The Veteran Issue 5

16 February 1942
Japanese forces take control of the
British 'Gibraltar of the East'
As the week pushed on, the
Japanese took more and more
of the island, and the British
supply became critical. By the
15th, some one million
civilians in the city had fled into the remaining
Allied held area, a mere 1% of the island. By
then, Japanese air attacks had bombed the
civilian water supply non-stop; it was expected
to fail within days if the attack did not stop.
Unbeknownst to the British, by the 15th the
Japanese were also at the end of their supplies,
with only hours of shells left. General
Yamashita feared that Percival would discover
the Japanese numerical inferiority, and engage
in costly house-to-house fighting. In a
desperate bluff, Yamashita demanded
unconditional surrender. On the afternoon of
the 15th, Percival ignored orders and
capitulated. About 5,000 British, Indian and
Australian troops were killed in Singapore and
80,000 becoming prisoners of war, joining
50,000 taken by the Japanese in the earlier
Malayan Campaign. Many would die performing
forced labour. About 40,000 mostly Indian
soldiers would join the Indian National Army and
fight alongside the Japanese. Churchill was
shocked, and called it the "worst disaster" in
British military history. It greatly decreased
confidence in the British army, and provided the
Japanese with much needed resources, as well
as an important strategic position. The city
would stay in Japanese hands until the end of
the war.
Japanese soldiers cross a partially reconstructed
Causeway to Singapore
General Percival – under a flag of truce – on his
way to the surrender ceremony
Kranji War Cemetery & Singapore Memorial
'Least We Forget'
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