8th Infantry DivsionAs fears of war with Japan mounted, most of the 8th Division was sent to Singapore,
to strengthen the British garrison; the remaining battalions were deployed in the
islands to Australia's north, at Rabaul, Ambon and Timor. Following short but bloody
campaigns in Malaya and the islands, virtually all of the 8th division was lost, when
stronger Japanese forces swept through South East Asia, in early 1942. In the Fall of
Singapore alone, more than 15,000 Australians were taken prisoner.
на 22.06 - в ней фактич. 1 бригада и дивизионные части! (22-я бригада)
22-я бригада из 8-й дивизии -с (However, as the possibility of war with Japan loomed,
the 22nd Brigade was sent instead to Malaya on February 2, 1941.)
23-я бригада из 8-й дивизии - The 23rd Brigade moved to Darwin in April.(1941)
(27-я) -оставалась в Австралии до? (The 27th Brigade joined the 22nd Brigade in Malaya,
in August.) (1941) - там же, с 27-й и 2/15 field art regiment из 8-й пд...
Kluang, Malaya (малайзия)
на 2008:
Kluang is a town and district located roughly in the middle of the state of Johor in Malaysia.
Kluang lies about 110km north of Johor Bahru, east-southeast of Batu Pahat, west of Mersing and
south of Segamat. The population of Kluang district now exceeds 250,000 residents and the town
itself has over 140,000 residents.
The 8th Division of the Australian Army was formed to serve in World War II, as part of the Second Australian Imperial Force, who were in turn, part of the Allies of World War II. The 8th Division was raised from regular army units and new, all-volunteer infantry brigades, from July 1940 onwards. As war with Japan loomed in 1941, the division was divided into four separate forces, which were deployed in different parts of the Asia-Pacific region. All of these formations were destroyed as fighting forces by the end of February, 1942. Most members of the division became prisoners of war, and a large number died in captivity.
History
The 8th Division was raised to fight Nazi Germany, and was trained for the conditions of the Middle East. In December 1940, the 24th Brigade was sent to North Africa, and became part of the 9th Division. It was replaced in the 8th Division by the 27th Brigade.
However, as the possibility of war with Japan loomed, the 22nd Brigade was sent instead to Malaya on February 2, 1941. The 23rd Brigade moved to Darwin in April. The 2/22nd Battalion was detached from it and deployed to Rabaul, New Britain in April. The 27th Brigade joined the 22nd Brigade in Malaya, in August. The remainder of the 23rd Brigade was split into another two detachments: the 2/40th Battalion left for Timor, on December 12 and; the 2/21st Battalion went to Ambon in the Dutch East Indies on December 17. The 23rd Brigade headquarters remained in Darwin.
Malaya
As war broke out Japanese forces based in Vichy French-controlled Indochina quickly overran Thailand and invaded Malaya. The demoralising loss of two British capital ships, HMS Repulse and HMS Prince of Wales, off Malaya on December 10, 1941, neutralised Allied naval superiority, allowing the Japanese to perform amphibious assaults on the Malayan coast with much less resistance. Japanese forces met stiff resistance from III Corps of the Indian Army and British units in northern Malaya, but Japan's superiority in air power, tanks and infantry tactics forced the Allied units, who had very few tanks and remained vulnerable to isolation and encirclement, back.
On January 14, parts of the division went into action south of Kuala Lumpur, at Gemas and Muar. The 2/30th Battalion had some early success at the Gemencheh River Bridge, destroying a Japanese battalion. However, other Allied units were already severely depleted and demoralised, and Japanese flanking operations began to take their toll, whose tactics of isolation and encirclement often forced mass surrenders of other Allied units.
The 2/29th and the 2/19th Battalions were detached as reinforcements for the Indian 45th Brigade, which was in danger of being overrun near the Muar River. By January 22, a mixed force from the two battalions, with some Indian troops, had been isolated and overrun. Members of the Japanese Imperial Guards Division massacred about 150 Allied prisoners at Parit Sulong, following the fighting. Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Anderson, acting commander of the 2/19th, was taken prisoner and was later awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions.
