80th anniversary (2): The bombing of George Town

Previously, I had related how, in the morning of 08 December 1941, George Town awoke to the first sounds of Japanese enemy aircraft flying over the town. Here is a continuing 80th anniversary story. Three days later on 11 December 1941, terror rained down on the inhabitants of George Town. Terror in the shape of bullets and bombs. It was truly a rain of terror. Not yet a reign of terror, no, it had yet to begin, but a rain of terror. 

Remember that the island's air raid warning had sounded at seven o'clock on 08 December 1941 when eight planes flew over the town in a southerly direction. That was all that the Japanese did, there were no bombings or strafing then and thus, no casualties. On the following day, a bigger convoy of planes flew over the town and again they did nothing else to the town. 

These two seemingly innocuous air movements by the Japanese were actually part of their deadly plan to lure the inhabitants of George Town into a false state of comfort. Was that all that the Japanese was going to do: fly up and down the island to win the war? Of course not!

Shortly past nine o'clock on 11 December 1941 morning, their intent became very clear. Despite the air raid sirens sounding all over the town, the curious and now bolder people of George Town massed outside in the streets to watch the approaching enemy aircraft. Because nothing much had happened the first two occasions, they believed that nothing would happen again this time.

How wrong they were! Without warning, the Japanese aircraft dropped their bombs and trained their machineguns on the people who congregated in the Chinese quarter of the Beach Street area. (Note: The Chinese quarter was separated from the European quarter by the China Street-China Street Ghaut divide.) Bombs exploded all around causing heavy casualties. Hundreds, if not thousands, were either killed, maimed or received serious injuries. 

In Let the Aisles Proclaim, I had written something about that fateful morning which I'm reproducing here with some fresh edits for clarification:

In the days before 11th December, the town and its people had been left largely alone amidst the alerts, air raid sirens, strafing of air fields and bombing of ships in the harbour. But on this day, the town folks found themselves the targets. As the inhabitants collected in the streets and market place to watch the raid in the skies above, the Japanese aeroplanes dive-bombed the Chinese quarter and trained their machineguns at the people. A few thousand inhabitants of the town were estimated killed on the first day of the attack. A bomb fell on the compound of the St. George's Church and the vibration was so great that all doors and windows were damaged. At the nearby Hutchings School, that is, the former premises of Penang Free School in Farquhar Street, many Free School boys sitting for their Senior Cambridge examinations were killed in the explosion. Several more escaped with various degrees of injuries. As a result of the looting that followed, the Hutchings School suffered a very severe loss in furniture, equipment and records.  New text books and stationery ordered for 1942 and received in November 1941 were all looted.   

The destruction of the central fire station was perhaps the greatest disaster that day. Motor-cars in the streets were smashed, and drivers who had not taken shelter were killed beside their vehicles. Schoolboy Tan Boon Lin (later to become the first Malaysian headmaster of his alma mater, Penang Free School) who was on duty as a Scout volunteer at the fire station in Beach Street recalled, “I saw the planes approach from across the Channel and there were huge explosions all around us. The ground shook and buildings were catching fire. There I was, momentarily trapped in the tower and afraid to descend to the ground. When I eventually did, the carnage was everywhere: buildings were burning and there were bodies strewn all over. For a 14-year-old, this was a terrifying and unforgettable experience.”

My other book, Ten Thousand Prosperities, recounted a memory of the bombing by an old-time staff of Ban Hin Lee Bank. Ong Chin Seng had joined the bank in 1935 and was a mere 21-year-old at the start of the Japanese Occupation. In an interview he gave to the bank's newsletter team in 1980 on the occasion of his retirement, he recalled:

The (new Ban Hin Lee Bank) building was very strong due to the excellent piling work done by the contractors, a French firm. When the Japanese Air Force bombed Penang in December 1941, a bomb fell at the back of the bank. The blast was terrific, but the building stood as firm as a rock. All of us sheltered in the strongroom on the ground floor, and it was a terrible experience! When we came out in the open after the bombers flew away, we could see the devastation around Beach Street, and the many dead bodies of the people who were unfortunate to be caught in the air raid. The whole town was evacuated, and all the townsfolk ran to the countryside like Balik Pulau and Ayer Itam.

In the days that followed this infamous bombing horror, the Japanese planes returned on numerous other occasions. Their raids, however, did not inflict the same casualties as before because the people of George Town had begun their evacuation to the hills. I do remember my grandmother saying that this exodus to the countryside was known in the Hokkien-speaking community as chau huan, fleeing from war. My Standard Four class teacher also told me recently that she was seven years old when her family packed their bags from their home in the town and retreated to an attap house in Ayer Itam which her father had bought several months earlier in anticipation of this invasion.

The first detail of the bombing raid finally emerged two days later on 13 Dec 1941 when the Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser carried a report. Despite the raid being officially described as heavy with considerable damage to civilian property, telephonic communication was not difficult to obtain by a Free Press reporter.

Penang residents said that the raid was heavy, that there were many casualties but that the population - both European and Asiatic - of Penang was bearing up well. The medical, fire fighting and A.R.P. services were described as behaving "splendidly." 

The exact number of casualties is as yet unknown. Bombs dropped were "high explosives containing an incendiary mixture" and damage was done by fires. Members of the M.A.S. (Medical Auxiliary Services), the A.R.P. (Air Raid Precautions) and fire services in Penang have worked continuously in shifts.

As far as is known, there are no Europeans among the casualties. Most of the bombs fell on congested areas and also on a business quarter. One store has been badly damaged, but as was announced in yesterday's communique, no military objective was hit.

Further information about yesterday's heavy air raid on Penang, received in Singapore, shows that the attack was concentrated on one area, according to an official statement.

About half a dozen planes are reported to have flown up and down this area several times, machine-gunning as well as bombing. Inevitably, the civilian casualties were heavy, but, so far as is known at the moment, it is believed that the fatalities do not exceed a hundred.

Eye-witnesses describe the behaviour of all members of the Passive Defence Services as magnificent.

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