27 January 1942. Fort Canning, Singapore.
The tension in the ‘war room’ had been growing over the hours waiting for updates from the front. With General Auchinleck looking on, and doing his very best not to interfere, Lieutenant-General Percival’s Head of Intelligence was briefing the officers present on the current situation.
The battle of Ipoh had raged for nearly a week, Lt-Gen Heath’s III Indian Corps had managed to hold their positions for a solid four days before the river was finally breached. The 11th Indian Division had made good their withdrawal to the second line and, eventually, the third defensive position at Kampar Hill. All that time, the Japanese offensive had been bloodied and weakened. In doing so it had cost the 11th Indian Division to be seriously weakened, with Major-General Murray-Lyon having to be hospitalised from exhaustion. 9th Indian Division on the east coast had had a similar fight on its hand, but had retrained cohesion as it withdrew all the way back to Kuantan.
The Australian Major-General Cecil Callaghan’s 8 Division, with the Divisional Cavalry’s Stuart tanks at the forefront, had begun the counterattack the previous day. Having concentrated at Bidor, the Australians had advanced under the cover of darkness to Banja. 2/18 Battalion’s A and B Companies forced a crossing of the river, which was extended by the rest of the Battalion. The engineers managed to get a pontoon bridge over the river under the cover of the Division’s artillery. Once the bridge and a ferry were operational, the rest of 22nd Brigade crossed over, the Stuart tanks being ferried over, while the rest of Brigade’s vehicles and men used the pontoon bridge.
After 22nd Brigade had crossed, the 27th Brigade moved up to follow them across the river. Lieutenant-General Mackay’s plan called on Callaghan’s men to advance as rapidly as possible towards Taiping. If they could be a blocking force to prevent any Japanese withdrawing through the town, it would effectively create a Japanese pocket around Ipoh to Kuala Kangsar. 16th Brigade, the third Brigade in 8 Division would follow on the heels of 27th Brigade.
While the Australians were attempting their flanking move, the British 18th Division, with 7th Bn RTR supporting them, had begun passing through the 11th Indian Division to begin pushing the Japanese back. Morshead’s 9 Australian Division was in reserve, but the hope was that they would be able to pass through 8 Division and move up towards Penang while the 8th and 18th Divisions destroyed the main Japanese force.
Auchinleck was also happy to hear reports coming from Burma that Lieutenant-General Slim’s offensive had also got underway, albeit with the limited objective to regaining Tavoy and Victoria Point airfields and hopefully being able to cut the railway from Bangkok south. Slim’s force was partially coming by sea, some of the Landing Ship Infantry (HMS Queen Emma and Glengyle) and A Lighters that had brought reinforcements from Basra were carrying the units tasked with capturing the airfield.
There was an all out effort by the RAF, and the American Volunteer Group over the south of Burma and Thailand to support this offensive. Likewise over the counter-attack around Ipoh had the full support of both the bomber and fighter squadrons of the RAF and RAAF. Flying Tomahawks and Hurricanes, there was a vast improvement in the British fighters’ effectiveness against the Japanese. Some of the Tomahawk squadrons were experimenting with close air support missions, the pilots being taught by the veterans from North Africa.
Fighting the Japanese to a standstill had been a great achievement by Percival’s men in Malaya. Unfortunately, Japanese progress in other places was being slowed but not yet stopped. Much of the British and Indian forces in North Borneo were now either moved or defeated. Around Balikpapan the surviving Japanese were having to be winkled out at some cost to the KNIL and Indian troops. The loss of some of their supply ships to Dutch and British submarines was presumed to be causing havoc to the Japanese timetable.
The Australians at Rabaul had given the Japanese a very bloody nose and had, as planned, pulled back into the interior of New Britain. Auchinleck was currently working out a strategy for pulling them out before their supplies dwindled completely.
On the Celebes, the Japanese landing at Kendari was being resisted by the Dutch and US troops, it wouldn’t surprising to find that the Japanese would attempt to reinforce this attack, and the USN and KM (Koninklijke Marine) had deployed submarines to try to intercept this.
The situation for the Americans on Bataan seemed bleak, they seemed to keep pulling back to other defensive lines, only to be pushed back again and again. Douglas MacArthur had been quite forthright about what support he wasn’t getting, expecting the Royal Navy and KM to provide aid in addition to that supplied by the USN Asiatic Fleet. Admiral Phillips’ first response had been censored, and a second, less negative, message had been sent saying that he would do what he could, when he had anything available. The fast minelayer HMS Abdiel was being considered for a run to Corregidor, but Phillips wanted some kind of American promise of aerial cover while approaching and leaving, and that while docked at night the unloading of ammunition and medical supplies, and the loading of personnel to be evacuated, could be done in the course of one night.
Reports of fresh Japanese troops arriving by sea towards Patani had been received, but they were too far north for the RAF’s bombers and torpedo bombers to intercept. It wasn’t clear just how large the reinforcement had been, but the sighting by an American submarine suggested that it was only a smallish convoy. The Captain of the submarine had also attempted to torpedo the convoy but reported that his torpedoes had either missed or failed to detonate. This was an increasingly common report coming from the USN. The Dutch and British submarines hadn’t reported any such difficulty.
Force Z, after its successful battle of Makassar Strait, had returned to the Indian Ocean heading to Ceylon. HMS Ark Royal would take onboard the new Lend-Lease Martlet IIs (G-36Bs with folding wings), and it would need a week or two of training to make sure the pilots were qualified for deck landings in the new type. Meanwhile HMS Prince of Wales and escorts were supporting the landings at Victoria Point.
Auchinleck was beginning to think that the situation for his ABDA command was beginning to stabilise. He was aware that the Japanese still had the initiative, and that they were lot better than pre-war predictions. He was also conscious that the British Empire was fully committed to the fight, and that the Far East was getting its fair share of the military resources. The sleeping giant of America was also awakening and therefore the Japanese had already lost, they just didn't know it yet.
General Auchinleck also thanked his lucky stars that the initial Japanese attacks at Jitra and the Ledge had been blunted. If they had managed to knock 11th Indian Division off-kilter at the beginning of the campaign the Indian troops might never have recovered. Likewise with 9th Indian Division, if they had suffered the quick loss of Kota Bharu their morale would probably have led to failure to get a grip at all. Instead, both Divisions had proven worthy of their salt, though at a high cost. With the offensive now was in the hands of fresh and well-trained Divisions, and if he was gambling man, he’d put money on the Australian 9 Division winning the race to Bangkok.