Peter Elphick's highly acclaimed historical analysis of the failure of the British defence of Peninsular Malaya and Sinapore in WWII, Singapore: The Pregnable Fortress is now published in the Chinese language by Singapore's Asiapac Books. The Forward of this Chinese edition is written by the President of Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Chua Thian Poh.Telling a great Malayan story in Singapore
British Army WWII veteran defends Chin Peng
Media Masters' Regional/Military History
posted by James Wong Wing-On at 12:44 AM
2 Comments:
Its a sad, sorry tale of negligence, incompetence, laziness, underestimating the Japanese, and failure to engage the local people to help support the defence. The last two factors probably due to the usual British racism in Asia.
In mitigation, you need to read other WWII history to understand what else Britain was involved in at the time of the Japanese invasion - and they were having a very tough time elsewhere. So distant Malaya was probably a low priority compared to events in Europe and North Africa.
Hi James,
Whatever information Patrick Heenan passed to the Japanese may have helped them destroy the RAF in Malaya more quickly but, strategically, not much difference to the final British defeat.
RAF airfields in Malaya were poorly defended against air attack - simply not enough anti-aircraft guns and no radar.
The principal RAF fighter in Malaya - the Brewster Buffalo was totally outclassed by the Japanese Zero, and they got shot down like ten-pins. At that point in time the Japanese Zero was probably the most advanced fighter aircraft in the world.
Post a Comment
<< Home