WI : The British recruited as many Malayan Chinese as possible before the Fall of Singapore?

Most of us know about the fall of Singapore in 1942 and how much it crippled the British war effort in Asia. I know that many theories do exist and try to explain the causes of this fall.

One thing is sure, the Japanese were running low on supplies, fuel and ammunition themselves. On February 5th, Yamashita was down to 18 tanks, his infantry could only be allowed 100 rounds per man per day, the fuel supplies were held up between Singora and Johore and the men would only be getting two bowls of rice each per day. The 25th army has lost 4,315 men and is down to 30,000, his intelligence are saying they face 40,000 fighting troops.

I recently read a article about the subsequent massacres of members of the Chinese community of Singapore by Japanese troops.

- https://apjjf.org/-Hayashi-Hirofumi/3187/article.html
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sook_Ching

This article gave me informations about the existence of Chinese volunteer forces, such as the Dalforce, the Singapore Overseas Chinese Anti-Japanese Volunteer Army. I honestly never heard about this irregular formation before or came across any monument that remembers them as a unit in Singapore.


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- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalforce

It was named after its chief instructor and commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel John Dalley of the Federated Malay States Police Force. He had suggested creating a guerrilla network of Malayans and Chinese with officers like himself from the Federated Malay States Police to act as guerrillas behind the enemy lines. It was in 1940...

It was not until about a year later, when the Japanese invasion was imminent, did it become apparent that the official recruitment of the local Chinese against the Japanese was essential.

Unfortunately, the unit suffered severe casualties due to lack of training, equipment and armament. Interestingly, training was also conducted at the SOE 101 Special Training School in Singapore, to prepare another unit of local Chinese for jungle warfare in Malaya in December 1941. But because it was no longer possible to deploy them to Malaya, many were incorporated into Dalforce.

Here is the PoD, Lt. Col. John D. Dalley is authorized to recruit Malayan Chinese volunteers to form a irregular force, similar to the Dalforce, in 1940. Those troops made of irregulars are trained in jungle warfare by members of the SOE. Regular units of volunteers are also trained to fight alongside British units.

In 1941, Percival takes the decision to arm even more Chinese volunteers, including Malayan Chinese refugees from the peninsula, with weapons taken from the evacuating troops or supplies. All those volunteers, knowing about the atrocities in China, will participate in the defense of the city to protect themselves and their families.

So WI?
 
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This requires the British to understand they might lose part of Maylasia. For the people making the decisions 'losing' was incomprehensible.

I don't know what the Japanese would do if a guerillia force started operating in their rear. There must be some sort of track record of this in China?
 

MatthewB

Banned
This requires the British to understand they might lose part of Maylasia. For the people making the decisions 'losing' was incomprehensible.

I don't know what the Japanese would do if a guerillia force started operating in their rear. There must be some sort of track record of this in China?
The Canadians had Chinese speaking forces behind enemy lines as part of Britain’s Force 136. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force_136

Maybe use them prewar to get the Malay Chinese onside.

https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/history/second-world-war/uncommon-courage#asia
 

trurle

Banned
Here is the PoD, Lt. Col. John D. Dalley is authorized to recruit Malayan Chinese volunteers to form a irregular force, similar to the Dalforce, in 1940. Those troops made of irregulars are trained in jungle warfare by members of the SOE. Regular units of volunteers are also trained to fight alongside British units.

In 1941, Percival takes the decision to arm more Chinese volunteers, including Malayan Chinese refugees from the Malayan peninsula, with weapons taken from the evacuated troops. Most of those refugees will participate in the defense of the city.

So WI?

I doubt such unit will be very loyal or effective. People fighting under foreign command, in war only peripherally related to their homeland naturally do have very weak motivation. The unit will fall apart or surrender in the first significant engagement.
 
Some time in say... 1947 a bunch of white administrators up dead in their beds?

I don't know much about the period, but the Malays and Chinese didn't like each other to the point that we now have Singapore. Is giving one side guns and training a good idea?
 
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I doubt such unit will be very loyal or effective. People fighting under foreign command, in war only peripherally related to their homeland naturally do have very weak motivation. The unit will fall apart or surrender in the first significant engagement.

The Chinese volunteers of Dalforce, where they fought, did so with bravery and tenacity. They were indeed fighting for their homeland, as many of them were brought up in Malaya, and were under no illusions of what would happen to them if they had lost, given the Japanese atrocities in China up until then.

I doubt that they would have made a difference against the Japanese in the short term, and their resistance activities might have resulted in even worse reprisals by the Japanese against the Chinese Malayans. The post-war situation may have been different. With stronger Chinese support of the British, the Malayan Emergency may be butterflied away and the British may have felt empowered to push through their proposed Union of Malaya. This state would not have had the racial politics of the Federation of Malaysia (the British proposed a constitution that treated all races equally and did not stipulate Malay supremacy) and as such, may have included Singapore.
 
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