Bitka za Singapur

Bitka za Singapur
Segment Pacifičkog rata
General-pukovnik Arthur Percival (desno) u pratnji Kazushija Sugite odlazi na pregovore o kapitulaciji savezničkih snaga u Singapuru, 15. veljače 1942. godine
Datum 8. – 15. veljače 1942. Lokacija Singapur, Tjesnačka naselja Ishod Odlučujuća japanska pobjeda Teritorijalne promjene Početak japanske okupacije Singapura
Sukobljene strane
Britanski Imperij Ujedinjeno Kraljevstvo Britanski Radž Federirane Malajske Države Nefederirane malajske države Johor Kedah Kelantan Perlis Terengganu Tjesnačka naselja Australija	Japansko Carstvo
Komandanti i vođe
Archibald Wavell Arthur Percival Gordon Bennett Lewis Heath Merton Beckwith-Smith Frank Keith Simmons	Tomoyuki Yamashita Takuma Nishimura Takuro Matsui Renya Mutaguchi
Snage
85,000 trupa 300 komada artiljerije 1,800+ vozila 200 AFV-ova 208 komada protutenkovske artiljerije 54 komada artiljerije u utvrdi	36,000 trupa 440 komada artiljerije 3,000 vozila
Žrtve i gubici
oko 5,000 mrtvih oko 80,000 ranjenih i zarobljenih	1,714 mrtvih 3,378 ranjenih

Bitka za Singapur, u anglofonoj literaturi i Pad Singapura (engleski: Fall of Singapore), bila je važna bitka u sklopu Pacifičkog rata tijekom Drugog svjetskog rata. U borbama koje su trajale od 8. do 15. veljače 1942. godine, Japansko Carstvo porazilo je Britance i preuzelo kontrolu nad Singapurom, koji je bio britanska utvrda na Dalekom istoku. Singapur je, zapravo, bio najvažnije britansko vojno i ekonomosko središte na Dalekom istoku te je bio izrazito važna lokacija u britanskim obrambenim planovima iz međuratnog perioda. Pad Singapura rezultirao je najvećom britanskom kapitulacijom u historiji.

Bitka

Prije same bitke, japanski general Tomoyuki Yamashita s otprilike 30,000 ljudi napredovao je duž Malajskog poluotoka u sklopu Malajske kampanje. Britanci su pogrešno vjerovali kako je malajska džungla neprobojna, što je Japancima omogućilo brz prodor i dalo im priliku da iznenade savezničke snage. Britanski general-pukovnik Arthur Percival zapovijedao je s oko 85,000 trupa u Singapuru, međutim većina njih nije imala stvarnog borbenog iskustva. Iako su Britanci imali brojčanu nadmoć, većina vode kojom se opskrbljivao Singapur dolazila je s kopna. Britanci su uništili prolaz, prisilivši tako Japance na improvizirani prelazak preko Džohorskog tjesnaca. Singapur je bio toliko strateški važan da je premijer Winston Churchill naredio Percivalu da ga brani do posljednjeg čovjeka.

Međutim, Japanci su vješto iskoristili slabosti britanske obrane, napavši najslabije točke na Singapuru te su 8. veljače 1942. godine uspostavili mostobran. Kako je Percival očekivao prodor sa sjevera, dio koji su napali Japanci nije bio dobro branjen. Saveznici su se suočili s nizom problema u komunikaciji i zapovjedništvu tako da je dio oko japanskog mostobrana bio prilično izložen, bez učinkovite obrane. Japanci su nastavili svoj prodor, a Saveznici su ubrzo ostali bez zaliha. Do 15. veljače, Saveznici su oko milijun civila nagurali na usko područje – oko 1% ukupne površine otoka – koje je još uvijek bilo pod njihovom kontrolom. Istovremeno, japanski su avioni konstantno gađali izvore pitke vode te se očekivali da će vode ponestati u roku od nekoliko dana. No, i Japanci su bili pri kraju s vlastitim zalihama te je Yamashita pod svaku cijenu htio izbjeći borbe u samom naselju.

Po drugi put od početka borbe, Yamashita je zahtijevao bezuvjetnu predaju Britanaca; Percival je u konačnici popustio te se u poslijepodnevnim satima 15. veljače 1942. godine predao. Oko 80,000 britanskih trupa (Britanci, Indijci, Australci i lokalni borci) palo je u ratno zarobljeništvo te su se pridružili 50,000 ratnih zarobljenika koje su Japanci držali još od Malajske kampanje; velik broj njih umrijet će od zanemarivanja, zlostavljanja ili prisilnog rada. Churchill je pad Singapura nazvao najvećom katastrogom u britanskoj vojnoj historiji.

Posljedice

Japanci su držali Singapur do samog kraja rata. Tri dana nakon kapitulacije, Japanci su započeli proces znan kao Sook Ching, masovna ubojstva u kojima su tisuće civila izgubili živote. Oko 40,000 ratnih zarobljenika, uglavnom prisilno, pridružilo se Indijskoj narodnoj armiji koja se borila s Japancima u Burmanskoj kampanji. Ovi su događaji, zajedno s ranijim potapanjem brodova Prince of Wales i Repulse te nizom vojnih poraza u tom periodu, značajno umanjili britanski ugled u svijetu te su doprinijeli slabljenju britanske kolonijalne moći u jugoistočnoj Aziji nakon rata.

Literatura

Knjige

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• Šablon:Joslen-OOB
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• Legg, Frank (1965). The Gordon Bennett Story: From Gallipoli to Singapore. Sydney, New South Wales: Angus & Robertson. OCLC 3193299. 
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• Toland, John (1970). The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire 1936–1945. New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0-394-44311-9. 
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• Toye, Hugh; Mason, Philip (2006). Subhash Chandra Bose, (The Springing Tiger): A Study of a Revolution (Thirteenth Jaico impression izd.). Mumbai. ISBN 81-7224-401-0. OCLC 320977356. 
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Časopisi

• Drea, Edward (April 1991). „Reading Each Other's Mail: Japanese Communication Intelligence, 1920–1941”. The Journal of Military History 55 (2): 185–206. DOI:10.2307/1985894. ISSN 1543-7795. JSTOR 1985894. 
• Morgan, Joseph (2013). „A Burning Legacy: The Broken 8th Division”. Sabretache (Military Historical Society of Australia) LIV (3, September): 4–14. ISSN 0048-8933. 

Novinski tekstovi

• Murdoch, Lindsay (15 February 2012). „The Day The Empire Died in Shame”. The Sydney Morning Herald. ISSN 0312-6315. Arhivirano iz originala na datum 23 March 2015. Pristupljeno 23 March 2015. 

Vanjske veze

Bitka za Singapur na Wikimedijinoj ostavi

• Bicycle Blitzkrieg – The Japanese Conquest of Malaya and Singapore 1941–1942
• Royal Engineers Museum Royal Engineers and the Second World War – the Far East
• The diary of one British POW, Frederick George Pye of the Royal Engineers