Bombing Of Singapore (1944–1945)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Bombing of Singapore (1944–1945) was a military campaign conducted by the Allied air forces during World War II.
United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
(USAAF) long-range bomber units conducted 11 air raids on Japanese-occupied Singapore between November 1944 and March 1945. Most of these raids targeted the island's naval base and dockyard facilities, and minelaying missions were conducted in nearby waters. After the American bombers were redeployed, the British
Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...
assumed responsibility for minelaying operations near Singapore and these continued until 24 May 1945. The raids had mixed results. While significant damage was inflicted on Singapore's important naval base and commercial port, some raids on these targets were not successful and other attacks on oil storage facilities on islands near Singapore were ineffective. The minelaying campaign disrupted Japanese shipping in the Singapore area and resulted in the loss of three vessels and damage to a further ten, but was not decisive. The Allied air attacks were successful in raising the morale of Singapore's civilian population, who believed that the raids marked the impending liberation of the city. The overall number of civilian casualties from the bombings was low, though civilian workers were killed during attacks on military facilities; one attack rendered hundreds of people homeless.


Background

In the decades after
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, Britain expanded
Singapore Naval Base His Majesty's Naval Base, Singapore, also Her Majesty's Naval Base, Singapore (HMNB Singapore), alternatively known as the Singapore Naval Base, Sembawang Naval Base and HMS Sembawang, was situated in Sembawang at the northern tip of Singapore ...
at
Sembawang Sembawang ( ) is a Planning Areas of Singapore, planning area and New towns of Singapore, residential town located in the North Region, Singapore, North Region of Singapore. Sembawang planning area is bordered by Simpang to the east, Mandai to t ...
on Singapore's north coast as part of plans to deter Japanese expansionism in the region (the
Singapore strategy The Singapore strategy was a naval defence policy of the United Kingdom that evolved in a series of Military operation plan, war plans from 1919 to 1941. It aimed to deter aggression by Japan by providing a base for a fleet of the Royal Navy in ...
). The resulting facility was among the most important in the
British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...
and included the large King George VI
graving dock A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...
and Admiralty No.IX floating dry dock. The Commonwealth forces allocated to Malaya and Singapore were swiftly defeated in the months after the outbreak of the
Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War or the Pacific Theatre, was the Theater (warfare), theatre of World War II fought between the Empire of Japan and the Allies of World War II, Allies in East Asia, East and Southeast As ...
, however, and the island was surrendered to the Japanese on 15 February 1942.Toh (2009), p. 909 Singapore was bombed by Japanese aircraft on a number of occasions during the
Battle of Malaya The Malayan campaign, referred to by Japanese sources as the , was a military campaign fought by Allied and Axis forces in Malaya, from 8 December 1941 – 15 February 1942 during the Second World War. It was dominated by land battles between ...
and subsequent fighting on the island itself; these raids caused many civilian deaths. Singapore Naval Base suffered little damage during the fighting in 1941 and 1942, and became the most important facility of the
Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, Potsdam Declaration, when it was dissolved followin ...
(IJN) outside the Japanese home islands.Cate (1953), p. 156 As was the case under British rule, many locally recruited civilians worked in the base, though the Japanese Navy subjected them to harsh discipline which included physical beatings for minor mistakes as well as imprisonment or execution for theft and leaks of information. The Japanese Second Fleet and Third Fleet were transferred from the central Pacific to Singapore and the nearby
Lingga Islands The Lingga Regency () is a group of 600 islands in Indonesia, located south of Singapore and along both sides of the equator, off the eastern coast of Riau Province on Sumatra island. They are due south of the populated Riau Archipelago, known ...
between February and April 1944 to be closer to their sources of fuel oil. These two fleets comprised the main body of the IJN, and operated most of its remaining
battleship A battleship is a large, heavily naval armour, armored warship with a main battery consisting of large naval gun, guns, designed to serve as a capital ship. From their advent in the late 1880s, battleships were among the largest and most form ...
s and
aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and hangar facilities for supporting, arming, deploying and recovering carrier-based aircraft, shipborne aircraft. Typically it is the ...
