Singapore continues v.2 The Impregnable Fortress

Singapore's MRT system is really the best way to get around the city.We used it to take us to the Harbour Centre which serves all the incoming cruise ships and is also the gateway to Sentosa Island which is a theme park & casino complex.The Villa tie in here is strong because the Casino company Genting is the shirt sponsor.

The island is also the site of Fort Siloso which was a key installation in the defence of Singapore in 1942.This year sees the seventieth anniversary of its fall to the Japanese.By the end of January 1942 all British Empire troops had withdrawn from the Malay peninsular to the island, on February 8th the Japanese had landed in the North West of the island and within 6 days they were on the outskirts of the city of Singapore.Various delaying tactics were used to prevent the Japanese as units were reorganised but to no avail.

This shows the defence set up prior to attack by Japanese, the 12 gun batteries and airfields, www.fortsiloso.com

The Japanese surrender delegation, General Yamashita is seated second  left

The Signing of the British Surrender

By February 14 the Japanese were in control of the pumping stations and the reservoirs and the Allied troops in virtual disarray, hospitals were overcrowded and the fighting was intense.On the 15th February the British commander General Percival called for a ceasefire which the Japanese then bluffed into a full surrender.

More than 100000 British Empire troops had been defeated by a smaller force of 30,000 Japanese a defeat  Sir Winston Churchill described as the worst disaster and largest capitulation in British history.What tends to get overlooked is that Churchill as chancellor of Exchequer was responsible for reducing the defence budget allocated to Singapore.The air defence consisted of just 5 squadrons of aged fighters down from 8 when the recognised number was 12.There is a myth that the guns could only fire out to sea at a seaborne enemy and therefore unable to fire upon a northern land attack.The real problem was that they had the wrong type of explosive ammunition they only had Armour piercing shells which are great against warships but have very little effect on personnel where High Explosive is more effective.


My attack on Singapore was a bluff – a bluff that worked. I had 30,000 men and was outnumbered more than three to one. I knew that if I had to fight for long for Singapore, I would be beaten. That is why the surrender had to be at once. I was very frightened all the time that the British would discover our numerical weakness and lack of supplies and force me into disastrous street fighting.

– Tomoyuki Yamashita _{Shores 1992, p. 383.}

The fighting ceased but the troubles were only just starting for the survivors as the Japanese took control.