Plymouth Argylls

Royal Marines and Highlanders

The previous page was: "Norway 1940 Continued"

Plymouth Argylls; The war against the Japanese in the east was going badly. Royal Marines had fought gallantly at Hong Kong before the capitulation.

Then on 10th December 1941; came news of the sinking of two of Britain's most famous battleships H.M.S. Prince of Wales and H.M.S. Repulse, by the Japanese.

The survivors from the Royal Marines detachments, about 300 in all, returned to Singapore. Some went to hospital, the remainder were re-kitted at H.M.S. Terror Naval Base. They were organised as a Battlion for duties ashore, under Captain R.G.S. Lang RM, who had commanded the Repulse detachment.

Captain C.D.L. Aylwin RM, of the Prince of Wales detachment, took a party to guard the wireless station at Kranji. Another party was given a crash course in jungle warfare before being sent to Northern Malaya for the purpose of attacking the Japanese behind their lines, led by Lieutenant R.J.L. Davis, of the Repulse.

Norway 1940 Continued

It must be remembered that these men

Were sea-service Marines who are often cramped-up in a warship for months at a time? These men had come straight from the battleships, and knew nothing of travelling in the jungle; let alone how to fight in it.

"I can assure you," wrote one of the Marines afterwards, "it is no joke trying to cut your way through thick jungle with a bayonet that is only sharp on the end. But the worse bugbear was the red ant-could he bite? The mangrove swamps were not too funny, either; if you had the misfortune to get in one, you promptly sank up to your waist in soft squelchy mud, surrounded by small red crabs and mud flippers, a foul smell, the afore said red ants, and just millions of biting mosquitoes."

The Japanese were advancing at an alarming rate, so quickly that the detachment were withdrawn to Kuala Lumpur, as a demolition party.

"We were given a sledgehammer each," wrote the Marine already quoted, "and driven to five engineering sheds, with orders to destroy everything. We had the grandest afternoon. I don't think the Japanese got much value out of that machinery."

Also blew up the ammunition dumps

Buildings and ships in the harbour, they were the last troops to leave. Further down the coast they were sent to hold an important bridge and to cover the withdrawal of two Army battalions. Finally they joined up with a convoy and returned to H.M.S. Terror.

The last British troops to cross the causeway which links Johore Baru with the island of Singapore were the 2nd Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, led by Lieutenant-Colonel I.M. Stewart, D.S.O., O.B.E., M.C.

They came over with their pipes playing "Hieland Lassie" and blew up the causeway behind them.

Their strength had been reduced to 250; the Marines were sent to join them. The composite battalion thus formed was officially called the 'Marine Argyll Battalion' but it will go down in history as the Plymouth Argylls because the Marines ships had both been Plymouth ships.

The fellowship created will be an abiding memory in both Corps. "We never want better companions," said Colonel Stewart.

When the Japanese attack on Singapore began on 9th February 1942. The Plymouth Argylls were despatched to Bukit Timah, four miles from the city. Together they marched through rubber plantations to their allotted positions and dug in. They were dive-bombed and machine-gunned continuously.

Marine R.W. Seddon recalled.

"We heard a shot close-by it was Captain lang, he was surrounded by enemy. Colonel Stewart shouted: 'Come on, Marines,' we all charged forward with our weapons ready to fire. The Japs wore all sorts of rigs. Some were in shorts, some with equipment, others without; some wore only sarongs. You couldn't tell whether they were Japs or Malays or Chinese. The undergrowth was very dense, we opened fire at random, I was doing a bit of spraying with my Tommy gun, I got some of them. Captain Lang defended himself with his pistol and joined up with us."

"That night we had no sleep. The Japs must have been only 50 yards away. We could hear them shouting: 'Any British or Indian troops here? If so, come out, the war is over!'"

The Plymouth Argylls had to operate in thick secondary jungle, with no clear field of fire. The Japanese dominated the air in as much that they could fly low over the jungle and drop hand grenades where they wanted.

But the Plymouth Argylls did their job they held up the advance, and as they withdrew they removed snipers and destroyed several Japanese tanks.

During the heavy fighting

The Plymouth Argylls became split up, they had to make their way back in small groups. They came under constant sniper attack all of the way, and they continued to lose many of their comrades from air attacks.

Singapore was on fire, nobody had to be told to evacuate, every where it was like a nightmare, it was every person for themselves.

Some marines who had made their way to Keppel harbour, were able to board ships. As they sailed from the jaws of death, it was with saddened hearts they watched the beautiful City of Singapore blazing away in flames.

A party of Marines found a rowing boat, after pulling for four hours they were picked up by the gunboat H.M.S. Grasshopper. She was dive-bombed and sunk off of the Sumatran coast. The survivors swam ashore, found an abandoned bus, which one of the Marines drove to the nearest town.

There they went on board a destroyer and were taken to Batavia. The Dutch authorities mistook them for spies because their uniforms were in rags; they were arrested, but later released and eventually reached Colombo.

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Another party left Singapore

In a motor-launch commanded by a Lieutenant, of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. They reached the Dutch island of Singkep, where they found 800 soldiers and seamen.

Nearby was another island where there was a number of Australian nurses and white women refugees. The Japanese were systematically bombing it and sending boats to capture the women.

Some of the Marines at Singkep joined a party of volunteers in a motor-launch towing flat-bottomed boats, brought back the women who were alive, and buried the dead.

They finally left Singkep in a motor-boat with 300 on board, towing another, which sank. The survivors were taken aboard the first boat , and all reached Padang, in Sumatra, whence they, too, were sent to Colombo.

Such is the story of the Royal Marines

In Malaya. It is a tangled story, and few survived to tell it. In that unhappy history there is nothing of which the Corps need be ashamed, and much to be proud.

"Do not put all the blame on the man on the spot, who at least gave his all, and did his best in difficult circumstances which had never been properly appreciated in this country," wrote a Marine survivor, after he had reached home.

The Royal Marines, and those with them had fought a losing battle; a battle that had been lost before they had ever gone into action.

Some day, it may be, a memorial will be raised to the Plymouth Argylls on Singapore island. The inscription on it might well take the form of that which is placed above Nelson's quarters in Port Royal, Jamaica.

"Here fought the Plymouth argylls. Ye, who tread their footsteps, remember their glory."

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