Sunday, January 15
National Heritage Project Part 2
War History
Fort Pasir Panjang:
Fort Pasir Panjang was an old British fort located on the hill and cliff that was next to the sea. Another old British fort was Fort Siloso on Pulau Blakang Mati (now Sentosa). It was found that the steep cliffs and thick mangrove swamps surrounding the Fort Pasir Panjang acted as an ideal natural barrier to intruders. It was one of nine sites in which the British set up their batteries, and it is part of the British’s overall defence system for Singapore.
In the late 1930s, war was going on in Northern Asia, particularly China and Manchuria, with the onslaught of the Second Sino-Japanese War. It was then that the British conducted a review of the beach defences. Findings showed that Pasir Panjang Beach would be an easy place for the enemy to land. As a result, the government obtained the land, and redeveloped it into Fort Pasir Panjang.
The job of the fort then was only to provide a place for shelter and ammunition storage for the British troops. It was also near where the Battle of Pasir Panjang took place. When the British Armed Forces surrendered to the Japanese in 1942, the equipment at the fort was dismantled, closed down and abandoned. After the occupation was over, the fort still remained closed.
Machine gun posts:
Machine gun posts and barbed wire entanglements were built, together with a fence running along the beach. The guns that faced the sea were also upgraded. Two six inch 37-ton guns, which could fire 102 lb shells 10 miles, were installed in 1938, together with searchlights that faced the sea.
With military installations, guns facing the sea and the natural thick mangrove swamp, the British made the beach an “impenetrable fortress”, making it extremely difficult for enemy ships and troops to enter Singapore via that area. It would have been proven very useful in combating the enemies against coastal attacks.
(Machine Gun Post)
(Gun emplacement of a QF 6-inch Mk II rifled Breech Loading gun)
Tunnels:
In 2001, two tunnels were also discovered within the park. Safely tucked away in the nature reserve, these tunnels were used by the British Army during World War II. They were located beneath the old fort, and were probably storage for ammunition and supplies, as well as a hideout for British troops. One of the tunnels was hit twice - once by Japanese soldiers and the other time by departing British troops in an attempt to prevent their enemy from getting the ammunition stored there. It is believed that there was a tunnel under the sea leading to Fort Siloso on Sentosa Island (Pulau Blakang Mati) back in the days when Sentosa was nothing more than a British military set-up. Today, the tunnel is flooded and inaccessible.
