NOT JUSTIFIED

Grey River Argus, 5 January 1946, Page 5

NOT JUSTIFIED

BENNETT’S ESCAPE Finding of Judge (Rec. 11.55.) January 4. A finding that, having regard to the terms of capitulation, General Gordon Bennett was not justified in relinquishing his command and leaving Singapore, was made by Mr. Justice Ligertwood in his report to the Commonwealth Government. Justice Ligertwood said he thought General Bennett’s duty was to have remained in command of the A.I.F. until the surrendei’ was complete. Other findings were that, at the time General Bennett left Singapore, he was not a prisoner of war in the sense of be ing a soldier who was undei’ a duty to escape. He was in the position of a soldier whose commanding officer had agreed to surrender and to submit him to directions which would have made him a prisoner of war. Justice Ligertwood said that, in relinquishing his command and leaving Singapore, General Bennett did not have- the permission of any competent authority who could give him such permission. General jßercival could not do so, because he signed the capitulation, under which he agreed that General Bennett, as one of the troops under his command, would be surrendered. Even the Australian Government could not have given him such permission, be cause it was within the competence of General Percival to agree that General Bennett, as one of such troops, would be surrendered and tho capitulation bound the Australian Government as much as it did General Percival.

• Discussing General Bennett’s reasons and motives for leaving Singapore, some of the Judge’s findings were: “Firstly, he genuinely believed that Australia was in peril, and that it was of vital importance for the safety of the country that ho should return to take a leading part in its defence. Secondly, he genuinely, but in my opinion, mistakenly, believed that immediately upon the cessation of hostilities, the whole of the British Forces in Singapore Island had been , surrendered to the Japanese, and that he was a prisoner of war under a duty to escape if he could. The escape was a hazardous enterprise and involved no reflection on General Bennett’s personal courage.”