Garth Pratten. The fall of Singapore is widely regarded as one of the allies' greatest military disasters of the Second World War. Central to British strategy in Asia and the Pacific, Singapre was touted as an impregnable fortress, home for a mighty fleet and yet it was conquered by the Japanese in a week. This presentation will examine the reasons for that calamitous defeat and also address some of the many myths that, 70 years later, still bedevil Australia's understanding of it.