The remainder of the 27th Brigade was waging a rearguard action, while the rest of the 22nd Brigade had been sent back to guard the north end of the Johor-Singapore Causeway which linked the Malayan Peninisula to Singapore, as Allied forces retreated.
Singapore
As Allied forces in Malaya retreated towards Singapore, a 2,000-strong detachment of 8th Division reinforcements arrived in Singapore, including the 2/4th Machine Gun Regiment.
By January 31, the last Allied forces had left Malaya, and Allied engineers blew a hole, 70 feet (20 metres) wide, in the causeway.
The Allied commander, Lieutenant General Arthur Percival gave Maj. Gen. Gordon Bennett's 8th Division the task of defending the prime invasion points on the north side of the island, in a terrain dominated by mangrove swamps and forest. The 22nd Brigade was assigned a daunting 10 mile (16 kilometre) wide sector in the west of the island, and the 27th Brigade a 4,000 yard (3,650 metre) zone in the north west, near the causeway.
From vantage points across the straits, including the Sultan of Johore's palace, as well as aerial reconnaissance and infiltrators, the Japanese commander, General Tomoyuki Yamashita and his staff gained excellent knowledge of the Allied positions. From February 3, the Australian positions were shelled by Japanese artillery. Shelling and air attacks intensified over the next five days, destroying communications between Allied units and their commanders.
At 8.30pm on February 8, Australian machine gunners opened fire on vessels carrying a first wave of 4,000 Japanese troops towards Singapore Island.
Fierce fighting raged all day, but eventually the increasing Japanese numbers, as well as their artillery, planes and military intelligence began to exploit gaps in the Australian lines. By midnight the two 8th Division infantry brigades were separated and isolated, and the 22nd Brigade was being forced to retreat. At 1 am further Japanese troops were landed in the west of the island and the last Australian reserves went into position.
Towards dawn on the February 9, elements of the 22nd Brigade were being overrun and it was decided to form a secondary defensive line. The 2/18th Battalion had lost more than 50% of its personnel. During the course of the day, the 22nd and other Allied units in the east were forced to retreat further south.
The 27th Brigade had not yet faced an attack. However, the next day, the Japanese Imperial Guard made a botched landing in the north west, suffering severe casualties from drowning and burning oil in the water, as well as Australian mortars and machine guns. In spite of the 27th Brigade's success, as a result of a misunderstanding, they began to withdraw from Kranji in the north. That same day, further misunderstandings, increasing numbers of desertions and the arrival of Japanese tanks, caused the Allies to lose control of the crucial Kranji-Jurong ridge through the western side of the island. However the Japanese armoured units failed to seize an opportunity to advance into the heart of the city itself.
On February 11, knowing that his own supplies were running low, Yamashita called on Percival to "give up this meaniningless and desperate resistance".
The next day the Allied lines stabilised around a small area on the south side of the island and fought off determined Japanese assaults. However, the Allies lost more ground on February 13, and Bennett and other senior officers advised Percival to surrender, in the interests of minimising civilian casualties. Percival refused but unsuccessfully sought authority to surrender from his superiors.
The following day the remaining Allied units battled on; civilian casualties mounted as one million people crowded into the area now held by the Allies and bombing and artillery attacks intensified. Civilian authorities began to fear that the water supply would soon give out. Japanese troops killed 200 staff and patients after they captured Alexandra Barracks Hospital.
By the morning of February 15, the Japanese had broken through the last line of defence in the north and food and some kinds of ammunition had begun to run out. After meeting his unit commanders, Percival contacted the Japanese and formally surrendered the Allied forces to Yamashita, shortly after 5.15pm. Bennett created an enduring controversy when he handed over the 8th Division to a brigade commander, commandeered a boat and managed to escape captivity.
