Fall of Singapore

Battle of Singapore
Part of World War II, Pacific War
Lt Gen Arthur Percival, led by a Japanese officer, marches under a flag of truce to negotiate the capitulation of Allied forces in Singapore, on February 15, 1942. It was the largest surrender of British-led forces in history.
Date January 31 – February 15 1942 Location Singapore, Straits Settlements Result Decisive Japanese victory, Japanese Occupation of Singapore
Belligerents
Malaya Command: File:Imperial-India-Blue-Ensign.svg Indian III Corps Australian 8th Div. British 18th Div. Malay Regiment File:Straits settlements.PNG S.S.V.F.	Twenty-Fifth Army Imperial Guards 5th Division 18th Division
Commanders and leaders
Arthur Percival (POW) Lewis Heath (POW) Gordon Bennett M. Beckwith-Smith (POW) B. W. Key	Tomoyuki Yamashita Takuma Nishimura Renya Mutaguchi Takuro Matsui
Strength
85,000	36,000
Casualties and losses
5,000 dead 80,000 captured	1,715 dead 3,500 wounded

The Battle of Singapore was fought in the South-East Asian theatre of World War II when Imperial Japan invaded the Allied stronghold of Singapore. The fighting in Singapore lasted from February 7, 1942 to February 15, 1942 and resulted in the fall of Singapore to the Japanese and the largest surrender of British-led military personnel in history. About 80,000 Indian, Australian and British troops became prisoners of war, joining 50,000 taken in the Japanese invasion of Malaya.

Japan sought to invade Malaya because, like other nations in South-East Asia, it had valuable natural resources that could be employed in the Second Sino-Japanese War with the Republic of China. Singapore, which lay to the south, was connected to Malaya by the Johor-Singapore Causeway. The Japanese saw it as a strategic port which could be used as a launchpad against other Allied interests in the area, and to consolidate the invaded territory, as well as seeking to eliminate the sources of charitable aid and philanthropy from Singapore that were supporting the Chinese resistance. Aid from the population of Singapore in its several forms became part of Imperial Japan's motivation to attack Singapore through Malaya.

Singapore's prior involvement against the Japanese

The Chinese in Malaya and Singapore had also through financial and economic means aided the defence of Republic of China against the Japanese, although the effort suffered from factionalism as the aid was split between the opposing sides of the ongoing Chinese Civil War. The Xi'an Incident had supposedly united both sides (the ruling Kuomintang party and the Communist Party of China) against the Japanese. However, fighting between them was still common.

The resistance aid efforts used charity drives and philanthropy in order to procure funds and food for both humanitarian causes to relieve the Chinese civilian population as well as patriotic causes where the funds directly supported the military defence of China, either through the Kuomintang or the Communist Party of China. Such aid had contributed to the stalling of the Japanese advance in China. Tan Kah Kee was a prominent philanthropist within the Singaporean Chinese community and was a major financial contributor with many relief efforts organized in his name. Aid to China from the population of Singapore infuriated the Japanese Empire.

Invasion of Malaya

Main article: Battle of Malaya

The Japanese Twenty-Fifth Army invaded Malaya from French Indochina into northern Malaya and Thailand by amphibious assault on December 8, 1941, shortly after its Attack on Pearl Harbor, which was meant to deter the United States from intervening in Southeast Asia. Japanese troops in Thailand coerced the Thai government to let the Japanese use Thai military bases for the invasion of other nations in Southeast Asia and then proceeded overland across the Thai-Malayan border to attack Malaya. At this time, the Japanese began conducting strategic bombing of sites all over Singapore, and air raids were conducted on Singapore from this point onwards, although anti-aircraft fire kept most of the Japanese bombers at bay from totally devastating the island as long as they had ammunition.

The Japanese Army was resisted in northern Malaya by III Corps of the Indian Army and several British Army battalions. Although the 25th Army was outnumbered by Allied forces in Malaya and Singapore, Japanese commanders concentrated their forces. The Japanese were superior in close air support, armour, coordination, tactics and experience. Although the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force had fewer aircraft, superior fighters especially the Mitsubishi A6M Zero, helped the Japanese to gain air superiority. The Allies had no tanks, which put them at a severe disadvantage.

