Sarah Smith History Coursework
Why did men from Suffolk find themselves building the Burma-Siam railway?
During the Second World War the Japanese bombed pearl harbour and advanced on places like Singapore aiming for India in the British Empire in Asia. Japan lacked in natural sources such as oil; this gave them their incentive to attack. At this time Britain had made the mistake of not spending a lot on defenses in Singapore in order to improve there own defense against Germany in the European war. This was not the only mistake they made: firstly they underestimated the Japanese; as being racist they believed Japanese soldiers were inferior and because they wore glasses could not shoot properly. Also they believed that the jungle north of Singapore was too difficult for them to get through. As a result British soldiers in Singapore were poorly organized and had little combat experience; their commanders underestimated the Japanese also. An example of a stupid mistake the British made at this time was to send out two battleships as a scare plan against the Japanese but not send planes to protect them: These ships, shortly after being sighted were gunned down.