Today we will be stepping into the lush greenery of Labrador Park, in search of the famed yet notorious six-inch guns present in the Labrador Battery. Home to the secret tunnels, Labrador Park is actually a natural reserve which preserves and breathes life to the creatures, scuttling among the dry leaves or scaling the tree branches. It may be hard to think, how this seemingly peaceful natural reserve could once be a place to a fearsome battle, one which changed the course of Singapore history.
We started by walking along the History trail which provided many useful insights on the six-inch guns used to protect Singapore against the enemies' onslaughts. Otherwise known as the "big guns" of Singapore, they were publicised to be facing the wrong way when the Japanese fed a red herring and bombed a little at the north-eastern point. These was a trick which fooled the British, and therefore the guns were thought to face the sea and not be able to turn and assist the soldiers in firing at the Japanese soldiers.This, however, as we found out, was entirely not true (not not entirely true). Firstly, the six-inch guns were not fixed at abase and totally immovable. It could turn at an axis of 290 degrees (or 360 degrees for the other guns not in Buona Vista), allowing it to face Pasir Panjang and Bukit Timah, where the fiercest battles were fought. This was a major help for the Malay Regiment on Pasir Panjang Road.
However, it should be noticed that the overall effect, due to a number of other factors, still led to the defeat of the British. Contrary to popular belief, the defeat may actually be caused by the ammunition. As the British had foretold (incorrectly) that the Japanese would attack from the northeast, their ammunition (Armour -Piercing Shells) was not suited to the correct warfare and thus led to our defeat. The ammunition needed was actually the high-Explosive rounds. In fact, the guns did give a very great contribution to the soldiers on the battlefield- the sound of the shells which were fired flying over the soldiers' heads gave them morale, as the noise was as loud as express trains.
After checking out these useful information, we continued our quest for the six-inch guns. We trekked through wildlife and spotted some creatures, including a sun skink slithering its way back into the dead leaves, a kingfisher perching on a branch five metres above us, many termites and more mosquitoes. This brought us to the awesome sight of the six-inch gun, which showed signs of rust around its base. After some close inspection, I deduced that this was a) either a replica of the real thing or b) it had been coated by a layer of brass. The whole structure consisted of some statues of soldiers who were feeding 45 kg shells into the front of the guns. By the way, the "six-inch" in the refers to the diameter of the shell and the barrel of the gun. Therefore don't mistake the length of the guns to be six inch! (Even a sniper's longer than that!)
After we had seen the six-inch gun, we trudged away to the secret tunnels. Unfortunately, there seemed to be nobody in charge and numerous queries yielded no answers. In the end, we did not enter the secret tunnels and could not find the war memorial stated on the map at the entrance. But all in all, I believe that we still had a wonderful experience when we left the nature reserve, legs leaden and spotted with mosquito bites.
And that was all I could give you, guys! Watch out for more posts by our team. Stay tuned!
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