0:00:03 > 0:00:07On the 8th of December, 1941, with World War II raging in Europe,
0:00:07 > 0:00:11Japan seized the opportunity to launch a brutal campaign
0:00:11 > 0:00:15to expand its empire and expel the white colonials from Asia.
0:00:18 > 0:00:21The Japanese despised the Anglo-Saxon powers that had
0:00:21 > 0:00:23occupied most of Asia.
0:00:23 > 0:00:27The propaganda at the time is all about ridding Asia of the white man.
0:00:28 > 0:00:31They bombed the American Naval Base at Pearl Harbor,
0:00:31 > 0:00:34landed infantry in British Malaya
0:00:34 > 0:00:37and blasted the British fortress of Singapore.
0:00:40 > 0:00:49In just 55 days, the Japanese Imperial Army pushed the British Empire forces over 600 miles southward down the Malay Peninsula.
0:00:49 > 0:00:52After all these years in which colonial subjects
0:00:52 > 0:00:56had genuinely grown up to believe that the Empire was invincible,
0:00:56 > 0:01:00they see the Empire and its troops collapsing like a house of cards.
0:01:01 > 0:01:03One of the few units to fight the Japanese at their own game
0:01:03 > 0:01:07was the jungle-trained Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.
0:01:07 > 0:01:09Get back!
0:01:11 > 0:01:14Despite heavy casualties, they guarded the approaches to Singapore
0:01:14 > 0:01:19as thousands of troops and refugees retreated to the stricken city.
0:01:19 > 0:01:23The thought in everybody's mind was that Singapore was the place to be,
0:01:23 > 0:01:24where you could be safe.
0:01:24 > 0:01:27Ha. How wrong we were.
0:01:28 > 0:01:32The Japanese invasion ignited smouldering ethnic tensions
0:01:32 > 0:01:35among the local Chinese, Malay and Indian communities.
0:01:36 > 0:01:42I saw with my own eyes their reign of terror...really change us.
0:01:44 > 0:01:49The fall of Singapore was not only Britain's most humiliating defeat of World War II,
0:01:49 > 0:01:52but the tipping point that changed South East Asia for ever,
0:01:52 > 0:01:56and heralded the beginning of the end of the British Empire.
0:02:15 > 0:02:17For nearly 150 years,
0:02:17 > 0:02:20Singapore, on the southern tip of the Malay peninsula,
0:02:20 > 0:02:25was the jewel in the crown of Britain's East Asian colonies.
0:02:25 > 0:02:28In early 1942, with the Japanese on the doorstep,
0:02:28 > 0:02:33the colonial population on the besieged island appeared to be in denial.
0:02:35 > 0:02:39The ballroom at Raffles Hotel was shrouded in black curtains,
0:02:39 > 0:02:42but the orchestra still played from eight till midnight.
0:02:44 > 0:02:49Of course, there were people who seemed to ignore what was going on.
0:02:49 > 0:02:52There were parties in the Raffles Hotel and places like that,
0:02:52 > 0:02:53among the colonial elite.
0:02:55 > 0:02:56But I think it was...
0:02:56 > 0:03:00they were just fooling themselves by their own propaganda
0:03:00 > 0:03:03of Singapore being an impregnable fortress.
0:03:04 > 0:03:08There was a very long tradition throughout the British Empire
0:03:08 > 0:03:09of putting on a dinner jacket
0:03:09 > 0:03:13before you go out to face a mob of screaming natives
0:03:13 > 0:03:18who would chop you to pieces with their pangas or whatever it may be.
0:03:18 > 0:03:22This is how the British maintained the illusion of Empire for all those years.
0:03:25 > 0:03:27We heard that the Japanese were getting nearer
0:03:27 > 0:03:31and my father wrote this letter to my mother saying,
0:03:31 > 0:03:34"Don't worry, darling, you and Catherine will be all right.
0:03:34 > 0:03:39"I think the old Jap is bluffing and we're cornering him all roads.
0:03:39 > 0:03:42"Is there much doing round Singapore?
0:03:42 > 0:03:45"I expect there's quite a stir on.
0:03:45 > 0:03:49"Well, darling, remember what I say. Don't worry and keep your chin up."
0:03:51 > 0:03:54Really, the whole attitude in Singapore at the time
0:03:54 > 0:03:58was that Singapore was impenetrable, they had big guns
0:03:58 > 0:04:02facing out to sea, and a fine aerodrome.
0:04:02 > 0:04:05And they didn't think for one moment that the Japanese
0:04:05 > 0:04:08would have the temerity to attack.
0:04:13 > 0:04:16MEN SPEAK JAPANESE
0:04:16 > 0:04:19Having driven the Empire forces back to Singapore,
0:04:19 > 0:04:23General Tomuyuki Yamashita, the Commander of the Japanese Imperial Army,
0:04:23 > 0:04:25was massing his troops in Johore,
0:04:25 > 0:04:29just across the causeway linking the mainland to Singapore Island.
0:04:29 > 0:04:33The Battle of Singapore has started.
0:04:33 > 0:04:35Lieutenant General Arthur Percival,
0:04:35 > 0:04:37the Commander of the British Empire forces,
0:04:37 > 0:04:42was confident his defences would hold, but needed to secure the island.
0:04:42 > 0:04:44PIPERS PLAY
0:04:44 > 0:04:46On the 31st of January, after the last troops,
0:04:46 > 0:04:50the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, had crossed the causeway,
0:04:50 > 0:04:53he ordered it to be blown up.
0:04:53 > 0:04:56We were stationed just over the causeway,
0:04:56 > 0:04:59about 200 yards down the road, and we watched them piping across
0:04:59 > 0:05:03the last of the Argylls, then the blowing up of the causeway.
0:05:07 > 0:05:11It was as if you'd burst a little balloon. And we said to them...
0:05:11 > 0:05:14After it died down we said to the officers,
0:05:14 > 0:05:16"Look at that bloody little hole. That's not much good."
0:05:16 > 0:05:19He says, "Oh, that's only temporary because we'll be advancing."
0:05:22 > 0:05:25Just across the causeway stood the Sultan of Johore's palace.
0:05:27 > 0:05:29The Sultan, now siding with the Japanese,
0:05:29 > 0:05:33allowed General Yamashita to set up his headquarters there.
0:05:34 > 0:05:38From the top of its five-storey tower, Yamashita could clearly see
0:05:38 > 0:05:42the displacement of Empire troops on the north of the island.
0:05:42 > 0:05:45The General was quite safe.
0:05:45 > 0:05:48Constrained by colonial decorum, the British had promised the Sultan
0:05:48 > 0:05:52his palace would not be shelled in the battle.
0:05:52 > 0:05:59We reckoned that we saw Yamashita up in the tower at the Sultan's palace.
0:05:59 > 0:06:04We saw binoculars at a certain angle, and we said,
0:06:04 > 0:06:06"They're spying on us."
0:06:06 > 0:06:08And I said, "We can fix that.
0:06:08 > 0:06:12"We can blow that down with one six-gun salvo."
0:06:12 > 0:06:15And the officer said, "You're not allowed to do that."
0:06:15 > 0:06:17I said, "What do you mean we're..."
0:06:17 > 0:06:21He said, "You're not allowed to upset the Sultan of Johore."
0:06:21 > 0:06:26The British said, "He might get upset after the war."
