Japan’s capture of the British citadel reverberated around the world. Winston Churchill called it “the worst disaster and largest capitulation in British history” while Australian prime minister John Curtin warned the defeat jeopardized the “fate of the English-speaking world.” For the first time, the American press speculated that the Allies might lose the war. “There can now be no doubt,” observed a New York Times reporter, “that we are facing perhaps the blackest period in our history.”
