Showing posts with label Singapore. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Singapore. Show all posts

Tuesday 1 November 2022

Just One More Loop : Can You Run 342km In 51 Hours?

 


Joshua Toh after completing 342km.
Photo : Singapore Army via FB


Just One More Loop. That's the slogan of Backyard Ultra, where competitors run loops of 6.706km on the hour with the winner being the last person who can still finish that extra lap after everyone else has given up or failed. 

In the Backyard Ultra World Team Championship event held concurrently in 37 countries on 15th Oct 2022, special forces officer Lieutenant Colonel Joshua Toh emerged the winner in the Singapore chapter of the race, after completing 51 laps in as many hours, for a mind boggling total distance of 342km. In the process he had also rewritten the national record which stood at 34 laps and his own previous personal record which was 23 laps.

Read on to find out why his feat was so remarkable.



Backyard Ultra World Team Championships Logo. Image : Backyard Ultra



Backyard Ultra


Ultra as in ultramarathon, defined as any running distance more than the standard marathon distance of 42.195km. The rules of Backyard Ultra are simple. Runners have to complete a 6.706km ( 4.167 mile ) loop within one hour and begin on the next lap at the start of the next hour. The runner who can outlast all other competitors with an extra lap will be declared the winner and all the other runners would be considered DNF ( Did Not Finish ). So essentially, this is a race without a definite finish line. How far the winner has to run depends on how far the next best runner can run. 

And why does each loop or yard measure exactly 6.706 km? It is because the original idea of the Backyard Ultra was to have runners complete 100 miles in 24 hours. That will be 4.167 miles or 6705.6 m every hour. Rounding up, we get the distance of 6.706 km per yard. It takes 7 yards to reach ultramarathon territory.

The Backyard Ultra World Team Championships did not take place in 2021 due to the Covid Pandemic but it is back in full swing this year. In all, 37 countries participated including Ukraine, Belgium, Finland, Japan, Singapore and even Malaysia. Notably absent were Russia and China, terrorists, cheats, liers and bullies which nobody would miss anyway.

The races were held in each individual country and had began concurrently on 15th Oct 2022. Each country would field a team comprising 15 of their best endurance runners and the team which accumulated the most yards would be the winner.


Joshua's Remarkable Feat


To achieve Joshua Toh's 342km in 51 hours is a Herculean task with many obstacles standing in the way. The runners would obviously have to be physically very fit in the first place.They have to constantly maintain proper nutrition and hydration while on the move. They would have to manage sleep deprivation as the race would likely last for at least 2 if not 3 days or longer. Then there would be climate and weather issues to contend with, especially in tropical Singapore where daytime temperatures can reach 90F or higher and relative humidity can be as high as 90% or above. Besides these, having the mental strength to self-motivate and run repeated loops of monotonous track is also a necessity.

Firstly, running speed. If you are required to complete a 6.706 km loop in an hour, you must achieve at least 7kmh or faster so that you can have some time for a short break before the start of the next loop. That may not sound like a big deal but I can tell you it is not easy because I have timed myself running 6.7km. It took me about 49 minutes, meaning I would have about 11 minutes to eat, drink, have a toilet break or just rest, until the next round begins. Repeat that 50 more times and you get the idea. In case you are wondering, I had just completed a 100km ultramarathon in Dorset ( D+2200m ) and a 75km ultra-trail in Salzburg ( D+4000m ) this summer.

Next, runners have to be constantly eating to fuel the run, about 300 calories worth of food every hour, in divided doses. Without the regular supply of food, the body would deplete its glycogen reserves within 2 or 3 hours and running speed will be greatly reduced ( hitting the wall ). Joshua would be eating during the short interval between the loops and perhaps also during the run itself. Some runners view an ultramarathon event as a grand eating contest and that has a lot of truth in it. He who eats the most ( and could digest it all ) wins! Fortunately, since the race tract is in the form of a loop, the logistics to supply the runners with food should be quite straight forward.


Joshua Toh and Deric Lau drenched in perspiration
at start of the 41st yard. Photo : Naresh kumar via FB

Maintaining adequate hydration is another crucial aspect of ultra-running. Dehydration of just 2% ( losing water equivalent to 2% of body weight ) can already cause a significant degradation of physical performance. In the hot and humid climate of Singapore, many runners are just drenched in sweat and all that water and mineral loss has to be replaced precisely. Again, a relatively short looped tract meant supplying iso-tonic drinks and water was less of a logistic problem and runners would not have to carry a hydration pack on their backs. 


30 year Climate Mean. Data : Meteorological Service Singapore

The climate was perhaps the most difficult to manage problem for the Singapore chapter of the Backyard Ultra Team Championships. Where as teams from temperate countries like the USA and Japan are currently enjoying the cool autumn temperatures with low humidity, tropical countries like Singapore and Malaysia are hot and humid year round. The daytime outdoor temperatures can be 90F or higher and coupled with the high relative humidity of 65% to 90% can cause heat cramps, heat stress or even heat stroke which can be potentially fatal. Apart from these, runners will also have to shield their eyes from the ultraviolet rays and protect themselves from sunburn. 


Cooling down with sponging. Photo : Singapore Army via FB

Then there is sleep deprivation to deal with. To run for 51 hours meant going without sleep for more than 2 days. That is really difficult even with the help of the strongest coffee or caffeine infused sports gel. I was struggling to keep myself awake after running for 20 hours at a 100 mile race which I DNF 2 years ago. This year the same thing happened in Dorset and I found myself periodically drifting towards the bush after running for about 18 hours and 90km. I was running / walking like a zombie! With fatigue setting in and the darkness surrounding everything except the tunnel of light from the headlamp, the pre-dawn hours were the hardest to stay awake!

In addition, Backyard Ultra is one where neither the duration nor distance is pre-determined and it is this type of race that requires the participant to have the strongest mental resilience to achieve success. How would you motivate youself to keep running, kilometre after kilometre, under the hot sun, in the driving rain, in the darkness of the night, with seemingly no end in sight. How would you force yourself to continue moving in the same boring endless loop repeatedly, for the nth time? This backyard ultra format is possibly the most punishing form of ultra-marathon, and possibly one with the highest percentage of DNFs. *


support crew at work : fan, wet towels, massage, fluids. 
Photo : Singapre Army FB

And finally, there is the stupendous amount of ground to cover in 2 or maybe 3 days, depending on how long your strongest opponent cum team mate could last. Imagine pounding the trail or road for more than 300km within less than 3 days, your muscles, bones, joints, tendons and ligaments would have to withstand the repeated impact of your feet striking the ground and that is not for the faint hearted. At a cadence of 180 steps per minute, assuming the average runner completes each yard in 45mins, Joshua Toh would have 180x45x51 or 413100 ground strikes running for 51 yards. Fortunately he seemed to have a large support crew who could tend to his sore calves in between running the loops. 342km is  equivalent to the distance between Tokyo and Nagoya or exactly twice the distance of Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc ( UTMB ) without the altitude gains.


World Team Championships 2022 rankings


Team SG


Achieving The Seemingly Impossible


At 45 years old LTC Joshua Toh is not exactly young, but endurance athletes tend to peak in their performance in the thirties or even forties, with experience being just as important as physical strength. He is a Singapore Armed Forces ( SAF ) officer with HQ Special Operations Task Force and he attributed a large part of his success to his military training and had this to say. " I strongly believe that training such as the SAF Ranger Course and Special Forces training have strengthened my resolve, mental resilience, and contributed towards my success in the race. This race is a combination of both physical fitness and mental resilience, the latter being much more crucial in this race as compared to a regular race". While one does not have to be a SEAL or equivalent to win the Backyard Ultra, it goes without saying that after surviving Hell Week, anything else can be possible! 

Helping him achieve the impossible was his training partner, team mate and competitor, fellow SAF reserve officer Major Deric Lau. Deric is 46 years old and completed 50 yards, pushing Joshua to keep on running that one extra loop. It can be said that without the assistance of Deric, Joshua probably would not have done 51 yards. Both deserve our greatest respect.


A jubilant Joshua Toh with fellow team mates and support crew
Photo : Singapore Army via FB

His team of support crew would have been crucial too, to give him the best chances of success in this race with no definite finish line. 

As the winner of the Singapore Backyard Ultra 2022, Joshua gets the chance to compete with elite runners from all over the world next year in the World Championships held in the USA. We wish him success.