0:06:34 > 0:06:37Now trapped on the island, Percival pinned his hopes on
0:06:37 > 0:06:4018,000 British reinforcements on their way to Singapore.
0:06:43 > 0:06:46But as the Malayan campaign had rapidly turned into a rout,
0:06:46 > 0:06:51British Prime Minister Winston Churchill began to view Singapore as a lost cause
0:06:51 > 0:06:55and threatened to turn the ships around and start evacuating the island:
0:06:55 > 0:06:58"Obviously the decision depends on
0:06:58 > 0:07:03"how long the defence of Singapore Island can be maintained.
0:07:03 > 0:07:05"If it is only for a few weeks,
0:07:05 > 0:07:09"it is certainly not worth losing all our reinforcements and aircraft."
0:07:11 > 0:07:13Australian Prime Minister John Curtin
0:07:13 > 0:07:17saw Singapore as Australia's front line and weighed in:
0:07:17 > 0:07:20"After all the assurances we have been given,
0:07:20 > 0:07:25"the evacuation of Singapore would be regarded, here and elsewhere,
0:07:25 > 0:07:27"as an inexcusable betrayal."
0:07:29 > 0:07:31Curtin's pressure worked.
0:07:31 > 0:07:34Churchill gave up all ideas of abandoning Singapore
0:07:34 > 0:07:40and the 18,000 British reinforcements proceeded to the island.
0:07:40 > 0:07:43We rushed pell-mell into Singapore.
0:07:43 > 0:07:50There was a line of trucks right up close to the vessel on the quayside,
0:07:50 > 0:07:53and we were just told to jump to it,
0:07:53 > 0:07:58chuck our stuff on board, and, as soon as we were in, off we went.
0:08:01 > 0:08:04For his part, Curtin feared Japanese invasion so much
0:08:04 > 0:08:08that he rushed nearly 2,000, mostly untrained,
0:08:08 > 0:08:10Australian reinforcements to Singapore.
0:08:13 > 0:08:18The new arrivals joined the loose mix of British, Malay, Eurasian,
0:08:18 > 0:08:22Indian and other Australian troops who had survived the rigours of
0:08:22 > 0:08:26the Malayan campaign, and were now licking their wounds and regrouping.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38Of all the Empire troops preparing to defend the island,
0:08:38 > 0:08:42some of the best equipped were the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.
0:08:44 > 0:08:46Their Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Ian Stewart,
0:08:46 > 0:08:48had trained them in jungle warfare.
0:08:50 > 0:08:52They'd fought bravely in Malaya,
0:08:52 > 0:08:56but had been reduced to just 250 battle-ready men.
0:08:59 > 0:09:03The Argylls were reinforced with 210 British Royal Marines.
0:09:06 > 0:09:08To get to know each other,
0:09:08 > 0:09:11they played a game of football outside the barracks.
0:09:11 > 0:09:15Most of the Argylls came from the Glasgow side
0:09:15 > 0:09:20and there was always rivalry, the same as the football teams.
0:09:20 > 0:09:24So it just carried on in the army.
0:09:25 > 0:09:30We marched into the Argylls' barracks, formed up on parade,
0:09:30 > 0:09:35Colonel Stewart of the Argylls - great man - welcomed us on parade.
0:09:35 > 0:09:40About two hours later there were insults being hurled in the NAAFI
0:09:40 > 0:09:44and we were at fighting stations with the Argylls.
0:09:47 > 0:09:50It was just a wee argument. It wasnae a big battle.
0:09:50 > 0:09:54It was all over in no time, just a bit of rivalry.
0:09:54 > 0:09:58At the start it wasn't very friendly,
0:09:58 > 0:10:00but after that we got together quite well.
0:10:04 > 0:10:07The Marines won the game, but together, the new unit,
0:10:07 > 0:10:11the Plymouth Argylls, became a formidable fighting force.
0:10:11 > 0:10:14MEN SHOUT AGGRESSIVELY
0:10:14 > 0:10:17In desperation,
0:10:17 > 0:10:20the British issued arms to local Chinese civilians,
0:10:20 > 0:10:25creating a new unit, called Dalforce, that would fight alongside the Empire soldiers.
0:10:26 > 0:10:30It was an unprecedented move that reversed a century of colonial superiority.
0:10:33 > 0:10:36Britain's position in Malaya rested more than anything else
0:10:36 > 0:10:39on British prestige,
0:10:39 > 0:10:43and if British authorities admitted to the Chinese civilian leaders
0:10:43 > 0:10:47that they needed help, that would raise troubling questions about
0:10:47 > 0:10:50British prestige and the British ability to protect Singapore.
0:10:50 > 0:10:54Only the threat of defeat by the Japanese really dispelled
0:10:54 > 0:10:56that kind of reluctance.
0:10:59 > 0:11:03The Chinese in Singapore had a longstanding hatred of the Japanese,
0:11:03 > 0:11:06stretching back to Japan's brutal invasion of China,
0:11:06 > 0:11:10and the men of Dalforce were prepared to die fighting them.
0:11:10 > 0:11:13There would be Chinese Nationalists, Communists,
0:11:13 > 0:11:16and of course there would be mixed motives.
0:11:16 > 0:11:20There were some local Chinese who had affinities with this place,
0:11:20 > 0:11:24those who were born here. Some had been here for centuries, perhaps.
0:11:24 > 0:11:29But I would say the majority of them counted China as their homeland,
0:11:29 > 0:11:38and China was of course engaged in this life-and-death struggle with Japanese forces, since 1937.
0:11:40 > 0:11:44Percival's ragtag multinational army amounted to 85,000 troops.
0:11:46 > 0:11:48It comprised a core of experienced
0:11:48 > 0:11:51but weary soldiers who'd retreated from the fighting in Malaya,
0:11:51 > 0:11:55supported by untrained or unmotivated new recruits.
0:11:56 > 0:11:59There were those soldiers left over from fighting,
0:11:59 > 0:12:02they were the remnants, with reinforcements.
0:12:02 > 0:12:05Some who couldn't even put a bullet in a rifle.
0:12:05 > 0:12:08Honest to goodness, that was right.
0:12:11 > 0:12:14Although outnumbered, with just 36,000 troops,
0:12:14 > 0:12:18Yamashita's men were all battle-hardened and single-minded.
0:12:38 > 0:12:42In early February, Yamashita began his assault on Singapore's defences.
0:12:49 > 0:12:52He launched a devastating artillery bombardment,
0:12:52 > 0:12:53and relentless air attacks.
0:12:59 > 0:13:02My father decided that we should sleep in the air raid shelter
0:13:02 > 0:13:05because the bombing and the shelling was getting really bad.
0:13:05 > 0:13:08Bombs were bursting overhead and all that, so he said we should go
0:13:08 > 0:13:12to the air raid shelter under the house, and that's where we stayed.
0:13:14 > 0:13:16We had to stay under the billiard table
0:13:16 > 0:13:18because there was nowhere else to go.
0:13:18 > 0:13:23And then this tremendous explosion, the building seemed to shake.
0:13:23 > 0:13:24LOUD EXPLOSION
0:13:24 > 0:13:28And Amah got a mattress, put it on top of me,
0:13:28 > 0:13:32and then she lay on top of that to protect me with her body.
0:13:32 > 0:13:36And I shouted out, "Goodbye Mummy, I'll see you in heaven."
0:13:36 > 0:13:41But luckily, it must have been a very near miss.
