ESCAPE AT NIGHT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 May 1942, Page 4

ESCAPE AT NIGHT

GRAPHIC STORY TOLD

EXCITING EVACUATION.

ENEMY LANDING-PARTY’S FATE.

In a small ship crowded with service men and a dozen women, w hic left Singapore in darkness, I travelled from Singapore to Java, reports a “Sydney Morning Herald” correspondent. We piade a slow passage off the normal route, twice lying up all day in secluded bays beside a jungle-clad island. Thus we succeeded in avoiding the attention of Japanese bombers Which had been harassing shipping around Banka Strait. A most exciting experience was when slipping out of Singapore harbour, we ran close to an attempted Japanese landing by barges from an armoured mother-ship. The enemy were blown to pieces by the raking of five coastal defence guns. . For hours we had been embarking men in a blackout so complete that even the glow of a cigarette brought a growl from, a hundred voices: “Put out that light!” BLINDING SEARCHLIGHT. When finally we had cqst off and headed to sea for half an hour, it was almost a physical shock to be picked up in a blinding searchlight from the shore. Other searchlights leapt out. of the darkness, but they were not interested in us, being focussed on a craft about a mile away.

A few minutes later came the roar of coastal guns, and huge splashes from bursting shells arose all around this craft. We realised that Singapore’s defences were in action against an attempted sea-landing. A second salvo appeared to register a direct hit and .flames shot from the' enemy ship. Ten minutes’* later another shore battery joined the battle. Our ship had been directly in its line of fire and it had to wait until we had got out of the way.

It was a most impressive grandstand view of the destruction of an. enemy landing-party by magnificently accurate gunnery. The range for the second battery was so close that the guns must have been using open sights. The boom of the guns continued and huge waterspouts, lit up brilliantly by searchlights, defined the area, in which no craft could have possibly remained afloat. GLOW OF OIL FIRES. As we pushed onward, the engine crew straining to get an extra halfknot above normal speed, the whole sky was illuminated by the enormous glow from one of the huge oil-fires which had been burning for many days on Singapore Island. Suddenly it leapt up for a few minutes, and then died down equally dramatically. Nothing more was to be seen except a huge column of black smoke, which ,for days at sea told us where we lay in relation to Singapore. The remainder of the voyage was incredibly peaceful, except when enfrny aircraft appeared overhead. Each time they passed over without molesting us.

On the first night we had to anchor for five hours to avoid the danger of an unlighted minefield. After dawn we made a short run to a secluded island to lay up there inconspicuously throughout the day. We then pushed on in the darkness. The next day we repeated the process. The last day found us well off the main sea tracks, so we steamed all day. No one, except the captain of the ship, knew our destination, but nobody was surprised when dawn on the fourth day found us lying off one of Java’s ports, from which eventually we made our way to Batavia.