Saturday, 16 November 2013
Machine gun pill boxes at Labrador Park
On the waterfront at Labrador Park there are a number of machine gun pill boxes of which the one shown below is most prominent. They served as part of the costal defense strategy and similar pill boxes remain on Sentosa Island as well. A lot of these defenses were manned by the Malayan Volunteers but saw little direct action as the brunt of the invasion came from the North when the Japanese forces invaded Singapore from mainland Malaya.
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For those interested the pillboxes at the western ,seaward side of Sentosa were manned by the Manchester Regt. until 27 February 1942 when the remnants of the Selangor Btn , Federated Malay States Volunteer Forces took over until the Surrender.
The two or three pillboxes along Sentosa beach walk, to the east of the Rasa Sentosa are ( Vickers) Machine Gun Posts 8 , 9 and 10 of the Selangor Btn. During the last week prior to the Surrender the Island ( then named Blakan Mati) came under heavy bombing by the Japanese and several deaths occurred amongst the Volunteers. The machine guns frequently fired on suspected small craft in the waters just off Sentosa but there is no proof the Japanese ever tried to attack from the sea.Two Selangor Btn men were injured by 'friendly fire' by another MG post ( #7) situated closer to the Rasa Sentosa and One ( L/Cpl Dickson) died just after the Surrender from wounds after being struck by a MG bullet in his right arm at the elbow whilst walking on the beach at night on 14 February 1942.
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