0:00:06 > 0:00:07Singapore...
0:00:07 > 0:00:10a thriving, multicultural world city.
0:00:10 > 0:00:14An Asian tiger playing a key role on the world stage.
0:00:16 > 0:00:20But just below the surface of this former British colony
0:00:20 > 0:00:24lies a history of foreign invasion, smouldering racial tension
0:00:24 > 0:00:28and violent struggle against imperial power.
0:00:30 > 0:00:33After more than 100 years of colonial rule,
0:00:33 > 0:00:36in 1941, the flames of independence were lit
0:00:36 > 0:00:40when Japan bombed Singapore.
0:00:40 > 0:00:44It was the next morning, when I went up to my room and that's what I discovered.
0:00:44 > 0:00:46The shrapnel, right in the middle of my pillow
0:00:46 > 0:00:48where my head would have been.
0:00:48 > 0:00:52A brutal campaign began to expel the white colonials from Asia.
0:00:52 > 0:00:57The Japanese despised the Anglo-Saxon powers that had occupied most of Asia.
0:00:57 > 0:01:01The propaganda at the time is all about ridding Asia of the white man.
0:01:01 > 0:01:06British Empire forces were plunged into war in Southeast Asia,
0:01:06 > 0:01:08fighting a determined enemy
0:01:08 > 0:01:11in the unfamiliar jungles of Malaya and Singapore.
0:01:11 > 0:01:13The only Commonwealth unit
0:01:13 > 0:01:16to have any idea of how to fight the Japanese
0:01:16 > 0:01:19was the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.
0:01:19 > 0:01:21They were what I call a first-class soldier -
0:01:21 > 0:01:24highly trained to jungle warfare.
0:01:24 > 0:01:28They played the Japs at their own game.
0:01:28 > 0:01:31The invasion unleashed an explosion of social conflict
0:01:31 > 0:01:34amongst the Chinese, Malay and Indian communities,
0:01:34 > 0:01:36who resented British rule.
0:01:36 > 0:01:38The coming of the Japanese presented
0:01:38 > 0:01:40a very good opportunity for them to get independence.
0:01:40 > 0:01:44It was a call to arms that echoed within the ranks of the British Army,
0:01:44 > 0:01:47causing 20,000 British Indian Army soldiers
0:01:47 > 0:01:50to switch sides and fight for the Japanese.
0:01:50 > 0:01:53When those men at the end of the war go back to India,
0:01:53 > 0:01:55they're hailed as national heroes,
0:01:55 > 0:01:57because they fought against an imperial power.
0:01:57 > 0:02:01Singapore, the bastion of the British Empire,
0:02:01 > 0:02:03fell in just 70 days.
0:02:03 > 0:02:06It was Japan's greatest victory,
0:02:06 > 0:02:10and Britain's most humiliating defeat of World War II
0:02:10 > 0:02:14The fall of Singapore changed the face of Southeast Asia forever
0:02:14 > 0:02:18and heralded the beginning of the end of the British Empire.
0:02:37 > 0:02:39In the early 20th century,
0:02:39 > 0:02:41the bustling trading port of Singapore
0:02:41 > 0:02:44and the fertile Malay Peninsula to its north
0:02:44 > 0:02:48were the jewels in the crown of Britain's East Asian colonies.
0:02:48 > 0:02:53The existence of Singapore really underlines the power of the Empire.
0:02:53 > 0:02:56This is a place where, in 1820, it was a fishing village.
0:02:56 > 0:03:00By 1920, it's the biggest commercial city in Asia,
0:03:00 > 0:03:02it's the clearing house
0:03:02 > 0:03:05for wares from all over the East heading back to Europe.
0:03:05 > 0:03:07It's a massive commercial success.
0:03:09 > 0:03:11To power the colonial economy,
0:03:11 > 0:03:14the British brought Chinese and Indian workers
0:03:14 > 0:03:17into the predominantly Malay community,
0:03:17 > 0:03:19creating an undercurrent of ethnic tension.
0:03:19 > 0:03:22The Chinese were doing very well,
0:03:22 > 0:03:26especially with the prosperous tin mining industry,
0:03:26 > 0:03:31giving employment to thousands of tin mine workers
0:03:31 > 0:03:33who came from China.
0:03:33 > 0:03:36The Chinese were a very large component.
0:03:36 > 0:03:40By 1900, they were about 70% plus
0:03:40 > 0:03:43of the population of Singapore itself.
0:03:43 > 0:03:45Both Chinese and Indians,
0:03:45 > 0:03:49they formed the biggest racial groups within the country,
0:03:49 > 0:03:51and the Malays are never very happy about this.
0:03:51 > 0:03:55They're really never very happy with what the British have done
0:03:55 > 0:03:58for allowing the unrestricted entry
0:03:58 > 0:04:01of especially Chinese into the country.
0:04:03 > 0:04:07But the British colonial ruling class
0:04:07 > 0:04:10were largely oblivious to the tensions around them
0:04:10 > 0:04:13as they revelled in the prestige and privilege of empire.
0:04:15 > 0:04:19We had a lovely bungalow and I was looked after by an amah.
0:04:20 > 0:04:23I remember my mother was very fond of our amah.
0:04:23 > 0:04:26I don't know Amah's real name.
0:04:26 > 0:04:29All I know is that in the war she protected me.
0:04:30 > 0:04:33I can remember there was a very big social life.
0:04:33 > 0:04:35Lots of sports days, lots of events.
0:04:37 > 0:04:40Housie-housie, as it was called, bingo.
0:04:42 > 0:04:46Well, we look up to them and we call them the big masters,
0:04:46 > 0:04:50and they call us...
0:04:50 > 0:04:53er...natives.
0:04:53 > 0:04:57Well, the British colonials, of course, they're a breed apart.
0:04:57 > 0:04:59They think they're very superior
0:04:59 > 0:05:03because they had servants to look after them.
0:05:03 > 0:05:08The women did nothing during the day except just go out to chatter.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13Local people weren't allowed in their clubs.
0:05:13 > 0:05:16Natives had to travel in different compartments on trains.
0:05:16 > 0:05:20They behaved so much as if all this was the natural order of things,
0:05:20 > 0:05:23that they were brilliantly successful
0:05:23 > 0:05:26in maintaining this illusion for a very, very long time.
0:05:29 > 0:05:32At this time, Britain was THE superpower.
0:05:32 > 0:05:35Its empire covered a quarter of the globe,
0:05:35 > 0:05:37from Africa, the Middle East,
0:05:37 > 0:05:39India and the Americas,
0:05:39 > 0:05:43to one of its far-flung dominions, Australia,
0:05:43 > 0:05:46a very British country on the fringe of an Asian world.
0:05:47 > 0:05:50The importance of Britain to Australia pre-war
0:05:50 > 0:05:56was critical to our identity, to our culture, to our economy.
0:05:56 > 0:05:57If a war was to come to Australia,
0:05:57 > 0:06:00we'd look to the mother country, Britain, to defend us.
0:06:00 > 0:06:03They were our protector, they were our ally.
0:06:03 > 0:06:04Britain was everything.
0:06:04 > 0:06:08The 1933 census, most Australians identified themselves as British.
0:06:15 > 0:06:19Britain was not the only colonial power in Southeast Asia.
0:06:19 > 0:06:22The Netherlands, France and America
0:06:22 > 0:06:25were also plundering the riches of the Orient.
0:06:25 > 0:06:30But there was one Asian country that had its own imperialist ambitions
0:06:30 > 0:06:34and saw itself in direct competition with the West - Japan.
