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[Sg] - Japanese Occupation 80 years ago wiped out more than 50,000 people in Sg
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Hungry 'every minute of the day': Japanese Occupation survivors on starving during WW2
Every meal was potentially a last meal.Belmont Lay | Joshua Lee |
Events
Future-Ready Postgrad Fair 2022
19 February 2022 - 19 February 2022
OnlineThis year, Singapore commemorates the 80th anniversary of the Fall of Singapore and the Japanese Occupation. Over the course of this week, Mothership will be republishing stories that highlight the key events that marked one of the darkest moments in Singapore's history.
The Japanese Occupation from February 1942 to September 1945 was one of the darkest periods in Singapore history.
For young Singaporeans today, the collective agony of World War 2 horrors resides only in textbooks and museums. For older folks, like our grandparents (or even parents), the pain was real, especially the pain of hunger.
Singapore was renamed Syonan-to (Light of the South) during the Occupation. Ironically, however, life was a dark pit, where every meal could be your last — if you could manage to put together a meal at all.
No food, no money
Food was scarce during the Occupation because Singapore's food supply was reduced and whatever came in was unequally distributed among the people. The existing food stocks on the island declined quickly as demand outstripped supply.
Food prices soared.
Prices for necessities such as rice, sugar, and salt were controlled by the Japanese Military Administration Department (M.A.D). They set the maximum prices for these goods and announced them in the newspapers and notices around town.
The Japanese also issued their currency, which the locals called "Banana Money", because of the banana tree designs on them.
The Japanese printed "Banana Money" whenever they needed it, which led to hyperinflation. The notes essentially became worthless pieces of paper.
People would find themselves with huge amounts of "Banana Money", but were unable to use them to buy food.
Due to the severe food shortage, the locals were subjected to food rationing. Each household only received a small unit of rice, flour, sugar, and salt each month.
This allocated unit of food steadily decreased over the years until being hungry became the norm.
Rice, the very staple that people in Singapore depended on for nutrition, was the most severely affected. By 1944, two years into the Occupation, people could only have one bowl of rice per day — and that was if you were well off.
In response, the Japanese encouraged people to find other substitutes for rice, such as tapioca and sweet potato, as seen in this article published in the Syonan Shimbun (Syonan Times):
Black Market
Although the local population was starving, the truth was that there was no real shortage of rice because all rice stocks were hoarded by the Imperial Japanese Army to feed themselves and their supporters.
Many people had to turn to the black market to get the food they needed. Of course, items on the black market were sold at ridiculous prices. Imagine yourself as a mother of a young child who needed milk, and the only way to get it was to pay hundreds of dollars for a small tin off the black market.
Every meal a last meal
People turned to food that was more readily available on the island. Coconut, seafood, and other root crops became staples. The shortage of supplies enforced by the Japanese made every meal a potential last meal.
Ironically, the diet back then is what we would consider a "healthy" diet today. People ate less meat, less sugar, and less oil, but more vegetables and seafood.
However, while the diet is considered "healthy" in today's context, people back then were not eating enough, which led to diseases such as beri beri (lack of vitamin B1); the death rate also spiked during the Occupation.
Sparks of hope
Even in the midst of suffering, there was hope.
In "Wartime Recipes", a six-episode YouTube series by the National Museum Singapore, wartime survivors speak of the extraordinary kindness they experienced from neighbours and even strangers during the Occupation.
Their stories are a reminder that even in desperate times, an act of selflessness can help us tide over the impossible.
Dishes inspired by wartime food
The same YouTube series also provided some recipes inspired by the food that sustained people in Singapore during the Occupation. Here are six dishes you can recreate at home:
1. Tapioca Vadae
Mix grated tapioca, crushed turmeric with salt, finely-chopped chillies, sliced onion, diced curry leaves, and grated coconut. Add a bit of tapioca flour if the mixture is too moist.
Roll the mixture into balls and deep fry.
2. Lemak Sweet Potatoes and Kang Kong
Pound dried shrimps (hei bee) into a coarse paste. Stir fry the paste with chillies and shallots.
Add coconut milk to the stir-fried paste. Add sweet potatoes that have been peeled and cut into cubes into the mixture.
Simmer for 15 minutes before adding kang kong. Cook until done.
3. Sotong with Kiam Chye (preserved vegetables)
Shred the kiam chye and soak it in water to remove excess salt.
Stir-fry diced garlic and chilli and squid before setting aside.
