Fall of Singapore

Singapore was the keystone of British power in Asia, and its loss on 15 February 1942 showed how quickly the old empires could fall. Japanese forces advanced down the Malayan peninsula and crossed to the island with a force about half the size of its defenders, then took the surrender of the garrison within a week of landing. Around 80,000 British, Indian and Australian troops became prisoners at once, many later forced to work on the Burma-Siam railway. Churchill called it the worst disaster and largest capitulation in British history. For the region's people, especially its Chinese community, it began more than three years of occupation, and the defeat badly damaged British prestige across Asia long after 1945.