0:06:34 > 0:06:38Japan felt that it had a destiny to have an empire in Asia.
0:06:38 > 0:06:40But when it looked around
0:06:40 > 0:06:42and it saw all these European empires in Asia,
0:06:42 > 0:06:44it thought, "Why not us?"
0:06:44 > 0:06:50It saw racism, condescension of a kind that proud Japanese Imperialists
0:06:50 > 0:06:53and especially proud Japanese soldiers found intolerable.
0:06:56 > 0:06:59In 1931, Japan made its move.
0:07:03 > 0:07:06Short of raw materials, it invaded Manchuria.
0:07:08 > 0:07:10The poorly-equipped and badly-led Chinese
0:07:10 > 0:07:14were no match for the modern, powerful Japanese army,
0:07:14 > 0:07:17who eventually overran nearly a third of China.
0:07:22 > 0:07:26In 1936, Japan moved closer to all-out war
0:07:26 > 0:07:29when it signed an alliance with Nazi Germany.
0:07:32 > 0:07:35They sent rising general, Tomoyuki Yamashita,
0:07:35 > 0:07:37to meet with leaders of the Third Reich
0:07:37 > 0:07:40to learn of the German plans for making war.
0:07:44 > 0:07:47Those plans became brutally clear three years later
0:07:47 > 0:07:52on 1st September 1939, when Nazi Germany invaded Poland,
0:07:52 > 0:07:54and the world was plunged into war.
0:08:03 > 0:08:07With the war expanding, Britain's dominions from around the world
0:08:07 > 0:08:10rallied to the defence of the mother country.
0:08:11 > 0:08:16Australia straight away dispatched tens of thousands of troops
0:08:16 > 0:08:17to the Middle East and Europe.
0:08:22 > 0:08:24And so off went a 100,000 Australian troops,
0:08:24 > 0:08:28off went all of our Air Force and our Navy.
0:08:28 > 0:08:30And we were left, effectively, defenceless.
0:08:30 > 0:08:33Now the thinking was, if Japan were to invade,
0:08:33 > 0:08:38we would rely on Britain and God help us if the British didn't come.
0:08:40 > 0:08:42Standing between Australia and Japan
0:08:42 > 0:08:47was the supposedly impregnable British fortress of Singapore.
0:08:47 > 0:08:52During the 1930s, they'd fortified the island with 20 huge coastal guns
0:08:52 > 0:08:57guarding the approaches against any Japanese seaward invasion.
0:09:04 > 0:09:08The British feared that if Japan entered the war on Germany's side,
0:09:08 > 0:09:11it would attack Singapore.
0:09:11 > 0:09:14As a deterrent, British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill,
0:09:14 > 0:09:18sent a multinational force of British and Indian troops
0:09:18 > 0:09:20to strengthen the island's defences.
0:09:22 > 0:09:26The Gordon Highlanders and the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders
0:09:26 > 0:09:29were among the first British troops to arrive.
0:09:29 > 0:09:34We'd waited three weeks because of a tremendous snowstorm.
0:09:34 > 0:09:38When we actually arrived, the heat was so oppressive.
0:09:40 > 0:09:44We just wondered just what we were coming to.
0:09:44 > 0:09:47We saw the old Singapore
0:09:47 > 0:09:49with the Chinese sitting,
0:09:49 > 0:09:54smoking their pipes and playing mah jong
0:09:54 > 0:09:56and the smell of the villages
0:09:56 > 0:09:59was something you'd never experienced before.
0:09:59 > 0:10:03Well, it was a hot and sunny place.
0:10:03 > 0:10:07Remarkable the way one has sun nearly every day.
0:10:07 > 0:10:12People were living very normal lives, as they were used to it.
0:10:18 > 0:10:22The Argylls were the next generation of the ferocious kilted soldiers
0:10:22 > 0:10:26from World War I that the Germans nicknamed "Ladies from Hell".
0:10:29 > 0:10:33Their Commanding Officer was Lieutenant Colonel Ian Stewart.
0:10:33 > 0:10:35He was my CO.
0:10:35 > 0:10:38They used to call him Busty. He was a thin fellow.
0:10:38 > 0:10:41He didn't say much.
0:10:41 > 0:10:45He was quite a hard man in many ways,
0:10:45 > 0:10:49but he wanted his battalion to be the best one there was
0:10:49 > 0:10:52and made this feeling go into all the men there.
0:10:55 > 0:10:57The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders
0:10:57 > 0:11:01had come from the harsh cold of the Scottish winter.
0:11:01 > 0:11:04They'd no idea how to fight in the tropics.
0:11:04 > 0:11:08Stewart led them deep into the steamy jungles of Malaya
0:11:08 > 0:11:11on rigorous training exercises.
0:11:16 > 0:11:20"In jungle warfare, it is the quality of the men,
0:11:20 > 0:11:23"far more than the quality of the weapons, that counts.
0:11:23 > 0:11:26"His psychological, his physical and tactical training,
0:11:26 > 0:11:29"his morale, his toughness, his discipline."
0:11:29 > 0:11:33You've got to learn how to move through it,
0:11:33 > 0:11:35how to keep in touch with each other.
0:11:35 > 0:11:39Before I went there, we'd normal weapons training
0:11:39 > 0:11:43and that sort of thing had been done.
0:11:43 > 0:11:47But after that, I was taken to the jungle
0:11:47 > 0:11:51and we had to deal with the other problems that arise.
0:11:51 > 0:11:54The jungle is neutral, but you've got to live in it.
0:11:54 > 0:11:58You suddenly find your legs are covered in leeches.
0:11:58 > 0:12:00How do you deal with it?
0:12:00 > 0:12:01They were learning to cope
0:12:01 > 0:12:05with all the jungle creatures, and the climate and the rivers.
0:12:05 > 0:12:08In fact, that was probably the key to the success for the Argylls,
0:12:08 > 0:12:12that they had this superb training - I think it was up to five weeks.
0:12:12 > 0:12:14And there's photographs of Stewart with them
0:12:14 > 0:12:18ploughing through the mud and so on as well, as they crossed creeks
0:12:18 > 0:12:21and did all the things that they had to get used to -
0:12:21 > 0:12:24finding snakes curled up beneath their bedding and things like this.
0:12:24 > 0:12:27But they felt they could trust him, very much so,
0:12:27 > 0:12:28and that was pretty important.
0:12:31 > 0:12:34In September 1940, with the Battle of Britain raging,
0:12:34 > 0:12:38the Japanese rolled into French Indochina,
0:12:38 > 0:12:40just to the north of Malaya.
0:12:41 > 0:12:43The French gave up without a fight.
0:12:44 > 0:12:47The first of the colonial dominoes had fallen.
0:12:49 > 0:12:53The Singapore fortress needed to be bolstered.
0:12:56 > 0:12:58Australia's response was emphatic.
0:12:58 > 0:13:03In February 1941, it sent the first wave of 10,000 troops
0:13:03 > 0:13:06to join the British allies in Singapore.
0:13:06 > 0:13:08Well, it was supposed to be secret
0:13:08 > 0:13:11and there must have been 5,000 people there.
0:13:11 > 0:13:16We went like first class passengers. Great way to go to war!
0:13:19 > 0:13:24As far as I was concerned, it was an adventure that was too good to miss.
0:13:24 > 0:13:26We were going to war,
0:13:26 > 0:13:31and in wars, other people get killed but you don't.
0:13:33 > 0:13:38I knew that our freedom was at stake, and I thought to myself...
0:13:41 > 0:13:45"This war can't go on without an Edwards in it".
