Famous War: Japanese Occupation in Singapore

1-15 Feb 1942

On 1 Feb 1942, the Japanese reached Singapore island after overrunning British, Australian, and Indian troops. On 5 Feb, down to 18 tanks and lacked ammunition and food, the smaller force commanded of Yamashita attacked the island of Pulau Ubin on the east, creating a bluff that another Japanese force was attacking from the east. This deceived Percival, who moved his major ammunitions stores to the east when the actual Japanese attack came down from the northwest. On 8 Feb, the actual attack on Singapore started with landing of troops on Singapore's northwest coast. Australian troops fought off initial landing attempts while inflicting enormous casualties on the part of the Japanese. However, the Australian troops retreated unnecessarily amidst the confusion of battle, allowing Japanese troops to gain a strong foothold at the shore defense installations. Subsequent landings would be unopposed.

From very early on, British commander Percival had his troops destroy docks and fuel dumps to prevent enemy capture. While it indeed took away Japan's ability to have readily available infrastructure and various resources, the early destruction of such facilities further destroyed defender morale. Such moves instilled the soldiers with the notion that the battle had already been lost.

On 10 Feb, the Japanese 5th and 18th Divisions routed the 22nd Australian Brigade, who retreated further into the city and turned on its citizens, pillaging the city of its food and liquor. By this time, Japanese tanks were also in Singapore in force, first routing Indian troops at the hills of Bukit Timah then denying a successful counterattack by British Brigadier Coates. While RAF fighter pilots bravely downed several Japanese bombers early in the assault, most of them were picked off one by one in dogfights by the superior Zero fighters. Singapore citizens continued to evacuate the city as they had done earlier, though at this stage many boats out of the city faced strafing by Japanese fighters. On 13 Feb, Japanese troops would seize or damage most city reservoirs, attempting to cause chaos by drying up the city. "While there's water," Lieutenant General Arthur Percival says, "We fight on."

On 14 Feb, Japanese troops closed into the city, and atrocities ensued. Lt. Western, a British medical officer, surrendered with a white flag but was bayoneted to death. Then, the Japanese troops entered the Alexandra Hospital, killing over 300 doctors, nurses, and patients, most by bayonets. When Yamashita heard about the incident, he had the Japanese soldiers responsible for the attack executed at the hospital.

Other reports of atrocities including gruesome accounts where Japanese troops emasculated captured British soldiers and sewed their penises to their lips before hanging them in trees where Allied patrols would find them; signs on their necks read "he took a long time to die". Such displays were meant to, and were successful to a certain degree, to demoralize Allied soldiers.

At 1400 hours on Sunday, 15 Feb, Percival decided that he only had enough supplies for two more days of fighting, and surrendered. Yamashita asked Percival, who wore the baggy British tropical uniform shorts that date, "do you wish to surrender unconditionally?", and Percival answered "Yes we do", and that marked the fall of the "Impregnable Fortress" of Singapore to Japanese General Tomoyuki Yamashita. Yamashita's troops had only enough ammunitions to fight a few more days, but Percival did not have that intelligence. Singapore, the Gibraltar of the East, would remain under Japanese control until the end of the war. Until the last moment of battle, the British shore batteries of 15" and 19" guns pointed southward, waiting for the naval assault expected but never came.

Done by: Lucas Ng, 10S25

Famous War: Napoleanic War

Belligerents (Famous ones)
• France
• Ottoman Empire
• Denmark-Norway
• Holland
• Batavian Empire
• Italy
• Confederation of the Rhine
• Duchy of Warsaw (Poland)
• Naples

• United Kingdom
• Prussia
• Austrian Empire
• Spain
• Russian Empire
• Portugal
• Sicily
• Sweden
• United Netherlands

History
The Napoleonic Wars revolved around one person, Napoleon Bonaparte. The extent of
his conquest reached Egypt, and even part of South America was involved in this
war. Although there is no exact date to which the Napoleonic Wars started, however
, it is agreed that the war ended at the Battle of Waterloo (present day Belgium),
which was "the nearest-run thing you ever saw in your life,” according to the
Duke of Wellington (United Kingdom).

