What happened at the Battle of Singapore?
1 Answer
A very swift, well planned and well armed campaign by the Japanese against a war weakened, unprepared and badly led British forces ended with the capture of Singapore by the Japanese.
Explanation:
Lieutenant General Tomoyuki Yamashita of the Japanese Army planned and executed an operation to capture Malay and Singapore as part of an overall Japanese plan to destroy western forces in the Pacific and Southeast Asian area and capture the Indonesian (Dutch East Indies) Oilfields.
This very ambitious plan relied extensively on surprise, speed and modern arms and tactics. By the beginning of March 1942 the Japanese had reached a majority of their objectives.
The Campaign against the British in Malay and Singapore was staged out of Hainan Island off the coast of China and airbases and ports in Vietnam. The Japanese had prepared by occupying Vietnam which was controlled by Vichy French after the fall of France and coercing safe passage through Thailand to western Malay. Fighting actually started before the Pearl Harbor attacks. The Japanese landed on the Malay Peninsula and fought Southward against an ineffective British defense.
The Japanese used spies to gather intelligence about British defenses. The British air force of older aircraft was destroyed quickly by the numerous and superior Japanese aircraft.
The British Commander General Percival in Singapore failed to build defenses on the mainland to defend the approaches to Singapore.
Percival failed to analyse the Japanese attack on the Island correctly and defend against it. The Japanese crossed the Johore Strait and gained a foothold on the Island. Percival failed to re-enforce the defenders quickly enough believing that another attack would fall elsewhere. As the defensive perimeter shrunk Percival lost confidence and surrendered to save civilian lives. Later analysis showed that the Japanese were very close to the end of their resources and would have been vulnerable to a counter attack. However British troop morale was very low by this time.
Newly released classified British reports from the time blamed the Australian troops for the defeat.
General Yamashita was executed for War Crimes although not for anything that occurred during this time period.