0:13:42 > 0:13:45And of course the next morning when I went up to my room,
0:13:45 > 0:13:47and that's what I discovered.
0:13:47 > 0:13:52This shrapnel, right in the middle of the pillow where my head would have been.
0:13:52 > 0:13:54So I had a lucky escape.
0:13:59 > 0:14:03With the Japanese launching two and often three air raids a day,
0:14:03 > 0:14:06nearly a thousand civilians were killed during January
0:14:06 > 0:14:08and early February of 1942.
0:14:09 > 0:14:13MAN: I saw people dying on the road, people injured,
0:14:13 > 0:14:15and buildings on fire and crumbling.
0:14:17 > 0:14:22The bombing was shattering the long-held faith in the British Empire among the locals.
0:14:22 > 0:14:26At 8am that morning, I went to school to sit my final exam
0:14:26 > 0:14:30and the paper was history about the British Empire.
0:14:30 > 0:14:32So I thought of the irony.
0:14:32 > 0:14:36Here we have the bombs falling and we're talking about British Empire.
0:14:39 > 0:14:40The modern Japanese Air Force
0:14:40 > 0:14:44had all but destroyed the Commonwealth's mainly obsolete fighter planes,
0:14:44 > 0:14:47and the skies now belonged to the Japanese.
0:14:52 > 0:14:55Percival concentrated on Singapore's land defences.
0:14:56 > 0:15:01The British pride and joy were Singapore's 15-inch naval guns.
0:15:01 > 0:15:04But they were pointing the wrong way.
0:15:04 > 0:15:08In a growing list of defensive errors, British planners assumed
0:15:08 > 0:15:11any attack on the island would come from the sea to the south.
0:15:12 > 0:15:16The British made lots of assumptions about the Japanese that weren't true.
0:15:16 > 0:15:20They assumed that the Japanese couldn't fight, that their equipment was rubbish,
0:15:20 > 0:15:24that they'd come from the sea and attack Singapore island directly.
0:15:24 > 0:15:27So the British really lost out because they made assumptions,
0:15:27 > 0:15:31both racial and technological and tactical and strategic,
0:15:31 > 0:15:35and almost every single one of those assumptions proved to be false.
0:15:35 > 0:15:38Percival managed to hurriedly swing some of the guns around,
0:15:38 > 0:15:41to fire on the Japanese massing at Johore.
0:15:43 > 0:15:45But they had the wrong ammunition.
0:15:45 > 0:15:47It was designed to fire at ships,
0:15:47 > 0:15:50and inflicted little damage on the troops.
0:15:53 > 0:15:56Guessing Yamashita would attack to the east of the causeway,
0:15:56 > 0:16:02Percival moved 12,000 British and Indian troops towards Serangoon to face them.
0:16:02 > 0:16:07When we got to Serangoon, something had strung some wire up,
0:16:07 > 0:16:09but very little else.
0:16:09 > 0:16:11Wouldn't stop a bloody fox terrier!
0:16:12 > 0:16:15Percival hadn't built any beach defences,
0:16:15 > 0:16:17thinking it would be bad for the locals' morale to see
0:16:17 > 0:16:21the British even contemplating a Japanese landing on the island.
0:16:22 > 0:16:25There were a few wild pigs running about,
0:16:25 > 0:16:27which made you a bit nervous at night.
0:16:28 > 0:16:33And so we strung empty tin cans on the barbed wire, you know,
0:16:33 > 0:16:35to make more noise.
0:16:37 > 0:16:40In case Yamashita had a different plan, Percival asked
0:16:40 > 0:16:44the Commander of the Australian forces, Major General Gordon Bennett,
0:16:44 > 0:16:47to send 6,000 of his troops to the other side of the island.
0:16:49 > 0:16:50The Australians were to defend
0:16:50 > 0:16:54a 12-mile-wide stretch of mangrove swamps to the west of the causeway.
0:16:56 > 0:17:012,000 of Bennett's men were the untrained new recruits.
0:17:01 > 0:17:05Defending this expanse of coastline would be a near impossible task.
0:17:05 > 0:17:07It was hopeless.
0:17:07 > 0:17:10We had about...oh, crikey,
0:17:10 > 0:17:14a mile of coastline that we were supposed to look after.
0:17:14 > 0:17:15It had nothing.
0:17:15 > 0:17:21No barbed wire, no slit trenches, no nothing, and it was just
0:17:21 > 0:17:25an open invitation for the Japanese to come and take the island.
0:17:25 > 0:17:28I think that's our strongest defensive position.
0:17:28 > 0:17:31The normally abrasive Bennett could have objected to
0:17:31 > 0:17:33the Australians' vulnerable position
0:17:33 > 0:17:37but by now the relationship between the two generals was strained,
0:17:37 > 0:17:39and Bennett remained silent.
0:17:42 > 0:17:44The 1,000 Chinese volunteers of Dalforce
0:17:44 > 0:17:47joined the Australians on the beach head.
0:17:48 > 0:17:51They'd completed their training just three days earlier.
0:17:53 > 0:17:58Their baptism of fire would be fighting alongside Australians in an exposed position
0:17:58 > 0:18:02against the crack troops of the Japanese Imperial Army.
0:18:09 > 0:18:11From his vantage point on the mainland,
0:18:11 > 0:18:15General Yamashita had a clear view of the Empire forces' positions.
0:18:17 > 0:18:21The master strategist readied his troops to land on Singapore Island.
0:18:23 > 0:18:27He chose the sparsely defended Australian and Dalforce position,
0:18:27 > 0:18:29where the Straits were at the narrowest.
0:18:35 > 0:18:40Two Australians swam out into the straits there between it,
0:18:40 > 0:18:45and came back with the information that Japanese were preparing boats in that area.
0:18:45 > 0:18:48And the British went and said,
0:18:48 > 0:18:50"No, no, they're going to land up at the other end.
0:18:50 > 0:18:54"They've got a lot of traffic running up and down there."
0:18:54 > 0:18:57There was a lot of traffic heading towards the north east,
0:18:57 > 0:19:00but it was part of General Yamashita's plan to fool Percival
0:19:00 > 0:19:05into believing he would attack the large British force positioned there.
0:19:27 > 0:19:30To further confuse Percival about his invasion plans,
0:19:30 > 0:19:33on February the 6th, Yamashita ordered the shelling
0:19:33 > 0:19:36of both the north east and north west defences.
0:19:43 > 0:19:47Oh hell, some people who had been in World War I said it was worse
0:19:47 > 0:19:51than the shelling by the Germans in World War I.
0:19:55 > 0:19:57I know in my platoon area,
0:19:57 > 0:20:02I counted 100 shells landing in five minutes.
0:20:02 > 0:20:04It was endless.
0:20:06 > 0:20:10The Commonwealth artillery responded resolutely.
0:20:10 > 0:20:13Frontline gunners abandoned any concerns
0:20:13 > 0:20:15about offending the Sultan in his palace.
0:20:15 > 0:20:19We were firing into Johor Bahru, hammering right, left and centre
0:20:19 > 0:20:22and were told not to be firing there.
0:20:22 > 0:20:24We said, "Sod 'em, give em it!"
0:20:27 > 0:20:33Very unfortunately, we were in between the guns behind us
0:20:33 > 0:20:35and on the other side,
0:20:35 > 0:20:40the Japanese fire was just passing our house with a whizzing sound.
