End of the War

Roman Bose

Description

The End of the War commemorates the end of the Second World War in Singapore and Malaya against the backdrop of the Japanese surrender on 12 September 1945. This fascinating book unveils much of the mystery shrouding some of the lesser-known but crucial facts and events leading up to the final days of the Japanese Occupation and the end of the war in Singapore and Malaya. The revelation of these secrets will examine the fate of the Japanese and local resistance movements in Singapore as well as how the locals reacted to the return of the British and freedom from years of tyranny. It will also outline and explain in detail, places that still exist in Singapore that are of great significance to the end of the War and liberation in Singapore. Heavily illustrated with many pictures never before published on the end of the war and with extensive research from recently declassified private archives in the UK and Singapore, the book will give readers a greater insight into what it was like to be liberated in Singapore at the end of the Second World War

Sujets

• Histoire
• Military history

Informations

• Publié par: MarshallCavendishM
• Date de parution: 05 septembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9789814435475
• Langue: English

Extrait

The End of the War
The End of the War
Singapore s Liberation and the Aftermath of the Second World War
Romen Bose
Romen Bose asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
Copyright 2005 Romen Bose/Marshall Cavendish International (Asia) Private Limited
Published by Marshall Cavendish Editions
An imprint of Marshall Cavendish International
1 New Industrial Road, Singapore 536196
All rights reserved
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Request for permission should be addressed to the Publisher, Marshall Cavendish International (Asia) Private Limited, 1 New Industrial Road, Singapore 536196. Tel: [phone], fax: [phone]. E-mail: [e-mail]
The publisher makes no representation or warranties with respect to the contents of this book, and specifically disclaims any implied warranties or merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose, and shall in no events be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damage, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.
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National Library Board Singapore Cataloguing in Publication Data
Bose, Romen.
The end of the war : Singapore s liberation and the aftermath of the Second War World / Romen Bose. - Singapore : Marshall Cavendish Editions, c2005.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
eISBN : 978 981 4435 47 5
1. World War, 1939-1945-Singapore. 2. World War, 1939-1945-Battlefields-Singapore. 3. Singapore-History-Japanese occupation, 1942-1945. I. Title.
D767.55
940.5425-dc21 SLS2005033082
Printed in Singapore by Utopia Press Pte Ltd
For Brigid, Lara and Olive,
the muses in my life
Contents
Foreword
Preface
Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 British Pacific Policy
Chapter 3 Clandestine Forces
Chapter 4 The Early Surrenders
Chapter 5 Operation TIDERACE
Chapter 6 Reoccupation
Chapter 7 Operation ZIPPER
Chapter 8 The Final Surrender in Singapore
Chapter 9 Locations
Chapter 10 Postscript
Appendices A: Chronology of Events
B: List of Operations
C: Operation ZIPPER Order of Battle
D: Ships Anchored in Singapore Roads during the Ceremony of Surrender
E: List of Notable Personalities
F: Reproduction of Original Documents
Bibliography
Index
About the Author
Foreword
Ji hui jie zhong er zhi . All endings lead to new beginnings. This famous Chinese phrase aptly describes the creation of this book as it was on the author s last day of service with the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) that the idea for this book was conceived.
After having served as the Board s Coordinating Area Director for South Asia, the Middle East and Africa, as well as in the Mega Events Division, Romen was heading to the UK on a British Council Chevening Scholarship to do his Masters degree at Goldsmiths College, University of London.
As he walked into my room on that day, I was thinking of how Singapore s recent history could be made more accessible and appealing to numerous visitors, who were intrigued by the country s unique past and vibrant heritage. The commemoration of the end of the War in the Asia Pacific would soon be coming up and we were in the midst of organising events and activities for this historic event.
Romen, who is a keen historian and had written several books on Singapore s World War II history, was eager to help and I asked him to do some research on what we could possibly do. A month later, he came up with a wide-ranging proposal, which included the publication of this book. Clearly a journalist at heart, he had kept quiet about his plans for a scoop of a book and only revealed it to me once the manuscript was done! I say scoop because most of the book is based on recently declassified top-secret documents and interviews that will for the first time, provide answers to some of the last remaining mysteries of the end of the War.
Readers will be fascinated by the amazing secret Japanese surrender of Singapore and find out what actually happened to wartime-hero Lim Bo Seng.
I believe the ending of the War in the region is also a great beginning for books like these. With a dearth of information and research on the period, very few people, with the exception of greying veterans and some locals, know what actually happened back then in 1945. This book can change that.
In addition to the extensive details and surprising stories within its pages, the book also highlights several sites in Singapore that are intimately tied to this historic period; some sites that even most Singaporeans do not know about. Thus, books like these help highlight our unique heritage and provide visitors with a different perspective and window into our history and culture.
Many military veterans, civilians and their families plan to be in Singapore and Malaysia in 2005 to mark the 60th Anniversary of the end of the War and to remember fallen colleagues who gave their lives so that we could live ours. We owe a great debt of gratitude to these men and women who will always be remembered. It is my hope that books like these will also help recognise the role played by these heroes.
The STB along with the National Heritage Board, National Institute of Education, the British High Commission and World War II sites and museums, have planned events that will include heritage tours, commemorative exhibitions, a Veterans Forum, public conferences and talks on the Asia Pacific War as well as promotions at Singapore s World War II museums. These activities will culminate in September 2005 with memorial services at the Kranji War Memorial, the Changi Chapel Museum and the Sembawang Wharves.
I hope this book will provide a good reference as we seek to mark a unique chapter in our history.

