After what event did Churchill say 'the worst disaster and largest capitulationin British history'?
"troops available for the invasion of Singapore. British Empire battle casualties since 8 December amounted to 7,500 killed and 11,000 wounded. Japanese losses totalled around 3,500 killed and 6,100 wounded. Churchill viewed the fall of Singapore to be ""the worst disaster and largest capitulation in British history."" However, the British defence was that the Middle East and the Soviet Union had all received higher priorities in the allocation of men and materiel, so the desired air force strength of 300 to 500 aircraft was never reached, and whereas the Japanese invaded with over two hundred tanks, the British Army in"
"Prime Minister Winston Churchill called the defeat ""the worst disaster and largest capitulation in British history. British losses during the fighting for Singapore were heavy, with a total of nearly 85,000 personnel captured, in addition to losses during the earlier fighting in Malaya. About 5,000 were killed or wounded, of which Australians made up the majority. Japanese casualties during the fighting in Singapore amounted to 1,714 killed and 3,378 wounded. The occupation was to become a major turning point in the histories of several nations, including those of Japan, Britain, and the then-colonial state of Singapore. Japanese newspapers triumphantly declared"
"in the Japanese capture of Singapore and the largest British surrender in history. About 80,000 British, Indian and Australian troops in Singapore became prisoners of war, joining 50,000 taken by the Japanese in the earlier Malayan Campaign. The British prime minister, Winston Churchill, called it the ""worst disaster"" in British military history. During 1940 and 1941, the Allies had imposed a trade embargo on Japan in response to its continued campaigns in China and its occupation of French Indochina. The basic plan for taking Singapore was worked out in July 1940. Intelligence gained in late 1940 – early 1941 did"
"disaster and largest capitulation in British history"". It was a profound blow to the prestige and morale of the British Empire. The promised fleet had not been sent, and the fortress that had been declared ""impregnable"" had been quickly captured. Nearly 139,000 troops were lost, of whom about 130,000 were captured. The 38,000 British casualties included most of the British 18th Infantry Division, which had been ordered to Malaya in January. There were also 18,000 Australian casualties, including most of the Australian 8th Division, and 14,000 local troops; but the majority of the defenders—some 67,000 of them—were from British India."
"The Darkest Hour ""The Darkest Hour"" is a phrase coined by British prime minister Winston Churchill to describe the period of World War II between the Fall of France in June 1940 and the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941 (totaling 363 days, or 11 months and 28 days), when the British Empire and Commonwealth stood alone (or almost alone after the Italian invasion of Greece) against the Axis Powers in Europe. The phrase ""The Darkest Hour"" is particularly used for the time when the United Kingdom appeared to be under direct threat of invasion; following the"
"day with more than a hundred bombers. Churchill wrote ""This was the most hateful decision, the most unnatural and painful in which I have ever been concerned"". Relations between Britain and France were severely strained for some time and the Germans enjoyed a propaganda coup. Somerville said that it was ""...the biggest political blunder of modern times and will rouse the whole world against us...we all feel thoroughly ashamed..."". Although it did rekindle anglophobia in France, the action demonstrated Britain's resolve to continue the war and rallied the British Conservative Party around Churchill (Neville Chamberlain, Churchill's predecessor as prime minister,"
"This was their finest hour ""This was their finest hour"" is a speech delivered by Winston Churchill to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom on 18 June 1940. It was given just over a month after he took over as Prime Minister at the head of an all-party coalition government. It was the third of three speeches which he gave during the period of the Battle of France. He justified the low level of support it had been possible to give to France since Dunkirk, and reported the successful evacuation of most of the supporting forces. He resisted"
"the Battle of Bukit Timah and their subsequent surrender on 15 February 1942 to the Japanese at the Ford Motor Factory in present-day Hillview subzone was described by Winston Churchill as the ""largest capitulation"" in British military history. Singapore consequently underwent four years of Japanese occupation, which eventually ended following Operation Tiderace in early-September 1945. Consequently, the British’s plans to industrialize Bukit Timah was short-lived and put to an abrupt halt during World War II. The factories that were built before 1942 were swiftly taken over by the Japanese during their occupation of Singapore. Ford Factory, which sits at the"