The battleships HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse, together with four destroyers - Force Z, reached Malaya before the Japanese began their air assaults. This force was thought to be "unsinkable" and a deterrent to the Japanese. Japanese aircraft sank the capital ships, leaving the east coast of Malaya exposed. This allowed the Japanese to continue their amphibious landings.

Japanese forces quickly isolated Indian units defending the coast, surrounded them and forced surrenders. They advanced down the Malayan peninsula, overwhelming the defence, despite numerical inferiority. The Japanese also used bicycle infantry and light tanks, which allowed swift movement of their forces through the jungle.

Although more Allied units, including some from the Australian 8th Division, joined the campaign, the Japanese prevented the Allied forces from regrouping, overran cities, and advanced toward Singapore. The city was an anchor for the operations of the American-British-Dutch-Australian Command (ABDACOM), the first Allied joint command of World War II.

On January 31, the last Allied forces left Malaya and Allied engineers blew the causeway linking Johore and Singapore. Japanese infiltrators — many disguised as Singaporean civilians — crossed the Straits of Johor in inflatable boats soon afterwards.

A view of the blown up causeway, with the visible gap in the middle, delaying Japanese landfall for over a week to February 8.

Preparations

The Allied commander, Lieutenant-General Arthur Percival had 85,000 soldiers, the equivalent (on paper) of just over four divisions. There were about 70,000 front-line troops in 38 infantry battalions — 17 Indian, 13 British, six Australian, two Malayan — and three machine gun battalions. The newly-arrived British 18th Infantry Division, under Major-General Merton Beckwith-Smith, was at full strength but lacked experience and training; most of the other units were under-strength as a result of the mainland campaign. The local battalions also had no experience and in some cases no training.

Percival gave Major-General Gordon Bennett's two brigades, from the Australian 8th Division, responsibility for the western sector of the island, including the prime invasion points to the north-west of the island. This was mangrove swamp and jungle, broken by rivers and creeks. The inexperienced 22nd Brigade was assigned a 10 mile (16 kilometre) wide sector in the west and the 27th Brigade — minus almost a battalion lost in its retreat through Malaya — a 4,000 yard (3,650 metre) zone in the north. The infantry positions were reinforced by the recently-arrived Australian 2/4th Machine-Gun Regiment. Also under Bennett's command was the Indian 44th Infantry Brigade.

Lieutenant-General Sir Lewis Heath's Indian III Corps, including the Indian 11th Infantry Division, (under Major-General B. W. Key), the British 18th Division and the Indian 15th Infantry Brigade, was assigned the northern sector. Singapore Fortress, including the main urban areas in the south-east, was commanded by Major-General Frank Keith Simmons, who controlled about 18 battalions, including the Malayan 1st Infantry Brigade, the Straits Settlements Volunteer Force Brigade and Indian 12th Infantry Brigade.

From aerial reconnaissance, scouts, infiltrators and high ground across the straits, such as the Sultan of Johore's palace, the Japanese commander, General Tomoyuki Yamashita and his staff gained excellent knowledge of the Allied positions. From February 3, the Allies were shelled by Japanese artillery. In spite of a Royal Air Force contingent of 10 Brewster Buffalo fighters, Japanese air attacks also intensified over the next five days. Air and artillery bombardment intensified. This severely disrupted communications between Allied units and their commanders and affected preparations for the defence of the island. The Allies had no bomber force to speak of and limited artillery.

A coastal defence gun fires in Singapore

Singapore's famous large-calibre guns — which included one battery of three 15-inch guns and one with two 15-inch guns — were supplied with few conventional high-explosive (HE) shells and mostly with armour-piercing (AP) shells. AP shells were designed to penetrate the hulls of warships and were ineffective against infantry. It is a myth that the guns could not fire on the Japanese forces because they faced south. Although placed to defend against enemy ships instead of the straits, most of the guns could turn northwards and they did fire at the invaders. Even if the guns had been well supplied with HE shells, military analysts estimated that while the Japanese invaders would have suffered heavy casualties, they would have succeeded.

