Fall of Singapore 1942

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Grim situation in Singapore

By 31 January 1942, all British Empire forces had withdrawn from the Malay Peninsula onto Singapore Island.

Morale was fairly low among the battle-weary troops. Since 14 January, more than 800 Australians had died fighting in Malaya or were missing in action. Hundreds of others had fallen ill or were injured.

By 5 February, some 85,000 Allied troops were stationed in Singapore. About 15,000 were engaged in base, administrative or non-combat duties. About 70,000 men were assigned to combat units, including:

• 21 British Indian Army infantry battalions
• 13 British Army infantry battalions, 2 machine-gun battalions and a reconnaissance battalion
• 6 Australian Imperial Force (AIF) infantry battalions and one machine-gun battalion
• 3 Straits Settlements Volunteer Force infantry battalions
• 2 Malay infantry battalions.

The numbers do not give a true picture of strength. Many of the units had recently arrived and were only partially trained for combat. Some lacked men, and they all lacked equipment and supplies. Many of the men were unfit for combat.

Recently arrived Allied troops were shocked by the apparent lack of defences on the island. They were certain the Japanese army would advance on Singapore any day.

Only one well-trained reinforcement unit arrived in Singapore from Australia, the 2/4th Machine Gun Battalion. Other last-minute AIF reinforcements were inadequately trained and ill-equipped for a battle.

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Defence of Singapore map

Aerial bombardment

The Japanese began their aerial bombardment of Singapore Island at the same time as the conflict on the Malay Peninsula began.

The first air raid was shortly after 4 am on 8 December 1941.

After the collapse of Allied defences in Malaya, the Japanese dominated the air. Air raids over Singapore occurred daily from about mid-January. They were routine, powerful and effective.

Formations of many bombers escorted by fighter planes targeted the island's 4 main airfields. They also dropped bombs on outlying suburbs and villages, killing hundreds of civilians and injuring more than 1,000.

As the Japanese invading force reached the Strait of Johore, the aerial bombardment intensified. The warplanes were supported by artillery fire from mainland Malaya, less than a mile away. The bombardment aimed to disrupt Allied artillery and communications.

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Amphibious invasion

The Japanese executed their invasion of Singapore Island through 2 amphibious landings.

On the night of 8 February 1942, the first landing of 16 infantry battalions took place. They used collapsible boats, small landing craft and pontoons. They landed in the north-west of the island, where the Straits of Johor are narrowest. The area offered rivers, roads and places to hide while assembling guns.

At the time, the landing area was held by the 22nd Australian Infantry Brigade, which lacked troops and had no reserve battalion.

Late that night, Japanese troops made their way through undefended sections of the island. Their objective was to capture Tengah airfield by the next morning.

The next night, on 9 February, a battalion of the 4th Guards Regiment landed between the Causeway and the mouth of the Kranji River. Barges were spotted approaching the shore at about 8:30 pm.

At the time, this area was held by the 27th Australian Infantry Brigade.

The second landing was planned as a feint, but it helped to contain Allied forces and gain access to the main road into Singapore City.

By the morning of 10 February, Japanese troops were across most of north-west Singapore. At 4:30 am, they destroyed oil tanks in the Causeway sector. Some 2 million gallons of petrol caught alight, and the flaming liquid spread into creeks and out into the straits.

The Australian, British and Indian troops tried to hold the Japanese along various defensive lines. Resistance caused heavy Japanese casualties, but the Australian battalions eventually withdrew and conceded the Causeway sector to the Japanese.

An Allied counterattack on the night of 10 to 11 February failed.

After 2 days of combat, many depleted Allied battalions had to be reorganised into composite units.

On 12 February, the Australian commander, General Henry (Gordon) Bennett, began moving his 8th Division AIF units into a perimeter just a few kilometres out of the city.

By 13 February, the Japanese were within 5 km of the Singapore waterfront. The entire city was now within range of Japanese artillery.

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Unconditional surrender

By 14 February, the Japanese had captured Singapore's reservoirs and pumping stations.

The bombing, fighting and heavy shelling continued. Many of the Allied troops wandered aimlessly. The hospitals were crowded and overflowing. Some troops had deserted, and others had become separated from their units. Hard fighting continued.

On 15 February, at 4 pm, the British commander in Singapore, Lieutenant General Arthur Percival, called for a ceasefire. He made the difficult decision to surrender.

The water supply on Singapore Island had virtually dried up. Petrol and military supplies were running low. The constant bombardments of the city were causing shocking civilian casualties.

Percival realised that his only options were to fight to the death or surrender. He personally arranged the ceasefire and signed the surrender document at the Ford factory that same evening.

After days of desperate fighting, all British Empire soldiers were ordered to lay down their arms at 8:30 pm that night. More than 100,000 troops became prisoners of war (POWs), together with hundreds of European civilians who were interned.

