The Battle of Singapore
The base at Singapore was a large naval base for England in the Pacific. It acted as one of England's Pacific defences and as a deterrent to stop the Japanese Empire from capturing more of the Pacific further south. It was of such high strategic value because of these reasons and the fact that it was one of the last lines of defence before New Guinea and Australia's mainland.
The Japanese were able to capture Singapore by evading the Singapore base's main defences. They did this by attacking from the north and by land instead of a naval attach from the south like the English expected anybody would do. The defensive weapons they had were large but set into bunkers and unable to turn around, leaving the Singapore base basically defenceless towards Japan's attack.
After the surrender, the Australian troops defending Singapore were either killed or taken prisoner by the Japanese. Many were taken to Changi in Singapore to be held while others were shipped around Southeast Asia as forced labour on various projects including the Siam-Burma Railway and Sandakan airfield. Soldiers who were taken prisoner also died due to poor living conditions, starvation, dehydration, overworking or Japanese forces massacring them.