Battle of Singapore Blowing up the causeway had delayed the Japanese attack by one week. However, the Japanese could not be held off indefinitely. At 8.30pm on 8 February 1942, the first wave of 4000 Japanese troops attempting to land on Singapore were fired upon by Australian machine-gunners. By dawn of 9 February, the Australian brigades were overwhelmed by the Japanese. The focus of the Japanese landings shifted to the southwest and defending units taking the brunt of the assault were forced to retreat. The Imperial Guards then landed to the north but suffered heavy casualities due to stiff resistance from the 27 Brigade. Eventually a small number of Guards reached the shore and maintained a beachhead. Command and control problems together with the failure to reinforce front line units resulted in cracks in the Allied defence. Following a fateful misunderstanding, the 27th Brigade began to withdraw from Kranji in the central north. The defenders thereby lost control of the crucial Kranji-Jurong ridge which runs through the western side of the island. The opening at Kranji allowed the Imperial Guards to land of tanks and advance rapidly southward. On February 11, Yamashita knowing that Japanese supplies were running low, decided to bluff and called on Percival to give up the struggle. The Japanese also managed to capture Bukit Timah, which held most of the British ammunition and fuel stores as well as control of the main water sources. On 13 February, with the British still losing ground, senior officers advised Percival to surrender, in the interests of minimising civilian casualties. Percival refused but unsuccessfully sought authority to surrender from his superiors. By the morning of 15 February, the Japanese had broken through the last line of defence, and the defenders were beginning to run out of food and ammunition. After meeting his unit commanders, Percival contacted the Japanese and formally surrendered the British forces to Yamashita at the Ford Motor Factory, shortly after 5.15pm.
The Battle of Singapore was a battle fought in the South-East Asian theatre of World War II when Imperial Japan invaded the Allied stronghold of Singapore. The fighting in Singapore lasted from February 7, 1942 to February 15, 1942 and resulted in the fall of Singapore to the Japanese and the largest surrender of British-led military personnel in history. About 80,000 Indian, Australian and British troops became prisoners of war, joining 50,000 taken in the Japanese invasion of Malaysia |
