Chapter 4 Chapter Four: Here Comes the Japanese Soldiers

I walked along the dirt road, at most 20 meters, and saw two people wearing dark brown uniforms, which were different from the green and brown uniforms worn by the British army.They were the first two Japanese soldiers I saw.Their legs were bound and they wore rubber-soled cloth boots, with the big toe separated from the other toes, like their sandals... I stayed for a few seconds before I realized that they were Japanese soldiers, and my hair stood on end... In the early hours of December 8, 1941, quite unexpectedly, Japanese planes raided Singapore.At that time, the street lights were still on, and the air raid siren did not go off. The street lights were not extinguished until the dropped bomb exploded, and the siren sounded.No one expected Japan to attack.

I, like my schoolmates, believed that England would not be conquered under any circumstances.Therefore, it is only a matter of time before the Germans, who are against the whole world, are defeated.They invaded the Soviet Union and were bound to fall into the quagmire.Like other students, we got our news from English-language newspapers in Singapore.The main English-language newspaper, The Straits Times, is run by the British and has readers of all nationalities.The smaller and less influential Malayan Tribune is read only by locals.In addition, there are about 10 Chinese, Malay and Hindi newspapers, none of which have much influence and which I do not read.My classmates were all educated in English, and few of them could read these newspapers.As students, what we had on our minds was not about the war, but about the Chinese patriots boycotting Japanese goods who might cut off one's ear in Singapore if one visited a Japanese shop.

Chinese-language newspapers prepared readers psychologically for the possible outbreak of war.From December 1940, Nanyang Siang Pau continued to publish ominous news and comments about the war. In October 1941, it published an analysis article, pointing out that Singapore is located at the southern end of the Strait of Malacca, and it is likely to become the main target of the Japanese army. It also speculates that the Japanese army entered Vietnam in order to get closer to Singapore. In November, the newspaper reported that entering Thailand was the next step the Japanese army was going to take.This Chinese-language newspaper agreed with letting the war spread and keeping the Japanese army away from China, the farther the better.From this point of view, the newspaper's readers are not as psychologically unprepared as English-educated readers.

danger sign However, as December approached, some clear signs of danger emerged. On December 1, 1941, the Governor-General announced the general mobilization of the Malayan Armed Forces. Among those doing the mobilization work were several Raffles Institution teachers, including Goh Keng Swee, a member of the Straits Settlements Volunteer Regiment.Many classes announced the suspension of classes, but my classmates and I still didn't panic at all.We treat all of this as part of our readiness.It was also a tactic to show the Japanese that they were foolish if they dared to start a war.

On December 4, 1941, the headline in the "Straits Times" was "The Arrival of the Fleet, Great Encouragement".It turned out that two days ago, that is, on December 2, the two most important British warships-the battleship "Prince of Wales" and the battlecruiser "Destroyer"-arrived in Singapore.We can't help feeling a little elated.These two warships can ensure that Britain will not go wrong in the Far East. Was the government and newspapers ignoring the Japanese threat out of stupidity or overconfidence? I think the British were ignorant of the strength and nature of the enemy.The British and locals firmly believed that the whites had their superiority, and it was impossible for the Japanese of the yellow race to challenge the whites and succeed.It is true that, according to records, several aides of General Bai Sihua, the commander-in-chief of the British army in Malaya, had requested the construction of fortifications, such as digging trenches and setting up roadblocks in the northern part of Singapore Island and Johor at the other end of the Singapore Causeway.But the fact is that no one believed that the Japanese would be so reckless as to dare to compete with the British.If they do do it, they will be beaten badly.We were indeed shocked later when we discovered that the Japanese were ready to take on not only the British and the Dutch, but the Americans as well.At that time, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands were dragged down by the European war and could not parry at all.

At 4 o'clock in the morning on December 8, 1941, while I was sleeping in the dormitory of Block E of Raffles College, Guluni Road, I was suddenly awakened by the sound of a bomb explosion.The war has finally begun.According to newspaper reports the next day, Japanese planes bombed downtown Singapore, killing 60 people and injuring 130 others.Newspapers also published photos of bombed houses in the Chinatown area.However, the news of the air raid was understated, and censorship suppressed its coverage.Later, we heard that Japanese planes also bombed the jetty at Port Phaba, the naval base at Sembawang, and the air bases at Tengah and Seletar.

