BRITISH ARMY AND THE CLASS SYSTEM AT SINGAPORE./

If I could work out to delete this comment I would do so immediately. This is because after submitting my queries on Chucrhill's behaviour I dropped into the local library, and co-incidentally, immediately saw a book on Churchill by Andrew Norman, "Winston Churchill - Portrait of an Unquiet Mind" and in this book there is a description of Churchill's early life.

What he went through as a young boy is so hideous that any unusual character traits as an adult would be completely understandable.

At the age of seven he was left in the hands of a sadist headmaster of a boarding school. Students were lashed across the buttocks so severely that they were left as bleeding mince meat. His parents rarely visited him. This went on for 2 years.

The remainder of his youth wasn't much better. The incredible thing was that he overcame his upbringing and achieved what he achieved.

I no longer wish to discuss Churchill's less acceptable behaviour. I just feel so sorry for the man that I don't want to have anything more to do with this subject.

 

None of Britains armed forces were really up to what they were facing at the start of WW2. German mobility and Japanese experience were both borne out of political systems geared toward war whereas Britain was almost a reluctatnt participant. True, there were elements of colonial stupidity and arrogance but even without this the Brits could never have defended all her interests in Asia. Maybe the fault wasn't the army as much as the expat population believing the hype of British superiority.

 

Always felt that the losses suffered by both the British and the Americans in the Far East were due in large part to military, as well as racial, arrogance.
From what I understand, at Singapore the British left the backdoor open due to the belief that if they couldn't operate in the jungle environment, neither could the Japanese.
The dispatching of Repulse and Prince of Wales to Singapore was another example of that arrogance. It was done in the belief that the presence of two ships of the mighty Royal Navy would be enough to deter Japan from any aggressive moves. FDR was under the same impression when he reloacted the USN's Pacific Fleet to Pearl Harbor from San Diego.

 

Officers' knew what they were doing and nobody else did? Bunkum, from Wellingtons time 'the British Sergeant is the backbone of the army, when he is sober and on occasion he is' Class? Look at the lists of officers commissioned from the ranks after Waterloo, Inkerman and other battles and not just QM commissions. The 1930s had seen the introduction of NCOs cadres where minor tactics were part of the training. with promotion on ability and not just time served. It may surprise some just how much serviceable kit was abandoned in Singapore:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/93474475/...-and-Captured-Weapons-Java-and-Singapore-1942