Some Outstanding Battles
• Battle of Austerlitz (~160,000) – French victory over Austria and Russia
• Battle of Bautzen (~211,000) – French victory over Prussia and Russia
• Battle of Berezina (~195,000) – Russian victory over France
• Battle of Bidassoa (~151,000) – Allied victory(United Kingdom, Portugal, Spain) over France
• Battle of Borodino (~250,000) – French victory over the Russian Empire
• Siege of Brugos – French victory over Portugal and United Kingdom, with 2,000 French against a 35,000 strong army
• Battle of Dresden (~349,000) – Decisive French victory over Prussia, Russia and Austria
• Battle of Friedland (~140,000) – Decisive French victory over Russia
• Battle of Großbeeren (~140,000) – Allied victory(Prussia, Sweden) over France
• Battle of Heilsberg (~140,000) – Inconclusive between Russia and France
• Battle of Haslach-Jungingen (~30,000) – French victory (5,000) over Austria (25,000)
• Battle of Hanau (~60,000) – French victory (17,000) over Bavaria and Austria (43,000)
• Battle of Jena and Auerstedt (~322,000) – French victory over Prussia and Saxony
• Battle of Katzbach (~216,000) – Coalition victory (Russia and Prussia) over France
• Battle of Kulm – Coalition victory (Russia, Prussia, Austria) over France, after receiving a 60,000 strong reinforcement on the 2nd day of battle
• Battle of La Rotheiere (~150,000) – Prussian victory over the French
• Raid at Altenburg – Decisive Coalition victory (Saxony, Russia)(1,500) over the French (6,500)
• Battle of Ligny (~152,000) – French victory over Prussia
• Batle of Lutzen (~193,000) – French victory over Prussia and Russia
• Battle of Paris – Coalition victory (Russia, Prussia, Austria) over French. France: 50,000. Coalition: 100,000.
• Battle of Abensberg (~170,000) – French, Bavarian and Wurttemberg victory over Austria
• Battle of Ulm (222,000) - Decisive French victory (150,000), with 30,000 Austrians captured.
• Battle of Toulouse – Indecisive. France: 42,430 strong. Allied forces: 49,446 strong.
• Battle of Smolensk – French victory over Russia. Although both sides employed 200,000 men each, only around 50,000 French and 30,000 Russians were engaged.
• Battle of Leipzig (~625,000, 2220 guns) – Decisive Coalition victory (Austria, Prussia, Russia, Sweden, Saxony) over the French, Italian, Polish and Naples Army
• Battle of Waterloo – Decisive coalition victory (United Kingdom and Prussia), which signalled the end of the Napoleonic Wars. France: 72,000 French. Coalition : 68,000 Anglo-allied, 50,000 Prussians
The battles in the Napoleonic Wars are many, impossible to list all the details in this document. Therefore I included the link to the source of the battles during the war if you are interested to know more about the details. =)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Battles_of_the_Napoleonic_Wars
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Napoleonic_battles

Casualties
France and allies:
• 371,000 killed in action
• ~400,000 killed by disease
• Total: 1,000,000 French and allies (mostly Germans and Poles) dead in action, disease and missing

Enemies of France
• 400,000 Russian dead or missing
• 200,000 Prussian dead or missing
• ~300,000 Austrian dead or missing
• ~300,000 Spanish dead or missing
• 311,806 British dead or missing

Total dead or missing
• ~2,500,000 military personnel in Europe
• ~1,000,000 civilians were killed in Europe and in rebellious French overseas colonies

Common estimates of more than 500,000 French dead in Russia in 1812 and
250,000-300,000 French dead in Iberia between 1808 and 1814 give a total of at
least 750,000, and to this must be added hundreds of thousands of more French
dead in other campaigns - probably around 150,000 to 200,000 French dead in the
German campaign of 1813. Thus the above estimates are highly conservative.
Whilst military deaths are invariably put at between 2.5 million and 3.5 million,
civilian death tolls vary from 750,000 to 3 million. Thus estimates of total dead,
both military and civilian, can reasonably range from 3,250,000 to 6,500,000.

