The bombing of Singapore was an attack on 8 December 1941 by seventeen G3M ''Nell'' bombers of Mihoro Air Group (''Mihoro Kaigun

Kōkūtai A ''Kōkūtai'' () was a term used by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service (IJNAS) to designate a military aviation unit, similar to the Air Groups in other air arms and services of the time. (''Group'' in the British Royal Air Force, ''Grupp ...

''),

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrend ...

, flying from Thu Dau Mot in southern

Indochina Mainland Southeast Asia, also known as the Indochinese Peninsula or Indochina, is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the west an ...

. The attack began at around 0430, shortly after Japanese forces landed on Kota Bharu,

Kelantan Kelantan (; Jawi: ; Kelantanese Malay: ''Klate'') is a state in Malaysia. The capital is Kota Bharu and royal seat is Kubang Kerian. The honorific name of the state is ''Darul Naim'' (Jawi: ; "The Blissful Abode"). Kelantan is located in th ...

in northern Malaya. It was the first knowledge the

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

population had that

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

had broken out in the

Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The ter ...

Background

The attack on Singapore was assigned to 34 bombers of

Genzan Air Group was an aircraft and airbase garrison unit of the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service during the Second Sino-Japanese War and Pacific campaign of World War II. History The Genzan Air Group was founded on 15 November 1940 at Genzan, Korea, then a ...

(''Genzan Kaigun Kōkūtai'') and 31 bombers of Mihoro Air Group. Their targets were RAF Tengah, RAF Seletar, Sembawang Naval Base and

Keppel Harbour Keppel Harbour (; ms, Pelabuhan Keppel), also called the Keppel Channel and formerly New Harbour, is a stretch of water in Singapore between the mainland and the southern islands of Pulau Brani and Sentosa (formerly Pulau Blakang Mati). Its natur ...

. Six squadrons from both air groups took off from southern Indochina on the night of 7 December 1941. However, bad weather conditions were encountered while over the

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by the shores of South China (hence the name), in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Phi ...

. Thick clouds offered poor visibility for the pilots, while rough winds caused most of the formations to become separated. After several attempts to regroup failed,

Lieutenant Commander Lieutenant commander (also hyphenated lieutenant-commander and abbreviated Lt Cdr, LtCdr. or LCDR) is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander. The corresponding ran ...

Niichi Nakanishi,

Wing Commander Wing commander (Wg Cdr in the RAF, the IAF, and the PAF, WGCDR in the RNZAF and RAAF, formerly sometimes W/C in all services) is a senior commissioned rank in the British Royal Air Force and air forces of many countries which have historical ...

of Genzan Air Group, ordered them to abort mission and return to base, thereby reducing the impact of a much heavier raid. Only seventeen G3M bombers of Mihoro Air Group reached Singapore on schedule, unobstructed by bad weather.

The Attack

The Japanese formation was detected by a radar station in

Mersing Mersing (Terengganu Malay: ''Merecing'' or ''Ngesing'') is a town, mukim and the capital of Mersing District, Johor, Malaysia. As of 2010, the town has an estimated population of 70,894. Mersing town, is particularly significant for a number ...

Johor Johor (; ), also spelled as Johore, is a state of Malaysia in the south of the Malay Peninsula. Johor has land borders with the Malaysian states of Pahang to the north and Malacca and Negeri Sembilan to the northwest. Johor shares maritime ...

, Malaya, almost an hour before they reached Singapore. Three

Brewster Buffalo The Brewster F2A Buffalo is an American fighter aircraft which saw service early in World War II. Designed and built by the Brewster Aeronautical Corporation, it was one of the first U.S. monoplanes with an arrestor hook and other modifications ...

fighters of No. 453 Squadron RAAF were on standby at

RAF Sembawang Semba is a traditional type of music and dance from Angola. Semba comes from the singular Massemba, meaning "a touch of the bellies" - one of the most recognizable and entertaining movements in semba.History of Semba , Kizombalove Academy Chara ...

. However, Flight Lieutenant

Tim Vigors Wing Commander Timothy Ashmead Vigors, (22 March 1921 – 14 November 2003) was a Royal Air Force fighter pilot and flying ace during the Second World War, in which he fought in the Battle of Britain and in the Far East. In civilian life, Vigors ...

' request to scramble and intercept the Japanese bombers was denied.Stenman and Thomas, page 45 Air Chief Marshal

Robert Brooke-Popham Air Chief Marshal Sir Henry Robert Moore Brooke-Popham, (18 September 1878 – 20 October 1953) was a senior commander in the Royal Air Force. During the First World War he served in the Royal Flying Corps as a wing commander and senior staff o ...

feared that the anti-aircraft batteries would fire on the friendly fighters, despite Vigors being an experienced

night fighter A night fighter (also known as all-weather fighter or all-weather interceptor for a period of time after the Second World War) is a fighter aircraft adapted for use at night or in other times of bad visibility. Night fighters began to be used i ...

in the

Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain, also known as the Air Battle for England (german: die Luftschlacht um England), was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defende ...

