(background, centre) was blown up by retreating Allied forces in early February 1942
9 February 1942: Japanese landings On 9 February, two divisions of the IJA
Twenty Fifth Army, led by Lieutenant-General
Tomoyuki Yamashita, landed on the northwestern coast of Singapore, in the
Sarimbun area, where the
Battle of Sarimbun Beach took place between predominantly Australian and Japanese troops. Yamashita's headquarters (HQ) was located at the
Sultan of Johor's palace at
Istana Bukit Serene, which offered him and his subordinate officers a bird's-eye view of virtually every key (both military and civilian) target in the northern part of the main island of Singapore, just only 1.6 kilometres (one mile) across the
Straits of Johor.
Sultan Ibrahim's palace was not ordered to be fired upon by British artillery, even when it was clear that the invading Japanese forces had their headquarters there, because any damage caused to the palace would have extensive negative repercussions for ties between Johor's royalty and their British colonial counterparts. The primary objective of the Japanese forces landing at Kranji was to capture Kranji Village, thus enabling them to repair the partially-destroyed
Causeway in order to facilitate the 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. With reinforced enemy forces and their supporting tanks rapidly advancing down Choa Chua Kang Road, the defending Australian troops were forced to retreat and fled southeast to the hills of
Bukit Panjang. The IJA
5th Division captured
Bukit Timah Village by the evening of 11 February. 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 beleaguered 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. 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==