Yamashita had just over 30,000 men, from three divisions: the Imperial Guards Division under Lieutenant-General Takuma Nishimura, the 5th Division, under Lieutenant-General Takuro Matsui and the 18th Division, under Lieutenant-General Renya Mutaguchi. The elite Imperial Guards units included a light tank brigade.

Invasion of Singapore

The Japanese landings

File:Japanese air raid on singapore - February 8 1942.jpg

Results of a Japanese air raid on February 8 1942.

Blowing up the causeway had delayed the Japanese attack for over a week. At 8.30pm on February 8, Australian machine gunners opened fire on vessels carrying a first wave of 4,000 troops from the 5th and 18th Divisions towards Singapore island.

Fierce fighting raged all day but eventually the increasing Japanese numbers — as well as their superiority in artillery, planes and military intelligence — began to take their toll. In the northwest of the island, they exploited gaps in the thinly spread Allied lines such as rivers and creeks. By midnight, the two Australian brigades had lost communications with each other and the 22nd Brigade was forced to retreat. At 1am, further Japanese troops were landed in the northwest of the island and the last Australian reserves went in. Towards dawn on February 9, elements of the 22nd Brigade were overrun or surrounded, and the 2/18th Australian Infantry Battalion had lost more than half of its personnel.

Percival maintained a belief that further landings would occur in the northeast and did not reinforce 22nd Brigade. During February 9, Japanese landings shifted to the southwest, where they encountered the 44th Brigade. Allied units were forced to retreat further east. Bennett decided to form a secondary defensive line.

The 27th Brigade, to the north, did not face Japanese assaults until the Imperial Guards landed at 10pm on February 9. This operation went very badly for the Japanese, who suffered severe casualties from Australian mortars and machine guns, and from burning oil which had been sluiced into the water. A small number of Guards reached the shore and maintained a tenuous beachhead.

Command and control problems — and the failure to reinforce — caused further cracks in the Allied defence. Following a fatal misunderstanding — and in spite of its success — the 27th Brigade began to withdraw from Kranji in the central north. The Allies thereby lost control of the crucial Kranji-Jurong ridge, running through the western side of the island.

The Japanese breakthrough

Lt Gen Yamashita (seated, centre) thumps the table with his fist to emphasize his terms — unconditional surrender. Lt Gen Percival sits between his officers, his clenched hand to his mouth. (Photo from Imperial War Museum.)

The opening at Kranji made it possible for the Imperial Guards to land tanks and to advance rapidly south, by-passing the British 18th Division. However, Japanese armoured units failed to seize an opportunity to advance into the heart of Singapore City.

On February 11, knowing that Japanese supplies were running perilously low, Yamashita decided to bluff and he called on Percival to "give up this meaningless and desperate resistance". By this stage, the fighting strength of the 22nd Brigade — which had borne the brunt of the Japanese attacks — had been reduced to a few hundred men. The Japanese had captured the Bukit Timah area after the Battle of Bukit Timah, including most of the Allied ammunition and fuel and giving them control of the main water supplies.

The next day the Allied lines stabilised around a small area in the south-east of the island and fought off determined Japanese assaults. Other units, including the Malayan 1st Infantry Brigade had joined in. A 42-strong Malayan platoon, led by a junior officer, Lt Adnan bin Saidi, held the Japanese for two days at the Battle of Pasir Panjang. His unit defended Bukit Chandu, an area which included a major Allied ammunition store. Adnan was executed by the Japanese after his unit was overrun.

On February 13, with the Allies still losing ground, senior officers advised Percival to surrender, in the interests of minimising civilian casualties. Percival refused but unsuccessfully sought authority to surrender from his superiors.

The following day the remaining Allied units fought on; civilian casualties mounted as one million people crowded into the area now held by the Allies and bombing and artillery fire intensified. Civilian authorities began to fear that the water supply would give out.

