Singapore's Dunkirk

Dunkirk was a picnic in comparison to the poorly organised, last minute evacuation of Singapore. 

The numbers saved were much greater at Dunkirk; but there Allied forces had command of the sea and sporadic command of the air, the enemy was not as aggressive in its attacks on land, the evacuees were all military, the organisation was much more coordinated and the distance to safety was far closer.

At Singapore the enemy was far more aggressive (land, sea and air), had complete command of the air and sea; organisation was non existent, any kind of evacuation point was at best 500 miles distant - soon to be double that - but worst of all, about a third of the evacuees were civilian or nurses - including a large proportion of women and children.

Over the five-day period that the unforgivabley long delayed evacuation was finally ordered to commence from, one in four ships that set sail were sunk, with survivors often strafed and killed in the water or shot after reaching the shoreline upon discovery. Others remained as prisoners through to 1945 or died in captivity.