s. The forces allocated to the defence of Singapore were not strong. In early 1945, Japanese air defences for the island included only two Army companies equipped with
automatic cannon An autocannon, automatic cannon or machine cannon is a automatic firearm, fully automatic gun that is capable of rapid-firing large-caliber ( or more) armour-piercing, explosive or incendiary ammunition, incendiary shell (projectile), shells, ...
, some IJN anti-aircraft units, and a small number of fighter aircraft. Some of the anti-aircraft guns were crewed by Malay auxiliaries.Toh (2009), p. 915 The effectiveness of what was already an inadequate air defence force was hindered by a lack of coordination between the Army and Navy, shortages of fire control equipment for the guns, and no fire-control radar or
barrage balloon A barrage balloon is a type of airborne barrage, a large uncrewed tethered balloon used to defend ground targets against aircraft attack, by raising aloft steel cables which pose a severe risk of collision with hostile aircraft, making the atta ...
s being available. Defence against night raids was particularly weak as no
night fighter A night fighter (later known as all-weather fighter or all-weather interceptor post-Second World War) is a largely historical term for a fighter aircraft, fighter or interceptor aircraft adapted or designed for effective use at night, during pe ...
s were stationed near Singapore and coordination between the anti-aircraft guns and searchlight units was poor. In June 1944, the USAAF's
XX Bomber Command The XX Bomber Command was a United States Army Air Forces bomber formation. Its last assignment was with Twentieth Air Force, based on Okinawa. It was inactivated on 16 July 1945. History The idea of basing Boeing B-29 Superfortresses in ...
began flying combat operations with
B-29 Superfortress The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is a retired American four-engined Propeller (aeronautics), propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to ...
heavy bombers from air bases near
Kharagpur Kharagpur () is a semi- planned urban agglomeration and a major industrial city in the Paschim Medinipur district of West Bengal, India. It is the headquarters of the Kharagpur subdivision and the largest city of the district. It is located 1 ...
in northeastern India. Although the Command's primary role was to attack industrial targets in the Japanese home islands, approximately 50 percent of its missions were undertaken to support other Allied operations in the Pacific. The XX Bomber Command reported to the USAAF's
Twentieth Air Force The Twentieth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic) (20th AF) is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). It is headquartered at Francis E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming. 20 AF's primary mission is Intercon ...
, which was personally directed from Washington, D.C., by the commander of the USAAF General
Henry H. Arnold Henry Harley "Hap" Arnold (25 June 1886 – 15 January 1950) was an American General officers in the United States, general officer holding the ranks of General of the Army (United States), General of the Army and later, General of the Ai ...
, rather than the Allied
theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...
commanders in India and China. Major General
Curtis LeMay Curtis Emerson LeMay (November 15, 1906 – October 1, 1990) was a United States Air Force, US Air Force General (United States), general who was a key American military commander during the Cold War. He served as Chief of Staff of the United St ...
assumed command of XX Bomber Command on 29 August after Arnold relieved its first commander. Following the Japanese defeat in the
Battle of Leyte Gulf The Battle of Leyte Gulf () 23–26 October 1944, was the largest naval battle of World War II and by some criteria the largest naval battle in history, with over 200,000 naval personnel involved. By late 1944, Japan possessed fewer capital sh ...
in late October 1944, the remnants of the IJN were concentrated into two groups of ships. One group returned to bases in the
Inland Sea An inland sea (also known as an epeiric sea or an epicontinental sea) is a continental body of water which is very large in area and is either completely surrounded by dry land (landlocked), or connected to an ocean by a river, strait or " arm of ...
, while the other was stationed at the Lingga Islands. On 27 October, Arnold suggested to LeMay that the Japanese defeat at Leyte might have increased the importance of Singapore's naval facilities and asked whether XX Bomber Command could attack targets on the island. Little recent intelligence on Singapore was available, and on 30 October a photo-reconnaissance B-29 overflew Singapore for the first time and took good photos of the island. Despite this success, LeMay's staff believed that a daylight attack on Singapore—which required a round trip from Kharagpur—could not be successful. Regardless, Arnold ordered that XX Bomber Command attack Singapore.


