Yamashita heard the news at 2 p.m.; he noted in his diary:“I wanted to protect myself against all deception and ordered that the British Commander-in-Chief come in person. The delegation returned, and at 5:15 p.m. Percival arrived with two staff officers and an interpreter, Major Wild.
The two leaders soon found themselves face to face. at the Ford plant in Bukit Timah and, after the Japanese interpreter, Hishikari, had made the introductions, they shook hands and sat on opposite sides of the table. Then (according to the Japanese account) the following scene unfolded:
— Answer me briefly. Do you accept an unconditional surrender? —
— Do you have Japanese POWs?
— None.
— Do you have Japanese civilians?
— No. They were all sent to India.
—Very well. Please sign this act of capitulation. Percival read about half of it and asked, "Will you wait until tomorrow morning?" Yamashita angrily replied,
"If you don't sign now, we'll keep fighting. All I want to know is this:Do you accept an unconditional surrender, yes or no?
Percival paled and began to speak in a low
voice at the interpreter, but Yamashita cut him off, gestured impatiently, and exclaimed,
—Yes or no?
Percival glanced at the interpreter, then replied :
— Yes.
— Very good. We will cease hostilities at 10 a.m. Japanese time.
Percival then requested that the Japanese forces not enter the city until the following morning, as he needed that time to announce the surrender to his troops and the civilian population. After Yamashita agreed, the following dialogue ensued:
—Do you pledge to respect the lives of civilians, British and Australian soldiers? Yes, you can rest easy about that. I absolutely guarantee it.
The surrender was signed at 6:10 p.m., ending one of the most disastrous campaigns in English history. It had lasted seventy-three days.
British, Australian and Indian losses in Malaya and Singapore amounted to 9,000 killed and wounded and 130,000 prisoners. The Japanese lost 9,824 men, including 3,000 killed. Percival survived his three years in prison at Japanese hands and died in 1966. Although Yamashita was recalled from Singapore soon after the victory, his fears about Tojo's enmity were not confirmed, and by the end of During the war, he commanded the Japanese forces in the Philippines. In February 1946, he appeared before a war crimes tribunal and was sentenced to death. His execution took place on February 23. Shortly before his death he wrote:“I believe I have done my duty to the best of my ability throughout the war. Now, at the time of dying and before God, I have nothing to be ashamed of. Send my regards to the American officers who defended me. »
Today, Japanese military historians claim that this too easy conquest of Malaya and Singapore was the cause of the reckless haste they subsequently showed, at Imphal and at Kohima during the Burma Offensive in 1944. The Japanese had too hastily concluded that the British could never rise up and oppose them in other theaters of operations. They had to experience the cruel opposite.
On August 6, Hiroshima, and on August 9, Nagasaki were destroyed by the first American atomic bombs, without France having really had it. time to define its Indochinese policy and prepare for it. It was only on August 17, under the pressure of events, three days after the Japanese capitulation, that