Backyard Ultra's Official Teaser for World Team Championship 2022. You can also watch it here


* Footnote : This year 2 Belgians, Merijn Geerts and Ivo Steyaert, broke the magical ceiling of 100 yards and created a new world record of 101 yards ( yes, that's 4 days and 5 hours ) and ran an astounding 677km each. After that, they hugged and both refused to continue on the next yard though they could have. Since neither ran an extra lap more than the other, no winner was declared and both runners technically DNF! This created a very unfamiliar situation, where there were not one but two champions in a record breaking tie and both, together with every other runner in Team Belgium, DNF. And both will be invited to the 2023 World Championship. Go figure!

Friday 10 December 2021

Raging Eagles Over South China Sea : The Sinking of The HMS Prince Of Wales And HMS Repulse




HMS Prince of Wales and Mitsubishi G4M1 of
the Kanoya Air Group in the Sea Battle off Malaya.
Image : Tamiya 

 


80 years ago on 10th Dec 1941, a ferocious naval battle took place in the South China Sea off the coast of Kuantan, Malaysia. It was an encounter between the warships of the Royal Navy's Eastern Fleet and the Imperial Japanese Navy's land based attack bombers. The British fleet, comprising of the battleship HMS Prince of Wales, the battlecruiser HMS Repulse and four destroyers had sortied from their main base in Singapore two days earlier without the benefit of air cover or submarine screen. Against them were veteran aviators of the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service, battle-hardened by bombing campaigns in China. The outcome was an astounding victory for the Japanese with the sinking of the two British capital ships and the loss of hundreds of their crew. 

Known to the Japanese as the Naval Battle off Malaya ( マレー沖海戦 Mare-oki kaisen ), it was the first time in history that air power alone had defeated competent naval units maneuvering in the open ocean. It heralded the rise of aviation as the arbiter of naval engagements and the eventual demise of the battleship. 

It is a seldom known fact that so jubilant were the Japanese with their achievements, a wartime song was immediately commissioned and composed on the fly at their national broadcaster NHK's headquarters in Tokyo that very same day, to be released with the evening news. The song would be titled " Annihilation of the British Eastern Fleet ".

For the British, the loss of The HMS Prince of Wales and the HMS Repulse was an omnious sign of many more bad things to come. It laid the door open for the Imperial Japanese Army's invasion of the Malay Peninsula that would eventaully lead to the fall of Singapore, once thought to be an impregnable fortress.

This article is the second in a series commemorating the 80th anniversary of the Fall of Singapore. The first in the series here.


The Eastern Fleet


The British Eastern Fleet was a naval formation that grew out of a flawed empire defence policy dating back to 1919. Financially drained by the First World War and unable to maintain a military force large enough to protect all their empire assets and interests in the Far East against a potential adversary such as Japan, the British formulated a series of war plans which called for the construction of a main fleet base in Singapore which would be used to supply and support a relief force that would be assembled and sent from Europe to the Far East during periods of heightened tensions or hostilities. 

This arrangement allowed most of the ever-shrinking Royal Navy's fleet assets to be kept in home waters to protect the British Isles while only a token few vessels would be deployed east of the Suez Canal. It would be known as the Singapore Strategy.

Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, Singapore was transformed into a major military bastion with the construction of the Sembawang Naval Base and its supporting infrastructure. When completed in 1938, it had what was then the largest dry dock and the third largest floating dock in the world. It was protected by two newly completed airfields, RAF Tengah and RAF Sembawang and by 15 inch naval guns in two coastal artillery batteries and numerous fixed gun installations of smaller calibre. 

When war with Japan seemed imminent in October 1941, the Admiralty dispatched one of its newest battleship the HMS Prince of Wales with its escorting destroyers to Singapore. The task group was joined by the WWI era fast battlecruiser HMS Repulse in Celon and arrived at the Sembawang wharves on 2nd December. Shortly after, the Eastern Fleet were to be formally constituted on 8th December with the merger of the East Indies Squadron and the China Squadron when the Japanese invaded Malaya and the Pacific War broke out. Admiral Sir Tom Philips, until then Commander-in-Chief China Station, was appointed C-in-C Eastern Fleet.


Major command areas of the Royal Navy 1939 - 1945.
The Eastern Fleet was formed from the amalgamation 
of the East Indies and China Stations.
Image : navalhistoryarchieve.org


War Comes To Malaya And Singapore


The Japanese invasion of British Malaya had began just after mid-night on 8th Dec 1941 without a formal declaration of war. General Tomoyuki Yamashita's 25th Army made amphibious landings at Kota Bharu in the north-east of the Malay Peninsula and at Singora and Pattani in southern Thailand. The invasion convoy had already been sighted by Lockheed Hudson bombers of No. 1 Squadron RAAF off Cape Ca Mau, French Indochina, on 6th December. However given the uncertainty of their destination and intentions, Commander-in-Chief Far East Command Air Chief Marshal Robert Brooke-Popham did not authorise any offensive operations against the convoy until attacks were made against friendly territories. Unfortunately, the convoy could not be located on the following day due to bad weather, but the turn of events prompted C-in-C Eastern Fleet Adm Philips to recall the HMS Repulse which was then enroute to Port Darwin, Australia, back to Singapore. 

Shortly after at 0400 hours on 8th December, IJN bombers based in French Indochina also conducted the first of many bombing raids on Singapore City causing destruction and casualties.



HMS prince of Wales departing Singapore 8th Dec 1941. Wikipedia.



HMS Repulse departing Singapore 8th Dec 1941. Wikipedia



Departure of Force Z


Hoping to intercept and destroy the Japanese invasion fleet at Kota Bharu and Singora, Admiral Philips ordered the HMS Prince of Wales, the HMS Repulse and the destroyers HMS Electra (H-27), HMS Express (H-61), HMS Tenedos (H-04) and HMAS Vampire (D-68) to sortie north. He believed that as long as adequate fighter support could be provided and if he could achieve surprise, there would be a reasonable chance of destroying Japanese reinforcements and severing their line of supply, bringing reprieve to the hard pressed Commonwealth ground forces. As such, air reconnaissance forward of his intended course and fighter cover over the area of his intended strike was requested. The task force was designated Force Z and departed Singapore at 1735 hours on 8th December, keeping to a north-east course into the South China Sea, thus avoiding the heavily mined coastal waters of the Malay Peninsula. 

By 0900 hours on 9th December, the fleet passed to the east of the Anambas Islands and thereafter followed a northerly course. Onboard his flagship the HMS Prince of Wales, Adm Philips would learn from his Chief of Staff Adm Palliser whom he had left in Singapore as his representative and to co-ordinate naval requirements with the other services, that the fighter cover he had requested off Singora on 10th December could not be provided. The RAF had already withdrawn from its Kota Bharu Airfield and most of its Northern Malaya airfileds had sustained damage from Japanese bombing raids. The Brewster Buffalo F2A fighters of No 453 Squadron RAAF on standby at RAF Sembawang were still available though as the dedicated fleet defense squadron. He was also warned of strong Japanese bomber forces that were believed to be stationed in southern Indochina.  


Naval Battle off Malaya important land marks and sites.


Detection 


Unkown to Adm Philips, the IJN already had several submarines forming a picket line stretching from the eastern end of the Singapore Straits all the way north to the South China Sea off the coast of Trengganu to detect and provide early warning on British fleet movements. At 1345 hours the Japanese submarine I-65 reported the discovery of 2 Repulse-type warships following a course of 340 at 14 knots at a location bearing 196 degrees and 225 nautical miles from Pulo Condore ( modern day Con Son Island, Vietnam ). 

I-65 was a Kaidai5-class cruiser submarine assigned to the 5th Submarine Squadron, 30th Submarine Division and was helmed by Commander Harada Hakue ( 原田毫衛 ). For a few hours it shadowed the British fleet on the surface making 18 to 20 knots, taking advantage of the poor weather to avoid being detected itself. It had a temporary lost of contact with the British fleet at 1550 hours but managed to reacquire its quarry at 1652 hours. Subsequently, the submarine was forced to dive because of an unexpected buzzing by a Kawanishi E7K Alf seaplane from the cruiser Kinu. The pilot had mistaken the I-65 for an enemy submarine. When submarine resurfaced, the enemy fleet had disappeared. 

By then, the poor weather and squalls that had help conceal the British fleet from the Japanese search planes had cleared. At around 1700 hours three seaplanes had detected the task force and continued to track it until nightfall. For the first time since departing Singapore, Adm Philips realised his fleet had been discovered by the enemy.


