The Fall of Singapore
—Jason
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The island of Singapore sits on one of the world’s most extensively used waterways: the Singapore Strait. This area connects the Strait of Malacca and to the South China Sea and has been used for the transportation of goods and people for thousands of years. Since Singapore Island dominates this route, it has been absorbed by multiple kingdoms and empires to ensure control of this vital waterway.
The first Europeans to claim the island were the Portuguese as part of their strategy for overseas colonial expansion was the creation of multiple trading/repair stations along the African and South Asia coast which could be used by merchant ships and warships to dominate the area. They annexed it from the sultan of Johore in 1511.
The Portuguese were pushed from this territory by the British in 1819 following the events of the Napoleonic Wars. The British Empire had greatly expanded its holdings along the African and the Far Eastern imperial possessions of the Portuguese, Dutch, and French empires. While some of this territory was returned to the colonial powers, Singapore Island was not included, to ensure it could not be taken and used by the French.
The British developed Singapore as a trading station, military garrison, and administrative center for their Far Eastern Empire. The island’s strategic proximity to major geographical features of the region made it incredibly valuable. Controlling access to the Strait of Malacca and South China Sea allowed the British Royal Navy to cut off enemy shipping in the event of war. Singapore was also isolated from the Malaysian peninsula and thus believed to be invulnerable to attack from the mainland.
During the early decades of the twentieth century, the British expanded the fortifications of Singapore to make it immune from naval threats. Large caliber artillery pieces were installed in rotating cupolas that could fire at targets still miles out to sea. Bunkers, machinegun nests, and trenches were created to present as dangerous an approach for naval and amphibious attack as possible. An airfield was also added to island to provide aerial support.
The nation that British military planners viewed the most likely potential enemy was the Empire of Japan. Despite being allies since 1902 and fighting alongside each other in the Great War, the British and Japanese diverged in their foreign policies following 1919. The Anglo-Japanese Alliance expired in 1923. The Japanese civilian government was destabilized by frustration regarding naval treaties and the lack of spoils after the Great War. These issues alongside a feeling of unable to expand prompted the takeover by the military.
The Japanese began conducting a brutal war against China throughout the 1930s, which led to increasing tensions between the British and Japanese. Britain maintained control of the port of Hong Kong along China’s east coast, and this was very close to the front lines. Fearing that Japanese were interested in stripping away their territories, the British scrambled to move equipment and men to the Far East. However, these comprised of obsolete equipment combined with undermanned units. They could not focus on Singapore as war with Nazi Germany loomed in Europe.
The Japanese Navy had a plan which would conquer not only Great Britain’s colonial possessions, but also those of the Dutch and Americans within the opening months of the conflict. Squadrons of Japanese warships would escort troop transports to various locations and give fire support for landings while providing protection from Allied retaliation. Singapore and Malaysia were on the western-most edge of the areas the Japanese intended to occupy.
Japanese planners understood that the British had invested heavily in the seaward defenses of Singapore. While this was a sound strategy, it did leave the northern, landward facing shores vulnerable to attack. The massive British artillery positions could rotate in any direction facing the sea; however, they could not do so towards the inland peninsula. The small body of water that separated Singapore from the mainland was also shallow. These factors ultimately proved to be the Achilles’ Heel of the entire campaign.
The defense of Singapore was in the hands of Lieutenant-General Arthur Percival. Percival was appointed to command Singapore in April 1941 because he had demonstrated an understanding the deficiencies and vulnerabilities of the base and its garrison. He had previously pointed out the vulnerability of Singapore to a landward attack in 1936, but his recommendations had not been acted upon. Percival spent his pre-war months attempting to conduct training courses to bring his underequipped and inexperienced troops to combat readiness.
The Japanese planned to land troops along the Malaysian coast, while also invading overland through the Kingdom of Thailand. This goal was to attack the British where they were at their weakest and bypass areas of strong resistance. A system of roads along the eastern side of the Malaysian peninsula would facilitate the movement of goods between the villages and towns along the coast with the plantations further inland. These roads and the jungles bordering them were used by the Japanese to outflank the British defenses.
Beginning on 8 December 1941, the Japanese launched their invasion of Malaysia while simultaneously striking the American Pacific Fleet at its base at Pearl Harbor. Japanese Army units crossed the Thai-Malaysian border and quickly overwhelmed the British and colonial troops stationed in that part of the country. The Japanese Navy made numerous amphibious landings along the extensive coastline, and it became apparent that the British were in danger.
The British naval task force consisting of the HMS Prince of Wales, the HMS Repulse, and most of their escorts were destroyed by Japanese land-based aircraft operating out of Indochina. The loss of these ships crippled the ability of the British to stem the ever-growing tide of Japanese troops landing along the coast. The British Royal Air Force units were also woefully underequipped and unprepared to fend off increasingly damaging Japanese air raids.
From the end of December through early January, Australian, Indian, and British reinforcements were rushed to Malaysia and Singapore to slow the Japanese advance; the garrison eventually reached 85,000. Despite outnumbering Japanese General Tomoyuki Yamashita’s 36,000 soldiers, the British were not able to capitalize on their prepared defensive positions. By the end of January 1942, all the Malaysian peninsula was in Japanese hands and Singapore was the next target for occupation.
By 27 January 1942, General Percival ordered the evacuation of all British troops from Malaysia to Singapore Island. This was exploited by General Yamashita’s units as they moved artillery along the peninsula and skillfully placed it to provide devastating fire against the British forces trapped on the island. The few smaller British guns that could be repositioned to fire inland were quickly silenced by the Japanese. Between 8 and 15 February, the Japanese put pressure on the shirking British defenses by landing forces on the northwestern side of Singapore.
By 15 February, half the island was under Japanese occupation and no relief forces were available to save Percival and his command. To compound this dire situation, their ammunition and water supplies would be exhausted within in the next day or so. Along with the soldiers, there were nearly one million civilians who either lived on the island or had fled there. General Percival carried a white flag, indicating surrender, as he went towards Japanese lines. It was agreed that British forces would lay down their arms 6:10 pm and resistance in Singapore would end at 8:30 pm that night.
The Japanese conquest of British-controlled Malaysia and Singapore occurring between December 1941 and February 1942 was severe blow to the Allies in the early stages of the War in the Pacific. 85,000 British, Australian, and Indian troops surrendered to the Japanese. This was one of the largest mass surrenders in British military history and heavily damaged British prestige in the Far East.