Stir-fry the kiam chye then return the stir-fried garlic-chilli-squid back into the kiam chye and stir-fry them all together.
4. Papaya Soup
Boil everything on this list:
- Sliced semi-ripe papaya
- Shallots (coarsely-pounded)
- Dried shrimp (coarsely-pounded)
- Two chillies
- Belacan
- Prawns
- Pepper
5. Lobster à la Bystander
*Note: No one actually had lobster to eat during World War 2. This was a "fantasy" dish they craved, which they did consume during better years before the war.
Mix the following ingredients:
- Flesh of young coconut
- Lobster
- Tomato sauce
- Pepper
- A bit of sherry
- Salt
Put the mixture in a baking dish and bake.
6. Gula Melaka Blancmange
Mix Gula Melaka, water, and sugar. Combine the mixture with mung bean flour and thick coconut milk.
Cook the entire mixture in thin coconut milk until it thickens.
Pour it into a mould and refrigerate.
For more on what people ate during World War 2, check out the 6-episode series "Wartime Recipes" or read Wartime Kitchen by Wong Hong Suen.
Top image via Wikimedia Commons. This story was adapted from "Food people ate during Japanese Occupation gets yummy 21st century makeover", published in 2014, and "Here's how S'pore's Japanese Occupation survivors endured 3 years of hunger: Parts 1 and 2", published in 2017.
British prisoner's sketches offer lighthearted take on life during Japanese Occupation 80 years ago
His drawings are proof of the resilience and resourcefulness of prisoners of war.Tanya Ong |
Events
Future-Ready Postgrad Fair 2022
19 February 2022 - 19 February 2022
OnlineThis year, Singapore commemorates the 80th anniversary of the Fall of Singapore and the Japanese Occupation. Over the course of this week, Mothership will be republishing stories that highlight the key events that marked one of the darkest moments in Singapore's history.
During the Japanese Occupation, the Imperial Japanese Army held numerous prisoners of war (POWs) and internees at Changi Prison and several camps.
Former police inspector William R.M. Haxworth, an internee at Changi Prison and Sime Road Camp, was among them.
During his time there, he secretly drew over 300 small paintings and sketches.
His artworks give us a glimpse into life in the POW camps. They not only document the difficult living conditions but often provide a light-hearted (and sometimes humorous) spin on the prisoners' daily lives.
People came to know about Haxworth and his drawings when his wife donated his entire set of sketches to the National Archives of Singapore in 1986.
We share some of them here.
Resourcefulness
Haxworth's drawings are proof of resilience and resourcefulness shown by people in times of war and shortage.
When faced with a lack of art materials, Haxworth used whatever he could lay his hands on to create various sketches and watercolour paintings.
His drawings also document the resourcefulness of the internees regarding footwear.
For instance, bits of a shoe would be cut off if the shoe size was too small:
While some made modifications to canvas shoes "for the purpose of coolness," there were also some who did not wear any shoes.
Harsh conditions
Haxworth's drawings serve as a record of life as an internee, including the harsh conditions that they lived through.
For instance, in a piece called "Changi Comforts", he drew a series of simple objects which were considered to be objects of comfort during that time.
These included stools, fruits and cigarettes — things that could easily be taken for granted in everyday life.
Internees also had to endure bed bug infestations.
Haxworth also stated that the communal toilets had many advantages, but "only those living adjacent to or nearby fully appreciated the disadvantages." Due to overcrowding and unhygienic conditions, one can only imagine the state of the communal toilets.
Due to the rough living conditions, many of the internees transformed from gaunt figures to mere skin and bones by the end of the war.
Mischievous spin
Despite these circumstances, Haxworth managed to find humour in many situations. Some of his drawings took a lighthearted approach. One drawing was of internees getting bitten by sea lice:
Another cheekily portrayed the back view of a naked internee, whom Haxworth called "the internee who would not conform":
In a piece called "Confessions of a member of the kitchen staff", Haxworth revealed that internees who worked in the kitchen secretly plundered the food stock.
In fact, they were bribed (with food) to not overdo it.
Haxworth's creative artworks are a testament to the resilience and adaptability of the people who survived the difficult conditions of war.
You can view his works at the National Archives Online.
Top photos adapted from sketchs by William Haxwoth, via NAS. This article was originally published as "British prisoner's artworks offer rare lighthearted take on life under the Japanese" in 2017.
