Singapore Private Tour

Today we will explore sites associated with the bitter fighting in Singapore in 1942, and the horrendous ordeal of prisoners of war who were captured here. The first stop today is Changi Village, once the site of many prisoner-of-war camps during the Japanese Occupation, Changi has since gone down in history as a place of much pain, torture and human suffering. It is said that more Australian POWs perished under incarceration than in the battle itself. You will then take a leisurely 15-minute walk to Changi Beach to visit the memorial plaque at one of the sites where the Sook Ching Massacre took place. This massacre lasted from 18 February to 04 March 1942 and was a means of “cleansing” the Chinese who were seen as hostile, anti-Japanese elements. Afterwards you will visit Johore Battery, built by the British in 1939, it is a gun emplacement site consisting of a labyrinth of tunnels. The tunnels were used to store ammunition to support three large guns that could fire 15-inch shells. The guns were the largest installed outside Britain during World War II. They were destroyed before the surrender of the British army and the tunnels were sealed up after the war. The location remained a secret until the Singapore Prisons Department rediscovered them in April 1991. Today, replicas of the large gun and a 15-inch shell are located at the Johore Battery. You will see Selarang Camp en route to Sembawang, where over 15,000 prisoners of war were held in a space designed to hold 1,200. Next you will pass the Sembawang Park and Sembawang Shipyard, used as a British Naval base complex from the 1920s until Singapore’s independence. You will enjoy lunch at a local restaurant before visiting the Kranji War Memorial, to pay respects to more than 1100 Australian soldiers who are remembered in the British Commonwealth Memorial. You will also visit the Kranji War Cemetery, the final resting place for 4,458 allied servicemen in marked graves laid out in rows on maintained and manicured lawns. After you will take a scenic drive towards the Civic Centre to visit the City Hall. The significance of the City Hall lies in the involvement during the World War II. British prisoners-of-war were rounded up in front of the building for a march to POW camps at Changi Prison and Selarang. On 12 September 1945, the Japanese General Itagaki surrendered to Lord Mountbatten to end World War II in Singapore. While in the city, you will visit 2 memorials: Lim Bo Seng Memorial, a tribute to a local hero with his involvement in anti-Japanese activities and the Cenotaph Memorial, built in memory of the 124 British soldiers born or resident in Singapore who gave their lives in World War I (1914–1918), with a second dedication (but no names) added in remembrance of those who died in World War II (1941–1945). The last stop of the day is the Battlebox, built in 1936  and a former WWII British underground command centre inside Fort Canning Hill in the heart of Singapore City. It was part of the headquarters of Malaya Command, the army which defended Malaya and Singapore in WWII. It was inside the Battlebox that the British made the decision to surrender Singapore to the invading Japanese on 15 February 1942. At the end of today’s touring, you will be dropped back to your hotel where the evening is at your leisure. (B, L)

STAR INCLUSIONS  ★ Changi Village and Beach Memorial ★ Johore Battery  ★ Selarang Camp  ★ Sembawang POW camp

★ Kranji War Memorial  ★ Cenotaph Memorial  ★ Lim Bo Seng Memorial  ★ Battlebox  ★ Fort Canning