Sinister Twilight: The Fall of Singapore | 
| Author: Noel Barber
Publisher: Cassell
Category: Book
List Price: $9.95
Buy New: $4.48
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Avg. Customer Rating:  1 reviews
Sales Rank: 525940
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.1 x 1
ISBN: 0304364371
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.5425957
UPC: 978030436437
EAN: 9780304364374
ASIN: 0304364371
Publication Date: June 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Good Condition, delivery time 10 to 12 Working days, via Priority airmail from UK
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Product Description
Published to international acclaim in 1968, Noel Barber's account of the fall of Singapore remains the best account of this, Britain's greatest military defeat. In just ten weeks, Malaya was overrun and the 'fortress' of Singapore surrendered to a Japanese army that found itself outnumbered by the 100,000+ British and Commonwealth prisoners. Written at a time when he could still interview many of the senior officers as well as ordinary soldiers caught up in this disaster, Noel Barber's account reveals how peacetime complacency prevailed in Singapore up to the very moment the Japanese onslaught began.
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| Customer Reviews:
Debacle June 15, 2004
13 out of 14 found this review helpful
For anyone living outside the former British Empire, it is virtually impossible to describe the calamitous psychological impact of the loss of Singapore in 1942. Winston Churchill had touted Singapore as the Gibraltar of the East; it was imagined to be impregnable, yet it was overwhelmed in a relative heartbeat by the Imperial Japanese Army, which rapidly advanced through Malaya (sometimes even by bicycle). Indeed, once the Japanese reached the island of Singapore itself, their main problem was that they had overrun their supply lines and were almost out of ammunition. Much has been made of the "complacency" on the British side that led to the debacle; the simple truth is that Singapore was only ever a trading post, that its defenses were more imaginary than real and that the local British and Australian troops, when put to the test, defended themselves very bravely. Barber paints a vivid picture of the pre-war Singapore, a place where English families would travel down to the same shop every week for Streets Ice Cream; where pink gin was lovingly poured at the clubs; where "There'll Always be an England" was sung on Sundays. Plainly Barber is in love with Singapore's history (as his other books on Singapore attest); from that perspective he conveys the sting of defeat just that more sharply.
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