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90415
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1942/01/26
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Weaver, Frederick Bernard
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5828766
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1942/01/26
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Groom, Basil Raf
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164500
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1942/01/26
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Walker, John William
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5824889
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1942/01/26
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Haynes, George
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5833288
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1942/01/26
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Foulger, Neville
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5836252
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1942/01/26
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Clayton, Bertram
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5835470
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1942/01/26
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Mickleburgh, Sidney Jack
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5831053
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1942/01/27
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Mower, Reginald Stanley
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5827651
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1942/01/27
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Peacock, George Harold
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5830978
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1942/01/27
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Cornish, Ernest George
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5831159
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1942/01/27
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Hardwick, Philip Clarence Brown
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5831101
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1942/01/27
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Bolden, Joseph Arthur
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5831141
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1942/01/27
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Spinks, Ralph William
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5933171
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1942/01/27
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Cox, John Edward
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5933684
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1942/01/27
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Knoll, Ronald Ernest
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5828889
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1942/01/28
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Harrison, Thomas Freeman
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5830796
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1942/01/28
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Harnwell, Kenneth Charles
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5933552
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1942/01/28
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Hammond, Thomas Silvester
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5933599
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1942/01/28
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Gooch, Gordon Douglas
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5830375
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1942/01/28
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Godfrey, Reginald Charles
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5833571
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1942/01/28
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Gaster, Edward George
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6023673
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1942/01/28
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King, Charles Russel Leonard
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5828716
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1942/01/28
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Dumpleton, John Stephen
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5831195
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1942/01/28
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Dersley, Charles Harry
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5831108
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1942/01/28
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Denton, Walter William
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5834256
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1942/01/28
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Caldecoat, Ernest George
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5933558
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1942/01/28
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Brown, Edmund John
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5831167
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|
1942/01/28
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Bird, Daniel Albert
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5832477
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|
1942/01/28
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Bell, Jackson
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5833771
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|
1942/01/28
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Elliott, Robert
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4803638
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|
1942/01/28
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Snow, Richard James
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5829996
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|
1942/01/28
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Sizer, Harold Joseph Fred
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5836240
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|
1942/01/28
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Williams, Albert
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5933763
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1942/01/28
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Mayle, Charles
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5932521
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|
1942/01/28
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Want, John Thomas
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5830537
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1942/01/28
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Read, John Joseph Henry
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5824888
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1942/01/28
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Rogers, Sidney
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5827806
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|
1942/01/28
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Whitehouse, Robert Henry
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5831032
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|
1942/01/28
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Le Pla, Aubrey William
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5835518
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1942/01/28
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Stafford, Joseph
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5831029
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|
1942/01/28
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Laing, Harold
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5831218
|
|
1942/01/28
|
Surry, Arthur William
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5828800
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|
1942/01/28
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Todd, Archibald
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5833372
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|
1942/01/28
|
Tuck, Alfred Harry
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5932842
|
|
1942/01/28
|
Markwell, Edward George
|
5831651
|
|
1942/01/30
|
Frost, Cyril Thomas
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5832990
|
|
1942/02/01
|
Goldsmith, Bernard Roy Edward
|
5830618
|
|
1942/02/01-1942/02/15
|
Davies, Robert Griffith
|
5933768
|
|
1942/02/06
|
Speed, Frederick William
|
5828959
|
|
1942/02/06
|
White, Abraham Basil John
|
5834834
|
|
1942/02/06
|
Hopson, William Reginald
|
5830767
|
|
1942/02/08
|
Souster, John William
|
6029181
|
|
1942/02/08
|
Williams, George
|
5830706
|
|
1942/02/08
|
Knights, Alan Maurice
|
5832162
|
|
1942/02/09
|
Garn, James Gordon
|
5831197
|
|
1942/02/12
|
Harris, Clifford Roland
|
5827356
|
|
1942/02/12
|
Kellett, Michael John
|
5825584
|
|
1942/02/12
|
Swain, Cecil Charles
|
5933491
|
|
1942/02/12
|
Jefferson, Archie
|
5933457
|
|
1942/02/13
|
Reeves, Lloyd Gordon
|
5828821
|
|
1942/02/13-1942/02/14
|
Nicholls, Bernard
|
5933898
|
|
1942/02/14
|
Burridge, Edward Alfred James
|
5831147
|
|
1942/02/14
|
Allgood, Ronald
|
5933499
|
|
1942/02/14
|
Stephen, Alfred Bodger Grant
|
32392
|
|
1942/02/14
|
Long, Horace William
|
5933789
|
|
1942/02/14
|
Southerill, William
|
5933720
|
|
1942/02/14
|
Harris, Thomas William
|
5831787
|
|
1942/02/14
|
Sneesby, Ernest Allen
|
5828753
|
|
1942/02/14
|
Bunkall, John Allen
|
5775494
|
|
1942/02/14
|
Wright, Herbert
|
5836271
|
|
1942/02/14
|
Wells, Herbert
|
5933696
|
|
1942/02/14
|
Martin, William Alec Jesse
|
5824683
|
|
1942/02/14
|
Bloomfield, Charles Henry
|
5933123
|
|
1942/02/14
|
Mallion, Leslie Charles
|
5831015
|
|
1942/02/14-1942/02/15
|
Seeley, Edgar
|
5831233
|
|
1942/02/14-1942/02/15
|
Martin, Ernest Henry
|
5933772
|
|
1942/02/15
|
Byford, Victor William
|
5827585
|
|
1942/02/15
|
Warren, Alfred Jack
|
5830538
|
|
1942/02/15
|
Rose, Joseph Leonard
|
5830795
|
|
1942/02/15
|
Brown, William
|
5833524
|
|
1942/02/15
|
Rogers, Percy Samuel
|
5823682
|
|
1942/02/15
|
Gibbs, Douglas Albert
|
5933753
|
|
1942/02/15
|
Pountney, Howard Owen
|
5833629
|
|
1942/02/15
|
Green, Clifford George
|
5828811
|
|
1942/02/15
|
Wright, Harry George
|
5825417
|
|
1942/02/15
|
Alliston, Augustino
|
810994
|
|
1942/02/15
|
Smith, Robert John
|
5826116
|
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Acknowledgements
This information was collated using:-
‘Cambridgshires in the Far East’ from Britain at War.
The ‘Roll of Honour’ FEPOW Family
Information supplied by the late David Langton
‘Battalion at War’ by Michael Moore
‘With the Cambrdgeshires at Singapore’ by William Taylor
‘Tigers in the Park’ by Jon Cooper
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