World Battlefronts: City Facing the Sea

Like Hong Kong and Manila before it, Singapore awaited its fate. Its tree-covered oval island, 27 miles long and 14 miles wide, is separated from the giraffe-like neck of the Malay Peninsula and the oncoming Jap by the mile-wide Strait of Johore. Around the big island on the sea side are scores of tiny islands, on most of which lie camouflaged coastal artillery positions.

Singapore has been an Asiatic paradise for Occidentals and it was built to withstand attack from the sea. Singapore Harbor on the seaward side is protected by the strongly fortified islands of Brani, Blakang Mati, East St. John....

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