His first public engagement came in 1948, when the combined massed bands of the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire and Suffolk Regiments beat retreat in Aristotle Square, Salonika. Dave for the occasion played the piccolo. Chunkai POW Camp theatre magazine, no. WOs and Sergeants, 1st Battalion, 1955-1959 (W/51), OCA membership registers, 1908-1955 (V1/1-2) When ordering documents from the collection all references (e.g. Those who were to become soldiers of the 5th Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment, a Territorial Unit, reported for training at North Walsham in Norfolk. Be the first to hear about our latest events, exhibitions and offers. Pte GJ Steele, 5th Battalion: Japanese POW 1941-1943 (Y1/729) HQ: Port Dickson, Commanding Officer: Lt-Col Charles Malet Lane Eventually, along with many others he was soon to find himself in captivity and marched to Changi and some time later was transferred to a camp on the Bukit Timah Road. School Essentials The 1st Battalion Suffolk Regiment had just returned from fighting in Mayala and are seen here . Suffolk: 2nd Lt. 01.08.1942 [240542] . Pte FJ Prew, 2nd Battalion: France 1914-1918 (Y1/641) 5, September/October 1943 (Y1/582c). Another disheartening happening was the sight of clouds of smoke billowing from oil tanks set on fire by British troops in a 'scorched earth' policy to prevent them from falling into Japanese hands. Lieut. Click Here To See Liberation Questionnaires. The authorities were able to prevent the guerrillas from disrupting the economy, overrunning towns or controlling territory. [25] The value of the 2nd Battalion's 20 years of peacetime training was exemplified at the Battle of Le Cateau on 26 August 1914, a mere 23 days since Britain had declared war on Germany. The following summary of the 5th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment has been taken from the War Memoirs of Ken Bailey who has given COFEPOW permission to use his work. This was despite the fact that the German Army, knowing the 2nd Battalion had no hope of survival, entreated them to surrender, even ordering the German buglers to sound the British Cease Fire and gesticulating for the men of the 2nd to lay down their arms. The next day they assembled in the grounds of the College and saw for the first time a close-up of their captors; a bunch of scruffy, slant-eyed little men, many of them bespectacled, dressed in dirty green uniform, rubber shoes, peaked caps and wearing puttees up to their knees. Most of the time the weather was fine and very, very hot. L/Cpl GL Raphael, 1/4th Battalion, France 1914-1915 (Y1/217) The 5th Suffolks now took up a position in the North East of the island where they were to suffer the first casualties caused by Japanese mortars which were operating from Southern Malaya. Field Marshal Sir Gerald Templer commanded infantry and armoured divisions during the Second World War. With the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, the command reinforced its strength in anticipation of an attack. After a night of almost continual attack by Japanese fire, accompanied by screams of the injured and dying, the morning of Sunday 15th February 1942 dawned with no indication that the situation might improve. General Sir Gerald Templer (left) testing a De Lisle carbine, south Perak, 1952. The rare exception to this was the deaths of over 20 civilians at Batang Kali in December 1948. 12 Militia and Special Reserve battalions If you are joining after August, please choose the month you are joining in below. With his skill at woodwork, he was one of the first men to make wooden legs for the many amputees who lost their limbs through contracting tropical ulcers. After the end of the fighting in North Africa the regiment remained there until April 1944 when, with the rest of the brigade, it landed at Naples, Italy, destined for service in the Italian campaign, where they fought in Operation Diadem, where the Allies finally broke out of the Gustav Line. During their time at Ahmadnagar, all regiments were set a regime of keeping fit with very hard training. [12] It also took part in the Invasion of le Bonaparte in July 1810[13] and the Invasion of Isle de France in November 1810 during the Napoleonic Wars. After these reforms, the regiment now included:[7][19], The 1st Battalion served in the Second Boer War: it assaulted a hill near Colesberg in January 1900 and suffered many casualties including the commanding officer. Maj KH Leese: reminiscences of Razmak (1939-1940) (Y1/529) 14 Territorial and Volunteer battalions. A leading strategist for the PUP, he died in July 2006. At the end of each day after cutting up trees for the Shrine, the POWs used to take small broken pieces of wood back to the camp to light up the fires to boil their rice. Suffolk Regiment, 4th Battalion, 12 Platoon , B Company. The 2,500 prisoners were forced into the hold of the ship until it became full. Commanding Officer III Indian Corps Lt Gen Lewis Heath, Commanding Officer Maj Gen Frank Keith Simmons Many guerrillas gave up their fight. 