Mission Aborted


At 1835 hours, the destroyer HMS Tenedos was low on fuel and was sent back to Singapore. Force Z then maintained a westerly course until an hour after sunset in an attempt to mislead the seaplanes into believing they were bound for Singora. They would later change course under the cover of darkness and head for Singapore.

Submarine I-65's report was received by the cruisers Kinu, Yura and the 81st Naval Communications Unit in Saigon. The reception was poor and it had taken another 90 minutes for the message to be decoded and relayed. The discovery of the British fleet lead Vice Admiral Ozawa Jisaburo ( 小沢冶三郎 ), commander of the Southern Expeditionary Fleet, to order the immediate withdrawal of his now empty transports from the east coast of the Malay Peninsula back to their base at Cam Ranh Bay in French Indochina. He also ordered all his surface combatants including the heavy cruisers Chokai, Mogami, Kumano, Mikuma, Suzuya and elements of the 3rd Destroyer Squadron to sortie 200 nautical miles south to intercept the enemy fleet and prepare for a night encounter. 


Failed Strike


Over at Saigon Airbase, HQ 22nd Air Flotilla only received news of the discovery of the British fleet more than 2 hours after the message was sent, at 1600 hours 9th December. An earlier report from its own reconnaissance plane sent at 0930 hours had erroneously indicated that the capital ships were still in Singapore and bombers of the Kanoya, Genzan and Mihoro Air Groups were being loaded with bombs in preparetion for a raid on Singapore Harbour that very night. 

As a result, the Singapore bombing mission was immediately cancelled and the bombers were instead directed to intercept and attack the British fleet. Some were loaded with bombs while the others had their bomb loads swapped out with torpedoes. It was about half an hour before sunset when the bombers took off. Based on the last known location, course and speed, the pilots had hoped to locate the British ships just after dark but the inclement weather off Cape Ca Mau prevented them from finding the fleet. The bombers eventually jettisoned their bombs in the sea and returned to their bases around midnight after hours of fruitless search. 


Close Encounter


By 1920 hours, unknown to their respective commanders, the British and the Japanese surface fleets were converging from east to west and were separated by probably 20 nautical miles or less. A reconnaissance flight of 3 medium bombers of the Mihoro Air Group spotted a wake and activated a flare at 2000 hours but it turned out to be Adm Ozawa's flagship the IJNS Chokai. This flare was spotted by the British fleet from an estimated distance of 5 nautical miles but the radar on the HMS Prince of Wales mysteriously failed to detect the Japanese cruiser. The two fleets had sailed past each other in the darkness and the poor weather without being aware of the presence of the other. Moonrise would only be due at 2228 hours that night. 

At around 2330 hours, an urgent message from Adm Palliser reported of Japanese landings at Kuantan, located on the east coast of Malaya midway between Kota Bharu and Singapore, not too far away from the fleet's location. Adm Philip decided to investigate and altered course accordingly without signalling Singapore about his intentions. The probable reasons of maintaining radio silence was likely to preserve the element of surprise and also not to give away the fleet's position to the enemy.


Submarine Attack


At 2352 hours IJN submarine I-58 reported having to dive during a close encounter with two destroyers. It later detected the two enemy capital ships and at 0015 hours 10th December fired a spread of five torpedoes at the HMS Repulse without scoring a single hit. The submarine reported its position at 140 nautical miles from Kuantan bearing 57 degrees. The British fleet was blissfully unaware of this contact and torpedo attack and continued to speed towards its objective. I-58 was a Kaidai3A-class cruiser submarine captained by Lt Commander Kitano Soshichi ( 北野惣七 ) and was assigned to the 19th Submarine Division, 4th Submarine Squadron. It had operated out of Samah on Hainan Island. After the unsuccessful torpedo attack, I-58 continued to trail the British fleet until contact was lost before dawn at 0445 hours. 

By then, based on the course and speed information from the I-58 sighting, the Japanese had determined that the enemy fleet was keeping to a true bearing of 180 degrees and was in retreat. Due to concerns of fuel shortage, Vice Admiral Kondo Nobutake ( 近藤信竹 ), commander of IJN's 2nd Fleet, decided to turn around his surface fleet and terminate the interdiction mission. Vice Admiral Ozawa similarly withdrew his submarine force from the pursue leaving the fate of the British fleet to the hands of Rear Admiral Matsunaga Sadaichi ( 松永貞市 ) with his medium bombers of the 22nd Air Flotilla.


Mitsubishi G4M Model 11 Type 1 Attack Bomber (Betty) of the Kanoya
 Air Group during the Sea Battle off Malaya. Image : Hasegawa Model Co.


Nell And Betty


Submarine I-58's report was received by HQ 22nd Air Flotilla at 0315 hours and by 0625 hours Genzan Air Group's ( 元山海軍航空隊 ) 4th Squadron comprising of 9 Mitsubishi G3M "Nell" twin-engine medium bombers lead by Lieutenant Makino left Saigon Airfield on a search mission for the enemy fleet. Another 26 G3M bombers of the Genzan Air Group would leave at 0755 hours, 17 were carrying torpedoes while the remaining 9 were loaded with bombs. 

Next to depart at 0814 hours would be 26 Mitsubishi G4M "Betty" medium bombers of the Kanoya Air Group ( 鹿屋海軍航空隊 ), all armed with torpedoes. They launched from Thu Dau Mot Airfield located 20km north of Saigon. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd Squadrons had taken off in sequence and flew in formation at an altitude of 3000m on a course of 187 Degrees. 

Finally at 0820 hours, the Mihoro Air Group ( 美幌海軍航空隊 ) would launch 33 Mitsubishi G3M bombers in four squadrons from Saigon Airfield, 8 with torpedoes and 25 with bombs. The last aircraft took off at 0930 hours. Only 1 G3M of the Genzan Group aborted due to engine trouble.


Mitsubishi G3M2 Model 22 Type 96 Attack Bomber ( Nell ) of the Genzan
Air Group during the Sea Battle off Malaya. Image : Hasegawa Model Co.


Detour To Kuantan


Meanwhile on the other side of the South China Sea at sunrise which was 0627 hours, the British fleet discovered 4 radar contacts but they turned out to be cargo vessels. A Supermarine Walrus amphibious plane took-off from the HMS Prince of Wales at 0645 hours to investigate the purported Kuantan landings but reported nothing amiss. With the fleet soon to be approaching the coast at 0730 hours, the destroyer HMS Express was sent to investigate the landing site and it too detected no enemy activities. The report about the landing was clearly false and Force Z resumed its home bound journey at 0900 hours, totally ignorant that a large fleet of enemy long range bombers was already actively searching for it. The task force had then intended to go around the eastern side of the Anambas Islands to avoid minefields. 



Naval Battle Off Malaya Set at 1/700 scale. Image : Tamiya Model Co.



The Naval Battle Off Malaya


Not anticipating the fleet's westward detour to Kuantan, the Japanese bombers were searching too far south of Force Z's actual location and had began to turn back having found nothing initially when the Number 4 search aircraft discovered the detached destroyer HMS Tenedos some 130 nautical miles east-southeast of the main force. At approximately 1000 hours, it reported the co-ordinates of the destroyer and dropped two 60kg bombs but achieved no hits. Shortly after at 1014 hours, lead by Lieutenant Nikaido Rokuo ( 二階堂麓夫 ), 9 Mitsubishi G3M belonging to the Genzan Air Group's 3rd Squadron arrived on scene, each armed with a single 500kg bomb. They had mistaken the HMS Tenedos for the HMS Repulse and wasted all their ordnance on the destroyer without getting a single hit. Tenedos reported about being attacked and had emerged relatively unscathed, suffering only one casualty. It continued towards Singapore after the air raid. 


Map of the Sea Battle off Malaya.
Image : history.navy.mil


At 1015 hours, flying in a sector north of most other Japanese aircraft, Ensign Hoashi Masato ( 帆足正音 ) in the Number 3 search aircraft finally spotted Force Z from an altitude of 3000m and reported the exact location as 4 Deg North, 103 Deg 55 Min East. It was welcoming news for the bomber pilots as by that time many were already critically low on fuel. Lieutenant Iki Haruki ( 壹岐春記 ), commander of Kanoya Air Group's 3rd Squadron recalled that moment when he was approaching the limit of the 700 mile combat radius of the Mitsubishi G4M. He was so far south that he could see the island of Singapore below to his far right and thought to himself that the situation was not good. Just then, the co-ordinates of the enemy fleet was received but there was some initial confusion as he tried to plot the location on his aeronautical charts - it turned out to be somewhere on land over the Malay Peninsula! He would later learn that Kanoya Air Group commander Captain Fujiyoshi Naoshiro ( 藤吉直四郎 ) was desparate enough to radio their headquarters to request that they be informed of the enemy's position in plain text.     


