“The British did not lose the war. The Japanese won it”. How far do you agree with the statement? Explain your answer.
In the 19th century, the Japanese started a whole new era of colonization in the Asia Pacific region, and Singapore was not spared from their conquest, being ruled by the Japanese for three and a half years. However, why did Singapore fall to the Japanese despite being protected by the British? The question proposes that the British was not lacking in the ability to defend Singapore. It was just that the Japanese were so powerful they were more superior as compared to the British and their defense mechanisms such that defeat for the British was unavoidable. However, based on military strategy, attitude towards the war, as well as ability to commit to the war as criteria, I disagree with this statement to a large extent.
Firstly, I disagree with the statement that the British were not lacking. This can be demonstrated in terms of the criteria military strategy, which comprises the tactics of each side and the leadership they had. The British did not have the ability to defend Singapore since their military tactics were severely lacking for they were one-sided, and they were led by a leader with poor skills and little experience. This caused them to create their own defeat, for they were created many loopholes and allowed the Japanese to exploit them. The Japanese would not have been able to do so should the British had exercised better discretion and strategy planning. The Japanese carried out their attack in a very surreptitious manner yet dropped many hints that they were launching an attack against Singapore. For instance, in order to capture Singapore, they opted for a very systematic approach, like capturing Malaya as well as signing treaties with the government of Siam to allow Japanese troops to past freely and use Siam as a base as long as the Japanese did not launch an attack against Siam. However, the British failed to respond appropriately and quickly enough to such action by the Japanese which led to them getting caught off-guard when the Japanese launched their attack on the Sunday now termed Black Sunday, and allowing the Japanese to win over Singapore in a short span of just three months. They also tapped on the wrong defense strategy which they did not review and change as the situation in the Southeast Asian, Malayan region was getting more uncertain. They only defended Singapore from any sea attacks, setting up nine gun defense positions to protect Singapore and necessary military bases. The British troops therefore received little training in military jungle warfare as compared to the Japanese who had good training and the British had no tanks at all to protect the jungles of Singapore in contrast to the 300 the Japanese possessed. This is in contrast with the Japanese who exploited the loophole of unprotected jungles by using them as a base of their attack in addition to their increased mobility with the use of bicycles instead of marching which would be relatively slow. The British were caught off-guard for the Japanese had attacked at their weakest point as determined by the insider information the Japanese had due to the presence of informers the Japanese stationed. This was further worsened by the fact that the British were led by an indecisive leader, Percival who had no experience in war as compared to the Japanese leader, Yamashita, who was sly, ruthless, and had immense experience for he was involved in Japan’s fight in Manchuria. Yamashita could assess the situation in a critical manner but Percival lacked this important skill. This caused Yamashita, the tiger of Malaya, to force Percival to an unconditional surrender which Percival agreed for he believed the British were outnumbered both in resources and numbers as compared to the Japanese when in actual fact, it was the other way round and the Japanese would have lost the war if it continued for a few more days. Percival failed to determine this fact. Percival’s indecisiveness also led to the failure of Operation Matador from being carried out which would have stalled some time for the British. Therefore, based on poor military strategy coupled with severe indecisiveness, the British was lacking and in no way would have triumphed over the Japanese whose only major advantage was their slyness, and who exercised and won based on a rather simple and predictable plan. The plan would have been uncovered by the British had it not been that the British were blinded and lacking.
