Why This Was Britain's Worst Military Disaster Ever | INTEL
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 14 ก.พ. 2019
- Seventy-seven years ago today, Britain suffered the worst military disaster it has ever seen...Singapore fell to the Japanese Empire.
In the midst of it all, I follow Tom Tadman, a 21-year-old serving with the Lanarkshire Yeomanry, who was taken prisoner by the Japanese and died in captivity.
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A bit of trivia for you all:
The office carrying the white flag to the surrender negotiations, Lt Cyril Wild, took the Union Flag after the surrender and kept it throughout his captivity - including a spell on the Burma Railway. That same flag was hoisted in Singapore at the Japanese surrender.
After the war, Wild was promoted to Colonel and prosecuted Japanese war criminals. He died in a plane crash in 1946.
What an amazing piece of history.
Here's another interesting bit of history Percival was the officer in charge of the firing squad that shot the leaders of the 1916 Easter uprising in Ireland
They should of thought and never underestimate the enemy. Hubris caused them to treat the enemy as stupid. Just like the Americans today they think their enemies are stupid.
Good stuff.
@@Mulberry2000 really? please explain how we think in detail.
France: The Germans definitely wouldn't come through the forest right?
Britain: The Japanese definitely wouldn't come through the jungle right?
History repeats itself, even during the same war
In the 1930s the jungles became rubber plantations and easy to pass through.
@@networkbike543 not all but it was the stupidity of briitsh command.
networkbike543 there are still thick jungle. TheBritish’s defence of Singapore was extremely poor and incompetent.
The British foolishly just blew up the easily-rebuilt causeway between Malaya and Singapore and placed all their troops at the South
The first and worst war criminals are the own ignorant generals.
It always breaks my heart seeing an old man cry like that. It reminds so much of my own grandfather. He was a career navy man, joined at 17 at the end of '43 and deployed in time for Leyte Gulf and remained in the Pacific for the remainder of the war. He served on destroyers and later went on to screen battleships firing at the North Korean coast and enforce the blockade during the Cuban Missile Crisis. After that, his last ship was the USS Forrestal where he marveled at the luxurious accommodations of a carrier compared to the old tin cans he was accustomed to (probably helped that he was a Master Chief by this time). He loved to talk about the adventures of his later career. There was hardly an ocean or port on Earth he hadn't seen. But, he never spoke of WW2...
Memories are like a mental camera. That's a good one to possess. We can never forget. I am grateful for the sacrifice they made. I am mindful that i could be speaking Japanese or German now.
I am a Singaporean Chinese , the British were arrogant and japanese were brutal..
It led to our independence and we will only rely on ourselves after WW2... Although it's almost 80 years ago , we still could not forget what happened in Singapore.
God that story about Tom is heatbreaking
Everytime the allies thought the Axis won't attack from heavily dense forest. Think again. Damn it Britain. You got fooled twice.
I'm a 78 yo Singaporean.
The Brits were mostly repatriated early to O'Blighty, leaving a small force.
Those remaining to defend the iron fortress was mainly Ozzies and Sepoys. Percival was just one of the remaining figureheads, he couldn't fight.
They sailed off with their families leaving, the Ozzies and Sepoys to their fate.
Why no tanks? They kept for their Mother England.
Yes indeed the bulk of Malaya's defending forces were Indian and Australian but you forget that Churchill also diverted the British 18th division which was enroute to North Africa to assist
Sadly by the time it arrived Malaya had already been lost and so this fresh division was needlessly wasted when it could have been better deployed to Burma keeping the China road open
Check out the Plymouth Argylls Royal Marine...story.
That is the group of men that fought a fighting withdrawal back too Singapore with some Australian n Indian troops.
Some evading the surrender and continued fighting the Japanese till end of war.
The surviving RMs from POW and the Argylls and Sunderland Highlanders were the group of men alongside aussie and Indian troops that fought the fighting withdrawal.
Some evading the surrender like great uncle Geordie too Ceylon.
My grandfather was deployed after the war to Singapore. He was one of the last ever British soldiers to be there before independence. We took him back there and he told us how much it’s change it was once just fields of green with occasional town and village and now some of the buildings could house half the population of Singapore in the 60s.
