|
826227
Sergeant
William John Martin
1914/06/12 - Born Moulton, Northampton.
Son of Richard and Mary Elizabeth Martin.
Brother to Charles Fred, Nellie, Winifred May, Violet Muriel and Frank.
Occupation Bricklayers Labourer.
1938 - Married Ivy Moulds at Greenwich, London
Next of Kin Wife, Floyd Road, London, SE7
Royal Artillery
80th Anti Tank Regiment
11th Indian Division
Service
1933/01/19 - Enlisted
1941/08/28 - Mobilisation Centre to join 80 Anti-Tank Regiment. Departed Nottingham for Gourock, Scotland.
1941/08/29 14:00 - Boarded HMT Scythia (Ex. RMS Scythia, Cunard Line)
1941/08/30 23:00 - Convoy sailed for Singapore. (although no one onboard knew the destination at this time) This was named Convoy WS 11.
1941/09/13 - Arrived Freetown, Sierra Leone.
1941/09/18 - Sailed from Freetown.
1941/10/03 - Arrived Durban, South Africa.
1941/10/07 - Changed ships to SS Johan de Witt and sailed from Durban.
1941/10/22 - Arrived Bombay, India
1941/10/27 - Sailed from Bombay.
1941/10/31 - Called into Colombo, Sri Lanka.
1941/11/06 - Arrived Singapore. Upon disembarking the men were marched to the railway station where they entrained. 32 men were left at the docks to deal with weapons, stores and other equipment, for delivery over the next few days.
Instead of remaining together as a 4 battery regiment, the 80th Anti-Tank Regiment were informed that each gun crew would be operating independently under different commands.
Battery 2 and 215 were to come under the command of 11th Indian Division.
Battery 272 was to come under the command of 9th Indian Division.
Battery 273 was to come under the command of Malaya Command.
All battery’s were in action in Malaya.
There are no records to confirm which battery William operated with, but he was 11th Indian Division.
Battery 272 were in action at Taiping, Kuala Krai, Gong Kedah Aerodrome, and Port Swettersham and reported mainly to the 5th Baluch Regiment.
Battery 2 and 215 were further north around Alor Star Aerodrome and Sungai Patarni.
1941/12/08 - The Japanese land at Singora, Patani in Thailand and Kota Bharu in Malaya. They quickly took control of the airfield at Kota Bharu, which limited air cover for the defending troops.
For the next 3 months the allied forces fought a retreating action throughout Malaya, with particular strong battles at places they thought would become a holding line such as the Slim River. However, this was not just a battle of troops as the Japanese were jungle trained, had plenty of tanks, but most important had a massive airforce. The British and Australian airforce consisted of very old and slow aircraft such as Brewster Buffalo which were no match for the bombers and Zero fighters. Even the arrival of 50 Hurricanes that arrived in January only lasted a week.
1942/01/29 - All allied troops had retreated to Singapore and the causeway which joined Malaya to Singapore was blown.
The Japanese bluffed General Percival into believing they were going to attack Singapore from the North East, so the coast in that area was mined and strongly defended, but they attacked from the North West, quickly gaining advantage. The reservoirs which supplied water to Singapore City were under threat so Percival decided to surrender Singapore.
‘Singapore Surrender’ by Leo Rawlings
1942/02/15 - Singapore surrenders to the Japanese
1942/04/07 - WO 417/41, Casualty List No. 791. Reported ‘Missing’.
1943/04/21 - WO 417/59, Casualty List No.1115. Previously shown on Casualty List No.791 as Missing, 15/02/1942. Now repaorted a Prisoner of War.
1946/01/10 - WO417/100, Casualty List No. 1956. Previously reported on Casualty List No. 1115 as Prisoner of War now ‘Not Prisoner of War’. Previous Theatre of War, Malaya.
Royal Artillery Tracer File
Japanese PoW
1942/02/15 - Captured Singapore
Changi Camp
PoW No. M-7422
Japanese Index Card - Side One
Japanese Index Card - Side Two
1942/10/25 - Oversea with England Maru, Party Z to Keelung, Taiwan
New PoW No. I-1586
1942, November to 1945, March - Kinkaseki, Taiwan
1945, March - Fukuoka 5B, Kawasaki, Japan
In early March 1945 a group of British POWs entered the camp. They came from Taiwan on the hellship Taiko Maru and remained at Omine 5B until the end of the war.
1945/03/10 - On Fukuoka 5B Roll
1945/09/22 - Liberated Fukuoka 5B
Liberation Questionnaire, filled in by William after being liberated
Repatriation
USS Perida
1945/10/09 - Depart Manila.
1945/11/01 - Arrived Victoria, Canada.
British then entrained to the East Coast and transported to UK.
|
|
|
|
|
Pacific Star
|
War Medal
|
1939-1945 Star
|
|
|
|
Far East Medals
Information
Fall of Malaya and Singapore
Japanese Transports
Repatriation Rolls
KEW Files:- WO 361/1968, WO 361/2068, WO 392/25, WO 361/1978, WO 361/1254, WO 345/34,
|