0:13:48 > 0:13:52Two days into the journey, the troop convoy split.
0:13:52 > 0:13:55In a symbol of Australia's now divided responsibilities
0:13:55 > 0:13:58the main fleet headed for the Middle East,
0:13:58 > 0:14:01while the Queen Mary peeled off towards the tropics,
0:14:01 > 0:14:05taking the 8th Division to Singapore.
0:14:05 > 0:14:10Well, the first thing I noticed was "No swimming. (Sharks.)"
0:14:10 > 0:14:14It was on the end of the wharf, in big letters like that.
0:14:14 > 0:14:17Oh, that made me feel at home!
0:14:17 > 0:14:21With the war in Europe a long way away,
0:14:21 > 0:14:24the mood in Singapore was relaxed.
0:14:24 > 0:14:29The mix of Commonwealth troops largely kept to themselves,
0:14:29 > 0:14:32but when they did meet, there was often fireworks.
0:14:32 > 0:14:37"On pay day, the Jocks went to visit their usual haunt,
0:14:37 > 0:14:40"only to find the Diggers in full occupation.
0:14:40 > 0:14:44"Before you could say Jack Robinson, a riot started.
0:14:44 > 0:14:46"What a battle!"
0:14:46 > 0:14:50Boys will be boys, and we can't take this too far,
0:14:50 > 0:14:51but there were a lot of brawls
0:14:51 > 0:14:53between Australian and British troops
0:14:53 > 0:14:55in Malaya and Singapore in 1941.
0:14:55 > 0:14:57It was pretty clear
0:14:57 > 0:15:00that there was a lot of rivalry and chest thumping going on.
0:15:00 > 0:15:05"Afterwards, there were a number of very belligerent Jocks
0:15:05 > 0:15:08"being rounded up by the Military Police and herded into the trucks,
0:15:08 > 0:15:12"whilst numbers of Australians were loaded into ambulances."
0:15:16 > 0:15:19The young men of the British Empire forces quickly awakened
0:15:19 > 0:15:21to the delights of Singapore.
0:15:30 > 0:15:35Clubs featuring exotic taxi dancers were a favourite new experience.
0:15:37 > 0:15:40You paid so much, like a dollar or something,
0:15:40 > 0:15:42and you got so many tickets,
0:15:42 > 0:15:45and then on the back of them, funny enough,
0:15:45 > 0:15:48was all the photographs of these taxi dancers.
0:15:48 > 0:15:49And you'd say,
0:15:49 > 0:15:53"Oh, I fancy number six. I'll go and ask her for a dance."
0:15:53 > 0:15:58Very, very attractive women, always wore these long dresses.
0:15:58 > 0:16:01They were split right up to the hip, almost.
0:16:01 > 0:16:05They looked very, very attractive to we young Australians.
0:16:10 > 0:16:12While Commonwealth troops
0:16:12 > 0:16:16happily rubbed shoulders with the locals and absorbed Asian culture,
0:16:16 > 0:16:20they were being fed virulent anti-Japanese propaganda,
0:16:20 > 0:16:24designed to convince the troops that the Japanese were racially inferior
0:16:24 > 0:16:27and would pose no real threat.
0:16:27 > 0:16:30They said, "They all wear glasses, they can't see."
0:16:30 > 0:16:33An intelligence officer came around and said,
0:16:33 > 0:16:37"Oh, they only shoot with .25 guns, like a pea rifle."
0:16:37 > 0:16:39We were told that they were short-sighted,
0:16:39 > 0:16:41they wouldn't fight of a night.
0:16:41 > 0:16:43That they were useless buggers,
0:16:43 > 0:16:48that one Australian was worth ten Japanese.
0:16:48 > 0:16:53At its most shocking, it cast the Japanese people as subhuman,
0:16:53 > 0:16:55as monkeys, as baboons.
0:16:55 > 0:16:58As Churchill described them, yellow dwarves.
0:16:58 > 0:17:01Huh! We found out how good they were.
0:17:04 > 0:17:08In May 1941, with Japan on the brink of war,
0:17:08 > 0:17:12the British sent Lieutenant General Arthur Percival to Singapore,
0:17:12 > 0:17:15to command the assortment of multinational Empire forces.
0:17:17 > 0:17:19His appointment gave the first inkling
0:17:19 > 0:17:22that Singapore was not a British priority.
0:17:22 > 0:17:25Because the British were then prioritising
0:17:25 > 0:17:28the campaigns in the Mediterranean and the Middle East,
0:17:28 > 0:17:32they sent their best, or at least, least bad Generals there.
0:17:32 > 0:17:36And Malaya was bottom of the queue for Group Command
0:17:36 > 0:17:38as it was bottom of the queue for anything else.
0:17:38 > 0:17:40But Percival was a pretty poor specimen.
0:17:42 > 0:17:44While Percival was coming to grips
0:17:44 > 0:17:47with the task of defending Malaya and Singapore,
0:17:47 > 0:17:49his Japanese counterpart,
0:17:49 > 0:17:52General Tomoyuki Yamashita, was in southern China
0:17:52 > 0:17:58drawing up his battle plans for an invasion of the British colonies.
0:17:58 > 0:18:00Contrary to British propaganda,
0:18:00 > 0:18:03he was accomplished and battle-hardened.
0:18:18 > 0:18:22Yamashita was probably the best Japanese General of the war.
0:18:22 > 0:18:26Very tough, very experienced, very clear-sighted.
0:18:26 > 0:18:29Yamashita was in a completely different class from Percival.
0:18:29 > 0:18:35The idea of putting them in the ring together, I mean, it was ludicrous.
0:18:35 > 0:18:37On 4th December,
0:18:37 > 0:18:41British signals intelligence intercepted Japanese orders.
0:18:41 > 0:18:46The Imperial Army was heading towards Northwestern Malaya.
0:18:46 > 0:18:49Percival scrambled his forces at Kota Bharu.
0:18:53 > 0:18:55With few British troops available,
0:18:55 > 0:18:59the defence of the coastline was left to the 8th Indian Brigade.
0:18:59 > 0:19:01Action front!
0:19:03 > 0:19:05The Indians had fought loyally
0:19:05 > 0:19:08alongside the British for generations
0:19:08 > 0:19:10and were expected to hold the line.
0:19:12 > 0:19:14On 6th December,
0:19:14 > 0:19:17an Australian Air Force bomber flying out of Kota Bharu
0:19:17 > 0:19:21spotted a large Japanese fleet steaming towards the coast.
0:19:45 > 0:19:48On the 8th December 1941,
0:19:48 > 0:19:53Japan entered World War II when it sent an invasion force of 25,000 men
0:19:53 > 0:19:55to attack the British colony of Malaya.
0:19:55 > 0:20:005,500 went straight at the Indian troops at Kota Bharu.
0:20:00 > 0:20:03MASSED BATTLECRIES
0:20:33 > 0:20:36The Japanese made simultaneous landings on undefended beaches
0:20:36 > 0:20:39in Thailand and advanced quickly towards the Malay border.
0:20:43 > 0:20:45At Kota Bharu, the battle raged.
0:20:47 > 0:20:50The 5,000-strong Indian force took the brunt of the attack.
0:20:56 > 0:21:01At first, under their British officers, they put up a stubborn fight.
0:21:24 > 0:21:27A second wave of Japanese swept ashore,
0:21:27 > 0:21:29and the Indians were overrun.
0:21:30 > 0:21:34General Yamashita had successfully landed his invasion force.
