The Battle of Singapore came to an end on February 15 when Lieutenant General Percival surrendered British, Australian and Indian forces to General Tomoyuki Yamashita. Newton and his group of wounded men were still in the battle area. Their plan to escape was thwarted when they were betrayed by locals. They were eventually captured and taken to Kuala Lumpur's Pudu Jail, where Newton faced 60 hours of interrogation. He found that despite only being a captain, he was the highest ranking Australian officer at Pudu. He quickly decided that the best way to protect his men was to adopt practices not normally part of military routines. Trading with civilians and smuggling in extra food from the outside built trust among the prisoners of war. When he was moved from Pudu to Changi Prison his commanding officer was Lieutenant Colonel Frederick Galleghan, who did not approve of Newton's style or the way he had acted at Pudu. Despite a number of clashes between them it came as a surprise in March 1943 when Galleghan appointed Captain Newton to head U Battalion, D Force. This comprised 695 men mainly drawn from the 22nd Brigade. They left Changi and their destination turned out to be the Thai-Burma Railway in Kanchanaburi, Thailand. Newton's appointment meant he had jumped over many more senior officers. There was speculation that it could have been Galleghan's way of getting him out of Changi.