0:20:40 > 0:20:44And this side, they're firing and it's landing on the other side,
0:20:44 > 0:20:46also on top of our heads.
0:20:52 > 0:20:57On the 7th of February, Yamashita sent troops on a diversionary attack
0:20:57 > 0:21:00to fire across the water at the main British position
0:21:00 > 0:21:03to further convince Percival he was going to land there.
0:21:04 > 0:21:08Indian soldiers fought alongside the Japanese in this attack.
0:21:08 > 0:21:12These were men who'd deserted the British Empire forces in Malaya
0:21:12 > 0:21:16to form a new unit - the Indian National Army.
0:21:16 > 0:21:18Some of them did it because their mates were doing it.
0:21:18 > 0:21:23Some because they were furious with the Brits, who they thought had let them down.
0:21:23 > 0:21:26Some of them did it because they were diehard anti-imperialists
0:21:26 > 0:21:30who wanted to drive the British out of India as soon as possible,
0:21:30 > 0:21:32by whatever means available.
0:21:34 > 0:21:37Their Commander was the anti-British Nationalist
0:21:37 > 0:21:39Captain Mohan Singh.
0:21:41 > 0:21:45In this action, Indian soldiers, for the first time in the campaign,
0:21:45 > 0:21:48fired on their former colonial masters.
0:21:57 > 0:22:01The next night, 13,000 Japanese soldiers embarked
0:22:01 > 0:22:04on the six minute crossing of the Straits of Johor.
0:22:05 > 0:22:09With Percival still convinced the attack would in the north east,
0:22:09 > 0:22:13the Japanese quietly headed towards the Australian and Dalforce troops
0:22:13 > 0:22:15spread thinly along the west coast.
0:22:39 > 0:22:42They landed exactly where the British didn't think
0:22:42 > 0:22:45they were going to land - opposite the Australians.
0:22:51 > 0:22:54The Australians had little chance of stopping
0:22:54 > 0:22:57the huge numbers of Japanese pouring in.
0:23:02 > 0:23:05The Dalforce soldiers fought bravely,
0:23:05 > 0:23:09but some were armed with only machetes or shotguns.
0:23:09 > 0:23:11Most would die here on the beaches.
0:23:13 > 0:23:16Frankly, they were absolutely no match whatsoever
0:23:16 > 0:23:19for the combat-hardened Japanese infantry that came at them,
0:23:19 > 0:23:21and come at them they did.
0:23:22 > 0:23:24The Japanese brushed them aside.
0:23:24 > 0:23:27These were brave men who were going up against some of the toughest
0:23:27 > 0:23:30combat infantrymen in the world, deserve our respect,
0:23:30 > 0:23:34but they were never going to be anything more than a speed bump.
0:23:34 > 0:23:37Outnumbered two to one, the pressure became far too much.
0:23:41 > 0:23:45The Japanese broke through, gaining a foothold on Singapore Island,
0:23:45 > 0:23:48forcing the Australians into a hasty retreat.
0:23:50 > 0:23:54Morale and discipline had gone to pieces amongst
0:23:54 > 0:23:57the freshly arrived troops, and many deserted under fire.
0:23:59 > 0:24:01I think we have to be quite honest here
0:24:01 > 0:24:05and confront the shortcomings of Australians in battle at this time.
0:24:05 > 0:24:07We have to be very sympathetic to them,
0:24:07 > 0:24:09they're young men new to war,
0:24:09 > 0:24:12fighting the Japanese Imperial Guard at night in a swamp,
0:24:12 > 0:24:16but a lot of them decide they don't want to be there and become stragglers.
0:24:16 > 0:24:18So there's a lot of men leaving the frontline,
0:24:18 > 0:24:22making their way back, sometimes for good reasons, sometimes not,
0:24:22 > 0:24:25and it weakens the Australian defence.
0:24:27 > 0:24:32The so-called impregnable fortress had been breached.
0:24:32 > 0:24:35In just over a day, the Commonwealth forces had lost
0:24:35 > 0:24:40control of the causeway, and the entire western side of the island.
0:24:45 > 0:24:48On the 9th of February, General Yamashita felt confident
0:24:48 > 0:24:52enough to cross onto the island, setting up his headquarters
0:24:52 > 0:24:55in time to see the first prisoners taken in the siege.
0:24:57 > 0:25:00Sir, there's a cable here.
0:25:00 > 0:25:04The next day, a cable from Winston Churchill revealed
0:25:04 > 0:25:08the cold-hearted self interest of British colonialism.
0:25:08 > 0:25:10"There must, at this stage,
0:25:10 > 0:25:14"be no thought of saving the troops or sparing the population.
0:25:14 > 0:25:19"The battle must be fought till the bitter end, at all costs.
0:25:19 > 0:25:23"The honour of the British Empire and the British Army is at stake."
0:25:23 > 0:25:26The survival of the civilian population,
0:25:26 > 0:25:29the native population, the troops in Singapore were secondary
0:25:29 > 0:25:33really to the point of honour at stake here,
0:25:33 > 0:25:36which was the preservation of the British citadel in Asia.
0:25:36 > 0:25:39And its loss would gravely damage British respect,
0:25:39 > 0:25:42British sense of honour in the world.
0:25:42 > 0:25:45Churchill was quite prepared to sacrifice some million people
0:25:45 > 0:25:49on the island of Singapore to Japanese artillery and Japanese invasion.
0:25:49 > 0:25:52He did explicitly say, "fight to the last man,"
0:25:52 > 0:25:55meaning the last civilian, as well as the last soldier.
0:25:57 > 0:26:01Percival left more than half his army sitting idle
0:26:01 > 0:26:04on the north east coast while the Australian and Dalforce troops
0:26:04 > 0:26:07took the brunt of the attack.
0:26:07 > 0:26:11After three full days, he finally realised he'd been tricked,
0:26:11 > 0:26:13and ordered them across the island to support
0:26:13 > 0:26:16the retreating Australians, who were now being driven back
0:26:16 > 0:26:19towards Singapore town.
0:26:20 > 0:26:23The Australians were coming back through the jungle.
0:26:23 > 0:26:28It was throwing down with rain, and I'm standing under a palm tree
0:26:28 > 0:26:33with a gas cape, one of the waterproof capes on me.
0:26:33 > 0:26:37And the Australians were saying, you know, "Get out.
0:26:37 > 0:26:41"You want to get out, because the Japs are right behind us."
0:26:41 > 0:26:44And in the finish, we found out we were in the front line.
0:26:50 > 0:26:54At Bukit Timah, the bruised and battered British Empire Army,
0:26:54 > 0:26:59plagued by desertions and riven with discontent, made a determined stand.
0:27:04 > 0:27:07As the battle wore on into the night,
0:27:07 > 0:27:11the fanaticism of the Japanese soldiers shocked the Empire troops.
0:27:14 > 0:27:16It was a pretty fearsome thing
0:27:16 > 0:27:19to see a load of charging Japs,
0:27:19 > 0:27:22screaming and yelling and wielding swords.
0:27:22 > 0:27:24It's an appalling sight.
0:27:52 > 0:27:54In the end, the Empire forces at Bukit Timah
0:27:54 > 0:27:58had to yield to the fanatical Japanese soldier.
0:27:58 > 0:28:02It finally dawned on them that they were fighting an enemy
0:28:02 > 0:28:04who was at least their equal.
