How did Singapore change during the Japanese occupation ?

During the Japanese occupation , the people's lives changed a lot. The streets of the city were dirty. smelly , unorganised and devastated. Dead bodies lay on the streets, the shops were closed, buildings were damaged too. The soldiers abused and tortured them severely. They kicked and slapped people as they wished, and made some kneel on the roadside for hours. Ones who do not give their respect bows to sentries were tied to lamp posts for the whole day. The soldiers will then returned in the late evening to untie the person , who by that time , was dehydrated , sunburnt and very ill. Other than that , those who listens to illegal radios and was caught , had pencils put into their ears which was then forced inwards. The people's lives were full of sufferings during the occupations and they do not have any freedom.

Other than that, there were not enough food for the people. " Food was so scarce during the occupation that even the grains of rice on the floor were carefully scooped up and eaten. " we can see that the people were so hungry that they cherished the grains of rice that were on the floor and ate it. The quality of the food was nothing rave about too. " we remember the bread we got. It was like rubber. When you throws it, it can bounce. " thus , it really shows that bad the quality of food is during the occupation.

Both quotes adapted from, Fortress Singapore The Battlefield Guide . Informations were also supported by pictures that were taken down, which can prove that these really happened during the Japanese occupation.

                                                  Picking up grains of rice on the floor

Lost of love ones

People got shot by the Japanese every single day

Dead bodies laying around

All pictures adapted from Google

The people were all living in fear. Chaos, panic and looting marked the first day after the surrender. Between 25,000 and 50,000 people were murdered. People lived in fear everyday , feared that they would have no food to consume, feared that the soldiers would kill them anytime ,  feared that there's no tomorrow ...

 

Three reasons why British failed to stop the Japanese attack on Singapore

Main reasons why British failed to stop the Japanese attack on Singapore was because the British far out-numbered the Japanese and Japanese had air superiority and they are much smarter than the British.
The Japanese make a fake attack, and all those fake attacks , they wanted to British to think that they would be attacking from the Northeast. By thinking that way , the British would move their defence supplies from the Northwest to the Northeast.

Secondly, the British didn't think Singapore could be taken from the north, the land side of Singapore.
They thought the Malayan jungle would stop any flanking movements or would severely hamper advances by infantry. But some of the Japanese bicycles from the Malayan people and moved quickly down the Malayan peninsula. And so, the British were not prepared for rapid the advance of the Japanese.

Lastly, the British did not provide the defenders of Singapore with tanks or other heavy armor, believing
 they couldn't be used in the Malayan jungle and they would not be needed if Singapore was attacked from
the sea side, but instead , the Japanese went in by the open backdoor. The Japanese entering for attack was different from the place assumed by the British.

Informations adapted from Fortress Singapore

These information above , were reliable and was supported by http://www.historyproject-2012.blogspot.sg/

From the blog , it says that the Japanese attacked Pulau Ubin and made a intense bombings at Changi, wanting the British to think that the Japanese would attack from the northest. The British moved their defence supplies from the northwest to the northeast , which they predict that would be where the Japanese would attack from. However , it was all planned by the Japanese, and the Japanese went to attack from the northwest, which was one of the reason why the British failed to defence Singapore. Also, the British thought that Singapore could not be attacked from the land, as the physical environment of a jungle was not an ideal territory for the soldiers to move in and attack.

Thus , both sources shows that the Japanese made fake attacks to make the British prediction wrong, and that was why the British failed to protect Singapore. Secondly, both of these sources also mentioned that the British assumption was wrong, they thought that their enemy's soldiers would not attack from the jungles. Hence , these informations are most likely to be true.

History Project

                              CHAPTER 6 : HOW DID WORLD WAR II AFFECT SINGAPORE?

 

Before world war 2 , Sinagpore was protected by 20 over big cannons and 2 battle cruisers, which were known as unbeatable. The british had 137,000 soldiers. However, the Japanese still managed to beat them, in terms of both quality and quantity. The British therefore called Singapore the impregnable fortress. Singapore was considered well defended for possible enemy attack as they  had big guns guarded against a frontal attack from the sea, but the Japanese came in by the open backdoor instead of attacking from the sea. Singapore had no plans to defend or counter an attack at the rear. The guns in Singapore defences were designed to deter an attack by the squadron of armoured cruisers, accompanied by about 2,000 men. There were five 9.2 inch guns and four 6inch guns for the defence of keppel harbour.

Informations adpated from , " Operation Matador "

These informations are reliable. According to the book named " Singapore At War " by Romen Bose,

it says that Singapore was well considered well protected. However, they did not thought that the Japanese would out-smart them. Singapore was protected by a few 9inch guns well as well 6 inch guns. About 20 cannons and 2 battle cruisers were place at the sea to guard against an attack from the sea by the Japanese.

Thus , both sources say that Singapore was protected well, but the Japanese still managed to win the British.