Fortress Penang

[Peter H]

Colin Smith rather downplays Fortress Penang.

From Singapore Burning page 261:

In 1936,during Percival's first posting to Malaya,Penang had officially been declared a fortress,but in the years that followed the wish had never quite been fulfilled in fact.True,two batteries of 6-inch guns and searchlights now commanded the entrance to George Town's harbour,easily Malaya's best port.Yet these were its only fixed defences.There were virtually no anti-aircraft guns....

[cstunts]

Hello,

Indeed, calling it a "fortress" did not make it one, anymore than calling a B-17 a "Flying Fortress" made the bomber one...In Japanese Monograph No. 29, there is a map showing the location of "Balikpapan Fortress"...Are we then to believe that there was anything worthy of the term at Balikpapan?

[Fatboy Coxy]

Hello,

Indeed, calling it a "fortress" did not make it one, anymore than calling a B-17 a "Flying Fortress" made the bomber one...In Japanese Monograph No. 29, there is a map showing the location of "Balikpapan Fortress"...Are we then to believe that there was anything worthy of the term at Balikpapan?

Well its all relative really. The B-17 was like a Flying Fortress given its fire power compared to a Wellington.

I do think the term was applied to Penang more for public consumption rather than a military one, however the two 6 inch gun batteries would have been a deterrant to a lone warship attacking ships in the Georgetown roads, something that came a world war too late, re the SMS Emden.

Steve

[Zaf1]

A photo of a Mark 24 6-Inch BL Gun at Batu Maung Fort south of Penang Island from the book Retreat In The East by O.D. Gallagher. The 'jungle camouflage' was rather unique

It was destroyed by the British in 1941 and more photos and information here:
http://www.fortsiloso.com/batteries/penang/penang.htm

[Fatboy Coxy]

Thanks for the photo Zaf. That description is a bit misleading though, these guns weren't to be used for beach defence, but to command the waters between the island and the mainland.

[Zaf1]

This map shows the location of the coastal gun batteries and their arc of fire on Penang island

[The_Strategic_Digger]

Interesting map Zaf1. It would be nice if there was a larger version so the detail could be made out more clearly.

[Zaf1]

Hi The_Strategic_Digger

I have close up photos of it. It shows the type of guns, their range and gun's arc.

The letters CASL means Coastal Artillery Search Light
The letters DEL means Defensive Electric Light

Zaf

[Zaf1]

The other is the searchlight battery at Tanjung Tokong or Tokong Point

[cengitu]

On the map it show that British considered protection only for the ship entering the harbour on north and south entrance where some of the pillbox were located west of the island to repelled invaders which come from sea. No other batteries were installed on this western sector. If enemy managed to landed on this place, they can attack those batteries from the back which we can see how the guns at Singapore were useless to fire inland at Johor eventhough some of the gun could traversed 360 degres but many of the ammunitions were AP and could not give high damage to the enemy troops.

[Markus Becker]

Colin Smith rather downplays Fortress Penang.

From Singapore Burning page 261:

In 1936,during Percival's first posting to Malaya,Penang had officially been declared a fortress,but in the years that followed the wish had never quite been fulfilled in fact.True,two batteries of 6-inch guns and searchlights now commanded the entrance to George Town's harbour,easily Malaya's best port.Yet these were its only fixed defences.There were virtually no anti-aircraft guns....

Peter Thompson says the same in "The Battle for Singapore". A fortress in name only, even more so than 'Fortress Singapore'.

[Zaf1]

Some of the bunkers visited on a recent trip at Batu Maung

Regards

Zaf

[The_Strategic_Digger]

Great work as always. Do you have any photos of Butterworth in WWII era?

[Zaf1]

Thanks. I have a photo from the Japanese board that shows a Japanese photo of a Malayan airfield under attack. When we did research our historian Shaharom Ahmad found that from google map it is the Butterworth airfield. This is the combined photos.

Regards

Zaf

[The_Strategic_Digger]

Excellent!