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| Thursday, 26 February 2004 |
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Prelude to Sri Lanka's brush with World War II : When Singapore fell in 1942 by Derrick Schokman Sri Lanka's first real impact with World War II were the bombings of the Colombo and Trincomalee harbours by the Japanese and the subsequent creation of the South East Asian Command (SEAC) with its headquarters at Peradeniya. It was only on a recent visit to Singapore that I had the opportunity to get a fuller picture of the prelude to the above events, which have been recreated in the Battle Box in Ford Canning Park. The Battle Box was the nerve centre for Britain's military operations in S. E. Asia during world war II. It was there that Lt. Gen. Percival, General officer commanding the Malaya Command, made the crucial decision to surrender to the Japanese on 15 February 1942. The Battle Box, a nine-metre underground complex of 26 rooms and corridors, was able to survive the destructions of war and its aftermath. On its rediscovery it has been recreated through the use of specially arranged audio and video effects, high quality animatronics and specially crafted figurines to take visitors back to that fateful day when Singapore surrendered. Having won the battle for Malaya, the Japanese invaded Singapore, Britain's last defence in S.E. Asia, on 8 February 1942. There were around 100,000 military personnel from Australia, Britain and India chiefly to defend the island. But they were unable to withstand the massive artillery and air onslaught directed by the Japanese. Within one week mounting military and civilian casualties and a shortage of ammunition forced General Percival to surrender. In a guided tour of the recreated Battle Box, surrounded by the sound of bombing, visitors can experience the happenings of that fateful day as they are conducted via the cipher, signal and gun operation rooms to the conference room where the final decision to surrender was taken. Visitors can listen to the General and key officers under his command discuss the pros and cons of the critical situation in which they were placed. When Singapore fell, Sri Lanka was next in line. The Japanese armada, which had already won the Battle of the Java Sea against Britain's Far Eastern Fleet, was on its way to carry out mopping up operations, believing the fleet to be undergoing repairs in the Colombo and Trincomalee harbours. They bombed these harbours in April, but the British fleet was safe in the Maldives. It was not long after that the Allied Forces regrouped as SEAC under the command of Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten in Sri Lanka until the termination of the war. |
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