Level bombing of the HMS Prince of Wales ( top ) and HMS
Repulse.  Ministry of Navy permit number 783. Wikipedia


Once the deciphered information on the British fleet's location was disseminated by HQ, all bomber squadrons began converging and executed their attacks piece meal without waiting for the rest as they were already low on fuel. First to arrive at 1115 hours were 8 Mitsubishi G3M of the Mihoro Air Group's Shirai Squadron ( 白井中隊 ). They were each armed with two 250kg bombs and carried out level bombing on the HMS Repulse. A total of 14 bombs were dropped, as one aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire shortly after making the first bombing run and was unable to drop the second bomb, while another bomber could not release its second bomb due to a mechanical issue. While there were many near misses, the HMS Repulse was struck by one bomb during the first bombing run close to its starboard rear catapult. It penetrated the hangar and the upper deck and exploded in the marine mess area, causing a few casualties among the damage control team but otherwise relatively minor damage.


Genzan Air Group's torpedo-armed Mitsubishi G3M bomber.
Image : Hasegawa Model Co.


Just as the Mihoro bombers were retreating, two squadrons of Mitsubishi G3M bombers belonging to the Genzan Air Group joined the battle. Lead by Lieutenant Ishihara Isao ( 石原薫 ) and Lieutenant Takai Sadao ( 高井貞夫 ), a total of 16 aircrafts, all armed with torpedoes, attacked the two capital ships. 8 torpedoes were launched against the HMS Repulse but it managed to elude all of them with skillful maneuvering. Interestingly, it was said that Takai was initially unsure if the HMS Repulse was a Kongo-class battleship because of the similarity in profile, but his doubts disappeared the moment he saw the British flag and he launched the torpedo attack.

The HMS Prince of Wales on the other hand was not so lucky. Of the 5 torpedoes launched against it, 1 hit the port stern area where the outer propeller shaft emerged from the hull, instantly twisting the shaft and rupturing the seal that prevented seawater from entering the shaft tunnel. It caused flooding of the B engine room and several other compartments aft. The effect of the loss of propulsion and flooding caused the HMS Prince of Wales to list 11.5 degrees to port and its speed to decreased to 16 knots. The listing had meant the starboard 5.25 inch anti-aircraft guns could not be depressed low enough to counter low-flying attackers. The torpedo hit had also taken out most of the ship's auxillary electrical power which was crucial in running the steering gear, the pumps, the internal communications system, the ventilation system and for powering the gun turrets. The battleship was essentially doomed without the ability to steer, to carry out damage control and to defend itself against further waves of air attacks. During that encounter, British anti-aircraft fire accounted for the destruction of 1 bomber.

At 1150 hours, 8 torpedo carrying Mitsubishi G3M bombers of the 4th Squadron, Mihoro Air Group arrived, lead by Lieutenant Takahashi Katsusaku ( 高橋勝作 ). The squadron also had difficulty identifying the HMS Repulse because of the striking resemblance to the IJNS Kongo. They were only convinced the warship was British after receiving anti-aircraft fire. Except for the squadron leader's aircraft which suffered from a malfunction, 7 bombers launched 7 torpedoes against the HMS Repulse but all missed the battlecruiser. 3 bombers suffered minor damage from anti-acraft fire but Takahashi's plane took on significant damage as he had to repeat the torpedo run for a second time. At 1158 hours Captain Tennant, commanding officer of the HMS Repulse, took his own initiative to break radio silence to call for help. " From REPULSE, to any British Man of War, enemy aircraft bombing. My position 134NYTW22X09.". It would be the first and only radio message transmitted by Force Z since its departure from Singapore. At 1216 hours, 11 Brewster Buffalo F2A fighters left Singapore but would not be expected to arrive at the battle site some 240km away until 1300 hours or later.

Trouble for the British fleet was far from over as 26 Mitsubishi G4M of the Kanoya Air Group lead by Lieutenant-Commander Miyauchi Shichizo ( 宮内七三 ) arrived next at 1207 hours. They were all armed with torpedoes. Of the 9 bombers of the 1st Squadron, 4 attacked the HMS Prince of Wales while the other 5 bombers attacked the HMS Repulse. It was followed by 8 bombers of the 2nd Squadron, where 2 attacked the HMS Prince of Wales and 6 attacked the HMS Repulse. Collectively, these two squadrons achieved 3 torpedo hits on the starboard side of the HMS Prince of Wales. One at the bow, one opposite B main gun turret and another at the stern aft of Y turret which punctured the hull and bent the outer starboard propeller shaft inwards and over the inner shaft, jamming it instantly. 

The HMS Repulse had so far dodged an amazing 19 torpedoes but her luck was about to run out. Last to have a go were the 9 bombers of Lieutenant Iki Haruki's 3rd Squadron that carried out an anvil attack, bracketing the battlecruiser with torpedoes from both port and starboard from which there was no escape. Iki would recount after the war that descending between the clouds at 300 to 400m altitude during his torpedo approach, he witnessed the 1st Squadron's torpedo attack on the HMS Prince of Wales creating a huge column of water sprout just aft of the bridge. It was like nothing he had seen before, but exactly like the oil paintings depicting the scenes in the Battle of Tsushima Strait during the Russo-Japanese War of 1905. Almost immediately, he saw another torpedo strike the stern of the battleship, and he thought to himself - well that's another hit, no more Prince of Wales, I'll go after ship number two ( Repulse ). 

As he lead his squadron to attack the HMS Repulse from the starboard side, the battlecruiser made a hard turn to starboard and he soon found himself on the vessel's port side while his fellow squadron mates from flights 2 and 3 responded to the Repulse's maneuvres by turning further to starboard to get a better angle of attack and ended up on the opposite side. Caught in a pincer attack which had formed by coincidence, the Repulse received one torpedo hit on the port side followed by another 3 hits in quick succession. 

Lt Iki recalled his torpedo run that day, approaching the warship and listening to the manual range and altitude read out from his chief observer Warrant Officer Yahagi Yuji ( 矢萩友二 ). He released his torpedo when he was 800m away from the Repulse and at an altitude of 30m. Under fire, he immediately steered his aircraft hard to port with the closest approach to the ship at 300m. Then his observer Petty Officer Maekawa Tamotsu ( 前川保 ) screamed " Hit !". Any jubilation from the successful torpedo attack would be short lived as the number 2 bomber in Iki's flight exploded in a ball of fire at a distance of 150m from Repulse just as he was turning away. Shortly, Maekawa would scream a second time " Hit again! " and then " Flight leader has been hit! " as the number 3 bomber also exploded 50m from the ship. The two ill fated bombers were flown by pilots Sakurai Toshimitsu ( 桃井敏光 ) and Taue Yoshikazu ( 田植良和 ). It could be inferred that the second torpedo that struck the Repulse after Iki's own must have been released by either one of the dead pilots. The Repulse listed heavily to port within a matter of minutes and then rolled over and sank at 1233 hours with many casulties. 

There were shouts of "Banzai" from the bomber's crew as Iki headed back to Thu Dau Mot Airbase. They celebrated their sucesssful mission with wine taken from the emergency rations. His aircraft was the first to land at Thu Dau Mot after the mission. Later, in his after action report, he would indicate that the two torpedoes that hit the HMS Repulse were released by his two dead squadron mates. He thought it was the least he could do for them.

The final wave of 17 Mitsubishi G3M bombers of the Mihoro Air Group all carrying 500kg bombs arrived at the battle scene at 1230 hours just as the HMS Repulse was sinking. They were the Takeda Squadron ( 武田中隊 ) and the Ohira Squadron ( 大平中隊 ). They carried out level bombing on the already mortally damaged HMS Prince of Wales, without steerage and crawling with the propulsion power from a single propeller shaft. Although most of the bombs missed their target, the Takeda Squadron achieved one hit amidships and that bomb penetrated the upper deck to explode at the Cinema Flat below where the wounded had aggregated, causing an untold number of casualties. The order to abandon ship was given and the destroyer HMS Express came alongside to take off survivors. At 1318 hours, the HMS Prince of Wales rolled over to port and sank, taking with her Admiral Philips and commanding officer Captain John Leach who chose to go down with their ship.


