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→Loss of British battleships Repulse and Prince of Wales
On 8 February, the actual attack on Singapore started with the landing of troops on the northwest coast. Australian troops fought well initially, inflicting heavy casualties on the invaders. However, the Australian defenders retreated unnecessarily amidst the confusion of battle, allowing the Japanese to establish a beachhead.<ref>"During the night of 8 February after a fifteen-hour artillery bombardment the Japanese landed on the western shores of Singapore island. The sector was guarded by Australian troops, but most deserted their posts and refused orders to stand firm." The Second World War: Ambitions to Nemesis, Bradley Lightbody, p. 132, Psychology Press, 2004</ref>Subsequent landings by the Japanese were unopposed. The military situation for the British and Indian defenders under Lieutenant-General [[Arthur Percival]] worsened.
On 8 February, the actual attack on Singapore started with the landing of troops on the northwest coast. Australian troops fought well initially, inflicting heavy casualties on the invaders. However, the Australian defenders retreated unnecessarily amidst the confusion of battle, allowing the Japanese to establish a beachhead.<ref>"During the night of 8 February after a fifteen-hour artillery bombardment the Japanese landed on the western shores of Singapore island. The sector was guarded by Australian troops, but most deserted their posts and refused orders to stand firm." The Second World War: Ambitions to Nemesis, Bradley Lightbody, p. 132, Psychology Press, 2004</ref>Subsequent landings by the Japanese were unopposed. The military situation for the British and Indian defenders under Lieutenant-General [[Arthur Percival]] worsened.
==Loss of British battleships ''Repulse'' and ''Prince of Wales''==
==Loss of HMS ''Repulse'' and HMS ''Prince of Wales''==
Some 508 officers and men went down with HMS ''Repulse'', while a further 327 were killed aboard HMS ''Prince of Wales'', which sank just a few miles away.
Three days after the Japanese attack on [[Pearl Harbor]], the battleship HMS ''Prince of Wales'' and the battlecruiser ''Repulse'', attempted to intercept the Japanese amphibious forces off of Malaya. They were located by planes of several Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) air groups off the eastern coast of the peninsula, and subjected to multiple attacks, the third of which left both capital ships sinking. With their demise, the road to Singapore lay open.
Some 508 officers and men went down with HMS ''Repulse'', while a further 327 were killed aboard HMS ''Prince of Wales'', which sank just a few miles away.
==Civilian evacuations==
==Civilian evacuations==