Almost 15,000 Australians became prisoners of war at Singapore, an absolute majority of all Australian prisoners of the Japanese in World War II. During the Malaya-Singapore campaign as a whole, the 8th Division suffered 73% of Allied deaths in battle, even though they comprised only 14% of the Allied forces.
Rabaul
The 2/22nd Battalion - composed of 716 men - made up the majority of the combat personnel in the Lark Force, the name given to the 1,400-strong garrison concentrated in Rabaul, New Britain, from March 1941. Lark Force also included personnel from the New Guinea Volunteer Rifles, a coastal defence battery, an anti-aircraft battery, an anti-tank battery and a detachment of the 2/10th Field Ambulance.
The island, part of the Australian territory of New Guinea was important because of its proximity to the Japanese territory of the Caroline Islands, including a major Japanese Navy base on Truk Island. The main tasks of Lark Force were protection of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) airfield and flying boat anchorage, which were important in the surveillance of Japanese movements in the region. A 130-strong detachment from the 2/1st Independent Company was detached to the nearby island of New Ireland.
In January 1942, Lark Force came under heavy attack by Japanese aircraft, which neutralised coastal artillery. In the early hours of January 23, 1942, 20,000 Japanese marines began to land. Some faced fierce resistance, but because of the balance of forces, many landed unopposed. Within hours, the Lark Force commander, Lt Col. J. J. Scanlan had ordered: "every man for himself" and Australian soldiers and civilians split into small groups and retreated through the jungle. Only the RAAF had made evacuation plans and its personnel were removed by flying boat.
The army had made no preparations for guerilla warfare, and most soldiers surrendered during the following weeks. At least 130 Australians, taken prisoner at the Tol Plantation, were massacred on February 4, 1942. From mainland New Guinea, some civilians and individual officers organised unofficial rescue missions and - between March and May - about 450 troops and civilians who had managed to evade the Japanese, were evacuated by sea.
At least 800 soldiers and civilian prisoners of war lost their lives on July 1, 1942, when the ship on which they were sent from Rabaul to Japan, the Montevideo Maru, was sunk off the north coast of Luzon by the US submarine USS Sturgeon (SS-187).
A handful of Lark Force members remained at large on New Britain and - often in conjunction with indigenous people - conducted guerilla operations against the Japanese. Rabaul became the biggest Japanese base in New Guinea. Allied forces landed in December 1944, although substantial Japanese forces continued to operate on New Britain until Japan surrendered in August 1945.
By the end of the Pacific War, more than 600 members of the 2/22nd Battalion were dead.
Ambon
The island of Ambon, in the Dutch East Indies, was perceived to be under threat from Japan because of its potential as a major air base. However, by mid-December 1941, only two flights of RAAF light bombers were deployed there, along with assorted US Navy and Royal Netherlands Navy aircraft.
The 8th Division's 1,100-strong Gull Force, commanded by Lt Col. L. N. Roach, arrived on December 17. In addition to the 2/21st Battalion, it included 8th Division artillery and support units. The existing Royal Netherlands East Indies Army garrison, commanded by Lt Col. J. R. L. Kapitz, consisted of 2,800 Indonesian colonial troops, with Dutch officers. Kapitz was appointed Allied commander on Ambon. Roach had visited the island before Gull Force's deployment and requested that more artillery and machine gun units be sent from Australia.
Ambon first came under attack from Japanese aircraft on January 6. Roach complained about the lack of response to his suggestions and he was replaced by Lt Col. W. R. J. Scott on January 14, 1942.
A Japanese fleet including two aircraft carriers and about 5,300 Japanese marines and soldiers reached Ambon on January 30, 1942. Although the Japanese ground forces were numerically not much bigger than the Allies, they had overwhelming superiority in air support, naval and field artillery, and tanks. In the belief that the terrain of the southern side of the island was too inhospitable for landings, the Allied troops were concentrated in the north. However, the iniital Japanese landings were in the south.