An accurate description. I was at Singapore on December 2005. I visited the infamous Changi concentration camp. I paid a tribute to British and commonwealth troops
My grandfather was a POW there
@@benlonghurst7777 mine too..
Lol ‘concentration camps’
That was so heartbreaking to hear him speak about his brother and him tearing up. Meeting another who thought that his brother had survived when he met him and him saying that “I’m his younger brother” and that he just broke and cried like a baby. So heartbreaking and we thank them for their service!
Winston Churchill sent a message to Percival and TOLD him to fight to the LAST MAN. The "Rabbit of Malaya" as Percival was known among his soldiers surrender THE NEXT DAY. The Japanese commander, known as the "Tiger of Malaya" purposely fire all his artillery, even though his troops were running out of shells. THE BLUFF worked. If Percival had fought for a few more weeks, Singapore will be known as the "Stalingrad of the East" and Indonesia will fall slower, allowing the Dutch to counterattack with Australian aid. Percival has 100 thousand men while the Japanese had only 30 thousand. The reason why British abandon Singapore, Malaya, Hong Kong and Burma so quickly is because WE ARE THEIR COLONIES not their homeland. They rather sit in prison camps (under torture) than to risk their lives and fight to the finish.
You must not forget that the Japanese had navy.
It wasn't just Japanese army vs British Colonial army.
Both sides lost 5000 men killed or wounded.
It was very much possible to defeat the Japanese army but then what?
With no naval support the Colonial army was crippled.
The Japanese would just have started bombing from their ships or carpet bomb from their naval Air arm.
A very few soldiers were British that includes men from the new 18th infantry division which was undertrained, inexperienced territorial army.
It would have resulted in the death of many colonial soldiers for nothing with nothing to gain.
Funnily enough Field Marshall fredrick Paulus and Arthur Percival were placed in similar positions senior officers making huge decisions about continuing the fight as I'm sure we are all aware surrendering thousands of men into years of captivity. Many hundreds of thousands never seeing home again.
Mary Fong war generals make mistakes. no matter who they are, they will always make mistakes. would the outcome of the war be different if there was a different general instead of Percival? Who knows
The Japanese had a lot more navy, they had far better aircraft, such has the nimble zeros,the betty bombers, nakajima high performers fighter bomber and Kawasaki Hein high altitude fighters.All the allies had at this stage where obsolete Brewster buffaloes and Blemen fighter bombers.
The "Tiger of Malaya" Yamashita pulled off one of the most daring campaigns in military history in taking Malaya and Singapore. British outnumbered the Japanese 4 to 1 yet Japan destroyed and humiliated the British Empire. Bicycle blitzkrieg, weak tanks, clever bluff on Percival, and ruthless efficiency for the win.
@hajim2k britain got revenge in the battle of kohima and imphal
@@Bullet-Tooth-Tony-
Indeed they inflicted Japan's largest land defeat despite being similarly outnumbered 🇮🇳🇬🇧
It also didnt help that Thailand defected to the Axis after just five hours of fighting and gave the Japanese full use of its airfields and borders to invade Burma and send more troops to the Malayan Campaign in exchange for territory from its neighbours.
fludblud yeah was sad, now we shall not back down
I mean what did you expect we do? If the british, the Americans and the Dutch combined couldn't beat them what chance would thailand have stood? Our leader was not going to stand by and put up futile resistance; he didn't want Thais to suffer like our neighbors did at the hands of the japanese so he did what the japanese demanded. I feel for the Commonwealth troops that suffered I really do but in regards to thailabd churchill actually did tell us "defend yourself." Well how could we do that when the allies themselves were getting pummeled. Yes we sided with the Japanese and we paid for it but not nearly as much as our neighbors and I'm thankful for that
@nasim whitehouse Smart way out. It wasn't Thailand's war. And Britain had no business in South East Asia anyway.
@nasim whitehouse Really? Last I checked, the Chinese armed forces are still very much based in China. Have you seen American armed forces and where they're located in the past..oh..50 years?
@nasim whitehouse Keyword: PROBABLY.
The latest episode of Intel is out now! th-cam.com/video/O3rvgK2iqwI/w-d-xo.html
when the allies thought the fasict won't attack from the unpenetrable forest
*think again*
MTF: Nine Tailed fox it’s interesting that it caused 2 major campaign defeats in the Second World War
Germans played the same trick on the French.
