The British army had 53 Buffalo fighters, Hurricane fighters and Chinese-backed Skylark fighters, which the RAF command was to keep to repel the incoming attack. Therefore, when the "Asia Express" was bombed and sunk as it crossed the strait on 5 June, there were no planes to escort it. "Singapore is burning, it is shattering," one witness said, "and it was like an abandoned city, with thousands of unmotivated British soldiers gathered on the open waterfront, the Raphers Reclamation and other open areas." They died in droves under the strafing and bombing of the plane's machine guns. ”

On the evening of 7 June, the final act of the British tragedy in Malaya was played, when Yamashita sent the Guards Division across the channel to occupy the small island at the entrance to the Janggi Naval Base, which was now bombed to ruins. It was a feint to get rid of the defenders' defenses, and at this moment, the artillery began to fire fiercely, and the sound of the cannon was like rolling thunder, resounding through the sky. By dawn, a smoke screen hung over the burning oil depot, which was destroyed to prevent the burning oil from flowing into the strait. As the day wore on, the firing was methodically directed to the west, knocking down the machine-gun bunkers and fortifications around the channel's causeway.

Yamashita took advantage of the darkness of night to force their way across the strait, each carrying 40 men and propelled by outboard accelerators, and at 10:30 p.m. 300 of these plywood strike boats began to force their way not to the strongly fortified open coastal positions east of the strait's causeway, but to the swamps of tropical vegetation to the west, where the defence was weak and the defenders were exhausted Australian troops.

General Bennett's men lost the opportunity to shoot before the attacking Japanese troops had landed, because the British artillery units had not received orders, and by the time they had begun firing or turning on the searchlights, it was already too late, and the searchlights could illuminate the approaching Japanese landing force. In just a few hours, more than 5,000 troops landed and penetrated through the gap between the tropical vegetation in the swamps and the line of the Australian 22nd Brigade. At dawn, tanks and artillery were sent on rafts to the opposite bank, and by this time almost half of Yamashita's entire force of 30,000 men had successfully landed in Singapore. Shortly after dawn, groups of soldiers charged with bayonets in their hands, and the Australian army's lines began to falter, and the soldiers guarding them fled in all directions. "They panicked and fled in small steps," said one of the English[***] officers, "and it was pouring rain, and most of the soldiers' feet were cut one after another." They waded through rivers, through swamps overgrown with tropical plants, through bushes and onto roads. They threw away all burdens. They threw away rifles and bullets......"

The Japanese army routed a portion of the Australian troops. Other units, such as the 26th Brigade, which guarded the middle of this line around the top of the channel causeway, held out all day, and then, when the enemy rushed over their crumbling flank, they were in danger of being cut off, and they also retreated. Yamashita was so confident of victory that in the evening he walked down the Green Palace, braved the dense artillery fire with his staff, reached the opposite shore by ferry, and personally commanded the final assault on the strait causeway. They took advantage of the darkness to get ashore and found themselves actually walking on corpses.

In the first hours of June 9, the Beasts stabbed and slashed along the way until the Australian army resisted a small isolated position, and finally slaughtered all the prisoners.

At dawn, the Japanese army swarmed through a one-mile-wide gap in the front line to the so-called Jurong Line, the second line of defense established by the British along the western bulge on the island. The ferocity and rapid pace of the attack caused the field commanders on this line to panic and prematurely order another retreat. Now, Percival had to pay the price for concentrating most of his forces on the forward line. There were not enough reserves, and there were no strong rear positions in front of the city, and in the evening his anxious staff had a hunch that it was only a matter of time before the army could run rampant across the island.

A few days before the fall of Singapore, General Wavell arrived on the island by seaplane from Java on June 10 in an attempt to avert the catastrophe in front of him. One morning, at a meeting at Fort Canning, Wavell and Percival confronted each other, and both sides were furious and verbal. Wavell took out an emotional order he had received from Prime Minister Churchill: "The battle must be fought to the end." Field commanders and senior officers should die with soldiers. The honor of the British Empire was in this place. The Americans are still fighting bloodily and holding on to Luzon, so the honor of our country is here. ”

In Gordon? At Bennett's Forward Command, Wavell urged a counterattack against the attacking Japanese army. From time to time, they interrupted their conversations and hid under their desks to avoid bombing raids, and judging by the number of interruptions in conversation, it was clear that the counterattack would not succeed. Nevertheless, Percival published what appeared to be an apologetic passage in Churchill's order, and then ordered a hasty counterattack. At dusk, the counterattack gradually subsided, and the British army suffered a crushing defeat.