Battlefield - Fall Of Singapore The fall of Singapore to the Japanese Army on February 15th 1942 is considered one of the greatest defeats in the history of the British Army and probably Britain’s worst defeat in World War Two. The fall of Singapore in 1942 clearly illustrated the way Japan was to fight in the Far East – a combination of speed and savagery that only ended with the use of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in August 1945. Singapore, an island at the southern end of the Malay Peninsula, was considered a vital part of the British Empire and supposedly impregnable as a fortress. The British saw it as the “Gibraltar in the Far East”. The surrender of Singapore demonstrated to the world that the Japanese Army was a force to be reckoned with though the defeat also ushered in three years of appalling treatment for the Commonwealth POW’s who were caught in Singapore. Improvements to Singapore as a British military base had only been completed at great cost in 1938. Singapore epitomised what the British Empire was all about – a strategically vital military base that protected Britain’s other Commonwealth possessions in the Far East. Once the Japanese expanded throughout the region after Pearl Harbour (December 1941), many in Britain felt that Singapore would become an obvious target for the Japanese. However, the British military command in Singapore was confident that the power they could call on there would make any Japanese attack useless. One story told about the attitude of the British Army in Singapore was of a young Army officer complaining that the newly completed defences in Singapore might put off the Japanese from landing there. British troops stationed in Singapore were also told that the Japanese troops were poor fighters; alright against soldiers in China who were poor fighters themselves, but of little use against the might of the British Army. The Japanese onslaught through the Malay Peninsula took everybody by surprise. Speed was of the essence for the Japanese, never allowing the British forces time to re-group. This was the first time British forces had come up against a full-scale attack by the Japanese. Any thoughts of the Japanese fighting a conventional form of war were soon shattered. The British had confidently predicted that the Japanese would attack from the sea. This explained why all the defences on Singapore pointed out to sea. It was inconceivable to British military planners that the island could be attacked any other way – least of all, through the jungle and mangrove swamps of the Malay Peninsula. But this was exactly the route the Japanese took. For the British military command in Singapore, war was still fought by the ‘rule book’. Social life was important in Singapore and the Raffles Hotel and Singapore Club were important social centres frequented by officers. An air of complacency had built-in regarding how strong Singapore was – especially if it was attacked by the Japanese. When the Japanese did land at Kota Bharu aerodrome, in Malaya, Singapore’s governor, Sir Shenton Thomas is alleged to have said: “Well, I suppose you’ll (the army) shove the little men off.” The attack on Singapore occurred almost at the same time as Pearl Harbour. By December 9th 1941, the RAF had lost nearly all of its front line aeroplanes after the Japanese had attacked RAF fields in Singapore. Any hope of aerial support for the army was destroyed before the actual attack on Singapore had actually begun. Britain’s naval presence in Singapore was strong. A squadron of warships was stationed there lead by the modern battleship “Prince of Wales” and the battle cruiser “Repulse”.
Its easy to say the POMs were not well equipped to defend malaya etc,,,but basically they were just incompetent,,the fact is they outnumbered the Nips, had artillery had an air force that did not coordinate with the navy and army etc,,,basically a shitshow,,,and there was no plans to harass like the partisans in Russia and Yugoslavia. This allowed the nips in conquered areas etc allowing the nips free reign of the conquered area,,,and of course the Nips were outnumbered and did not all military strategies have a defenders advantage?
