Changes

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. According to Peter Elphick's book ''Singapore The Pregnable Fortress'', the 2/18th Australian Infantry Battalion had lost more than half of its personnel, killed, wounded, captured or through desertions. 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. According to Peter Elphick's book ''Singapore The Pregnable Fortress'', the 2/18th Australian Infantry Battalion had lost more than half of its personnel, killed, wounded, captured or through desertions. 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 European civilians<ref>[http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/specials/noprisoners/transcript.htm 4C Special: No Prisoners]</ref>, and other witnesses reporting that many other deserters were drunk, raping the local Malay and Chinese women.<ref>"'The greater part of the Australian infantry were undisciplined,' observed Bradell, who say swarms of deserters, many drunk, struggling to get on to the ships that would take them away. Other witnesses reported Australians bullying their way on to boats, looting and raping Malay and Chinese women. These reports were read by Churchill and then withheld from public scrutiny for fifty years, no doubt to satisfy Australian sensibilities. Churchill and Empire, Lawrence James, Hachette, 2013</ref>  

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 and bars were crowded and overflowing.<ref>"There was a complete breakdown of military discipline, with wild scenes of drunken Allied troops refusing orders, looting shops and bars, stealing boats and fighting their way onto any ship leaving Singapore harbour." The Second World War: Ambitions to Nemesis, Bradley Lightbody, p. 132, Psychology Press, 2004</ref>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 European civilians<ref>[http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/specials/noprisoners/transcript.htm 4C Special: No Prisoners]</ref>, and other witnesses reporting that many other deserters were drunk, raping the local Malay and Chinese women.<ref>"'The greater part of the Australian infantry were undisciplined,' observed Bradell, who say swarms of deserters, many drunk, struggling to get on to the ships that would take them away. Other witnesses reported Australians bullying their way on to boats, looting and raping Malay and Chinese women. These reports were read by Churchill and then withheld from public scrutiny for fifty years, no doubt to satisfy Australian sensibilities. Churchill and Empire, Lawrence James, Hachette, 2013</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 Commonwealth troops were to lay down their arms at 8.30 PM. More than 100,000 British, Indian, Australian and Malayan troops became prisoners of war together with thousands of Singaporean Chinese from  ''Dalforce'', the local militia.<ref>"Unlike Dunkirk, there was no 'miraculous' evacuation at Singapore and 100,000 British, Australian, New Zealand and Indian troops were captured when it fell on 15 February 1942, Britain's blackest day of the war. Britain in the Twentieth Century, William B. Hopkins, Page 208, Routledge, 2013</ref>About 30,000 defenders had already surrendered in Malaya in the fighting that took place from December 1941 to February 1942.

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 Commonwealth troops were to lay down their arms at 8.30 PM. More than 100,000 British, Indian, Australian and Malayan troops became prisoners of war together with thousands of Singaporean Chinese from  ''Dalforce'', the local militia.<ref>"Unlike Dunkirk, there was no 'miraculous' evacuation at Singapore and 100,000 British, Australian, New Zealand and Indian troops were captured when it fell on 15 February 1942, Britain's blackest day of the war. Britain in the Twentieth Century, William B. Hopkins, Page 208, Routledge, 2013</ref>About 30,000 defenders had already surrendered in Malaya in the fighting that took place from December 1941 to February 1942.