THE FALL OF SINGAPORE THEY BEHEADED ENEMY SOLDIERS, BURNED PRISONERS ALIVE, INVADED HOSPITAL KILLING THE PATIENTS WHERE THEY LAY IN THEIR BED'S PLUS THE NURSES AND DOCTORS,

the fall of Singapore they beheaded enemy soldiers, burned prisoners alive, invaded hospital killing the patients where they lay in their beds plus the nurses and doctors,

their Australian and British POW were worked and often bashed to death when they were forced to build the Burma-Thailand Railway, they say say one death for every sleeper laid.

Singapore, city of silk shirts, colonial grandeur, Singapore Slings at The Long Bar in Raffles Hotel, peanut shells, Change Alley, merchant shipping and the infamous Merlion, not to mention the best chicken satay anywhere in the world.

Nowadays the city is a melting pot of cultures, a haven for ex-pats and a centre of tourism.

However, there is a lot more to this ex-British colony than its culinary expertise, financial finesse and adventurous nautical history.

This tiny sovereign island nation was the scene of the largest surrender of British-led forces ever recorded in history.

 Singapore is a sovereign island nation, sandwiched between Malaysia and Indonesia in South-East Asia.

At the time, it was considered by the British as their Gibraltar in the Far East, assumed to be just as impregnable and certainly as valuable as it’s European counterpart.

Singapore was, and indeed remains, the gateway to the rest of Asia. If you control Singapore, then you control a huge proportion of the Far East.

In the 1930s and 1940s, the British forces stationed in Singapore epitomized the British military idea of officers and gentlemen. The atmosphere was very much one of colonial sociability.

The Raffles Hotel was as synonymous with military life for many officers as the heat, tin hats and khaki uniform and not forgetting the ever-present Japanese threat.

However, as prevalent as this threat may have been, there was an air almost of lethargy among the colonial forces stationed there at the time.

An attack was expected, but victory for the British forces was considered a foregone conclusion.

Singapore was designed as a formidable fortress and thought impregnable. This arrogance was to contribute to the eventual downfall of the British forces.

When the Japanese did attack, it was indicative of their military prowess in the region at the time.

Their soldiers were ruthless, brutal and fearless, and the attack happened with a speed and savagery that took the British forces completely by surprise.

Encouraged not to take prisoners, simply to execute those in their path, the Japanese swept through Singapore with the force of a tsunami, leaving shock and destruction in their wake.