Today Singapore is more like a high tech version of Southwold.
Still full of Japs but this time as tourists and businessmen rather than invaders (I expect Southwold is as well these days).
Singapore had for a long time been regarded as an impregnable fortress. It was an island on the southern tip of Malaya. Malaya was covered in thick jungle thought to be impenetrable by modern armies – at least by the high powered military pundits. Because of this, the northern shores of the island, barely a mile from the mainland, were left virtually undefended. All the defences were concentrated on the islands on the south side with one battery on the west side and a battery on the east side. The guns were set in emplacements and so in most cases could only point out to sea. Despite warnings of possible tank attacks from the north no tank defences were erected along the only roads the attackers could take.
The Japanese invaded north east Malaya on the 8 December 1941 and despite gallant defending by British, Commonwealth and native troops they had reached Johore Bahru opposite Singapore Island by the 31 January 1942.
The water supply to the island was prone to bomb and shell damage; the pump station which controlled the pipe-line on to the island was already in Japanese hands in Johore and the reservoirs were insufficient to maintain supplies over a long period.
As on the mainland there were insufficient anti-tank defences and on the 15 February 1942 the garrison was forced to surrender. A Japanese army of 35,000 had swarmed through Malaya, captured Singapore and taken 130,000 Allied troops prisoner. This inflicted the greatest military defeat ever upon the British Army.
The whole Singapore debacle is summed up in this anonymous poem:-
The Fortress of the East
A mighty island fortress,
The Guardian of the East,
Impregnable as Gibralter
A thousand planes at least.
It simply can’t be taken,
It’ll stand the siege for years.
We’ll hold the place for ever
It’ll bring the Japs to tears.
Our men are there in thousands
Defences are unique
The Japs did not believe it
And took it in a week!
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