Last moments of the HMS Prince of Wales with HMS Express taking survivors
Photo : IWM / Wikipedia


A total of 813 sailors were lost, 513 from the HMS Repulse and 327 from the HMS Prince of Wales. Survivors from the Repulse were picked up by the destroyers HMS Electra and HMAS Vampire. The RAAF Brewster Buffalos arrived on scene at 1318 hours just as the Prince of Wales sank. All of the attackers had already left for their bases save one. Ensign Hoashi, the pilot whom had earlier discovered the British fleet was still loitering in the area in his reconnaissance plane. He managed to evade the Buffalos and returned to confirm the sinking of the two capital ships.

It was a lopsided victory for the Japanese who lost one Mitsubishi G3M of the Genzan Air Group and two Mitsubishi G4M of the Kanoya Air Group to British anti-aircraft fire. 21 airmen in those three aircrafts lost thier lives. In addition, 25 bombers suffered light damage repairable at the unit level, 2 bombers with moderate damage required depot level repairs and another 2 bombers were damage beyond salvage. In total, 85 medium bombers had participated in the battle.



Lt. Iki Haruki as a bomber pilot in WWII 


Irei Bouquets


Lt Iki Haruki's squadron did not suffer from too much battle damage apart from the two destroyed bombers. After the mission he counted "only" seventeen bullet holes in his bomber but the other squadrons of the Kanoya Air Group fared worse and had crash landings and they were short of aircrafts. On 11th December, the day after the epic naval battle, Iki was ordered to proceed to the HQ garrison of the Takao Air Group ( 高雄海軍航空隊 ) in Kaohsiung, Taiwan to replenish the planes. For three days he was flight testing the new bombers as they were being readied by the mechanics. He returned to Thu Dau Mot Airfield on 14th December in a nine plane formation. By 16th December all maintenance works on the freshly arrived bombers were completed and the air group received orders to attack a British wireless telegraph station on Siantan Island of the Anambas Archipelago on 18th December. There was a good harbour on the island that the Malaya invasion force would like to use as an advanced base for the coming attack on Singapore Island. 

Realising that the mission flight path would bring them near to the site of the sunken warships off Kuantan and that there would be no enemy fighters or anti-aircaft fire to contend with, Iki asked his observer Maekawa to buy two bouquets of flowers from a shop near their base. The bombing mission was successfully completed and on the way back, Iki lead his squadron of nine bombers in a formation flight at an altitude of 30m and dropped a bouquet over the location where the HMS Repulse had rested and then similarly another bouquet over at where the the HMS Prince of Wales had sunken. It was to provide solace and closure to not only their fellow aviators who perished in the three bombers that were shot down but also as a tribute to the courageous British sailors who had fought so gallantly before going down with their ships. The ritual of conducting a memorial service to the deceased is known as irei ( 慰霊 ) in Japanese.

According to Iki, the dark sihouettes of the two sunken ships could be easily seen from an altitude of 300m as they had come to rest in shallow waters of 60 to 70 metres. The weather was good, the waves were calm and the water was very clear that afternoon. 

Subsequently, his bouquet dropping act was widely publicised by the various Japanese newspapers. A journalist from Mainichi Shimbun however erroneously reported the event to have taken place a day after the battle and that misinformation had unfortunately perpetuated from then onwards. In 1943, an elementary school textbook had also included a description of Iki's deeds as the heroic story " Chivalry in the Battlefield ", although his name was not mentioned specifically. It had also gotten the date wrong, indicating it as occuring the day after the battle. 

Iki would feel embarassed everytime when people asked him about the episode of bouquet dropping. He would simply say that he did not do it in order to be praised. To him, it was just a natural behavior as a warrior to express his sorrow to his comrade-in-arms when they had lost their lives in the line of duty. Even to the enemy wardead, there has to be respect and empathy beyond hostilty. After the War ended, Iki's spontaneous gesture of honouring the fallen airmen and sailors, friend and foe alike, so intrigued the British that he would be interviwed many times by them. He would be blessed with longevity, passing away in 2011, age 99 years old.



Cover page of music score for the songs
"Annihitaion of the British Eastern Fleet" and "Decisive Victory"
published in April 1942. Image : Kosho.or.jp



Instant Wartime Song


News of the stunning victory of the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service ( IJNAS ) over the British Eastern Fleet in the South China Sea was released by the Ministry of Navy, Imperial General Headquarters at 4pm Tokyo time 10th December 1941, barely an hour after the HMS Prince of Wales had sunken. Japanese national broadcaster NHK ( 日本放送協会 Nippon Hoso Kyokai ) announced the victory at 4:20pm over the radio, and the Japanese people were jubilant and thrilled when they heard the news. None however were more excited about the victory than NHK's producer and later director Maruyama Tetsuo ( 丸山鉄雄 ). He immediately decided that the vanquishing of the British fleet was the perfect subject for the creation of a broadcasting news song ( 放送ニュース歌謡 hoso nyusu kayo ) which is also sometimes referred to as the current affairs song ( 時局歌 jikyokuka ). These are songs commissioned by radio stations to complement their regular news bulletins and they had already existed before World War II but their popularity soared with the progression of the global conflict. The only problem was, he had wanted it to be broadcasted with the 7pm news on NHK Radio 1 ( callsign JOAK ), which was due in about 3 hours!


Cover of Takahashi Kikutaro's Song Collection
published in 1938. Image : Fusensha.ocnk.net


With little time to spare, he asked the prolific composer Koseki Yuji ( 古関裕而 ) and lyricist Takahashi Kikutaro ( 高橋掬太郎 ) for help. Normally, the composer would start work on the song only after the lyrics were written, but the extremely short notice had meant that Koseki and Takahashi had to work on the song simultaneously in order to be able to finish it on time. They had consulted each other over the phone as the song had gradually taken shape.


Koseki Yuji ( centre ) with Fujiyama Ichiro ( right )
and Mari Yoshiko ( left ). Original Photo : Columbia Japan


The selected performer was the popular Japanese singer Fujiyama Ichiro ( 藤山一郎 ) who was also a well known musician, composer and conductor. He was truely surprised when he arrived at the studio, assuming that the lyrics and the song were already completed and ready for his practising, only to discover that Takahashi was still in the middle of writing the words!

Eventually, the excitement and thrill of receiving the good news on the Japanese victory in the southern oceans pushed Takahashi and Koseki to overcome all technical difficulties and time constrains to complete the song on time. It would be titled " Annihilation of the British Eastern Fleet " ( 英国東洋艦隊潰滅 Eikoku Toyo Kantai Kaimetsu ). Due to the urgent circumstances which it was composed, a short portion of Setouchi Tokichi's famous Warship March ( 軍艦行進曲 Gunkan Koshinkyoku ) was even interjected between the first and second verses of the original song. This rather plagiaristic interlude would be removed in later versions.

The lyrics writing and composing was done right to the last minute and there was only one rehearsal before the newly completed song was broadcasted. Although its creation was rushed, the song was rhythmic and powerful and conveyed the excitement of war and victory. It was said that Fujiyama sang it beautifully and after the event Maruyama was full of praise for the successful effort by the trio. He would later reflect that from the announcement of the news to the completion of the song was only three hours, a normally impossible technical feat in both lyrics writing and composing, and that it can only be a joyous milestone in the world of news songs. 

After that, NHK continued to commission news songs following many significant Imperial Japanese military conquests such as " The Song of the Fall of Singapore " and " The Fall of Manila " but they did not quite create the same impact on the populace at the same magnitude as the " Annihilation of the British Eastern Fleet " did. 

Incidentally, the " Annihilation of the British Eastern Fleet ", popular as it might have been, was not made into a record during the War. It could be that it was then not NHK's priority to have the song released on vinyl. Perhaps feeling that it would be a business opportunity lost, Columbia Records Japan had poet, writer and lyricist for children's song Sato Hachiro ( サトウハチロー ) write lyrics to Koseki Yuji's original melody and created a new song called " Decisive Victory " ( 断じて勝つぞ Danjite Katsuzo ). Sung again by Fujiyama Ichiro and also the Columbia Choir, it was already recorded on 20th Dec 1941 but was not released in vinyl until Febuarary 1942.  