@A British National Socialist I was talking about the Ardennes
@A British National Socialist cuz It's a world war 2 meme and I love it
Me: "Sees title"
My Brain: *I Smell Gallipoli*
Reality: Nope something kinda worse than that but good try
@Robo Redneck 4. American Revolution 1776
There’s really no shortage of british military blunders and failures to choose from. The british ministry of defence just has a really good PR team.
My great uncle fought there under the Australian flag with his British brothers. He was imprisoned by the Japanese and was released when the Japanese surrendered.
Respect to him our kid. 🇬🇧🇦🇺
Our doctor many years ago was a POW in Changi during the war. Watching the men in his care die through cruelty and lack of medical supplies haunted him for the rest of his life. As in Robert Burns' poem 'Man was made to mourn', this was surely an example of 'Man's inhumanity to man'...
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4:59-5:07
That video wasn't shot in Singapore, that structure you see is actually the Rizal Monument in Luneta located in Manila.
He needed some stock videos. If you watch tons of war videos and documentaries, you see the same video clips over and over again regardless of battle or setting due to a limit of videos from that one specific battle.
Anyways, very good catch.
No wonder I never see that Sculpture in Sg before.
Without Japanese and British continued plunder , Singapore prosper become a modern city and richest island state in Asia......
GREAT PRODUCTION QUALITY ACED THIS VIDEO MAN
No mention of General Gordon Bennet? the commander of the Australian forces who told his men to fight to the last bullet then promptly hired a fishing boat to take him alone to Australia? hence the name "Gordon Bennet" has been used as a curse ever since.
Yes Bennetts excuse for desertion was that he learned how to defeat the Japanese and needed to get back to AU to brief the military despite getting his ass kicked repeatedly.
Lol what a coward. Hope he got demoted and dishonorable discharged. He shouldve got as many men with him on the boat as possible.
@@idunusegoogleplus Unfortunately he was promoted to Lieutenant General...
He had friends in high places and a bit of money in his pocket so really this came as no surprise
@@kaneholmes8860 ah. Wars are just poor young men dying for old rich men.
@@idunusegoogleplus .o
Great video! Thanks for posting
Fun fact, the Royal Marines from the Repulse and Prince of Wales were used to reinforce the smashed 2nd Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders creating the combined unit the Plymouth Argylls
damn made me tear up thinking of that story of being mistaken for another
Excellent video thank you.
My great grandfather got home from Dunkirk forced to leave his oldest son (my uncle) behind to spend the war in a German pow camp. Over a year later he was sent to Singapore just in time to surrender, he then spent the war in a Japanese pow camp. They both came home alive.
It really wasn't these bicycle infantry which broke the British lines on the Malay Peninsula. It was the Japanese tanks and the close air support from Japanese bases in Thailand. Tanks were the best defence against tanks and it was another myth that Percival did not reckon the use of tanks was possible on the Malay Peninsula. It was Churchill himself who diverted the 300 tanks destined for Percival in 1941 to the Soviet Union instead, depriving Percival the means to stop the Japanese armour. The final defence of Singapore was also broken when the Japanese drove their tanks across the causeway into Singapore. Percival might not be the inspiring general who could turn a hopeless situation around, but it was Churchill who was partly responsible for the defeat in the first place.
Absolutely
Churchill also needlessly threw away the 18th division which arrived far too late and was marched straight into captivity
In hindsight it should have been landed in Rangoon instead where it could have been deployed keeping the China road open
Totally underestimated the Japanese
It's a western thing. Today the underestimate China.
@cool dude
The japanese were fighting the americans too.
One on one without the fighting force of the americans in the Pacific to pre occupy them, the Japanese showed that they could kick Britain's ass in singapore.
And most of the deaths were from starvation and disease.
@cool dude Lol 😂🤣😹learn some history kid don't believe in your western propaganda. In imphal and Kohima war most soldiers were from India and Nepal. Don't think Britishers defeated Japanese
cool dude Britain just surrendered to Japanese. Most of those Japanese deaths came from American soldiers
@cool dude britian couldn't have faced Japan alone. brits never fight an enemy of its same level but always with a coalition of allies. Then they shamelessly claim victory for themselves.