Raids


Initial attack

The first raid on Singapore took place on 5 November 1944. XX Bomber Command dispatched 76 B-29s from their bases around Kharagpur. Because of the extreme range to the target, the aircraft were each armed with only two 1,000 pound bombs; pilots were also instructed to bomb from the lower-than-normal altitude of , and to maintain a loose formation. The raid's primary target was the King George VI Graving Dock, and the Pangkalanbrandan refinery in northern
Sumatra Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...
was assigned as the secondary target. The first B-29s arrived over Singapore Naval Base at 06:44. Bombing was highly accurate, with the lead aircraft putting a bomb within of the graving dock's caisson gate. The third B-29's bombs landed nearby and other aircraft also scored direct hits on the graving dock, rendering it unserviceable for three months. The bombs which landed in and near the King George VI Graving Dock also damaged the freighter that was under repair in it at the time. Many of the civilian workers in and around the dock were unable to escape and were killed. The raiders also inflicted damage on other facilities in the naval base. Overall, 53 Superfortresses bombed Singapore Naval Base while seven attacked Pangkalanbrandan refinery. Few Japanese anti-aircraft guns or aircraft fired on the raiders, but two B-29s were lost in accidents.Toh (2009), p. 917 This raid was the longest daylight bombing operation to have been conducted up to that time. Following the attack, Japanese soldiers murdered a group of injured Indonesian workers. The damage to the King George VI Graving Dock meant that it could not be used to repair the Japanese battleships damaged at the Battle of Leyte Gulf.


