Singapore — Kranji Beach Battle Site, Singapore
Exploring a Second World War battle site in Singapore
May 2015
After visiting Kranji War Memorial, Singapore, I headed to Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, and on the way, I spotted Kranji Beach Battle Site, so I thought I would stop for a look.
There is no parking at the beach; instead, you have to park past the site and then walk past the structure in the photo below, which is used to control seawater flow into a lagoon.
The warning sign on the above device caught my eye. I won’t be going in there!
The Kranji Beach Battle Site park is small.
And it has a good view over the straits to Johor Bahru, Malaysia.
The Japanese 4th Regiment of the Japanese Imperial Guard were trying to cross the above stretch of water on 10th February 1942, and they were engaged by troops of the 27th Australian Brigade and Singapore volunteers of Lieutenant-Colonel Dalley's DALFORCE.
The memorial at Kranji Beach.
The inscription reads:
"On this shoreline, between the Kranji River and the Causeway, troops of the 27th Australian Brigade and Singapore volunteers of Lieutenant-Colonel Dalley's DALFORCE scored a victory against the invading Japanese troops.
On the morning of 10th February 1942, troops from the 4th Regiment of the Japanese Imperial Guard landed when the tide was low. They were stuck in the mud and were caught in oil slicks created by Allied troops, releasing oil from the nearby Woodlands depot.
The first waves of Japanese troops were burnt when Allied forces set fire to the oil.
However, for fear of being cut off by the Japanese landing from the west at Sarimbun and Jurong, the Australian troops and the DALFORCE volunteers were ordered to withdraw south, thus allowing the Japanese to land and consolidate their invasion of Singapore.
Today it is just a quiet spot that locals use to go canoeing and search for cockles in the mud. On the 10th of February 1942, it was a different place.