Interestingly, while on a troop entertainment tour of South East Asia in Oct 1942 under the auspices of NHK, the ship that was ferrying Koseki and his delegation of fellow artistes was approaching the Kuantan coast on the Malay Peninsula when out of the blue the " Annihilation of the British Eastern Fleet " was performed by the spontaneous efforts of those on board. Such was the popularity of the song at that time. 

Not long after, the end of World War II and the defeat of Japan in Aug 1945 would bring an end to the golden era of military songs ( 軍歌 gunka ) and news songs. It was not until August 1966, twenty five years after it was composed that the " Annihilation of the British Eastern Fleet " was finally released on record. It was included in the " Japanese Military Song Collection In Stereo " by Columbia Records Japan. The performer was still Fujiyama Ichiro.

When I first heard the " Annihilation of the British Eastern Fleet " being played, I thought it was slightly inferior to the " Song of the Fall of Singapore " and I still hold to that opinion today. But the more I listened to it, the more appealing it became. In fact, for a song created in less than three hours, it should be considered a masterpiece. Besides, Fujiyama's vocals are just awesome. 

Note that the IJN did not actually annihilate the entire Eastern Fleet as the title of the song might have suggested. The Eastern Fleet's assets included many other warships stationed from Durban to Hong Kong, but it effectively did so by removing at one fell swoop the two most powerful warships of the fleet. It would be many months into 1942 before the appearance of another British battleship in the Far East theatre.

You may listen to the song below or from this link. The footage I believe has been taken from the 1942 war film " The war at sea from Hawaii to Malaya " ( ハワイ.マレー沖海戦 ) by Toho Eiga.


                                                                          Annihilation of the British Eastern Fleet



英国東洋艦隊潰滅 ( Eikoku Toyokantai Kaimetsu )

Annihilation of the British Eastern Fleet



滅びたり滅びたり Horo bitari horo bitari

Perish! Perish!

敵東洋艦隊は Teki Toyo kantai wa

The enemy's Eastern Fleet,

マレー半島クワンタン沖に Mare Hanto Kuwantan oki ni

Off the coast of Kuantan, Malay Peninsula,

今ぞ沈みゆきぬ Ima zo shizumi yukinu

Is sinking now

勲し赫たり海の荒鷲よ Isaoshi kaku tari umi no ara washi yo

The meritorious storm eagles of the sea

沈むレパルス Shizumu Reparusu

Sink the Repulse

沈むプリンス.オブ.ウェールズ Shizumu Prinsu obu Weruzu

Sink the Prince of Wales


戦えり戦えり Tataka eri tataka eri 

To war! To war!

わが強者らは Waga tsuwamono ra wa

Men of great strength.

皇国の興廃を Kokoku no Kohai wo 

The fate of the Empire,

今ぞ身に負いぬ Ima zo mi ni oi nu

Now lies in our hands.

傲れるイギリス東洋艦隊を Ogo reru Igirisu toyo kantai wo

The proud English Eastern Fleet,

荒ぶ波に沈め去りぬ Susabu nami ni shizume sarinu

Shall sink beneath the rough seas


記憶せよ記憶せよ Kioku seyo kioku seyo

Remember! Remember!

いざ永遠にこの日を Iza towa ni konohi wo 

This day forever!

打ち向う敵艦を一拳屠り去りぬ Uchi muko u tekikan o ikkyo hofuri sarinu

The enemy warship has been slaughtered with a single punch,

開戦三日目に早この戦果ぞ Kaisen mikkame ni haya kono senka zo

Glorious results just three days since the start of the war. 

沈むレパルス Shizumu Reparusu

Sink the Repulse!

沈むプリンス.オブ.ウェールズ Shizumu Purinsu obu Weruzu

Sink the Prince of Wales!


万歳ぞ万歳ぞ Banzai zo banzai zo

Banzai! Banzai!

聞けあがる勝鬨 Kike agaru kachidoki

Hear the shout of victory!

マレー半島シンガポール Mare Hanto Shingaporu

The Malay Penisula, Singapore,

はやくも破れ去る Hayaku mo yabu re sa ru

Shall fall rapidly.

無敵の海軍見よこの荒鷲 Muteki no kaigun mi yo kono ara washi

Behold the Storm Eagles of the invincible navy.

勲仰げ仰げ勲 Isao aoge aoge isao

Meritorious services worthy of respect. Revere their exploits.  


作詞 高橋掬太郎  Lyrics : Takahashi Kikutaro

作曲 古関裕而  Compser : Koseki Yuji



                                               Version with first 3 verses and Gunkan March interlude from 0:42 to 0:57

This incomplete version with only the first three verses uses archival news footage from NHK and contains the Gunkan March interlude between verses 1 and 2.



The Straits Times of Singapore Headlines 11th Dec 1941
Image : Singapore Press Holdings

How The Japanese Won


The decisive victory of the Japanese in the Naval Battle of Malaya was certainly not a fluke. For years leading to the start of the Pacific War, Japan had progressively build up its military capabilities and had posessed the most powerful navy in the world by 1941, with eleven aircraft carriers and several naval air fleets, all equipped with very modern and advanced aircraft types. In particular, its long range land-based naval bombers ( 海軍陸上攻撃機 kaigun rikujo kogeki ki ), frequently abbreviated to just Rikko ( 陸攻 ), were a formidable force. Not only were these medium bombers designed to have very long range and high speed, though sometimes achieved at the expense of crew protection, the aviators were highly trained and many have gained combat experience through the trans-oceanic bombing campaigns of the Sino-Japanese War. 

The affable squadron commander Lieutenant Iki Haruki for example was said to have already completed 200 bombing missions at the beginning of the Pacific War, making him one of the most experienced among the Rikko fraternity. He went through very rigorous and realistic training for torpedo strikes against surface fleets and claimed to have practised executing torpedo attack final approaches at an altitude of 10m in anticipation of the very shallow waters at Pearl Harbor. The altitude for a typical IJNAS torpedo run is 30m, as we have seen during the attack on the British warships off Kuantan. The pilots and bombers of the IJNAS are affectionately given the nickname of Sea Eagles or Storm Eagles ( 荒鷲 arawashi ).

Japan's occupation of airfields in French Indochina from July 1941 onwards was also a crucial factor in its ultimate victory in the Naval Battle of Malaya. Had the medium bomber squadrons been based in Taiwan or even Hainan Island which Japan had also occupied, they would not have the necessary range to strike at British Malaya or the South China Sea.

In addition, the high level of coordination and information sharing between the surface fleet, submarine fleet and the aviation corps also ensured that the British fleet would not escape the entrapment in the South China Sea. 

The Japanese Navy also took the threat of the British capital ships against their own cruisers and battleships in the Southern Expeditionary Fleet very seriously and therefore spared no effort in planning and preparing for their elimination, beginning from the moment of the British announcement of the HMS Prince of Wales' deployment to the Far East. In anticipation of the arrival of the British capital ships in Singapore, the IJN began equipping their most elite Rikko bombing group the Kanoya Air Group with a total of 72 of the latest Mitsubishi G4M Betty medium bomber. Originally based in Taichung in central Taiwan and part of the 21st Air Flotilla, half the air group consisting of three squadrons were transferred to French Indochina to reinforce the 22nd Air Flotilla's Genzan and Mihoro Air Groups which operated older Mitsubishi G3M Nell bombers. The Kanoya detachment had arrived at Thu Dau Mot Airfiled only on 6th December 1941. As the turn of events had shown us, they would later have a huge impact on the outcome of the battle. 

Six warships against two submarine squadrons, a destroyer squadron, a cruiser division and a reinforced rikko air group, it is easy to predict which side would emerge victorious.       


Aftermarth


The loss of the two most powerful warships of the Eastern Fleet had given the IJN full conrol of the seas aound the Malay Peninsula and had reduced Singapore to a land base. Without its battleships, Singapore was no longer capable projecting naval power to the region as the British had hoped when they formulated the Singapore Strategy two decades prior. It would fall to General Yamashita's 25th Army on 15th Feb 1942.

After the disastrous Naval Battle of Malaya, the Eastern Fleet spent the next few months withdrawing to Sumatra and then to Ceylon, after the Dutch East Indies also fell to the Japanese. The shock of defeat from Hawaii to Singapore and Java finally galvanised the Allied Forces to form a joint naval command to fight back against the ever-expanding Japanese Empire in early 1942. It was known as the Ameican-British-Dutch-Australian Command or ABDA. Though short-lived, it was the beginning of an awakening and a long struggle to regain allied supremacy in the Far East / Western Pacific. 

The first article of the series commemorating the 80th anniversary of the Fall of Singapore can be found here.

