page_title: Bombing of Singapore (1941)
section_title: Aftermath
hierarchical_section_title: Bombing of Singapore (1941) / Background / Aftermath
caption_attribution_description: English: The Japanese Campaign and Victory 8 December 1941 - 15 February 1942: Civilians in a Singapore air raid shelter during a Japanese bombing raid.
context_page_description: The bombing of Singapore was an attack on 8 December 1941 by seventeen G3M Nell bombers of Mihoro Air Group, Imperial Japanese Navy, flying from Thu Dau Mot in southern Indochina. The attack began at around 0430, shortly after Japanese forces landed on Kota Bharu, Malaya. It was the first knowledge the Singapore population had that war had broken out in the Far East.
context_section_description: The 'Raiders Passed' signal was sent out at 0500. The bombers succeeded in bombing the airfields at Seletar and Tengah, damaging three Bristol Blenheim bombers of No. 34 Squadron RAF. A number of bombs also fell on Raffles Place. 61 people were killed and more than 700 were injured. Most of the casualties were troops of the 2/2nd Gurkha Rifles, 11th Indian Infantry Division. The Japanese bombers all returned safely to Thu Dau Mot.
  Though the bombing caused only minor damage to the airfields, it stunned the British Far East Command. Despite intelligence reports of Japanese aircraft performance in the Second Sino-Japanese War, the command did not believe Japan's air forces were capable of striking Singapore from airfields more than 600 miles away in Indochina. The raid came as a surprise to Lieutenant General Arthur Percival, who "hardly expected the Japanese to have any very long-range aircraft."
  Rudely awakened in the small hours of the morning by the screams of air raid sirens and the roar of ack ack guns and in the clear moonlit sky around a formation of Japanese bombers. Bombs were dropped but none fell in our area. So the war in the Far East started – all day we heard news bulletins telling of the wide spread treachery of the Japs – Well! They've asked for it – !!  – Diary and 'Line' book written by the pilots of No. 453 Squadron RAAF
  Singapore had respite from further air raids while the Japanese focussed their attacks on Allied positions in northern Malaya. The next raid occurred on the night of 16/17 December 1941. This was minor attack on RAF Tengah by two Japanese Ki-21s. The next serious raid on Singapore City was on the night of 29/30 December. The Japanese launched their first daylight raid on 12 January 1942, a day after their capture of Kuala Lumpur allowed them to shift aircraft of the IJAAF to southern Malaya.
caption: Civilians hiding in an air raid shelter at Tiong Bahru Estate during a Japanese bombing raid in December 1941.
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