The Forgotten Highlander by Alistair Urquhart  The horrors that
Alistair Urquhart endured at the hands of the Japanese are
revealed after nearly 70 years, says Trevor Royle  The fall of
Singapore was the biggest British military disaster in modern
times. At the beginning of 1942, Japanese forces cut a swathe
through the Malayan peninsula before sweeping into the
strategically important port. Unwilling to risk the massacre of
civilians, British commanders flew the white flag and defeat was
followed by humiliation. Not only had Singapore been considered
impregnable, but the Japanese had been written off as racially
inferior types who would be easily crushed.  For those who
survived, it was the beginning of a season in hell. Among them
was Alistair Urquhart, a young conscript soldier in 2nd Gordon
Highlanders, one of the few British infantry battalions that had
not faltered during the fierce fighting for the vital Singapore
causeway. A lifetime after those disastrous events – he is now
aged 90 – Urquhart has ret