Parit Sulong Bridge Massacre
The Bridge at Parit Sulong
This blog is a shortened version. For more information and photos, please click on full version (in ‘pdf’ format) for the entire blog.
Warning: This blog contains details of the horrors of war that some may find confronting.
Malayan Pensula (click to enlarge)
The barbarism of the Imperial Japanese Army had no bounds. When the Japanese invaded Malaya on the 8th December 1941, their overwhelming numbers, mobility with the use of bicycles, light tanks and air superiority, ensured their victory as they made their way south to Singapore. Their speed was such that in some cases, allied soldiers became surrounded or overrun and had no choice but to surrender thinking that they would be protected. But the Japanese policy of taking no prisoners to avoid being slowed down ensured that most would be quickly executed after capture. One such incident occurred at the bridge at Parit Sulong in Southern Malaya.
After the Battle of Muar, remnants of the 45th Indian Brigade and the Australian 2/19th and 2/29th Battalions, under the overall command of Australian Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Anderson, were now held-up in Bakri on the Malayan south-west coast. Their position was desperate. The Japanese had nearly surrounded the town and they were in fear of being cut-off.
On the 20th January, Anderson was ordered to attempt to break through to Yong Peng, the location of the British held line. With a Japanese roadblock just outside Bakri, several attempts to break through failed until a bayonet charge, led by Anderson, finally succeeded. When they finally arrived at the bridge at Parit Sulong, they discovered that the Japanese had already taken up position on the bridge, blocking their way.
Early on the 21st, an unsuccessful attempt was made to take the bridge. Later in the day, with many dead and wounded, Anderson sent two ambulances filled with critically wounded men to the bridge under a flag of truce. The Japanese refused to let the ambulances through rather insisting that they should all surrender and then the wounded would be treated. Anderson refused to surrender.
The building at Parit Sulong, where the wounded soldiers were held captive (taken 2014, since restored)
Early the next morning (the 22nd), allied aircraft dropped medical supplies and ammunition and then attacked the Japanese defenses on the bridge. Anderson, once again, unsuccessfully attempted to take the bridge. Later that morning, with no way around or any chance of rescue, Anderson gave the order to destroy all guns, vehicles and equipment and for every man to escape (everyone for themselves!!) through the jungle and swamps to the British lines at Yong Peng. The wounded who could not walk were to be left in the care of voluntary attendants.
Initially, after Anderson and his group had left, the Japanese were slow to move in on the men left behind. The Japanese then herded the wounded and attendants together with kicks, curses, blows from their rifle butts and jabs from their bayonets. Many Japanese took delight in kicking where a wound lay open. They were forced to strip and their clothes were searched. Then they were moved inside a nearby building.
Appeals for water and medical attention were ignored. One of the dead was placed in an upright position on a table beside the road, becoming a source of amusement and ridicule by Japanese soldiers who were passing by. An Indian who had been lying unconscious, came too. He was subject to numerous kicks and blows from rifle butts. Then he was bayonetted several times before his body was thrown into a drain nearby. Throughout the afternoon, the wounded soldiers and their attendants, were subject to continual assault.
The Parit Sulong Massacre Memorial Park with the new bridge in the background.
At sunset, they were wired or roped together and led away behind the building where they had been held and out of sight by the nearby locals. Here they were machined-gunned and then petrol poured over the bodies and with some still alive, were set alight. It is estimated that 110 Australians and 40 Indians were killed in this atrocity.
Out of the original 4,000 Australian and Indian soldiers, only 271 from the Australian 2/19th and 130 from the 2/29th and 400 from the 45th Indian Brigade survived to make it to the British held lines. In only a few days, the 45th Indian Brigade had ceased to exist as a fighting unit and the Australian 2/19th and 2/29th Battalions had been substantially weakened by significant losses. For his efforts, Anderson was awarded the Victoria Cross.
Two badly wounded men managed to survive the massacre at the Parit Sulong Bridge, by pretending to be dead. One, Lieutenant Ben Hackney, gave evidence at the war crime trial of Lieutenant-General Takuma Nishimura who was accused of ordering the massacre at the Parit Sulong Bridge, despite Lieutenant Fujita Seizaburo admitting to carrying it out. Nishimura was found guilty and hanged in 1951.
Please note: This information has been provided to give the reader a general overview of the situation in Malaya, leading up to the massacre at the Parit Sulong Bridge. It is in no way meant to be a detailed version of events.