history is fun

i think the british ruled lousily caused we lost the war in ww2

John 2C

The British were dumb to point their guns the wrong way.

Teo Chia Yin 2D

For clarification, the guns in Singapore had been armed with barrettes which can turn 360 degrees and could well fire into Johore, the reason that forbade them to do a significant part in defense of Singapore is that they had been armed with HVAP( high-velocity amour piercing) shells which is damn useful against sea crafts such as battleships but is useless against manpower as the shell would denotes 30 seconds after landing which give the Japanese time to run away. The British general, Lt.gen A.E Percival was very reluctant to built defenses northward of Singapore caused that downfall of us, in fact, in Singapore northern and north-western sector, there are one full British crops and a AIF total of at least 100000 solders but they are short of tanks and other vital resources that make them unable to meet the 35000 strong Japanese Fourteen Area Army.

In naval terms, the two battleships in Singapore can made a difference if not been restricted to the lack of efficient air cover as they are quite strongly armed and amoured with a total of 8 15" and 10 14" main guns.

For more information, you can visit the NLB or other relevant places.

tan Jun Kai of Sec 2C

i think they ruled lousily. it would have been best if they left us alone to our own devices. the only good they did was to set up a port in singapore.

lester 2c

Jun Kai your comments support my argument. they were so lousy that even with SO many equipment and soldiers they still lost. Are they super lousy or what?

John 2C

As for John comment, the equipment the bloody British had in Singapore was none of a match for the Japanese, some examples are;

-->British Buffaloes fighters VS Zero fighters of the Japanese, the Buffaloes can travel at a slower speed than zero and they had less guns than the Zero.

-->The Japanese had tanks but British anti-tank cocktail guns were not working.

-->In the sea, the Japaneses can field a huge force of warship and although they are slower than and older than HMS Prince Of Wales, the British force Z was none a match for them as they had no air cover and in WWII, moving without air cover is like fighting in Counter-Strike without any weapons.

Morale was also important, the British was tired while the Japanese were enthusiastic and they want to present the emperor Singapore as a birthday gift in a birthday bash.

In accordance to my previous comment, if the British gave us more newer weapons, we might be a real 'impregnable' fortress.

Finally yet importantly, the Immigrant that take up arms were defeated by mass numbers sop therefore lester, if we take up arms and defend ourselves, Singapore will fall in only two to three days instead of the fifteen days.

Tan Jun Kai of Sec 2C

It was not that because they were lousy. It was because they didn't really want to care in the first place.

Haolin 2E

I dunno I feel that the British did set the foundation stone, knowingly or unknowingly ,and as a consequence we now stand as a first world country sovereign with our own rights of self governance, this would not have been if not for the British's foresight. Though they may not have been the perfect rulers I feel that they actually did develop the settlement of Singapore such that even when Singapore was given surprise full independence, they just had to develop on what the British had already done. It would have been a lot worse if we were forced to start from scratch with nothing. Besides it was the British that managed to help Singapore interact with the rest of the world (Europe etc.)

Karthi 2G

no chia yin you're WRONG!
its the guns that are dumb coz they let the british point them the wrong way.

Jun Kai the text book say that the japanese force the brits to surrender unconditionally at that moment was a bluff as they could not hold on longer actually. so the british are STUPID to fall for their trick. It is not about the technology it is about strategy. British were actually very lousy their strategy was very lousy.

John 2C

To John,
it is the trickry that had force the british to surrender, I KNOW LAH>>>, it is also the failure of the equipment to support the surrender mindset...
Tan Jun Kai of Sec 2c