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JOHORE
BATTERY AT CHANGI, OFFICIALLY OPENS TO MARK THE 60TH
ANNIVERSARY OF SINGAPORE’S FALL
Singapore’s
fall under British defence to the Japanese 60 years ago, will be
recounted at the launch of one of the most important war sites -- the
Johore Battery -- on 15 February 2002.
BG
(NS) George Yeo, Minister for Trade and Industry, will officiate the
launch ceremony and unveil the Historic Site Marker as part of the 60th
Anniversary Commemorative Programme of Singapore’s fall to the
Japanese. He will also launch “Singapore’s 100 Historic Places”,
a new guidebook co-published by the National Heritage Board and
Editions Didier Millet.
More
than 200 former prisoners-of-war (PoWs), war veterans and their
families and friends are expected to witness the launch ceremony.
The
Johore Battery was constructed in 1939. It comprises a labyrinth of
underground tunnels, used to store ammunition for three 15-inch
Monster guns, which the British had constructed for the integrated
coastal defence of Singapore.
The
three “monster guns” were so called because they were the biggest
guns to be installed outside Britain during World War II. The site
derived its name from the Sultan of Johore’s donation of £500,000
in support of the British war campaign.
Johore
Battery was part of the British’s integrated coastal defence
strategy during World War II. The name ‘Fortress Singapore’
signified the ‘fortress system’ of gun control that was used to
defend Singapore. Installed to guard the Eastern approach to
Singapore, the guns at Johore Battery were later destroyed by the
British upon Japanese advance.
Mrs
Pamelia Lee, STB’s Senior Director Special Projects said: “Working
on the project, we gained greater insight into the provisions made
during WWII to protect Singapore. Imagine, we had the biggest British
guns, outside of Britain, right here at Changi. We hope that all those
who visit the site, especially young Singaporeans, will understand the
importance of flexibility and strategies.”
Mr
Lim Siam Kim, CEO of the National Heritage Board, said: “The marking
of Johore Battery as the 60th historic site is a strong
reminder that we must pay heed to the lessons history teaches us, so
that we do not repeat the same mistakes. It also reminds us that we
must constantly review our defence strategies to meet the new
challenges of an uncertain world.”
The
highlight is a replica of the “15 inch monster gun”. Visitors can
mount the gun and have a sense of the scale of this weapon that was
used during the war. A replica of an ammunition shell –weighing over
800 kg-- can be lifted with a lever to experience its sheer weight.
Other
on-site interactive displays include a periscope that will give
visitors a view of the underground tunnels and an echo tube that
provides visitors with a sense of the tunnels’ depth. These
interactive exhibits are designed by the Singapore Science Centre.
Spearheaded
by the Singapore Tourism Board, the Johore Battery project is a
collaborative effort with the National Heritage Board, National
Institute of Education, Singapore Prisons Service and the Singapore
Science Centre.
Former
PoWs are encouraged to participate in the activities organised under
the Commemorative Programme. These include activities such as a
conference by the History Department of the National University of
Singapore, titled “Sixty Years On – The Fall of Singapore
Revisited”, a guided tour of “Reflections at Bukit Chandu” :A
WWII Interpretative Centre at Pepys Road and the Singapore Philatelic
Museum WWII Exhibition.
The
Historic Site Marker for Johore Battery
The
Johore Battery comprised three guns. They were part of a group of
twenty-nine large coastal guns installed in Singapore in the 1930s.
The
Johore Battery’s three weapons were among Singapore’s largest
coastal guns. They were known as 15-inch guns, because 15 inches (38
cm) was the diameter of the shell they fired. Their gun barrels were
16.5 metres long and the shells stood 1.5 metres high. The guns were
capable of hurling these shells at battleships over twenty miles away.
They
were originally called “monster guns” when tested in England in
1934, before being sent to Singapore. When World War II started, there
were only seven of these defending the coasts of the British Empire.
Two were near Dover in England, and five in Singapore. Besides the
Johore Battery, Singapore also had two 15-inch guns at Buona Vista
Battery. They were located at the junction of Ulu Pandan and Clementi
Roads, in the West of the island.
Each
of Johore Battery’s guns had its own ammunition bunker. These were
about 500 metres apart, arranged in a line that stretched from the
present site onto what are now the runways of Changi Airport.
Though
these guns were originally intended to stop an attack from the sea,
two of Johore Battery’s guns could turn around and fire to the rear,
towards Johor Bahru. The third, the one located at this site, could
only fire out to sea.
From
5th to 12th February 1942, the two guns of the Johore Battery that
could turn around fired landward in Singapore’s defence. They
shelled Japanese infantry positions from Johor Bahru, just across the
Causeway, eastwards to the area North of Tanjong Punggol. They also
joined in the battles for Bukit Timah Road and Pasir Panjang. The guns
of Johore Battery fired 194 rounds before their demolition by the
British on the night of 12th February. This demolition, and the
postwar upgrading of Changi aerodrome, means all that remains are the
underground tunnels on this site, which once housed ammunition and
power plants.
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