That bit about the Japanese not taking prisoners on the Malay peninsula is false. The Japanese captured around 50,000 men on the peninsula which combined with the 80,000 prisoners in Singapore equaled about 130,000. Also, the Japanese had three divisions, not two: the 5th Infantry Division, the 18th Infantry Division, and the Imperial Guard Division.
Brilliant work. Subscribed.
*Of all the British troops present to defend the Malay peninsula the troop composition of the Indians were the highest and their suffering and scarfices don't deserve to be told because they didn't have a white skin. Thank you British. You have truly proved how superior race you are and how great your western values are.*
With 80,000 soldiers and you still surrender ?
Absolute cowards
The British fought abysmally in Malaysia, that and badly lead, then again defending Singapore. They must have been badly trained. I have studied this and have not heard of deployed troops not even digging in for defended positions. Just poor logistics as well, giving up the and not defending the water reservoir was the nail in the coffin.
Another lesser heard of and terrible defeat for the allies was the Phillipines (annexed by Japan from the U.S.).
Excellent Doc !!!! Well done !!!
Great video thank you
The Forgotten Highlander by Alistair Urquhart is a great book by a survivor of these events, I would recomend it to those who like to read about WW2.
I read that, what an amazing man and an amazing story.
Several years ago I talked to an elderly gentleman who had been a POW of the Japanese, and he regretted that we didn't have an atomic bomb to drop on every city in Japan.
That you for this, well put together. I am though disappointed that you perpetuate the myth that the British ( Percival) did not conceive of an attack from the north. Percival prepared a report in 1936/37 that was prophetic.
"In 1936, Major-General William Dobbie, then General Officer Commanding (Malaya), made an inquiry into whether more forces were required on mainland Malaya to prevent the Japanese from establishing forward bases to attack Singapore. Percival, then his Chief Staff Officer, was tasked to draw up a tactical assessment of how the Japanese were most likely to attack. In late 1937, his analysis duly confirmed that north Malaya might become the critical battleground. The Japanese were likely to seize the east coast landing sites on Thailand and Malaya in order to capture aerodromes and achieve air superiority."
Whilst not mentioned in you video, the other myth often bandied about was "all the big guns faced south". This is as also nonsense.
I believe there were many reasons for the collapse, but primary was the lack of a real Airforce. Of course, with England with its back to the wall in Europe, who could expect the RAF to release enough aircraft and crew to the Far East.
Percival actually predisted the Japanese landing at Khot Baru-why he didn't station a force there is a mystery.
BB's Garage Yes but did they act on the report? My understanding is that Australian officers warned over and over of the Japanese coming down from the north and that British preparedness was not sufficient at least to allay Australian officer's fears that it could be adequately dealt with if they came down from the north ( which they did - this is apart from Gordon leaving ) That's what we were taught 13 years after the event. The report you mentioned was 6 years before - and gathered dust somewhere in Whitehall? I don't know but reports unless implemented properly are not much use, are they.
Very well made
2:36 folding the corner of a page as a bookmark is a deplorable habit that destroys the book
your videos don't get enough views mate. you're doing awesome work.
My great grandfather was an Australian private who was captured in Singapore. He spent a couple of years in a POW camp, tortured and starved, he eventually was released. Never went to any ANZAC marches or talked about his experiences though.
My grandfather was one of the two pipers that piped the troops the day they blew the Johore causeway and surrendered. Forty years after being buried in a communal grave in the U.K. that no one knew about he will get a headstone and memorial service from his regt the Argylls on 17th April
5.07, that's not Singapore but manila.. Jose Rizal's monument at the background.
British Empire: Nobody can conquer Singapore since we have a strongest British fortress in the Singapore and it's unpenetrable.
Japanese Empire: *Conquers Singapore without any problems*
British Empire: Wait. That's illegal.
Good stuff.
I read the title and immediately i thought
SINGAPORE
Singaporean here and they teach this in school, it’s truly sad that the british assumed that Japan had to attack from the Sea.
Deeply moving story, God bless them all!
Why did that god let it happen in the first place?
Lesson learned never underestimate your enemy
I knew bikes were used in the war by each side, but I had no idea the Japanese used them on such a grand scale. Very interesting video, bravo!