Within a day of the Japanese landing, the Dutch forces had been surrounded and had given up. Gull Force held out until February 3, when Scott surrendered.
According to Australian War Memorial principal historian, Dr Peter Stanley several hundred Australians surrendered at Laha Airstrip. At intervals for a fortnight after the surrender, more than 300 prisoners taken at Laha were executed. The government of Australia states that "The Laha massacre was the largest of the atrocities committed against captured Allied troops in 1942." [1]
Dr. Stanley said of Australian prisoners of war on Ambon: "They suffered an ordeal and a death rate second only to the horrors of Sandakan, first on Ambon and then after many were sent to the island of Hainan late in 1942. Three-quarters of the Australians captured on Ambon died before the war's end. Of the 582 who remained on Ambon 405 died. They died of overwork, malnutrition, disease and one of the most brutal regimes among camps in which bashings were routine." [2]
Only 302 members of Gull Force survived the war.
Timor
In 1941, the island of Timor was divided into two territories under different colonial powers: Portuguese Timor and West Timor part of the Dutch East Indies. The Australian and Dutch governments agreed that, in the event of Japan entering World War II, Australia would provide forces to reinforce West Timor. Consequently a 1,400 strong detachment, known as the Sparrow Force, and centred on the 2/40th Battalion, arrived at Kupang on December 12, 1941.
The force was initially commanded by Lieutenant Colonel William Leggatt. It also included the Australian commandos of the 2/2nd Independent Company. Sparrow Force joined about 650 Dutch East Indies troops and was supported by the 12 Lockheed Hudson light bombers of No. 2 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force and a troop from the British Royal Artillery's 79th Light Anti-Aircraft Battery. The Allied forces were concentrated around the strategic airfield of Penfui.
As the government of Portugal declined to cooperate with the Allies, a force composed of the 2/2nd Independent Company and Dutch forces occupied Portuguese Timor, without any resistance being offered by the Portuguese Army or officials; the civilian population, both Portuguese and Timorese, generally welcomed the Allied soldiers.
Additional Australian support staff arrived at Kupang on February 12, including Brigadier William Veale, who was to be the senior Allied officer on Timor. By this time many of the Australians, unused to tropical conditions, were suffering from malaria and other illnesses.
Timor came under attack from Japanese aircraft on January 26. The bombers - hampered by AA guns and a squadron of US Army Air Forces fighters based in Darwin - intensified during February. Air attacks forced an Allied convoy - escorted by the destroyers HMAS Swan and HMAS Warrego - to return to Australia. It had included valuable reinforcements, such as a US Army artillery battalion and the remainder of the British AA battery.
During the night of February 19-February 20, the Imperial Japanese Army's 228th Regimental Group, under the direct command of Col. Sadashichi Doi, began landing in Portuguese Timor.
The first contact was at Dili, the capital of Portuguese Timor, where the Allies were caught by surprise. Nevertheless, they were well-prepared and the garrison began an orderly retreat towards the mountainous interior and the south coast.
On the same night, Allied forces in West Timor were under extremely intense air attacks, which had already caused the RAAF force to be withdrawn to Australia. The bombing was followed up by landings from the 228th Regiment, on the undefended south west side of the island, at the Paha River. Light tanks were landed to support the Japanese infantry, and the force advanced north, cutting off the Dutch positions in the west and attacking the 2/40th Battalion positions at Penfui. A parallel Japanese thrust to the north-east, aimed to cut off the Allied retreat, at Usua. Sparrow Force HQ was immediately moved further east, to its supply base at Champlong. Leggatt ordered the destruction of the airfield.
The 2/40th's line of flight towards Champlong had been cut off by the dropping of about 500 Japanese marine paratroopers, from the 3rd Yokosuka Special Naval Landing Force, near Usua. Sparrow Force HQ moved further eastward and Leggatt's men launched a sustained and devastating assault on the paratroopers. By the morning of February 23, the Allies had killed all but 78 of the enemy forces in front of them, but had been engaged from the rear by the main Japanese force once again.
