The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1942-02-16
FEAR SPREADS
THROUGH ENGLAND

Continued from Page u
The intention was always to fight II
out to the last. There was some
evacuation of women, children and
wounded and there may have been
some evacuation in the case of tech
nical troops.
we had very heavy losses in ma
teriaL"
Troops in Campaign
The commentator said that the
empire troops in the Malaga cam
paign included the 18th British Di-
vision, two brigades of the 9Th Aus
tralian division, the 9th and 11tE
Indian divisions, totaling about S.
COO men. Plus some fortress troops
and supply and ordnance units, max
ing the total considerably higher.
Il am unable to say how many
remained to the end" the common
tator said. THE Australian and In
dian divisions and part of the 18th
British Div, which represented the
latest reinforcement, had been fight
ing a six-Week rear guard action on
the mainland, with the enemy con-
stantly landing behind them and
under constant dive bombing. They
must have been considerably weak
ened when they reached Singapore
Our troops must have put up a
very stiff fight in the island, sur
rendering only when things got to
such a pass that further fighting
was impossible"
Shocked by the fall of Singapore
and asserting that the country
faced its gravest situation since the
fall of France, Britons demanded
with increasing insistence a radi-
cal and immediate change in the
directions of the war and merci-
less purge of Prime Minister Win
ston Churchill's cabinet
Three Fateful Words
They received their first news OF
the surrender of the British garri-
son through japanese communi-
ques. Then Churchill, in a world
broadcast, announced it in three
words: Singapore has fallen" Fol
NEARLY a whole day, there had been
no other official news Of Singapore
= The British people knew that one
s.of the few such surrenders in their
history had come atop the humili-
eating cruise of German battle
fleet past the Dover coast within
grange of shore guns.
= They knew that half a dozen
famous regiments of British regu-
lars, British royal marines and sail
@ors and engineers, an Australian
Imperial force, Indian regiments
sMalayan and Sarawak forces had
been involved in the fall of Singa-
pore.
They knew nothing of the num-
der of men involved in the surren-
der, how the collapse had come
what proportion of the garrison
had been evacuated to the Meth
s.erlands East Indies, which are now
under a full scale Japanese attack
Compared To yorktown
- But the most dramatic, if not ac-
stually the most important defeat OF
1.-The war, was grastly fact to them
1t dwarfed the surrender of the
little garrison at Hong Kong, ant
.people went back to Kut Ell Amara
in 1916 when a British army sur
rendered to the Turks, and Lore
rCornWallis' surrender at Yorktown
In 1871 for comparisons.
. 1t had taken the japanese only a
Jew weeks to drive down the Malay
peninsula from Thailand. The Brit
sish imperial forces had withdrawn
from Malaga to the island, Jan
81, two weeks ago. The Japanese
had attacked one week later. need
ing only one week to take the
Island fortress.
Men OF the Brigade of Guards,
symbol OF British military proves,
the East Surrey regiment. the Lei
scester regiment, the Argyle and
Sutherland Highlanders, the Cor
don Highlanders, the Manchester
regiment, the Loyal regiment, the
Royal Marines, Navy men from the
Simpregnable" Singapore naval,
spase, Royal Engineers, Royal Artil-
derry, the Australians, the MALAY
regiment, the Sarawak Rangers.
the Hyderabad regiment, the Pun
.jab motorized unit, mixed Junjabis
Baluchis, Yats, Garnwalis, from all
over India and men from the ia
NOUS northwest frontier force OF
India had been in the fighting.