SERIOUS LOSSES IN NORTH MALM

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 303, 23 December 1941, Page 5

SERIOUS LOSSES IN NORTH MALM

"PEOPLE ASK WHY"

Enemy Underestimated Says Correspondent

United PreM Association.—Copyrlg-ht.

Rec. 10 a.m. SINGAPORE, Dec. 22

After a fortnight's fighting, says the Associated Press correspondent, in a review of the position in Malaya, we have lost Perlis, Kedah, Wellesley, Penang and the north-eastern corner of Malaya. The people of Malaya are beginning to ask why.

For two years the people of Malay! and the Dominions —indeed, the whole world—have been told time and again that the defences of Malaya were impregnable, yet in the period of two weeks strategic defence areas have been lost and Singapore itself, "the world's strongest fortress," has been put on the defensive and perhaps in jeopardy.

The explanation is not far to seek, says the correspondent. The man-in-the-street is at last beginning to realise that he has been let down, Malaya has been let down and Australia has been let down by men who have committed the same mistake which Britain has so many times committed in this war. The enemy has been underestimated.

What Japanese "Couldn't Do"

The leaders in this part of the world for months questioned the ability of the Japanese to do things which, in the first fortnight, he has proved beyond doubt capable of doing in a most businesslike manner.

The Japanese weren't good pilots— they were textbook pilots. The Japanese were unable to use mechanised equipment in Malaya's ricefields, jungles and rubber plantations. The Japanese were unable to land troops on Malaya's east coast before March because the monsoon would prevent it. The Japanese were unable to send a strong air force against Malaya.

These were the fanciful stories fed to correspondents. Some swallowed them and wrote about clouds of planes over the jungles. Others did not. Some who had seen the Japanese in action in China expressed contrary views and fears that Malaya had an insufficient air force.

In fairness to Air Chief Marshal Sir Robert Brooke-Popham, adds the correspondent, he declared before the war that he was not satisfied with the number of planes at his disposal, in which case the fault might be traced back to London. Certainly it is planes that Malaya needs ndw. Soon the cry will go forth for men and material.

Lack of planes, however, does not explain the completely gradual British loss of territory in northwestern Malaya, although it offers an excuse for the abandonment of Penang, which was subjected to

merciless bombing. There is no defined line in this jungle warfare, to which the Japanese have apparently adapted themselves. The British had devised no counter to infiltration tactics.

For a year," says the correspondent, 'we prepared Penang to resist attempts at invasion. Four months a &° J inspected Penang's defences, which included guns covering the seaward approaches, miles of barbed wire along the beaches and machinegun posts. The garrison was composed of Indian and British troops. People are now asking why these defences were ever constructed if there was no intention of ever using them or if Penang was strategically useless to us or the enemy.

Another question being posed is why Penang was left intact for the Japanese invader. The 'scorched earth policy could have been put to good effect there, but no effort was made to destroy the power station, the water supply and other utilities. Were they left because we hope some day to retake it? If so, we can hardly believe the Japanese will leave them intact.

Three days after the outbreak of war Japanese planes flew over Penang and did not meet a single British fighter plane. This is stated in a leading article in the Singapore Synday Times, which adds: 'Nobody could have believed this after the repeated official assurances of the arrival of formidable reinforcements.' The editorial says the full story of Penang under the Japanese blitz will make sorry reading.

Rubber Plantations Captured

"Local newspapers feature, under the title, 'Scorched Earth in Malaya,' a cable from London saying the Colonial Office is confident the military authorities are prepared to order the destruction of millions of rubber trees to save them from the Japanese. This touch of realism is regarded as overdue by observers, who are asking whether demolition has been carried out effectively in the areas already overrun by the Japanese. The truth is that there are hundreds of thousands of acres of standing rubber trees now in Japanese hands.

"The Singapore Press is seeking an assurance that railway bridges will be blown up and tracks removed where possible, that the demolition of roads will not be confined to the insertion of a few sticks of dynamite under a few bridges, but that whole stretches of road will be destroyed/'.

It is authoritatively stated in London that the "scorched earth" policy was carried out in Penang before the evacuation. The power station and the Penang tin smelting works were destroyed.