Go down into the bunker where the surrender was decided
Nine metres under Fort Canning
The Battlebox is the underground command centre of Fort Canning, built between 1936 and 1941 nine metres below the hill, with over twenty rooms including a cipher room, plotting room and its own telephone exchange.
Why it's unique
This is where the decision was made. On the morning of 15 February 1942, Lieutenant-General Percival and eleven senior officers met in this bunker and agreed to surrender more than 120,000 Commonwealth troops to a Japanese force less than half that size. The signing at the Ford factory happened hours later; the choice happened here.
The bunker was sealed after the war and effectively forgotten for decades before being reopened as a museum in 1997, on the 55th anniversary. The rooms are laid out as they were, and the airlessness nine metres down does more to convey the situation than any display could.
Before you go
Guided tour only, timed entry, and it sells out — book before you travel rather than turning up.
It is cool underground and humid at the entrance. Go here before the Former Ford Factory, not after: the bunker is the morning of 15 February and the boardroom is the afternoon.