Shortly after midnight on 8 December 1941, two divisions of crack troops
of the Imperial Japanese Army began a seaborne invasion of southern
Thailand and northern Malaya. Their assault developed into a full-blown
advance towards Singapore, the main defensive position of the British
Empire in the Far East. The defending British, Indian, Australian and
Malayan forces were outmanoeuvred on the ground, overwhelmed in the air
and scattered on the sea. By the end of January 1942, British Empire
forces were driven back onto the island of Singapore Itself, cut off
from further outside help. When the Japanese stormed the island with an
an-out assault, the defenders were quickly pushed back into a corner
from which there was no escape. Singapore's defenders finally
capitulated on 15 February, to prevent the wholesale pillage of the city
itself. Their rapid and total defeat was nothing less than military
humiliation and political disaster. Based on the most extensive use yet
of primary documents in Britain, Japan, Australia and Singapore, Brian
Farrell provides the fullest picture of how and why Singapore fell and
its real significance to the outcome of the Second World War.