**Singapore and Percival are mentioned on page 487 (London edition, "Grand Alliance" chapter) but this is a political biography not a history of the war. The definitive source for that is Martin Gilbert's Winston S. Churchill, vol. 7, Road to Victory. http://bit.ly/2wZN8jO <http://bit.ly/2wZN8jO> Langworth.*
*The book may well have been a biography rather than a war history. Having said that the British defeat at Singapore was a ferocious blow to Britain. Bearing in mind the different opinions expressed regarding the loss of Singapore and the many claims that General Percival was a scapegoat would, I suggest have deserved more than the cursory mention given to the subjects by Charmely and I still have to find Percival due to the strange index. * On Wed, Sep 12, 2018 at 5:20 PM Richard Langworth <[email protected]> wrote: > Correction to my note above. Prof. Antoine Capet reminds me that > Singapore's problem in 1941 was not so much its guns, which could be > pointed landward, but its type of shells. The defenders had armor-piercing > shells (designed to sink ships) but not enough high explosive shells that > would have been more effective against the Japanese armies. In 1924 > Churchill, newly become Chancellor, did question the landward defense of > Singapore. The defense was based on submarines, anticipating a seaborne > invasion. Churchill thought aircraft would be more effective (and they > certainly would have against an invading army); but he didn’t pursue the > matter. Through 1939 he remained convinced that a Japanese attack on > Singapore was unlikely. Of course, a lot changed between 1939 and 1941. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "ChurchillChat" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/churchillchat. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ChurchillChat" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/churchillchat. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
