1942-1960
After the British surrender, two Japanese officers, Lt-Col Numaguchi
and Major Akiyama, conducted a survey of all of Singapore's fortifications
as they were in Febuary 1942. The Pengerang battery was covered
and they noted that both the 6" guns on Pengerang had been
scrapped.
The British knew the two 6" guns had been destroyed under
their own denial scheme, as it had been officially reported and
corroborated by a Royal Engineer officer. The destruction of the
actual emplacements however were not noted in any reports, and
so the British had to assume they were still intact.
From
a 1944-45 British report we can get a better idea as to the extent
of Japanese operations in the Pengerang area and what was left
of the battery.
A small
scale aerial survey was conducted by the British that revealed
considerable Japanese activity in the area. The Battery Observation
Post (BOP) was even seen to still be in place. From this the British
assumed that the Pengerang battery had been rearmed and brought
back into operation.
Further intelligence reports stated from a "source",
that up to April 1945 there was in the area, 30 Japanese troops,
50 mixed troop, 12 police and 300 army coolies.
The report went on to state that there was a oil dump, food stores,
officers quarters and 4 batteries of 6 AA guns, and that no civilians
were allowed near the area. An independent source adds, there
was even a possible Japanese radar station at Kampong Pengerang
as well.
The Japanese obviously had big plans for the Pengerang area. This
was then confirmed by a later report from the "Interservice
Liaison Department" (I.S.L.D), quashing the previous estimated
troop strength from 400 up to 1,600, after Japanese landings were
observed in December 1944.
Any
possible British plans for the re taking of Malaya and Singapore,
would have had to have factored in the threat that Japanese held
Pengerang would have posed to any invading allied force.
Outside
of British military reports there are also civilian accounts of
Pengerang under Japanese control. It was reported the Japanese
sent local workers to the Pengerang area to presumably work at
the already well established pre war bauxite mines. The accounts
point to the harsh conditions under the Japanese resulting in
many deaths. Incidentally bauxite mining still continues today
in Pengerang.
The
Pengerang area also seemed to have had some anti Japanese groups
based there including a Communist Party headquarters which was
later tracked down and set fire to by the Japanese.
Sadly no reports have been found as of yet in documenting the
Pengerang battery in the immediate postwar period. But it's pretty
evident that the British never brought back on-line the Pengerang
coastal defences to what it was in the prewar years.
Pengerang
in its post war years also saw much action during the Malayan
Emergency. Many British units were stationed in and around Pengerang
tasked with hunting down communist terrorists.
Also during the Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation, Pengerang once
again saw action with its beaches becoming landing points for
Indonesian insurgents. I have found one report of "hunters"
in the area engaging one such insurgent group near Tanjong Pengelih.
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