1942 Battlefield tour of Singapore

Yesterday afternoon we did a 3.5 hour tour on the battlfields of Singapore. It took us to some historical sites that are not open to the general public including going down into the underground ‘Battle Box” on Fort Canning Hill where the Allied command ran the war. The battle box was dug into the top of the hill and was completely hidden from the outside due to the thick jungle. We visited the room where the decision was made to surrender to the Japanese and then also saw the different cannons and fort areas built nearby. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos in the underground bunker

Then we travelled out to another fort which was facing the Malay peninsula, only accessable by sea it had five cannons and an underground fort. One section of the fort was so heavily covered by jungle it was only discovered in 2005. Our guide told us the history of the Fall of Singapore which took only five days. Our group had only 5 people, all Aussies so she shared stories about Australian soldiers with us, also the Z force raids and some of the horrific massacres and tortures that occurred.

We finished with a very moving visit to Kranji War Cemetery. All those who died in the defence of Singapore are buried or cremated here. Over 4500 graves and over 24000 names of those whose bodies were never recovered are inscribed on the walls.
This whole tour was just an amazing experience and we learned so much about Singapore in WWII.