4th Battalion, 8 November 1914 (G4/1) and 1 January 1915 (G2/1) View realised medal auction prices from 158068 auction lots In November 1940, the total strength of Malaya Command was 17 battalions. This fight-to-the-last-man defence at Le Cateau was later recognised as a key factor in preventing the German occupation of Paris. CQMS GE Lee, 5th Battalion: Egypt 1916-1918 (Y1/165j) Vistula Daily Bulletin (Graudenz), 1918 (Z2/2) 408065. Captain Mike Stephens, Regimental. When Japanese forces invaded Malaya on 8 December 1941, Lieutenant-General Arthur Percival, the General Officer Commanding (GOC) Malaya in charge of Malaya Command, with a force of 88,600 faced the 70,000 strong Twenty Fifth Army of the Imperial Japanese Army under the command of General Tomoyuki Yamashita. Your destination for buying luxury property in Grenoble, Auvergne-Rhne-Alpes, France. SC275468A-1. Ungathered Moss by Brig. (Sufolk Commonwealth War Graves Commiseton 2896 pow 0.) the morale of the defending troops was obviously sinking lower by the hour. June 1948. Eventually, on 8th November, the ship docked at Halifax, Nova Scotia on the Canadian eastern seaboard, where the troops disembarked from the 'Reina del Pacifico' to board an American troopship, once an ocean-going cruise liner of 40,000 tons named the 'Wakefield'. Casualties at Rensburg, South Africa, 1st Battalion, January 1900 (W/13) With the Surrender of Japan, the command was re-formed from the 14th Army with its HQ based in Singapore on 1 November 1945. Soldiers of the 12th Foot involved at the Eureka Stockade, Ballarat, 1854 (B13/1) In early 1942, both the 4th and 5th battalions fought briefly in the defence of Singapore against the Japanese, with the 18th Division, before British Commonwealth forces on that island surrendered on 15 February 1942 under the orders of Lieutenant-General Arthur Percival. [27], As an example of their valour and the level of training they had been subject to as a peacetime unit, it is noted that 720 men of 2nd Battalion, Suffolk Regiment total roll call of some 1,000, many of whom had been with the battalion since the 1899 posting to Quetta, were killed, wounded or captured. Now in his eighties and mostly reliant on his wheel chair, Douglas Harvey has offered to loan COFEPOW his most treasured possession to go into our Memorial Building where we hope to display many artefacts to educate future generations exactly how resourceful the FEPOWS were during their captivity. A few days after Christmas, 1944, he was eventually put aboard a small, dirty, rusty old merchant ship of Dutch origin, the 'Fuij Nord' built in 1909, tonnage 3,500. In the same vicinity, some under canvas, fellow prisoners from the Norfolk Regiment, Cambridgeshire's and other units joined us to await whatever the Japanese had in store for us.We were soon to learn that our job here was to build a shrine on a hill on the far side of the reservoir, apparently in honour of the Japanese troops who had perished on the island. He managed to conceal this in the bottom of his kit bag and was later moved back to Changi Jail where he remained for the duration of his captivity. But of all the absurdities and blunders associated with the Fall of Singapore was the fact that Doug Harvey remembers that he and many others arriving at the docks were issued with a rifle minus any bolt or ammunition. After almost three weeks sailing from Trinidad, on the 9th December, the convoy neared Cape Town's Table Bay, and were treated to a most wonderful sight of the phenomenal Table Mountain on the horizon. [16], The regiment was not fundamentally affected by the Cardwell Reforms of the 1870s, which gave it a depot at Gibraltar Barracks in Bury St Edmunds from 1873, or by the Childers reforms of 1881 as it already possessed two battalions, there was no need for it to amalgamate with another regiment. Those remaining alive were taken captive by the Germans, spending the next four years as prisoners of war and not returning home until Christmas Day 1918. In November 1941, with the threat of invasion reduced due to the oncoming winter, the battalion was converted to a regiment in the Royal Armoured Corps, becoming 142nd Regiment Royal Armoured Corps (142 RAC) and joined 25th Army Tank Brigade. Pte FH Hornsey, 11th Battalion: France 1918 (Y1/578c) The command was disbanded on 15 February 1942 with the surrender of all Commonwealth forces in the conclusion of the Battle of Singapore. The 1st Battalion Suffolk Regiment had just returned from fighting in Mayala and are seen here . However, in October, the battalion was re-designated as the 8th Battalion. Show more. For some, National Service was a horrible experience. Capt HCN Trollope: memoirs (Y1/429b) Lt CG Gardner, Queens Westminster Rifles and 9th Battalion: France 1914-1916 (Y1/466) George Arthur Carrick Kiernan, 2nd Battalion, Federated Malay States Volunteer Forces (Selangor) - Lt. Col. W.M. 4th and 5th Battalions of the Suffolk Regiment were involved in the fighting on Singapore Island in the 10 days before the surrender. With the bulk of British forces being tied