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5771376
Private
Robert Frederick Carter
1913/09/07 - Born Downham, Norfolk
Son of Frederick and Mary Jane Carter
Occupation Waiter
Married Violet Gladys Carter
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Lynn Advertiser
17th November 1933
Barton Brendish
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Next of Kin Wife, Mrs V G Carter, 62 Naseby Road, Dagenham, Essex
Royal Norfolk Regiment
4th Battalion
Service
The 4th Battalion was under the command of Lt-Col. J.H.Jewson, M.C., T.D., who had his H.Q. at the Drill Hall, Chapel Field, Norwich. Second in command was Maj. A.E.Knights, M.C., M.M.
H.Q. Company was at Norwich, “A” and “D” Companies were at Yarmouth, “B” Company was at Attleborough and “C” Company at Harleston. The strength of the 4th was 29 officers, 39 warrant officers and sergeants and 607 other ranks, making a total of 675 men.
In September 1939, four sergeants and 91 other ranks were transferred to the 6th Battalion, leaving the 4th with 580 men in total. The 4th, 5th Battalions were brigaded together and with the Suffolk Regiment formed the 54 Infantry Brigade under Brig. E.H.W.Backhouse as part of the 18th Division.
In October, at the start of WW2, the Battalion was brought together at Gorleston, the H.Q had taken over the Holiday Camp situated at Bridge Road with “A” and “B” companies. “D” Company were at York Road Drill Hall, and “C” Company was at Great Yarmouth Race Course. Training began in earnest when N.C.O´s and other ranks were drafted from the 2nd Battalion.
During May with Britain at a low point after Dunkirk, and the threat of a German invasion, the 4th Battalion were given coastal duties. Beaches were mined and road blocks were manned by them. The 54 Infantry Brigade had the job of defending the beach from Cromer to Lowestoft, with the 4th Battalion covering Gorleston and Yarmouth. In June 1940 the Battalion was taken to 29 officers and 950 other ranks by drafts from the I.T.C., Royal Norfolk Regiment, at Billericay and the I.T.C., Wiltshire Regiment. This month also saw the first air raids with several bombs being dropped in the battalion’s area. During August the King visited Battalion H.Q. and inspected the Officers and men at Gorleston Holiday Camp.
On September 18th the battalion was moved to Langley Park Loddon and within days were put into Action Stations as an invasion was thought to be under way. After twelve hours of being on alert the men were stood down and training continued.
The Home Defence Units were getting up to strength by the end of 1940 and had been trained sufficiently to take over the coastal defenses of Britain. This released 54 Infantry Brigade to have more specialist training at Cambridge.
The 18th Division received its orders to finish its training in Egypt just before Christmas 1940, but before this Stobs Camp near Hawick, Scotland was to be its last training ground on British soil. Accompanied by the 4th Suffolks they arrived on January 8th 1941, in very cold conditions. The men wished they were back in the flat lands of Norfolk as the marches became longer but they were getting fitter.
By April the plan for Egypt was shelved and the 18th Division was moved to Blackburn under the command of Maj-Gen M.B.Beckwith-Smith. Here the training continued but with more stress on exercises, this ended with a two day endurance test in June. The Division came through this with flying colours and were now seen to be near ready. Before being posted abroad final route marches were to be carried out in Ross-on-Wye. So back to Scotland on August 13th went the Division. The men knew things were hotting up as their exercises now included river crossing and day and night landings from craft.
On September 9th, Lt-Col Jewson was promoted and Lt-Col. Knights was given the command of the battalion. With the Kings visit the men were seen to be now ready for action. Tropical kit was issued and orders were to proceed to Liverpool.
‘Private 5776807’ by Frederick Noel Taylor
HQ 18th Division - Bren Gunner (4th Royal Norfolks)
We left Blighty on the 28th October 1941 sailing from Liverpool on the Reno Del Pacifico (18,000 tons formerly Queen of the Pacific), although embarking with tropical gear, our was destination was unknown most thought it would be the desert of the Middle East. I was with HQ 18th Division as their bren gunner, my mates from the 4th Battalion Royal Norfolks were on the Andes, both ships sailing in the C.T.5 Convoy.
The 18th Division consisted of mainly East Anglian Territorials from Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambrigdeshire but there were also the 5th Beds & Herts, 1/5 Sherwood Foresters, 9th Royal Northumberland Fusiliers and the 5th Loyals from Lancashire.
The journey was rough and seasickness on a crowded boat has its disadvantages but it can also help bind men together and spirits were high, we were off to show the enemy what we were made of, but under the bravado I was uncertain of what lay ahead. Halfway across the Atlantic our small British escort changed to a large American force including an aircraft carrier the Lexington, two heavy and two light cruisers and destroyers. Arrived Halifax, Nova Scotia , Canada, on the 8th November, we where only ashore a few minutes before being transferred to the U.S.S. Wakefield (27,500 tons) with 5.000 others, including my mates from the 4th Battalion. The Wakefield was formerly a luxury liner called Manhattan, our quarters had tiered beds, four to a tier, but we were not overcrowded.
