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The British, Indian and Australian troops tried to hold the Japanese at various defensive lines but after two days many of their depleted battalions had to be reorganized into composite units. A counter-attack on 10-11 February failed and on 12 February General H Gordon Bennett, the Australian commander, began moving his battle weary 8th Division AIF units into a perimeter just a few kilometres out of the city. By the next day the Japanese were within five kilometres of the Singapore waterfront. The entire city was now within range of Japanese artillery.
The British, Indian and Australian troops tried to hold the Japanese at various defensive lines but after two days many of their depleted battalions had to be reorganized into composite units. A counter-attack on 10-11 February failed and on 12 February General H Gordon Bennett, the Australian commander, began moving his battle weary 8th Division AIF units into a perimeter just a few kilometres out of the city. By the next day the Japanese were within five kilometres of the Singapore waterfront. The entire city was now within range of Japanese artillery.
By 14 February the Japanese had captured Singapore's reservoirs and pumping stations. The air attacks, fighting and artillery bombardments continued; many of the troops, separated from their units, wandered around aimlessly and the hospitals were crowded and overflowing. Some troops were deserting and others had become separated from their units. Private Duncan Ferguson of the ''Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders Regiment'', claims Australian deserters were pushing women off the gangways to get aboard the departing ships evacuating the civilians with witnesses reporting that many others were drunk, raping the local Malay and Chinese women. <ref>[http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/specials/noprisoners/transcript.htm 4C Special: No Prisoners]</ref>
Nevertheless, hard fighting continued but on 15 February Lieutenant-General [[Arthur Percival]], the British commander in Singapore, called for a ceasefire and made the difficult decision to surrender. He signed the surrender document that evening at the Ford Factory on Bukit Timah Road. After days of desperate fighting, all British Imperial troops were to lay down their arms at 8.30 PM. More than 100,000 troops became prisoners of war together with hundreds of European civilians who were interned.
==Air battle==
==Air battle==