The Curious Tale of the Tiger General and the Rabbit General: The Fall Of Singapore WWII

The Japanese were led by General Yamashita, known to his troops as “the tiger of Malaya.” The British and Commonwealth troops were led by General Percival, nicknamed “the rabbit” by his troops.

The tiger general practically 'ate' up the rabbit forces in 2 months with 30, 000 soldiers against the enemy’s force of 130,000 men; who initially were mostly relaxing and holding picnics supposedly behind impenetrable defensive positions.

 All was not lost though - as there were some survivors for the rabbit general.

These were the servicemen who surrendered and were all taken as Prisoners of War - including the rabbit general himself who had to lay down his arms and surrender. Many of the Commonwealth soldiers taken prisoner would never return home. Thousands were shipped on "Hellships” to other parts of Asia to be used as forced labour on projects such as the Burma Death Railway

The rest, including those undergoing surgery in hospital were summarily butchered by the Japanese; sick and wounded enemies were still enemies. Although a little useless and cumbersome.

The Australian, General Bennett (who made a daring escape on a boat and floated all the way to Australia hungry) later said: "The whole operation seemed incredible: 550 miles in 55 days – forced back by a small Japanese army riding on stolen bicycles”.

Hubris, pride, fatuous bluster, exaggerated bluffs, dependence on useless allies and underestimation of the resolve of opponents results into only one and only one possible fate... ignominy. 

Yet even when the battle is ignominiously lost, the war must still be concluded.

Like Admiral Yamamoto (the chief planner and executioner of the Pearl Habour Attack) who was hunted down and blasted out of the sky by American fighter pilots, Gen. Yamashita (the tiger general) did not live long enough to write memoirs of his victory. First he was demoted due to factional intrigues in the Japanese military High Command.

Then 3 years later hundreds of miles away from Singapore where they had first battled, he ironically had to surrender to Percival (the rabbit general) in the Philippines in 1945. He was given a show trial and quickly hanged by the vengeful Americans as a war criminal.

It is never over . . . even if it may be a spectacular start.