For most of the Australian, British, Indian and other troops holding the forward lines, the surrender came as a shock. Many had thought they would fight on in a 'death or glory stunt'. Gunner William (Ronald) Houlahan, 2/15th Field Regiment, wrote down his impressions of that fateful day:

At 1530 hours we get ceasefire orders [and] believe that peace negotiations are going on. Just after dark we are moving, we are told, into a smaller perimeter near Tanglin Barracks. A lot of ammo is left behind. Along the road we hear lots of rumours that the Japs have retired and we are going forward. The CO's driver told me the peace terms have been signed between Britain & Japan. But soon we learn the truth. We have to line all the guns & trucks up at the gardens. All called together by our T C ['Troop Commander'] and were told we were prisoners of war.

[Houlahan diary, 15 February 1942, AWM PR88/052]

Despite his instruction to Australian troops to stay at their posts, General Bennett controversially escaped with 2 of his staff officers from Singapore on the night of the surrender. He eventually reached Australia.

Many other troops tried to evade capture. Some deserted in the last days of fighting. Others made a break for it when they heard of the surrender. However, there weren't enough boats to get more than a few people off the island.

Most of the weary Allied troops resigned themselves to their fate and became POWs. At least the long days and nights of desperate fighting had come to an end.

It had taken the Japanese just 70 days to crush the British Empire forces in Singapore and Malaya.

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Aftermath

After Singapore fell to the Japanese, they continued driving south. The war came to be fought on Australia's doorstep. Japanese forces bombed Darwin and Broome in February 1942, and northern Australia experienced regular air raids for months.

Further south, Japanese submarines attacked Newcastle and Sydney Harbour in mid-1942.

Australians fought in key campaigns to the immediate north of the country and served on the home front. Their efforts were crucial in halting the Japanese advance and in contributing to Japan's eventual defeat.

FALL OF SINGAPORE (1942) newsclip

Many of the POWs were held in the Changi internee camps and the Changi prison. From these camps, some 13,000 Australian POWs went to work on the notorious Burma-Thailand Railway. It became known as the Death Railway due to the brutal conditions. By the time the 415 km line was finished in October 1943, about 2,700 Australian POWs had died working on the project.

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Experiences of Australians

Jack Lennox's death in a prison hospital

Australian rugby league player John Patrick 'Jack' Lennox served in the Army during the war.

Originally from Mudgee, Jack played at Sydney University while studying to become a teacher. Then he played for St George and South Sydney over 5 seasons. He was playing centre for St George's first grand final side in 1930.

When the war started in 1939, Jack was teaching at Cessnock, where he also played rugby league and coached junior players.

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Jack enlisted in the Army on 19 May 1941 at Paddington in Sydney. He served as a gunner with the 2/15th Field Regiment.

The Japanese captured Jack during the Fall of Singapore. He was originally sent to Changi prison but was later transferred to work on the Burma-Thailand Railway. He was said to be a great help to his fallen comrades, taking on their extra duties so they would not get punished by the guards.

Jack fell ill in April 1943 and spent the last months of his life in a crowded hut at Thanbyuzayat Hospital Camp. He died there in December 1943.

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Jack O'Donnell's wartime diary

Jack Herbert O'Donnell was born in Singleton, New South Wales, on 27 May 1909. He enlisted in the Army at Paddington, in Sydney, on 18 June 1941.

Assigned to the Army Medical Corps' 10th Australian General Hospital (AGH), Sergeant Jack O'Donnell was captured by the Japanese while serving in Malaya.

Jack kept a secret diary during his imprisonment at Changi.

Bombs were being dropped around us continuously this day. Casualties were coming in thick and fast. About mid-day the Japanese decided to give us a taste of their HE (High explosive shells) and concentrated on the Cathay [Building]. Shell after shell hit us and huge pieces of concrete, shrapnel etc were flying. We received 17 direct hits and numerous near misses.

An ambulance out front caught fire and the whole building was enveloped in smoke and fumes. At this stage, I'm afraid most of us were quite prepared to meet our Maker as it didn't seem possible that the eight storeys above us could withstand much more without collapsing on top of us.

At one stage volunteers had to be called to unload an ambulance of wounded. Four Field Ambulance chappies immediately raced outside and brought them in, while one poor chap was left on his own for only a minute or so, but his screams above the exploding shells and falling masonry are something I'll never forget.

These same Ambulance boys brought him in too. Theirs was indeed a heroic deed and worthy of the DCM [Distinguished Conduct Medal] which I believe they have been recommended for. They faced almost certain death but came through it unscathed.

After lunch rumour had it that we had asked for cessation of fire at 4pm while a parley took place. This rumour was the only correct one we heard and the cease-fire order was given.

Singapore had taken a terrific battering this day. Water and sanitation were disrupted while the dead were lying around in thousands. All essential services with the exception of the electric light had been blown kite high.

