This book is an attempt to explain why the "impregnable fortress" of Singapore fell to the Japanese even while the Commonwealth forces hugely out-numbered the Japanese.The book covers a lot of ground; the author, Peter Thompson, started by introducing the main characters, the defence situation in Malaya and Singapore, and the command structure. He then went briefly into the psyche of the different parties charged with the defence, particularly how they viewed the Japanese, carefully laying the groundwork for the later part of the story. When the fighting proper began he described the progress of each battle in sufficient details for one to get a good picture of the terrain and environment, the arms that were used on each side, and the mistakes that were made along the way.
The author wrote in a engaging manner, moving the book along very well thereby making the book an easy one to read. There were also many interviews with both military and civilian survivors adding richness to the account, and highlighting well the very human side to the tragedy. For someone like me who is just starting to explore the history of this event, this book provides a very good overall description helping to define the different dimensions when exploring this history.
To his credit, the author did not claim this to be a scholarly work despite citing references throughout. However there were a few things that disturbed me in regard to citations. There were times when information was presented which would benefit from citations but were not referenced. One example was when he said that "Japanese sources" claimed a certain number of troops had landed in Singapore without clarifying what these sources were (pg. 424). A related problem I have is with the many instances when the author quoted other sources verbatim. To be sure, sometimes this adds to the narrative, but too much of it gives the reader the impression that he is reading a collection of works already published. The author was occasionally not careful about being precise with facts. The Zero fighter was so named because it entered service in 2600 according to Japan's Imperial Year, not because of the big zeros painted on the fuselage as written in the main text. Although it was clarified in the notes at the end of the book, for readers who do not refer to the notes, this would be what they thought was the reason the plane was so named. The author's credibility is also eroded by the occasional dramatisation of the events such as the description "Sir Robert Brooke-Popham's proclamation flapped in the wind..." (pg. 236).
The title of the book is true to its contents, where the first portion was devoted to setting the scene followed by the bulk of which on the battles, if not solely in Singapore. Unfortunately the last hundred pages or so (out of 600) were wasted on an overly brief treatment of life in Singapore under the Japanese occupation. I would prefer that it be taken up in a separate volume in more detail. I also wished that there was more coverage on what was happening on the Japanese side, from the Japanese perspective. I counted but one instance of this (pg 418).
So in the end did the author fulfilled his aim as spelled out in the last question in his first chapter - "The unanswered question was: how had it happened?" One can read this in different ways. One of which is to interpret from the book that there is a complicity of reasons, including poor leadership, inferior weapons, raw recruits, Britain's engagement in multiple theatres, or under-estimation of the enemies. The other is to say that the author was vague and so it became hard to tell what he was attributing "how had it happened" to. Either way I did not get the impression that the author wanted to state clearly his position, perhaps preferring to let his readers make their own judgement.
Overall this is a very readable book which gives a good introduction to this part of history, including the main characters, the armies, and the location of the battle. The description of the pain and sufferings that soldiers and civilians underwent is also vivid. For a person making my first foray into this area, I have certainly benefitted from reading the book.
-----------
It is hard for me to understand how the West can under-estimate Japan when they beat the Russians on a few decades before and was quickly developing technologically since then.
(Find this book at Goodreads)
