“SWARMED OVER CITY”

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 April 1942, Page 4

“SWARMED OVER CITY”

JAPANESE IN SINGAPORE. FIFTH COLUMN ACTIVITY. Refugees from Singapore says that the effect of the shelling of the island was more nerve-racking than the aer-> ial bombing., because it commenced without warning, reports Geoffrey Tebbutt. special correspondent of the “Sydney Sun.” Many sinister reports of summary executions were also current in Singapore. Three Victorians who got away when mortar fire, machine-guning and sniping were occurring in the streets, were bombed ancj shelled going aboard ships.At sea they saw several wrecked and burning tankers from which terribly mutilated survivors were rescued. They said: “We have grown so used to every bomber being a Japanese that we duck on hearing an aeroplane. It was a terrible strain for troops and civilians to be without air support. What happened there can happen in Australia unless air protection is strong. “Japanese swarmed over Singapore so quickly that our troops were repeatedly cut off. They seemed to be everywhere.” Until the very last moment, Asiatics and many Edropeans at Singapore believed that heavy reinforcements would arrive before the end of the week. While the suburbs, including the fashionable residential area of Tanglin were under shellfire, many shops and banks in the city still functioned, though short-staffed.