Singapore

With his troops' morale crumbling, and believing he faced 5 Japanese divisions and 300 tanks, Lieutenant-General Arthur Percival made the decision to withdraw to Singapore. General Bennett paid a final visit to his friend the Sultan of Johore and made …

1942-02-09

6089

With his troops' morale crumbling, and believing he faced 5 Japanese divisions and 300 tanks, Lieutenant-General Arthur Percival made the decision to withdraw to Singapore. General Bennett paid a final visit to his friend the Sultan of Johore and made plans to save his skin in the event of a surrender. "The whole operation seems incredible," he wrote after the war, "550 miles in 55 days, forced back by a small Japanese army of only 2 divisions riding stolen bicycles..." The British withdrew to the 220 square miles of Singapore Island and blew the Causeway behind them. Still the British outnumbered the Japanese but Percival blundered, not for the first time, by deploying his entire garrison all around the 70 mile coast, hardly keeping a central reserve to facilitate counter-attacks. The assault across Johore Strait finally came with the Japanese 18th Division on the British right, 5th Division in the center, and the Konoe Imperial Guards Division creating a diversion on the left. The British defenses were incomplete and stretched too thin, and the Japanese right hook soon penetrated all the way to Bukit Timah and the heights overlooking the Singapore. General Yamashita, Japanese 25th Army commander, arranged a meeting with Percival and with his best poker face demanded surrender. Unknown to Percival, Yamashita was desperately short of men and ammunition. Percival agreed terms, and the fortress of Singapore fell to the Japanese.

Singapore, Singapore

The Battle of Singapore, also known as the Fall of Singapore, was fought in the South-East Asian theatre of World War II when the Empire of Japan invaded the British stronghold of Singapore—nicknamed the "Gibraltar of the East". Singapore was the major British military base in South-East Asia and was the key to British imperial interwar defence planning for South-East Asia and the South-West Pacific. The fighting in Singapore lasted from 8 to 15 February 1942, after the two months during which Japanese forces had advanced down the Malayan Peninsula.

Wikipedia: Battle of Singapore

Japanese

British

Game Type: Standard

Board Type: Countryside

Website Access: Classified