"Which 1942 WWII Asian battle was termed as ""Britain's greatest defeat"" by Churchill?"
"1942 Rugby by-election The Rugby by-election, 1942 was a parliamentary by-election for the British House of Commons constituency of Rugby on 29 April 1942. The by-election was caused by the resignation of the sitting Conservative MP, David Margesson in March 1942. He had been MP here since gaining the seat from the Liberal, Ernest Brown in 1924. Margesson had been Secretary of State for War until February 1942 when Winston Churchill sacked him following the fall of Singapore. Rugby had been won by the Conservative Party at every election since 1924 and was a safe seat. The result at the"
"started on 8 December 1941. Lieutenant-General Arthur Percival, General Officer Commanding (GOC) Malaya Command, had nearly 90,000 troops from Britain, India, and Australia. During the Malayan Campaign the Japanese advanced in 70 days and forced Singapore to surrender in the new year. In the Far East, Malaya Command defended stubbornly but was gradually pushed back, until the battle of Singapore, which surrendered on 15 February 1942. About 100,000 British and Commonwealth troops became prisoners of war during the Battle of Malaya. Winston Churchill called the fall of Singapore the ""worst disaster"" and ""largest capitulation"" in British history. The Japanese conquest"
"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"
"Asian theatre of World War II when the Japanese Empire invaded British Malaya and its stronghold of Singapore. Singapore was the major British military base in South East Asia and nicknamed the ""Gibraltar of the East"". The fighting in Singapore lasted from 31 January 1942 to 15 February 1942. It followed a humiliating naval engagement in December 1941 in which two British capital ships were sunk. It resulted in the fall of Singapore to the Japanese, and the largest surrender of British-led military personnel in history. About 80,000 British, Australian and Indian troops became prisoners of war, joining 50,000 taken"
"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"
"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"
"of the Imperial Japanese Army on Chinese New Year, 15 February 1942. About 130,000 Indian, Australian and British troops became prisoners of war, many of whom would later be transported to Burma, Japan, Korea, or Manchuria for use as slave labour via prisoner transports known as ""hell ships."" The fall of Singapore was the largest surrender of British-led forces in history. Japanese newspapers triumphantly declared the victory as deciding the general situation of the war. Singapore, renamed Syonan-to (昭南島 ""Shōnan-tō"", ""Bright Southern Island"" in Japanese), was occupied by the Japanese from 1942 to 1945. The Japanese army imposed harsh measures"
"and 1939. Murnane had an important role leading up to the surrender to the Japanese on 15 February 1942, described by Churchill as the worst disaster and the greatest capitulation in British military history. The Municipal Water Engineer advised Arthur Percival on the state of the water supply on 14 February 1942, following extensive Japanese shelling in the city during the Battle of Singapore. Although Japanese forces were by then in control of Bukit Timah hill, as well as MacRitichie and Peirce reservoirs, they did not shut off the water supply to the city, a widespread misconception. According to oral"
"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"
"by the Japanese in the Malayan campaign. Britain's Prime Minister Winston Churchill called the ignominious fall of Singapore to the Japanese the ""worst disaster"" and ""largest capitulation"" in British history. Africa was a large continent whose geography gave it strategic importance during the war. North Africa was the scene of major campaigns against Italy and Germany; East Africa was the scene of a major campaign against Italy. The vast geography provided major transportation routes linking the United States to the Middle East and Mediterranean regions. The sea route around South Africa was heavily used even though it added 40 days"
"Lumpur. Japanese forces met stiff resistance from III Corps of the Indian Army, the Australian 8th Division and British units during the Battle of Malaya, but Japan's superiority in air power, tanks and infantry tactics drove the Allied units back. After being driven out of Malaya by the end of January 1942, Allied forces in Singapore, under the command of Lieutenant General Arthur Percival, surrendered to the Japanese on 15 February 1942; about 130,000 Allied troops became prisoners of war. The fall of Singapore was the largest surrender in British military history. The Japanese Indian Ocean raid was a naval"
"Battle of Singapore The Battle of Singapore, also known as the Fall of Singapore, was fought in the South-East Asian theatre of World War II when the Empire of Japan invaded the British stronghold of Singapore. Singapore was the major British military base in South-East Asia and was the key to British imperial interwar defence planning for South-East Asia and the South-West Pacific. The fighting in Singapore lasted from 8 to 15 February 1942, after the two months during which Japanese forces had advanced down the Malaya peninsula. The campaign, including the final battle, was a decisive Japanese victory, resulting"
