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- Battle of Singapore during the Second World War -


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World War 2 Two II WW2 WWII 1939 1945

Battle of Singapore



   Battle of Singapore or Fall of Singapore took place between the 8th and 15th of February 1942, resulting in the capture of over 80,000 British, Australian and Indian troops with around 5,000 killed or wounded.

 

4th Sept 1939 On Alert

10th Sept 1939  Dispatched to Singapore

February 1940 Moving north

May 1940 Move to Middle East

12th March 1941 New Squadron formed

22nd July 1941 Japanese move into French Indochine

8th Oct 1941 Move

9th Dec 1941 Aircraft attacked on the ground

10th Dec 1941 Withdrawal to Singapore

12th Dec 1941 Squadron destroyed

7th January 1942 60 Squadron dispersed

13th Jan 1942 On the Move

13th Jan 1942 Arrival

23rd Jan 1942 Move to Sumatra

24th Jan 1942 On the Move

25th Jan 1942 Withdrawal

25th Jan 1942 Withdrawal

26th Jan 1942 On the Move

27th Jan 1942 On the Move

29th Jan 1942 On the Move

30th Jan 1942 On the Move

3rd Feb 1942 Reliefs

4th Feb 1942 Shelling

4th Feb 1942 Reliefs

5th Feb 1942 Defence Work

6th Feb 1942 Defence Work

7th Feb 1942 Defence Work

7th Feb 1942 Patrol

8th February 1942 Retreat from Singapore

8th Feb 1942 Patrol

9th Feb 1942 Demolition

9th Feb 1942 On the Move

9th Feb 1942 Enemy Landing

10th Feb 1942 Defence Work

11th Feb 1942 Defence Work

11th Feb 1942 Enemy Landing

12th Feb 1942 On the Move

12th Feb 1942 Withdrawal

13th Feb 1942 Attack Made

13th February 1942  In Action

14th Feb 1942 Enemy Advance

15th Feb 1942 In Action

15th Feb 1942 In Action

15th February 1942  In Action

15th Feb 1942 Over Run

15th Feb 1942 Capture

17th February 1942  On the March

20th Feb 1942 Prisoners


If you can provide any additional information, please add it here.





Those known to have fought in

Battle of Singapore

during the Second World War 1939-1945.

The names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed, please Add a Name to this List



The Wartime Memories Project is the original WW1 and WW2 commemoration website.

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Want to know more about Battle of Singapore ?


There are:285 items tagged Battle of Singapore available in our Library

  These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Second World War.


2nd Lt. Edward W. Freeman Royal Engineers

I am in search of my late grandfather Edward W Freeman who was an Ex.British army officer in the Royal Engineers. 1939 - 1947.

Many many hours, months I have been researching sites and sites for him, but having such little information and no d.o.b or service no. I am starting to think my time is up?

Born in London, stationed in West Sussex. He was commissioned 15th February 1941 as 2nd Lieutenant and posted to Singapore, this is the only memory my mother has of him.

She also has letters from him whilst serving in the war. She last heard of him in 1947 (She was 5yrs old). There was No other contact. When she was able to write herself she wrote to the war office and the RE. hoping to locate and reunite with her father. There was No reply.

60years have now passed on and I as a daughter having listened to her story, you can feel her sadness which makes me more determined to keep going.

She lost her husband (my father) to cancer Christmas Day 2006 after 40yrs of marriage. In her lifetime she has NOW lost the 2 men that meant the world too her.

Please,Please, anyone who may of known Edward W Freeman could you make contact as this would mean the world too us and a final closure for my mother.

Lisa Lawrence



L/Sgt. Leslie Collett 560th Field Coy. Royal Engineers

Leslie Collett was my grandad. He served with the 560th Field Coy, Royal Engineers in Singapore where he was captured and spent the war as a PoW. All I know is that he was certainly at Changi jail. He was one of the lucky ones that came home. He weighed I believe 6 stone and never spoke much about it. He died when I was young so I never got to talk to him about it but my mom said he never spoke at all about his experiences

Martin Cresser



Tpr. Patrick Moran 18th Btn. Reconnaissance Corps (d.15th Feb 1942)

Patrick Moran was the son of John and Mary J Moran of Clonmoyle, Mullingar, County Westmeath, Republic of Ireland.

He served with 5th Loyal Regiment and 18th Recce Regiment. On board Empress of Asia when it was sunk, he was rescued from the sea, taken to a field hospital at Selarang Barracks. Possibly suffering from pneumonia, he was transferred to Alexandra Hospital on 11th of February 1942. He died on 15th Feb possibly at hands of Japanese.

Remembered with honour Singapore Memorial.

John Moran



Pte. Owen Peers 18th Btn. Reconnaissance Corps

Owen Peers was my Grandad, 36 years old at the start of WW2 and in a reserved occupation, but he still volunteered. He was captured by the Japanese at the fall of Singapore. He used to recall with wry humour that his battalion landed just in time to surrender. He also clearly remembered loosing his false teeth when his troopship was sunk, although judging by what he had to eat over the next three and a half years, it didn't really trouble him. He returned to spend the rest of his working life in the coal mines and passed away, age 70, in 1973.

