Author: CHUNG Yoon Ngan
Date: 09-24-11 21:56
The formation of the 3rd MPAJA Independent Regiment -1942
馬來亞人民抗日軍第三獨立隊
-------------------------------------------------
On January 20th 1942, the 3rd batch of 60 Malayan Communist Party (MCP)
cadets, who had just graduated from the No.101 Special Training School,
arrived at a small house at No.22 Jurong Road (芽蘢路) Singapore. They were
from the MCP branches of Perak, Selangor, Pahang and Singapore. Lai Te,
the Secretary-General of the MCP, Xiao Zhong and Huang Cheng, members of
the Executive Standing Committee, representing the MCP, announced the formation
of the 3rd Independent Regiment of the MPAJA. They were assigned to operate
in the state of Malacca and northern part of the state of Johore. The MCP
representative in this regiment would be Chen Shu (陳書), the commander
Xiao Yang (小揚 alias Wu Kexiong 吳科雄) and Yuan Zhiying (袁治英) his deputy.
The political commissar would be Xiao Erxin (肖爾新) and the administrator
Li Ming (李明 alias Li Jingming 李鏡明).
The regiment was to be divided into two Patrols. The MCP representative
for the 1st Patrol was Chen Tian (陳田 Chen Tian was later to be one of
the representatives of the MCP during the conference on self government
of Malaya held in Baling, Perak, in 1955) and the commander was Lin Wenguang
(林文光). The commander of the 1st patrol was Lin Wenguang (林文光). The
MCP representative in the 2nd Patrol was Hu Ping (胡萍 alias He Lang 何浪
a Hakka Kampong Sayap boy, who, in 1954 during the Emergency, led his group
of fighters and surrendered to the colonial government and was rewarded
with a large sum of money by the British. He bought a lorry for his two
younger brothers who live in Benbam new village 民萬新村 or 葡萄園). Li
Kaifa (李開發) was the commander of the 2nd patrol.
Three army trucks were provided to carry the 3rd Independent Regiment to
their destination, Segamat (昔加末) in northern Johore state. (Due to urgent
matters Chen Tian and Li Ming did not go with the 3rd regiment. They were
later transferred to the 4th regiment which will be discussed in the next
post). A large quantities of weapons and explosives were given to them by
the Special Training School. They stopped at Ayir Hitam (阿依淡) to pick
up 25 more MCP cadets from Kluang (居鑾). They, then, continued the journey.
In order to avoid being attacked by the Japanese warplanes, the trucks traveled
slowly. At about 2 pm they arrived at Yong Ping (永平). Muffled explosions
and the staccato barking of machine-guns could be heard, not far from the
north. Segamat was about 60 kilometers northwest of Yong Ping. They were
stopped by the British troops from going any further. The British commanding
officer told them that Segamat had fallen to the Japanese. Eventually, John
Davis (戴維斯)[1A] the leader of this batch, was convinced by this British
commanding officer not to proceed to Segamat. Without an alternative the
3rd Independent Regiment unloaded all their gear and set up camps at a nearby
rubber plantation. John Davis went back to Singapore with the three trucks.
On 15th January 1942, one week before the 3rd Independent Regiment arrived
at Yong Ping there was a big battle at Muar River between the towns of Gemas
and Segamat. The Australian 11th Division laid an ambush at the bridge at
Muar River. They killed about 800 to 1,000 Japanese soldiers, many of them
wheeling bicycles. About one hundred Australian soldiers were also killed
in this battle.
On 21st January 1942, Labis (拉美士) was overrun by the Japanese who were
approaching to Yong Ping. Walking along the road to Segamat was out of the
question because the Japanese were on the same road.
Several days later, through the MCP branch in Muar, the commander of the
3rd Regiment managed to contact the MCP district leader Xiao Lin (小林
alias Wu Mengchao 吳夢超) who came to the regiment to meet the fighters.
Xiao Lin and members of the local MCP branch and the local residents supplied
the regiment with provisions. They established their first base near Mayokil
Hill
After they had established themselves they convened a meeting. It was agreed
that:
(1) a group of fighters, under the command of A Yuan (阿袁), Gong Gan (公
干) and Luo Lisheng (羅勵生), should be sent to Yong Ping area to rouse
the people to resist the Japanese,
(2) Xiao Yang (小楊) led a group of fighters to recover the weapons that
they had buried in a hill near Labis and to establish communications between
the towns of Muar, Yong Ping and Segamat,
(3) the local branches of the MCP members would organize local residents
to go to the places, where battles were fought between the Australians and
the Japanese, to pick up weapons abandoned by them.
Those comrades, who were sent out to the former battlefields to pick up
weapons, discovered that their job was an awful one. When they arrived there
they found decomposed bodies everywhere, covered with maggots. Weapons were
still attached to the decomposed bodies. The stink of rotten flesh was terrible
for anyone to bear. All they could do was to cover up their faces, except
their eyes, with cloths. They spent days in the several abandoned battlefields
searching for weapons. They collected what they could find and put them
into big baskets and carried them back to their camps. After spending several
days cleaning them they counted more than one hundred serviceable rifles
and a large quantity of ammunition.
Seven members of the 3rd batch of 60 MCP cadets who graduated from the Special
Training School on 20th January 1942 came from the MCP branch of the state
of Pahang. After the graduation they were supposed to return to Pahang to
form the 6th Independent Reigment of the Malayan People's Ant-Japanese Army.
However, by the time they graduated the Japanese had overrun the state of
Pahang. They tried to get back to Pahang, but they were stranded in the
town of Yong Ping in Johore. With no other way to get back to their home
state they joined the 3rd Independent Regiment in the state of Malacca and
the northern part of Johore. The leader of this group of seven was Xiao
Yang (小楊)
The MCP branch in Pahang had already established a base in the jungle waiting
for the seven to return. Realizing the seven were not unable to return to
Pahang, the leaders of the MCP in Pahang decided to form their armed force
without them. They called up the youths from the towns of Bentong (文冬),
Raub (勞勿), Kuala Lipis (立卑), Mentakab (文德甲). More than 200 young
men and women turned up at the assembly point in Mentakab. They were equipped
with the abandoned weapons that they picked up from the retreating British
troops.
[1A] John Davis
http://yn.chung.id.au/JohnDavis.ChenTian&Others.jpg
In later stage of the war John Davis became the leader of Force 136, representing
Admiral Louis Mountbatten , the supreme commander of the South East asia
Command. In 1955 John Davis guided Chen Ping 陳平, Chen Tian 陳田 and Rashid
Maideen out of the jungle to hold a conference with Tungku Abdul Rahman,
the Chief Minister of Malaya.
Posted to Hakka Forum at asiawind.com
By CHUNG Yoon-Ngan (鄭永元)
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