"8 December 1941, the Japanese occupied the Shanghai International Settlement. A couple of hours later, landings began at Kota Bharu in Malaya. An hour after that, the Imperial Japanese Navy attacked Pearl Harbor. On 10 December, ""Prince of Wales"" and ""Repulse"", sailing to meet the Malaya invasion force, were sunk by Japanese air attack. After the disastrous Malayan Campaign, Singapore surrendered on 15 February 1942. During the final stages of the campaign, the 15-inch and 9.2-inch guns had bombarded targets at Johore Bahru, RAF Tengah and Bukit Timah. The fall of Singapore was described by Winston Churchill as ""the worst"
"bombers and 9 fighters which found ""Hermes"", ""Vampire"" and the just joined hospital ship ""Vita"", which had been heading south, off Batticaloa light. Japanese bombers attacked ""Hermes"" in waves beginning at 10:35 a.m. Within ten minutes ""Hermes"" had taken forty direct hits and capsized. ""Vampire"" was next with a direct hit in the boiler room stopping the ship, after which four more hits resulted in an order to abandon ship. ""Vita"" rescued survivors of both ships. The carrier sank with the loss of 308 lives. Prime Minister Winston Churchill said: ""The most dangerous moment of the War, and the one"
"members of his Kanoya Air Group, while the other was for the British sailors whose display of bravery in defence of the ships had gained them the utmost admiration from all pilots in his squadron. The morning after the battle, Prime Minister Winston Churchill received a phone call at his bedside from Sir Dudley Pound, the First Sea Lord. Churchill delivered news of the sinking to the House of Commons before noon on 11 December, which was followed by a full review of the situation in Malaya the next day. Singapore had essentially been reduced to a land base after"
"at least made the disaster the greatest loss of life in a British ship, which the British government tried to keep secret on the orders of Winston Churchill, the British Prime Minister. Some equipment was embarked on the evacuation ships but lack of reliable information about the progress of the German Army towards the coast, rumours and alarmist reports, led some operations to be terminated early and much equipment was destroyed or left behind. The official evacuation ended on 25 June, in conformity with the terms of the Armistice of 22 June 1940 agreed by the French and German authorities"
"""the last secret"" of the Second World War. The operation decided the fate of up to two million post-war refugees fleeing eastern Europe. There has been debate over Churchill's culpability in the deaths of millions of Indians during the Bengal famine of 1943. Some commentators point to the disruption of the traditional marketing system and maladministration at the provincial level as a cause, with Churchill saying that the famine was the Indians' own fault for ""breeding like rabbits"". Adam Jones, editor of the ""Journal of Genocide Research"", calls Churchill ""a genuine genocidaire"", noting that the British leader called Indians a"
"Hour"" was used for the title of the 2017 film ""Darkest Hour"", which starred Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill and was set in May 1940. The Darkest Hour ""The Darkest Hour"" is a phrase coined by British prime minister Winston Churchill to describe the period of World War II between the Fall of France in June 1940 and the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941 (totaling 363 days, or 11 months and 28 days), when the British Empire and Commonwealth stood alone (or almost alone after the Italian invasion of Greece) against the Axis Powers in Europe."
"of the British fleet, the Japanese continued to advance in Malaya. British Lieutenant General Arthur Percival ordered a retreat from Malaya to Singapore on 27 January 1942. On 15 February, Percival surrendered his remaining army of 85,000 British, Indian, and Australian troops to the Japanese, the largest capitulation in British history. Regarding Phillips' decision to proceed without air cover, Naval historian Samuel Eliot Morison wrote:Those who make the decisions in war are constantly weighing certain risks against possible gains. At the outset of hostilities [U.S.] Admiral Hart thought of sending his small striking force north of Luzon to challenge Japanese"
"south to take Pasir Panjang. By the 15th of February, food and water rations were low, weapon ammunition was almost exhausted, and a final meeting was held in which Allied officers agreed that no counterattack would be possible. At 17:15, Lieutenant-General Arthur Percival surrendered to the Japanese forces, bringing an end to the seven day battle. The defeat was described by Winston Churchill as the ""worst disaster"" in British military history, and is ultimately the largest surrender in British military history. Singapore became known as Syonan-to (昭南島 ""Shōnan-tō""), which translates into English as ""Light of the South"". Throughout the three"