down in Europe and North Africa, the command was mainly augmented by units from India. Now came the realisation that the 5th Battalion of The Suffolk Regiment, part of a Brigade considered to be a most efficient and well-trained fighting force, had travelled 20,000 miles simply to surrender. Thought the presentation & interpretation made the subject accessible". List of graves in the Orange River Colony, 1902 (A14/9) Although the British had extensive experience in jungle warfare, most recently in Burma during World War II, military leaders had not formalized this experience into a specific jungle warfare curriculum. With a police force of 40,000 men it was now possible to clear an area of guerrillas. A cutting from a disbound book, or magazine. Pte D Chilvers: reminiscences of service in Cyprus (1958-1959) (Y1/781). Thisallowed the British to take the offensive against the MNLA in jungle operations that usually called for stealth and a high degree of patience. There is also a database available in the Bury St Edmunds Record Office searchroom which lists the officers and men on every photograph in which individuals are named; it currently (November 2015) contains over 15,000 entries. Maj FTD Wilson, 1st Battalion:1900 (Y1/270a) We were in Cape Town from the 9th to the 12th of December 1941. British troops remain on the island to this day as part of a United Nations peacekeeping force. Malaya 1948-1960 - Emergency!! However, spouts of water could clearly be seen as the bombs missed the ships behind the Wakefield and fell into the sea. Boys' Training, Director Brigade of Gurkhas Brigadiers British Army of the Rhine Guiana Honduras a British West Indies Regiment .. . Officers careers can be traced through successive issues of the Army List (A11). The huts at this camp, all ground floor buildings, were rather dilapidated having the appearance that the former occupants had attempted to destroy everything within. This won him the support of many nationalists. Letter, 1900 (Y1/17) Interviews with veterans of World War 1 and 2 (1985) (A16/44) 1st East Anglian Regiment (Royal Norfolk and Suffolk), 2nd East Anglian Regiment (Duchess of Gloucester's Own Royal Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire), 3rd East Anglian Regiment (16th/44th Foot), 65th (2nd Yorkshire, North Riding) Regiment of Foot, 6th (Cyclist) Battalion, The Suffolk Regiment, 163rd (1/1st Norfolk and Suffolk) Brigade, 210th Independent Infantry Brigade (Home), "St Edmundsbury Borough Council - Local Military History - Suffolk Regiment", "Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907", Friends of the Suffolk Regiment - Museum Information, Regimental history from the St. Edmundsbury Borough Council, 13th (1st Somersetshire) (Prince Albert's Light Infantry), 14th (Buckinghamshire The Prince of Wales's Own), 19th (1st Yorkshire, North Riding Princess of Wales's Own), 42nd (The Royal Highland) (The Black Watch), 45th (Nottinghamshire Sherwood Foresters), 49th (Hertfordshire - Princess Charlotte of Wales's), 51st Regiment of Foot (Cape Breton Regiment), 51st (2nd York, West Riding, The King's Own Light Infantry), 61st (South Gloucestershire) Regiment of Foot, 77th (East Middlesex) (Duke of Cambridge's Own), 85th (Bucks Volunteers) (The King's Light Infantry), 91st (Princess Louise's Argyllshire Highlanders), 97th (The Earl of Ulster's) Regiment of Foot, 98th (Prince of Wales's) Regiment of Foot, 103rd Regiment of Foot (Volunteer Hunters), 103rd Regiment of Foot (King's Irish Infantry), 107th (Queen's Own Royal Regiment of British Volunteers), Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment), Prince Albert's (Somerset Light Infantry), Prince of Wales's Own (West Yorkshire Regiment), Alexandra, Princess of Wales's Own (Yorkshire Regiment), Duke of Wellington's (West Riding Regiment), Prince of Wales's Volunteers (South Lancashire Regiment), Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment), Princess Charlotte of Wales's (Royal Berkshire Regiment), Duke of Cambridge's Own (Middlesex Regiment), Prince of Wales's (North Staffordshire Regiment), Seaforth Highlanders (Ross-shire Buffs, The Duke of Albany's), Princess Victoria's (Royal Irish Fusiliers), Princess Louise's (Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders), Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians), Liverpool Rifles, King's (Liverpool Regiment), Liverpool Irish, King's (Liverpool Regiment), Liverpool Scottish, King's (Liverpool Regiment), Leeds Rifles, Prince of Wales's Own (West Yorkshire Regiment), Cinque Ports Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment, Hallamshire Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Suffolk_Regiment&oldid=1146793221, Regiments of the British Army in World War II, Regiments of the British Army in World War I, Military units and formations established in 1685, Military units and formations disestablished in 1959, Military units and formations in Burma in World War II, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, [5th] 1st Suffolk Rifle Volunteers based in, [6th] 6th (West Suffolk) Suffolk Rifle Volunteers based in, [7th] 1st (Cambridge, Essex and Huntingdonshire) Cambridgeshire Rifle Volunteers based in, [8th] 3rd (Cambridge University) Cambridgeshire Rifle Volunteer Corps based in, 1688: Col Robert Carey, 6th Baron Hunsdon, 18521857: Lt-Gen Sir Richard Goddard Hare Clarges KCB, 18571864: Lt-Gen Charles Anthony Ferdinand Bentinck, 19041918: Lt-Gen Hon. In 1959, it was amalgamated with The Royal Norfolk Regiment to form the 1st East Anglian Regiment (Royal Norfolk and Suffolk). 