 Lt. Gen. Yamashita (seated, centre) thumps the table with his fist to emphasise his terms – unconditional surrender. Lt Gen. Percival sits between his officers, his clenched hand to his mouth.

Singapore surrenders

Japanese soldiers parading through the streets of Singapore.
The fall of Singapore to the Japanese Army on February 15th, 1942 is considered one of the greatest defeats in the history of the British Army and probably Britain’s worst defeat in World War Two. The fall of Singapore in 1942 clearly illustrated the way Japan was to fight in the Far East – a combination of speed and savagery 

Singapore 1942

Japanese soldiers with fixed bayonettes showing off British prisoners of war captured at the fall of Singapore 