Post by Vince Cable's Exotic Spresm on Feb 15, 2017 20:47:29 GMT
75 years ago today, British and Commonwealth troops in Singapore, commanded by Lieutenant-General Arthur Percival, surrendered to Japanese forces. It has been called the biggest capitulation the British Empire ever suffered. Winston Churchill said it was "the worst disaster" in British military history.
Lieutenant-General Percival and his staff on their way to negotiate surrender terms with the Japanese commander, Tomoyuki Yamashita. The Union Flag is carried by Brigadier T.K. Newbigging.
What followed the surrender can be described as no less than a spree of disgusting and inhuman war crimes, including the massacre of between 50 and 100,000 of the city's ethnic Chinese population. 130,000 men were captured, many of whom were incarcerated and went to be forced to work on the Burma death railway and other Japanese labour projects.
Japanese troops execute blindfolded Sikh POWs
The same Union Flag carried at the surrender is currently kept at the Imperial War Museum London:
Lieutenant-General Percival and his staff on their way to negotiate surrender terms with the Japanese commander, Tomoyuki Yamashita. The Union Flag is carried by Brigadier T.K. Newbigging.
What followed the surrender can be described as no less than a spree of disgusting and inhuman war crimes, including the massacre of between 50 and 100,000 of the city's ethnic Chinese population. 130,000 men were captured, many of whom were incarcerated and went to be forced to work on the Burma death railway and other Japanese labour projects.
Japanese troops execute blindfolded Sikh POWs
The same Union Flag carried at the surrender is currently kept at the Imperial War Museum London:
