Japanese Occupation of Singapore

Singapore surrendered to Japanese forces on 15 February 1942 after the Malayan campaign. The fall of the British base brought soldiers and civilians under occupation and became one of the most severe British defeats of the Second World War.

Occupation involved military rule, shortages, forced labour, imprisonment and systematic violence against sections of the civilian population. Allied prisoners were held in Singapore before many were transferred to labour projects elsewhere in Asia.

King Rat is set among prisoners held at Changi during the final months of the war. The occupation forms the external system within which the camp’s black market, hierarchy and struggle for survival develop.