Australia. Australian Army. Division 8th - Hero or deserter?: Gordon Bennett and the tragic defeat of 8th division

Major-General Gordon Bennett played a decisive role in the defence of Malaya and Singapore in World War II. A colourful character, known to sport a straw hat with a rainbow scarf tied around it, his officers found him at times abrasive and cocky, but he was also known as an outstanding commander.

He is, however, best remembered for his escape by boat from Singapore in the dying days of the Japanese invasion, which led to the imprisonment of 15,000 Australian servicemen.

Bennetts decision to leave his men to their fate is one of the most controversial episodes in the fall of the island. Though he was exonerated by Prime Minister John Curtin on his return to Australia, the 8th Divisions commander was never forgiven by the militarys top brass for what many viewed as a clear case of desertion. While Bennett alone cannot be blamed for the defeat there were many other factors, including Britains military failings in both tactics and defence he was and remains a ready scapegoat.

In this vivid and comprehensive history of the 8th Division and its stoic force of fighting men, Roger Maynard investigates their conflicted leader, whose reputation as an outstanding soldier was shattered by wars end. He also examines Bennetts legacy through the prism of todays military standards to establish whether he was, indeed, a hero or deserter.

The men of the 8th Division woke with aching hearts as dawn broke over Singapore on 15 February 1942. The city was in chaos; both military and civilians had suffered heavy casualties over the previous 24 hours. Fuel, food and ammunition supplies were running low and the army hierarchy was faced with the inevitability of surrender.

These were tense times. The enemy had already been sighted advancing past Pasir Panjang towards Singapores commercial hub and, despite heavy shelling from the Australian military, enemy troops continued to progress along Bukit Timah Road. The Japanese seemed unstoppable and the Allies knew it.

With no firm plans for their defence, Australian and British commanders chose to call a meeting at Fort Canning to discuss strategy. Senior officers with Malaya Command, including Lieutenant-General Arthur Percival and Major-General H. Gordon Bennett as well as representatives from the civil service, were to assemble at the heavily fortified military bolthole at 11 am.

Bennett, conscious of the risk of aerial bombardment, ditched his staff car and requisitioned a truck to ferry him there. His aide-de-camp, Gordon Walker, took the wheel. The two men drove up to the security gate to be informed that only generals cars were to be admitted to the compound. The sentries on duty couldnt believe that the commander of the 8th Division would turn up in an old utility and not a gleaming, chauffeur-driven limo, so at first refused to let him through.

Doubtless Bennetts sharp tongue quickly changed their mind and he was let through. Inside the building the atmosphere was as gloomy as the poorly lit interior. Overnight there had been reports of intense bombing, with roads and buildings suffering extensive damage. To add to the growing anarchy, a number of prisoners had been released from jails on the island, and some had attacked the police who were trying to maintain order. Bennett revealed he had even heard that the ex-inmates had bombed detectives, though how they had obtained the explosives was unclear.

By the time the Allied top brass assembled around the table, it was obvious that the days of British rule over Singapore were numbered. How much longer could they hold out?

A.H. Dickinson, Inspector General of the Straits Settlement Police, and Brigadier Ivan Simson, whose local role was as the British Armys Chief Engineer, painted a hopeless picture of a city in disarray. The emergency services were so depleted that they were unable to rescue those trapped and injured in fallen buildings.

The number of casualties was so high that nobody could provide a reliable estimate of the total. At one of the few operating civilian hospitals, medical staff and patients had been without water for the previous 24 hours. Indeed water and food supplies were practically non-existent among the civilian population. Overall the army had only enough to feed themselves for the next three days, although the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) was said to be in a slightly better position, with an estimated 15 days of food supplies and 400 rounds of artillery ammunition per gun.

It was morale that posed the biggest challenge. An unknown number of battle-weary stragglers both soldiers and civilians was now roaming those parts of Singapore which had already fallen to the enemy or were about to. Percival, like most of the others in the room, was clearly exhausted. Unable to conceal his despair any longer, he produced a letter signed by the Japanese commander, General Tomoyuki Yamashita, who advised him that he had no choice but to surrender. Yamashita even outlined the way the Allies should relay their response. Hoist a white flag atop Government House and then drive down Bukit Timah Road in a car flying a white flag and the Union Jack.

Accepting that capitulation was inevitable, Percival and those assembled around the table agreed to ask for a ceasefire at 3.30 pm and an unconditional surrender. They also wanted to retain some of their own troops under arms in an effort to keep law and order. The rest of their equipment would be destroyed so that it would be of no use to the enemy.

The military and civilian chiefs shuffled uncomfortably in their seats as Percival brought the meeting to a close. Afterwards Bennett was driven back to his HQ at Tanglin Barracks, where he summoned his lieutenants to brief them on the latest developments.

The news came as no surprise to most of them, who realised that the sacrifice of so many lives could not continue. The dead and injured were littering the streets and the number of Allied troops still able to wage war had dramatically reduced.

One man, however, refused to accept the inevitable. He was thinking along very different lines. Major-General Gordon Bennett, while realising that his men were about to become prisoners of war, was in no mood to share their fate. Secretly, and with the connivance of a few brother officers, the commander of the 8th Division was privately planning his escape. As he later recalled in his wartime memoir: I had determined I would not fall into Japanese hands. His idea was to pass through enemy lines west of Bukit Timah village following the end of hostilities and get away to the mainland by boat. Once ashore he would make his way north to Malacca or Port Dickson, where he would hire a fishing vessel to take him the 50 miles (80 km) to Sumatra. It was a dangerous strategy but Bennett thrived on risk.