The Battle of Opium Hill on 14 February 1942 at Pasir Panjang was one of the fiercest battles that took place in Singapore in World War II. It pitted the invading Japanese Imperial Army against the brave but heavily out-numbered troops of the Malay Regiment. The ...

The Battle of Singapore was fought from 8 to 15 February 1942 between Allied (mainly British Commonwealth) and Japanese forces. The first Japanese troops landed in Singapore via the northwestern coastline on 8 February 1942. After a week of intense fighting, the ...

The HMS Repulse was a battle cruiser built in 1916 and rehauled between 1936 and 1939. It was sunk off the coast of Kuantan, Malaya, on 10 December 1941 soon after arriving in Singapore as part of the British Eastern Fleet with the HMS Prince of Wales as the flagship. ...

Mamoru Shinozaki (b. 19 February 1908, Fukuoka, Japan–d. 1991, location unknown) came to Singapore in 1938 as a Japanese government official. He was convicted and jailed for espionage in 1940, and released after Singapore surrendered to the Japanese during World ...

Dalforce was a volunteer army formed by the local Chinese community to resist the Japanese invasion during the battle of Singapore. It was named after its commander, Lieutenant Colonel John Dalley of the Federated Malay States Police Force. However, the Chinese ...

The Church of Saints Peter & Paul is located at 225A Queen Street. Built in 1870, the church is historically associated with the growth of the Chinese Catholic community in Singapore. The church building was gazetted a national monument in 2003.

In 1874, the Singapore Library became a public library and, with the functions of the museum added to it, was renamed Raffles Library and Museum. The government received formal ownership of the Singapore Library collections on 1 July 1874. The Raffles Library and ...

Completed in April 1941, the HMS Prince of Wales was sunk off the coast of Kuantan, Malaya, on 10 December 1941 by the Japanese. The ship was also nicknamed “HMS Unsinkable” because she was dressed with the most advanced protective armour of the time. The Prince ...

The Bukit Batok Memorial, which consisted of the Syonan Chureito and British Memorial Cross, was built during the Japanese Occupation to honour dead soldiers of the Japanese and British forces. Located at Bukit Batok Hilltop (present Bukit Batok Nature Park) in ...

Force 136 in Malaya was part of the British Special Operations Executive (SOE), a secret service organisation active during World War II. Tasked with recruiting and training local guerillas to assist the planned British invasion of Japanese-occupied Malaya, Force ...

Tomoyuki Yamashita (b. 8 November 1885, Osugi Mura, Shikoku, Japan–d. 23 February 1946, Manila, Philippines), was the Army Commander of the 25th Army that captured Malaya and Singapore during World War II. The capture was the most decisive victory of the East over ...

Operation Sook Ching was a Japanese military operation aimed at purging or eliminating anti-Japanese elements from the Chinese community in Singapore. From 21 February to 4 March 1942, Chinese males between the ages of 18 and 50 were summoned to various mass screening ...

The Grow More Food Campaign was started during the Japanese Occupation to place a check on inflation and to prepare for an eventual blockade from enemy forces. People were encouraged to strive for self-sufficiency by growing their own food. Vegetables, tapioca ...

The Kempeitai was Japan’s military police force in its occupied territories during World War II (1942–45). Specially trained in interrogation methods, the Kempeitai’s task was to crush all resistance to Japanese military rule, with the powers to arrest and extract ...

Bahau was an agricultural settlement established during the Japanese Occupation of Singapore (1942–45) at Bahau in the Malayan state of Negeri Sembilan. It was also known as Fuji-Go, which means “Fuji village” or “beautiful village”. The settlement, which was specially ...

Adnan Saidi (b. 1915, Selangor, Malaysia–d. 1942, Singapore), a lieutenant of the Malay Regiment’s 1st Battalion, died fighting the Japanese in one of the fiercest battles in Singapore during World War II. Regarded a war hero, he led his men in the Battle of Opium ...

The Tanglin Barracks was built by George Chancellor Collyer in 1861 for European troops. The barracks served the British garrison infantry battalion until the fall of Singapore in 1942. After the war, it was home to the General Headquarters of the Far East Land ...

The Oversea Chinese Association (OCA), or 昭南岛华侨协会, was established in March 1942 during the Japanese Occupation of Singapore (1942–45). The association was formed under the direction of the Japanese military administration, with the original intention to mediate ...

In the midst of World War I, on 15 February 1915, the Right Wing (Rajput) of the 5th Light Infantry (Indian Army) which was stationed in Singapore, revolted, killing more than 40 British officers, British residents and local civilians. The mutiny was originally ...

Ford Malaya was founded in 1926 to directly control Ford operations in Malaya. It set up a full-fledged assembly plant in Bukit Timah in 1941. The plant became famous not only because it was the first in the region, but also because it was the venue where the British ...