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Tigers in the Park
Funk Holes in Singapore
Japanese Defence Plan
By 1944 the Japanese authorities once again looked to improve the defences of Singapore in anticipation of the Allied invasion. This work included the construction of the Changi airfield, later to be subsumed under the world renown Changi Airport, and the return to the docks at Keppel and the old 1942 camp on the River Valley Road.
Plans were also drawn up for the construction of a series of fortifications in the hinterland of the island. The Japanese plan was in line with the defence of the home islands of Iwo Jima and Okinawa, where the enemy forces would be given relatively easy access to the beaches but would have to fight tooth and nail for the heart of the island through a string of pillboxes, gun emplacements and fieldworks.
As part of this scheme, various estates around the MacRitchie Reservoir were earmarked for defence including the Sime Road area and the Adam Park Estate. By 1944 Sime Road had been occupied firstly by POWs returning from Thailand and then replaced with the civilian internees being held in Changi Gaol. Adam Park, once vacated by the POWs in 1942, had been handed back for use by the Japanese civilian authorities to house families of businessmen and government officials. However, in May 1945 the houses were unexpectedly requisitioned by the military.
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