0:28:04 > 0:28:08We were told, "They can't see, they can't fight.
0:28:08 > 0:28:10"They're all 'paddy wallopers'", we called them.
0:28:10 > 0:28:13The biggest surprise of our life I think when it...
0:28:13 > 0:28:16And then especially when we were immediately told
0:28:16 > 0:28:18we were going to withdraw.
0:28:22 > 0:28:26By 14th of February, the Japanese were overlooking the city.
0:28:27 > 0:28:31One million people were trapped within a radius of three miles.
0:28:31 > 0:28:35Singapore's very fabric was being torn apart.
0:28:36 > 0:28:39I would not have wanted to be in Singapore town.
0:28:39 > 0:28:42That must have been the worst place on the planet to be at that time.
0:28:42 > 0:28:46The Japanese were terror bombing and bombarding the town,
0:28:46 > 0:28:49to try and provoke mass civilian panic and buckle the defences.
0:28:49 > 0:28:53They were bombing from the air and shelling with heavy artillery,
0:28:53 > 0:28:55and all indiscriminately.
0:28:56 > 0:29:00Well over half the city's water supply was going to waste through broken pipes.
0:29:01 > 0:29:04I remember my father saying to my mother,
0:29:04 > 0:29:06"We're going to lose this war.
0:29:06 > 0:29:09"If it's the last thing I do, I've got to get you off the island."
0:29:09 > 0:29:12Unfortunately, in the middle of all this,
0:29:12 > 0:29:15he went down with malaria and was transferred
0:29:15 > 0:29:18to the Alexandra Hospital in Singapore.
0:29:19 > 0:29:23Alexandra Hospital was the British military hospital,
0:29:23 > 0:29:26and lay in the path of the Japanese advance.
0:29:26 > 0:29:30The hospital, built to accommodate 550 patients,
0:29:30 > 0:29:33was packed with 900 sick and wounded soldiers.
0:29:34 > 0:29:37I saw these soldiers, blood oozing from their bandages.
0:29:37 > 0:29:39Many had head wounds, I think.
0:29:41 > 0:29:43At 2.30pm on the 14th of February,
0:29:43 > 0:29:46retreating Indian troops used the hospital as cover
0:29:46 > 0:29:50to fire on the Japanese as they advanced towards the city.
0:29:50 > 0:29:52My father said, "Go home,
0:29:52 > 0:29:57"pack a box, and be ready to leave, I'm taking my discharge from hospital."
0:29:57 > 0:30:02So my mother went home, she got a little box,
0:30:02 > 0:30:05packed it with her dance dresses and garden party hats.
0:30:05 > 0:30:10Of course, they were reminiscent of a lovely life she'd led in the tropics,
0:30:10 > 0:30:13and then a truck took us down to the docks,
0:30:13 > 0:30:15and my father was there to meet us.
0:30:15 > 0:30:18The ship was packed with women and children.
0:30:18 > 0:30:23The ship finally managed to get away from the harbour,
0:30:23 > 0:30:28and I can remember waving to my father, who, by this time,
0:30:28 > 0:30:30seemed to be all alone on the dock.
0:30:31 > 0:30:35As the ship was leaving, a Japanese company in full battle gear
0:30:35 > 0:30:39charged into the hospital, looking for the Indian troops.
0:30:39 > 0:30:42Finding them gone, they rampaged through the wards,
0:30:42 > 0:30:45killing at least 100 defenceless patients.
0:30:45 > 0:30:48They went in and bayoneted and slaughtered
0:30:48 > 0:30:53doctors, nurses, patients - even patients on the operating table.
0:30:58 > 0:31:01As the final moments approached, the Japanese bombing and shelling
0:31:01 > 0:31:05took its toll on the civilian population.
0:31:05 > 0:31:09It was horrifying to think there were so many bits and pieces.
0:31:09 > 0:31:13There were still people dying, some of them were already dead,
0:31:13 > 0:31:17there were a lot of broken limbs about.
0:31:17 > 0:31:22It was the smell of blood, I think, and smoke that really got to me.
0:31:22 > 0:31:28And I just couldn't believe that all this could happen.
0:31:29 > 0:31:31With their world crumbling around them,
0:31:31 > 0:31:35the British were desperate to escape.
0:31:35 > 0:31:37As women and children were crowding onto the ships,
0:31:37 > 0:31:40there were accusations that Australian soldiers
0:31:40 > 0:31:43were trying to force their way on board.
0:31:43 > 0:31:46The British said the Australians were deserters.
0:31:46 > 0:31:48That I will confirm.
0:31:48 > 0:31:53I will confirm that, in as much as some of us Marines,
0:31:53 > 0:31:58we were put in charge of the security of Singapore Harbour.
0:31:58 > 0:32:02And I know that there was quite a stand off of Australians
0:32:02 > 0:32:07getting aboard the liners that were taking civilian evacuees away.
0:32:07 > 0:32:11I think most of the things that were said about misbehaviour
0:32:11 > 0:32:14and failures by Australian troops were true,
0:32:14 > 0:32:16but it ill-became the British to make them
0:32:16 > 0:32:20because there wasn't a shred of evidence the British Army was behaving any better.
0:32:20 > 0:32:23Nobody wanted to do this. Nobody wanted to fight.
0:32:23 > 0:32:25They were deeply imbued with the European ethic,
0:32:25 > 0:32:28"Well, we've given it a go, we've got rotten Generals,
0:32:28 > 0:32:32"nobody seems to know what they're doing, the Japanese are bloody good.
0:32:32 > 0:32:36"Stuff this for a row of soldiers, we'll chuck it in."
0:32:36 > 0:32:40The evacuation of Singapore revealed damning evidence
0:32:40 > 0:32:43of the British view of their Asian subjects.
0:32:43 > 0:32:46In addition to the soldiers who deserted,
0:32:46 > 0:32:4910,000 women and children were evacuated.
0:32:49 > 0:32:517,000 of them were white.
0:32:51 > 0:32:54The Europeans are declaring, if you like,
0:32:54 > 0:32:57that they really don't belong here by their conduct.
0:32:57 > 0:33:00And that leaves the Singaporeans on the quayside,
0:33:00 > 0:33:02looking at the ships leaving, scratching their heads
0:33:02 > 0:33:05and thinking, "Who really has a stake in this country?"
0:33:05 > 0:33:07And the answer is, they do.
0:33:09 > 0:33:12Those left stranded on the wharf were condemned to face
0:33:12 > 0:33:16the fearsome occupying force now at the gates of their city.
0:33:19 > 0:33:21By the 14th of February,
0:33:21 > 0:33:24the Japanese had captured most of the Empire force's
0:33:24 > 0:33:29ammunition and fuel, and had control of Singapore's main water supplies.
0:33:30 > 0:33:34That night, the Japanese entered the outskirts of the city.
0:33:34 > 0:33:39Hand-to-hand street fighting in the midst of the civilian population
0:33:39 > 0:33:41became a terrifying possibility.
0:33:42 > 0:33:45General Percival cabled High Command,
0:33:45 > 0:33:47seeking permission to surrender.
0:33:50 > 0:33:53Churchill realised the time for public bravado was over,
0:33:53 > 0:33:55and the next morning cabled Percival,
0:33:55 > 0:33:59permitting him to be the sole judge of the moment.
