Battle Box
The Battle Box (Fort Canning Bunker / The Underground Command Centre) was built in 1936, consisted of close to 30 rooms and 9.1 metres beneath a small building on top of Fort Canning Hill. Linking the rooms was a long corridor with two ends i.e. an entrance at one end and the other, an escape hatch. It was constructed to serve the Headquarters of the British Strategic Command as the nerve-centre for British Military operations in the Far East during World War II.
It was also considered as a communications hub which included a cipher room for decoding of messages. The Battle Box was the site where the British held their meeting and decided unanimously to surrender Singapore to the Japanese forces on 14th February 1942 as they considered that it was impractical to launch a counterattack. Their decision led to the signing of the surrender document with the Japanese on the following day at Ford Factory.
On 15 February 1997, the Battle Box was formally represented to the public as a museum where it depicted the final days of the Battle of Singapore. War figurines representing General Percival and his staff were crafted to showcase the scene where they were having a conference and reaching the decision of surrender to the viewers.
When we arrived at the entrance of the Battle Box, we could not visit the exhibits inside as it was closed for renovation till September 2015. Feeling upset as I had never visited the insides of the museum previously, we could only walk around the vicinity to observe the surroundings of the Battle Box. Judging from the outside of the bunker, it seemed rather constricted and small in size in which I do wonder how did they even manage to fit all the rooms inside with the given amount of space and to work in a small scale headquarters during World War II.
Although we were unable to view the exhibits featured inside the Battle Box but there was a picture which resembled like the room where General Percival and his staff held their conference in making the decision to surrender as seen in the signage presented by the National Heritage Board. Personally, I found it quite surprising to imagine that this bunker was the site where the British made the decision to surrender. However, I would still hope to visit the Battle Box when it is open to the public and looking forward to get a feel of how it exactly looks like and the last days of the battle.
Walking around the premises of the Fort Canning Park, I feel that there are still traces of the past there were preserved although I am unsure of its function. For instance, the Old Gateway to the Fort and the Sally Port were believed to be the entrances to the Fort Canning preserved despite the construction of the reservoir.
Sources:
1. Bose, R. (2012). The Underground Command Centre. In Singapore at War: Secrets from the fall, liberation & aftermath of WWII (p. 29). Singapore: Marshall Cavendish Editions.
2. HistorySG (2014). Construction of Fort Canning Begins. Retrieved February 21, 2015, from http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/history/events/15242a47-1ff7-4996-8723-6d752a4b10f0
3. Devi, G. A. et al. (2004). Singapore's 100 historic places (p. 122). Singapore: Archipelago Press in association with National Heritage Board.
4. McMurray, C. (2012). The Singapore Battle Box. Retrieved January 24, 2015, from http://www.fom.sg/Passage/2012/09battlebox.pdf
5. Samuel, D. S. (2010). Singapore's Heritage through places of historical interest (pp. 4-6). Singapore: Dhoraisingam S Samuel.
6. Thompson, C. (2002). Twenty-five Best World War Two Sites. United States: Greenline Publications.
7. Wang, M. H., Lau, J. (2009). Heritage Places of Singapore. (pp. 217-218). Singapore: Marshall Cavendish Editions.
8. Wong, H. (2004). Fort Canning Bunker. Retrieved January 24, 2015, from http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_858_2004-12-15.html?s=battle%20box
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