Singapore Weekend- The Battlebox

When we first moved to the this part of the world this site in Singapore was closed. We learned that renovations would be taking place. We waited. A couple of years later we tried to get tickets for the newly renovated site but tickets were sold out. Finally, this year, we got our tour of the Battle Box-A Story of Strategy and Surrender: The Battlebox Experience.

Fort Canning Bunker (often called The Battle Box) was constructed under Fort Canning Hill, Singapore, as an emergency, bomb-proof command center used during the Malayan Campaign and the Battle of Singapore.

A little history. In the 14th C. Malayan Kings built their palaces on this hill. In 1819, the British set up a port and the hill was the location of the Governor's home.

In 1862, the British built an artillery fort here and named it Fort Canning. That name stuck.

By 1926, Fort Canning was declared redundant and was demolished to be replaced with a new command headquarters and barracks for the Malaya command, the army defending British Malaya and Singapore. Between 1936 and 1941, the British built an underground command center. It was top secret, self-contained and bomb-proof.

On December 8, 1941, the Imperial Japanese invaded Malaya. Allied Forces were pushed back to Singapore island. The attack was meant to exactly coincide with the attack on Pearl Harbor, but actually began over an hour earlier.

On February 15, 1942, Lt. General Percival decided to surrender Singapore and 120,000 men to the Japanese.

It seemed like a pretty large place and it is.

The British, Australian and Indian Army commanders had already endured 70 days of brutal fighting. Their forces were short on food, water, ammunition and fuel. We toured the actual room where Percival hoped his support team would talk him out of surrendering.

It was an interesting mix of history and intrigue as the tour guide informed us of some of the politics going on within Gen Percival's command. Also Gen Percival was sent to a Japanese POW camp and then transferred to Japan itself. When the Japanese general who defeated Percival and MacArthur surrendered at the end of the was, Gen Percival was there with Gen MacArthur to accept the surrender.