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137 Regt disembarked at Singapore at 18.30 on Nov 28th and immediately entrained for Kajang, South East of Kuala Lumpur, reaching there at 06.30 the following day and marched directly to Kajang Camp to join the 11th Indian Division.
The Diary shows somewhat casually, that ‘Japan declared War on Great Britain’ on 7 December 1941.
On 9 December, RHQ and the 2 Batteries, (349 & 350) moved by road to Ipoe, North of Kuala Lumpur, a journey of 145 miles, then on to Sungei Patani, a further 110 miles North on the West Coast of the Malay Peninsula and almost due west of the Japanese landing site. Immediately, 350 Btty were in action.
The Japanese had launched a full frontal attack on Jitra. 501 Btty joined the fight on the night of 10/11 December. The Diary for the 12th December describes in detail, the attack and the response from all three Batteries, now located on the Tanjong Pau Rubber Estate. 349 & 350 Bttys were in action in the defence of Jitra, with 501 located at RAF Alor Setar. On 14 December, 137, less 349 Btty withdrew to a position west of Pendang via the Jitra Road, now congested with retreating Troops and civilians. Within hours, they were ordered to withdraw south beyond the River Muda, leaving 501 in position at Lalang, who would rejoin the Regiment safely the following day, the 16th.
Over the next 5 days, the 137 withdrawal continues via Bagan Sarai, Sungei Siput and Chemor. A further move South to Tasek on the 23rd incurred casualties among 501 Btty: 4 Dead and 6 wounded and the loss of 2 vehicles, when they were dive-bombed by a Japanese Fighter.
The quiet of 24/25th December was shattered on the 26th when the enemy was spotted and for the next 5 hours concentrated fire on the Japanese positions. The action continued on 27th and the Regiment moved again to hides in Dipang. 501 moved to Bidor via Kampar, followed by the rest of 137. Action continued throughout New Year.
The author of the War Diary finished the Month of December by recalling three ‘Humorous Incidents’.
Perhaps somewhat pointedly, these conclude the War Diary entries for 137 Fd Regt. The file closes with copies of the Operational Orders and Manning States. However, this is not the end of the story. Taylor, (2003) recounts 2Lt Richard Hartley’s, (of 501 Btty)story.
- ‘….by 2nd January they were outflanked and the road to Singapore was cut off behind them. Under cover of intense artillery fire, in which presumably 501 Battery was engaged, they fell back along the main road to prepared positions at Trolak, about five miles in front of the Slim River.
- On 7th January at 0330 the Japanese overran the roadblocks and defences at Trolak, five miles north of the Slim River.
- Half a dozen small Japanese tanks and a company of about 100 infantry in trucks then raced to the river, where the exhausted defenders, including Lt Hartley and 501 Battery, were caught completely off guard. They had not expected Trolak to fall so quickly and were given no warning that the Japanese were through.
- The tanks caught three battalions of 12 Brigade - two Gurkha and one of the 5/14 Punjab Regt - marching along the road and machine-gunned them. They caught 501 and 349 Batteries breakfasting by the roadside in the Cluny rubber estate, and shelled and machine-gunned them before they could get their artillery into position.
Taylor goes on to describe the retreat to Singapore by the remaining 200 men left of 137 Regt. The Party decided not to surrender but to rejoin the British Lines at Kuala Lumur, some 50 miles south of their position. They split into two groups, in the hope that one would get through. Hartleys group made it but the other was quickly captured. The surviving group, although exhausted moved through the Jungle by day and the railway by night. An Australian Transport Unit found them and took them as far South as they were able – Batu Caves on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur. The Group never found the ‘British Lines’, however, they found a train for Singapore and ‘Fell into it exhausted’. At Tebong, about 80 or so miles down the track, the train was attacked by aircraft and Hartley had been killed. He was buried there by ‘the other lads from Blackpool’.
Payne (1980), in his recorded interviews for the Imperial War Museum, said that he and some other survivors found some old French 75mm Guns and set them up outside the famous Raffles Hotel, in Singapore. That was the last recollection, before what is euphemistically referred to as ‘The Fall of Singapore’, when 85000 British and Commonwealth Troops surrendered to the Japanese on 15th February 1942. A further 25000 Troops had been lost in the retreat down the Malay Peninsula.
In January of 1942 Churchill had told the CinC India, Gen Wavell that Singapore was to fight, with no question of surrender, ‘until after fighting in the ruins of Singapore’. Percival realising his limitations, split the defence of the island into 3 Sectors, one of which was the ‘North Sector’ west of Changi, and included the closest coast to the mainland. The Sector was to be defended by III Corps which comprised 18th British Div and 11th Indian Div. The Japanese attack when it came was sudden and vicious, with many enemy infantry simply walking across the Johore Strait when they realised the water was only four feet deep at low tide. With Japanese air superiority, defence was piecemeal. Successes in the North sector were insufficient to stem the inevitable overrun of the Island. The surrender took place just 80 days after 137 had landed.
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