And Later the vit- con in Asia.
this is over looked, amazing how efficient bicycles are
8:35 This is the moment I noticed that the music from Valient Hearts
04:59 Isn't that Manila, Philippines, with that Rizal Monument in the background?
There is very little footage of the fighting in singapore the fighting ended in 1 week
A British army of 100,000 soldiers surrendered to 25,000 Japanese soldiers. Because this is not their land/soil compared to England. “Great Stupidity” dictates that Japanese would not attack from North of Singapore as week past when Japanese cycled down from Northern Malaya to Johore/Singapore. Yet how to carry ammo to support artillery at this fast pace; as British army just surrendered. Just better to surrender and live than die for something of a colony; after all they-British were not dying in China but Chinese. And Chinese is Singapore died as British surrendered to Japanese. British subjects died in Singapore during this occupation is relatively insignificant compared to the slaughter of innocent civilians Chinese.
Percival didn't have to dig a railway through Burmese jungles, went to a VIP prison and even kept his batman,lived until 1966.
My grandmother was a civilian nurse who left on the last evacuation convoy before the fall.
The Japanese and Britain had an alliance treaty from 1902 until 1922 when Britain refused to renew the treaty due to American pressure, the Japanese lost 'face' and never forgave Britain for that.
the end of the alliance was the washington naval treaty, no way USA would sign it if britain and japan still have an alliance and an naval arms race was the last thing britain wants after the costly affair known as ww1.
How could the British have won with their leadership at most levels embedded in patronage not performance and thinking the tactics of WW1 were still the way to fight. Then there was Churchill and his flawed logic at strategic level war fighting. He was the main reason for this and many other disasters that occurred to Commonwealth armed forces.
There is a saying that the generals always fight the last war, not the current one. In the case of the fall of Singapore, the generals had a "World War I" mindset. The Australians were very unfortunate because they were captured almost immediately after arriving in Singapore. Personally, I do not believe Bennett was justified in leaving his troops.
One of the MO's I worked with graduated Med School in 1940....joined the British Army
First posting...."Please not North Africa....anything but North Africa"
He got Singapore....arived in November of 1941
Okay... Soo did he regret not going to North Africa?
It's not true that the British did not think the Japanese would come from northern Malaya to Singapore. The strategic plan envisaged this. Singapore was defended on the seaward side by it's excellent and sufficient coastal guns and defences. The success of this preparation is evidenced by the Japanese not even attempting a sea landing.
It was expected that any Japanese attack would come from the North. That's why, there was the unused Operation Matador. The precautionary preemptive attack on landing beaches in southern Thailand. However, Brooke Popham chickened out as it would mean attacking a supposedly neutral country, Thailand before the Japanese attack fully manifested it.
The problem was that the Japanese attack was more aggressive and well fought than expected. And the big mistake, by the British armed forces was not having any tanks, and insufficient anti tank weapons, in the army and inadequate air support.
It's a shocking story, especially when the British, Australian, Indian, Gurkha and Malayan troops outnumbered the Japanese 2 to 1 at least.
80,000 UK prisoners taken at Singapore plus many more captured during the fighting in Malaya. I had no idea of the scale of the surrender.
Actually initially the sides were numerically matched however Churchill foolishly diverted an additional division which arrived far too late as Malaya had already fallen by that point
In hindsight Singapore should have been left to its fate and this division landed in Rangoon instead where it could have been deployed keeping the China road open
An absolute disgrace by Percival.
Pure incompetence that rivals Huage at the Somme,
so many brave lives lost for no reason
Far as I can see Percival was a disgrace through his whole career. Shooting at civilians as a major in cork to incompetence at Singapore. Man didnt belong in uniform
@@stealmysunshine Perciv@l disobeyed @ direct order in the f@ce of the enemy. He should h@ve been shot.
Its a relief some folks are pointing out Percival's failures. I've noticed a disturbing number of apologist comments trying to absolve him of blame. He was to blame!
