| Bombing of Singapore | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theMalayan Campaign,Pacific War | |||||||
 A dead civilian lying on the floor of afive-foot way alongSouth Bridge Road, victim of the Japanese air attack on Singapore. | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| Dalforce | |||||||
| Units involved | |||||||
| Malaya Command | Mihoro Air Group | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| Various number of anti-aircraft guns 1 battleship 1 battlecruiser | 17 aircraft[1] | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 61 killed 133 wounded | N/A | ||||||
Thebombing of Singapore was an attack on 8 December 1941 by seventeenG3MNell bombers of Mihoro Air Group (Mihoro KaigunKōkūtai),[2]Imperial Japanese Navy, flying fromThu Dau Mot in southernIndochina. The attack began at around 0430, shortly after Japanese forceslanded on Kota Bharu,Kelantan in northernMalaya.[3] It was the first knowledge theSingapore population had thatwar had broken out in theFar East.[3]
The attack on Singapore was assigned to 34 bombers of Genzan Air Group (Genzan Kaigun Kōkūtai) and 31 bombers of Mihoro Air Group.[4] Their targets wereRAF Tengah,RAF Seletar,Sembawang Naval Base andKeppel Harbour.[5]
Six squadrons from both air groups took off from southern Indochina on the night of 7 December 1941. However, bad weather conditions were encountered while over theSouth China Sea.[4] Thick clouds offered poor visibility for the pilots, while rough winds caused most of the formations to become separated. After several attempts to regroup failed,Lieutenant Commander Niichi Nakanishi,Wing Commander of Genzan Air Group, ordered them to abort mission and return to base,[2] thereby reducing the impact of a much heavier raid.[4] Only seventeen G3M bombers of Mihoro Air Group reached Singapore on schedule, unobstructed by bad weather.[2]
The Japanese formation was detected by a radar station inMersing,Johor,Malaya, almost an hour before they reached Singapore. ThreeBrewster Buffalo fighters ofNo. 453 Squadron RAAF were on standby atRAF Sembawang. However, Flight LieutenantTim Vigors' request toscramble and intercept the Japanese bombers was denied.[6]Air Chief MarshalRobert Brooke-Popham feared that the anti-aircraft batteries would fire on the friendly fighters, despite Vigors being an experiencednight fighter in theBattle of Britain. He was supplemented by the belief that the Buffalo fighter was only suited for daylight fighting and could not be used at night. Paradoxically, there were 12Bristol Blenheim Mark IF night fighters ofNo. 27 Squadron RAF stationed inSungai Petani, Malaya, but were being used asground-attack aircraft.[7]
The streets were still brightly lit despiteair raid sirens going off at 0400, allowing pilotnavigators to locate their targets without difficulty.Air Raid Precautions (ARP) Headquarters was not even manned, and there was no blackout as police andpower station officials could not find the employee who had the key to the switch (only two practice blackouts were conducted in September 1941 before the raid).[3] When the bombers began their attack at 0430, Allied anti-aircraft guns immediately opened fire. The battleshipPrince of Wales and battlecruiserRepulse also responded, but no aircraft was shot down. A formation of nine bombers flew over without releasing their bombs to draw the searchlights and anti-aircraft guns away from the other group. They were flying at 12,000 feet, while the second formation was at 4,000 feet.[3]
The 'Raiders Passed' signal was sent out at 0500.[3] The bombers succeeded in bombing the airfields at Seletar and Tengah, damaging threeBristol Blenheim bombers ofNo. 34 Squadron RAF.[4] A number of bombs also fell onRaffles Place. 61 people were killed and more than 700 were injured. Most of the casualties were troops of the 2/2nd Gurkha Rifles,11th Indian Infantry Division. The Japanese bombers all returned safely to Thu Dau Mot.[8]
Though the bombing caused only minor damage to the airfields, it stunned theBritish Far East Command. Despite intelligence reports of Japanese aircraft performance in theSecond Sino-Japanese War, the command did not believe Japan's air forces were capable of striking Singapore from airfields more than 600 miles away in Indochina. The raid came as a surprise toLieutenant GeneralArthur Percival, who "hardly expected the Japanese to have any very long-range aircraft."[4]
Rudely awakened in the small hours of the morning by the screams of air raid sirens and the roar of ack ack guns and in the clear moonlit sky around a formation of Japanese bombers. Bombs were dropped but none fell in our area. So the war in the Far East started – all day we heard news bulletins telling of the wide spread treachery of the Japs – Well! They've asked for it – !! – Diary and 'Line' book written by the pilots ofNo. 453 Squadron RAAF[9]
Singapore had respite from further air raids while the Japanese focussed their attacks on Allied positions in northern Malaya. The next raid occurred on the night of 16/17 December 1941. This was minor attack on RAF Tengah by two Japanese Ki-21s. The next serious raid on Singapore City was on the night of 29/30 December. The Japanese launched their first daylight raid on 12 January 1942, a day after theircapture of Kuala Lumpur allowed them to shift aircraft of theIJAAF to southern Malaya.
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