This one still amazed, how a numerically superior force surrendered to a numerically inferior force, the humiliation of the British was complete. I still had a hard time understanding this because the total ineptness of the British in fighting the Japanese. I also remembered reading that the Flying Tigers tried to tell the British how to fight the Japanese successfully and they were blown off, the British believed that the Japanese were an inferior foe and that the Japanese were crappy pilots and that their Zero fighters were unable to handle the British fighters. The end results were the beginning of the end of the British Empire that didn't survive long after the War.
The Japanese celebrating with one of the captured British Cannons at Singapore
In the past, many military engagements have been quite organized. They have followed a conventional chain of events: one force meets the other, and one army wins either due to better positioning, military strategy, advanced weaponry, or the simple fact of numbers. Sometimes the battle ends at a stalemate where there is no victor. In contrast, there are battles which have been total disasters where one army is completely taken apart by the other.
One of the most bewildering to all was the Fall of Singapore in 1942 during the Second World War. The battle is now regarded as one of the greatest military defeats of the British Army, but it did not look poised to take such a humiliating turn when it began.
The British stronghold in Singapore was deemed to be an impregnable fortress. Their air and naval bases commissioned in 1939 and 1941 respectively were impressive and intimidating. The King George VI Graving Dock at the naval base was the largest dry dock in the world, scaling a full 300 meters to show the capacity of the British Malayan Navy.
In March 1941, the British intercepted a message from Adolf Hitler to the Japanese Foreign Minister, Yosuke Matsuoka. In this message, the Nazi leader urged Matsuoka to attack the British stronghold in the Far East. Hitler stated that conquering the British in Malaya would be fundamental to the overthrow of England. There was little doubt as to the importance of Singapore to the British Empire, as their naval base was placed there to protect other Commonwealth assets.
However, the British were undaunted by this discovery and feared little for the British troops stationed at the island. He was confident that the fortress was impenetrable. The island had two major attack areas of concern. The first was the sea, but the British naval base there was more than capable of defending attacks from that direction. The second was miles and miles of jungle terrain which were assumed to be too arduous even to be considered by the Japanese.
Newspapers carried news of Churchill’s statement referring to the fortress as the “Gibraltar of the Far East.” There was an air of overconfidence around the British forces. The British considered the Japanese army to be weak, often referring to them as “Little Japs.” However, although the Japanese believed the myth of the British fortress being impregnable, they were nevertheless resolved to take it in their quest to conquer Southeast Asia and the East Indies.
Japan had few mineral resources and, as such, sought to acquire them by force from other regions. Japan had conquered most of China and Manchuria in the 1930s for the rich iron and coal resources which the Japanese then employed in producing steel. They had one important resource left to acquire and that was oil. As such, the East Indies, including Singapore, was a major target for them.
Despite the fortress’s naval capacity, it was seriously lacking in ships. Most of the British fleet had been committed to Europe and the Middle East where the British felt they were more needed. The Singapore campaign kicked off on December 8, 1941, when two Japanese convoys landed at Patani in Southern Thailand, Singora, and northern Malaya. By the end of that day, some 27,000 Japanese soldiers, well-trained in jungle combat and under the command of General Yamashita Tomoyuki, had secured their position in Malaya and captured the British air base at Kota Baharu.
After that, air bombings of Singapore began. Unaware that their air base had been captured, the Prince of Wales and the Repulse sailed for northern Malaya in an attempt to put off any Japanese ships that were yet to land. The ships were sunk on 10th December by Japanese aircraft.
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