RI_Y1_History_Revision_Package_2022_for_EYE.pdf

1 Section A: Source-Based Questions [15 marks] Study the Background Information and the sources carefully, and then answer all the questions. In answering the questions, you should use your knowledge of the issue to help you interpret and evaluate the sources. 1 (a) Study Source A. What can you infer about British attitudes towards Singapore? Explain your answer. [5] (b) Study Sources B and C. How do the two sources differ in their views about Singapore’s defence? Explain your answer. [6] (c) Study Source D. What does the source tell you about General Yamashita ? Explain your answer. [4] RAFFLES INSTITUTION HUMANITIES DEPARTMENT HISTORY / YEAR 1 / Revision Package Name: _____________________________( ) Class: _____ Date: ______

2 Why did Singapore fall in 1942? BACKGROUND INFORMATION Read this carefully. It may help you to answer some of the questions. Winston Churchill described the fall of Singapore in February 1942 as “the greatest disaster in British military history”. That perception is one of two enduring things about the fall of Singapore. The other is the endless controversy over how it happened, why it happened, and above all, whose “fault” it was. This historical debate has continued until today, with historical arguments shifting due to new archival information and sources. Study the sources below to find out more about the fall of Singapore. Source A: A British cartoon about Singapore’s defences, published on 21 February 1941. The cartoon was published with the caption “And he huffed and he puffed and he puffed and he huffed”.

3 Source B: Adapted from a historian’s account on the fall of Singapore. Too often, British planes were caught on the ground. Some British infantry dubbed the dwindling airforce the ‘ Penguin Club’, because they had wings but didn’t fly. Lieutenant - Colonel Ian Stewart claimed he did not see one British aircraft between 10 December and 14 January, while his battalion suffered about 50 air casualties in the campaign. When British aircraft did fly, the results were not reassuring. The Japanese navy Zero fighters proved able to climb higher and faster than the RAF’s Brewster Buffalo fighters. The pilots of the Wildebeeste torpedo bomber, which made little more than 100 miles per hour (as opposed to the Japanese fighters clocking over 300 miles an hour) dubbed their machine ‘The Flying Coffin’. Source C: Adapted from “Report on the Surrender of Singapore”, written by a member of the volunteer forces serving at Fort Belayer. …it became clear that the attack on Singapore would be from the north.. . Admittedly, the harbour defences had to be preserved but nevertheless the guns could have been used if the back walls of the forts had been knocked down. It seems clear that the higher authorities refused to consider or allo