Singapore, fall of

Singapore, fall of (World War II) (8–15 Feb. 1942) The largest British army and naval base in Asia and Australia with around 80,000 British, Australian, and Indian troops under A. E. Percival (Wavell) in 1941, Singapore was equipped with strong coastal defences. However, no fortifications had been built against attack from its Malayan hinterland, which was also under British control. After swiftly overrunning Malaya (Malayan campaign), Japanese forces under General Yamashita massed opposite the island of Singapore at the beginning of February 1942. During the night of 7/8 February armoured landing craft crossed the Strait of Johore, followed by many swimming Japanese troops, surprising the garrison of Australian troops opposite. The defenders blew up the single causeway connecting Singapore with its hinterland and retreated. The causeway was quickly repaired by the Japanese who, supported by the superiority of their air force, moved on to the island. On 15 February, Percival surrendered. The fall of Singapore, long perceived as an invincible fortress of the British Empire, symbolized more than any other event the real weakness of Britain's pretensions to defend and control her vast Empire. This provided an important stimulus to colonial independence movements after World War II, and foreshadowed the process of decolonization after 1945.