0:21:41 > 0:21:44As the Japanese army was taking Kota Bharu,
0:21:44 > 0:21:49their air force was en route to the American Naval Base in Hawaii.
0:21:57 > 0:22:00They inflicted a crippling pre-emptive strike
0:22:00 > 0:22:03on the American fleet moored in Pearl Harbour.
0:22:05 > 0:22:07Three hours later,
0:22:07 > 0:22:11a second wave of bombers headed for an unsuspecting Singapore.
0:22:11 > 0:22:15There was no blackout and the streets were brightly lit,
0:22:15 > 0:22:19allowing the Japanese pilots to easily find their targets.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38I was sleeping and, about 4.30,
0:22:38 > 0:22:43I suddenly woke up, because the house vibrated.
0:22:43 > 0:22:46I remember looking up at the sky.
0:22:46 > 0:22:47The sky was full of planes
0:22:47 > 0:22:50and each one had a little light.
0:22:50 > 0:22:53And what I remember most is the noise.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56It was like thousands of bees flying overhead.
0:22:56 > 0:23:00We heard a lot of siren warnings going on and off
0:23:00 > 0:23:02and we didn't care very much about it.
0:23:02 > 0:23:06I was observing there was a small, black dot,
0:23:06 > 0:23:08flying very far above the sky.
0:23:17 > 0:23:20The Japanese bombing raid on Singapore
0:23:20 > 0:23:24delivered the alarming message to the island's citizens
0:23:24 > 0:23:27that their colonial masters could not keep them safe.
0:23:29 > 0:23:32It also set alarm bells ringing in Australia.
0:23:32 > 0:23:36It is our privilege tonight to introduce the Prime Minister,
0:23:36 > 0:23:38the Honourable, John Curtin.
0:23:38 > 0:23:41In a sign the government was beginning to think independently,
0:23:41 > 0:23:44Prime Minister John Curtin didn't wait for Britain
0:23:44 > 0:23:47to declare war first, as was the protocol.
0:23:47 > 0:23:49He broke the news to the Australian people.
0:23:49 > 0:23:54'Men and women of Australia, we are at war with Japan.'
0:23:54 > 0:23:58Suddenly, we had war on our doorstep and we just weren't ready for it. It shocked people.
0:23:58 > 0:24:01They were forced to curtail their golfing parties,
0:24:01 > 0:24:04they were forced to forego Christmas parties,
0:24:04 > 0:24:06all sorts of war rationing was suddenly introduced.
0:24:06 > 0:24:09We were on a war footing very quickly.
0:24:09 > 0:24:12With the American fleet crippled at Pearl Harbour,
0:24:12 > 0:24:16the only Allied warships in the region to take on the Japanese
0:24:16 > 0:24:21were the Prince of Wales and the Repulse, in Singapore Naval Base.
0:24:21 > 0:24:24But there should have been many more.
0:24:24 > 0:24:27Britain had promised to send a large battle fleet from Europe
0:24:27 > 0:24:32to defend Singapore and Australia if the Japanese showed aggression.
0:24:32 > 0:24:35It was always naive of Australians
0:24:35 > 0:24:39ever to suppose that, in the middle of a desperate struggle
0:24:39 > 0:24:44in which we had our backs to the wall in Europe and the Western Hemisphere,
0:24:44 > 0:24:49that there were ever going to be forces available to reinforce in Asia.
0:24:50 > 0:24:53On 8th December, the Repulse and the Prince of Wales,
0:24:53 > 0:24:57with four destroyers, left Singapore Harbour
0:24:57 > 0:25:01to support the embattled British Empire troops in Northern Malaya.
0:25:01 > 0:25:04Two days later, they were sighted by Japanese bombers.
0:25:07 > 0:25:11Without air cover, this tiny fleet was fatally exposed.
0:25:55 > 0:25:58I can still remember the ship bouncing
0:25:58 > 0:26:02when the bombs and the torpedoes hit us.
0:26:11 > 0:26:16I still remember going down a rope ten feet down and catching my foot
0:26:16 > 0:26:20in one of the portholes. With that, I just sort of gave a heave
0:26:20 > 0:26:24and let go and dropped the 60 foot straight into the water.
0:26:26 > 0:26:28In less than three hours,
0:26:28 > 0:26:311,000 British sailors had perished.
0:26:34 > 0:26:37Early next morning, Prime Minister Churchill was informed that,
0:26:37 > 0:26:41for the first time in history, ships of the Royal Navy
0:26:41 > 0:26:44had been sent to the bottom by the supposedly inferior Japanese.
0:26:44 > 0:26:49"The full horror of the news sank in upon me.
0:26:49 > 0:26:52"There were no British or American ships in the Indian Ocean
0:26:52 > 0:26:54"or the Pacific.
0:26:54 > 0:26:58"Over all this vast expanse of waters, Japan was supreme
0:26:58 > 0:27:03"and we, everywhere, were weak and naked."
0:27:04 > 0:27:07With the seas belonging to the Japanese,
0:27:07 > 0:27:11it would be down to the British Empire Army to defend the colony.
0:27:15 > 0:27:20In northern Malaya, near Grik, the Japanese moving south from Thailand
0:27:20 > 0:27:23encountered an army that was eager to take them on...
0:27:23 > 0:27:27the jungle-trained Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.
0:27:27 > 0:27:33They were men who really learned to be this band of brothers.
0:27:33 > 0:27:37There was this considerable bond, which wasn't just heritage.
0:27:37 > 0:27:41It was the fact that they had worked hard, trained hard
0:27:41 > 0:27:46and suffered in the training, too, because it wasn't easy.
0:27:49 > 0:27:52We had to attack the Japanese in front of us,
0:27:52 > 0:27:55and being fresh, we pushed them back.
0:27:57 > 0:28:01As I was looking, a young soldier came up to me on my side.
0:28:01 > 0:28:03He wasn't one of mine.
0:28:03 > 0:28:05He was from one of the other platoons.
0:28:12 > 0:28:17And when he was there, a bullet went straight through his head
0:28:17 > 0:28:18and he died, just like that.
0:28:24 > 0:28:31Then the fullness of hatred against the Japanese came at that point,
0:28:31 > 0:28:33thinking, "There is a young life snuffed off."
0:28:35 > 0:28:37And the Japanese were right in my sights,
0:28:37 > 0:28:40so I joined in with my pistol.
0:28:55 > 0:28:59The Argylls hung on tenaciously at Grik,
0:28:59 > 0:29:01but suffering heavy casualties,
0:29:01 > 0:29:04and with large numbers of Japanese troops pouring across
0:29:04 > 0:29:07the Thai border, they begrudgingly gave ground.
0:29:16 > 0:29:21As the Japanese pushed deeper into Malaya, in village after village,
0:29:21 > 0:29:25they were welcomed as liberators by indigenous Malays.
0:29:25 > 0:29:29Feeling overrun by the large numbers of Chinese and Indians
0:29:29 > 0:29:33brought in by the British, they saw the Japanese invasion
0:29:33 > 0:29:36as their chance to regain control of their country.
0:29:36 > 0:29:41To them, the coming of the Japanese presented a very good opportunity
0:29:41 > 0:29:45and gave the impression that the Japanese will come
0:29:45 > 0:29:49and deliver freedom from British colonialism.
0:29:53 > 0:29:56Before the war, there had been a growing independence movement
0:29:56 > 0:30:00among Malays, but the British had arrested and imprisoned the leaders.
0:30:02 > 0:30:06They were trying to end British colonialism in Malaya,
0:30:06 > 0:30:09to bring Malaya as an independent nation,
0:30:09 > 0:30:13even if this means collaborating, or working, with the Japanese.