Alexandra Hospital massacre

At about 1pm on February 14, Japanese soldiers approached Alexandra Barracks Hospital. Although no resistance was offered, some of them shot or bayoneted staff members and patients. One British corporal was on the treatment table receiving treatment when Japanese soldiers stormed in and bayoneted him. The following day, about 200 male staff members and patients, many of them unable to walk, were ordered to march about 400 metres. Some were carried and anyone who fell on the way was bayoneted. The men were crowded in a series of small, badly ventilated rooms and were imprisoned overnight, without water. The following morning they were bayoneted. Several other Japanese commanding officers were later charged with war crimes at the Tokyo Trials.

Fall of Singapore

Victorious Japanese troops march through the City centre (Photo from Imperial War Museum)

By the morning of Chinese New Year, February 15, the Japanese had broken through the last line of defence and the Allies were running out of food and some kinds of ammunition. The anti-aircraft guns had also run out of ammunition and were unable to repel any further Japanese air attacks which threatened to cause heavy casualties in the city centre. After meeting his unit commanders, Percival contacted the Japanese and formally surrendered the Allied forces to Yamashita at the Ford Motor Factory, shortly after 5.15pm.

Bennett, along with some of his staff officers, caused controversy when he handed command of the 8th Division to a brigadier and commandeered a small boat. They eventually made their way back to Australia.

The Japanese Occupation of Singapore begun. The city was renamed Syonan-to (Japanese: 昭南島 Shōnan-tō, literally Light-of-the-South Island). The Japanese sought vengeance against Chinese and to eliminate anyone who held anti-Japanese sentiment. Because of the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Imperial authorities were suspicious of the Chinese. Many were killed in the Sook Ching Massacre. The other races of Singapore, such as the Malays and the Indians were not spared. The residents would suffer great hardships under Japanese rule over the following three and a half years.

Many of the British and Australian soldiers taken prisoner remained in Singapore, at Changi Prison. Thousands of others were shipped on prisoner transports known as "Hell Ships" to other parts of Asia, including Japan, to be used as slave labour on projects like the Siam-Burma Railway and Sandakan airfield in North Borneo. Many of those aboard the ships perished.

The Japanese were highly successful in recruiting the Indian Empire soldiers taken prisoner. From a total of about 40,000 Indian personnel in Singapore in February 1942, about 30,000 joined the pro-Japanese INA, which fought Allied forces in the Burma Campaign.[1] Others became POW camp guards at Changi. However, many Indian Army personnel resisted recruitment and remained POWs. An unknown number were taken to Japanese-occupied areas of New Guinea as forced labour. Many of these men suffered severe hardships and brutality, similar to that experienced by other prisoners of Japan during World War II. About 6,000 of them survived until they were liberated by Australian or U.S. forces, in 1943-45.[2]

See also

• History of Singapore
• Battle of Malaya
• Greater East Asia War in the Pacific
• Pacific War

References

• Dixon, Norman F, On the Psychology of Military Incompetence, London, 1976
• Nigel Hamilton, Monty: The Making of a General 1887-1942, Hamish Hamilton, 1981, ISBN 1-85753-171-X
• Kinvig, Clifford, Scapegoat: General Percival of Singapore, London, 1996, ISBN 0-241-10583-8
• John George Smyth, Percival and the Tragedy of Singapore, MacDonald and Company, 1971, ASIN B0006CDC1Q
• Peter Thompson, The Battle for Singapore, London, 2005, ISBN 0-7499-5068-4HB
• Seki, Eiji (2007). Sinking of the SS Automedon And the Role of the Japanese Navy: A New Interpretation. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 1905246285. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• Smith, Colin, Singapore Burning: Heroism and Surrender in World War II Penguin books 2005, ISBN 0-670-91341-3

External links

• National Heritage Board, Battlefield Singapore
• Bicycle Blitzkrieg - The Japanese Conquest of Malaya and Singapore 1941-1942
• Royal Engineers Museum Royal Engineers and the Second World War - the Far East