Chapters: 00:00 Introduction 01:47 Malaya: British "Goldmine" in The Far East 04:17 Japan: Operation E 09:11 The Japanese Strategy 13:41 Order of Battle: Japan 18:39 United Kingdom: The Singapore Strategy 22:27 United Kingdom: Progress of The Singapore Strategy 1937-1941 26:17 Order of Battle: Malaya Command 31:05 United Kingdom: Operation Matador and Force Z 34:21 Next on Malaya Campaign Series *Note: All maps in this video was dated on November 1941. Description: Malayan Campaign (1941-1942) | Pacific War By August 1941, Japan’s military situation looked grim, what started as a border skirmish around Beijing had evolved into full-scale war, draining more and more resources from the Empire. Although it was far superior to its Chinese counterpart, the Japanese army had a hard time coping with logistics and was subject to an intense guerilla war. Chinese forces moved rather easily in the countryside and avoided pitched battles limiting Japanese occupation to heavily fortified cities and railways. Even worse, the Allies, unwilling to see Japan threaten their local interests while they were busy dealing with Germany, supplied the united front with oil and equipment. After opportunistically occupying Vichy Indochina to secure the Chinese supply lines Japan was placed under a total embargo of its economy by the Western powers, paving the way to further escalation. With its strategic oil reserve half way to depletion and oil supplies from the USA and Dutch East Indies halted, Japan needed to do something fast. Still nursing wounds after their defeat against the Soviets, the army had decided to join the navy’s doctrine of southern expansion, oil and rubber beckoning them on. In order to cut china from its suppliers they planned to launch a sudden Southern Campaign, using the already seized French Indochina as a springboard. With western colonizers distracted by the war in Europe it was the perfect moment to seize the resource-rich South East Asia. The First objective is the rubber-rich British colony in Malaya…. The Malayan Campaign was the invasion of the Malaya by Imperial Japan and the defense of the Colonial possession by the United Kingdom and commonwealth forces during the Second World War In the Asia-Pacific. This video focused on the early planning and strategy of both forces, the Japanese with Operation E, and The United Kingdom with The Singapore Strategy. Also, include in this video is the Composition of the Rikugun 25th Army and orders of battle and the British Malaya Command with its composition and Order of Battle. A special thanks to RMcD/Ross for providing his voice. Sources: - The Defence and Fall of Singapore 1940-1942 by Brian Farrell - Hirohito's War: The Pacific War, 1941-1945 by Francis Pike - Malaya and Singapore 1941–42: The fall of Britain’s empire in the East (Campaign) By Mark Stille - The Battle for Singapore: The True Story of the Greatest Catastrophe of World War II by Peter Thompson - Battle for Malaya: The Indian Army in Defeat, 1941–1942 by Kaushik Roy - Defeat in Malaya: The Fall of Singapore (Ballantine's Illustrated History of World War II: BB Campaign Book, No. 5) by Arthur Swinson - Sepoys Against the Rising Sun: The Indian Army in Far East and South-East Asia, 1941–45 by Kaushik Roy - How the Gibraltar of the east fell. A historical analysis of the Singapore Strategy up to WWII
Chapters: 00:00 Introduction 01:47 Malaya: British "Goldmine" in The Far East 04:17 Japan: Operation E 09:11 The Japanese Strategy 13:41 Order of Battle: Japan 18:39 United Kingdom: The Singapore Strategy 22:27 United Kingdom: Progress of The Singapore Strategy 1937-1941 26:17 Order of Battle: Malaya Command 31:05 United Kingdom: Operation Matador and Force Z 34:21 Next on Malaya Campaign Series *Note: All maps in this video was dated on November 1941. Description: Malayan Campaign (1941-1942) | Pacific War By August 1941, Japan’s military situation looked grim, what started as a border skirmish around Beijing had evolved into full-scale war, draining more and more resources from the Empire. Although it was far superior to its Chinese counterpart, the Japanese army had a hard time coping with logistics and was subject to an intense guerilla war. Chinese forces moved rather easily in the countryside and avoided pitched battles limiting Japanese occupation to heavily fortified cities and railways. Even worse, the Allies, unwilling to see Japan threaten their local interests while they were busy dealing with Germany, supplied the united front with oil and equipment. After opportunistically occupying Vichy Indochina to secure the Chinese supply lines Japan was placed under a total embargo of its economy by the Western powers, paving the way to further escalation. With its strategic oil reserve half way to depletion and oil supplies from the USA and Dutch East Indies halted, Japan needed to do something fast. Still nursing wounds after their defeat against the Soviets, the army had decided to join the navy’s doctrine of southern expansion, oil and rubber beckoning them on. In order to cut china from its suppliers they planned to launch a sudden Southern Campaign, using the already seized French Indochina as a springboard. With western colonizers distracted by the war in Europe it was the perfect moment to seize the resource-rich South East Asia. The First objective is the rubber-rich British colony in Malaya…. The Malayan Campaign was the invasion of the Malaya by Imperial Japan and the defense of the Colonial possession by the United Kingdom and commonwealth forces during the Second World War In the Asia-Pacific. This video focused on the early planning and strategy of both forces, the Japanese with Operation E, and The United Kingdom with The Singapore Strategy. Also, include in this video is the Composition of the Rikugun 25th Army and orders of battle and the British Malaya Command with its composition and Order of Battle. A special thanks to RMcD/Ross for providing his voice. Sources: - The Defence and Fall of Singapore 1940-1942 by Brian Farrell - Hirohito's War: The Pacific War, 1941-1945 by Francis Pike - Malaya and Singapore 1941–42: The fall of Britain’s empire in the East (Campaign) By Mark Stille - The Battle for Singapore: The True Story of the Greatest Catastrophe of World War II by Peter Thompson - Battle for Malaya: The Indian Army in Defeat, 1941–1942 by Kaushik Roy - Defeat in Malaya: The Fall of Singapore (Ballantine's Illustrated History of World War II: BB Campaign Book, No. 5) by Arthur Swinson - Sepoys Against the Rising Sun: The Indian Army in Far East and South-East Asia, 1941–45 by Kaushik Roy - How the Gibraltar of the east fell. A historical analysis of the Singapore Strategy up to WWII
https://mothership.sg/2022/02/imperial-japanese-army-surrender-city-hall/
After 3-year Japanese Occupation, Japanese forces surrendered at City Hall in 1945
They were also tried for war crimes.