*Time format used in the article is local Singapore time unless otherwise stated. Tokyo time ( then ) is 1 hour 30min ahead.





Tuesday 24 August 2021

The Song Of The Fall Of Singapore シンガポール陥落の歌




The Song of the Fall of Singapore, Victor Records Japan.
Photo : Codyrex via Carousell



There was a song for the Fall of Singapore? Apparently there was! The fall of Singapore to the soldiers of the invading Imperial Japanese Army ( IJA ) on 15th Feb 1942 was the worse defeat ever suffered by the British not just during World War Two but in history. In slightly more than two months, the IJA swept through the jungles of the Malaya Peninsula, once thought impassable, to besiege and eventually capture Singapore, then a major British military bastion in the Far East. The song was written and composed by the Japanese to celebrate and glorify their victory over the numerically superior defenders who had initially believed that their island fortress was impregnable. 

This article is the first in a series commemorating the 80th anniversary of the Fall of Singapore.


Gibraltar of the East



Singapore has been an important trading post and colony of the British Empire ever since its founding by Sir Stamford Raffles in 1819. By the beginning of the 20th century, this tiny island at the southern tip of the Malaya Peninsula has been transformed from a fishing village with an estimated population of about a thousand to become a modern city with deep water ports and an estimated population of 228 thousand. With hardly any natural resources or land at its disposal, Singapore had thrived on being the premier entrepot or transshipment hub for regional and international trade. Its total trade volume comprising of imports and exports was $457.3 million in 1900 and reached a pre-WWII high of $1886.7 million in 1926 before declining due to prevailing global economic conditions which would later include the Great Depression. Its strategic location straddling between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean along the east-west trade route made it the preferred spot* to base a military garrison to protect British interests in the Far East, which then included territories such as Hong Kong, Burma, Brunei, North Borneo, Sarawak, Malaya and the Straits Settlement which Singapore was itself part of. 

In the years immediately following the end of World War I, Japan was the only Asian power that could be a threat to the possessions of the British Empire east of the Suez Canal. It had defeated China in the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 and emerged as a Great Power after convincingly trashing Russia in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. As a result Japan had gained prestige and territorial concessions such as the Island of Formosa ( Taiwan ) from the Chinese and southern Sakhalin from the Russians, events that probably fueled its military and empire ambitions further. By 1910, Japan had annexed and occupied Korea and as a member of the Allied Powers had wasted no time in seizing German-leased territories in the Far East and German colonies in the Pacific when WWI broke out in 1914.

In the inter-war years between 1919 and 1939, exhausted and saddled with vast war debts, the British embarked on cost cutting measures that drastically reduced its military strength to levels way below what was required to protect its Empire interests. The Royal Navy in particular had been further hamstrung by disarmament treaties and was thus severely decimated in both ships and men. It was however still expected to maintain its global foot print and operational tempo, frequently under perilous and dated illusions of grandeur. 

To counter the Japanese threat in the Far East, the British came up with the Singapore Strategy in 1921 which was to use the building of a modern main fleet base and dock yards with advanced repair capabilities in Singapore as a pivot while the main fleet could remained in Home waters. In times of crisis, a powerful naval task force would be assembled and dispatched to Asia to deter or repel an invasion. This military bastion would be adequately stocked with fuel and supplies to service the expeditionary fleet and would be well defended with 15 inch coastal guns and a huge garrison of soldiers, with air support provided by the Royal Air Force. It would be an unsinkable aircraft carrier, an impregnable fortress, touted the Gibraltar of the East by none other than Winston Churchill himself.

Unfortunately, the glaring deficiency in this ill conceived war plan was the lack of an indigenous Eastern Fleet. What if the Home Fleet was tied down and none could be spared? Should war with Japan be unavoidable, the Singapore garrison was supposed to protect the naval base and airfields and hold out against the invasion force long enough for reinforcements to arrive. It was assumed that the relief forces would somehow not only expel the aggressors in Singapore and Malaya but perhaps also go on northwards to liberate Hong Kong if necessary and to blockade the Japanese Isles in order to sue for a negotiated settlement of peace!

And so the British diverted significant resources to begin in 1923 the construction of the Sembawang Naval Base in the northern part of Singapore. It was not completed until 1938, after spending a staggering £60 million and numerous changes including down-sizing that ultimately resulted in a base too small to host a fleet large enough to defeat the Imperial Japanese Navy in a full engagement. Nonetheless in those turbulent pre-war years a false sense of security was created and life went on more or less as usual on the island. It was an audacious military bluff that would soon be called.


Transition To War



By the early 1930s global economic recession would give new impetus to the long standing Japanese imperialist policy of expanding its influence militarily and politically to secure access to raw materials, labour and food for its industries and population. Japan had invaded Manchuria in 1931 and would later also wage war in greater China with the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War ( 1937 to 1945 ). The war effort was a huge undertaking that had to be supported with the uninterrupted supply of commodities like oil, steel and iron, most of which Japan had to import from America. As its troops became bogged down in China, Japan started eyeing the resource-rich countries in South East Asia, top of the list being the oil fields of the Dutch East Indies ( modern day Indonesia ). 

To invade South East Asia and create its envisioned Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, Japan would have to first secure its northern flank which it did by entering a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union in April 1941. A staging area would be needed to launch and support the invasion and that was achieved with the occupation of Hainan Island in Feb 1941 and of French Indochina ( modern day Vietnam ) in July 1941. It also had to deal with the British and the Americans, the only two powers that could thwart its empire ambitions. The US Pacific Fleet based in Hawaii and the US colony of the Philippines which had the potential to interfere due to its proximity had to be taken out. The British forces had to be driven out of Malaya though Japan would not have dreamt of defeating the British unless it was already engaged with fighting another foe elsewhere. This opportunity had already presented itself when war broke out in Europe in Sep 1939 and Britain had to fight Nazi Germany and later Italy as well as it joined the Axis Alliance. With both the Atlantic Fleet and Mediterranean Fleet tied down with fighting in Europe, the door was wide open for the invasion of Malaya and Singapore. 

The final push on the path to war was probably the complete oil embargo by the United States on Japan from July 1941 in response to Japanese aggression in China and French Indochina. At that time America accounted for 80% of Japan's oil imports. The British and Dutch would later join the oil embargo. The freezing of Japanese assets, closure of the Panama Canal to Japanese shipping and the additional embargo on scrap iron, tools, steel, copper, bronze and many other critical metals from America meant the trade sanctions had pushed the Japanese to the brink and had exactly the opposite effect of what they were supposed to achieve. War was coming and the Singapore Strategy would soon be put to the test.


Malayan Campaign : Japanese Advances Dec '41 to Feb '42
Source : Singapore : The Pregnable Fortress



The Malayan Campaign



Nineteen Japanese transports carrying General Tomoyuki Yamashita's 25th Army left the port of Samah on Hainan Island with their escorts on 4th Dec 1941. Three days later they rendezvoused with seven transports from Saigon in the middle of the Gulf of Siam. Shortly after midnight on 8th Dec, Japanese forces attacked and made amphibious landings around the Thai-Malayan border at Singora, Patani and Kota Bahru simultaneously, triggering the start of the Pacific War. The attack on Pearl Harbor came 70 minutes later but would have deemed to occur on 7th Dec because of the intercurrence of the International Date Line and time zone differences. Within the next 12 hours Japanese forces also invaded Hong Kong and made air assaults on Clark Air Base in the Philippines, on Guam and on Wake Island.

For the Malayan Campaign, the main landings were at Singora and Patani in southern Thailand which was achieved without much resistance. The landing at Kota Bahru was more a diversionary attack made to capture the north-eastern airfields of Malaya. From the Thai ports the main invasion force followed the roads southwards to the Malayan border near its west coast, crossing it on 10th Dec. They overran the British northern defences around Jitra within 3 days and surged on, taking town after town. 

The naval fleet sent to reinforce the garrison at Singapore comprising of the battleship HMS Prince of Wales and the battlecruiser HMS Repulse and their four destroyers were hastily dispatched to seek out the invasion fleet off Kuantan on the east coast of Malaya. Without an adequate air cover**, they were sunk by land based bombers in what was known to the Japanese as the Naval Battle of Malaya on 10th Dec.