The students at Raffles Institution were very excited.Those students from the inland are going to go home by train immediately.Almost everyone believed that Singapore would be a prime target for Japanese attack.Back in the countryside of Malaya, it was safer to avoid the Japanese bombers.The hospital was as overwhelmed as the students, and no one was prepared to deal with this situation.Two days later, we heard that Japanese troops had landed in Kota Bharu, Kelantan on 8th December.In this way, Malaya is also unavoidable from the disaster of war. Within a few days, the student dormitories in the college were almost empty, and the teachers stopped teaching.The school asked students to come forward and form the Raffles College Squad of the Auxiliary Medical Service.I volunteered for the unit and cycled daily from my home on Narford Road to my duty at the college, three miles away.The authorities did not provide us with uniforms, nor did they have time to prepare them.We were each given a helmet and an armband with the Red Cross emblem on it.We get a small allowance every month, about 60 yuan, and we work in shifts 24 hours a day, in groups of six.Maurice Baker was the leader of my group.He is a Eurasian student from Cameron Highlands, Pahang, two years older than me. In 1940, he boarded with me in the dormitory of Block C.At first we were not afraid at all, but felt nervous and excited because Britain had declared war on Japan and actually intervened in a real war, and it was difficult to restrain our inner excitement.

For Britain, however, the war did not go well. On December 10, eight days after the "Prince of Wales" and "Destroyer" arrived in Singapore, they were sunk by Japanese bombers off the coast of Kuantan.It turned out that when the two warships sailed northward, there was no military aircraft to cover them.The news was unbelievable.How could such a thing happen? What is there to stop the advance of the Imperial Japanese Navy today? A few days after the two warships were sunk, the Government Medical Service announced that Raffles College would be requisitioned and converted into a nursing home for the less seriously injured sailors from the two sunk warships.Dean Dale, a professor of history, became the lay supervisor of the nursing home.Our position in the AMS remains, but in December, no bombs were dropped on the Raffles Institution unit and we were not called to rescue and collect casualties elsewhere .When I was on duty, I often sat on the fence of the corridor, looking at the night sky and the search beams searching for the traces of enemy planes.However, the number of airstrikes has decreased.It turned out that the Japanese fighter planes concentrated on the front line of Northern Malaysia, and only occasionally went south to bomb Singapore.

Soon some news came from Malaya.Some said that the British troops were routed at the front; More British troops retreated.Large numbers of white families, including plantation owners, commoners and their dependents, began to cross the Causeway to Singapore.The whole family of Asians with power and status are also fleeing, but they didn't show up.They may stay with relatives and friends, or they may leave Singapore quietly by boat from Tanjong Pagar Pier, so as not to be retaliated by the Japanese for helping the British or donating money to China in support of the War of Resistance. By January, Japanese troops were approaching Johor.Japanese warplanes also began bombing Singapore day and night.One afternoon, I was in Bukit Timah Village for the first time to rescue and collect casualties.When members of several units of the Auxiliary Medical Service rushed to the village in an ambulance converted by the Singapore Tramway Company, a bomb had just fallen near the police station, killing and wounding several people.It was the first time I saw people bleeding, injured and dying with my own eyes, it was heart-stopping and horrible.

At about eight o'clock in the morning on January 31, Maurice Baker and I sat on the railing of the administration building at Rye College on duty. Fifty-three years later, in 1995, Baker still remembers when Professor Dale came around the corner and came towards us, ready to go to his office.At this moment, there was a loud bang of explosion.We were all dumbfounded.Then I blurted out, "The end of the British Empire is here!" Professor Dale heard me, but turned his head away and walked on. unyielding spirit That same morning, all British troops were withdrawn from Johor to Singapore Island.The Scottish Highland Soldiers finally lined up to cross the Xinrou Causeway while their bagpipers were playing the music "Highland Boys".Only two bagpipers were left to carry out the task, showing their awe-inspiring spirit.This left an indelible impression on me: the British people's ability to maintain a calm and composed attitude in the face of the doom of defeat.The British Royal Engineers then blasted a 60-meter-wide gap in the causeway on the Johor side.However, they also blew up the main water pipe that brought drinking water from Johor to Singapore.The offensive and defensive battle for Singapore has begun.

