7: Alexandra Barracks/ Alexandra Hospital

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 A little write- up on the massacre that took place at the hospital

A plaque commemorating the massacre. Despite knowing it was there, it took us time to locate the plaque. 

The front-view of the hospital currently. It is located at 378, Alexandra Road (beside Queenstown Shopping Centre).

 A group photo after having "discovered" the plaque. 

Another part of Alexandra Hospital, before reaching the main building 

Some referred to Alexandra Hospital as Alexandra Barracks Hospital. It is said that this area became Japanese major objective because it held the largest ammunition dump, presumably stored in Alexandra Barracks. 

While Japanese troops penetrated the lines manned by the 1st Malay Brigade at Singapore and reached the Alexandra Barracks Hospital, where 323 hospital staff and patients would soon be brutally massacred, Archibald Wavell rejected Arthur Percival's request to surrender Singapore.

(http://ww2db.com/battle_spec.php?battle_id=47)

The massacre in Alexandra Hospital is considered the aftermath of the Battle of Pasir Panjang. By the afternoon of 14 February, the Malay Brigade at Bukit Chandu fell. After the victory of Bukit Chandu, the Japanese moved in the Alexandra area. Alexandra Military Hospital or British Military Hospital, Singapore, was meant for British military personnel from British Malaya, Singapore and the Far East. Despite the fact that the Alexandra Military Hospital was marked by red crosses, Japanese troops charged into the hospital and killed a British officer who had gone out to meet them with a white flag. The Japanese troops then entered an operating theatre and killed the patient on the operating table as well as the staff attending to him.

Another group of soldiers then entered the wards and bayoneted the patients indiscriminately. Later, the Japanese were said to have gathered about 200 patients and staff outside the hospital, tied them up with a rope and crammed them into three small rooms for the night. The next day they were tied together in threes and executed. It is estimated that around 280 staff and patients were killed over two days.

Alexandra Barracks

We tried looking for Alexandra Barracks but we could not find markers to indicate that the actual location of the Barracks. Based on old maps, we gauged that the location of the Alexandra Barracks, should be from the North-West of Gilman Barracks across Alexandra Road. We were not sure as to why there is no markers to indicate its location however, we guessed, there was no significant event that took place there, hence, the lack of a marker. This is currently what is left at the location of the Barracks. 

We guessed that these are the houses that belong to the British Army officers. It has a very British- like colonial houses in the past. The numbers "1937" maybe the year the houses were built. 

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