8DIV AIF battle cas. % in Malaya/ SIngapore

[antwony]

Seem to remember hearing a speech of the Right Honourable Paul Keating were he claimed that Australians made up 18% of the troops in Malaya and Singapore but made up 80% of the battle casualties. I definitely remember the 18/80 part as I (I was pretty little) was struck that that was quite "clever".

Wasn't so young to be unaware that politicians have been known to tell porkies, on occasions. But, from my hazy memory, Keating has some familial involvement and, even with him being a politician, it seemed unlikely he'd pulled that particular percentage out of his posterior.

And yes, I'm aware of who and what Paul Keating was and is, what his party represents and some Australians having some tendencies towards, I'll use the term, Gibsonism in their attitudes towards the UK as a whole, with a particular torch carried for one of the four home nations.

On Wikipedia's entry on 8DIV they'd claimed 8DIV comprised 73% of the deaths in battle while being only 13% of the Allied forces, which they attributed to: Morgan "A Burning Legacy: The Broken 8th Division".

Is similiar to what Paul said.

Mr. Morgan's book isn't available to me at present, but was his claim reasonable?

P.S. Once again, don't remember the speech that well, and it's not of great importance. But have the memory that Keating's uncle was a 8DIV postman, who died on the Burma Rail. Am 49% sure that's the case as I can remember being surprised to hear the army had postmen, which I guess must of been a period term for runner, or something (Corps of Sigs???), and remembering something that specific tends to make me think I'm not completely making things up. Did a 2 minute search on google for Paul Keating's uncle and checked the AWM database (turns out there's been quite a few Keating's in the army) and no luck.

P.P.S. edited to add, apologies for capitalizing the I in Singapore in the thread title. Seems I can't edit the title

[aghart]

These figures I suspect deal with Singapore only. On Singapore Island the British 18th Division saw very litte action as it was located where the Japanese did not attack. The 8th Australian Division bore the brunt of the attack and so obviously suffered higher casulaties.

[Pips]

Losses for the AIF 8th Division, from it's deployment in Malaya to the fall of Singapore were 1,789 killed and 1,306 wounded; another 15,395 were captured. Those figures are from Volume IV, The Japanese Thrust. Part of the Australian Official War History.

How do those figures compare to overall losses from ALL units in Malaya and Singapore?

By the by, Morgan's book isn't a 'book' as such. It's a 14 page article in Sabretache Volume 54 Issue 3 (Sep 2013). Sabretache is the publishing vehicle for the Military Historical Society of Australia.
http://www.mhsa.org.au/index.html