Penang subsequently fell on 19th Dec and failure to stop the IJA at Slim River meant Kuala Lumpur too would fall on 11th Jan 1942. Malacca suffered the same fate just four days later. Equipped with tanks and enjoying complete air superiority the Japanese thus put the Allied forces on a continuous retreat along the north-south axis of the Malayan Peninsula towards Johore, beyond which lies Singapore. Predictably, the Muar-Segamat-Mersing line in northern Johore failed to hold and all Allied forces were ordered to withdraw to Singapore on 25th Jan.

On 31st Jan, the causeway linking Singapore to Johore was demolished in a last ditch attempt to slow the Japanese advancement. In all, the retreat from the Malaya Peninsula had taken place in just 55 days. The IJA now occupied all the high grounds overlooking Singapore from across the Straits of Johore and used that to their advantage, subjecting the defenders to intense artillery barrages. They eventually landed at Sarimbun Beach in north-western Singapore on 8th Feb and fought their way towards the city centre.

By 15th Feb which happened to be the first day of the Chinese New Year, with casualties mounting and faced with dwindling supplies of water, ammunition and fuel, the British forces capitulated. The General Officer Commanding ( Malaya ) Lieutenant General Arthur Percival formally surrendered to General Yamashita at the Ford Motor Works Factory in Bukit Timah shortly after 17:15. An estimated 85000 men were made POWs. What was incredible was that the invading Japanese forces numbered only 30000.

Following their victory, the Japanese renamed Singapore Syonan-to ( 昭南島 ), meaning Light of the South, and began a 3 year and 8 month rule of terror that lasted for the rest of the War until their surrender on 15th Aug 1945. 



Lt Gen AE Percival ( far right ) surrendering on 15th Feb 1942
Photo : Imperial War Museum




The Song of the Fall of Singapore



The Japanese arguably had all the right to be jubilant on their victory in the Battle of Singapore. They had destroyed the British relief fleet, overcome the supposedly impassable tropical jungles of Malaya, and captured the impregnable fortress of Singapore. They achieved their objectives with an attacking force numbering less than a third of the defenders, and did it all in a matter of 69 days. 

In those days the Japanese had the habit of releasing songs to celebrate their military accomplishments. Radio was a popular media to reach out to the masses and such war songs, known as gunka ( 軍歌 ) in Japanese, apart from its news and propaganda values, could bring a sense of pride and patriotism to the citizens and troops alike. 

So there was a " Song of the Annihilation of the British Eastern Fleet " to commemorate the victory in the Naval Battle of Malaya and of course the " Song of the Fall of Singapore " which is the main subject of this article. These were by no means the only Japanese war songs on Singapore. Many others are in existence such as 陥したぞシンガポール ( Singapore Has Fallen ), 星港撃滅 ( Destruction of the Port of Singapore ), 戦友の遺骨を抱いて ( Holding the Remains of A War Buddy ). 

The Song of the Fall of Singapore is known as シンガポール陥落の歌 ( Shingaporu Kanraku no Uta ) in Japanese. It was composed by Fukami Zenji ( 深海善次 ) with lyrics by poet Ozaki Kihachi ( 尾崎喜八 ) and was released by the Victor Record Company of Japan in March 1942, one month after the fall of Singapore. It was performed by Namioka Soichiro ( 波岡惣一郎 ) who is a renowned singer from Aomori, Obata Minoru ( 小畑実 ) who originally hailed from Pyongyang, the Kachidoki Men's Choir ( かちどき男声合唱団 ) and the Japan Victor Orchestra ( 日本ビクター管弦楽団 ).

What was the public reaction to the release of the song? In the March 1942 issue of Record Culture ( レコード文化 Rekodo Bunka ) NHK producer and music critic Maruyama Tetsuo ( 丸山鉄雄 ) had frowned upon the various record companies that rushed to release jikyokuka ( 時局歌 current affairs song ) after the fall of Singapore the previous month. He believed that the companies were eagerly awaiting for the announcement of victory in Singapore so that they could sell their songs, presumably all composed and written in advance. However particularly on The Song of the Fall of Singapore he gave rare high praise, extolling it as an exceedingly powerful song, boldly underlining the fall of Singapore.

Though it definitely fits the description of a gunka or military song, The Song of the Fall of Singapore was instead labelled as a national song ( 国民歌 kokuminka ) by the record company. That was frequently the case especially if the song was produced for an official purpose or was meant to be sung by a wide range of people or played to a wide audience.



Song of the Fall of Singapore lyrics pamphlet featuring singers
Namioka Soichiro ( R ) and Obata Minoru ( L ).
Note the His Master's Voice doggy logo of RCA Victor Records
on the top left corner. Photo : Codyrex via Carousell


                                                                            The Song of the Fall of Singapore

You can also listen to it on Youtube here.



シンガポール陥落の歌  Shingaporu Kan Raku no Uta


歓べ一億今日この日  Yoroko be ichi oku kyo ko no hi
新嘉坡は遂に陥つ  Shingaporu wa tsui ni o tsu
あ~満々の 海越えて Aa man man no   umi ko e te
我等が父は 同胞は    Ware ra ga chichi wa   harakara wa
今ぞ陥せり この城を Ima zo oto se ri    ko no shiro wo


不落を如何に誇るとも    Fu raku wo ikan ni hoto ru to mo
百練の業 此処に在り    Hyaku ren no waza ko ko ni a ri
電撃一閃 轟けば     Dengeki issen todoro ke ba 
敵は慄き 山揺らぎ    Teki wa onono ki  yama yu ra gi
牙城忽ち 幕を閉ず  Ga jou tachima chi   baku wo to zu


祖国を出でて 幾千里     Sokoku wo i de te  iku sen ri
血となり 火となり    Chi to na ri  Hi to na ri
弾丸となり    Ta ma to na ri
進みし兵の この武勲  Su su mi shi hei no    ko no _ isao   
進路拡げて ただ涙  Shin ro hiro ge te    ta da namida
銃後は哭けり     Juu go wa na ke ri
みな哭けり     Mi na na ke ri


歓べ十億今日のこの日   Yoroko be ju oku kyo no ko no hi
侵略遽点    遂に陥ち     Shin ryaku kyo ten   tsui ni ochi
旭日燦と 咲き栄ゆ     Kyoku jitsu san to   saki saka yu
いざ護るべき      I za mamo ru be ki
亜細亜こそ     Ajia ko so
我等の為の亜細亜なれ     Ware ra no tame no Ajia na re


Translation of Lyrics


A hundred million would rejoice this day
For Singapore had fallen
From across the oceans, full to the brim
Our fathers and fellow compatriot 
This city will fall today

Such claims of impregnability
Incessant training just for this moment
A lightning attack, an explosive roar
The enemy shiver and the mountains shake
The curtains are falling on this bastion

A thousand miles from the Motherland
Of blood, of fire
Of bullets
The valor of the advancing warrior
The way forward is forged with tears
Wailing after the guns are silent
All are sobbing

A thousand million would rejoice, this is the day 
The point of invasion is finally falling
The rising sun is brilliant and magnificent
It will now be protected
Asia it is
We are for Asia


Of course we have always known that the Japanese never invaded British Malaya or Singapore or anywhere else out of altruism. It had only done so to fulfill its own imperialist and expansionist aspirations under the guise of the so called Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. Not only that, the Japanese military would subject the conquered to extremely harsh treatment under occupation, much of it tantamount to war crimes. 

Therefore most of these war song lyrics are nothing more than self-praise and empty wartime propaganda. They are however still an interesting and important source of historical information on life before and during occupation and as a window to the mindset of the lyricist and by extension those of the military and political leadership.

Many important documents and records pertaining to the invasion and occupation were deliberately destroyed by the Japanese military towards the end of the war as they could contain incriminating evidences of war crime. Songs and other cultural relics on the other hand are much more likely to endure and survive the war as they would have been too widely distributed in the first place to be retracted or destroyed.

With the advent of the television and later the internet, the radio had taken a back seat as a media for entertainment and for spreading news and propaganda. Vinyl records have all but disappeared. We are now in the era of virtual reality and deep fakes, of Facebook and Twitter, Tik Tok and Instagram. War songs are just memories from a distant past.



* In 1921 the Committee of Imperial Defence recommended Singapore as the preferred locality for building a far eastern fleet base. The other candidates considered were Sydney, Hong Kong and Trincomalee. 
  
** RAF was supposed to provide the fleet with air cover up to 50 miles from the coast in the war plans. However by 10th Dec all the northern airfields had either been captured by the Japanese ( Kota Bharu ) or severely damaged by aerial bombing ( Alor Star, Sungai Petani and Butterworth ).