Read Online The Other Side of Paradise by Margaret Mayhew - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Margaret Mayhew
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In warfare the key to success is attack, and the jungle is far more conducive to attack than defence. An enemy can infiltrate unseen, especially if well camouflaged. It’s very hard to stop him.’
‘Sounds as though you’re on their bloody side, Trent.’
‘I’m not, I assure you. Anything but.’
Her father said, ‘I take it you’ve been on the peninsula, Lawrence?’
‘I’ve been everywhere they’ll let me go, had a good snoop around and asked a lot of questions that nobody wants to answer. I’ve picked up some pretty shocking information in the process. Do you know that we haven’t one single tank in Malaya? Not one.’
‘Surely tanks wouldn’t be much good in this sort of country?’
‘Why not? They’re designed to go anywhere. I’m pretty sure the Japs will use them and we’ve no defences against them. If you think about it, there’s plenty of room for a tank to go between rows of rubber trees.’
Mr Forster was off again. ‘I’m telling you, Trent, the Nips aren’t going to get near Singapore. The navy has five fifteen-inch guns covering the sea approaches. Nothing and nobody’s going to get past those.’
‘I agree – so long as the Japs only try an attack by sea. But the guns are fixed in concrete, pointing seawards, and can’t be turned. If the enemy should come from another direction, they’d be quite useless. Just like the French Maginot Line against the Germans in 1940.’
‘What other direction? There isn’t another one.’
‘Unfortunately, there is. People refer to Singapore as an island but, strictly speaking, it isn’t an island at all.’
‘There’s water all the bloody way round it. I call that an island.’ Mr Forster’s face must be puce by now, his eyes bulging like the bullfrogs in the swamps.
‘In fact, it’s really just a continuation of the mainland, connected by a causeway across a very narrow strip of water. It’s by no means the impregnable fortress it’s cracked up to be. What if the Japs got ashore somewhere on the north of the peninsula, from Siam?’
‘What if they did? Our chaps would soon mop ’em up. Chuck ’em back in the sea.’
‘But supposing they managed to get a foothold and started to make their way down towards Singapore?’
‘Most of it’s jungle. They’d never get through. It’s bloody impassable.’
‘So everyone says, but, as I said, the Japs will learn how to deal with jungle and use it to their advantage. Nobody seems to understand the terrible danger Singapore is in – least of all our military. Officers put on their finery in the evenings and dance the night away with ladies in ballgowns, as though there were nothing whatever to worry about. It’s quite extraordinary to an outside observer like myself.’
There was a snort of rage. ‘You sound like that damned Yank on the wireless who keeps saying we’ve got it coming to us. I suppose you’ll be spinning the same story back in England – except they won’t put up with that sort of bloody defeatist talk. I can’t stand listening to this rubbish another minute, Tom. I’m off.’
‘I’ll see you out, Bill.’
She heard Mr Forster blundering off and the sound of his car starting up, engine roaring, tyres spinning. After a moment, her father came back.
‘Sorry about that, Lawrence. Poor old Bill can get rather steamed up about things, especially when he’s had a few.’
‘
I’m
sorry if I upset him. My apologies. Do you want me to leave too?’
‘Not at all. I’d like to talk some more. Were you serious about what you were saying?’
‘Deadly serious, Tom. The Japs aren’t fools. When they look at their maps they can see how strategically important Singapore Island is. Whoever holds it controls the main shipping route between Europe and Asia – the main link between the Indian and Pacific oceans: between East and West. It’s the pivot at the junction of trade routes. There
are
other routes but they’re either much longer or more difficult.
‘Sounds as though you’re on their bloody side, Trent.’
‘I’m not, I assure you. Anything but.’
Her father said, ‘I take it you’ve been on the peninsula, Lawrence?’
‘I’ve been everywhere they’ll let me go, had a good snoop around and asked a lot of questions that nobody wants to answer. I’ve picked up some pretty shocking information in the process. Do you know that we haven’t one single tank in Malaya? Not one.’
‘Surely tanks wouldn’t be much good in this sort of country?’
‘Why not? They’re designed to go anywhere. I’m pretty sure the Japs will use them and we’ve no defences against them. If you think about it, there’s plenty of room for a tank to go between rows of rubber trees.’
Mr Forster was off again. ‘I’m telling you, Trent, the Nips aren’t going to get near Singapore. The navy has five fifteen-inch guns covering the sea approaches. Nothing and nobody’s going to get past those.’
‘I agree – so long as the Japs only try an attack by sea. But the guns are fixed in concrete, pointing seawards, and can’t be turned. If the enemy should come from another direction, they’d be quite useless. Just like the French Maginot Line against the Germans in 1940.’
‘What other direction? There isn’t another one.’
‘Unfortunately, there is. People refer to Singapore as an island but, strictly speaking, it isn’t an island at all.’
‘There’s water all the bloody way round it. I call that an island.’ Mr Forster’s face must be puce by now, his eyes bulging like the bullfrogs in the swamps.
‘In fact, it’s really just a continuation of the mainland, connected by a causeway across a very narrow strip of water. It’s by no means the impregnable fortress it’s cracked up to be. What if the Japs got ashore somewhere on the north of the peninsula, from Siam?’
‘What if they did? Our chaps would soon mop ’em up. Chuck ’em back in the sea.’
‘But supposing they managed to get a foothold and started to make their way down towards Singapore?’
‘Most of it’s jungle. They’d never get through. It’s bloody impassable.’
‘So everyone says, but, as I said, the Japs will learn how to deal with jungle and use it to their advantage. Nobody seems to understand the terrible danger Singapore is in – least of all our military. Officers put on their finery in the evenings and dance the night away with ladies in ballgowns, as though there were nothing whatever to worry about. It’s quite extraordinary to an outside observer like myself.’
There was a snort of rage. ‘You sound like that damned Yank on the wireless who keeps saying we’ve got it coming to us. I suppose you’ll be spinning the same story back in England – except they won’t put up with that sort of bloody defeatist talk. I can’t stand listening to this rubbish another minute, Tom. I’m off.’
‘I’ll see you out, Bill.’
She heard Mr Forster blundering off and the sound of his car starting up, engine roaring, tyres spinning. After a moment, her father came back.
‘Sorry about that, Lawrence. Poor old Bill can get rather steamed up about things, especially when he’s had a few.’
‘
I’m
sorry if I upset him. My apologies. Do you want me to leave too?’
‘Not at all. I’d like to talk some more. Were you serious about what you were saying?’
‘Deadly serious, Tom. The Japs aren’t fools. When they look at their maps they can see how strategically important Singapore Island is. Whoever holds it controls the main shipping route between Europe and Asia – the main link between the Indian and Pacific oceans: between East and West. It’s the pivot at the junction of trade routes. There
are
other routes but they’re either much longer or more difficult.
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