First air raid on Singapore
- First air raid on Singapore
Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=First air raid on Singapore
partof=the Battle of Malaya, World War II
caption=A civilian casualty of the Japanese air attack on Singapore.
date=8 December 1941
place=Singapore
result=Tactically Indecisive
combatant1=flagicon|Straits Settlements Singapore
flagicon|UK United Kingdom
combatant2=flagicon|Japan|naval Imperial Japanese Navy
commander1=
commander2=
strength1=Various number of anti-aircraft guns
1 battleship
1 battlecruiser
strength2=17 aircraft
casualties1=61 killed
700 wounded
casualties2=N/A|
The first air raid on Singapore was an attack on 8 December 1941 by seventeen bombers of the Imperial Japanese Navy, flying from in Saigon in southern Vietnam. The attack began at around 4:00 AM, shortly after Japanese forces landed in Malaya.
The streets were still brightly lit despite air raid sirens going off in time, allowing pilot navigators to locate their targets without difficulty. Allied anti-aircraft guns immediately returned fire. The British battleships "Prince of Wales" and "Repulse" also responded, but no aircraft were shot down, partly due to cloudy skies.
The bombers all returned safely to base. The bombers attacked Raffles Place, Tengah Air Base, and Seletar Airport. 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.
It is not clear as to why the Japanese Navy conducted such an air raid using only seventeen bombers. The attack on the two airfields did not disrupt Allied air operations. It could be considered as a diversionary attack to distract the British from the Japanese troop landings in Malaya on that same day.
There were no further attacks on Singapore for a few weeks following this raid.
External links
* [http://infopedia.nlb.gov.sg/articles/SIP_7_2005-01-25.html First bomb raid on Singapore]
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