Later bombing raids

The next raid on Singapore took place in January 1945. Following reports that Japanese warships damaged during the Philippines Campaign were being repaired at Singapore, a force of 47 Superfortresses was dispatched from India to attack the Admiralty IX Floating Dock as well as the King's Dock on the island's south coast. These aircraft took off at about midnight on 10 January and began to arrive over Singapore at 08:20 on 11 January. Only 27 of the attackers struck the docks, and due to heavy anti-aircraft fire from Japanese warships in the
Straits of Johor The Johor Strait (also known as the Tebrau Strait, Straits of Johor, Selat Johor, Selat Tebrau, and Tebrau Reach, also spelled Johore Strait) is an international strait in Southeast Asia, between Singapore and Peninsular Malaysia. Geography ...
the bombers did not cause any damage. The other aircraft bombed
Penang Penang is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia along the Strait of Malacca. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay Peninsula. Th ...
in Malaya,
Mergui Myeik (, or ; , ; , , ; formerly Mergui, ) is a rural city in Tanintharyi Region, Myanmar, located in the extreme south of the country on the coast off an island on the Andaman Sea. , the estimated population was over 209,000. ''World Gazett ...
in Burma and several targets of opportunity, generally without success. Two B-29s were lost during this operation.Toh (2009), p. 914Cate (1953), p. 157 In January 1945, XX Bomber Command began preparations to redeploy to the
Mariana Islands The Mariana Islands ( ; ), also simply the Marianas, are a crescent-shaped archipelago comprising the summits of fifteen longitudinally oriented, mostly dormant volcanic mountains in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, between the 12th and 21st pa ...
. The Command ceased its attacks on Japan and East Asia, for which it used bases in China to refuel the B-29s ''en route'' to their targets, and instead focused on targets in
Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...
that could be reached from Kharagpur. As there were few industrial targets within range of Kharagpur, the highest priority was given to attacking shipping in major ports such as
Rangoon Yangon, formerly romanized as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar. Yangon was the List of capitals of Myanmar, capital of Myanmar until 2005 and served as such until 2006, when the State Peace and Dev ...
, Bangkok and Singapore as well as smaller harbours. Attacks were conducted through both conventional bombing and laying
naval mine A naval mine is a self-contained explosive weapon placed in water to damage or destroy surface ships or submarines. Similar to anti-personnel mine, anti-personnel and other land mines, and unlike purpose launched naval depth charges, they are ...
s. As part of the transition, LeMay departed for the Mariana Islands on 18 January and was replaced by Brigadier General Roger M. Ramsey. XX Bomber Command conducted a major conventional bombing raid on Singapore Naval Base on 1 February. On that day, 112 B-29s were dispatched, each armed with four bombs. The raid's primary target, the Admiralty IX Floating Dock, was bombed by 67 of the 88 aircraft that reached Singapore. This attack sank the dry dock and destroyed the ship berthed inside it. The other 21 aircraft that attacked Singapore bombed the West Wall area of the naval base and destroyed many buildings and some heavy equipment; this area housed the base's main offices. Of the remaining aircraft, 20 diverted and attacked targets in Penang and
Martaban Mottama (, ; Muttama , ; formerly Martaban) is a town in the Thaton District of Mon State, Myanmar. Located on the west bank of the Thanlwin river (Salween), on the opposite side of Mawlamyaing, Mottama was the capital of the Martaban Kingdo ...
. A Japanese fighter shot down one of the B-29s and another Superfortress was destroyed on landing after suffering damage from air attack.Cate (1953), p. 160 Although XX Bomber Command began preparations to attack on Singapore Naval Base again on 6 February, this raid was cancelled on the third of the month by Admiral
Louis Mountbatten Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (born Prince Louis of Battenberg; 25 June 1900 – 27 August 1979), commonly known as Lord Mountbatten, was a British statesman, Royal Navy of ...
, the commander of Allied forces in the Southeast Asian theatre. Mountbatten ordered that the naval installations at Singapore and Penang not be targeted as they would be needed by Allied forces following the projected liberation of Malaya and Singapore later in 1945. After requesting clarification of this order, Ramsey met with Mountbatten at
Kandy Kandy (, ; , ) is a major city located in the Central Province, Sri Lanka, Central Province of Sri Lanka. It was the last capital of the Sinhalese monarchy from 1469 to 1818, under the Kingdom of Kandy. The city is situated in the midst of ...
. In this meeting Mountbatten assigned targets in the Kuala Lumpur area as XX Bomber Command's first priority, while second priority was given to carefully selected areas of Singapore. These areas excluded the King George VI Graving Dock and several other docks and areas with heavy machinery, but allowed attacks on the West Wall area of Singapore Naval Base, naval oil stores and commercial dock facilities.
Saigon Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) ('','' TP.HCM; ), commonly known as Saigon (; ), is the most populous city in Vietnam with a population of around 14 million in 2025. The city's geography is defined by rivers and canals, of which the largest is Saigo ...
was assigned as XX Bomber Command's third priority and fourth priority was given to oil storage dumps on islands near Singapore. The next bombing raid on Singapore took place on 24 February. On that day, 116 B-29s were dispatched to bomb the Empire Dock area at Singapore's southern tip. This was a commercial dock, and was considered by XX Bomber Command planners to be "the only suitable primary target free of stipulations left in this theatre". The bombers were armed with incendiary bombs, and the 105 B-29s which reached Singapore succeeded in burning out 39 percent of the warehouse area near the dock. Several oil storage tanks were also severely damaged. As a result of the target being obscured by smoke, 26 of the B-29s used blind rather than visual bombing, resulting in poor accuracy and damage to civilian residential and commercial areas near the dock area. More than 100 commercial and residential buildings were destroyed. The '' Syonan Shimbun'' newspaper subsequently reported that 396 people had been made homeless by the raid. USAAF losses were limited to a single B-29 which crashed after running out of fuel on its way back to India.Cate (1953), p. 162 XX Bomber Command attacked Singapore again on 2 March. As many of the Command's service units were ''en route'' to the Marianas, only 64 B-29s could be dispatched. These aircraft targeted the shop and warehouse area in Singapore Naval Base with bombs. The 49 B-29s which reached Singapore bombed this area and added to the damage caused by earlier raids, but the results of the attack were again limited by anti-aircraft fire from Japanese warships. Two B-29s were shot down by anti-aircraft guns.Cate (1953), p. 163 The final two raids conducted by XX Bomber Command before it deployed to the Marianas targeted oil storage facilities on islands in the Singapore area. On 12 March, three B-29 groups were dispatched to attack
Bukom Bukom is a village and suburb of Accra, the capital of Ghana. Bukom has produced a number of successful Boxing, boxers. These include Azumah Nelson, Bukom Banku, Ike Quartey and Kwame Asante, as well as welterweight Joshua Clottey, who won the ...
and Sebarok islands just off the south coast of Singapore as well as Samboe Island, which is a few miles south near
Batam Island Batam, officially the City of Batam (, not to be confused with ''Batam Kota'', a kecamatan, district within this city), is the largest List of regencies and cities of Indonesia, city in the Indonesian province of Riau Islands. The city administra ...
in the
Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies (; ), was a Dutch Empire, Dutch colony with territory mostly comprising the modern state of Indonesia, which Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, declared independence on 17 Au ...
. Each of the groups was assigned a different island and no Japanese anti-aircraft guns or fighters were encountered. Despite this, poor weather meant that the 44 B-29s which reached the target area had to use blind bombing techniques and their attacks caused little damage. The command's final attack before it departed for the Marianas took place on the night of 29/30 March when 29 Superfortresses were sent to attack Bukom Island. In order to train the aircrew for the low-level tactics which were being used against the Japanese home islands, the bombers attacked their targets individually from altitudes between and . This raid destroyed seven of the 49 oil tanks in the island, and a further three were damaged. No B-29s were lost in either attack. In early August P-38 Lightnings carried out several raids over Singapore. Two Japanese fighters were shot down by the P-38's as were two P-38's by Japanese fighters.


