Battle of Kranji The Battle of Kranji was the second stage of the Empire of Japan ' s plan for the invasion of Singapore during the Second World War . On 9 February 1942 the Imperial Japanese Army assaulted the north - western front of the British colony of Singapore . Their primary objective was to secure a second beachhead after their successful assault at Sarimbun Beach on 8 February , in order to breach the Jurong - Kranji defence line as part of their southward thrust towards the heart of Singapore City . Defending the shoreline between the Kranji River and the Johor – Singapore Causeway was the Australian 27th Brigade , led by Brigadier Duncan Maxwell , and one irregular company . On 10 February the Japanese forces suffered their heaviest losses while moving up the Kranji River , which caused them to panic and nearly aborted the operation . However , a series of miscommunications and withdrawals by Allied forces in the ensuing battles allowed the Japanese to swiftly gain strategic footholds , which eventually led to the fall of Singapore on 15 February 1942 . Background . The terrain around Kranji was primarily mangrove swamps and tropical forest intersected by streams and inlets . The shoreline between the Kranji River and the Johor – Singapore Causeway , nearly four kilometers long , was defended by the Australian 27th Brigade , led by Australian Brigadier Duncan Maxwell . The 27th Infantry Brigade consisted of three battalions — the 2 / 30th , 2 / 29th , and 2 / 26th and was supported by the 2 / 10th Field Artillery Regiment , as well as one platoon from the 2 / 4th Machine Gun Battalion . They were supported by one company from Dalforce ( named after its commander , Lieutenant - Colonel John Dalley of the Malayan Police Special Branch ) , a local Chinese militia consisting of Communists , Nationalist supporters , and other volunteers . As the war intensified , the Dalforce volunteers were given only three to four days of training and sent to the war front with elementary weapons . Lacking uniforms , the volunteers improvised by wearing a red triangle on their blue shirts to avoid being mistaken for Japanese by the Australians . The Allied forces at Kranji were to be assaulted by the Imperial Guards Division led by Major General Takuma Nishimura . 400 Imperial Guards had landed and taken Pulau Ubin , an island in the north - east of Singapore , in a feint attack on 7 February , where they encountered minimal resistance . Battle . 9 February 1942 : Japanese landings . On 9 February , two divisions of the Japanese Twenty Fifth Army , led by Lieutenant General Tomoyuki Yamashita , landed on the northwestern coast of Singapore , in the Sarimbun area . Yamashita ' s headquarters ( HQ ) was in the Sultan of Johor ' s palace on Istana Bukit Serene , which offered him and his officers a bird ' s eye view of virtually every key target in the northern sector of Singapore Island , only 1 . 6 kilometres ( one mile ) across the Straits of Johor . Sultan Ibrahim ' s palace was not fired upon by the British because any damage caused would have extensive repercussions for British - Johor ties . The primary objective of the Japanese at Kranji was to capture Kranji village ; this would let them repair the demolished Causeway in order to facilitate easy flow of reinforcements and supplies down the roads of Woodlands and Mandai , and to the rest of the island for their vanguard force . Once the leading wave of Japanese was safely ashore , the massed Japanese artillery switched their fire to the defensive positions at Kranji . Telegraph and telephone communications were destroyed in the bombardment and communications between the front line and command HQ were broken . At 8 : 30pm that night , the men of the Imperial Guards Division began the crossing from Johor in special armoured landing - crafts , collapsible boats and by swimming . 10 February 1942 : Heavy losses . In the early hours of 10 February , Japanese forces suffered their heaviest losses during the Battle of Singapore . While moving up the Kranji River , advance landing parties from the 4th Regiment of the Imperial Guard Division found themselves under heavy fire from Australian machine gunners and mortar teams . They also found themselves surrounded by oil slicks , which had been created by Allied personnel emptying the nearby Woodlands oil depot , to prevent its capture . A scenario feared by Yamashita came to pass by accident ; the oil was set alight by Allied small arms fire , causing many Japanese soldiers to be burnt alive . Sustaining heavy losses , Nishimura requested permission to abandon the operation . However , Yamashita denied the request . Maxwell , who had limited communications with his division headquarters , was concerned that his force would be cut off by fierce and chaotic fighting at Sarimbun and Jurong to the south west , involving the Australian 22nd Brigade . Maxwell ' s force consequently withdrew from the seafront . This allowed the Japanese to land in increasing strength and take control of Kranji village . They also captured Woodlands , and began repairing the causeway , without encountering any Allied attacks . Japanese light tanks , which had good buoyancy , were towed across the straits to Lim Chu Kang Road where they joined the battle at dusk . With reinforced troops and tanks advancing down Choa Chua Kang Road , the Australian troops were no match for the tanks and fled to the hills of Bukit Panjang . The 5th Division ( Imperial Japanese Army ) captured Bukit Timah village by the evening of 11 February . Jurong - Kranji defence line . Lieutenant - General Arthur Percival , General Officer Commanding of HQ Malaya Command , drew a defence perimeter covering Kallang aerodrome , MacRitchie and Peirce reservoirs and the Bukit Timah supply depot area to ensure the integrity of the city ' s defence . One line of the north - western defence perimeter was the Jurong - Kranji defence line , a narrow ridge connecting the sources of the Jurong and the Kranji Rivers , forming a natural defence line protecting the north - west approach to the Singapore City . ( Its counterpart was the Serangoon Line , which was sited between Kallang Airfield and Paya Lebar village on the eastern part of Singapore ) . The troops were to defend this Line strongly against the invading Japanese force . The Line was defended by the 44th Indian Infantry Brigade which covered milestone 12 on Jurong Road , the 12th Indian Infantry Brigade and the reinforced 22nd Australian Brigade which guarded the northern part of the Line and maintained contact with the 44th Indian Brigade . The 15th Indian Infantry Brigade was re - positioned near Bukit Timah Road to guard the island ' s vital food and petrol supplies . A secret instruction to protect this area was issued to Percival ' s generals . Miscommunication . Percival ' s secret orders to withdraw to the last defence line around the city only if necessary were misunderstood by Maxwell , who took this to be an order for an immediate withdrawal to the Line . As a result , the 44th Indian Infantry Brigade , the 12th Indian Infantry Brigade and the 22nd Australian Brigade , reinforced after their withdrawal from Sarimbun beach in the north - west , abandoned the Line on 10 February . Fearing that the large supplies depot would fall into Japanese hands should they make a rush for Bukit Timah too soon , General Archibald Wavell , Allied commander - in - chief of the Far East sent an urgent message to Percival : Aftermath . By 11 February , the Jurong - Kranji Defence Line was left undefended which allowed the Japanese forces to sweep through the Line to attack Bukit Timah . On the same day , Percival finally moved his Combined Operations Headquarters in Sime Road to the underground bunker , " The Battle Box " at Fort Canning . Despite their fighting spirit , the Dalforce fighters suffered from poor training and the lack of equipment . A further blow was delivered when the 27th Australian Brigade withdrew southwards . As a result , the Japanese established a stronghold in the northern Woodlands area and secured a relatively easy passage into the island . General Wavell left Singapore for Java early on 11 February and sent a cable to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in London on his assessment of the war front in Singapore : By 12 February , the Imperial Guards had captured the reservoirs and Nee Soon village . The defending troops , by this time , were badly shaken . Thousands of exhausted and frightened stragglers left the fighting to seek shelter in large buildings . On the same night , British forces in the east of the island had begun to withdraw towards the city . On 13 February , the Japanese 5th Division continued its advance and reached Adam and Farrer Roads to capture the Sime Road Camp . Yamashita moved his HQ forward to the bomb - damaged Ford Factory in Bukit Timah . Heading southwards , the Japanese 18th Division advanced into Pasir Panjang , where the last major battle of Singapore would be fought with the Malay Regiments at Bukit Chandu . Commemoration . In 1995 , the former battle sites of Kranji and the defence line were gazetted by the National Heritage Board as two of the eleven World War II sites of Singapore .