An old image of fortress Singapore

Not listed as to where the image originated from

Did Singapore have to fall? - Churchill and the impregnable fortress

I have just finished re-reading Hack & Blackburn's book "Did Singapore have to fall?" It is a most fascinating read and some of the photos of the the building of Singapore's early coastal defenses I have not seen else where. As much as I enjoyed the book I did not feel that the ending pulled it all together to conclusively answer the question that the book so succinctly asks in it's title. Never the less I do recommend it. The photo on the cover of the book is the replica 15 inch wartime gun on location in Changi. The barrel is 54 feet long. It is an interesting visit located close to the Changi Museum.

Fall of Singapore service 15th Feb 2011

Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCCI) held the 44th memorial service on the 15 February 2011 in commemoration of civilians victims of Japanese occupation during the World War Two. The annual event aims to remind the country's younger generation never to forget the tragedy in which a large number of civilians were ruthlessly slaughtered during the dark days of the Japanese occupation and to make young Singaporeans clearly aware of the hardness to earn peace and the importance to establish total defense. The memorial ceremony was attended by more than 1,200 people, including Singapore Minister for Education and Second Minister for Defence Ng Eng Hen, representatives from government organs, uniformed services, diplomatic corps, business associations, religious organizations, schools as well as veterans and families of the victims. Wreaths were laid on behalf respectively of the SCCCI, the Singapore Army Forces Veterans' League, the ten major religious organizations, National Cadet Corps', and the students representatives in Singapore to console the spirits of the civilian victims of the Japanese occupation and all participants observed one-minute silence and took three bows in front of the memorial monument. Before the beginning of the service, the Singapore Civil Defence Force sounded the "All Clear" signal through its public warning system to commemorate the fall of Singapore to the Japanese during World War Two. The SCCCI has fixed Feb. 15 every year for a memorial service in commemoration of the civilian victims of the Japanese occupation. On Feb. 15, 1942, Japanese captured Singapore and occupied it for three and half years. According to incomplete statistics, at least 50,000 Singaporeans were slaughtered. On Feb. 15, 1967, memorial monument was built and memorial service was held each year ever since. Source: Xinhua

Final defensive lines before the attack on Singapore 1942

This interesting map shows the defensive lines around Singapore in preparation to defend the island from the attacking Japanese forces in 1942. History tells us that the diversionary attack on the small island of Pulau Ubin on the North East succeeded in bluffing defending forces command that it was the start of the main attack. However, the full force of the main invasion occurred on the North West side of the island. The rest is history

69th anniversary of the fall of Singapore 15th Feb 1942

This morning I attended the remembrance services for the thousands of civilians who died as a result of the fall of Singapore 69 years ago today. It was very well attended and it was good to see the number of school children who were in attendance. I have posted a number of photos on my Singapore1942 twitter site which you can access by clicking on http://www.twitter.com/singapore1942

Video footage showing the intensity of artillery fire on Singapore to support the invasion

Images from the battle for Malaya

Some more amazing images captured by Time Life Magazine taken during the battle for Malaya and printed in an article "Some Mementos from Malaya" in the March 1943 edition. The top two pictures highlight graphically the tragedy of war.

Photos from the 1st bombing raid in Singapore

I came across these fascinating images from the 1st bombing raid over Singapore in December 1941 that was originally published in the pictorial magazine "Life" in the January 1942 edition. The first photo on the right hand corner shows the damage from the bombing that occurred in Raffles Place and one of the images shows the injured being evacuated from a classic Singapore shop house. It is the first time I have seen these particular images.

In February 1942 the island of Singapore was besieged and it would only be a matter of time before the invading forces stormed across to the Island of Singapore itself having taken up positions along the coastline of mainland Malaya. The headlines of this newspaper from the time announces the arrival of Japanese troops on the west coast of the island the paper dated February 9. 1942.

These headlines are apparently from the English version of the Japan times in 1942. Interestingly it highlights that more vessels have been bombed and mentions "Malay campaign rapidly nearing finale......"

Fascinating images from fortsiloso.com

This fascinating image is taken from Peter Stubb's website that I have recently come across www.fortsilso.com which is well worth a look. This photo shows the Serapong 6" Battery No 2 Gun which was hit by a Japanese bomb in 1942. It shows a discarded shell on the ground highlighted by the circle from a photo at that time. Another unexploded shell was discovered during an excavation of the site in 1996 and the photo on the left shows the excavation team with their find!

Map of the Invasion of Singapore

This interesting diagram is taken from the Japanese records of the successful invasion of Singapore Island from Tsuji's book 'Singapore - The Japanese Version' shows the dates and movements of the Japanese troops as they moved across Singapore up until the point of surrender.