Ian Mac Alister Stewart - Second World War

Second World War

At the outbreak of the Second World War Stewart was very happily still in command of the 2nd Battalion of the Argylls. Stewart was one of the few British officers to realise the need for training in jungle warfare that would be necessary in order to defeat the Japanese in a war in Malaya. Due to this obsession with jungle training Stewart earned himself a reputation as a crank amongst the more traditional minded officers of Malaya Command. In early 1941 after his battalion had been transferred from India to Malaya, Stewart began rigorously training his men and developing new tactics to fight in all of the extreme and hostile natural terrain of Malaya. When the 2nd Argylls were thrown into the battle in early December 1941 they were to prove one of the few effective units the Japanese would face in their rapid advance down the peninsula, inflicting heavy casualties in every engagement. Sadly their effectiveness meant that they were continuously used as the buffer and suffered massive casualties as a result.

Stewart was temporarily given command of the Indian 12th Infantry Brigade after Brigadier Paris took over the Indian 11th Infantry Division in late December 1941. He was in command of this brigade during the disastrous Battle of Slim River which was where the Argylls suffered their worst casualties. When the Battle of Malaya finally ended and the surviving Allied soldiers retreated across the causeway onto Singapore Island, Stewart and his batman, Drummer Hardy, were the last to cross.