The Long Road to Changi

When I discovered that an uncle was interned in Changi during the Second World War I decided to try and find out more about this part of Australian military history.  The Long Road to Changi by Peter Ewer attempts to investigate how Singapore fell to the Japanese and how Britain's claim to have the resources to protect the region proved to be a myth. 

Many British accounts of events at this time blame Australian soldiers for being unruly and poorly trained. The author provides a case to dispel this myth and demonstrates the failures of the British government and military to provide adequate British forces and equipment, particularly ships and planes to protect Singapore and Malaya.

This book is a well researched and written account of events and decisions that led to the fall of Singapore in 1942. The soldiers on the ground are revealed as the real victims of poorly conceived strategies to protect them and the territory they are trying to protect. Like Gallipoli and the invasion of Greece and Crete, the protection of Singapore and Malaya was another British organised disaster. 

Due to the Japanese taking Singapore and Malaya, thousands of Australians and other allied soldiers became prisoners of war. Australia now had to depend on the military forces of the United States to help it protect its shores and neighbouring countries from possible Japanese invasion.