2nd Lieut JA Blanch, 2nd Battalion: Germany (POW) 1918 (Y1/28) List of NCOs and men of 5th Battalion in Japanese hands, 1945 (Y1/348d) Those troops now making a stand around Singapore had to await the outcome of the rearguard action which was taking place in the South of Malaya by the British, Australian, Indian and Malayan troops. Citations for the DCM (1914-1918) (A8/1) With his piece of round teak and array of tools he began to secretly carve his piece of wood into the insignia of his regiment -The 5th Suffolks. [email protected]. [32], The 1st battalion saw action in the campaign against the Moplahs in Malabar in 1922 while the 2nd battalion was deployed to Shanghai in 1927 before moving to India in 1929. All ranks, 2nd Battalion, 31 May 1900 (W/13) Gurney's death brought a turning point in the Emergency, with Gerald Templer's arrival as new High Commissioner and as Director of Operations in Malaya, in February 1952. The Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA) - the armed wing of the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) - began attacking rubber plantations, mines and police stations, derailing trains and burning workers' houses. In 1960 the Emergency was declared to be over. Cpl RE Lovegrove, 6th and 12th Battalions: typescript autobiography (Y1/383) When individuals on a photograph are named, this fact is noted in the catalogue. 4th Battalion, 1942-1945 (G4/7-8,10) The printed histories do contain many names but these tend to be of officers or senior NCOs, and are selective rather than comprehensive. [3], After the October 1691 Treaty of Limerick, it returned to England before being transferred to Flanders. The three year long struggle left millions dead, and its legacy still has explosive global impact today. Forename/s. Google Pte HA Southgate: typescript biography (Great War) (Y1/728), Pte C Colwell: autobiography 12 years with the Colours (1920s/30s) (Y1/740a), Pte SMJ Dulling: typescript autobiography (Y1/430) They are listed in chronological order, with an indication of where the diarist was serving. They continued to wear their Suffolk Regiment cap badge on the black beret of the Royal Armoured Corps as did all infantry units converted this way. They set sail for Singapore on 19th being told to be prepared for battle against the Japanese. Since the Friends started in 2008, many of our older members who were former members of The Suffolk Regiment, have now passed onto that great parade ground in the sky. It was very plain that in one of these vehicles a Union Jack was being held aloft by someone, and in another a large white flag was displayed. Regimental Roll of Honour, 1914-1919 (A9/1) Training occurred at a Jungle Warfare School, which also worked out the best tactics based on experience gained in the field. Pte J Briggs: typescript account of experience as a Japanese POW (Y1/608) D Company, 7th Battalion: transfers to other units, April 1918 (J2/3) Sgt WH Crane, 2nd Battalion: biographical account of service (1881-1909) (Y1/492) Templeralso involved the local population in the fight against the guerrillas by increasing the number of Malay battalions and strengthening the Home Guard raised to defend the new villages. [8] In 1782, it was given a county association as the 12th (East Suffolk) Regiment of Foot. Capt ED Wolton, 5th Battalion: taped reminiscences of service in Gallipoli, Egypt and Palestine (1915-1918) (Y1/275d) On 19th November the journey continued onward, crossing the Equator eastwards towards Cape Town in South Africa. Beattie RE, 137th (2nd West Lancashire) Field Regiment, Royal Artillery Lt. Col. Gilbert Daly Holmes (, 80th Anti-Tank Regiment, Royal Artillery Lt. Col. William E.S. Cpl CH Coneybeare, 1st Battalion: Belgium, the Netherlands 1944 (Y1/735) It was so obvious at this time that the troops on the ground, the infantrymen, were getting no support at all from mechanised units. The communists of the MNLA were jungle based and supported by the impoverished Chinese population. Printed maps of the Western Front (A13/1-4; Y1/212e); Germany (B11/4, 8-10) The Malayan Emergency (1948-60) was one of the few successful counter-insurgency operations undertaken by the Western powers during the Cold War. Maj JW Espinasse, Reserve/2nd Battalion: voyages on active service 1842-1858 (Y1/103) The MNLA and its supporters called the campaign the Anti-British National Liberation War. The 5th Suffolks, still in their position at Bukit Timah Road, were amongst trees and mangrove shrubs just a short distance in front of Raffles' College, which was the Battalion Headquarters.