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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



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Want to find out more about your relative's service? Want to know what life was like during the War? Our Library contains an ever growing number diary entries, personal letters and other documents, most transcribed into plain text.




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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



Pte. Thomas "Tucker" Mosley 1/5th Btn. Sherwood Foresters (d.6th Sep 1943)

Gravestone

Thomas Mosley

The first letter from the War Office

Confirmation

My grandfather Thomas Mosley survived the evacuation from Dunkirk despite accidentally being shot in the leg by a French partisan whilst taking refuge in a haystack, believing him to be a German soldier. The Frenchman presented him with a medal (which I still have today), before evacuation. After recovery, he was sent to Singapore where he was unfortunately captured and sent to a prison camp to work on the Burma Railway. However he died of cholera in the camp.

Russell Mosley



Pte. William Douglas Haylock 1st Btn. Cambridgeshire Regiment

William Haylock arrived in Singapore days before it fell. He was taken prisoner. Camps included Ban Pong, Chungkai, Kinsayo, Kanburi, Nong Pladuk, Singapore and Saigon, working on the death railway throughout his capture.




Pte. William Nesbitt Clarke 5th Btn. Royal Norfolk Regiment (d.1943)

Billy Clarke was a motor driver with the 5th Btn. Royal Norfolk Regiment. He died of Beriberi whilst incarcerated after the fall of Singapore. He was the eldest of 14 children. He was born in County Durham but the family home was Cley Next the Sea in Norfolk.




Pte. John Walker 2nd Battalion Gordon Highlanders (d.15th Feb 1945)

John Walker

Private John Walker, 2nd Battalion, Gordon Highlanders was killed in action during the battle for Singapore. He was the son of Joseph and Catherine Walker who lived in East Finchley in Middlesex. John Walker was married to Susan and he was my great uncle. John's body was never found after the battle. During my childhood in the 1970's, my Great Aunts Annie and Betty used to think that one day, John would return home. During the 1970's there were the occasional stories of Japanese soldiers emerging from the jungle, not realising that the war was over. This always gave my Great Aunts hope. Alas, it wasn't to be. John's name appears on the memorial wall alongside his brothers in arms who were also lost during the fall of Singapore in 1945. Rest in Peace, John. He was 27 years old when he died.

Jamie Walker



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







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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