Churchill to blame for fall of Singapore? British saved lives by not fighting to the last in 1942 says Chan Kwee Sung THE report, "Fight to the death, Churchill told the British army in Singapore" (ST, Jan 30) makes us glad that the British army commander in Singapore paid no heed to his Prime Minister's call for a last stand, and decided, instead, that discretion was the better part of valour in 1942, when he surrendered the island fortress to the Japanese. Our budding population and blossoming metropolis did not need the massive killing and devastation of war that was the fate of Stalingrad in the Soviets' fierce resistance against the Germans, nor that of Manila when the Japanese tried heroically to deny the Americans' return to the city. Churchill was mistaken when he thought his call would be accorded a similar response to that of his earlier one to his people, to "fight on the beaches and to fight in the streets", in the light of an impending German invasion. It was an entirely different context in the case of Singapore, where the British forces were not fighting in defence of their own homes, and the non-existence of a definite homeland for its heterogeneous population commanded no steadfast loyalty. Unquestioning compliance with his orders would have resulted in the loss of more innocent civilian lives through further bombardment, massacres and raping by the invaders enraged by stubborn opposition to an inevitable conquest. Indeed, there would have been many, many more than the thousands whose deaths are commemorated at our Civilian War Memorial, where relatives and loved ones of the innocent dead, as well as religious leaders and heads of business communities, will gather once again to pay their respects on Feb 15, the 56th anniversary of that fateful day of their violent death. It would be fitting if Singaporeans, who turned up so solidly at the Memorial Service at the Indoor Stadium for the victims of the SilkAir disaster, spared some minutes at the Civilian War Memorial on that day as well, so as not to forget these unfortunate victims of war, who died in a manner that was just as shocking and untimely. This letter appeared in The Straits Times forum page on Feb 3, 1998. Fall of Singapore: Should Churchill take the rap? Cornelli Barnett, former keeper of the Churchill archives Dr Ong Chit Chung Chan Kwee Sung Dr Brian P. Farrell Chan Kwee Sung (second letter) Dr Ong Chit Chung (second letter) Roger Boniface Roger Boniface (second letter) Fight to death, Churchill told British Army Moses' start page Copyright © 1998 Singapore Press Holdings. All Rights Reserved.