By the time the sun rose on June 11, the army had already taken control of half of the island. On the outskirts of the city, the vanguard exchanged fire with the British across an abandoned runway. However, the battle had become a crucial stage for the army. Realizing that his 30,000-strong force was numerically inferior, Yamashita was in dire need of bluffing Singapore into a quick surrender: "I was always worried that the British would find out that we were under-armed and undersupplied, and thus force me to engage in catastrophic street fighting. He slowed down the attack, brought in bombers, and had no idea how quickly the British would be able to resist.

The civil and military officials of the British colonial authorities sat in the bars of the Lavers Hotel, maintaining their dignity; Outside, the streets were crowded with drunken deserters who scribbled on one wall: "Britain is British." Australia is Australian, and Malaya only wants it if it's a son of a bitch. "The damp monsoon was filled with the stench of dead bodies and the smell of wine emanating from the gutter. The Governor, anticipating that the city would be occupied, ordered the destruction of all the sake brewery. June 13 was indeed an unfortunate day for Singapore – even more so for those who were evacuated on the last boat. During that week, almost all but a few of the 50 boats carrying men, women and children were sunk by his own bombers and the warships blockading the island, and few survivors were rescued by him.

In the darkest day of the British Empire, Wavell first telegraphed to Churchill that "I fear that the resistance will not last." Then he tried to cheer Percival up: "Your heroic resistance is of great significance, and you should hold out to the end." "The next morning, I cut off the city's water supply. General Bennett, alone deciding not to let the Australian soldiers die in vain, ordered them to save fewer and fewer bullets and shoot only while defending their own ring of defense. This allowed the army to penetrate the weakened defensive line, wash the Alexander Army Hospital with blood, brutally stab the wounded with bayonets, and even push the surgeon aside to mutilate the surviving British soldiers who were undergoing emergency surgery.

The next morning, Yamashita's troops made every effort to reinforce their positions on the outskirts of the city, and Yamashita concluded that the time had come to "scare" Singapore into surrendering. "In the spirit of knighthood, we advise you to surrender." He said this at the beginning of his letter to Percival. The letter, rolled in a cardboard cylinder with red, white and blue streamers, was dropped over British positions by 9 a.m. The letter said that Singapore was "completely isolated and was fighting with all its might and valiantly to raise the prestige of Great Britain", and just as the staff officers were poring over the letter at Fort Canning, Wavell sent a telegram giving Percival "the power to decide to cease resistance" as soon as the battle became "pointless". General Percival, who had been inferior in command, weapons, and tactics, was now outwitted in resourcefulness. He had no way of knowing how little ammunition and supplies the enemy had. He was more concerned about the lack of drinking water and the threat of epidemics that killed civilians en masse. A delegation of officers traveled to the front line in a wrecked car, with a rice-shaped flag floating outside one window and a white cloth floating in the other. Fearing that he was playing a delaying tactic, Yamashita insisted on negotiating only with the Commander-in-Chief himself, and on June 14, Percival, on his own orders, drove with his senior officers at 6 p.m. to the Ford Motor Factory in Bukit Chimah, behind the enemy's front, in the heat that had not yet abated. Yamashita was waiting there, his stout body and crisp khaki army uniform, surrounded by his staff officers. A large group of reporters and news photographers were waiting in front of them, ready to record the pre-arranged surrender ceremony.

Percival, with a haggard face, arrived, his bloodshot eyes showing his deep sense of defeat. The British were covered in dirt on their uniforms, and they looked pitiful as they sat down in a row on the other side of an unclothed table. When they learned through the interpreter that this was not a negotiation to discuss the terms of surrender, and thus became even more uneasy, the round-headed general Huo Ran pointed to the surrender document spread out in front of them on the table and asked rudely: "To sign or not to sign?" Percival, though he was already depressed, was not ready to accept this final humiliation, and was about to get up and leave. However, after consulting with his officers, he was determined to save his soldiers and the citizens of Singapore. At 8:10, in front of the movie camera that shot the camera, he signed the instrument of surrender in humiliation.

In this battle, the Japanese army suffered about 15,000 casualties and the British army suffered about 27,000 casualties. He not only conquered the "Lion City", but also smashed the foundation of British power in the Far East. More suffering and death are yet to come! Although Yamashita promised to spare the lives of the civilians that night, in an operation that later became customary, many European women and children were arrested and imprisoned in Zhangyi Prison, and large numbers of Chinese were executed without mercy.

The Prime Minister's Office, Tokyo.

"Yamashita Bongbun, bastard! Doesn't he know what kind of reaction he will provoke from the people of China by doing so? ”

Prime Minister Ishihara angrily slammed the report on the table and roared loudly.

"It was a mistake to let Yamashita Fumi attack Singapore." Nagata Tetsuyama sighed and said, "The Emperor's [***] team avoided attacking Hong Kong and tolerated China's covert support for the Philippines in order to avoid a premature war with China, and now, all these efforts have been in vain. ”

Ishihara came to the window indignantly and looked out, and the streets outside were filled with people cheering and celebrating the victory.

