Singapore-calm before the storm

[Zaf1]

Hi

The British fortress in Singapore in 1941 was among the strongest in the world. It was defended by soldiers from all over the British Empire.

[Zaf1]

The British depended on the air force to defend Malaya. Many were from the Australian air force

[Zaf1]

The Singapore Island was defended by large 15 inch guns among the largest in the world and other type of artillery, mostly pointed towards the sea.

[Bridgitte]

Hi Zaf

A large part of the problems of the Malayan and Singapore defeat were the perceptions in Whitehall and among the Defence Staffs that Singapore was 'An Impregnable Fortress'

[Fatboy Coxy]

Can you believe those hats the Australian pilots are wearing they look ridiculous

[AVV]

Greetings, Zaf1!

Thanks for the photos! They show that defenders of Singapore were really multinational...

Best regards, Aleks

[Bridgitte]

Yes Coxy!
they look like they should be in Rudyard Kipling's Army!
they are the the Issue Pith helmets 'Solar Topees' that were issued to all Commonwealth and Royal Air Force units as part of Tropical Kit issue. There is a famous picture of Lt Gen Percival wearing one when he arrived in Singapore in May 1941 (he looks typically ridiculous as well..)

[Peter H]

From ebay,seller dixie_auctions

Australian engineers,not certain what AIF Pioneers served in Malaya

[Zaf1]

Hi,

The British forces were truly international but with all these very different language it was problematic to give command quickly. The Japanese being just Japanese soldiers they could order command very quickly and soldiers could understand order fast with quicker result.

The different religions of these soldiers also made rations problematical. The Indian Moslem soldiers couldn't eat food with pork while Hindu soldiers couldn't eat beef meat.

In Sarawak Percival had SarForce to defend the Kuching airfield which was devoid of planes and the oil fields. These soldiers contain Indian soldiers and even some primitive Dayak head hunter militias!

The other problem is that most of the Indian soldiers were young and green soldiers who didn't know how to shoot their weapons effectively. The British Indian army were milked off with their officers who were assigned to teach new Indian recruits, so they were rather weak army.

[Fatboy Coxy]

The last photo is interesting. They look to be carrying a pontoon foot bridge. Does anyone know if that is standard engineering equipment or would this have been locally made?

The soldier on the right appears to have a Pith helmet, or maybe my eyes are dodgy. Is he an officer, or an engineer and the rest are infantry seconded for this purpose. Another Pith helmet is seen on the extreme right of the photo. A second officer/engineer? But to confuse us more look at the sixth guy back on the left. Another Pith helemt? so maybe a small engineering detachment with extra Australian infantry drafted in! Or maybe we have a unit wearing a mix of both hats?

Steve

[Peter H]

From ebay,seller tiqu

August 1941:

"...food for those defending Singapore...the thousands of soldiers now entrenched here are prepared to defend the city from possible attack by Japanese operating out of bases in Indochina.."

[Peter H]

Same source.

February 1941:

"...Singapore stands to her guns..Britain's Gilbraltar in the East.."

[Peter H]

Same source.

10th Dec 1941,Brewster Buffaloes:

"...American-built fighting planes sweep over dense Malayan jungle in the Singapore area.."

[Zaf1]

Hi Peter,

Thanks for these photos. Do you know what type of guns these were? These guns were facing westward so it's possible that the location was on the west coast of Singapore Island.

Regards

Zaf

[Zaf1]

This piece of equipment was for plotting the target on a map for the artillery to fire on