0:30:15 > 0:30:19These men were now freed and, increasingly,
0:30:19 > 0:30:21many local Malays began to help the Japanese.
0:30:42 > 0:30:44ENGINE STARTS
0:30:49 > 0:30:51To encourage their Asian neighbours
0:30:51 > 0:30:54to join the fight against European colonialism, the Japanese
0:30:54 > 0:30:59promoted their vision - The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.
0:31:18 > 0:31:22Anti-British propaganda quickly spread the message.
0:31:22 > 0:31:25AIRPLANE ENGINE
0:31:25 > 0:31:30The Japanese were remarkably successful in persuading
0:31:30 > 0:31:34Southeast Asian nations that there was a place for them,
0:31:34 > 0:31:38an honoured place for them, in Japan's Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere,
0:31:38 > 0:31:43in which they would have rights, their own governments and be treated
0:31:43 > 0:31:46with a respect that was denied to them by the European powers.
0:31:47 > 0:31:51As well as persuading the Malays of their common interests,
0:31:51 > 0:31:55the Japanese had set up a spy network before the war.
0:31:55 > 0:31:58There had been a sizeable Japanese community living in Singapore
0:31:58 > 0:32:00and Malaya for years
0:32:00 > 0:32:03and many had been feeding information back to their homeland.
0:32:03 > 0:32:06During the weekends, the Japanese
0:32:06 > 0:32:09barbers, dentists, doctors,
0:32:09 > 0:32:11all would go to the countryside,
0:32:11 > 0:32:15saying they were visiting the Malaysian countryside,
0:32:15 > 0:32:19not knowing they were really photographing all the shortcuts.
0:32:19 > 0:32:23So much so that, when they attacked our country, they were using bicycles
0:32:23 > 0:32:27to bypass the British, who were waiting on the main roads.
0:32:28 > 0:32:32The bicycle brigades were a vital asset of the Japanese army,
0:32:32 > 0:32:35and their routes were planned long before they invaded,
0:32:35 > 0:32:39using information supplied by Japanese spy networks.
0:32:42 > 0:32:45With the Japanese now in Malaya, the British rooted out the spies
0:32:45 > 0:32:48and dealt with them brutally.
0:32:48 > 0:32:53Oh, you wouldn't believe. No matter where you turned - spies.
0:32:53 > 0:32:55The Japanese planted them there.
0:32:58 > 0:33:02Our hairdresser was a spy.
0:33:02 > 0:33:05People go up there and have a haircut and say so and so
0:33:05 > 0:33:09and, in two seconds, the Japanese knew about it.
0:33:11 > 0:33:15So they shot him, on the spot. Bang.
0:33:15 > 0:33:17See you later.
0:33:18 > 0:33:21By 11th December, 1941,
0:33:21 > 0:33:24the Japanese, advancing from Singora in Thailand,
0:33:24 > 0:33:26had reached Jitra in Northern Malaya.
0:33:26 > 0:33:30Here, they came face to face with a large Empire force
0:33:30 > 0:33:32of mainly Indian troops.
0:33:41 > 0:33:44Many of the Indians were poorly trained
0:33:44 > 0:33:47and the Japanese had little regard for them.
0:33:50 > 0:33:53The Japanese invaded Malaya already assuming that the Indian army
0:33:53 > 0:33:55would not put up much of a fight.
0:33:55 > 0:33:58They took a contemptuous attitude towards it,
0:33:58 > 0:34:01on the grounds that it was a servile army, thus probably inefficient.
0:34:03 > 0:34:06They broke through the Indian regiments
0:34:06 > 0:34:09and there was casualties flying in all directions.
0:34:11 > 0:34:14And that forced the powers-that-be to pull us back out of there
0:34:14 > 0:34:16otherwise the Japs would have crossed there.
0:34:16 > 0:34:20We would have been cut off in the first week.
0:34:24 > 0:34:28The British-Indian army was faltering under fire.
0:34:28 > 0:34:31But the unexpected potency of the Japanese soldiers
0:34:31 > 0:34:34was only partly to blame.
0:34:34 > 0:34:36Something was eating away at their resolve
0:34:36 > 0:34:39and it had its roots in their homeland.
0:34:42 > 0:34:46Seeds of anti-British dissent had been growing in India for decades,
0:34:46 > 0:34:51under the leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Ghandi.
0:34:51 > 0:34:55With the rise of the Indian Independence Movement,
0:34:55 > 0:34:59Britain's hold on imperial power was becoming tenuous.
0:34:59 > 0:35:02It was a pretty scary reality for the British that, for much of
0:35:02 > 0:35:04the Second World War, they had to
0:35:04 > 0:35:11deploy 50 battalions of infantry for internal security duties in India.
0:35:11 > 0:35:16Many Indian Nationalists were on record then as saying, "Why should
0:35:16 > 0:35:17"we be asked to fight for freedom,
0:35:17 > 0:35:20"when that freedom is being denied to us?"
0:35:21 > 0:35:25Nearly 3,000 British Indian Army soldiers surrendered at Jitra.
0:35:27 > 0:35:30The Japanese, aware of the growing discontent,
0:35:30 > 0:35:32believed they could persuade them to change sides
0:35:32 > 0:35:34and fight against the British.
0:35:36 > 0:35:40Intelligence Officer Fujiwara Iwachi targeted one of their leaders,
0:35:40 > 0:35:42Captain Mohan Singh.
0:35:43 > 0:35:46Mohan was a diehard anti-imperialist who wanted to drive the British
0:35:46 > 0:35:51out of India as soon as possible, by whatever means available.
0:35:51 > 0:35:54Fujiwara begins to share his ideas,
0:35:54 > 0:35:57that maybe we can set up some kind of force,
0:35:57 > 0:36:00maybe if you get the Indian troops
0:36:00 > 0:36:03to move away from fighting the Japanese, and this
0:36:03 > 0:36:09is where really some notion of the Indian National Army begins to form.
0:36:11 > 0:36:14Singh agreed to become Commander of this new Indian National Army
0:36:14 > 0:36:17and help recruit amongst his fellow Indian soldiers
0:36:17 > 0:36:21from those who the Japanese were able to capture in Malaya.
0:36:22 > 0:36:26Mohan Singh chose the flag of the Indian Independence Movement
0:36:26 > 0:36:30for his new revolutionary army that would fight alongside the Japanese,
0:36:30 > 0:36:34flying colours that would one day become the national flag of India.
0:36:38 > 0:36:42At first, the Japanese gave the Indians menial duties,
0:36:42 > 0:36:43carrying supplies.
0:36:45 > 0:36:49The unprecedented union of the two forces did cause some confusion.
0:37:21 > 0:37:22As they moved southward,
0:37:22 > 0:37:26the Japanese captured British airfields and destroyed aircraft.
0:37:31 > 0:37:33With total freedom in the air,
0:37:33 > 0:37:36Japanese bombers headed for the island of Penang.
0:37:38 > 0:37:42Penang was home to a population of mainly Chinese and Eurasians
0:37:42 > 0:37:45who'd been born and bred on the island
0:37:45 > 0:37:46and were fiercely loyal to the crown.
0:37:54 > 0:37:58On the 11th of December, 41 Japanese bombers blasted the island,
0:37:58 > 0:38:00and the British could do nothing.
0:38:05 > 0:38:07Oh, terrible. Terrible.
0:38:07 > 0:38:11Nearly 2,000 casualties in the first day of bombing,
0:38:11 > 0:38:12and the other days that followed.
