シンガポールの陥落の歌 - Japanese WW2 song

Today marks the 80th anniversary of the fall of the British colony of Singapore to the Empire of Japan in the Second World War.

On 15th February 1942, a British delegation, led by General Arthur Percival, and a Japanese delegation, led by Yamashita Tomoyuki, signed a treaty in the Ford Motor Factory in Bukit Timah, officiating the surrender of the British and beginning the Japanese occupation of Singapore.

During the occupation, Singapore was renamed Shōnan (昭南, EN: Light of the South). 25,000 ethnic Chinese were killed during the Sook Ching (EN: Cleansing) operation. General Percival and other high-ranking military officials were taken as prisoners of war.

On 12th September 1945, the Japanese occupation ended and Singapore was officially returned to the British.

Although the occupation is considered the darkest period in Singapore's history, the swift defeat of the British provided the first push of nationalism in Singapore that eventually culminated into the separation of Singapore from the British Empire in 1963.

The day that Singapore fell to the Japanese is now commemorated locally as Total Defence Day, a day in which sirens would sound all over the country at exactly 6:20pm, the exact time the surrender treaty was signed.

The picture is that of Japanese troops marching through Fullerton Square after the victory in 1942.