With his soldiers running low on ammunition, exhausted and carrying 132 men with serious wounds, Leggatt consulted his men and then accepted a Japanese invitation to surrender, at Usua. The 2/40th had suffered 84 killed in action. More than twice that number would die as prisoners of war during the next two and a half years. [3]
Veale and the Sparrow Force HQ force - including about some members of the 2/40th and about 200 Dutch East Indies troops - continued eastward across the border, and eventually joined the 2/2 Independent Company. The 2/40th effectively ceased to exist, its survivors being absorbed into the 2/2nd.
Structure
Infantry units (with state of origin, where applicable)
22nd Australian Infantry Brigade, New South Wales, (NSW)
2/18th Australian Infantry Battalion
2/19th Australian Infantry Battalion
2/20th Australian Infantry Battalion
23rd Australian Infantry Brigade
2/21st Australian Infantry Battalion, Victoria, (Vic.)
2/22nd Australian Infantry Battalion, Vic.
2/40th Australian Infantry Battalion, Tasmania, (Tas.)
24th Australian Infantry Brigade - to 9th Division, 1940
27th Australian Infantry Brigade - from 9th Div., 1941
2/26th Australian Infantry Battalion, Queensland (Qld)
2/29th Australian Infantry Battalion, Vic.
2/30th Australian Infantry Battalion, NSW
Artillery regiments
2/9th Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery (RAA) - to 7th Division, 194?
2/10th Field Regiment, RAA
2/11th Field Regiment, RAA - to 7th Div., 194?
2/14th Field Regiment, RAA
2/15th Field Regiment, RAA
2/3rd Anti-Tank Regiment, RAA - to 9th Div., 1940
2/4th Anti-Tank Regiment, RAA
Other units
2/4th Australian Machine-Gun Regiment, Western Australia (WA)
2/3rd Australian Pioneer Battalion
8th Australian Divisional Cavalry - to 9th Div., as 9th Div. Cavalry, May 1941.
Engineer companies
2/10th Field Company, Royal Australian Engineers, Vic.
2/11th Field Company, RAE, Qld
2/12th Field Company, RAE, NSW
2/4th Field Park Company, RAE, WA - to 9th Div., 194?
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2/10th Field Regiment
Queensland's 2/10th Field Regiment was formed in July 1940 at Randbank Camp, Brisbane, as one of the 8th Division's three artillery regiments. The division's other two regiments were the 2/14th and 2/15th Field Regiments. Most of the 2/14th's gunners had served in the militia, while a number of officers had served with the 6th Division and had completed an intensive training course at the School of Artillery, Holsworthy. Men from across Queensland joined the regiment, including a group of lifesavers from Tugun. Initially, two batteries were formed, the 19th and 20th Batteries, and in January 1941 a third battery, initially known as "X" Battery, was formed. This name continued until December, when it became the 60th Battery.
From October to December the regiment conducted field manoeuvres and trained with 18-pounder guns from the First World War. A high point of their training was a nine day field manoeuvre through the Brisbane Valley, with live shooting, firing from Caloundra range. The 2/10th was given leave in January 1941 and on 1 February began moving from Redbank Camp to the South Brisbane railway station to travel by train to Sydney. They arrived at Circular Quay the next day where they boarded Queen Mary, which had been converted from a passenger ship to a troopship.
The Queen Mary was apart of a convoy taking troops of the 8th Division to Malaya and Singapore. The convey reached Malaya two-and-a-half weeks later, with the Queen Mary disembarking the 2/10th at Malacca, in Johore, on 19 February. The regiment took up residence in the Malacca High School and the school at Tranquerah; for the next two months batteries were rotated between both locations. While in Malacca the regiment was attached to the 8th Division's 22nd Brigade. The regiment trained and carried out manoeuvres at Mersing, where the regiment was located when Japan entered the Second World War, beginning with the invasion of Malaya.