. He was supplemented by the belief that the Buffalo fighter was only suited for daylight fighting and could not be used at night. Paradoxically, there were 12

Bristol Blenheim The Bristol Blenheim is a British light bomber aircraft designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company (Bristol) which was used extensively in the first two years of the Second World War, with examples still being used as trainers until ...

Mark IF night fighters of No. 27 Squadron RAF stationed in Sungai Petani, Malaya, but were being used as ground-attack aircraft.Burton 2006, page 97 The streets were still brightly lit despite

air raid siren A civil defense siren, also known as an air-raid siren or tornado siren, is a siren used to provide an emergency population warning to the general population of approaching danger. It is sometimes sounded again to indicate the danger has pa ...

s going off at 0400, allowing pilot

navigator A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation.Grierson, MikeAviation History—Demise of the Flight Navigator FrancoFlyers.org website, October 14, 2008. Retrieved August 31, 2014. The navigator's primar ...

s to locate their targets without difficulty. Air Raid Precautions (ARP) Headquarters was not even manned, and there was no blackout as police and

power station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many ...

officials could not find the employee who had the key to the switch (only two practice blackouts were conducted in September 1941 before the raid). When the bombers began their attack at 0430, Allied anti-aircraft guns immediately opened fire. The battleship ''Prince of Wales'' and battlecruiser ''Repulse'' also responded, but no aircraft was shot down. A formation of nine bombers flew over without releasing their bombs to draw the searchlights and anti-aircraft guns away from the other group. They were flying at 12,000 feet, while the second formation was at 4,000 feet.Owen 2001, page 36

Aftermath

The 'Raiders Passed' signal was sent out at 0500. The bombers succeeded in bombing the airfields at Seletar and Tengah, damaging three

bombers of No. 34 Squadron RAF. A number of bombs also fell on Raffles Place. 61 people were killed and more than 700 were injured. Most of the casualties were troops of the 2/2nd Gurkha Rifles, 11th Indian Infantry Division. The Japanese bombers all returned safely to Thu Dau Mot. Though the bombing caused only minor damage to the airfields, it stunned the

British Far East Command The Far East Command was a British military command which had 2 distinct periods. These were firstly, 18 November 1940 – 7 January 1942 succeeded by the American-British-Dutch-Australian Command ( ABDACOM), and secondly, 1963–1971 succeeded ...

. Despite intelligence reports of Japanese aircraft performance in the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...

, the command did not believe Japan's air forces were capable of striking Singapore from airfields more than 600 miles away in Indochina. The raid came as a surprise to

Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

Arthur Percival Lieutenant-General Arthur Ernest Percival, (26 December 1887 – 31 January 1966) was a senior British Army officer. He saw service in the First World War and built a successful military career during the interwar period but is most noted fo ...

, who "hardly expected the Japanese to have any very long-range aircraft."Burton 2006, page 96 Singapore had respite from further air raids while the Japanese focussed their attacks on Allied positions in northern Malaya. The next raid occurred on the night of 16/17 December 1941. This was minor attack on RAF Tengah by two Japanese Ki-21s. The next serious raid on Singapore City was on the night of 29/30 December. The Japanese launched their first daylight raid on 12 January 1942, a day after their capture of Kuala Lumpur allowed them to shift aircraft of the IJAAF to southern Malaya.

References

Citations

Bibliography

*Lee, G. B. (1992). Syonan: Singapore under the Japanese 1942–1945 (pp. 18, 24). Singapore: Singapore Heritage Society. *Singapore: An illustrated history 1941 – 1984 (p. 16). (1984). Singapore: Information Division, Ministry of Culture *Tan, B. L. (1996). The Japanese Occupation 1942 – 1945: A pictorial record of Singapore during the war (pp. 16, 26–27). Singapore: Times Editions *Stenman, Kari and Andrew Thomas. ''Brewster F2A Buffalo Aces of World War 2'' (Aircraft of the Aces). Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing, 2010. . *Owen, Frank. ''The Fall of Singapore''. Penguin Books, 2001. *Burton, John. ''Fortnight of infamy: the collapse of Allied airpower west of Pearl Harbor''. Naval Institute Press, 2006.

External links

Imperial Japanese Navy Air Assault on Singapore, by Mike Yeo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bombing Of Singapore Military history of Singapore

1941 in Singapore

Japan–United Kingdom military relations Japan–Singapore military relations Singapore–United Kingdom military relations December 1941 events Airstrikes in Asia