empires of the undergrowth final release date

The Japanese held Singapore until the end of the war. Three days after the British surrender, the Japanese began the Sook Ching purge, killing thousands of civilians. About 80,000 British, Indian, Australian and local troops became prisoners of war, joining the 50,000 taken in Malaya many died of neglect, abuse or forced labour. The Japanese were also almost at the end of their supplies and Yamashita wanted to avoid costly house-to-house fighting.įor the second time since the battle began, Yamashita demanded unconditional surrender and on the afternoon of February 15, Percival capitulated. Japanese aircraft continuously bombed the civilian water supply which was expected to fail within days. By 15 February, about a million civilians in the city were crammed into the remaining area held by Allied forces, 1 per cent of the island.

The Japanese advance continued and the Allies began to run out of supplies.

Communication and leadership failures beset the Allies and there were few defensive positions or reserves near the beachhead. Percival had expected a crossing in the north and failed to reinforce the defenders in time. The Japanese attacked the weakest part of the island defences and established a beachhead on 8 February. Singapore was considered so important that Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered Percival to fight to the last man. The British destroyed the causeway, forcing the Japanese into an improvised crossing of the Johore Strait. The British outnumbered the Japanese but much of the water for the island was drawn from reservoirs on the mainland. The British Lieutenant-General, Arthur Percival, commanded 85,000 Allied troops at Singapore, although many units were under-strength and most units lacked experience.

The British erroneously considered the jungle terrain impassable, leading to a swift Japanese advance as Allied defences were quickly outflanked.

The capture of Singapore resulted in the largest British surrender in its history.īefore the battle, Japanese General Tomoyuki Yamashita had advanced with approximately 30,000 men down the Malayan Peninsula in the Malayan campaign. Singapore was the foremost British military base and economic port in South–East Asia and had been of great importance to British interwar defence strategy. The Japanese Empire captured the British stronghold of Singapore, with fighting lasting from 8 to 15 February 1942. The fall of Singapore, also known as the Battle of Singapore, took place in the South–East Asian theatre of the Pacific War.

Empires of the undergrowth final release date