Singapore-calm before the storm

[Zaf1]

A Wirraway on an airfield

[Zaf1]

A decoy Hudson made by local kite makers at Kota Bharu airfield

[Zaf1]

Several Bristol Blenheims on an airfield

[Zaf1]

Brewster Buffalo Model 339E Mk I arriving from the US in crates

[Zaf1]

In early 1940, the British Purchasing Commission ordered a total of 170 Model 339Es in two separate contracts under the British designation Buffalo Mk. I. This was a major turnaround, since as recently as October of 1939 the British Air Ministry had declared the Brewster fighter as unsuitable for RAF use. However, they were deemed suitable for use in the Far East.

The first three production Model 339Es were sent to Great Britain in April of 1941 for trials. The remaining Buffalos of the British order were shipped directly to the Far East to serve with units in Malaya, Singapore and Burma. The first Buffalos arrived in Singapore in the spring of 1941.

[Peter H]

Zaf

What's the source for your nice photos?

/Peter

[Zaf1]

Hi Peter,

I find the photos from LIFE images website.

Regards

Zaf

[Bridgitte]

The Loyals (North Lancashire) Battalion Marching down Temple Road into Singapore. The Loyals were part of the Singapore 'Fortress' Defences along with the Manchester Regiment and The Gordon Highlanders.

[Zaf1]

There is a pillbox on the left of this photo. The British built many pillboxes in Malaya and Singapore as part of Fortress Singapore defence. This type of static defence was rather ineffective. After WW1 the military concluded from such battlefields as the Somme and Verdun the defence always won against waves of charging troops, thus both British and French built static strong points such as the defence at the Maginot Line. It merely give the defenders a false sense of security and in actual battles with evolving modern strategy this usually lead to disaster.

[AVV]

Greetings!

A decoy Hudson made by local kite makers at Kota Bharu airfield

A good job - this decoy looks like real plane even from the ground...

Best regards, Aleks

[Bridgitte]

well spotted Zaf!

I had noticed it, and the black and white warning paint on the road kerb and base of pillbox.

[Bridgitte]

I agree with the comments about static defence, however if such defences are employed properly - with several 'stop' lines and an integrated defence (Machine gun posts/kill zones/interlocking fields of fire and defences being positioned as to support each other) then they can work.

Ironically, In order for the boasted Fortress Singapore to be a reality, these sorts of defences needed to exist - and due to civillian and economic pressure they were not built in any considerable size.

Major General Simmons who was the Fortress Commander in Singapore under Percival requested that fixed defences should be built, but Percival said 'Defences are bad for morale' - and Shenton Thomas and the business community said that all efforts should be channeled into ecoinomic activity and producing goods for the empire.

[Zaf1]

Hi Bridgette,

I do agree that pillbox defence does work but the condition in Malaya at that time didn't make it work effectively for the British. A major example would be the pillboxes at Kota Bharu beach which were defended by the Dogras. It did work well but there are several reason it was lost:
-The 8th Indian Brigade practically thinly overstretched in Kelantan on beach defence, that even a small penetration could be breached by a determined assault. There were no secondary line of defence, or defence in depth at all.
-The two Dogra company were out-numbered and overwhelmed by an entire brigade detachment around 3 full battalion of infantries and artillery units. There were around 6-9 soldiers in a pillbox. The soldiers in the pillbox had ran out of bullets and there were no resupply or reinforcements.
-The Japanese soldiers that landed initially were unable to lift even their head, but since the sand of the beach were soft type they dug trench lines easily under barbed wires and land mines with whatever they had on hand including their helmets.

Percival was quite wrong to say that defence are bad for the morale. He should have built pillboxes on the northern shore of Singapore Island. I think he did see that all those pillboxes built in northern Malaya was mostly abandoned and the retreating troops had always thought that they would be saved when reaching Fortress Singapore so that's why the troops were quite eager to retreat. Percival could be partially right. One of the reason France was defeated was because of the 'fortress mentality' of the Maginot Line. The British in general regards that the Malayan jungle itself as a formidable barrier so hardly need to build more pillbox defences.

Regards

Zaf

[Zaf1]

The British didn't have any tanks in Malaya and Singapore but had quite a lot of Bren gun carrier. It was a small open-topped and lightly armed with a machine gun armored vehicles. It was not effective compare to Japanese tanks

[Zaf1]

The soldier is armed with a Thompson sub-machine gun, also known as a Tommy gun