"September 1945, following the formal signing of the surrender instrument at the Municipal Building. The Japanese captured all of Malaya during the Malayan Campaign in a little more than two months. The garrison defending Singapore surrendered on 15 February 1942, only a week after the invasion of the island commenced. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill called the fall of Singapore ""the worst disaster and largest capitulation in British history"". The ""Kempeitai"" (the Japanese military secret police), committed numerous atrocities towards the common people. They introduced the system of ""Sook Ching"", which means ""purge through purification"" in Chinese, to get rid"
"among one of the worst defeats suffered by the Americans, leaving over 70,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war in the custody of the Japanese. On February 15, 1942, Singapore, due to the overwhelming superiority of Japanese forces and encirclement tactics, fell to the Japanese, causing the largest surrender of British-led military personnel in history. An estimated 80,000 Indian, Australian and British troops were taken as prisoners of war, joining 50,000 taken in the Japanese invasion of Malaya (modern day Malaysia). Many were later used as forced labour constructing the Burma Railway, the site of the infamous Bridge on the"
"(now known as Sri Lanka), was a British colony and a major Allied naval base. On 5 April 1942, over 300 aircraft from Japanese carriers bombed the island. Winston Churchill called it ""the most dangerous moment"" of World War II, because the Japanese wished to replicate a grander success of the attack at Pearl Harbor. British ships, however, were moved to Addu Atoll, Maldives Islands. Nevertheless, the British lost an aircraft carrier, two cruisers, and two destroyers, while the Royal Air Force squadrons on Ceylon suffered severe losses. The Ceylon Garrison Artillery Regiment was stationed on Horsburgh Island in the"
"Army was edging towards a disastrous defeat in the Malayan Campaign. In mid-February 1942, the Battle of Singapore ended in the largest surrender of British forces in history. Simultaneously the Japanese invaded Burma and decisively defeated the Royal Navy, during the Indian Ocean Raid in March–April 1942. Into this, 135 Squadron were thrust with few aircraft, spares and enormous logistics challenges. Carey set up the airfield at Zayatkwin and flew his first combat with No. 136 Squadron RAF on 26 January 1942 because his own did not possess any Hurricanes. The newer Hurricane Mk IIAs, equipped with twelve machine guns,"
"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"
"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"
"On 13 February 1942, Raffles Square was bombed. 7 MRC suffered heavily, with about 300 killed and many more wounded. Dhillon, together with the second-in-command of the unit, a British major, had a difficult job disposing of the corpses, dropping them in the ocean. The Battle of Singapore concluded on 15 February 1942 resulting in the British Forces in Singapore surrendering unconditionally to the Japanese Army under General Yamashita. The defeated and demoralized Indian soldiers collected themselves at Farrer Park in Singapore. Major Fujiwara, addressing the POWs, expressed that it was his firm belief that world peace and an independent"
"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"
"a British commitment to limit Allied operations in the Mediterranean to an invasion of the Italian mainland and to invade France in 1944. By the end of April 1942, Japan and its ally Thailand had almost fully conquered Burma, Malaya, the Dutch East Indies, Singapore, and Rabaul, inflicting severe losses on Allied troops and taking a large number of prisoners. Despite stubborn resistance by Filipino and US forces, the Philippine Commonwealth was eventually captured in May 1942, forcing its government into exile. On 16 April, in Burma, 7,000 British soldiers were encircled by the Japanese 33rd Division during the Battle"
"II in South East Asia. The 1st Battalion, under Lt Col James Fitzpatrick, was overrun by superior Japanese forces at Changlun during the Battle of Jitra. With only 270 survivors, the 1st Battalion was not reformed during the campaign. The 5th Battalion, under the command of Lt Col Cyril Stokes, performed relatively well in the fighting retreat to Kroh in early December 1941. Stokes was killed during the Battle of Muar in January 1942. The 5/14th Punjabs was forced to surrender along with the rest of the commonwealth troops when Singapore fell on 15 February 1942. A number of troops"
"bases in French Indochina. Yamashita remarked that only a ""driving charge"" would ensure victory in Malaya. This is because the Japanese force was about one-third of what the British had in Malaya and Singapore. The plan was to conquer Malaya and Singapore in the shortest time possible in order to overcome any numerical disadvantage, as well as to minimize any potential losses from a long, drawn-out battle. The Malayan campaign concluded with the fall of Singapore on 15 February 1942, in which Yamashita's 30,000 front-line soldiers captured 80,000 British, Indian and Australian troops, the largest surrender of British-led personnel in"
"Arthur Percival Lieutenant-General Arthur Ernest Percival, (26 December 1887 – 31 January 1966) was a senior British Army officer. He saw service in the First World War and built a successful military career during the interwar period but is most noted for his defeat in the Second World War, when he commanded British Commonwealth forces during the Japanese Malayan Campaign and the subsequent Battle of Singapore. Percival's surrender to the invading Imperial Japanese Army force, the largest surrender in British military history, undermined Britain's prestige as an imperial power in East Asia. His defenders, such as Sir John Smyth, have"