The medical service team I belonged to carried out its last mission on the morning of February 8 (this day as I remember).At that time, Professor Dale called all the team members and asked who volunteered to undertake the dangerous task.Maurice Baker and I, along with several other members of the team, volunteered.We took an ambulance and rushed along Bukit Timah Road to Bukit Panjang.This is about seven miles from the northern front.When we arrived, we saw the small village in front of us in flames after being bombed and shelled.As we entered a gum plantation for ambulance work, Maurice Baker saw an unexploded bomb with its tail protruding from the ground.If he hadn't told me to be careful in time, I might have stepped on it. We rescued a Chinese girl in her early 20s.She had a broken left femur and a gash in her groin.We had to splint her thigh.To do this, we had to take off her midi pants and splint her.I felt a little embarrassed, it was the first time I had to do this to a young woman.She looked dazed and shocked.We found a few more casualties, and then the ambulance drove to the Central Hospital on Onam Road at high speed. I was cycling home one morning wearing a helmet and armbands when I saw a train of army trucks parked on Stephens Road.Standing next to the truck were some tall Australian soldiers with wide-brimmed Australian military caps on their heads, but their faces were extremely depressed.They were demoralized and a little panicked.I stopped to ask them how far the front line was from here, and one soldier replied, "It's all over, take this!" and pushed the weapon in his hand to me.I was taken aback. Is there no hope at all? I politely refused to accept his weapon, and comforted him by saying that only when the battle is over can the winner be decided.However, for these Australian soldiers, they have already conceded defeat in this war.I don't know how many terrible days they lived through. After the war, I learned from books and newspapers that several brigades of Australian troops were transferred to Singapore on their way to the Middle East by ship.Arriving just three weeks before the fall of Singapore, they were immediately dispatched to the interior of Malaya to resist the Japanese, only to be quickly routed and withdrawn to Singapore. At this time, the Shell oil company where my father worked in Batu Pahat informed him to evacuate immediately.Batu Pahat is about 100 miles north of Singapore, near the west coast of Malaya.My father worked as an oil depot supervisor there.He returned to Singapore in an Austin car before the Causeway was blown up by the British army.We still hope that Singapore, known as the Fortress of the East, can hold its own.I believe that the battle will be fought with many casualties, but the British will dig in and hold their ground, and we will be saved in the end.However, as the days went by—after the first week of February, the days literally passed by the hours—I felt more and more that Singapore was not Malta, how could it withstand the long-term siege of the Japanese army ? The whole colony was filled with the atmosphere of defeat.Shells fired by Japanese troops from Johor wreaked havoc.When the Japanese Zero fighter jets flew over the sky, the Royal Air Force Buffalo fighter jets took off quickly, but not to face the enemy planes, but to avoid being destroyed on the ground.It turns out that Japanese fighter jets are fast, compact and flexible; British fighter jets are slow and clumsy, and they are by no means the opponents of Japanese fighter planes.The last batch of British and European civilians, especially women and children, poured into Singapore from Malaya.We had heard stories of how they were scrambling to get on the few remaining boats at the Tanjong Pagar jetty. In mid-January, all schools in Singapore were closed.As the gunfire approached the city, my mother and my father discussed best contingency strategies.She suggested that the family move to their grandfather's house, which was far away from the city and less likely to be hit by shells.I agree with and support my mother's advice.I told her that I was going to stay and guard the house on Nave Road, so that I could continue to be on duty at the paramedical services station at Raffles Institution.I am not staying alone, our gardener Xu Zhonghu will be with me.He is also a rickshaw driver. Since 1937, my younger siblings have been picked up by him to and from school every day.Whenever I was on duty at Raffles Institution, he would stay at Nave Road to guard the house.We dug a hole, covered it with wood, covered it with soil, and it became a shelter.Mother hoarded rice, salt, pepper, soybean paste, salted fish, canned food, condensed milk, and all kinds of things we might need for a long time in the air-raid shelter.Money was not a problem, because when my father was ordered to evacuate the oil depot in Batu Pahat, the company generously paid him a few months' salary, Just when the days were getting darker, there were a few times when I finished my shift and went to see a movie, so that I could temporarily forget everything during the two or three hours of watching the movie, and at the same time put my bleak future behind me. One afternoon at the end of January, I was watching a comedy at the Cathay Theater.There is a scene in the play where a bomb should explode, but it bursts with a slight "click".It turned out to be a "fraud" bomb.Its shell cracked open to reveal the "Made in Japan" logo.What an incredible thing.In the past two months, Singapore has experienced the great power of Japanese bombs and artillery shells, and now I watch a movie that makes a big sarcasm of the Japanese, saying that their bowed legs, squinting eyes, made The boat can't float in the storm, and it can't be hit by a shot. At best, it can only make "fraud" bullets.The unfortunate fact is that in the two months from December 8th they proved that their military might was capable of fighting the British.Years later, Winston Churchill, the British wartime prime minister, wrote of the fall of Singapore in a book he wrote that it