Bernama story by Neville D'Cruz
| General
Ageing Survivors Of Gemas Battle On Parade In Sydney
MELBOURNE, April 25 (Bernama) -- Surviving members of the 2/30th Battalion, of the 8th Division, Australian Imperial Forces who fought in Malaya took part in the 2008 Anzac Day Parade in Sydney Friday.
Most of these men were in their late teens or early twenties when they fought the first major Australian battle against the Japanese Army in World War II, on January 14 and 15, 1942.
Marchers from the battalion at the Anzac (Australia New Zealand Army Corps) Parade Friday were led by Neville Riley, who is one of only a handful from that battalion who are still alive.
Some deceased members were represented by their widows, children and grandchildren.
The battalion played an important role in Malaya's war-time history for its success in stalling the invasion of the Japanese Army.
A company of the 2/30th Battalion, commanded by the late Lt-Col Frederick Galleghan, mounted an ambush which cut down hundreds of Japanese soldiers riding bicycles through a cutting and over a bridge on Sungai Gemencheh.
The Aussie plan was to withdraw and let the main battalion group at Gemas fight the main battle. As the ambush party withdrew, they found themselves encircled by Japanese patrols but most managed to get through.
The battle for Gemas raged that night and next day and on the afternoon of January 15 the Japanese called in aircraft and tanks and the Australians withdrew.
The battalion continues to observe Gemas Day on January 13 each year in Australia.
Marchers of the 8th Division included members of the 2/19th Battalion who defended Gemas and Parit Sulong.
During the Battle of Muar, Australian and British Empire forces, without air support, and suffering heavy casualties, delayed the advancing Japanese forces for a week.
They arrived at Parit Sulong to find that the bridge there, their only hope of escape, had been captured by the Japanese. The force's attempts to take the bridge failed, and relief never materialised.
On January 22, 1942, facing annihilation, they were ordered to break out as best they could and attempt to reach allied lines.
Unfortunately, most of the wounded had to be left behind. At Parit Sulong, the Japanese herded the wounded, 110 Australians and 35 soldiers from other British Empire units, into buildings not far from the bridge.
They were denied medical attention and mistreated. Later that day, they were taken outside and machine-gunned. Afterwards their bodies were doused with petrol and burnt. Only three men are known to have survived.
-- BERNAMA |
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| Omission Of Malaya On A$9m War Memorial A Slur |
MELBOURNE, Sept 12 (Bernama) -- Australian soldiers who fought the Japanese in Malaya during World War II are offended that their services were not acknowledged in an Australian memorial in London. According to Sydney columnist Alan Ramsey, "when (Prime Minister) John Howard's pet project of a new A$9 million Australian war memorial on the corner of London's Hyde Park was opened by the Queen in November 2003, Malaya was missing from the named list of 47 Australian battle sites chosen from two world wars."
Australian involvement in the Malaya campaign began on Jan 14, 1942, with the successful ambush of advancing Japanese troops near the town of Gemas. This was the first time that Australian forces had engaged the Japanese invaders, checking the advancing Japanese for the first time.
A Malaysian survivor of the war, who prefers not to be named, recalls how he and his family escaped Gemas after being given just a few hours' notice by the then British administrators.
"It is probable that if not for the success of the Australians in stalling the Japanese, escape may not have been possible," he said.
Shortly after the Jan 14 victory, Australian forces encountered advancing Japanese further south near Sungai Muar. Here the Australians were forced back, and about 110 Australians and 40 Indians had to be left behind. They were tortured and killed by the Japanese.
Jack Varley, now 87, was among the group of Australian veterans who took part in the 50th Merdeka Day march in Kuala Lumpur on Aug 31. He was 19 when he enlisted in the army in July 1940 and 20 when he was shipped to Singapore with the 8th Division of the Australian Imperial Force 's 2/19th Battalion in 1941. He was 21 when he was cited for a Military Cross.
Ramsey said that Varley and those Australians who survived the Malayan campaign had always felt that the 8th Division's short, brutal war was largely ignored because they ended up as prisoners of war (PoWs) on the orders of a British general in Singapore.
Writing to Ramsey recently, Varley who now lives in Queensland said: "We belonged to one of the most distinguished and yet unrecognised AIF battalions in World War II.
"All battalions had heavy battle casualties and [the 2/19th was among] those with the most. But ask the public or the education [system] about the AIF in Malaya and [all] you will be told is they became PoWs and built a railway line for the Japs."
Di Elliott, of Canberra, who lost an 8th Division relative in the notorious Sandakan PoW camp in North Borneo, wrote in part to the then Veterans' Affairs Minister, Danna Vale, in June, 2004: "Irrespective of what process was taken on the choice of battle sites, I and many others still find the omission of Malaya offensive to the men of the 8th Division AIF.
"Nothing will ever convince me, or others, that the omission is anything short of yet another slur on the history of the 8th Division who, for some reason, are seen by today's historians as nothing more than 'those who became prisoners of war'."
-- BERNAMA |
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