Extent of the First French Empire



By: Mervin Yap, 10S25

Famous War: American Civil War

What?
The American Civil War, also known as the War Between the States, was a
civil war that happened in the United States of America during the time
period 1861–1865 that resulted in the deaths of 620,000 soldiers and an
undetermined number of civilian casualties.

What caused the war to happen?
The states in the United States of America had split into two main groups
the Union (led by Abraham Lincoln) and the confederacy (led by Jefferson
Davis) which comprises mainly of slave states.

There are many reasons that led to the separation of the United States of
America but the main one would be because of slavery, as when during the
presidential election, Abraham Lincoln had campaigned against the expansion
of slavery. As the southern states comprises mostly of slave states, this
meant that the Southern would have a loss of economy through slavery and
also fears of racial equality with the African race who they regard as an
inferior and dependent race. The Southern leaders also feared that Lincoln
would stop the expansion of slavery and put it on a course toward
extinction. Hence, the slave states, which had already become a minority
in the House of Representatives, were now facing a future as a perpetual
minority in the Senate and Electoral College against an increasingly
powerful North.

Resulting in the formation of the Confederacy and Separation of the United
States of America.

Aftermath of the War
Northern leaders agreed that victory would require more than the end of
fighting. It had to encompass the two war goals: secession had to be
repudiated and all forms of slavery had to be eliminated. They disagreed
sharply on the criteria for these goals. They also disagreed on the degree
of federal control that should be imposed on the South, and the process by
which Southern states should be reintegrated into the Union.
Reconstruction, which began early in the war and ended in 1877, involved a
complex and rapidly changing series of federal and state policies. The
long-term result came in the three Reconstruction Amendments to the
Constitution: the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery; the
Fourteenth Amendment, which extended federal legal protections equally to
citizens regardless of race; and the Fifteenth Amendment, which abolished
racial restrictions on voting. Reconstruction ended in the different states
at different times, the last three by the Compromise of 1877.

By: Darren Pang, 10S25

Famous War: Sino-Japanese War

WHAT?
The Sino-Japanese War, which is also known as "Jiawu War"(in Chinese as it occurred in the Chinese year) occurred primarily over control of Korea. It happened during 1894 and 1895 and about 60000 soldiers were lost from both side.

WHY?
Korea had traditionally been a tributary state to China. In 1875, Japan was allowed by China to recognise Korea as an independent state. However, China continued to try to assert influence over Korea, and public opinion in Korea split, with conservatives wanting to retain a close relationship with China while reformists wanted Korea to modernize and to have a closer relationship with Japan.

After the assassination of a pro-Japanese reformist in 1894, the Tonghak Peasant Revolution was formed and thus, the Korean government requested from China help in suppressing it.

War between Japan and China was officially declared on August 1, 1894, though some naval fighting had already taken place.The more modern Japanese army defeated the Chinese in a series of battles and by November 21 the Japanese had taken Port Arthur (now known as Lushun).

Although foreign observers had predicted an easy victory for the more massive Chinese forces, as the amount of China's soldier was 10 times the Japanese's, the Japanese had done a more successful job of modernizing, and they were better equipped and prepared. Japanese troops scored quick and overwhelming victories on both land and sea.

AFTERMATH
Faced with these repeated defeats China signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki in April 1895.In this treaty, China recognized the independence of Korea and ceded Taiwan, the adjoining Pescadores, and the Liaotung Peninsula in Manchuria.

The defeat of China at the hands of Japan highlighted the failure of the Chinese army to modernize adequately, and resulted in increased calls within China for accelerated modernization and reform. China also agreed to pay a large indemnity and to give Japan trading privileges on Chinese territory. This treaty was later somewhat modified by Russian fears of Japanese expansion. China's defeat encouraged the Western powers to make further demands of the Chinese government. In China itself, the war triggered a reform movement that attempted to renovate the government, resulting in the beginnings of revolutionary activity against the Manchu rulers of China.

By: Rozanna Abdul Razak, 10S25