Why Singapore fell to the Japanese

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Reasons for Singapore's fall the the Japanese

Japanese strengths, British weaknesses

Japanese troops had light gear suitable for the jungle, British troops had heavy gear which was liability in Malaya

Japanese could fight better in good gear

Japanese had tanks in the jungle

Better equipped than British

Had skills to operate machinery

Only in Battle if Singapore were obsolete light tanks used for British

Lack of experienced soldiers

British soldiers probably not equipped with skills to operate military equipment

Without skills, couldn't operate machinery efficiently

Put them at disadvantage, Japanese could

Manpower

Spies

Knew a lot about British, British did not know as much about Japanese

Japanese could attack British military strongholds

Soldiers

British had serious lack of experienced leaders, accentuated by inexperience of troops

Fought less well than Japanese soldiers, well-trained

Troops also demoralized because of Japanese tanks, thus cannot fight as well

Japanese soldiers had high morale, put forth utmost energy though no ammunition

Formidable soldiers, fought very hard

British more worried about war at home, didn't want to die for Singapore

Japanese soldiers fought harder than British

Commander

Yamashita learnt German attack strategy blitzkrieg, Percival's war experience limited to norther France

Yamashita had better strategy than Percival

Japanese commander Yamashita strict and fierce, British commander Percival lacked drive

Yamashita trained his men hard and encouraged them, Percival did not encourage his men or train them a lot

Japanese soldiers a lot better prepared than British soldiers

British problems

Commander lacked military foresight, was inexperienced

Japanese set up headquarters at Sultan of Johor's palace

Could see defense preparations by the British

Added with spies, knew a lot about British

British didn't want to shoot at home of their old friend

If defended better, or commander predicted this, wouldn't have this problem in the first place

Could not get rid of spies

Japanese knew a lot about British, captured airfields very quickly, complete control over the air

British never realised that if they held on longer, Japanese would be forced to call off attacks

Not far-sighted enough to consider possible outcomes of war

Singapore fell into hands of Japanese

British assumptions

Equipment

Did not expect Japanese to carry equipment on bicycles

Japanese managed to carry most of their equipment

Well-equipped

Cannot use tanks in the Jungle

Did not have tanks in the jungle, Japanese had

Serious disadvantage

Japanese had too weak ammunition

Though British Air Force could not provide warships air cover, continued with plan as they believed Japanese couldn't attack from air

Japanese dropped bombs from air

crew ill-prepared, couldn't defend ships from warplanes

Japanese made history, successfully bombed both ships

Sole suppliers of defense for naval war in SEA

Heavily handicapped in terms of naval defense