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The Japanese Empire captured the British stronghold of Singapore, with fighting lasting from 8 to 15 February 1942. 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 capture of Singapore resulted in the largest British surrender in ...
Singapore was hit by the first Japanese bombs on 8 December 1941. The Japanese forces initially focused on invading Malaya (present-day Peninsular Malaysia), which they captured within 55 days . They captured Johor Bahru by 31 January 1942, with the British forces retreating to Singapore and blowing up the Johor-Singapore Causeway , which ...
A tense encounter began when a Japanese officer reportedly remarked, "You are two hours late," only to be met with the reply, "We don't keep Tokyo time here." [21] By 18:00, the Japanese had surrendered their forces on the island. An estimated 77,000 Japanese troops from Singapore were captured, plus another 26,000 from Malaya. [18]
(The Japanese had increased surveillance of the area since Operation Jaywick.) It is unclear why the patrol boat approached the Mustika – various theories offered included: the ship flew the wrong flag; it was a suspicious size; the sailors were identified as white men, and not Malays.
This was the first major sabotage since the Japanese had captured the island. The loss of ships in such an important place was an enormous blow to Japanese prestige. Scott and his fellow internees supposed that the saboteurs must have been Chinese guerrillas who had slipped across the straits from their base in Malaya. Sumida, however, believed ...
On the night of 25/26 September 1943, they paddled into the harbour and placed limpet mines on several Japanese ships before returning to their hiding spot. The mines exploded early on 26 September, and were reported to have sunk seven Japanese transport ships, [5] comprising over 39,000 tons between them.
The Japanese garrison in Penang surrendered on 2 September and the Royal Marines recaptured George Town the following day. Meanwhile, the Allied fleet arrived off Singapore on 4 September and accepted the surrender of the Japanese forces stationed on the island. A formal surrender ceremony was held in downtown Singapore on 12 September.
The Japanese bombers launched their attack with precision, scoring seven near misses and three direct hits, which violently shook the ship. The bombers also strafed the deck, while her crew returned fire ineffectively due to their antiquated weaponry. [3] As the bombers turned for a second run, several crew members leapt overboard to escape.