On 14 February 1942, Valentine’s Day, the British Military Hospital Singapore found itself in no-man’s-land as the British troops retreated in the face of the rampaging Japanese army. 900 soldier-patients lay in bed, awaiting their cruel fate, in those few hours just before the Fall of Singapore in what became known as The Alexandra Hospital Massacres. Wounded Gunners Fergus Anckorn and Dick Lee, both of the Royal Artillery, and Pte Alex Drummond, AIF, lived to tell their tale.

British General Wavell’s report into the Fall of Singapore was declassified on the 1st January 1993, after a 50 year suppression under the UK Secrets Act. The report made scathing allegations against Australian soldiers on Singapore Island leading up to the Fall of Singapore. Allegations that included desertion, indiscipline and failure to send out required patrols. Was this true?

The barbarism of the Imperial Japanese Army had no bounds. When the Japanese invaded Malaya on the 8th December 1941, their overwhelming numbers, mobility with the use of bicycles, light tanks and air superiority, ensured their victory as they made their way south to Singapore. Their speed was such that in some cases, allied soldiers became surrounded or overrun and had no choice but to surrender thinking that they would be protected. But the Japanese policy of taking no prisoners to avoid being slowed down ensured that most would be quickly executed after capture. One such incident occurred at the bridge at Parit Sulong in Southern Malaya.