| An Imperial Japanese Army Air Force (IJAAF) Mitsubishi Ki-21-IIa Allied designation “Sally” Type 97 Heavy Bomber of the 3rd Hikōshidan, 7th Hikōdan, 12th Sentai (“Third Air Division, Seventh Air Group, Twelfth Squadron”) drops bombs on Singapore during the siege. Its dorsal 7.7 millimeter (.303 caliber) Type 89 machine gun is uncovered for action. The 12th Sendai, consisting of 27 Ki-21s under the command of Colonel Kitajima Kumao (March 15, 1896 – March 18, 1965), from July 2, 1941, to August 8, 1942, opened the Pacific War in Burma but was quickly transferred to Malaya. 21 aircraft were left operational by February 1942. Lieutenant General Michiō Sugawara (November 28, 1888 – December 19, 1983) commanded the 3rd Hikōshidan. Besides the 12th Sentai, the 60th Sentai had 39 Ki-21s; the 98th Sentai had 42 Ki-21s, and the 62nd Sentai had 22 Ki-21s. The 75th Sentai had Kawasaki 25 Ki-48 Army Type 99 light bombers; the 90th had 23. In the air over Malaya, the Royal Air Force (RAF) was hopelessly outmatched. Japanese bombers pounded the RAF almost into nonexistence. Surviving Brewster F2A Buffalo pilots found their mounts unable to handle full-throttle climbs, high altitudes, or Japanese fighters. Battered squadrons pulled back to Singapore Island. The Dutch sent bomber and reconnaissance squadrons up from Java to fight in Malaya; they performed gallantly, but were also overwhelmed. At Alor Star in Malaya, Japanese troops swarmed all over the captured base. Imperial Japanese Army Colonel Masanobu Tsuji (October 11, 1902 – circa August 24, 1962; declared dead on July 20, 1968) wrote a memoir of the fall of Singapore. He was an architect of atrocities across Asia and the Pacific, including the Bataan Death March. His troops found “a gift of bombs piled high, and in one of the buildings, hot soup was arranged on a dining room table. Among the surrounding rubber trees, a thousand drums full of high-grade ninety octane petrol were piled high.” Japanese aircraft landed at Alor Star the day their troops seized it, refueled and rearmed with British aviation gas and bombs, and flew off into battle. On January 1, 1942, the Japanese landed at Kuantan on the east coast. They chased the United Kingdom Royal Army 22nd Indian Brigade off the Kuantan airfield, putting the Japanese a 160 miles from Singapore. Once the airfield was taken, the Japanese moved bombers and fighters to the captured strip, which, like many other captured RAF bases, was full of intact British stores, abandoned in panic and retreat. In Singapore, Japanese air raids became a daily event. Japanese aircraft bombed and strafed Singapore around the clock. The noise and destruction took their toll on lives and nerves. The constant bombing frightened Chinese and Malayan stevedores, and British troops had to work as stevedores. At least a 150 people per day died from the bombs, and martial law was declared. The United Kingdom Royal Army was able to place anti-aircraft guns on the golf club’s property, but there was still dancing every night at the Raffles Hotel. The Singapore Straits Times wrote, “Everybody in this country seems to have been lulled into a false sense of security by confident statements regarding continuous additions to our armed might. The only people who have not been bluffed by them are the Japanese.” On January 31, United Kingdom Royal Army Engineers wired the 70-foot-wide (20 meters wide) causeway between the Malayan Peninula and Singapore, including its road, rail, and water lines from the mainland, and blew it up in a pile of smoke. A 70-foot gap opened in the causeway, and water flooded through. The siege of Singapore had begun. Incredibly, the Singapore colonial machine sputtered on. Despite bombing and chaos, Sir Shenton Thomas (October 10, 1879 – January 15, 1962) still insisted on collars and ties for dinner at Government House, and dinner menus were still printed. Thomas had a news sheet printed, whose masthead read, “Singapore Must Stand; Singapore Shall Stand.” Its headline vaguely said, “Japanese Suffer Huge Casualties in Singapore.” Imperial Japanese 14th Army’s Lieutenant General Tomoyuki Yamashita (November 8, 1885 – February 23, 1946) ordered his guns to blaze away, his aircraft to bomb the city around the clock, and the weary tankers and infantry to resume the attacks. The Japanese air forces bombed Singapore at will, but ignored Yamashita’s requests for specific air strikes on key targets or for close air support. While bombers and artillery blasted Singapore, Japanese infantry trained hard on embarkation and landing drills. The Japanese landed in Singapore on February 8. All shipping had been ordered to flee to Java on February 13, escaping under the rain of bombs from 3rd Hikōshidan’s aircraft. Many ships and boats were sunk, with heavy loss of life. Some craft were forced to beach on remote islands, where some of the survivors starved or died of exposure before the rest were rescued. Japanese shells and bombs rained down, killing at least 500 civilians on February 14, the day the Japanese surrounded Singapore. With no water, nobody could bathe, and firefighters found the situation hopeless. 1 unit put out blazes with chunks of ice from an ice factory. Even the rivers burned, as fires broke out in the jammed wooden sampans, setting off their oil tanks. When the fires burned themselves out, looters stormed into the ruins to grab anything they could find. United Kingdom Royal Army Lieutenant General Arthur E. Percival (December 26, 1887 – January 31, 1966) ordered the garrison to surrender on February 15, 1942. As he and Yamashita discussed surrender terms, the bombing and shelling continued. Yamashita used this to force an unconditional surrender. Secretly, Yamashita feared house-to-house fighting because his force was severely outnumbered. Japanese aircraft were not the decisive factor in the fall of Singapore. Still, Yamashita’s 14th Army could not have made its swift progress down the Malayan peninsula and through Singapore without the 3rd Hikōshidan. | |
| Image Filename | wwii1492.jpg |
| Image Size | 1.17 MB |
| Image Dimensions | 4140 x 2880 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | Imperial Japanese Army |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | February 1, 1942 |
| Location | |
| City | |
| State or Province | Straits Settlements |
| Country | Singapore |
| Archive | |
| Record Number | |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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