History Notes Of Singapore History Chapter 6

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CHAPTER 6 – How did World War II affect Singapore?

  1. WHAT WERE THE EFFORTS MADE BY THE BRITISH TO DEFEND SG?

(Why Singapore was known as the ‘impregnable’ fortress of the British Empire in the East)

  1. ‘Main fleet in SG’ strategy

- After WWI, Britain was financially drained & could not maintain a strong naval presence in the Far East

- There was a need to keep all the warships in Europe as well as need to defend its empire in the Far East as Japan was building a strong navy

- SG was chosen as naval base & construction of the base was completed in 1938

- British would send ships from Europe if there were trouble in Asia

  1. 15-inch guns

- To defend naval base in SG, 15-inch guns were installed facing the sea to prevent attack from the sea

  1. Military airfields

- Built in Tengah & Sembawang

  1. Underground bunkers

- Built in Fort Canning, Labrador & Sembawang

  1. Defence from Malaya

- Jungles of Malaya believed to be natural barriers to any form of enemy attack because they were dense & difficult to penetrate

  1. Indian, British & Australian troops

- Troops arrived in 1941 to defend both SG & Malaya from possible attack

  1. HMS Prince of Wales & HMS Repulse

- On Dec 1941, both battleships arrived in SG

  1. WHY DID THE BRITISH FAIL TO STOP THE JAPANESE?
  1. Japanese intelligence services in Malaya & SG

- Jap intelligence provided info on British defence & readiness

- Jap owned lands in Johor & SG & they observed construction of naval base & coastal defences

- Jap fishing fleet, which accounted for nearly half of fish supplied to SG, conducted surveys of the Malayan coastal areas

- Jap photographers, who operated studios in Malayan towns, took pictures of roads, railways & military installations

- Many Jap military officers operated incognito

  1. The British underestimated the Japanese

- Brit believed that the Jap army, air force & navy were inferior so they did not send more naval & air reinforcements

- In fact, Imperial Japanese Army had a large modern air force & naval fleet

- Japanese ‘Zero’ fighter planes destroyed about half of the Brit planes which were old & outdated

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- Jap soldiers were better trained in jungle warfare & they were aware that they could use bicycles to move swiftly down Malaya

- Jap navy also able to sink the HMS Prince of Wales & HMS Repulse off the coast of Kuantan

  1. HOW DID THE PEOPLE OF SG REACT TO THE JAPANESE ATTACK?
  • Life went on as per normal when war broke out in the Pacific
  • People of SG believed that Britain was a first-class Western Power & Jap could never defeat it
  • Bombers, cannons & warships in vicinity made people believe that SG was ...

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