Minelaying near Singapore

As part of its campaign against shipping, around each full moon from late January 1945 XX Bomber Command conducted minelaying missions. On the night of 25/26 January, 41 B-29s from the 444th and
468th Bombardment Group The 468th Bombardment Group was a World War II United States Army Air Forces combat organization. The unit served primarily in the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II, Pacific Ocean theater and China Burma India Theater of World War II as p ...
s laid six minefields in the approaches to Singapore. On the same night other B-29s laid mines off Saigon and
Cam Ranh Bay Cam Ranh Bay () is a deep-water bay in Vietnam in Khánh Hòa Province. It is located at an inlet of the South China Sea situated on the southeastern coast of Vietnam, between Phan Rang and Nha Trang, approximately 290 kilometers (180 miles) nor ...
as part of the largest single aerial minelaying effort in the Pacific up to that time. On the night of 27/28 February, twelve B-29s were dispatched to lay mines in the Straits of Johor near Singapore. Ten of these aircraft successfully deployed 55 mines in the target area, and another aircraft mined Penang. During the next full moon period on the night of 28/29 March, 22 B-29s laid mines near Singapore. No aircraft were lost during these missions.Cate (1953), p. 159 Following the withdrawal of XX Bomber Command, the British
Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...
's No. 222 Group assumed responsibility for minelaying operations in the Singapore area using
B-24 Liberator The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models desi ...
bombers.Royal Navy (1995b), pp. 45–46 Minelaying ceased on 24 May so that unswept mines did not interfere with the planned British-led landings in Malaya which were scheduled for September.Park (1946), p. 2148 The Japanese established observation posts on islands in the
Singapore Strait The Singapore Strait is a , strait between the Strait of Malacca in the west and the South China Sea in the east. Singapore is on the north of the channel, and the Indonesian Riau Islands are on the south. The two countries share a maritime ...
to spot minefields, but these were not effective and generally the fields were not detected until a ship struck a mine. In total, air-dropped mines sank three ships near Singapore and damaged another ten. Moreover, the minefields disrupted Japanese convoy routes and efforts to repair ships.Royal Navy (1995b), p. 56 The Allied minelaying campaign was too brief to achieve decisive results, however.