After the capture of Singapore, the Tokyo newspaper proudly proclaimed while celebrating the nation's greatest military victory: "The overall situation of the Pacific War has been decided." "He ordered that each family be given two bottles of beer or rice wine, and that the children be given a bag of candy to celebrate the great victory of the emperor's samurai.

"It's still early to win the real victory." Ishihara looked at the crowd cheering wildly, sighed and shook his head.

"Calls for war against China have been high, and the unfortunate events in Singapore are bound to spark anger among its citizens. I estimate that in a month at most, Shina will start a war against Yumoto. Nagata Tetsuyama said, "Therefore, it is said that Ben must not only be prepared militarily, but also be prepared to deal with sudden incidents." ”

"The secret treaty with the political axe of China has only been delayed for less than a year." Ishihara took a breath, his face turned red with excitement, "Now the Soviet Union has not yet made a move against China, once the war with China starts, it is said that Ben will have to fight with the three major powers at the same time......"

Nagata Tetsuyama understood Ishihara's concerns, and he also knew why he wanted to compare China, which had been looked down upon by the people of the United Kingdom, with Britain and the United States.

Today, China's rapid industrialization has become a model for Asian countries. In the 20 years since the end of World War I, China has caught up with and surpassed the industrial powers of the West. From a micro point of view, the development efficiency of China's industry is much higher than that of the past year, and from a macro point of view, China's industrialization can also be said to be advancing by leaps and bounds. After more than 20 years of development, China has successfully established a strong industrial system in the aircraft, automobiles, tractors, steel, chemical and defense industries, and has become the world's second largest industrial power after the United States. It should be emphasized that the short time and scale of China's industrial rise are unprecedented in the history of the world economy, and this is an astonishing leap achieved under the condition of relying entirely on domestic resources and in the external environment of the world economic depression. At present, China's annual production of aircraft is as high as 5,000, and according to the estimates of this expert, China should be able to reach an astonishing annual output of 30,000 aircraft during the war. This is the growing industrial strength that even the strong manufacturing capacity of German industry, which was the strongest among the Axis powers, could not resist! In terms of military production capacity, China is actually close to the strength of the United States.

It is already quite difficult for Ben to confront the United States alone, and with China's words, it can almost be said that there is no chance of victory.

"The war between Ben and China is inevitable. However, China was subject to the Soviet Union, and it was impossible to fight against it with all its might, so there was no need to worry too much. "The most important thing for Nagata now is how to maintain the existing military superiority and wait for the Soviet Union to enter the war. As long as the Soviet Union entered the war, the situation could be completely reversed. ”

"Both the Army and Navy submitted their 'preemptive' counter-operations plans yesterday." "The Army's plan is to land on the Shandong Peninsula and quickly capture Yanjing, and the Navy's plan is to raid the Chinese naval base in Truk," Ishihara said. ”

"In other words, the Army is replicating Germany's 'blitzkrieg,' and the Navy is trying to replicate a Pearl Harbor-style victory." Nagata Tetsuyama thought for a moment and said.

"That's right." "It's actually a bigger gamble. ”

"I've actually been gambling, and there's no way around it." Nagata Tetsuyama also came to the window, looked at the crowd of people parading and celebrated outside the window, and said, "It's just that this time the bet is too big." ”

"The geographical location of Ben is too unfavorable." Ishihara sighed and said, "I really envy the people of China, they can choose and wait carefully, but they can't." ”

"Now the people of China have no choice." Nagata Tetsuyama said.

As Tong Nagata Tieshan said, they really have no choice when it comes to Yanjing's Chinese political axe.

Now Yanjing has been completely surrounded by the sound of popular protests.

"Declare war on Timben!"

"Destroy the robbers!"

"Down with imperialism!"

"Hang the executioner Yamashita Bongbun!"

"Avenge the thousands of compatriots in Nanyang who died innocently!"

"Blood debt and blood payment!"

"Declare war! Declare war! ”

"Declare war! Declare war! ”

Yang Yuhan tried to move her feet in the crowd, but she could only swell forward with the flow of people, and at this time, on all sides of her, there were angry crowds everywhere, people from all directions gathered in front of the Liberty Reading Square, where the Capitol was located, shouting angry slogans.

In front of the Capitol, a team of police officers with shields lined up the Chengren Wall and blocked the door of the Capitol. The angry crowd was like a surging ocean wave, Yang Yuhan stood on tiptoe, just in time to see several angry young students striding forward, punching and kicking the shield in the hands of the policeman in front of him, the policeman couldn't resist it, and almost fell to the ground.

(To be continued)