USS Wakefield
We left Halifax on the 10th November in the Wakefield with U.S.S Westpoint (formerly Miss America) and U.S.S. Mount Vernon (26,000 tons, formerly Washingto. Sailing as Convoy William Sail 12X we were accompanied by an American escort including an aircraft carrier, Ranger, cruisers and destroyers. America was not in the war at this time so there was no shortages on board, the food was very good and being a luxury liner it was very comfortable and we found ourselves putting on too much weight. We passed through the Mona Passage between Puerto Rico and St Domingo, arriving at Trinidad on 17th November in glorious sunshine so our tropical kit came out, but unfortunately no shore-leave, we left after two days of taking on supplies. On 24th we crossed the equator, there was a crossing the line ceremony.
Crossing the Line Ceremony Certificate
At this time we were not told our destination but we were soon to realise it was not the Middle East as we believed.
December 8th, Japan declared war, by Bombing Pearl Harbour and attacking Hong Kong and Malaya, the day after we docked at Capetown, South Africa.
We did not get shore leave on the day we arrived but were granted the following three days, giving us plenty of time to see the sights. There was no blackout in Capetown, everything was illuminated. We lodged with Mrs Burton who made Jack and I very comfortable and promised to write to Phil and Ivy which pleased us both. Unfortunately I got a sceptic foot and only went out twice, when I did get out the shops were worth a visit, they were well stocked, with a variety of goods we hadn't seen for a long time in Blighty. The warmth of the South Africans towards us was very comforting, they seemed to like having us around and I was sad when the time came to re-embark on the Wakefield.
On 13th we left Capetown, we now had a British escort (H.M.S. Dorcester). 5th & 6th Norfolks on U.S.S. Mount Vernon left convoy for Mombassa latter joining a convoy to Singapore. We crossed the equator for the second time, arriving at Bombay, India on 27th December. We travelled up country by train to Ahmednagar, near Poona where we trained for the next twelve days, route marching in the sun to get used to the heat and wondering what all this was for. The poverty in India was terrible, children foraged for food in gutters because of starvation, it made me feel guilty of the food we had consumed onboard the Wakefield. The Japanese at this time had attacked Malaya and were moving south towards Singapore.
We had just seen in 1942 only to embark on 17th January back onto the Wakefield. The ship sailed the next day with a British escort, the H.M.S. Exeter and H.M.S. Glasgow with British and Australian destroyers. It was at this time we heard that the Prince of Wales and the Repulse had both been sunk by the Japanese and we were on our way to the Far East. We passed Colombo, (Ceylon), crossing the equator for the third time, we passed through the Sundra Straits between Java and Samatra and then the Banka Straits. The convoy was then bombed by Jap Planes, there was no damage but we were now alerted as to their intentions, so we picked up steam, the Wakefield was the first of our convoy to reach the safety of Keppel Harbour, Singapore on the 29th January 1942. Ships were ablaze in the harbour, clouds of smoke drifted across the sky and the smell of fumes was overpowering, this was not the best of greetings. We did not know it at this time but the Japs had taken most of Malaya in the last three weeks and were only thirty miles away
After disembarking on the 29th January, the 4th Royal Norfolks marched on to the Ketong area of Singapore. The bombing went on most of the night and the next day, a bomb hit the Wakefield killing some of the men in the sick bay and a few Americans. The next day was spent moving equipment from the docks to the camp, getting organised and meeting some of the 5th and 6th Norfolks who had left the convoy earlier on the Mount Vernon, they had already been in the action for a fortnight and had been very badly cut up by the Japs.
The 18th Division was moved to hold the north-eastern part of the island near the Changi Peninsula.
On the 5th February the Empress of Asia bringing military supplies, including ammunition for the 18th Division, was hit by bombs and went aground on the Sultan Shoal, this did not help the now desperate situation the battalion was in. The following days saw heavy bombing and bombardment from the Japanese. On Sunday the 8th February, using makeshift rafts, the Japanese 18th Division and 5th Division began the movement across the Straits separating Malaya and North-Western end of Singapore. The Australian troops who faced them didn't get the artillery support they needed, and shielded by the dense smoke, the Japanese soon got a foothold, the fighting was soon hand to hand.
Detail from The Royal Norfolk Regiment by P.K. Kemp
Singapore
The lack of air support caused the defenders of Singapore to under a constant aerial attack. At the start of operations the 4th Battalion was held as reserve to assist the defence of the north coast.
Battalion H.Q. with Maj. R.F.Humphrey were stationed with “A” company and Capt. M.Gowing in the Teck Hock area. “B” Company with Maj. W.L.Faux was about two miles away, “C” company with Capt. T.C.Eaton in the Serangoon Jetty area and “D” company with Capt. S.F.Philips was in the Serangoon Church area. No contact was made with the enemy until the night of 7th-8th when the Japanese attacked the island of Ubin, off the Straits, to the right of the brigades sector. The enemy consisted of about 1,000 men and the small platoon guarding the beach had to make a quick withdrawal, four men failed to return.
