It was a cruel period for many people including soldiers. I have also heard stories from my Grandpa of Japanese soldiers who were actually kind to them and how some actually escaped execution because of intervention by some humane ones. But by and large, the cruelty displayed by the Japanese on those captured by them is inhumane so I am pretty sure from the point of those victims, they would never think objectively of the soldiers plight in the way we see after the fact. But I get what you are saying.
3 Likes
Just adding I thought it was generally accepted that the Nazi war machine had exhausted its logistical limit and this was one of the main reasons for defeat. It could not maintain 2 large fronts. Such that I suspect it would have been highly unlikely if not impossible to extend those fronts further, even on a European conquest.
3 Likes
Regarding Singapore, I heard the defences were prepared thinking that the attack will come from the sea. However, the Japanese Japanese chose to attack from Malaysia where the defense were weakest. I heard none of the 10 inch cannons of the coastal defense batteries had to fire a single shot.
As Captain Mainwearing would say, â Thatâs a typical shabby Japanese trick Wilsonâ.
3 Likes
Itâs a common myth that the 10" guns could not rotate to fire upcountry into Malaya; they could, and did. However these batteries were of very limited use as they had very few high explosive shells. The batteries did have significant stocks of armour piercing shells, but these munitions were of no use what-so-ever against a land based attack. As a consequence, the batteries soon ran out of suitable munitions and were of no further use in repelling the invaders.
3 Likes
I thought Singapore was an island??? 
1 Like
It used to be part of Malaysia.
1 Like
So itâs a trench, who dug it? 
1 Like
Still an island but itâs disconnected from Malaysia to the North by only 1 or 2kms. The main threat was expected to come from the open water to the South and East.
3 Likes
The story of how the richest part of Malaysia decided to secede, and why, is not for this thread probably. There are still some hard feelings in Malaysia even today though. I was there on a uni culture course many years ago and got told the Malaysian perspective of that. Visited Singapore as well, but we didnât have classes there, just visited the zoo and experienced the monsoon for real and I went shopping. Shopping trip got decapitated by the monsoon, and heaven falling wetly on our unprepared heads.
I still have a jade dragon from Singapore.
Awesome trip btw.
3 Likes
1 Like
Yeah us and Malaysia is probably a sibling rivalry that may never go away. But as you said, not the right thread to discuss this.
Glad you had a good trip experiencing our monsoon. 
1 Like
luckily you did not say a province in china.
1 Like
It seems fairly certain that it did - in his memoirs he does actually accept some blame for that, in terms of how it evolved over decades. However, it does appear that he was unaware of how little had been done to secure Singapore as tensions built up from 1937 forward. In the end, he was the one who made the decision to stop committing troops to a defence he had recognized as futile.
It is funny, in working on the book project I noted above, I have realized what a massive morale blow the loss of Singapore really was - the Ottawa Journal of the time carried various stories through December and January (presumably newswire almost entirely), all building up Singapore as the place where the Japanese advance would be definitively stopped. Then suddenly, the headline of the surrender. Even knowing what happens, it is difficult to discern a note of anticipation before at best two days in advance. With the possible exception of the fall of France in June 1940, there probably is not a more dramatic narrative collapse. The despair almost radiates from the page.
3 Likes
How reliable is Sky News???
I generally follow just BBC and Guardian.
Canât be right. I thought only the Conservative Party had problems with Islamophobia.
1 Like
Itâs a lot less right wing than it used to be; Iâd say that itâs more neutral than the BBC these days, given its drift towards the centre while Auntie has lurched to the right.
The story itself is just typical of the way the left is constantly shooting itself in the foot; it means well, trying to address the potential problem of islamophobia in the Labour Party so soon after the antisemitism furore, but merely gives the right wing media something to blow out of all proportion.
4 Likes
My GodâŚI thought they were all down to the yanks 
2 Likes
I donât know anything about the LMN, or how representative it is, and I havenât read the report or survey, but the comments from the deputy leader suggest it is a serious report and is being taken seriously.
This will be used by some as an attack on the current leadership. However, it is worth noting that the partyâs complaints process has been problematic since before Corbyn became leader, so this isnât really a reflection on Starmer per se. One of the criticisms of Corbyn that came out of the recent report (and has been raised by party members throughout his leadership) was his failure to implement the recommendations in full of at least two earlier reports - both were independent but one of them (by Chakrabati) was a bit controversial at the time for not going far enough, and she was soon after made a labour peer, so her âindependenceâ was questioned.
This also follows on from the lines of defence used by some of Corbynâs supporters that the focus on handling anti-semitism creates a two-tier system where complaints around anti-semitism are treated more favourably than other complaints. If anything though, the opposite should be true and we should see improved handling across all complaints.
Just listened to Sir Keir Starmer on Desert Island Discs.
Definitely a man of the people. One of his favourite tracks is Three Lions On The Shirt. That should improve his street cred 
.
2 Likes