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Singapore 1942 – End of Empire Singapore 1942 – End of Empire © ATOM 2012 A STUDY GUIDE BY ROBERT LEWIS http://www.metromagazine.com.au ISBN: 978-1-74295-137-9 http://www.theeducationshop.com.au SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 OVERVIEW and simultaneously attacking the prime British colony of Malaya and Singapore ingapore is a cosmopolitan on 7 December 1941. Australia, Britain world city – an Asian Tiger and the US were now at war with S– playing a key role in inter- Japan who saw themselves as libera- A national trade and finance with a tors not occupiers, ridding Asia of its population of close to 5 million peo- colonial masters. ple. But seventy years ago its citizens suffered one of the most bitter and Nicknamed the ‘Gibraltar of the East’, brutal campaigns of World War Two. Singapore was the major British military The fall of Singapore on 15 February base in South East Asia. The spec- 1942 brought an empire to its knees, tacular surrender of its British and dramatically changing the destiny of Commonwealth defenders clearly illus- millions of people. It was a crushing trated the way Japan was to wage war defeat that unleashed national Asian in the Far East – with remorseless speed independence movements, and Asian, and efficiency. More than a colossal mili- B Australian and British aspirations tary defeat, it also buried any lingering would never be the same. notions of white racial superiority. Singapore 1942 – End of Empire (Don About 80,000 British, Australian and Featherstone, 2011, 2 x 53 minutes) Indian troops became prisoners of war, is a two-part documentary exploring joining the 50,000 troops captured in the Japanese invasion of Malaya and the Malaya campaign. Thousands of Singapore, and its effects on Australia local civilians were imprisoned too. and the world. Singapore 1942 – End of Empire is not In 1941, Britain was fighting for its about winners and losers. It was shot C life against Germany in Europe and in key locations and includes first-hand Australian troops were under siege in accounts told from multi-national per- the Libyan port of Tobruk. Surrounded spectives by surviving soldiers, airmen by colonial powers and short of land and nurses from the front line. However, and raw materials, Japan embarked on fundamental to the storytelling are civil- a military campaign it believed would ian eyewitnesses – both Malaysian and expel the white race from East Asia – Singaporean. Singapore 1942 – End of liberate a billion people and extend the Empire reveals new and challenging in- light of Imperial Power to the south. sights into a battle that turned our world Without warning they dramatically upside down. entered World War Two, bombing the American naval base at Pearl Harbour CURRICULUM APPLICABILITY D Singapore 1942 – End of Empire is a valuable resource for use in middle– upper history courses covering: • World War Two – the Pacific War • Imperialisation and Colonisation • Decolonisation after World War Two. BEFORE WATCHING THE FILM Map activity 1 Use an atlas to identify Malaya and Singapore on this blank outline map. (Note that modern maps will show Malaya as Malaysia, so you only need to identify the main peninsula.) Mark them on the map. ITEM 1 See Item 1. A: LT GENERAL PERCIVAL B: YAMASHITA IN TENT C: LT COLONEL STEWART WITH TROOPS D: ARGYLL TROOPS 2 SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 Colonial powers activity 3 Why did Australia fear Japan? 2 Look at the map showing the areas 4 Why was Britain so important to of Asia and the Pacific controlled by Australia’s defences? colonial powers at the start of World A War Two (1939). 5 Which troops defended Singapore? See Item 2 on page 4. 6 How did Europeans behave in Malaya and Singapore? How did this Write in the names of the countries cause tension and resentment? controlled by the colonial powers in the table. 7 What other racial tensions existed in Malaya and in Singapore between See Item 3 on page 4. Malays, Indians, Chinese and Europeans? EXPLORING IDEAS AND B ISSUES IN THE FILM 8 What attitude did most Europeans have towards the Japanese? Singapore 1942: End of Empire is a two-part documentary that explores 9 How did this influence the the Japanese invasion of Malaya and preparation of the defences of Singapore between December 1941 – Malaya and Singapore? February 1942. 10 What were the main strengths and Answer the questions below that are weaknesses of the three main leaders? designed to make sure you follow the story, and then the questions that ask • General Percival (UK) C you to consider some of the ‘big ideas’ • General Yamashita (Japan) that the film can help you explore. • General Bennett (Australia) EPISODE 1 11 What was the Japanese invasion Singapore 1942: plan? Invasion 12 Why did some indigenous Japan’s lightening invasion of Malaya Malayans support the Japanese? threatens Singapore, ignites ethnic tensions and forces Australia to 13 Why did a large number of Indian reconsider its own defense. troops support them? D In 1941, the Japanese Imperial 14 Who resisted the Japanese? Why? Army invades Malaya. The battle- hardened Japanese forces quickly 15 How was this phase of the war push Commonwealth troops – English, fought? Indians, Australians, Scots, Chinese and Malays – south towards the key 16 Why were the Japanese so suc- British trading port of Singapore. cessful in their invasion of Malaya? General Yamashita prepares to assault Identify as many reasons or contribut- the so-called ‘impregnable fortress’ ing factors as you can. igniting already simmering ethnic E and political tensions in the colony. 