0:38:12 > 0:38:17There were dead bodies, so what we could pick up we picked up.
0:38:17 > 0:38:22That was really the beginning of the bombing of Penang, ruthless bombing.
0:38:23 > 0:38:27After four days of constant bombing, with Japanese forces advancing,
0:38:27 > 0:38:30Penang's local commanders gave the order to evacuate white women
0:38:30 > 0:38:34and children, and British military personnel.
0:38:34 > 0:38:38All the Europeans got out. There were all panic stricken, there's no doubt about it.
0:38:38 > 0:38:41They started running and didn't stop running, I will tell you that.
0:38:41 > 0:38:44Evacuation was very, very fast.
0:38:44 > 0:38:45Halt!
0:38:46 > 0:38:50Some local Eurasians also tried to escape.
0:38:50 > 0:38:52Well, when I went to the jetty,
0:38:52 > 0:38:56I think the last ferry that was going across, I was stopped.
0:38:56 > 0:38:59So I went up, the ferry was half empty.
0:38:59 > 0:39:02I said, can I go across? "No, no, no, you're not British.
0:39:02 > 0:39:05"You can't go across."
0:39:05 > 0:39:10The British very quickly made it plain that escape
0:39:10 > 0:39:13was something that was reserved for white people,
0:39:13 > 0:39:18that what happened to Malayan people or Chinese people or Indian people,
0:39:18 > 0:39:23the British by their actions showed they simply did not care.
0:39:23 > 0:39:28And this destroyed, in a matter of weeks,
0:39:28 > 0:39:32centuries of instinctive respect by colonial subjects
0:39:32 > 0:39:36towards the British Imperial power and so it deserved it.
0:39:38 > 0:39:40As well as the locals,
0:39:40 > 0:39:44the British left behind soldiers from the Straits Settlements Volunteer Forces
0:39:44 > 0:39:48made up of Chinese, Indians, Malays and Eurasians.
0:39:50 > 0:39:52Left in the lurch, they had no choice
0:39:52 > 0:39:54but to throw off their British uniforms.
0:39:56 > 0:39:58The Japanese are very ruthless.
0:39:58 > 0:40:01If you are in uniform, they will shoot you.
0:40:01 > 0:40:06So I took off my shirt, and even my pants.
0:40:06 > 0:40:08I was only with my shorts
0:40:08 > 0:40:10and we were running.
0:40:10 > 0:40:14That was the end, I think, and we knew the end was coming.
0:40:17 > 0:40:21On December 17th, 1941, after more than a century
0:40:21 > 0:40:26of British colonial rule, Penang fell, unopposed, to the Japanese.
0:40:28 > 0:40:33In their haste, the British left behind a functioning radio station.
0:40:33 > 0:40:36The Japanese soon had Radio Penang back on air,
0:40:36 > 0:40:39feeding propaganda to Singapore.
0:40:39 > 0:40:42'Hello, Singapore. This is Radio Penang calling.
0:40:42 > 0:40:44'How do you like our bombing?'
0:40:47 > 0:40:51As the British withdrew through the ravaged Malayan countryside,
0:40:51 > 0:40:55stunned locals tried to comprehend the sight of British Empire soldiers
0:40:55 > 0:40:58on the run from an Asian army.
0:41:00 > 0:41:05We saw troops moving, British troops going in the north and less than
0:41:05 > 0:41:10a week later, we saw them returning the other way, going back south.
0:41:10 > 0:41:13They stopped their van and asked for water to drink.
0:41:13 > 0:41:18Their beards were not shaven, and then we knew something was wrong.
0:41:18 > 0:41:24They looked weary, they were bloodstained, they were dirty.
0:41:24 > 0:41:28They looked like warriors from another world to me,
0:41:28 > 0:41:31but they were spattered with mud,
0:41:31 > 0:41:34and they wanted some food.
0:41:36 > 0:41:40As his army took flight, General Percival was forced
0:41:40 > 0:41:44to abandon headquarters, supplies, ammunition and equipment.
0:41:44 > 0:41:49He was struggling to counter the speed of the Japanese onslaught.
0:41:51 > 0:41:53In just over three weeks,
0:41:53 > 0:41:57General Yamashita had captured all of northern Malaya.
0:41:59 > 0:42:02By the end of 1941, the battle reached Kampar,
0:42:02 > 0:42:05where the Royal Artillery made a stand.
0:42:09 > 0:42:13Oh, the artillery was so powerful we were evacuated to the hills.
0:42:14 > 0:42:19My father used to bring some cotton wool and stuff into the ears.
0:42:20 > 0:42:22The whole ground was shaking.
0:42:25 > 0:42:27For four days and four nights, my God,
0:42:27 > 0:42:30how many thousand rounds were fired...
0:42:32 > 0:42:36We were in there as a regiment, with roughly over 24 guns there
0:42:36 > 0:42:39and we were just pelting at them.
0:42:39 > 0:42:43It was New Year's Eve, our colonel says, "Right boys, give them it,"
0:42:43 > 0:42:45and every shell that went into the breech
0:42:45 > 0:42:50of every gun had "Happy new year to you, you bastards."
0:42:54 > 0:42:58And every gun fired five rounds rapid fire, open sights,
0:42:58 > 0:43:02and you could just see them flying through the air like little bits of butterflies.
0:43:04 > 0:43:09The Royal Artillery delayed the Japanese at Kampar for four days
0:43:09 > 0:43:11before they were encircled by Japanese troops
0:43:11 > 0:43:13and forced to retreat.
0:43:15 > 0:43:18In Australia, news of the deteriorating situation
0:43:18 > 0:43:21in Malaya was greeted with mounting concern.
0:43:24 > 0:43:27With the best Australian troops fighting in Europe,
0:43:27 > 0:43:30Prime Minister John Curtin felt exposed.
0:43:30 > 0:43:31Curtin's a very worried man
0:43:31 > 0:43:34in the summer of 1941-42, rightly,
0:43:34 > 0:43:37because the Japanese don't seem to be able to be stopped.
0:43:37 > 0:43:42In a move that saw Australia for the first time question
0:43:42 > 0:43:44its 150-year-old ties with the mother country,
0:43:44 > 0:43:47Curtin looked to America.
0:43:47 > 0:43:51We feel that our fate,
0:43:51 > 0:43:55and that of the United States of America are unbreakably linked.
0:43:55 > 0:44:00We know that our destinies go forward hand in hand
0:44:00 > 0:44:03and that we will stand or fall together.
0:44:03 > 0:44:08Churchill regarded Curtin's pronouncement as gross disloyalty.
0:44:08 > 0:44:12'I am deeply shocked by Curtin's insulting speech.'
0:44:12 > 0:44:14Curtin's New Year's Day message
0:44:14 > 0:44:17really drew a line in the sand with Britain.
0:44:17 > 0:44:20He realised that the British were not going to help us, that we were
0:44:20 > 0:44:25not going to receive the troops, the hoped-for resources, military
0:44:25 > 0:44:29resources that would help us defend our nation at its hour of peril.
0:44:33 > 0:44:37By the 7th of January 1942, the Japanese reached Slim River,
0:44:37 > 0:44:41less than 300 miles from Singapore.
0:44:41 > 0:44:45Here, they launched a heavy attack on the British Empire forces.
0:44:46 > 0:44:50A tank column broke through the defending Indian troops.
0:44:50 > 0:44:53The Argylls were the last line of defence.
0:44:54 > 0:44:59I was sent forward to find out what was happening.
0:44:59 > 0:45:04Suddenly, my platoon sergeant, who was in the rear,
0:45:04 > 0:45:05said, "Come back at once!"