"most disastrous in British colonial history. It marked the end of the Braddock expedition, which many had believed contained overwhelming force, to seize the Ohio Country. It awakened many in London to the sheer scale of forces that would be needed to defeat the French and their Indian allies in North America. The inability of the redcoats to use skirmishers, and the vulnerability this caused for the main force, had a profound effect on British military thinking. Although Braddock had posted a company of flankers on each side, these troops were untrained to do anything but stand in line and"
"a hero, but this changed when Antwerp fell on 10 October. Around 2500 of Churchill’s largely untrained troops were killed, taken prisoner or interned in the neutral Netherlands. Churchill attracted ridicule. He was strongly criticised by ""“The Morning Post”"" (“a costly blunder for which Mr W. Churchill must be held responsible”) while Admiral Beatty wrote to his wife that Churchill had been “a darned fool” and “mad”. Asquith wrote to Venetia Stanley likening Churchill to a tiger which has “tasted blood” and who was hinting that he wanted other opportunities for a major field command, and that he preferred military"
"the Allies in the Pacific Theater. Further losses compounded the alarming setback. Japan attacked the Philippines hours later (because of the time difference, it was December 8 in the Philippines). Only three days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the battleships ""Prince of Wales"" and ""Repulse"" were sunk off the coast of Malaya, causing British Prime Minister Winston Churchill later to recollect ""In all the war I never received a more direct shock. As I turned and twisted in bed the full horror of the news sank in upon me. There were no British or American capital ships in the"
"exile Spears commented that 'his martyrdom had begun.' Assignment to Catastrophe Assignment to Catastrophe is a two volume memoir by Sir Edward Spears of his experiences as Winston Churchill's personal representative to the Prime Minister of France from August 1939 to June 1940 and the Fall of France. As a source for historians it provides a valuable insight into the interior workings of the French governments of Paul Reynaud and Edouard Deladier from the perspective of an outsider. The first volume is titled ""Prelude to Dunkirk"" and covers the period from August 1, 1939 to May 31, 1940. The book"
"resigned, and on 10 May 1940 Winston Churchill became Prime Minister. In July, following the Fall of France, when Britain stood almost alone against Germany, Hitler offered peace. Some politicians inside and outside the government were willing to consider the offer but Churchill would not. Chamberlain died on 9 November the same year. Churchill delivered a tribute to him in which he said, ""Whatever else history may or may not say about these terrible, tremendous years, we can be sure that Neville Chamberlain acted with perfect sincerity according to his lights and strove to the utmost of his capacity and"
"battle in the history of the world has come to an end."" ""Oberkommando der Wehrmacht"" (OKW, the German armed forces high command) announced the event as ""the greatest annihilation battle of all time"". The BEF lost 68,000 soldiers (dead, wounded, missing, or captured) from 10 May until the armistice with France on 22 June. 3,500 British were killed and 13,053 wounded. All the heavy equipment had to be abandoned. Left behind in France were 2,472 guns, 20,000 motorcycles, and almost 65,000 other vehicles; also abandoned were of stores, more than of ammunition and of fuel. Almost all of the 445"
"Churchill outmanoeuvred Halifax by calling a meeting of his 25-member Outer Cabinet, to whom he delivered a passionate speech, saying, ""If this long island story of ours is to end at last, let it end only when each one of us lies choking in his own blood upon the ground"", convincing all who were present that Britain must fight on against Hitler whatever the cost. Churchill also obtained the backing of Neville Chamberlain, who was still Conservative Party leader. Churchill told the War Cabinet that there would be no negotiated peace. Halifax had lost. A few weeks later, in July"
"force Winston Churchill out in a vote of no confidence. The vote followed what Churchill in his war memoirs called ""a long succession of misfortunes and defeats"". The Conservative politician Robert Boothby, appearing in Martin Gilbert's documentary on Churchill's life, said, ""It was the only time in the whole of the war that I saw him [Churchill] looking really anxious, because the only thing in the world he feared was Parliament."" Wardlaw-Milne proposed the vote of no confidence on Churchill's running of the war. His speech, according to biographer Roy Jenkins, was ""a fiasco."" According to Jenkins, Wardlaw-Milne felt that"
"so, knowing Churchill would remain a critic of the government, but believing that an informed critic was better than one relying on rumour and hearsay. Churchill was a fierce critic of Neville Chamberlain's appeasement of Adolf Hitler and in private letters to Lloyd George (13 August) and Lord Moyne (11 September) just before the Munich Agreement, he wrote that the government was faced with a choice between ""war and shame"" and that having chosen shame would later get war on less favourable terms. On 3 September 1939, the day Britain declared war on Germany following the outbreak of the Second"
