The 15th of February marks the anniversary of when General Arthur Percival, the commander of all Allied forces in Singapore, formally surrendered to the Imperial Japanese Army, under the command of General Yamashita. This was a disaster on an epic massive scale, that is unimaginable today. Churchill was totally shocked and called it the “worst disaster” in British military history. Indeed, it was the largest surrender of British led forces in history. About 80,000 British, Indian, Australian and Malay Straits troops in Singapore became prisoners of
war, joining 50,000 taken by the Japanese in the earlier Malayan campaign. That’s a total of some 130,000 persons. Many would later die performing forced labour in horrific conditions.
Presented by Nigel Rogers The Fall of Singapore
Duration 44 minutes