At 2000 hours that night, and things were now deathly quiet, all arms in our building were collected, the men marched out with their gear; an official announcement was made that the island had accepted unconditional surrender and we must consider ourselves prisoners of war.

[Sergeant Jack Herbert O'Donnell, 10th AGH, personal diary entry, 15 February 1942, the day of the Allied surrender.]

By 15 February, the nurses had all been evacuated from Singapore, and the hospitals were overflowing with wounded men, cared for by male orderlies.

St Andrew's Cathedral was crammed with sick and wounded men. Doctors had improvised an operating theatre in one of the smaller annexes. Bombing and shells caused further chaos. Shrapnel came through the windows. Men were wounded for a second, third or fourth time. On the last day of the fighting, a shell came through the roof of the cathedral and exploded. It killed 16 men. Another 8 died later from their wounds.

We were in the cathedral. The smoke was going up all over the place. You could see the huge oil fires burning. There were lots of people running around and lots of people killed. I think about 12 o'clock the adjutant called me in and he said, 'Look at this'. And there's a message: 'Destroy all heavy equipment by 4 o'clock.' I said, 'God, it must be the surrender.' So we got to work very busily doing all sorts of destruction, or they did, I was pretty busy trying to do some surgery. I spent half my day giving anaesthetics on the baptismal font.

[Captain Des Brennan quoted in Hank Nelson, Australians under Nippon, Sydney, 1985, p 17.]

Biographies

Vaughan Griffin

Mostyn (Moss) Berryman

Charles Anderson

Oral history interviews

Bart Richardson's veteran story

Bill Ennis's veteran story

Derek Holyoake's story

Fall of Singapore

Gordon Jamieson's veteran story

James Kerr's veteran story

John Abrahams's story

John Gilmour's veteran story

Leslie Glover's veteran story

Maurie Deed's veteran story

Norm Dillon's veteran story

Norman Anderton's veteran story

Robert Goodwin's veteran story

Evacuations from Singapore

Official evacuations from Singapore began in late January 1942 and continued until almost the last moment.

Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) squadrons evacuated before the Japanese invaded the island.

The remaining Royal Australian Navy (RAN) warships were ordered to leave.

The warships' main operational tasks were escort duties. The fleet, based in Singapore, included the destroyer HMAS Vampire and the sloop HMAS Yarra, along with several corvettes.

The corvettes in the 21st Minesweeping Flotilla swept the sea lanes and conducted anti-submarine patrols. HMA Ships Toowoomba, Wollongong and Ballarat reinforced the original 4 corvettes, HMA Ships Bendigo, Burnie, Goulburn and Maryborough.

Some merchant ships also left Singapore carrying evacuees.

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Nurses ordered to leave

Fearing for nurses' safety, they were ordered to evacuate the island.

Although reluctant to leave when there was so much work to be done, 59 Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS) nurses and physiotherapists left Singapore on MV Empire Star on 11 February 1942. The ship carried more than 2,000 evacuees, including civilians.

Japanese bombers attacked the Empire Star the next day.

Two of the nursing sisters who dragged wounded men to safety were decorated for their courage. Sister Margaret Anderson was awarded the George Medal for her actions. Sister Vera Torney was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE). Sister Anderson's portrait and medals are on display at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.

The nursing sisters on the Empire Star reached safety in Australia despite the Japanese attack.

The remaining 65 AANS nurses sailed from Singapore on the SS Vyner Brooke on 12 February 1942.

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Bangka Island massacre

Two days after leaving Singapore, and within half an hour of reaching Sumatra, the Vyner Brooke was bombed and sunk.

Twelve of the nurses drowned or were killed in the water. The rest struggled ashore on Japanese-occupied Bangka Island. Some had spent more than 60 hours in the water.

Among them was 26-year-old Captain Vivian Bullwinkel from Kapunda in South Australia.

On 16 February, at Radji Beach, Japanese soldiers ordered 22 nurses and one civilian woman into the sea. They were machine-gunned.

Sister Bullwinkel survived, lying in the water until the troops left. Unable to survive in the jungle, she later surrendered and spent the rest of the war interned with her colleagues on Bangka Island and later on Sumatra.

The nurses in captivity experienced shocking living conditions, with 8 dying during captivity.

Of the 65 nurses who sailed on the Vyner Brooke, only 24 survived and returned to Australia at the end of the war. Read Nurse survivors of the Vyner Brooke.

Bullwinkel retired from the army in 1947 and became Director of Nursing at Melbourne's Fairfield Hospital. She had a distinguished career as an ambassador for nursing and veterans’ associations.

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Commemoration

Australians commemorate the anniversary of the Fall of Singapore and the service and sacrifice of all Australian prisoners of war on 15 February each year.

To mark the 75th anniversary in 2017, the Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA) held a national service at the Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial in Ballarat, Victoria. DVA organised the event in association with the Trustees of the Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial. It was broadcast live on the ABC.