0:34:00 > 0:34:03On Sunday the 15th of February, 1942,
0:34:03 > 0:34:08more than 100 years after the British had raised the flag over Singapore,
0:34:08 > 0:34:11Percival surrendered unconditionally.
0:34:14 > 0:34:15Incredible.
0:34:15 > 0:34:20We couldn't understand why and how, or anything else.
0:34:20 > 0:34:23It was just impossible to comprehend.
0:34:24 > 0:34:26Surrender was terrible.
0:34:27 > 0:34:32To think that here was the great British Empire,
0:34:32 > 0:34:37and they had just surrendered to these so and sos.
0:34:37 > 0:34:40I was near broken...hearted.
0:34:42 > 0:34:43We couldn't believe it.
0:34:43 > 0:34:45When the surrender came,
0:34:45 > 0:34:50we just put a shell up each end of the gun, blew it to pieces.
0:34:50 > 0:34:53We thought the British would fight to the end,
0:34:53 > 0:34:56and still protect this country, but we were disappointed.
0:34:56 > 0:35:00That really gave us a very poor opinion of the British.
0:35:24 > 0:35:27In Japan, the victory was seen as the first step in banishing
0:35:27 > 0:35:29the colonial powers from the region
0:35:29 > 0:35:33and confirming Japan as the rightful steward of Asia.
0:36:01 > 0:36:04It's impossible to overrate the shock
0:36:04 > 0:36:07that the fall of Singapore inflected on the British people.
0:36:07 > 0:36:09They'd been told it was a fortress.
0:36:09 > 0:36:11There was this great British Army there,
0:36:11 > 0:36:15up against a load of pathetic little Japanese midgets,
0:36:15 > 0:36:17and it was going to be defended to the last man.
0:36:17 > 0:36:19This was going to be a heroic Imperial saga.
0:36:19 > 0:36:24But suddenly they see this huge Imperial army surrendering
0:36:24 > 0:36:28to these despised Orientals, to the Japanese,
0:36:28 > 0:36:29and they were stunned.
0:36:31 > 0:36:34The news of the fall of Singapore shocks the western world.
0:36:34 > 0:36:38It's headline news, of course, in Britain, Australia and New Zealand.
0:36:38 > 0:36:42And it's headline news because it's psychologically disturbing, as well.
0:36:42 > 0:36:46Because for 50 years Europeans had invested a huge amount
0:36:46 > 0:36:50in building up this bastion of European supremacy in Asia,
0:36:50 > 0:36:52and in a stroke it's gone.
0:36:55 > 0:36:58In limbo between surrender and capture,
0:36:58 > 0:37:00pockets of British troops,
0:37:00 > 0:37:02struggling to accept the colony had fallen,
0:37:02 > 0:37:04tried to put on a brave face.
0:37:04 > 0:37:07# Rule Britannia... #
0:37:07 > 0:37:11A soldier came along and said, "It's all over, we've given up."
0:37:11 > 0:37:17And we had a bit of a singsong, a lot of British patriotic songs.
0:37:17 > 0:37:21# Rule Britannia, Britannia rules the waves... #
0:37:21 > 0:37:23Just something to keep our mind off
0:37:23 > 0:37:27from what we're not sure was going to happen to us.
0:37:30 > 0:37:32I was only 17.
0:37:32 > 0:37:36Would the Japanese take me away from my parents?
0:37:37 > 0:37:40Would they shoot me?
0:37:42 > 0:37:45I was brought up in a convent to love one another,
0:37:45 > 0:37:48to live peacefully with each other, and here we are,
0:37:48 > 0:37:52fighting with each other and killing each other, for what?
0:37:52 > 0:37:54Why? What was wrong with the world?
0:37:57 > 0:37:59While the Japanese rounded up prisoners
0:37:59 > 0:38:02and secured the city, Major General Gordon Bennett,
0:38:02 > 0:38:05the Commanding Officer of the Australian forces,
0:38:05 > 0:38:08paid a few hundred pounds to the skipper of a fishing boat
0:38:08 > 0:38:13and escaped to Australia to pass on his supposed expert knowledge of jungle warfare.
0:38:15 > 0:38:18Bennett's wilful abandonment of his men,
0:38:18 > 0:38:20while he himself escaped to go back to Australia,
0:38:20 > 0:38:24is always going to be controversial in Australian military history.
0:38:24 > 0:38:29On the one hand, he ordered his unit to stand fast and not move
0:38:29 > 0:38:31and make no attempt to escape.
0:38:31 > 0:38:33On the other hand, he absconded himself.
0:38:33 > 0:38:36You ask yourself about the greater moral
0:38:36 > 0:38:39and ethical responsibility of a commander.
0:38:39 > 0:38:41Is it not to stand with his men,
0:38:41 > 0:38:45and to try to do whatever he could to shield them from what was coming?
0:38:46 > 0:38:49Bennett never commanded in battle again.
0:38:53 > 0:38:56The soldier who really did know about jungle warfare,
0:38:56 > 0:39:00the Argyll's Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Ian Stewart,
0:39:00 > 0:39:04was unwillingly evacuated by High Command in the final days.
0:39:04 > 0:39:08He was debriefed by Australian commanders, who used his tactics
0:39:08 > 0:39:11to defeat the Japanese in the jungles of New Guinea.
0:39:15 > 0:39:18For those who surrendered in Singapore,
0:39:18 > 0:39:21what lay ahead was over three years in captivity.
0:39:24 > 0:39:3030,000 British, 15,000 Australian and 40,000 Indian troops
0:39:30 > 0:39:34joined the 30,000 POWs already taken in Malaya.
0:39:37 > 0:39:40Unlike Bennett, General Percival stuck by his men,
0:39:40 > 0:39:43and went with them into the hell of the prison camps.
0:39:44 > 0:39:48Even though he'd led his army to a humiliating defeat,
0:39:48 > 0:39:51Percival would retain the respect of his men.
0:39:53 > 0:39:57But among the local Singaporeans, what little respect remained
0:39:57 > 0:40:00for the Empire forces would quickly be dispelled.
0:40:00 > 0:40:03The Japanese marched the defeated Commonwealth troops
0:40:03 > 0:40:07through the centre of Singapore towards Changi Prison.
0:40:08 > 0:40:11It was to really impress on the local population,
0:40:11 > 0:40:13"Don't mess with us.
0:40:13 > 0:40:15"Look at your previous masters.
0:40:15 > 0:40:20"They have been defeated by us and they are of no use at all.
0:40:20 > 0:40:21"They couldn't protect you."
0:40:24 > 0:40:26With the former colonial masters gone,
0:40:26 > 0:40:30many of the locals saw the Japanese as liberators.
0:40:47 > 0:40:51But under the Japanese occupation, the fate of the three main
0:40:51 > 0:40:54ethnic groups in Singapore and Malaya would be very different.
0:40:57 > 0:41:01The Japanese knew the Indians wanted the British out of India,
0:41:01 > 0:41:06so on February the 17th, they assembled 40,000 Indian soldiers
0:41:06 > 0:41:10from the Empire forces at Farrer Park Race Course in Singapore.
0:41:12 > 0:41:15Mohan Singh, the Indian National Army leader, set about
0:41:15 > 0:41:20persuading them to join the Japanese to fight for independence in India.
0:41:22 > 0:41:25In an extraordinary display of anti-colonial zeal,
0:41:25 > 0:41:29some 20,000 Indians turned their backs on over 200 years of history
0:41:29 > 0:41:32and abandoned loyalty to their British king.
