ANDERSON Charles Groves Wright
RANK Lieutenant Colonel
UNIT 2/19th Battalion, 22nd Brigade, 8th Division
DATE 18-22 January 1942
PLACE Muar River, Malaya (now Malaysia)
C.G.W. ANDERSON was born at Cape Town, South Africa, on 12 February 1897. On 13 October 1916 he was commissioned as a lieutenant in the King's African Rifles and fought with its 3rd Battalion in East Africa against the German-led Askari. In addition to being awarded the Military Cross he gained valuable jungle warfare experience.
Anderson purchased a grazing property near Crowther, New South Wales, in 1934 and moved with his wife to Australia from Africa that year; he had married Edith M. Tout on 21 February 1931. On 3 March 1939 he joined the CMF and was appointed a captain in the 56th Battalion (Riverina Regiment). He was promoted to major on 26 October and on 1 July 1940 was seconded to the AIF as second-in-command of the 2/19th Battalion when the unit was formed at Wallgrove, New South Wales, in late July. After unit training at Wallgrove, Ingleburn and Bathurst, the 2/19th embarked for Malaya in February 1941. On 1 August 1941 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and appointed to command the 2/19th.
Anderson was awarded his Victoria Cross during operations against the Japanese in Malaya in the period 18-22 January 1942. In mid-January in the Muar area the left flank of Westforce (four brigades) began to crumble when the Japanese Guards Division, which had joined the 5th Division in western Malaya, attacked the inexperienced 45th Indian Brigade. The Guards crossed the Muar River and pressed on towards Bakri, situated at a junction on the road to Yong Peng. It encountered the 2/29th Battalion, which had reinforced the 45th Indian Brigade. Anderson's 2/19th, sent from Eastforce, arrived at Bakri on the morning of 18 January to reinforce the brigade. It soon became engaged with the Japanese who had come in at the rear of the 2/29th. At about 10 a.m. on 19 January, the headquarters of the 45th Indian Brigade was bombed, incapacitating Brigadier H.C. Duncan, the brigade commander, who with his brigade major were the only survivors of the headquarters staff.
Anderson then took command of the brigade which had one Indian battalion isolated and two other Indian battalions in disorder at Bakri. They had suffered heavy casualties. He waited until the afternoon before withdrawing the 2/29th into the Bakri perimeter, by which time 200 men of the isolated battalion had reached Australian lines. During this period, both the 2/19th and 2/29th were heavily engaged with the Japanese units which moved behind Bakri and held the road to Yong Peng.
On the morning of 20 January a fighting withdrawal to Parit Sulong, a vital bridge on the road to Yong Peng, began. The leading company broke through a Japanese force, but the main force were still hemmed in and vulnerable to air attack. Another company went into the attack singing 'Waltzing Matilda' with Anderson himself leading the final attack. He personally put two machine-gun posts out of action with grenades and shot two Japanese with his pistol.
Further on they encountered another roadblock and the Japanese, following close behind the Australian Indian column, pressed the rearguard until a counter-attack was launched in which Brigadier Duncan was killed. Meanwhile Anderson, with the advance guard, organized a three-company attack which put the enemy to flight. That night Anderson learnt that the Japanese were in Parit Sulong and his force was isolated. On 21 January Anderson's force encountered the Japanese strongly established around Parit Sulong. They attacked, but had gained only a few hundred metres by nightfall. Anderson's force now had many wounded and its artillery and mortar ammunition was almost exhausted. A battalion of the Loyals was ordered to launch a relieving attack but this was delayed and eventually abandoned on 22 January. Early that morning Japanese tanks broke into the perimeter of Anderson's force from its rear, but were stopped by gunfire. The isolated force was bombed from the air and shelled by artillery, as it had been throughout its withdrawal. At 9 a.m. Anderson ordered that his vehicles and guns be destroyed and the men withdraw eastward in small parties. Anderson's force had done all that could reasonably have been expected, but their losses were heavy. The 45th Indian Brigade had been decimated, and the two Australian battalions had suffered heavily. Of the 2/19th only 271 men reached Yong Peng, of the 2/29th only 130.
On 15 February 1942 Anderson was taken into captivity when British forces in Malaya surrendered. He was released in August 1945 and repatriated to Australia where his AI F appointment was terminated on 21 December 1945. He was invested with the Victoria Cross by the Governor- General, the Duke of Gloucester, at Sydney on 8 January 1947.
He had returned to his property after the war, and in the general election of 1949 Anderson was elected to the House of Representatives as Country Party member for Hume, New South Wales. He was defeated in 1951, regained the seat in the 1955 elections, retained it in 1958, but was again defeated in December 1961. From 10 April 1957 until his defeat he served as a member of the joint committee on the Australian Capital Territory. Anderson lived in Red Hill, Australian Capital Territory. He died on 11 November, 1988 and was survived his two daughters and twin sons. A portrait by J.B. Godson hangs in the Australian War Memorial's Hall of Valour.
1st/19th BATTALION THE ROYAL NEW SOUTH WALES REGIMENT ASSOCIATION INC. P.O. Box 224 INGLE BURN NSW 1890 Tele: 0414 907 427
