The Defence and Fall of Singapore 1940-1942 - Softcover

Shortly after midnight on the 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 out manoeuvred on the ground, overwhelmed in the air and scattered on the sea. By the end of January 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 all-out assault, the defenders were quickly pushed back into a corner from which there was no escape. Singapore’s defenders capitulated on February 15th, to prevent the wholesale pillage of the city itself. Their rapid and total defeat was nothing less than military humiliation and political disaster.

The surrender of Singapore was described by Winston Churchill as "the worst disaster and largest capitulation in British military history." 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.

Brian P. Farrell is Associate Professor in Military History at the National University of Singapore, where he has taught for over ten years. He is an authority on British Empire military history and in particular the fall of Singapore in 1942. His other books include Between Two Oceans: A Military History of Singapore of which he was co-author. He has contributed extensively to TV and radio documentaries on the fall of Singapore, and was historical consultant for the BBC World Service's Fall of Singapore radio documentary and a contributor to Channel 4's Military Blunders episode on Singapore. He lives in Singapore.