0:41:33 > 0:41:35That moment at the race course,
0:41:35 > 0:41:38when so many Indian soldiers declared for the Japanese,
0:41:38 > 0:41:42is a sign that European empires in Asia have numbered days.
0:41:44 > 0:41:47The Indians who had deserted the British now became
0:41:47 > 0:41:49the jailors of their former masters.
0:41:51 > 0:41:5350% percent of them, I think, deserted
0:41:53 > 0:41:58and swapped straight over and were kowtowing down to the Japanese.
0:41:58 > 0:42:01In fact, it was those unmentionables that the Japanese
0:42:01 > 0:42:04put in charge of Changi, the main prisoner-of-war camp.
0:42:04 > 0:42:06And if they didn't like you,
0:42:06 > 0:42:09they just lashed out with the butt of a rifle.
0:42:11 > 0:42:14Any expectations the prisoners of war had that they would be
0:42:14 > 0:42:19humanely treated by the Japanese were soon shattered.
0:42:19 > 0:42:22Well, if you got out of the road, you were OK, put it that way,
0:42:22 > 0:42:23if you understand what I mean.
0:42:23 > 0:42:26But they would slap you,
0:42:26 > 0:42:30and I remember being hit with one of these.
0:42:32 > 0:42:34A clout with a stick.
0:42:36 > 0:42:40And I brought one of these home after the war.
0:42:42 > 0:42:47I gave it to my mother, and she says to me, "What's this stick for?"
0:42:47 > 0:42:52I says, "Mother, that's the sort of stick they used to hit us with."
0:42:52 > 0:42:54She says, "A stick like that?"
0:42:54 > 0:42:56I says, "Yes, it was a stick like that."
0:42:59 > 0:43:03It wasn't just the prisoners who received beatings.
0:43:03 > 0:43:06The Japanese inflicted them on each other.
0:43:09 > 0:43:12One of the reasons for the brutality of Japanese troops is
0:43:12 > 0:43:17the corporal punishment amongst the Japanese troops.
0:43:17 > 0:43:21The beating, hitting. It's quite normal for everyday exercise.
0:43:21 > 0:43:24So if you were a rank-and-file soldier,
0:43:24 > 0:43:28you had to prepare that you be beaten every day by senior officers.
0:43:28 > 0:43:33That was habit and custom in the Japanese forces.
0:43:33 > 0:43:37So if you were rank-and-file soldiers who, you know,
0:43:37 > 0:43:43most suffered from this kind of brutality amongst the Japanese forces,
0:43:43 > 0:43:48and then somehow you want a release from your frustration,
0:43:48 > 0:43:50you want to beat somebody else.
0:44:25 > 0:44:29But the most horrific brutality of the Japanese military system
0:44:29 > 0:44:31was reserved for the Chinese in Singapore.
0:44:32 > 0:44:34Three days after the surrender,
0:44:34 > 0:44:37they rounded up any they considered hostile.
0:45:21 > 0:45:24In scenes recalling the brutality of the invasion of China,
0:45:24 > 0:45:30an estimated 50,000 Chinese Singaporeans were executed by the Japanese.
0:45:31 > 0:45:33There was a real massacre.
0:45:33 > 0:45:39There was this infamous Sook Ching purification, you know.
0:45:39 > 0:45:44It meant really... kind of a purification campaign.
0:45:44 > 0:45:47You think of the more recent ethnic cleansing.
0:46:26 > 0:46:31For three years after the fall of Singapore, war raged in the Pacific.
0:46:45 > 0:46:47At its peak in 1942,
0:46:47 > 0:46:51the Japanese Empire extended over 20 million square miles.
0:46:52 > 0:46:57Its land conquests were a third greater than Germany's.
0:46:57 > 0:47:01In Malaya and Singapore, the Japanese had a local population
0:47:01 > 0:47:04of nearly five million under their control.
0:47:04 > 0:47:07But the occupation was driving a wedge between the local Chinese
0:47:07 > 0:47:09and Malay communities.
0:47:09 > 0:47:13The Second World War overlays an existing tension
0:47:13 > 0:47:15between Chinese and Malayans.
0:47:15 > 0:47:18The war brings different things to those two groups.
0:47:18 > 0:47:20It brings immense suffering to the Chinese.
0:47:20 > 0:47:24And for the Malays, although they do suffer from the starvation
0:47:24 > 0:47:28and hardship, they manage to evade many of the imposts of the Japanese.
0:47:28 > 0:47:32So, in a sense, the war sharpens conflict between those two great ethnic groups.
0:47:34 > 0:47:38The Japanese had promised the Malays independence, but it never came.
0:47:39 > 0:47:43Instead, they increasingly behaved like a harsh new colonial power.
0:47:46 > 0:47:49Every time you saw a Japanese soldier,
0:47:49 > 0:47:51you have to bow down properly.
0:47:51 > 0:47:54If not done properly, you were beaten up.
0:47:57 > 0:48:02The ill-treatment and brutality extended to the hundreds of thousands of prisoners of war,
0:48:02 > 0:48:05who, by mid-1945, were languishing in the camps,
0:48:05 > 0:48:09reduced to a pitiful state by enforced labour.
0:48:13 > 0:48:19Some POWs were taken to prison camps in the south of Japan to work in coalmines.
0:48:20 > 0:48:24When we got to Japan, I was the soup cook in the prison camp.
0:48:24 > 0:48:26We were in the kitchen.
0:48:28 > 0:48:30We had to cook a meal for 400 men
0:48:30 > 0:48:34and have it ready at 0830 hours.
0:48:37 > 0:48:42Now, Bert Kelly, a Welshman, was the rice cook, and all at once,
0:48:42 > 0:48:47the most beautiful white light seemed to come in like stage smoke, float up
0:48:47 > 0:48:51Bert's body, met at the top of his head and formed into a silver halo.
0:48:51 > 0:48:56And I thought, "We're dead," cos you don't get your halo down here.
0:48:56 > 0:49:00Then we looked up, and just rising above the horizon
0:49:00 > 0:49:04was this odd-shaped, mushroom-shaped cloud.
0:49:52 > 0:49:54Three days after the bombing of Hiroshima,
0:49:54 > 0:49:57a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki.
0:49:59 > 0:50:02Emperor Hirohito surrendered unconditionally.
0:50:04 > 0:50:07In the Philippines, Lieutenant General Percival,
0:50:07 > 0:50:10who'd survived the horrors of the prison camps,
0:50:10 > 0:50:13met up with General Yamashita one more time when he surrendered.
0:50:17 > 0:50:20Yamashita would be tried for war crimes and hanged.
0:50:24 > 0:50:29On the 12th of September, 1945, the British returned to Singapore.
0:50:32 > 0:50:36It was the Japanese turn to be marched through the streets in front of the locals.
0:50:36 > 0:50:40As soon as the people saw the Japanese, went around the corner
0:50:40 > 0:50:46of High Street towards city hall, in one word, they shouted, "Bagaro!
0:50:46 > 0:50:49"Bagaro!" Bagaro means "bloody fool".
0:50:49 > 0:50:53The Japanese used to call us bagaro before beating us, you know.
0:50:55 > 0:50:58There was a great crowd from the Chinese community.
0:50:58 > 0:51:02They wanted to get to them but they were held back.