"Assignment to Catastrophe Assignment to Catastrophe is a two volume memoir by Sir Edward Spears of his experiences as Winston Churchill's personal representative to the Prime Minister of France from August 1939 to June 1940 and the Fall of France. As a source for historians it provides a valuable insight into the interior workings of the French governments of Paul Reynaud and Edouard Deladier from the perspective of an outsider. The first volume is titled ""Prelude to Dunkirk"" and covers the period from August 1, 1939 to May 31, 1940. The book opens with an idyllic description of luncheon with"
"of power, similar to how Taranto did the Mediterranean, both in the attackers' favor. Three days later, with the sinking of ""Prince of Wales"" and ""Repulse"" off the coast of Malaya, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill exclaimed, ""In all the war I never received a more direct shock. As I turned and twisted in bed the full horror of the news sank in upon me. There were no British or American capital ships in the Indian Ocean or the Pacific except the American survivors of Pearl Harbor who were hastening back to California. Over this vast expanse of waters Japan"
"night, Winston Churchill telegrammed Nicholson: ""Every hour you continue to exist is of the greatest help to the BEF. Government has therefore decided that you must continue to fight. Have greatest possible admiration for your splendid stand. Evacuation will not (repeat not) take place, and craft required for above purpose are to return to Dover."" Churchill later wrote that he felt physically sick after sending the telegram. On 26 May, the German barrage continued and in the afternoon, the Germans broke through, taking Nicholson and many soldiers prisoner. On 4 June 1940 Churchill spoke to Parliament about Nicholson's defence: He"
"evacuate by sea to Aden. Commonwealth losses in the short campaign are estimated to have been exceedingly light, about 260 (38 killed, 102 wounded and 120 missing). The Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, stung by the loss to British prestige, criticised General Sir Archibald Wavell, Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) of Middle East Command, concerning the loss of British Somaliland, which was a Middle East Command responsibility. Because of the few casualties, Churchill fretted that the British had abandoned the colony without enough of a fight. He demanded the suspension of Godwin-Austen and the convening of a court of inquiry. Wavell claimed that the"
"That afternoon Churchill's doctor Lord Moran (so he later recorded in his book ""The Struggle for Survival"") commiserated with him on the ""ingratitude"" of the British public, to which Churchill replied ""I wouldn't call it that. They have had a very hard time."" Having lost the election, despite enjoying much support amongst the British population, he resigned as Prime Minister that evening, this time handing over to a Labour Government. Many reasons for his defeat have been given, key among them being that a desire for post-war reform was widespread amongst the population and that the man who had led"
"is yours"", and Churchill then conducted them in the singing of ""Land of Hope and Glory"". In the evening he made another broadcast to the nation asserting the defeat of Japan in the coming months. The Japanese surrendered on 15 August 1945. As Europe celebrated peace at the end of six years of war, Churchill was concerned with the possibility that the celebrations would soon be brutally interrupted. He concluded the UK and the US must anticipate the Red Army ignoring previously agreed frontiers and agreements in Europe, and prepare to ""impose upon Russia the will of the United States"
"homes to the Soviet Union, with the implication that relatives including wives and children would be at the mercy of the NKVD. In reaction, thirty officers and men from the II Corps (Poland) committed suicide. Churchill explained his actions in a three-day Parliamentary debate starting 27 February 1945, which ended in a vote of confidence. Many MPs openly criticised Churchill over Yalta and voiced strong loyalty to Britain's Polish allies. Some reporters felt Churchill was not confident Poland would be the independent and democratic country Polish troops could return to, because the prime minister also said: 'His Majesty's Government will"
"and convinces the entire population to “never surrender”. Never Surrender (novel) Never Surrender is a novel by Michael Dobbs, based on historical events of the first few weeks of May 1940. It is a sequel to Dobbs' novel, ""Winston's War,"" which is based on the events surrounding the demise of Neville Chamberlain and the appointment of Winston Churchill as Prime Minister. “Churchill… is the greatest human being ever to occupy 10 Downing Street”. So concludes Roy Jenkins in his definitive biography of the great wartime leader. Michael Dobbs, the author of this novel, states in an after note, “the world"