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18th-19th December
Lenggong and Sumpitan
Despite the 1st Independent Company being mobilised on the 6th of December, it wasn’t until the 18th and 19th of December that the Company first experienced direct fighting against the Japanese.
As Major Fearon said in his diary, “Information given by a Japanese officer, after the fall of Singapore, was to the effect that here was the main line of advance of the enemy and actually two divisions (5th Infantry Division [Total strength 15,300] and 18th Infantry Division [Total strength 22,200])10 moved down it, followed by the Guards Division.”11
(The main body of) the Argylls, supported by the Malayan Independent Company, drove thirty miles from Kuala Kangsar up the mountain road to Lenggong village, arriving there at 8.30 a.m. on December 19th. Four miles further up the road was the village of Sumpitan and approaching it in strength were the Japanese.12
From the 14th of December until the 18th of December a small group of 35 Argyll and Southern Highlanders bore the brunt of delaying the Japanese advance and were extremely tired when relieved by the main body Argylls and the Independent Company at Sumpitan.
One of the members of this small group said:
‘I’m not ashamed to say that I was greetin’ [crying] when I saw our armoured car, the Hydrabads, the Independent Company, and the Punjabis coming up.....I was greetin’ and I wasn’t alone. We were all the same. That bit of road from Kroh (on the border with Thaland now known as Pengkalan Hulu) to Grik (known as Gerik), where we were swapping round, I was completely knackered.’13
Two platoons of the Independent Company had arrived in Sumpitan ahead of the Argylls at 10.30 a.m. and had not anticipated that the Japanese advance unit had already infiltrated the village. As they left their vehicles in the centre of the village, the Independent Company was ambushed and suffered some twenty casualties. They responded with a bayonet charge, shouting their Pathan and Sikh war cries as they drove the Japanese across the stream that ran through the village.14
In Fearon’s diary he describes that in the aftermath of the bayonet charge:
It was easy shooting to pick off Japanese officers and men trying to retrieve equipment dropped in their flight. However, the respite was short and soon the battle was in full swing again with heavy mortaring of our position by the enemy, and consistent reinforcing of their troops.
It was apparent that without support, it was only a question of time infiltration round our flanks would force the Company to retire. No support was forthcoming. The Argylls had apparently halted south of the village despite messages sent for immediate assistance.
At 11.30hours the (2)Platoon15, on the right of the road ran out of ammunition, and was ordered to withdraw under cover of the platoon on the left.
After this withdrawal, which was only carried out with heavy casualties, the platoon on the left and Company HQ came under heavy fire. In Fearon’s diary he reports that but for the heroic actions of two members of the Company, for which Har Lal Singh was awarded a Victoria Cross (VC) and Sepoy Sadat Kahn was awarded an Indian Order of Merit (IOM), the Company was extricated from “what appeared to be a completely hopeless situation.16
During this action the Company suffered heavy casualties between the two Platoons, chiefly inflicted during the withdrawal, consisting of 1 British Officer wounded (Lt. E.A.J. Maclaren), 20 Indian ‘Other Ranks’ killed and wounded, the majority killed.17
After this engagement with the Japanese, the Company was ordered into reserve at Sauk (some 50kms south of the fighting) and then onto Kuala Kangsar (20th December) and then onto Teluk Anson (now Teluk Intan) on the 21st of December 1942.
Reference
10 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_Order_of_Battle,_Malayan_Campaign
11 Fearon Diary, Page 14.
12 Moon Over Malaya P113
13 Moon Over Malaya – P106
14 Moon Over Malaya - P114
15 Unfortunately, we don’t know which Platoon Walter fought with in the Independent Company, but it could have quite possibly been this Platoon (2Platoon) as in his diary entry of 19th December he he says Ammo ran out had to withdraw. 22 men lost. In Moon Over Malaya (page 114) this Platoon is described as 2 Platoon, the Pathans.
16 Fearon Diary, P17
17 Fearon Diary, P17
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