0:51:02 > 0:51:07We were allowed to dance and sing and we went out in the street
0:51:07 > 0:51:12when the Japanese were taken away, and we let our hair down.
0:51:12 > 0:51:16That was when I realised that we were really free.
0:51:17 > 0:51:21Well, that's what we thought, anyway.
0:51:22 > 0:51:26One by one, all the old colonial powers returned to reclaim
0:51:26 > 0:51:31their colonies - the British to Singapore, Malaya and Burma,
0:51:31 > 0:51:34the French to Indochina, the Dutch to Indonesia
0:51:34 > 0:51:36and the Americans to the Philippines.
0:51:38 > 0:51:42But for the people of South East Asia, things had changed.
0:51:43 > 0:51:48Now this time, the attitude towards the British was not like before the war.
0:51:48 > 0:51:51There were no more big masters.
0:51:51 > 0:51:55We thought it was high time that we ruled our own country.
0:51:55 > 0:52:00So this spirit of independence was in everyone's heart.
0:52:02 > 0:52:05The British, too, seemed to have had a change of heart.
0:52:05 > 0:52:07With independence in the wind,
0:52:07 > 0:52:10they were losing their appetite for empire.
0:52:10 > 0:52:12Thoughtful British people recognised
0:52:12 > 0:52:15that certainly India was bound to go,
0:52:15 > 0:52:16that it wasn't sustainable,
0:52:16 > 0:52:21and probably that the Asian empire had to go too.
0:52:21 > 0:52:23A new generation of British people were much more realistic.
0:52:23 > 0:52:26They realised that the day of empires was done.
0:52:27 > 0:52:32Singapore and Malaya would take separate paths to independence.
0:52:34 > 0:52:37In Malaya, the British feared that underlying ethnic tensions
0:52:37 > 0:52:41between the Malay, Chinese and Indian communities
0:52:41 > 0:52:45could lead to violence, and wanted unity before they would let go.
0:52:45 > 0:52:48The British were trying to sell the idea
0:52:48 > 0:52:54that to achieve independence, the races have to, by hook or by crook, work together.
0:52:55 > 0:52:59A united party, made up of the three main ethnic groups in Malaya,
0:52:59 > 0:53:02started to take shape.
0:53:02 > 0:53:05If you're thinking of an alternative to violent revolution,
0:53:05 > 0:53:09that was the best solution - to have a party which was broadly
0:53:09 > 0:53:15representative of the Malays, and the Chinese, and the Indians.
0:53:18 > 0:53:21The three ethnic groups formed an alliance
0:53:21 > 0:53:25under the leadership of Tunku Abdul Rahman and demanded their freedom.
0:53:31 > 0:53:34Britain finally granted Malaya independence
0:53:34 > 0:53:36on the 31st of August, 1957.
0:53:39 > 0:53:43In Singapore, the Chinese were well in the majority,
0:53:43 > 0:53:46so here, ideology was a bigger issue than race.
0:53:46 > 0:53:49Communists and capitalists clashed.
0:53:49 > 0:53:52Both wanted control of the post-colonial government.
0:53:53 > 0:53:56For us in Singapore, it was a battle of the minds.
0:53:56 > 0:54:00We wanted to form a more equal society.
0:54:00 > 0:54:05No-one should be given special rights based on race, language and religion.
0:54:05 > 0:54:10No-one is above the other, and we thought it was good for Singapore.
0:54:13 > 0:54:17In 1959, Cambridge law graduate and right-wing political leader,
0:54:17 > 0:54:21Lee Kuan Yew, won the ideological battle
0:54:21 > 0:54:24and became Singapore's first native-born Prime Minister.
0:54:31 > 0:54:33Seeking security for his tiny nation,
0:54:33 > 0:54:36Lee Kuan Yew held a vision to unite with Malaya.
0:54:36 > 0:54:42Merger, stability, security, economic development.
0:54:44 > 0:54:47In 1963, he persuaded Tunku Abdul Rahman
0:54:47 > 0:54:50to form a new composite state - Malaysia.
0:54:52 > 0:54:54But the merger of the two nations
0:54:54 > 0:54:57meant that the Chinese were now the biggest ethnic group.
0:54:57 > 0:54:59Malays felt threatened,
0:54:59 > 0:55:03and in 1964, Singapore saw the worst race riots in its history.
0:55:04 > 0:55:08The atmosphere was charged, very tense.
0:55:08 > 0:55:12The crowd shouted, "Kill Lee Kuan Yew! Kill Lee Kuan Yew!"
0:55:14 > 0:55:18Then I saw suddenly a Malay youth coming in, beating the Chinese.
0:55:24 > 0:55:29Eventually, the political tensions and ethnic violence became too much,
0:55:29 > 0:55:33and in August 1965, both leaders decided to call it quits.
0:55:35 > 0:55:37The two nations split once and for all.
0:55:42 > 0:55:47By now, all the old South East Asian colonies had been set free.
0:55:47 > 0:55:51The Philippines, India, Burma, Indonesia and Indochina
0:55:51 > 0:55:57had all gained independence since the Japanese lit the fuse in 1942.
0:55:59 > 0:56:03Some Japanese claimed that this was the intention from the very start,
0:56:03 > 0:56:05that Japan would be the...
0:56:05 > 0:56:09that Japan was the light of Asia, would be the liberator of Asia.
0:56:36 > 0:56:41You treat human beings like human beings, whether they're yellow,
0:56:41 > 0:56:45brown, black or white, they deserve to be treated as such.
0:56:47 > 0:56:54And the colonials that I have met in the process in Malaya gave me the answer.
0:56:56 > 0:56:59And that's why we don't have any empire now.
0:57:00 > 0:57:03Once the essential hollowness of the Empire,
0:57:03 > 0:57:08the great illusion on which it was founded, this great wedding cake
0:57:08 > 0:57:12which collapsed so readily when it was pushed,
0:57:12 > 0:57:16then the people of Asia saw that they had a different destiny
0:57:16 > 0:57:19and that their imperial masters were not
0:57:19 > 0:57:23what they had for so long supposed them to be.
0:57:23 > 0:57:25And maybe that did the British a favour
0:57:25 > 0:57:27as well as the peoples of Asia.
0:57:31 > 0:57:36The fall of Singapore has become a shorthand symbol for a huge swathe of history.
0:57:38 > 0:57:41In the battle for Singapore and Malaya, 15,000 soldiers
0:57:41 > 0:57:46and 60,000 civilians from more than ten nationalities gave their lives.
0:57:49 > 0:57:52It was not only Britain's most humiliating defeat,
0:57:52 > 0:57:56it was the tipping point that changed South East Asia forever,
0:57:56 > 0:57:58and led to the end of colonialism throughout the world.
0:58:00 > 0:58:02The withdrawal of Britain from Singapore,
0:58:02 > 0:58:04the withdrawal of France from Indochina,
0:58:04 > 0:58:07the withdrawal of the European powers throughout Asia
0:58:07 > 0:58:14led to a void that would be filled with something better, with something that would be their own.
0:58:14 > 0:58:18And so Singapore then became a symbol for a new kind of Asia.
0:58:19 > 0:58:25If the age of European imperialism began with Columbus's voyage in 1492 to America,
0:58:25 > 0:58:28then it ended in 1942 with the fall of Singapore.
0:58:51 > 0:58:54Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd