In the footsteps of the invaders

Posted by noelbynature under Explore Singapore 2009, Explore Singapore!, National History
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What was it like to have your whole world change in just a week? We’re not talking about the start of school or a new job here, but rather the invasion of Singapore, which is one of the tours available in this month’s Explore Singapore! programme. If you missed the War on Wheels tours held over the last two Saturdays, you’ve still got one more weekend to sign up! Not sure what you’re in for? Take a sneak preview from PY, who attended the Invasion Singapore! tour on the 14th.

The Invasion Singapore! tour revisits some of the important battle sites during the invasion of Singapore in World War II. On of the places visited was at Kranji park (not the picture above!) where the invading armies first made landfall. PY writes:

So when the bus brought us participants to the Kranji park which used to be mangrove swamps back in Feb 1942, it was not too difficult to imagine that on 8 Feb 1942, soldiers from the Japanese military had advanced across the Straits of Johor and landed on the main island of Singapore using make-shift boats etc. I realised that the Straits of Johor was a comparatively shallow and narrow body of water. Furthermore, the tides at the Kranji landing sites weren’t very strong. What this meant for me was that even when the Causeway was destroyed back then, it was not too much a great challenge for the Japanese to attack and land on Singapore once they have reached the southern tip of the then-Malaya.

If I were a military historian, I think there would be a lot of learning points just by reading the strategies that the British had used to defend Singapore, and the strategies that the Japanese had used to attack Singapore more than six decades ago. At the very least I have learnt from this part of history that one should never underestimate one’s enemies when planning one’s strategies.

War on Wheels is part of this year’s Explore Singapore! programme and consists of two tours: Invasion Singapore! and Singapore under the Gun. Details and sign-up information can be found here.

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