FALL OF SINGAPORE SEEN AS SERIOUS AS DUNKIRK

"The fall of Singapore will over-shadow everything else so far in the war except perhaps the British retreat at Dunkirk after the fall of France," said G. Nye Steiger, visiting lecturer of Far Eastern History and professor of History at Simmons College.

"Too late, we are at last beginning to understand that Singapore is a supremely vital bastion in the Far Eastern war," Steiger said. "The majority of us have complacently thought, during the last few weeks, that its vaunted impregnability was true in fact as well as in fancy. Its fall may easily prolong the war several years.

Australia Next

"Australia and India, as well as the Dutch East Indies and Burma, will now undoubtedly be open to attack," Steiger stated. "Their successful resistance depends largely on the ability of the Allies to supply them effectively with weapons. Now that Singapore is in enemy hands, the Allied supply lines have increased by thousands of miles. The delivery of supplies will take many weeks and the supply route is open to Japanese attack.

Allies Grow Stronger

He felt that although the Allies cannot as yet master sufficient strength to force the Japanese to concentrate their resources on one front, the democracies may be able to increase their power sufficiently to make them limit their actions.

"Japanese exploitation of the resources of the Malayan Peninsula will probably not be as difficult as some people have predicted," Steiger said. "Their Chinese occupation has been notoriously unsuccessful in the majority of cases, but the Chinese knew they were fighting their own battle and they have continued effective resistance and sabotage after military defeat."

The Malayans, on the other hand, have felt that they were fighting a British battle; and consequently it is not probable that their resistance and sabotage will be at all effective.