"of each year. This, together with other factors such as famine and disorder in British India and the priority given by the Allies to the defeat of Nazi Germany, prolonged the campaign and divided it into four phases: the Japanese invasion, which led to the expulsion of British, Indian and Chinese forces in 1942; failed attempts by the Allies to mount offensives into Burma, from late 1942 to early 1944; the 1944 Japanese invasion of India, which ultimately failed following the battles of Imphal and Kohima; and finally the successful Allied offensive which reoccupied Burma from late-1944 to mid-1945. Japanese"
"the Philippines, and many Pacific Islands. They also undertook major offensives in Burma and launched air and naval attacks against Australia. The Allies turned the tide of war at sea in mid-1942, at the Battle of Midway. Japanese land forces continued to advance in the New Guinea and Solomon Islands campaigns but suffered significant defeats or were forced to retreat at the battles of Milne Bay, the Kokoda Track, and Guadalcanal. The Burma campaign turned, as the Japanese forces suffered catastrophic losses at Imphal and Kohima, leading to the greatest defeat in Japanese history up to that point. From 1943"
"1942, Raffles Square was bombed. 7MRC suffered heavily with about 300 killed and many more wounded. The second-in-Command of 7 MRC, an English Major and Khan had a difficult job disposing of corpses. They dropped them in the ocean. Singapore capitulated on 15 February 1942 and British Forces surrendered unconditionally to the Japanese. The defeated and demoralised Indian soldiers collected themselves at Farrer Park in Singapore. Major Fujiwara addressing the POWs expressed that it was his firm belief that world peace and the liberation of Asia could not be achieved and maintained without a free and independent India. He further"
"awarded the Military Cross. According to Alan Warren in his book ""Britain's Greatest Defeat""; Tomoyuki Yamashita described the battle at Muar as the most ""savage encounter"" of the campaign. Warren states that, ""Between 16 and 22 January the Imperial Guards lost a company of tanks and a battalion's worth of infantry casualties... The significance of the fighting between Bakri and Parit Sulong is that it was one of the few occasions where the Japanese received as good as they gave."" Footnotes Citations Battle of Muar The Battle of Muar was the last major battle of the Malayan Campaign during the"
"fought with distinction throughout the world, including in the European theatre against Germany, in North Africa against Germany and Italy, in the South Asian region defending India against the Japanese and fighting the Japanese in Burma. Indians also aided in liberating British colonies such as Singapore and Hong Kong after the Japanese surrender in August 1945. Over 87,000 Indian soldiers (including those from modern day Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh) died in World War II. Field Marshal Sir Claude Auchinleck, Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army from 1942 asserted the British ""couldn't have come through both wars [World War I and II]"
"1937. The war ended with the capitulation of Japan after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the US. Although the US saw most action in the Pacific Theatre, the United Kingdom also had a role in Japan's defeat, particularly in the Burma campaign. The USSR did not declare war on Japan until 9 August 1945 when it invaded Manchuria. Kazakhstan was part of the Soviet Union during World War II. So see this article's section on the Soviet Union. During the war, Kenya was one of the single most important conscription grounds for the British Army in Africa."
"December 1941 altered the political situation. Confidence in Britain was particularly low after the fall of Singapore on 15 February 1942, Britain's greatest single defeat in the war, as fell as the retreat from Rangoon, with large numbers of Indian Army troops captured. The threat of an invasion of India was real, and there was anxiety about 'fifth columnists,' particularly Congress radicals working with Japan. The British war cabinet, a coalition government of national unity, was divided on the question of compromise with the Congress. The Labour Party ministers and moderate Conservatives were keen to advance Indian progress to self-government"
"Battle of Muar The Battle of Muar was the last major battle of the Malayan Campaign during the Second World War. It took place from 14–22 January 1942 around Gemensah Bridge and on the Muar River. After the British defeat at Slim River, General Archibald Wavell, commander of ABDA, decided that Lieutenant General Lewis Heath's III Indian Corps should withdraw south into the State of Johore to rest and regroup, whilst the 8th Australian Division would attempt to stop the Japanese advance. Allied soldiers, under the command of Major General Gordon Bennett, inflicted severe losses on Japanese forces at the"
"war in terms of range. Action of 8 June 1945 The Action of 8 June 1945, sometimes called the Sinking of ""Ashigara"" was a naval action that resulted in the sinking of the heavy cruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy by the British Royal Navy submarine . ""Ashigara""—which was being escorted by the destroyer —was being used to transport troops from Indonesia for the defence of Singapore and the sinking resulted in a huge loss of life. ""Trenchant"", under the command of Arthur Hezlet, took up position on the inside of the Bangka Strait while the submarine watched on the"