New Zealand military headquarters in Singapore
This 1975 aerial photgraph shows Dieppe Barracks, then the New Zealand military headquarters in Singapore.
The base of the Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment (1RNZIR) was relocated south from Terendak Camp in Malaysia to Singapore in December 1969. At first they were stationed at Nee Soon Garrison, but in June 1971 they were moved to Dieppe Barracks. New Zealand maintained its battalion in Singapore until 1989.
Before the 1RNZIR took over the site, Dieppe Barracks was the home of Number 40 Royal Marine Commando. The presence of British military bases in Singapore was one reason for Indonesian President Surkano’s hostility towards Malaysia, which, during part of the Confrontation period, incorporated Singapore.
Credit
Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: EP-Defence-Army-02
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image
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TwitterYes, I was part of the move from Terendak to Nee Soon. Returned to NZ after move to Dieppe. I also served in SVN.
I remember being out on the Parade Ground and a Parachute drop came down and the RSM yelling loudly 'steer away, steer away'
He did not want any unruly parachutists bespoiling his Parade Ground
A New Zealand infantry battalion was not stationed in Singapore from 1960 as the story suggests. It was based at Terendak Garrison near Malacca in Malaysia as part of the 28th Commonwealth Brigade, moving to Singapore at the end of 1969.
I remember the New Zealand Forces school in Singapore in the 1980s - locals used to joke about needing a passport to visit there!
Dieppe Barracks, Singapore
Dieppe's Main Gate Witnessed the passing of many deployments into Malaysia and beyond.
www.anzmilitarybratsofsingapore.com
http://anzmilitarybratsofsingapore.com/group/index.php?action=gallery;sa...
Some of the New Zealand Military War dead are buried here.
http://anzmilitarybratsofsingapore.com/group/index.php?page=28
Kranji itself is unusually small, only around 4,500 are buried there, many in mass graves. Of the graves only about 850 are named. Yet lining the memorial walls are the names of over 24,000 others who died. To put it another way, Karanji is larger than many of the Allied cemeteries in Normandy but here most of the fallen have no known graves.
The grounds are immaculately kept and on an island where space is at a premium Kranji is open, sprawling, well-boarded with trees. It is quiet, unusually so for so crowded a country. This lends an atmosphere of peacefulness that reinforces the nature of the place. The ground rises from the gate to the memorial itself which follows the top of the ridge and from there the straights are visible.
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