Bombing of Singapore ( 1941 ) The bombing of Singapore was an attack on 8 December 1941 by seventeen G3M " Nell " bombers of Mihoro Air Group ( " Mihoro Kaigun Kōkūtai " ) , 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 . Background . The attack on Singapore was assigned to 34 bombers of Genzan Air Group ( " Genzan Kaigun Kōkūtai " ) and 31 bombers of Mihoro Air Group . Their targets were RAF Tengah , RAF Seletar , Sembawang Naval Base and Keppel Harbour . Six squadrons from both air groups took off from southern Indochina on the night of 7 December 1941 . However , bad weather conditions were encountered while over the South China Sea . Thick clouds offered poor visibility for the pilots , while rough winds caused most of the formations to become separated . After several attempts to regroup failed , Lieutenant Commander Niichi Nakanishi , Wing Commander of Genzan Air Group , ordered them to abort mission and return to base , thereby reducing the impact of a much heavier raid . Only seventeen G3M bombers of Mihoro Air Group reached Singapore on schedule , unobstructed by bad weather . The Attack . The Japanese formation was detected by a radar station in Mersing , Malaya , almost an hour before they reached Singapore . Three Brewster Buffalo fighters of No . 453 Squadron RAAF were on standby at RAF Sembawang . However , Flight Lieutenant Tim Vigors ' request to scramble and intercept the Japanese bombers was denied . Air Chief Marshal Robert Brooke - Popham feared that the anti - aircraft batteries would fire on the friendly fighters , despite Vigors being an experienced night fighter in the Battle of Britain . He was supplemented by the belief that the Buffalo fighter was only suited for daylight fighting and could not be used at night . Paradoxically , there were 12 Bristol Blenheim Mark IF night fighters of No . 27 Squadron RAF stationed in Sungai Petani , Malaya , but were being used as ground - attack aircraft . The streets were still brightly lit despite air raid siren s going off at 0400 , allowing pilot navigators to locate their targets without difficulty . ARP Headquarters was not even manned , and there was no blackout as police and power station officials could not find the employee who had the key to the switch ( only two practice blackouts were conducted in September 1941 before the raid ) . When the bombers began their attack at 0430 , Allied anti - aircraft guns immediately opened fire . The battleship " Prince of Wales " and battlecruiser " Repulse " also responded , but no aircraft was shot down . A formation of nine bombers flew over without releasing their bombs to draw the searchlights and anti - aircraft guns away from the other group . They were flying at 12 , 000 feet , while the second formation was at 4 , 000 feet . Aftermath . 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 . " In the days that followed , Singapore enjoyed a considerable respite from air raids , as the Japanese focussed their attacks on key aerodromes and Allied positions in northern Malaya . The next raid on the island occurred on the night of 16 / 17 December 1941 , which in itself was merely a minor attack on RAF Tengah by two Japanese Ki - 21s . Only on the night of 29 / 30 December did nightly raids resume in earnest on Singapore City . In contrast , daylight raids commenced much later , on 12 January 1942 , following the fall of Kuala Lumpur to the Japanese the previous day and the shifting of the bulk of the IJAAF to southern Malaya .