044 - Unequipped and Unprepared

Sir Arthur Percival's Grand Dilemma

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As the Japanese Navy planes slugged it out with RAAF in New Britain, the Japanese Army slogged through the swampy jungles of British Malaya, slowly advancing to Singapore.

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Sir Arthur Percival, a British General, was tasked with spearheading a defense against the Japanese Invasion. 

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Most Royal Australian and Royal Air Force units had been withdrawn to Port Moresby or Australia. The Allies also lacked any sufficient transport or an Armored Tank division to defend their positions.

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The same bridges the Royal Engineers had destroyed were easily flanked by the Japanese, who made bridges of their own, using extra timber raised on their shoulders to make foot bridges.

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Additionally, British soldiers were equipped mostly with gear dating back to the First World War. To make matters worse, the Allied Forces consisted of a largely untrained and untested group of British, Australian, Malayan, and Indian light infantry units. Their battle lines were poorly assembled and there were huge communication problems between the different groups.

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As British forces held their positions, they were directed not to harm the rubber trees or the plantations in which they existed. These orders came directly from the top. The rubber trees were owned by tire companies like Goodyear and Michelin and were part of the war effort. In fact, rubber was one of the main reasons the Japanese wanted control of the Malayan Peninsula. Without that needed rubber, the Japanese war machine could quite literally come to a grinding halt.

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Once the Japanese controlled the top half of the Malayan Peninsula, the INVASION OF Singapore was inevitable.

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