Against the Sun - The AIF in Malaya, 1941-42
by Janet Uhr

Singapore Samurai
by Penrod Dean

(Against the Sun - published by Allen & Unwin;
Singapore Samurai - published by Kangaroo Press )
Reviewer: John Farquharson

These books deal with different aspects of the ill-fated World War II Malayan campaign of 1941-42, which ended in controversial circumstances with the surrender of British and Imperial forces to the Japanese. This saw some 130,000 troops go into captivity, including more than 15,000 Australians.

Canberra author Janet Uhr's Against the Sun seeks to establish the "facts" that will fill the gap between what's written and what's written about this debacle of arms over which argument has raged almost non-stop ever since the surrender of Singapore on February 15, 1942. Her book - the first study of the AIF in Malaya since Lionel Wigmore's official history was published some 50 years ago - is of particular significance, bearing in mind that virtually all the original texts of unit and brigade war diaries and other official records were destroyed before the capitulation of the British and Imperial forces. It confines itself to the battles on the Malayan Peninsula, where the bulk of the fighting took place and where it was most intense. The fighting on Singapore Island was at a different pace and lasted just seven days.

Penrod Dean's Singapore Samurai deals with his experience of the week's fighting on Singapore, his escape from Changi Jail, subsequent recapture and the terrible cruelty he was subjected to as a POW. It is a telling testament to the triumph of the spirit and the power of comradeship under horrific conditions, which he shared in-Outram Road Jail with his companion in escape, John McGregor. A compelling narrative, it carries the reader along effortlessly.

Against the Sun, on the other hand, as a historical study, demands much more of the reader. Just the same, in her search for the "facts" and reconstruction of the mainland fighting involving the 8th Division, Uhr has succeeded in bringing a very human face to those engagements that takes you right into the heart of the action. And, at the expense of narrative thrust, she goes into the detail of battle plans, the tactics adopted and how troops and artillery were deployed. In doing so, she pieces together was written in the war diaries, what the men knew of what was expected of them and the experience of the actions in which they were engaged, often threading in excerpts from oral history interviews to highlight particular points that add to the reality of it all.

This in-depth approach makes the point that the war in Malaya was not one of major set battles. It was, as a 2/30 Battalion staff sergeant wrote in a letter home, "a corporal's war of small detachments." And, as Uhr adds, " those small detachments were almost always in contact with the enemy".

It was a contact maintained, despite the clash-and-withdrawal pat tern of the campaign. As Uhr makes clear, the men of the 8th Division were always ready to make a stand and wherever possible take the fight to the enemy. That is undoubtedly why they were almost the only defenders to earn Japanese respect for their fighting qualities, something for which they have not always -been given the credit they deserved.

They showed their mettle first with the successful ambush at Gemas, where the 2/30 Battalion caught the Japanese by surprise as they advanced, many on bicycles, down the main road south through central Malaya. They not only fought with bravery but inflicted heavy casualties before having to withdraw. Again, though they did not succeed in holding the Japanese they gave a good account of themselves in the Muar-Bakri actions, as they did at Endau, before Mersing and in the Nithsdale Estate battle where 2/18 Battalion was in the thick of it.

The 2/19 Battalion ran into trouble when it was sent to prop up the hard-pressed 45th Indian Brigade near Muar and an attempted relief by the British 53rd Brigade failed to materialise. Their retreat down the road to Parit Sulong has been described as the worst in Australia's military history. But the 2/19, led at that stage by Lieutenant-Colonel C. G. W. Anderson, who won a VC in this action, fought back as best they could, pressed as they were by constant attacks on their flanks and rear" as well as being strafed and bombed by enemy planes.

Uhr draws all this out as she follows the Australian and British forces as they fall back down the Malay Peninsula until they cross the causeway to Singapore to make a final stand against an enemy which never lost the initiative. The lack of effective air cover, poor use of such naval power as was available, and leadership at the top, which was found wanting g, all contributed to the defeat.

As a military study, this work undoubtedly has much to commend it. Though 'well written in what amounts to a running commentary cum critique of the 8th Division's campaign, 1 doubt that it will have great appeal for the general reader. Nor do 1 think Janet Uhr fully discharges her responsibility as a historian.

As well as establishing the "facts", the historian should surely put those facts into perspective with some overall assessment of the AIF's performance in Malaya. This is missing apart from some critical asides in the course of the text. The frontispiece maps also leave a lot to be desired, with many of the crucial places referred to riot shown. A good map is really essential for any intelligent reading of this book. Another irritation is "widowed names"; that is, people not identified with the first mention of their names - an editing fundamental.

These things aside, it is a valuable contribution to an understanding of the AIF's part in the Malayan fighting, though I would venture to suggest not the ultimate reassessment that would now be timely.

As one of the very few prisoners to escape from Changi and one of only 10 Australians chosen to go to Japan as a witness at the war-crime trials, Penrod Dean, a lieutenant in the 2/4 Machine-Gun Battalion, obviously had a good story to tell. It is surprising, therefore, that he has waited so long to tell it.

It is still a good story, but his controversial comments about the attitude of some senior officers in Changi, including his own battalion commander, and his criticisms of how the Americans conducted the war-crime trials, cannot at this distance have the impact they would have had closer to the events.

The most telling part of Dean's POW experience is his description of the horrific torture he and his companion, John McGregor, were forced to endure while held in Outram Road Jail in Singapore after their recapture. But the centre-piece of that was -the tenacity they showed in devising ways of surviving, including Dean's incredible feat in learning Japanese while in solitary confinement. Indeed, he became so proficient that he was used as a translator both at Outram Road and later at Changi after his release.

His experiences of the week's fighting in Singapore before the surrender are also fascinating for the insight they give into the confusion that reigned and the haphazard way the defence of the "naked island" was conducted. Meanwhile, it will be interesting- to see what Janet Uhr makes of it, in her second book, a study of the AIF on Singapore Island.