SINGAPORE DEBACLE

Evening Star, Issue 25701, 26 January 1946, Page 7

SINGAPORE DEBACLE

100,000 SUBBED TO 30,000 BRITAIN'S DARK WAR DAYS MR CHURGHILL'S HISTORIC ADDRESS . NEW YORK, January 24. The 100,000 Singapore defenders surrendered to 30,000 Japanese "after six days of confused, but not very severe fighting," Mr Churchill told the House of Commons at a secret session on April 24, 1942, according to an article in * Life' magazine, which recevied the 10,000-word speech from Mr Churchill himself.. Mr ChuTchill told the House that the Singapore debacle should not be investigated because it would hamper the prosecution of the war. He added that after the long rearguard action down the Malay Peninsula,' there were about 100,000 men gathered on the island'of Singapore by the morning of February 3, 1942. By the night of. February 8 about 5,000 Japanese had made a lodgement. They were gradu- f ally reinforced until perhaps <3O,UUU had been landed. « Life ' magazine comments that the speech, delivered in the dark days after Pearl Harbour, is a brave andi stirring catalogue of calamities, and may come to rank with Mr Churchill's " blood, sweat, and tears V address as one of the greatest historic utterances of the war. . , Mr Churchill, discussing the Japanese strategy, told the House: 1 did not see that the Japanese would get any great advantage by invading Australia in force, but they had the ability to invade'and over-run a laTge part of India, and to take Calcutta and Madras." He added that it would seem their best plan would have been to push right ahead from Burma into China and try to finish up Chinese resistance. JAPANESE STRENGTH. Expressing surprise at the Japanese strength* Mr Churchill declared: " We have been, and are at present, outnumbered by their sea, land, and air forces throughout the Far Eastern theatre. The House must face the situation squarely. Not only have we failed to stem the advance of the new enemy, but we have had to weaken seriously the hopeful operations ; we were carrying on against the old enemy. " Russia's valiant, and hitherto sue-' cessful, resistance has alone rendered these highly dangerous diversions (of. men and material to the Far East); possible without disastrous consequences so far. . "We do not know what reserves the Russians have gathered," continued Mr Churchill. «' Everybody always underrated the Russians. They keep their own secret's alike from , friend and from foe. While the German armies will he bleeding copiously upon the 2,000-mile front in the, east, We shall be on their baoks in the German homeland. The" British bombing . offensive against Germany has begun." NAVAL LO6SES. Mr Churchill revealed to the House that the Axis had sunk or damaged more than one-third of Britain's capital ships in one seven-week period. Mr Churchill reviewed the circumstances of the sinking of the J?rince of Wales, Repulse, Ark Royal, and Barnaul. " A further sinister stroke came early on the morning of December 19, 1941," he added. "Half a dozen Italians in unusual diving suit's were captured floundering in the harbour of Alexandria. ' Four hours later explosions occurred on tlio bottoms of the Valiant and Queen Elizabeth, produced by limpet bombs fixed with extraordinary courage and ingenuity. The effeot was to blow large holes in the bottoms of both ships and to flood several compartments. Thus, we had no longer any battle squadron in the Mediterranean." ' Life' magazine recalls that the Kalians in July, 1942, made claim to having damaged the Valiant and the Queen Elizabth. The Admiralty did not admit the damage until May 18, 1945. .-.■'■ ■ . .

Mr Churchill, defending the Admiralty against criticism of the successful Dover Straits run by the German cruisers Soharnhorst and Gneisenau, read to fhe House an Admiralty document written 10 days before the venture, which surmised that th© cruisert would attempt such a run. Mr Churchill pointed out that only six destroyers were available to attack the cruisers, "because the rest of our flotillas were, and, are, out On the approaches from the Atlantic, convoying food and munitions from the United States, without which we cannot live." AMERICA'S ENTRY. Mr Churchill said: " I had alwayi hoped for the entry of the United States into the war, although, the ideal was to have America in while Japan remained out. When I visited the United States in December, 1941, I proposed to the President preparation for a combined British and American invasion of Europe. We expected to find the United States' attention concentrated oh the war against Japan, and prepared ourselves to argue, that ,the defeat of Japan would not spell the defeat of Hitler. We were relieved to find that, although vehemently opposed by the powerful isolationist faction, the British plan to defeat Germany first was earnestly and spontaneously shared by the Government and dominant forces in the United States. It will doubtless be--come common knowledge that the liberation of the, Continent by equal / numbers of British and American, troops is the main war plan of our ' 'two nations." Mr Churchill read a portion of * message received from President Roosevelt, who declared: " While our mutual difficulties, are many, I feel better about the war than at.any time during the. past two years." N