One of a Kind (2nd Edition)

A HISTORY LESSON THE FIRST BATCH DID NOT GET

ONE

had been in Pasir Panjang, Alexandra, Normanton, Gillman and Tanglin.

Other preparations went on, but although to many observers a war with Japan for Malaya was

a matter of when and not if, a strategy was yet to be agreed. Up to 1935, it was thought that

Japan would attack from the sea to take Singapore in a

coup de main

(in the jargon of the time),

hence the emphasis on gun defences supported by torpedo bombers and garrison troops, with

reinforcement by a main fleet despatched from the Mediterranean when hostilities seemed

imminent. But, from the tenure of Major General (MG) William Dobbie as General Officer

Commanding, Malaya, in November 1935, his successor Major General L.V. Bond and eventually

to Lieutenant-General Arthur E. Percival, it had become an article of faith that the Japanese

would attack Singapore from the Malayan Peninsula and not by sea from the south. With Britain

already at war with Germany from late 1939, what little could be done to prepare Singapore to

deter Japan was attempted. Troops were sent from India and Australia and RAF squadrons to

air bases in Singapore and Malaya. Fixed defences were put up in Singapore and contingency

plans for operations in the Malayan Peninsula were drawn up. There was even a contingency

plan to deny the Japanese a foothold in South Thailand. Japan’s occupation of Tonkin on 22

September, 1940, and the imposition of sanctions against her by the US and Britain lent urgency

to the effort, but it was to prove too late. Raw troops, dated equipment and the distraction of the

war in Europe right up to Pearl Harbour and the landings in Singora and Patani on 8

December,

1941, sealed the fate of Malaya and Singapore. Despite all the attention it got, the sinking of the

battleship

Prince of Wales

and the battle cruiser

Repulse

on 10

December, 1941 off the east coast

of Malaya was irrelevant to the military outcome, though it was a devastating blow to the morale

of civilians and soldiers alike in Malaya and Singapore.

Map of Singapore showing Singapore’s defences in 1937.