The fall of Churchill's "Gibraltar of the East"
Singapore was not affected much by World War I (1914-18), as the conflict did not spread to Southeast Asia. However, in the post war years, the British authorities realized the necessity to build a strong naval base in Singapore, as a deterrent to the increasingly ambitious Japanese Empire. When completed in 1939, the mighty naval base boasted what was then the largest dry dock in the world, the third-largest floating dock, and having enough fuel tanks to support the entire British navy for six months... Winston Churchill described the well defended port as the "Gibraltar of the East".
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What does a "fatal historical mistake" really means ?
Expecting the Japanese to attack Singapore from the sea, the Brits invested everything in coastal defence, turning the island into what Winston Churchill described as the "Gibraltar of the East"...
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The unfortunate thing, however, was that the Japanese forces arrived by land through the Malay Peninsula and the mighty forts ended up being useless...
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Unfortunately, it was a base without a fleet... The British Home Fleet was stationed in Europe, and the British could not afford to build a second fleet to protect their interests in Asia. The plan was for the Home Fleet to sail quickly to Singapore in the event of an emergency. However, after World War II broke out in 1939, the fleet was fully occupied with defending Britain.
On 7th December 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and the Pacific campaign began. The Japanese desperately wanted to capture resources-rich southeast Asia, in order to secure constant supply of food and industrial products. Being the main Allied base in the region, Singapore was a preferred military target for the Japanese and the British fortified its southern coasts heavily, believing that the Japanese attack will come from the sea (they were sure that the swamps and the rainforests north of the city would serve as an impassable natural barrier).
On 8 December 1941, one day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese bombers raided Singapore, bombing civilian areas and causing death and havoc.
The Japanese army advanced swiftly southward through the Malay Peninsula, crushing or bypassing Allied resistance. The Allied forces did not have tanks, which they considered as unsuitable in the tropical rainforest, and their infantry proved powerless against the Japanese light tanks.
By 31st January 1942, the Japanese had conquered the entire Malay peninsula and were ready to attack Singapore. The Allied forces, including Indian, Australian and British troops, supported by Singaporean volunteers, defended the city heroically, but they were outnumbered and their supplies quickly exhausted, leaving them no hope...
On Chinese New Year, 15th February 1942, Lieutenant-General Arthur Percival surrendered the Allied forces in Singapore to General Tomoyuki Yamashita of the Imperial Japanese Army.
The colony was renamed Syonan-to (meaning "Light of the South Island" in Japanese) and the worst period of Singaporean history begun.
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A tragically fateful new-year's party...
An amazing fact is that both Singapore and Hong Kong were conquered just before the new year... Hong Kong surrendered on Christmas Day, 25th December 1941, while Singapore fell on the Chinese New Year of 1942...
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For the residents of these two cities, the catastrophic Japanese occupation was undoubtly the worst New Year's Gift they ever got...
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During the three years they occupied Singapore, the Japanese troops committed numerous atrocities and massacres against Singaporean civilians and, particularly, against the Chinese community. The Japanese truly considered each and every Chinese a potential spy and were eager to retaliate against them for their support of the war effort in China.
The Kempeitai, the Japanese military police, was particularly notorious and mentioning their name sensed fear many years after the war was over.
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Next in line...
Post-war years and indepenence