was "the worst disaster in British history and the largest surrender to the enemy". When the British retreated on 10 February, the military took over the entire Raffles Institute.Two days later, the Paramedical Services unit had to be declared disbanded.At first I stayed at my hometown in Navelu Road, but as the gunfire got closer and closer, I had to live with my family in Telok Kurau.On the second day of moving to Telok Kurau, we heard the sound of rifles in the distance, some closer to us.But the sound of the cannon, the explosion of shells, and the explosion of bombs fell silent.I thought it was very strange, so I went to Lane L through the back door.This alley is next to the fishing village where I used to play with my childhood friends, all of whom were fishermen's children.I walked along the dirt road, at most 20 meters, and saw two people wearing dark brown uniforms, which were different from the green and brown uniforms worn by the British army.They were the first two Japanese soldiers I saw.Their legs were bound and they wore rubber-soled cloth boots, with the big toe spaced from the other toes like their sandals.I later learned that these cloth boots made the Japanese soldiers' toes better grip wet or slippery ground.But what made them look most grotesque was the peaked caps they wore on their heads, with the little capes hanging behind their necks.They were oddly shaped and squat, but carried long rifles with bayonets on them.There was a sickening stench emanating from them that I will never forget.Many of the Japanese soldiers I met later had the same stench on their bodies.That's because they have traveled all the way from Kota Bharu to Singapore along the forest trails and rubber plantations for two months, and they haven't had a bath for a long time. I stayed for a few seconds before realizing that they were Japanese soldiers, and my hairs stood on end.Fortunately, they were busy searching for enemy soldiers, so they ignored me and just walked forward.I hurried home and told my family what I saw.We hastened to close all the doors and windows, God knows what protection it would do us.Because of the heinous atrocities committed by the Japanese army in China since 1937, what we fear most is that they will repeat the atrocities of rape and looting here.Fortunately, nothing worth mentioning happened that day and into the evening.At the same time, the British soldiers quickly withdrew to the city center without any resistance at all. the darkest holiday The next day, February 15, is Chinese New Year.As the most grand festival of the year, Chinese people usually wear new clothes and new shoes, and there are various traditional delicacies to feast on.However, this year's Spring Festival is undoubtedly the darkest festival since the Chinese immigrated to Singapore in 1819. Only the sound of battles from the north and west of Singapore near the urban area, and the explosion of cannons and mortar shells in the distance The sound resounded through the sky.However, the Telok Kurau area is peaceful.The Japanese army has advanced steadily into the urban area. That night the cannon fell silent.Soon, news of the surrender of the British army spread.The next day some friends came back from downtown and told us that robberies were happening everywhere.English and European homes were plundered by Malay coachmen and gardeners.This news caused great anxiety in our whole family.What will happen to our house at No. 28 Nafu Road, as well as the hoarded food and necessities? Especially food, we have to rely on it for a long time, can we keep it? With the consent of my mother, Xu Zhonghu and I went from Walk about eight miles from Telok Kurau to Nafu Road.It took us only two hours to reach our destination.Along the way, I saw Malays picking up furniture and other items from bungalows; Chinese outlaws raided warehouses, taking more expensive but not bulky items.There is a dilapidated floating foot building, two houses away from my home, in which about 20 families of Buyang ① live, and the men all work as coachmen.Fortunately, they haven't done anything to my family yet.There were better things to get in those bungalows, not to mention empty, because the European owners of these bungalows were gathering for the internment camps.I came back just in time. The looting of the large bungalows and warehouses of the British owners marked the end of an era.Those who were born after 1945 really have a hard time understanding the full implications of this because they have no idea how the British colonial system was destroyed by the Japanese on February 15, 1942.Since Raffles landed in Singapore in 1819 and established Singapore as a trading post for the East India Company, white dominance has never been questioned.I don't know how this situation arises.But when I enrolled in 1930, I realized that the British were the big bosses.White people like them are also bosses, big bosses, small bosses, but all bosses.There are not many of them, but about 8000 people.They live a pampered life, separated from Asians.Government officials had large bungalows, cars, coachmen, and many servants in better-environmental areas.They eat good food, mostly meat and milk products.Every three years, they take a long vacation of three to six months to temporarily avoid Singapore's sleepy equatorial climate and return to their "hometown" in the UK to recuperate.Their children also go back to their "hometown" to receive education, and they will never attend schools in Singapore.These children also live a life of superiority. The governor is the boss and the boss of the bosses.At ceremonies, he always wears a beautiful white uniform trimmed with gold sash, a helmet topped with white feathers, and a long sword at his waist.White officials hold all the top positions in government and wield life and death power over Asians.The Fujianese call them AngMoh (red hair), while the Malays call them OrangPuteh (white race).The chief of police, senior police officers, chief of the medical bureau, and senior physicians and surgeons in hospitals are all white men.Asian