World War II Japanese general Tomoyuki Yamashita was nicknamed the "Tiger of Malaya" for his masterful capture of this city:
General Tomoyuki Yamashita earned the name "Tiger of Malaya? for his masterful capture of Singapore and the whole Malay Peninsula from the British, who had a superior number of troops. Yamashita?s forces landed on the northern Malay Peninsula and southern Thailand on December 8, 1941, and moved rapidly southward toward Singapore, which surrendered on February 15, 1942. The peninsula and Singapore remained under Japanese control throughout the war. Later in the war, while defending the Philippines from Gen. MacArthur?s return, Yamashita?s troops wantonly slaughtered more than 100,000 Filipinos in Manila. He was later tried and executed for war crimes.
