Arthur Varley

Arthur Varley
Arthur Varley, then a lieutenant colonel and commanding officer of 2/18th Battalion, waiting to embark for Malaya, 5 February 1941
Born(1893-10-13)13 October 1893
Rookwood, Australia
Died13 September 1944(1944-09-13) (aged 50)
Near Hainan, South China Sea
AllegianceAustralia
Service / branchAustralian Army
Years of service1915–1920
1939–1944
RankBrigadier
Service numberNX35005
CommandsA Force (1942–44)
22nd Infantry Brigade (1942)
2/18th Battalion (1940–42)
35th Battalion (1939–40)
Battles / wars
AwardsMilitary Cross & bar
Mentioned in Despatches (2)

Brigadier Arthur Leslie Varley, MC & Bar (13 October 1893 – 13 September 1944) was an Australian soldier who served in the First and the Second World Wars. He was commander of the 22nd Infantry Brigade during the final stages of the Battle of Singapore in the Second World War. Having surrendered to the Japanese, he was responsible for over 9,000 prisoners of war engaged in the construction of the Burma-Thailand Railway. He was killed in September 1944 when the transport ship taking him and several hundred fellow prisoners to Japan was sunk by an American submarine.