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It is 70 years ago today that the fortress of Singapore fell to the Japanese. 18,000 Australian soldiers went into captivity, many of whom would die on the Thai Burma Railway or in the notorious Changi prison.

It is particularly poignant for me as I play lawn bowls every week with a Changi survivor (he is my skip), one of only around 500 still alive today from the 18,000 who were taken prisoner. Colin Hamley is his name, he was honoured in the parade around the MCG last ANZAC day (I think he still participates in each year's march). He is 89 years of age and still sharp as a tack, mentally, if a bit slow in the legs these days (as he is the first to admit).

Colin was in the 2/2 Pioneer Battalion. I was recently doing some research and came across another Hamley (Donald), from the same Battalion, who died on the Burma Railway in 1943. I assume a relative, although Colin never speaks of it and I am not going to ask him (although I might ask Val, his wife).

All I can say is that they obviously made them tough in those distant days!

I used to have to travel, for work, to Singapore reasonably frequently. I once visited the Kranji War Cemetery, where many of the Australian's killed during the assault, are buried. Kranji is quite close to where they fell, in fact.

It is a very sobering experience to walk among lines and lines of graves and see thier ages. 19, 20 and sometimes 'old' men of 24. 73% of the casualties suffered during the battle of Singapore were Australians, though they only counted for 15% of the troops. Nearly 2,000 Australians died in battle.

Anyway, if you are an Australian (or a Brit or Indian for that matter, there were more British soldiers than Australian and also Indian soldiers there at the fall), spare a thought for those that didn't survive, either the fall or later and for those that have gone in the intervening years.

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Peter
Hawthorn - AFL Premiers 1961, 1971, 1976, 1978, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991, 2008.

Would it have been appropriate for me to have flown the Aussie flag (in my ANZAC shrine) today?

Churchill abandoned Singapore and all on it, was my cliff notes recollection of the affair from recent unclaffied info being released.

Very sad.

Churchill did not abandon Singapore. He had a more immediate problem in Europe and the Middle east that limited troop numbers. He even sent a fleet to bolster the defence. the problem was that the aircraft carrier that was part of the fleet had a breakdown and was left in Ceylon. The Battleship HMS Prince of Wales (a brand new, state of the art warship) and the Battle Cruiser HMS Repulse (an obsolete WWI design) were therefore left without any air cover.

If the Australian Government had not refused to allow at least one more of the Infantry Divisions (being brought back from the Middle East to defend Australia) from being diverted to Singapore we would have lost double the number of men.

The simple fact is that the high command in Singapore was singularly lacking in preparation for the Japanese assault. Then they allowed themselves to believe the situation was untenable (it wasn't, the Japanese were close to having to withdraw die to lack of supplies) and surrendered to save the pointless loss of life (both military and civilian). It has to be seen in context though. Japan was running rampant at that time.

The fall of Singapore rocked Churchill to the core. He had been assured by his military commanders that the fortress of Singapore was impregnable. From memory, in his memoirs he said that hearing the news of the fall was his darkest day during the entire war.

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Peter
Hawthorn - AFL Premiers 1961, 1971, 1976, 1978, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991, 2008.

Yep. Was, I think, the single largest loss of men ever suffered (on a single day) by the Australian military (more than the worst losses on the Western front in WWI)

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Peter
Hawthorn - AFL Premiers 1961, 1971, 1976, 1978, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991, 2008.