Battle of Pasir Panjang

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Part of the Battle of Singapore, World War II

Date	13th February-14th February, 1942
Location	Bukit Chandu, Singapore
Result	Japanese Victory

Combatants

18th “Chrysanthemum” Division, 56th Infantry Regiment

1st Malay Infantry Brigade, British 2nd Loyals Regiment, 5th Bttn. Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regt., 44th Indian Brigade

Commanders

Lt.Gen. Renya Mutaguchi

Captain J.T. Horsburgh, Capt. H.R. Rix, 2nd Lt. Adnan bin Saidi

Strength

13,000 men, supported by tanks and fighter-bombers

1,400 men, supported by artillery and mortars

Casualties

Unknown (Suffered heavy losses)

159 dead (6 British officers, 7 Malay officers, and 146 other ranks)

The Battle of Pasir Panjang was initiated upon the advancement of elite Imperial Japanese Army forces towards Pasir Panjang at Pasir Panjang Ridge on 13 February 1942 during World War II in the Battle of Singapore. 13,000 Japanese troops had made an amphibious landing in the northwest part of Singapore near Sarimbun, and had started to advance south towards Pasir Panjang. They had already captured Tengah Airfield en route. The 13,000 attacking Pasir Panjang were a significant part of the total strength of 36,000 Japanese troops attacking Singapore as a whole.

The Japanese faced fierce resistance by members of two small Malay regiments and the 5th Battalion Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment, who managed to inflict serious casualties on the Japanese side. The following day, an attempt by the Japanese to disguise themselves as members of the Indian Army was foiled when a junior officer, Lieutenant Adnan bin Saidi, noticed they were marching in fours, as opposed to three in the British army.

The Malay soldiers were eventually surrounded, however, and the ensuing hand-to-hand fighting resulted in massive casualties on both sides. Despite the death of all British officers, Lt. Adnan urged his men to persist and refused to surrender. They were heavily outnumbered and could not hold back the Japanese. Adnan, suffering from several bullet and shrapnel wounds and a broken arm, refused to leave his men and fought alongside them with his pistol, sword and finally as ammunition ran out, his bare hands.

Corporal Yaakob -- one of the few survivors at Opium Hill and Medal of Gallant recipient after the war -- was a witness to Adnan Saidi's execution. During the chaos of the battle, Yaakob fell and landed on top of the bodies of the dead soldiers, allowing him to feign death. He said that the resistance of the Malay Regiment angered the Japanese, and when they captured Adnan, they dragged and pushed him into a gunnysack. The Japanese soldiers then hung him by his legs on a cherry tree and then bayoneted him again and again. His throat was slit repeatedly. Even after the battle, no one was allowed (or dared) to bring his body for burial.

Another eyewitness, Burhan Muslim, who had lived along Bukit Chandu, recalled going up the hill with his cousin a few days after the battle. In one of the white bungalows that stood on the hill at Pepys Lane, he saw the dismembered bodies of Malay soldiers everywhere. In one of the rooms laid the body of a Malay soldier. His throat had been slit several times. His uniform was soaked with blood. Judging from the badges he had on his uniform, Burhan believed that he was an officer. He felt that the body could have been that of 2nd Lt. Adnan Saidi.

Australian troops fighting nearby looked on with horror at what happened next. “The Malays started to fight the Japanese on Reformatory Road,” said Lt. Penrod V. Dean of the 2/4th Machine Gun Battalion. “They had dug slit trenches but they didn't have a lot of weapons. They started fighting the Japanese just with rifles virtually. And when the Japanese broke through them, the Malays took to them with bayonets, they put bayonets on the rifles and with a bayonet charge they drove the Japanese back across Reformatory Road. They were very brave people. They fought very hard, but for every Malay soldier there was about 10 or 12 Japanese soldiers. So it was inevitable what was going to happen.”