Lim Neo Chian Deputy Chairman Chief Executive Singapore Tourism Board
Preface
I have always held a fascination for the last days of the war in Singapore and the eventual British reoccupation. As a child, I would spend hours at the Surrender Chamber on Sentosa Island, where wax figures of Vice Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten and his aides accepting the surrender from General Seishiro Itagaki on 12 September 1945 are frozen in time. Through the years, I have come across scraps of information and anecdotal evidence of the British recapture of Singapore and Malaya and I must thank my uncle, Mrinal Kanti Dutta, a history buff himself, who was always on the lookout for books on the war and would present me with very rare tomes on the fall of Singapore and the eventual liberation of the island.
However, it was not until I received the British Council s Chevening Scholarship in 2004 for a year s study in the United Kingdom that I was given the opportunity to go through the entire series of documents pertaining to the end of the war, ensconced safely at the National Archives in Kew. I would like to thank the Council s Errim Mahmoud and Sandra Bodestyne for their continued support and help.
I would also like to take the opportunity to thank the various individuals and organisations that have been crucial to the completion of this book: The President and Mrs S.R. Nathan; Lim Neo Chian; The Imperial War Museum; The National Archives, London; The Australian War Memorial; Dr Gareth Stanton and the Media and Communications Department, Goldsmiths College; The British Council; The Singapore Tourism Board; The National Library, Singapore; The National Archives, Singapore; C.O. Donough; Jeyathurai A.; Jennifer A.; and of course my Mum and Dad, Ajoy, Anuradha, Nita, Hari, Nisha and Anusha. A very special thank you to Brian Farrell for helping to spot the loopholes of logic and giving incisive comments on how to write a better book. I must also thank Benny Chung, my editor at Marshall Cavendish whose unflagging enthusiasm and patience led to the writing of several of the appendices in this book.
This book, on the end of the war, does not purport to be a comprehensive tome on the period nor does it attempt to reveal all that is known about the events then or even provide a social history of the times. This book is an attempt to help readers understand better what actually happened during those few months in 1945 when the war was at an end and it appeared, to the newly reinstated colonial masters at least, that the future of the peoples in Malaysia and Singapore would be determined by whichever power controlled Southeast Asia.
The End of the War reveals many secrets of the Second World War that have been hidden in highly sensitive files and long forgotten. It tries to better explain how Britain decided to retake its possessions in Malaya and Singapore and the various ways in which they went about doing this. It also sheds light on wartime heroes like Lim Bo Seng and the role he played in the clandestine Allied operations leading to the end of the war. It concludes by revealing the actual Japanese surrender in Singapore and how the Allied forces finally returned to Malaya and Singapore. A theme that recurs throughout this book is of how endings have led to new beginnings. The fall of Singapore in 1942 led to the formulation of a Brit