The Men Who Lost Singapore 1938 1942

The British military failure against the Japanese invasion of Singapore in 1942 is a well-documented and closely examined episode. While attention is frequently drawn to the role of the Colonial Governor and his staff during this period, the participation of the civil authorities has not been subjected to the same rigorous scrutiny. In this book, Ronald McCrum undertakes a close examination of the role and the responsibilities of the colonial authorities both in the lead-up to the war and during it. He contends that the colonial government, by pursuing different priorities, needlessly created distraction and confusion. Additionally, the poor, even hostile, relations that developed between the local government and the British military hierarchy impeded a joint approach to the growing threat and affected the course of this campaign. McCrum displays how the tawdry managementof civil defence matters led to unnecessary loss of civilian life.

This is the first biography of Sir Robert Brooke-Popham, a key figure in the early development of airpower, whose significant and varied achievements have been overlooked because of his subsequent involvement in the fall of Singapore. It highlights Brooke-Popham’s role in developing the first modern military logistic system, the creation of the Royal Air Force Staff College and the organizational arrangements that underpinned Fighter Command’s success in the Battle of Britain. Peter Dye challenges longstanding views about performance as Commander-in-Chief Far East and, based on new evidence, offers a more nuanced narrative that sheds light on British and Allied preparations for the Pacific War, inter-service relations and the reasons for the disastrous loss of air and naval superiority that followed the Japanese attack. “The Man Who Took the Rap” highlights the misguided attempts at deterrence, in the absence of a coordinated information campaign, and the unprecedented security lapse that betrayed the parlous state of the Allied defenses.

During World War II, agents of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) infiltrated Japanese-occupied Malaya. There they worked with Malayan guerrilla groups, including the communist-sponsored Malayan Peoples Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA), regarded as the precursor of the communist insurgent army of the Malayan Emergency. This book traces the development of SOE's Malayan operations, and analyses the interactions between SOE and the various guerrilla groups. It explores the reasons for and the extent of Malay disillusionment with Japanese rule, and demonstrates how guerrilla service acted as a training ground for some later Malay leaders of the independent nation. However, the reports written about the MPAJA by SOE operatives just after the war failed to draw out the likely future threat posed by the communists to the returning colonial administration. Rebecca Kenneison shows that the British possessed a wealth of local information, but failed to convert it into active intelligence in the period prior to the Malayan Emergency. In doing so she provides new insights into the impact of SOE on Malayan politics, the nature of Malayan communism's challenge to colonial rule, and British post-war intelligence in Malaya.

We always hear the names Raffles or Farquhar whenever we discuss Singapore’s early history. But what of the many other pioneers who were just as important? What are their stories? Accompanied by lively, charming illustrations, Pioneers of Singapore brings you the accounts of thirty-five key figures in Singapore’s colonial history. Some of them include: - Who broke up one of the biggest communal riots in Singapore? - Who founded the first hospital in Singapore that was built entirely without help from the government? - Who produced the first comprehensive map of Singapore and designed most of its early buildings? Read on as our forefathers come to life with the help of comic artist Alan Bay (Once Upon a Singapore… Traders)’s beautiful artwork, as the 2004 bestseller returns in an all-new coloured edition!

We always hear the names Raffles or Farquhar whenever we discuss Singapore’s early history. But what of the many other pioneers who were just as important? What are their stories? Accompanied by lively, charming illustrations, Pioneers of Singapore brings you the accounts of thirty-five key figures in Singapore’s colonial history. Some of them include: Who broke up one of the biggest communal riots in Singapore? Who founded the first hospital in Singapore that was built entirely without help from the government? Who produced the first comprehensive map of Singapore and designed most of its early buildings? Read on as our forefathers come to life with the help of comic artist Alan Bay’s beautiful artwork, as the 2004 bestseller returns in an all-new coloured edition!

This book provides a day-by-day history of the Malayan Campaign and the Fall of Singapore from the first alerts as the British prepared to move their forces on to a war footing on 29 November, through the fighting, to the Japanese imposing their rule on the Chinese in Singapore on 26 February - a total of 90 days. For each of the 90 days, all the major developments - military and political - are detailed along with information on every Allied soldier who died on that day.

Shortly after midnight on December 8, 1941, two divisions of 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. Singapore's defenders finally capitulated on February 15, to prevent the wholesale pillage of the city itself. Their rapid and total defeat was nothing less than military humiliation and political disaster. 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.