0:45:05 > 0:45:08Get back!
0:45:08 > 0:45:13MACHINE GUN FIRE
0:45:13 > 0:45:18And I fell into this ditch with the sergeant who'd been beside me.
0:45:18 > 0:45:21I said, "I'm afraid I've been hit."
0:45:21 > 0:45:23And he said, "So have I."
0:45:23 > 0:45:28And with that, they started shooting us like mad.
0:45:31 > 0:45:33Every one missed me.
0:45:33 > 0:45:36But I was absolutely pouring with blood.
0:45:36 > 0:45:38I could see the blood pouring,
0:45:38 > 0:45:40jets pouring out of my arm.
0:45:40 > 0:45:44So I picked up some mud from the bottom of the ditch
0:45:44 > 0:45:46and made a sort of poultice over it.
0:45:46 > 0:45:49I think I must have passed out a bit,
0:45:49 > 0:45:53but when I recovered, nobody was near me at all.
0:45:53 > 0:46:00So I nipped out of the ditch and ran for the jungle, for several weeks.
0:46:00 > 0:46:04Eventually, I met a group of Indian soldiers,
0:46:04 > 0:46:08but the Japanese came across a paddy field and saw us there,
0:46:08 > 0:46:12and there was nothing we could do.
0:46:12 > 0:46:16So we all had to hold up our hands and say, "We surrender."
0:46:21 > 0:46:25At battle's end, there were less than a hundred Argylls who
0:46:25 > 0:46:27hadn't been killed or captured.
0:46:27 > 0:46:31They acted as a rearguard for the defeated British
0:46:31 > 0:46:34and Indian troops who were making their way southwards,
0:46:34 > 0:46:37abandoning the capital of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur.
0:46:39 > 0:46:42Along with the troops, civilians fled in their thousands
0:46:42 > 0:46:47towards the sanctuary of Singapore, just three days' march away.
0:46:47 > 0:46:49There were a lot of refugees, Europeans,
0:46:49 > 0:46:51there were Chinese, Indians.
0:46:52 > 0:46:53Everybody was getting out.
0:46:54 > 0:46:58People were rushing away, and we couldn't find a carriage.
0:46:58 > 0:47:01And the train was starting to move, so Dad said,
0:47:01 > 0:47:05"Jump onto the fender behind the engine."
0:47:05 > 0:47:07So there we were, hanging on for dear life,
0:47:07 > 0:47:12my father's one arm around me, my face buried in his neck,
0:47:12 > 0:47:14eyes closed, praying that we wouldn't fall off.
0:47:14 > 0:47:17I was scared, I was really scared.
0:47:17 > 0:47:20I didn't know what was going on. It was dark.
0:47:20 > 0:47:23The shadows of the trees looked pretty ghostly.
0:47:23 > 0:47:26The thought in everybody's mind was that Singapore was the place to be
0:47:26 > 0:47:28where you would be safe.
0:47:30 > 0:47:33Ha! How wrong we were.
0:47:38 > 0:47:41As the advancing Japanese army relentlessly pushed
0:47:41 > 0:47:45the multinational British Empire forces back towards
0:47:45 > 0:47:50Singapore, General Percival resorted to desperate measures.
0:47:51 > 0:47:55Before the war, fearing the spread of Communism,
0:47:55 > 0:47:57the British had rounded up
0:47:57 > 0:48:02and imprisoned the leaders of the emergent Malayan Communist Party.
0:48:02 > 0:48:05Many British people, and some of the rulers of Britain,
0:48:05 > 0:48:08had been much more frightened of Communism
0:48:08 > 0:48:10than they had been of Fascism and Nazism. It was very striking,
0:48:10 > 0:48:13one of the reasons that some of the British aristocracy
0:48:13 > 0:48:18were not unenthusiastic about making friends with Hitler.
0:48:18 > 0:48:19Kneeling positions!
0:48:19 > 0:48:22Percival now released the Communists and trained them
0:48:22 > 0:48:25as guerrilla fighters.
0:48:25 > 0:48:28Enemies became friends, united against a common foe.
0:48:28 > 0:48:30Ground position!
0:48:30 > 0:48:35Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, then Britain was allied
0:48:35 > 0:48:36to the Soviet Union as a result,
0:48:36 > 0:48:39and because of that alliance,
0:48:39 > 0:48:44you couldn't keep on imprisoning Communists.
0:48:44 > 0:48:46Fire!
0:48:46 > 0:48:49Communism suddenly became, at least for a season, respectful again
0:48:49 > 0:48:52and we were making friends with them and letting them out of jails
0:48:52 > 0:48:53all over the Empire.
0:49:00 > 0:49:05By mid-January, 1942, Yamashita's army had reached the southern
0:49:05 > 0:49:10Malayan state of Johor, just two days' march from Singapore.
0:49:11 > 0:49:17Here, they faced Australian troops in combat for the first time.
0:49:17 > 0:49:21The Australians, still believing the Japanese to be inferior,
0:49:21 > 0:49:22were full of confidence
0:49:22 > 0:49:26and expected to stop them in their tracks.
0:49:27 > 0:49:31The Commander of the 10,000 Australian troops,
0:49:31 > 0:49:33Major General Gordon Bennett,
0:49:33 > 0:49:35had made his reputation in World War I
0:49:35 > 0:49:40as a fearless front line soldier. But he had one weakness.
0:49:40 > 0:49:42One of the skills of generalship is getting on
0:49:42 > 0:49:44with your superiors and your allies,
0:49:44 > 0:49:48and Gordon Bennett was absolutely incapable of working with anyone.
0:49:48 > 0:49:50He was abrasive, he was abrupt, he was arrogant.
0:49:50 > 0:49:53He believed he knew better than anybody else, and in the end,
0:49:53 > 0:49:56he proved to be the worst choice for a very delicate
0:49:56 > 0:49:58situation for Australian commanders.
0:49:59 > 0:50:03At Gemas, Bennett planned a decisive first strike.
0:50:03 > 0:50:08He wanted to blow up a bridge and ambush a Japanese tank column,
0:50:08 > 0:50:10led by infantry on bicycles.
0:50:10 > 0:50:14TROOPS SING IN JAPANESE
0:50:16 > 0:50:20I don't know why the Japanese didn't twig that there was something wrong.
0:50:20 > 0:50:23Any rate, they were riding down on their push bikes.
0:50:23 > 0:50:25They've got push bikes by the dozen.
0:50:25 > 0:50:30As his infantry trained their weapons on the bicycle brigade,
0:50:30 > 0:50:32Bennett had artillery waiting for the signal
0:50:32 > 0:50:35to fire on the tanks following behind.
0:50:35 > 0:50:38They were so keen to get the push bikes on the bridge
0:50:38 > 0:50:41that they let too many go past the front.
0:50:41 > 0:50:44EXPLOSIONS AND GUNFIRE
0:50:44 > 0:50:48The bridge was blown, but the Japanese already across
0:50:48 > 0:50:52cut the communication lines to the Australian artillery.
0:50:52 > 0:50:54And we're incommunicado then.
0:50:54 > 0:51:01We're down at 2,000 metres back, waiting to fire,
0:51:01 > 0:51:03and nothing happened.
0:51:05 > 0:51:08As the artillery waited for orders to fire,
0:51:08 > 0:51:11the Japanese tanks reached the Australians.
0:51:13 > 0:51:16Coming under heavy attack, they were forced to withdraw.
0:51:16 > 0:51:20It had been another missed opportunity in a campaign
0:51:20 > 0:51:22that was becoming a shambles.