17 Use your answers above to create Australia, for the first time, finds itself brief annotations on the map of Malaya directly threatened. that show how the battle was fought, and its outcome. 1 Britain was a colonial power. What does that mean? See Item 4 on page 5. 2 Japan was an expansionist colonial power. Why did it invade Manchuria in 1931? A: ARGYLLS CROSSING THE CAUSEWAY INTO SINGAPORE B: ARGYLLS AWAITING ATTACK C: GENERAL F YAMASHITA D: EMPIRE TROOPS IN JUNGLE E: ARGYLLS DESPATCH RIDER F: AUSTRALIAN SOLDIER 3 SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 ITEM 2 FRANCE Britain Japan NETHERLANDS Portugal USA AUSTRALIA ITEM 3 4 SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 ITEM 4 5 SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 EPISODE 2 fire on their former masters. Australians Singapore 1942: leave their posts while Malays and The End of Empire Chinese divide along political and ethnic lines. The British finally begin evacuat- With the Commonwealth forces in re- ing Singapore but priority is given to A treat, General Yamashita assembles his the safety of whites. A tipping point troops at Johor Baharu and prepares is reached – the fall of all the colonial to take control of Singapore Island. empires throughout the region is now inevitable. Australia is dragged kicking Japanese Imperial Army soldiers pour and screaming to the Asian table. onto Singapore Island under the skilful command of General Yamashita. They 18 Why were the Japanese success- quickly break through a flimsy line of ful in their invasion of Singapore? Use raw Australian troops, outmaneuver the table to summarise information General Percival and drive his combined about each of the elements listed. Commonwealth forces back to the B Singapore city. Indian soldiers, seeking See Item 5. independence, join the Japanese and WHY WERE THE Japanese SUCCESSFUL IN THEIR invasion OF SINGAPORE? The nature of the fighting C The quality of the troops The enemy and their tactics D The state of preparation of defences The tactical problems facing the defenders E The existence of enemy supporters within Singapore The nature of the leadership of the British troops ITEM 5 A: AUSTRALIAN SOLDIER PREPARES TO FIRE B: GENERALS PERCIVAL AND BENNETT C: INDIAN SOLDIERS F D: TOM MCKIE WITH HAPPY NEW YEAR GREETING E: LT COLONEL STEWART F: DALFORCE SOLDIERS 6 SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 ITEM 6 19 Use your answers to question 18 faster than they could be collected; to create brief annotations on this map that many buildings had collapsed of Malaya that show how the battle on occupants and that no labour was was fought, and its outcome. available to release them; that insuf- ficient medical aid was available for the See Item 6. casualties; that there was a very limited supply of food for the people. 20 The British had to decide if they So far as the Army was concerned the would surrender, or fight on. Here are water supply had ceased, there was A two documents that summarise many only three days’ supply of rations and of the key factors involved in the deci- there was no artillery ammunition avail- sion. Read them, discuss them, and able and the morale of the troops was then decide what you would have done extremely weak. – surrender or keep fighting – and why. Report by Major General. H. Gordon Bennett on the Malayan Campaign. DOCUMENT 1: AWM 54 553/5/16 pp.15-16. THE CONFERENCE OF 15 FEBRUARY DOCUMENT 2: [On the morning of 15 February there AN HISTORIAN’S ASSESSMENT B was a conference of the military lead- Percival never realised the close ers to decide what should be done.] margin between defeat and salvation The report on the civilian population … Yamashita and Tsuji considered was that the civil hospital had been that if the British had held on for three without water for over 24 hours; that more days the Japanese would have the city water supply had been ex- been forced to call off their attack. hausted; that the casualties caused by But even if Percival had appreci- enemy aerial bombing were occurring ated the weakness of the Japanese A: JAPANESE TROOPS LAND IN MALAYA B: JAPANESE SOLDIER BLOWS UP PILLBOX C C: JAPANESE MEDIC ATTENDS TO WOUNDED 7 SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 position, the price of further resist- Now look at the ‘After’ page carefully ance would have been appalling.
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