Evening star., 1942-02-10
British NaWSaves
Trapped
In North Ma|aya
Ships Succeed in Toking
OFF Stranded Forces by
Working at Night
BY HARRY A. STANDISH,

BY HARRY A. STANDISH,
Foreisn Correspondent Of The star and
North American Newspaper Alliance.
SINGAPORE, Feb. 10.-Hundreds
of British and Indian soldiers
trapped In Northern Malaga by the
Japanese forces filtering southwark
through the jungle have been res
cued by the Royal Navy in . small
scale repetition Of Dunkerque.
The major difference between the
Dunkerque and Mayalan evacua-
tions was that 1t was possible to
take the Malaga troops OF in dark
ness without important enemy op-
position.
Large numbers Of British and In
dian troops were cut OF by Japs
who were holding strong positions
between them and the main bodies
of empire troops defending road
and rail links. If the trapped troops
had attempted % fight their way
through, heavy casualties would have
been inevitable.
Hundreds Of Craft Rallied.
The navy rallied hundreds Of
small craft for the job of taking
the men OF. Night after night
they sailed from Singapore, gum
boats under the command Of officers
Of the "wavy navy" (the naval VOL
unteer reserve), motor launches by
the dozen, many Of them operated
by their own civilian crews, and a
strange fleet of sampans, dinghys
and shallow draught craft that
would carry a single man or a few
at most.
This mixed fleet arrived at its
rendezvous of the west coast Of
Johore, where the gunboats had to
stand of some miles because Of the
shallow waters. The launches nosed
inshore as far as they could, with
their crews checking the tide every
few minutes with sounding poles
and working their craft in and out
as 1t rose and fell. always just keep
ing the keels of the mud flats.
Sampans and dinghys quietly rowed
and padded across the tidal fats
into creek mouths among overhang-
ing mangroves to pick up their
cargoes of men.
The troops were tired after long
days of fighting and rapid move
ment. But they mustered enough
strength to wade into the swamps
and creeks until they could struggle
into boats. In ones and twos they
were ferried to the launches, which
in turn took them out to the gun
boats. Each dawn the gunboats
with their attendant mosquito feet
arrived back in Singapore, loaded
deep with men ready to be rested
and refitted before rejoining the
fight.
Worked All Night.
The evacuation went on night
after night, all night long 1t was
a big job to shift large numbers of
men in small boats silently from
enemy-occupied territory. Heroic
work was performed by naval and
military men, officers and other
ranks, who after each nights work
stayed behind, hiding along coastal
roads to rally other troops as they
came along and to guide them to
escape points to be taken on the
next night.
Any movement attracting the at
tention of the enemy would have
been fatal. Hundreds of men had
to lie hidden until dark, when the
rescue fleet returned. When the
entire operation was completed
hundreds Of men who might have
been killed, taken prisoner or still
cut OF on the mainland had taken
their places among the defenders
Of Singapore Island. They owe
their lives and freedom to the work
Of the navy and the amateur boat
men Of Singapore.