During World War 2, the Japanese achieved a great victory over Britain through their conquest of Malaysia and Japan. This not only killed British morale but also marked the beginning of the end of the British Empire in Asia.
Singapore, known as "The Lion City", became a British colony in the early 19th century due to a treaty between Sir Raffles and the Sultan of Johor which granted the British East India Company the right to establish a trading post on Singapore. Singapore, which quickly established itself as a world trading power due to its perfect location, was invaded by Japan as a result of Malaysia's trade embargo during World War 2.
Japan first attacked Malaysia concurrently with Pearl Harbor in an effort to keep the US out of the war in Southeast Asia. Though outnumbered, the Japanese were far superior in terms of strategy and the consolidation of forces in comparison to the British. The adept Japanese air force was able to sink the British capital ships and soldiers used bikes to be able to move through the dense forests in the Malay Peninsula efficiently.
Britain, focused on protecting their most important trading port, had built a naval base and huge forts such as Fort Siloso along the coastline. Knowing Singapore was impenetrable from the sea, the Japanese planes dropped bombs over Singapore and advanced from Malaysia into the backside of Singapore in an area now known as the Woodlands. Because the Japanese had rode into Singapore on bikes, this is known as the Bicycle Blitzkrieg.*
The Japanese captured Singapore and their occupation lasted from 1942 to 1945 and had a disastrous effect on the Singaporeans. The Japanese military police introduced a policy known as "肃清/Sook Ching" or "purging through purification" to get rid of those deemed as threats to the Japanese leadership. This policy mainly targeted the Chinese Singaporeans and resulted in the death of 25,000 - 50,000 of them. They also attacked hospitals and killed hundreds of patients. Locals were forced to learn Japanese or suffer the consequences and thousands of Japanese propaganda posters were distributed everywhere. Additionally, people were forced to give up their names and take Japanese ones and had to use "banana money".
The occupation ended as a result of US intervention in the war. After the detonation of two atomic bombs dropped by the US over Japan, the Japanese Emperor announced the surrender of Japan to the Allies via 玉音放送 (The Jewel Voice Broadcast). Less than a month later the formal surrender of the Japanese forces in the region occurred. Singapore went back to Britain temporarily but gained its independence through the rise of Lee Kuan Yew, who ironically had almost been killed due to Sook Ching.
Sources:
https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_2013-07-19_113523.html
https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/PTO/RisingSun/BicycleBlitz/index.html
*Having grown up in Singapore and attended school in the Woodlands, I had nightmares about this for years.
It's really cool how you wrote about something that applied directly to your growing up in Singapore. I thought the part about the Japanese using bikes to win the war was especially interesting. It turns out, the Japanese could have used horses to fight but decided to use bikes. Bikes gave the Japanese more mobility and allowed the Japanese to cover 1120-km-long peninsula in less than 70 days. The use of bikes also surprised and confused the British defenders. The bicycles also allowed the Japanese to catch up to their enemies that were retreating.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.welovecycling.com/wide/2019/06/28/japanese-style-bicycle-blitzkrieg/