The enemy were making ground quickly by infiltrated the allied lines and they were by the 9th February about two miles behind the defences. They then began to spread out putting the Peice and MacRitchie Reservoirs and the Seletar Aerodrome at risk.
On the 10th February “Tomforce” was formed, the battalion along with the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers formed this force under Lt-Col.L.C.Thomas. Their orders were to support 12 Indian Brigade and stop the enemy advance on Bukit Timah. The force travelled in buses to the north side of Bukit Timah then advanced towards the village, the 1/5 Sherwood Foresters advanced from the south, but that night the village was taken by the Japanese.
The next day the battalion advance through thick woods on a two company front. “A” were followed by “D” on the left and “B” followed by “C” on the right. The enemy were waiting and marked their position with flares, this was followed by low level bombing and machine-gunning. “B” and “C” companies were hit and suffered badly. It was considered an impossible task to advance further as the Japanese were heading north of “Tomforce” towards the reservoir near Thompson Village. The battalion withdrew to the Singapore Racecourse to try to stem the Japanese advance, joining with 4th Suffolks on the right to form a perimeter defence of the MacRitchie Reservoir.
All looked to be in place until an order for the 4th Suffolks to advance towards the Swiss Rifle Club Range, letting the Japanese infiltrate with cover fire from high ground they all ready held. This caused the right flank of the battalion to be exposed. The enemy quickly took the advantage and completely surrounded the battalion leaving only a small area free to the east.
At 9am on the 12th the Japanese attacked the forward line at “A” company in strength on the Bukit Timah road, using tanks they forced the company back. A counter attack was planned but orders to withdraw to Adam Road were received. They withdrew though the east gap but the carriers had to go down the Bukit Timah road and came across enemy tanks but against all the odds they managed to fight their way through without loss.
Once again under the command of the 54 Infantry Brigade, “Tomforce” was dissolved. Defences of the position in Adam Road were quickly put into place these included a barbed wire fence and that night some sleep was gained. The next day started with a heavy shell and mortar attack, allied artillery returned fire but there were many casualties during the day. That evening the battalion were relieved by 1/5 Sherwood Foresters, withdrawing to the east side of the road, however with the shelling very little rest was gained. The same pattern of shelling and bombing carried on into the 14th February causing heavy casualties, this later was followed by a prolonged attack to the north of the positions and with a second attack the Sherwood Foresters were forced back. “B” and “C” companies then counter attacked and regained their positions through heavy losses.
The situation on the island was now very critical with many troops over run and the enemy threatening to take control of the water supply. The end came very quickly, at noon on the 15th a car travelled down the Bukit Timah road with a white flag above a Union Jack, Singapore had capitulated.
Singapore Surrender by Leo Rawlings
Singapore surrendered to the Japanese on the 15th February 1942
1942/04/22 - WO 417/42, Casualty List No. 804. Reported ‘Missing’.
1945/02/05 - WO417/88.1, Casualty List No. 1673. Previously reported Missing on Casualty List No. 804, 15/02/1942. Now reported a ‘Prisoner of War in Japanese Hands’.
1945/09/10 - WO417/97_1, Casualty List No. 1854. Previously shown on Casualty List No. 1673 as reported Prisoner of War. Previous Theatre of War, Malaya. Now reported ‘Robert had Died’.
Japanese PoW
1942/02/15 - Captured Singapore
Marched to Changi
PoW No. M-900
Japanese Index Card - Side One
Japanese Index Card - Side Two
1942/10/21 - Transported overland to Thailand with Sime Road Party, train 4
Work Group 2
New PoW No. II-2008
1943/05/01 - Reported Sick
New PoW No. II-4200
Died Thailand
Died
Age 29
6th June 1943
Cause of death Cerebral Malaria
After the war Robert was reburied at Kanchanaburi
Loved Ones
Son of Frederick and Mary Jane Carter
Husband of Violet Gladys Carter, of Harpley, Norfolk
Memorial
2. L. 69.
Kanchanaburi War Cemetery
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Pacific Star
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War Medal
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1939-1945 Star
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Far East Medals
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN,
THE MEMORY OF HIM CLINGS FOR EVER.
LOVING WIFE
Information
Sue Browne - Granddaughter (Supplied Grave Plaque photo)
Convoy William Sail 12X
Fall of Malaya and Singapore
Thailand Burma Railway
Royal Norfolk Regiment 4th Bn
Royal Norfolks in the Far East
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
KEW Files:- WO 392/23, WO 345/9, WO 361/2167, WO 361/1954, WO 361/1623, WO 361/2172, WO 361/1979, WO 361/435, WO 361/2053, WO 361/2176, WO 361/1297, WO 361/1526, WO 361/435,
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