Mothership | February 19, 2022, 07:30 AM
After 3-year Japanese Occupation, Japanese forces surrendered at City Hall in 1945
They were also tried for war crimes.
Mothership | February 19, 2022, 07:30 AM
Looks delicious....and nothing wrong in eating live foods or dogs....or cats if edible...can eat don't waste
After 3-year Japanese Occupation, Japanese forces surrendered at City Hall in 1945
They were also tried for war crimes.Mothership |
Events
Republic Polytechnic ACE Course Preview (June intake)
02 March 2022 - 03 March 2022
ZoomThis year, Singapore commemorates the 80th anniversary of the Fall of Singapore and the Japanese Occupation. Over the course of this week, Mothership will be republishing stories that highlight the key events that marked one of the darkest moments in Singapore's history.
Mention World War 2 to Singaporeans and thoughts of the Japanese Occupation and its associated atrocities, suffering, and death come to mind. It was a difficult time.
Singapore fell to Imperial Japan on Feb. 15, 1942. This year marks the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the Occupation.
It was a dark period that saw the local population suffer severe food shortages and the general brutality of the occupying forces, which included the massacres carried out in the Sook Ching operation.
Things changed, however, when the United States dropped two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima on Aug. 6 and Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945.
Japan surrendered, unconditionally
On Aug. 15, 1945, Japanese Emperor Hirohito announced over the radio that Japan had accepted its fate of surrendering unconditionally to the Allied forces, marking the beginning of the end of the war and Japanese Occupation.
Following that, leaflets written in English, Chinese, Japanese, Jawi, and Tamil were dropped by Allied planes over places like Singapore, announcing the news of the surrender.
Formal surrender
Following a few weeks of chaos that saw some locals who had collaborated with the Japanese lynched by groups of people, the formal ceremony for the Japanese surrender to the British was held on Sept. 12, 1945.
In a ceremony held at City Hall (present-day National Gallery Singapore), Imperial Japanese Army General Seishiro Itagaki led a delegation of Japanese representatives and signed the formal Instrument of Surrender in the presence of the British led by Lord Louis Mountbatten, the Supreme Commander of South-East Asia Command.
The ceremony brought the war and Japanese Occupation to an official end for Singapore.
Footage of The Tiger of Malaya being tried for war crimes
Months after conquering Singapore, General Tomoyuki Yamashita, the architect behind the swift Japanese invasion of Malaya and Singapore during World War 2, fell out of favour with the Japanese imperial government.
Yamashita was transferred to Manchuria before he was recalled in 1944 to command the defence of the Philippines against U.S. forces trying to re-take their territory.
At the end of the war, Yamashita was taken prisoner by U.S. forces and put on trial for his involvement in war crimes, including Sook Ching.
Yamashita's trial proceedings and his sentencing were captured on film. You can watch footage of the proceedings in this clip which was posted by The Merlion Press.
In it, Yamashita denied knowledge of the atrocities committed under his command. He was also solemn and dejected, looking nothing like the figure that he was during the British surrender at the old Ford Factory.
Yamashita was sentenced to death by hanging. His execution took place on Feb. 23, 1946, at a location near Manila in the Philippines.
Top image from Wikipedia.
This article is adapted from two articles written by Henedick Chng and published on Mothership.sg in 2017: "Japan formally surrendered 72 years ago, marking the end of Japanese Occupation of S'pore" and "Rare newsreel video captured trial & sentencing of General Yamashita who ordered Sook Ching"
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