Aftermath

XX Bomber Command's attacks on Singapore produced mixed results. The raids on Singapore Naval Base damaged or destroyed many workshops and denied the Japanese the use of the King George VI Graving Dock between late 1944 and early 1945, and the Admiralty IX Dry Dock from February 1945. In addition, workers at the Naval Base did not return to work for some time after each raid, and had to be provided with better pay and rations and additional
air-raid shelter Air raid shelters are structures for the protection of non-combatants as well as combatants against enemy attacks from the air. They are similar to bunkers in many regards, although they are not designed to defend against ground attack (but ...
s. Although the damage inflicted on the Empire Docks area impeded Japanese port operations, the poor condition of the port area also hindered British efforts to rehabilitate Singapore following the war. The attacks on the oil storage tanks on islands near Singapore were less successful, and many were found to still be operable after the Japanese surrender. The Japanese military's efforts to defend Singapore from air attack were unsuccessful. Due to the weak state of the island's air defences, only nine B-29s were shot down during the American campaign, all of them during daylight raids.
Minesweeping Minesweeping is the practice of removing explosive naval mines, usually by a specially designed ship called a minesweeper using various measures to either capture or detonate the mines, but sometimes also with an aircraft made for that purpos ...
operations were also slow, and it took three weeks to declare the port safe after each Allied minelaying raid. The surviving crew members of the American bombers that were shot down met varying fates; a small number linked up with resistance movements such as the
Malayan Peoples' Anti-Japanese Army The Malayan Peoples' Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA) was a communist guerrilla army that resisted the Japanese occupation of Malaya from 1941 to 1945 in World War II. Composed mainly of ethnic Chinese guerrilla fighters, the MPAJA was the largest ...
, while others were captured by the Japanese and held in harsh conditions. Those who were captured by the IJN and held at the Naval Base were beheaded. After the war, the Japanese personnel believed responsible for atrocities against these prisoners were tried during the Seletar War Crimes Trials and those found guilty were executed or served long prison sentences. The air raids on Singapore raised the morale of the island's civilian population. They were seen as heralding Singapore's liberation from Japan's oppressive rule, though civilians were generally careful to hide this belief from Japanese occupation personnel. The B-29s were widely believed to be invulnerable, and civilians were cheered by their apparent ability to attack the Japanese at will. In an attempt to counter this view, the occupation authorities exhibited wreckage from downed B-29s and surviving crew members as well as film footage of a Superfortress being shot down. This propaganda campaign was not successful. The Japanese also failed in their attempts to rouse Singapore's Muslim population against the raids by highlighting damage suffered by a mosque on 11 January and 24 February, the latter a raid which coincided with the celebration of Muhammad's birthday. Another factor which contributed to public support for the raids was that the policy of targeting military installations meant that only a small number of civilians became casualties, and the American bombing came to be seen as highly accurate. The expectation of further attacks caused the prices of food and other commodities to rise, however, as people stockpiled necessities; Japanese attempts to stop this hoarding and profiteering were not successful.Toh (2009), p. 918


See also

* Bombing of Penang (1944–1945) * Bombing of Kuala Lumpur (1945)


Citations


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * published in * * * * * * *


Further reading

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Singapore 1944-1945 1944 in Singapore 1945 in Singapore Conflicts in 1944 Conflicts in 1945 Military history of Singapore during World War II World War II aerial operations and battles of the Pacific theatre Aerial operations and battles of World War II involving the United Kingdom Japan–United Kingdom military relations Japan–United States military relations Japan–Singapore military relations Battles of World War II involving Japan World War II strategic bombing conducted by the United States Airstrikes in Asia Attacks on naval bases Attacks on buildings and structures in Singapore