On 9 January 1942, while still at Mersing, the regiment was re-equipped with 25-pounders, replacing the old 18-pounders. Four days later, the regiment's position was bombed and strafed for the first time by Japanese aircraft. Japanese troops were able to quickly advance through Malaya and by January they had entered Johore. The regiment first went into action on 21 January, when it was called upon to bring down artillery fire on Japanese troops along the Mersing-Endau Road, north of Lalang Hill. The Japanese force had cut off a platoon from the 2/20th Battalion but the regiment's fire allowed the platoon to escape.
The 2/10th was in action from then on, firing on targets in the Mayang Estate and Lalang Hill. During the night of 26-27 January the regiment provided artillery support for the 22nd Brigade's successful ambush in the Nithsdale Estate. After the Nithsdale battle the brigade withdrew to Singapore Island, which took several days, one gun at a time, due to the enemy air activity. The last of the regiment's troops, the 20th Battery, crossed the causeway to Singapore just after 9 pm on 30 January. The causeway was demolished the next morning.
For the coming battle, the 2/10th was located in the north-west of the island. Although the British Commonwealth troops had more guns than the Japanese, the Japanese were able to concentrate their artillery together for the attack, while the British artillery had to be distributed across the island. The 22nd Brigade, supported by the 2/10th, defended the island's north-west coat in the Western Area, while the 27th Brigade and the 2/10th covered causeway sector in the Northern Area.
The 60th Battery took up position south of the Mandai Road, with the regiment's headquarters further south. The 19th Battery travelled along the Mandai Road to the south-west corner of the island and the 20th Battery took up position along the Mandai Road, south of the 2/26th and 2/30th Battalions, and with the 2/29th Battalion on their left. On 2 February a new sub-unit was formed, called "G Troop", with the regiment's surplus 4.5 inch howitzers and two 18-pounders. The troop dug in north of the Mandai Road in support of the 2/30th.
Between 2 and 8 February, the 22nd Brigade's area was subjected to an intense artillery barrage by the Japanese. The 20th and 60th Batteries returned fire, engaging targets in Johore Bahru, but the effectiveness of this was limited, as the artillery was ordered to fire no more than 12 rounds per 25-pounder gun per day. This restriction was only lifted after the Japanese invaded the island.
The main Japanese assault on Singapore began at 11 pm on 8 February. Crossing the Johore Strait in barges, by midday the next day the Japanese had broken through the 22nd Brigade. There had been continual heavy fighting and although it had been shelled and bombarded with air attack, the 20th and 60th Batteries fired up to 800 shells and sunk 30 sampans carrying Japanese troops. With the Japanese advancing, on 10 February both batteries were withdrawn to Singapore Harbour. By now, G Troop had ran out of ammunition for its howitzer and was also withdrawn.
By 12 February Commonwealth troops had withdrawn to the city, around which they formed a defensive perimeter. Troops were withdrawn from Changi and the eastern beaches. What was left of the 8th Division was concentrated around Tanglin Barracks. The 2/10th remained in action, firing 2,100 rounds on Bukit Timah village. The next day the regiment moved to the Tanglin golf course, where it came under enemy artillery fire and air strikes. The regiment ceased firing at 10.30 pm on 14 February and the next day the garrison surrendered. For the next three-and-a-half years the men had to endure the brutality of being a prisoner of war of the Japanese.
Initially imprisoned in the sprawling Changi prisoner of war camp, it was not long before members of the 2/10th were allocated to external work parties. The first parties were dispatched around Singapore and southern Malaya, but later 2/10th members found themselves bound for the camps along the Thailand-Burma Railway and to Borneo. Other prisoners were sent to Japan and Sumatra. Of the 834 officers and men of the regiment who became prisoners, 270 died. The surviving prisoners were liberated in late August 1945 and began returning to Australia almost immediately.
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Order of Battle
Malaya Command
Australian Imperial Force
8th Australian Divsion
8 December 1941