0:51:22 > 0:51:26Japanese engineers quickly repaired the bridge,
0:51:26 > 0:51:29and the military machine kept rolling towards Singapore.
0:51:46 > 0:51:49For the Australians, one of the few small victories
0:51:49 > 0:51:53in the Malayan campaign unfolded on the peninsula's west coast,
0:51:53 > 0:51:54near the Muar River.
0:51:57 > 0:52:00On the 15th of January, the Japanese launched
0:52:00 > 0:52:06an attack on 4,000 untried Indian troops Bennett had placed there.
0:52:06 > 0:52:09Now, the Indians were very much all young men, untrained,
0:52:09 > 0:52:12and they just went through them like butter.
0:52:12 > 0:52:15When Bennett got word, he rushed 2,000 Australian
0:52:15 > 0:52:19reinforcements to Muar, to back up the Indians.
0:52:21 > 0:52:25In what was one of the few Japanese mistakes in the campaign,
0:52:25 > 0:52:28they sent a tank column straight down the main road
0:52:28 > 0:52:29towards the Australians.
0:52:32 > 0:52:35Japanese tanks had proved decisive in the campaign,
0:52:35 > 0:52:37because the British brought none,
0:52:37 > 0:52:41thinking they would be ineffective in the jungles.
0:52:41 > 0:52:44But on a bend in the road,
0:52:44 > 0:52:47the tanks ran into two Australian anti-tank guns.
0:52:50 > 0:52:53EXPLOSIONS
0:52:53 > 0:52:56The anti-tank inflicted heavy casualties on their tanks.
0:52:56 > 0:52:59They took them out, one went up in smoke,
0:52:59 > 0:53:02the other one started to circle round and they got hit.
0:53:02 > 0:53:05Our two guns knocked out the eight tanks,
0:53:05 > 0:53:09and they immediately rushed us up to the front line.
0:53:09 > 0:53:13So, when I got there, and our gun was set up,
0:53:13 > 0:53:15the tanks were still on fire.
0:53:15 > 0:53:18All the ammunition, the small arms ammunition that they had
0:53:18 > 0:53:20started to go off.
0:53:20 > 0:53:22And then the smell of hamburgers.
0:53:23 > 0:53:27That was the crew of the tank being burnt.
0:53:28 > 0:53:32They'd all been killed, either killed in the tank,
0:53:32 > 0:53:38or some had got out of the tanks and the infantry had shot them.
0:53:40 > 0:53:48War is a terrible, stinking, horrible, shocking state of affairs.
0:53:48 > 0:53:52You're asked to kill a man you've never met,
0:53:52 > 0:53:54and if you don't kill him, he'll kill you.
0:53:54 > 0:53:57And we were in the middle of a battle,
0:53:57 > 0:54:00and this was the result of the battle.
0:54:01 > 0:54:04The victory was short-lived.
0:54:04 > 0:54:09The Japanese sent 5,000 troops to outflank the Australians.
0:54:11 > 0:54:13We realised we had been cut off.
0:54:13 > 0:54:15So the order was given to withdraw,
0:54:15 > 0:54:19so we withdrew down the road to a place called Parit Sulong.
0:54:19 > 0:54:21Unfortunately the Japanese got there first,
0:54:21 > 0:54:24and they had heavily fortified the bridge.
0:54:26 > 0:54:28We are running out of supplies.
0:54:28 > 0:54:30Our Lieutenant Colonel Charles Anderson,
0:54:30 > 0:54:32seeing that the situation was hopeless,
0:54:32 > 0:54:35ordered every man for himself.
0:54:35 > 0:54:38Anderson made the painful decision to abandon
0:54:38 > 0:54:41the most seriously wounded, assuming they would be cared for.
0:54:41 > 0:54:47115 Australians and 35 Indians were left behind on the bridge.
0:54:47 > 0:54:52The Japanese moved them from the road to behind this building.
0:54:52 > 0:54:54And they were all wounded, some very badly,
0:54:54 > 0:54:58and we were hoping they'd be treated humanely.
0:55:04 > 0:55:08The Japanese shot or bayoneted them, poured petrol over them
0:55:08 > 0:55:10and set them on fire.
0:55:32 > 0:55:37My views of what they did, the Japanese, it was an act of war.
0:55:39 > 0:55:42We did the same in similar situations.
0:55:42 > 0:55:48Up towards Muar, the Japanese wounded there,
0:55:48 > 0:55:51they were lying in a trench but they were also about to
0:55:51 > 0:55:54pull out the pins of grenades
0:55:54 > 0:55:57and blast the advancing troops with them.
0:55:57 > 0:56:01Our men were told to kill them, shoot them.
0:56:06 > 0:56:08We were shooting their wounded, and they,
0:56:08 > 0:56:12when we got back to the bridge, the Japanese shot our wounded,
0:56:12 > 0:56:15because what could they do with them?
0:56:18 > 0:56:22In just 55 days, the Japanese Imperial Army had pushed the
0:56:22 > 0:56:25British Empire forces over 600 miles southward
0:56:25 > 0:56:27down the Malay peninsula.
0:56:27 > 0:56:31They'd killed or captured over 20,000 Empire troops
0:56:31 > 0:56:34and were within striking distance of Singapore.
0:56:37 > 0:56:41On the 27th of January, 1942, Percival received a signal
0:56:41 > 0:56:45from high command, permitting him to withdraw to Singapore island.
0:56:48 > 0:56:51Most of the surviving units managed to scramble across the causeway
0:56:51 > 0:56:54connecting the island to the mainland.
0:56:54 > 0:57:00The last to cross were the Royal Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.
0:57:00 > 0:57:01As an act of defiance,
0:57:01 > 0:57:04and inspiration to their Empire comrades,
0:57:04 > 0:57:07they piped themselves across.
0:57:07 > 0:57:09They struck up the pipes,
0:57:09 > 0:57:13and we were going across the causeway into Singapore itself.
0:57:13 > 0:57:17And the tunes that were getting played...
0:57:17 > 0:57:19Highland Laddie.
0:57:19 > 0:57:22# Where have you been all the day
0:57:22 > 0:57:23# Highland laddie
0:57:23 > 0:57:25# Bonnie laddie... #
0:57:25 > 0:57:29I don't know much more.
0:57:29 > 0:57:36And once these drums get up and the pipes are playing...
0:57:36 > 0:57:39oh, they're something.
0:57:40 > 0:57:42That kind of defiant,
0:57:42 > 0:57:45in your face gesture on the part of the Argylls,
0:57:45 > 0:57:47that sort of stiff upper lip,
0:57:47 > 0:57:51well, that's the response to adversity that wins you empires.
0:57:51 > 0:57:55And it's the kind of response to adversity that an empire at bay,
0:57:55 > 0:57:59backed into a corner, would be prone to show.
0:57:59 > 0:58:01Fighting spirit. We're not done yet.
0:58:01 > 0:58:02Come and get us.
0:58:04 > 0:58:06And so it had come.
0:58:06 > 0:58:08The prized British colony of Malaya had fallen
0:58:08 > 0:58:13and over one million people were bailed up in the supposedly
0:58:13 > 0:58:16impregnable fortress of Singapore.
0:58:16 > 0:58:19As the Japanese prepared to lay siege to the island,
0:58:19 > 0:58:21the realisation dawned:
0:58:21 > 0:58:23If Singapore were to fall, the British Empire
0:58:23 > 0:58:28could fall with it, and South East Asia would never be the same again.
0:58:39 > 0:58:44Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd