Bombing of Singapore (1944–1945)

Bombing of Singapore (1944–45)
Part of the Pacific War, World War II
The Admiralty IX Floating Dry Dock at Singapore Navy Base during March 1941. This dry dock was the target of two USAAF raids in 1945.
Date 5 November 1944 – 24 May 1945 Location Singapore and nearby waters Result Tactically indecisive
Belligerents
United States  United Kingdom	Empire of Japan
Units involved
XX Bomber Command No. 222 Group RAF	Anti-aircraft artillery and fighter units
Casualties and losses
9 bombers destroyed	Damage to naval, dockyard and oil storage facilities At least four ships destroyed and 11 damaged

The Bombing of Singapore (1944–45) was a military campaign conducted by the Allied air forces during World War II. United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) long-range bomber units conducted 11 air raids on Japanese-occupied Singapore between November 1944 and March 1945. Most of these raids targeted the island's naval base and dockyard facilities, and minelaying missions were conducted in nearby waters. After the American bombers were redeployed, the British Royal Air Force assumed responsibility for minelaying operations near Singapore and these continued until 24 May 1945.

The raids had mixed results. While significant damage was inflicted on Singapore's important naval base and commercial port, some raids on these targets were not successful and other attacks on oil storage facilities on islands near Singapore were ineffective. The minelaying campaign disrupted Japanese shipping in the Singapore area and resulted in the loss of three vessels and damage to a further ten, but was not decisive. The Allied air attacks were successful in raising the morale of Singapore's civilian population, who believed that the raids marked the impending liberation of the city. The overall number of civilian casualties from the bombings was low, though civilian workers were killed during attacks on military facilities; one attack rendered hundreds of people homeless.

In the decades after World War I, Britain expanded Singapore Naval Base at Sembawang on Singapore's north coast as part of plans to deter Japanese expansionism in the region (the Singapore strategy). The resulting facility was among the most important in the British Empire and included the large King George VI graving dock and Admiralty IX floating dry dock. The Commonwealth forces allocated to Malaya and Singapore were swiftly defeated in the months after the outbreak of the Pacific War, however, and the island was surrendered to the Japanese on 15 February 1942. Singapore was bombed by Japanese aircraft on a number of occasions during the Battle of Malaya and subsequent fighting on the island itself; these raids caused many civilian deaths.

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