From Singapore
Fascinating
Outstanding documentary 👏 the sacrifices that were made by our armed forces is a debt that can never be repaid and must never be forgotten
5:02, that appears to be in manila at Rizal park, Philippines, though it might have a duplicate
35,000 British Indian soldier fought against Japan in Singapore and my grandpa is one of them. but high British official decided to surrender and that region all most 80,000 Commonwealth soldiers were deployed
Very interesting, my Grandfather was only on the Island for 5 days before the surrender. He returned home in 1946.
Churchill also sent a bunch of Canadians to their death in Dieppe, Knowing full well that the Germans had intercepted and figured out the plans. Churchill i believe is one of the most overrated leaders in the war. Perhaps his saving grace is that he was probably the only leader that refused the peace Germany wanted. But that would have led to a german super state that could rival the USA. But then against the Soviets would have likely had something to say about that. I tend to believe David Irving and his research on Churchill. That he was drunk during the whole war. And presiding over the bankrupting and destruction of the British Empire at the hands of the US government even though it turned out to be to their disadvantage during the cold war. The UK still hasn't really recovered to what it was since ww2 and likely won't.
6:18 is that "no adrenaline" from the game Valiant Hearts?
My grandad was a prisoner at Changi Prison
Wonder if he knows the old Changi Prison has been demolished and what is left standing is the gate.
War is ugly..nobody wins. Only death and destruction triumphs
100 thousand casualties for british vs 9 thousand casualties to Japan.
Not even a single reference of the Malay Regiment who fought to the last man in Battle of Bukit Chandu under the command of LEFTENAN ADNAN?? Seriously??
Leftenan Adnan. Such a underated Hero. Even our history books focused only so much on the anti-British. Henry and Cyril Talalla. The only Asian pilot in the RAF. They are all not thought. This may be the cause that they were fighting under the British.
They have started to reduce Adnan’s influence in the books. I have 18 year old students who do not know who he was. Such a sad state of our education system.
@@Saicofake yea as a Malaysian I have to say our own history syllabus is shameful. We pay little to no attention to ww2 at all, completely forgetting the heroes who fought against the Japanese invaders, both local and from across the commonwealth.
My uncle Thomas Lovegrove was held in Changi, one of the last reinforcements to arrive. near the end of the war the Japanese started moving prisoners to Taiwan and Japan as forced labour. Uncle Tom was on the rokyu muru headed for Taiwan when it was torpedoed by the uss sea lion. Lest we forget.
My grandad was at Changi to he built part of the railway in Burma and brought back part of the railway unfortunately he died 3 years ago
You mean the Rakuyo Maru. The US Navy knew it was merely a transport ship but they torpedoed it anyway. Only when they rescued some of the surviving Aussie and British POWs do they know it is a POW ship and tried to cover it up since they killed nearly 1159 Aussie and British soldiers.
My grandad's cousin was out there, thats all we know. He was tortured and killed; no remains were left. Lest we forget
You seem to keep using wrong footage of places in the video. Sort of destroyed the vibe.
1:58 You think people won't know what "regard" means?
i dont know why 80 thousand soldiers would surrender, it would be better fighting to the death then doing that
@sly fly Well most of the troops garrisoning it were poorly trained while the best British troops were freed up to fight in North Africa against Rommel's Afrika corps
In hindsight, it might have been better to have fought to death. However at the time, they must have thought it would be better to surrender and save more lives.
@@olliefowler7287 The British have 80 thousand troops and plenty of ammo. The Japanese only have 10 thousand troops and their ammo supplies are running out. If the British just hold out one more week, reinforcements and supplies from Dutch Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand would have arrived. The Japanese would also be forced to halt their advances. All Percival have to do is retake the nearest reservoirs from the City Centre and retake the food depot at Alexandra Barracks, at the outskirts of the city. With water and food secured, all they have to do is hunker down and defend.
Those that did escape and made their way to Australia were arrested and thrown into prison for disobeying the order to surrender.
6:14 wait i have that sign at my father workplace 🤔🤔🤔
Most of those British troops in Singapore were so poorly trained and undisciplined putting shame to the better trained lads who fought tooth and nail in North Africa and elsewhere, if you want an example of how hard the British actually fight in combat read up the Battle of Mons, Battle of Kohima and Battle of Arnhem. Both entailed British infantry holding out against overwhelming numbers for several days ( Arnhem in particular lasted 9 days). If you had sent troops like that to defend Singapore they would given the Japanese army a run for their money.
