The attack on Singapore begins

9th February 1942: After an intense artillery bombardment the Japanese make landings across the Straits of Johore and find the British in disarray

Smoke billows from bombed buildings on Kallang airfield after a Japanese air raid, February 1942.

The Japanese had fought their way down the Malayan peninsula and were now poised to invade the island of Singapore itself. Chaos reigned in the city as Japanese aircraft bombed at will, air raid casualties rose from 500 a day to 2000 a day during this period.

SS EMPRESS OF ASIA beached and burning, 5th February 1942. Most of the troops on board were rescued, but nearly all their weapons and equipment were lost. EMPRESS OF ASIA was the only vessel of the convoy reinforcing Malaya and Singapore to be lost under the air attack. The vessel on the right is SS FELIX ROUSELL.

The Singapore Government had discouraged civilians from departing in December because they did not want to cause alarm - then many of the liners and troop transport ships had left empty. Now crowds of men, women and children were lining the quaysides struggling to get on any ship or boat that was available. Many fell victim to the bombing.

More troops were still arriving in the port, some of them barely trained, none of them ready for the desperate situation that greeted them.

An Indian gun crew man one of Hong Kong's 9.2 inch coastal defence guns shortly before the Japanese invasion. They might have been used in defence of the island but there was little High Explosive ammunition, the Armour Piercing shells intended for use against shipping, was of little use against land based targets.

The High Command in Singapore believed the Japanese would most likely to attack the northeast coast of the island. Instead an intense artillery bombardment opened up on the northwest coast on the 8th.

During my four years of service [in] 1914–1918 I never experienced such concentrated shell fire over such a period.¹

Over the night of the 8th/9th the Japanese began their amphibious assault in this unexpected quarter.