John Prescott



Stwd. Derek Edward Jones HMS Repulse

Derek Jones joined the RN in September 1939. He was drafted to HMS Repulse and was aboard her when it was sunk by the Japanese off Singapore on 10th of December 1941. He joined HMS Endeavour in Colombo in 1941 and was with her during the surveying of the Red Sea of that year. He saw the sale of the Endeavour and her decommissioning.

Ian Edward Jones



WO. Joseph Egbert Daly Royal Army Medical Corps

Joseph Daly served with the RAMC at the Burma front. He was working in the British General Hospital in Singapore, during WW2. He was wounded in action from machine-gun bullets from a Japanese fighter plane strafing the front lines. The only thing that was recovered from his kit was the Holy Bible. This was found later by the Captain of his regiment. He and 21 of his mates were stranded and were told to report at Calcutta India. 21 of them set out and walked through the jungles. They had to fend for themselves.

Joseph reported that there were many soldiers lying dead, their pockets full of money and valuables. This was no use to them. They reported the existence of dead soldiers to the village heads, as they passed through on the way to Calcutta with little or no food. Only 7 of them made it to Calcutta. A few years later he was discharged on medical grounds.

Later he became a compounder in civilian life, married and had 8 children. He passed into the next realm at the age of 40. May his soul rest in peace.

Gerald Daly



Pte. Edwin Sabberton 6th Btn. Royal Norfolk

Newspaper cutting

My Dad's cousins, David Larter and Edwin Sabberton went missing in Singapore with the 6th Norfolk Regiment, along with their brothers in law, Tom Hunt and Horace Crisp. My dad who is on the photo with David served in the merchant navy in the war.

Daniel Hood



Pte. Frederick Charles Banks 1/5th Btn. Sherwood Foresters (d.2nd May 1943)

Frederick Banks was the husband of Louisa Violet Banks, nee Alberry. Before the war, he was in the retail industry. On 15th of February 1942, he was captured at the fall of Singapore. At age 27, he died in a camp in Thailand, camp name not known, and is buried in Kanchanaburi War Cemetery. He had one child, Evelyn Sheila Banks (1936-1945). In 1950, his wife remarried to Thomas Edward Cleal, there were no children from this marriage.




Pte. George Sidney Tubb 5th Btn. Suffolk Regiment

My granddad George Tubb was in Singapore in 1942 when the British Army surrendered to the Japanese. He was imprisoned first in Changi, then in Chungkai, and he worked on the Burma Death Railroad.

He never spoke about his time in captivity, but he was a very happy man. It wasn't until he died in 1999 that my aunt found a lot of his momentoes and maps that he kept. He lost a lot of his comrades while in POW camps and was lucky to survive.

Steve Tubb



Pte. James Howe 2/4th Machine Gun Battalion

My uncle James Howe was actually William Howe from Hemel, Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England. Following a row with his mother in the early 1930s, Bill emigrated to Australia without informing his family. There, he worked as a tractor driver.

At the outbreak of war, he volunteered to serve, but he used a different Christian name and gave his birthplace as Victoria. He was assigned to a machine-gun unit, and the unit was posted to Singapore, where he was captured at the fall of the island. We have Japanese Army postcards from him to say he was in POW Camp Niki Niki in Thailand and a further card from a POW Camp in Moulmein, Burma. I believe that these cards were the first contact his family had from him since he left the UK. He survived the ordeal, and we have a telegram saying that he was safe in British hands and a further letter from the Australian Military saying that he is believed safe but not confirmed.

He lived out the rest of his life in Australia, starting a quarrying business with a fellow POW and using the knowledge gained cutting rock on the Death Railway. He returned to meet family in the UK in 1976 and was visited by his sister at Coffs Harbour in 1980. He passed away peacefully in the mid 1980s.

Neil Fleming







Recomended Reading.

Available at discounted prices.



The Forgotten Highlander: My Incredible Story of Survival During the War in the Far East

Alistair Urquhart


A book you must read (DAILY MAIL ) Riveting, powerful, moving (OBSERVER ) A remarkable memoir (FINANCIAL TIMES ) Book Description * An extraordinary and moving tale by an ex-POW and last surviving member of the Gordon Highlanders regiment that was captured by the Japanese in Singapore, out now in paperback


To the Kwai and Back: War Drawings 1939 - 1945

Ronald Searle


You would have a struggle to name a greater cartoonist of the 20th Century, or, indeed, of any other century. Product Description In 1939, as an art student, Ronald Searle volunteered for the army, called up in September he embarked for Singapore in 1941. Within a month of his arrival there, he was a prisoner of the Japanese. After fourteen months in a prisoner-of-war camp Ronald Searle was sent north, to work camp on the Burma Star. In May 1944 he was sent to the notorious Changi Gaol in Singapore and was one of the few British soldiers to survive imprisonment there. Throughout his captivity, despite the risk, Ronald Searle made drawings, determinded to record his experiences. He drew his fellow prisoners, and their Japanese guards; he recorded historic moments, the Japanese triumphantly entering Singapore, the planes dropping leaflets that announced the end of the war. The drawings in this remarkable book were hidden by Searle, and smuggled from place to place, stained with the swe






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