WW2- Japanese occupation 1941

Both ships, HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse were sent to Singapore in December 1941, to serve as a deterrent to Japanese aggression. First Sea Lord Sir Dudley Pound felt that Singapore could not be adequately defended, unless the Royal Navy sent the majority of its capital ships there to achieve parity with the estimated nine Japanese battleships. That was unacceptable as the British were at war with Germany and Italy. However, Prime Minister Winston Churchill was optimistic about the improving situation in the North Atlantic and Mediterranean and allocating two ships to the colony's defense was seen as a compromise. Furthermore, the US Navy would agree to send its Pacific Fleet with its eight battleships to Singapore in the event that hostilities with Japan broke out.

The original British plan had called for a larger fleet which included the new Illustrious-class aircraft carrier HMS Indomitable for air cover, although the plan had to be revised when Indomitable was damaged en route.


When the British armies lost Malaya; the Japanese occupation was the nightmare for many families in Malaya. The painful memory and mental torture of the war even linger until today. But the Japan denial all their war crimes and amend the historical fact in the school textbook to justify their invasion. This is the ugly and most painful chapter of Malaya history.



The comfort woman or forced sex slaves are common in Japan Imperial Army's occupation areas all over the Asia, which included Malaya. But Japan still deny it, and refuse to compensate the women and their families, who have suffered from the war crimes done by Japan Imperial Army during the WW2. Some of them suffered in silence for many years in pains, out of the shames to the families. Only until recently many stood up to tell the world about the WW2 war crimes, and took up legal action.