doctors can only work under white doctors, even if they are more qualified than white doctors, it doesn't help.The head nurse must also be a white person, although they can only speak English, and when talking to patients who cannot speak English, they must ask local nurses to act as interpreters; Asian nurses can't expect to become head nurses one day. At Raffles Institution, all teaching staff are white.There are two of the most outstanding graduates in the local area. Although they have obtained first-class diplomas in physics and chemistry, the hospital only hires them as "demonstrators", and their salaries are much lower than that of whites.And they have to pass the University of London Diploma in Science to be eligible for this position.Goh Keng Swee (later to become the Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore) was one of the most outstanding liberal arts graduates of the year, with a first-class diploma in economics, but the position he can hold is only a "mentor", not a lecturer. There are 120 boarding students living in 6 dormitories at Raffles College.In order to urge these students to observe discipline and order, the hospital hired a British retired sergeant major in his 50s to serve as the dormitory supervisor.Although he spoke a Cockney dialect and had a low level of education, he was well paid and, like his countrymen, lived a comfortable life.In the eyes of the college authorities, a retired British sergeant major was the right person to be responsible for teaching the 120 brightest young people in Singapore and Malaysia, and the students had no objections at the time.The only disrespect they had for the housemaster was to laugh out loud every time they heard him speak English with a Cockney accent. upstarts in asia The Japanese are generally seen as the upstarts of Asia.Yes, they are more industrialized and advanced than the Chinese, Indians and Malays, but it will take a long time for them to catch up with the whites.They make textiles, toys, and other things.I remember back in the 30's my mother used to talk about some beautiful poplins she bought at the famous Japanese store Echigoya in Middle Road.At that time, there were many Japanese shops on Middle Road, and Echigoya was one of them.My mother told my sisters that this Japanese poplin was comparable to the fine cotton poplin in England, but it was much cheaper.But toys made in Japan, though cheap, are tacky in appearance and not durable, and cannot be compared with toys made in England.Back then, there were also Japanese western doctors and dentists in Singapore. Their fees were low and their medical skills were not very good.I still don't understand, what chance is there for their degrees to be recognized by the British medical authorities to practice medicine in Singapore, is it to repay the interests of the Japanese in taking care of the Far East on behalf of the British during the First World War? It is said that there are a few Japanese doctors Competent, but none as good as an English professor in a medical school. This is the situation in Malaya and Singapore occupied by 110,000 Japanese soldiers.At that time, 130,000 British, Indian and Australian soldiers were captured by the Japanese army.After 70 days of panic, confusion and ignorance, British colonial society was finally destroyed, and the myth of British superiority was shattered.The British thought that when the Japanese soldiers began to bombard Singapore, the Asians would panic. They didn't realize that they were calm, faced casualties without fear, and did not panic.When the Japanese bombs and shells fell, it was the white civilian bosses who hid under the desks and workbenches. When the night of December 16, 1941 was quiet, white civilians and government officials secretly fled Penang to Singapore for "refuge" regardless of the lives of Asians.The British army tried to blow up military equipment one by one before retreating.Hospitals, waterworks, power plants, and other vital facilities are well preserved but unoperated.As a result, when a house caught fire, there were no firefighters to fight the fire; no staff at the waterworks to regulate the water supply.The white officials in charge have long since fled.The legend that white people only care about their own escape makes them a selfish and timid group in the eyes of Asians.Many of these legends were undoubtedly exaggerated and unfair in the process of retelling, but there are sufficient facts to prove them.It turns out that whites are as much, if not more, panicked than Asians.Asians have always relied on white leadership, and now white people have failed to live up to their expectations. shattered the myth of superiority The British hegemony was originally based on superior technology and organization.This hegemony was further reinforced by the fact that most Asians believed in the myth of the innate superiority of the British and thought it unwise and futile to challenge the British.But now, there is an Asian nation who dares to resist the British and shatter the myths mentioned above.Unexpectedly, after the Japanese claimed power over the British as conquerors, they showed their fellow Asians that they were more brutal, tyrannical, unrighteous and cruel than the British.During the three and a half years of Japanese occupation, whenever I or any of my friends were tortured, beaten or abused by Japanese soldiers, we could not help but sigh deeply, wishing the British would come back soon.The people of Singapore and Malaysia were disappointed and disillusioned with the Japanese who are also Asians.Japanese, on the other hand, are ashamed to identify with Asians.They think other Asians are inferior races with only a lower level of culture.On the contrary, the Japanese are the descendants of Amaterasu, and they are also the people of natural selection, completely different from the ignorant Chinese, Indians and Malays. Note: ①The aborigines on Bawean Island, a small island between Java and Kalimantan, Indonesia. ②It means "God of the Sun".The Japanese royal family regards it as the ancestor of the emperor.