@@radiozvrk6784 LOL what no influence? Erm 5th largest economy in the world, 2nd strongest military in NATO, 1st strongest in Europe, permanent seat on the UN Security Council giving us veto power, Nuclear power, most spoken language in the modern world, has one of the largest international financial centres in the world, 3 of the best universities in the world Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial college, Many governments and legal systems are modelled of ours and still look to ours.
Everyone knows who boris is. And there's the royals. The whole world tuned into the royal wedding. Wait and see the world reaction when the Queen dies and then see for yourself the influence that will have on global events. Our sportsmen and women are amongst the best in the world. Premier league football in England is the most famous.
Tennis, golf, motorsports are all heavily influenced and in some cases dominated by the British, the UK also dominates in Boxing too. We dominate Hollywood movies and hit tv shows. Our musicians are amongst the most successful ever, Coldplay, Adele (biggest selling aritist of the century). There's tea, the keep calm and carry on fad that saw it plastered on mugs and tea towels the world over.
No influence you say? Quite the contrary kid.
Bullet-Tooth Tony although I would back you up against this salty little guy I would have to argue a few points you made such as the uk having the largest military in Europe when that is actually probably Germany who’ve recently been expanding their military at a pretty fast rate
Also I think it’s pretty crass to be saying that the lads who fought in Singapore put shame on the ones in Africa when in actual fact you weren’t there in that situation. I’d wager you wouldn’t be hard as nails if you were trying to retreat from an enemy that is advancing faster than you can outrun them. In addition to that the prospect of being immediately killed even if you surrender or are wounded is terrifying.
@@pvtmaguire959 Germany is not the largest, Britain still maintains it's status as one of the most powerful in europe only edged by France, Germany is not even in the top 6 they are behind Turkey.
Ok maybe I wouldn't be tough as nails in their shoes but their leadership still definitely left a lot to be desired though, had Bill Slim been appointed the commander of Singapore he wouldn't have been so arrogant and stupid to underestimate the Japanese, when the British were under Slim they absolutely clobbered the Japanese, at the Battle of Kohima 1,500 British troops held off a force of 15,000 Japanese soldiers for 2 weeks. 55,000 Japanese soldiers were lost in the Burma campaign, once Slims' newly formed and better organised 21,000 troops fought back against the Japanese.
That is what will happen when you sent raw recruits to the front lines
Bullet-Tooth Tony New Zealand thanks you for giving us rugby. Say what you will about the poms they definitely are a world power
very sad :(
The Battles Imphal and Kohima around April 1944 where 60,000 Japanese were killed - the highest in Japanese history up to that point. The Japanese never recovered and in further battles the British/Commonwealth forces inflicted casualties on the Japanese in the ratio of 170:1.
@solidmoni Excuses, the Japanese outnumbered the British defenders by 15,000 soldiers and still lost.
@@Bullet-Tooth-Tony-
Most people who fought in that war
were not british.
They were tragically unprepared. Guns the wrong way, untrained men. RIP to all the fallen
Unprepared or not, it was war...it's their fault.
i’m singaporean & it feels awkward being here.
Lest We Forget
Harrowing.
The last recruitment campaign is a close second.
This is the stupidity of building large fortresses instead of a mobile defense. The Billion spent on Singapore defenses would have been better spent on a powerful Airforce and mobile forces on the Malaya Peninsula.
Just cried a little
I think you should call it "Jungles of Malaya" not "Jungle of the Malay Peninsula" because the Malay Peninsula is also half in Thailand.
At last something did a thing abort the war of singapore, fall of singapore (1942 or 1943) and the retaken of singapore (1945)
Wow -- 24,000 dead? Heartbreaking!
do a video on Burma campaign
0:18 Look at this !!
Really outstanding short films! I just wish you'd stop putting the hair light in the b-camera shots!
You could say this was Britain’s Corrigidor.
did he not have reserves to counterattack the beachhead where the Japanese landed?
Great uncle Geordie Soutar RM Repulse survived the sinking and evaded the surrender of Singapore.!!
Never forgave or forgot what the surrender of Singapore ment for thousands of men,some who were survivers of POW n Repulse.
ended up dieing fighting the withdrawal back to Singapore and some being imprisoned.