Draft:3 Years and 8 Months

With the rise of the Japanese threat after the end of World War One, The UK had decided to establish a main naval base in Singapore during the 1920s to defend their colonial possessions in the Far East.

Singapore was selected due to its strategic importance and because it was the only British territory to be excluded from the non-fortification clause of the Washington Naval Treaty, and their intention was to have a strong fleet in the Far East to deter Japan from any act of war.

But this was clearly not enough, as Japanese aggression in the region during 1930s kept rising and threatening the British colonies. The outbreak of WWII in Europe also limited the capability of the UK to defend this region, leaving British Malaya, Hong Kong and Burma alone in case of war with Japan.

Prime Minister Winston Churchill himself believed that the Japanese wouldn’t dare to attack them as early as 1941, so he chose to reinforce the Mediterranean instead.

In case of attack, however, the British plan of defence consisted of delaying the Japanese advance as long as possible while maintaining control over their fortress at Singapore for the arrival of reinforcements to save them, even though they actually couldn’t afford to send reinforcements to the Far East, so this plan was very unrealistic.

In Malaya, Commander-in-Chief Robert Brooke-Popham of the British Far East Command had been assigned the defence of the region, although he knew that without reinforcements they wouldn’t be able to withstand a Japanese attack.

Malayan ground forces were under the command of Lieutenant-General Arthur E. Percival, who only counted with 31 inexperienced infantry battalions, untrained to fight in jungles and rubber plantations, which were organised into three divisions and with the Malay garrisons totalled some 88600 men.

Airpower was also key for the defence of Malaya, but the British only counted with 14 squadrons of mostly old aircraft, a small force to cover both strike and reconnaissance roles.

Naval forces were old and small as well, but they would be reinforced by Admiral Tom Phillips’ Force Z, consisting of the battleships HMS Prince Of Wales and HMS Repulse along with four destroyers, mainly intending to deter any act of Japanese aggression.

On 11th November 1940, the German raider Atlantis captured the British steamer SS Automedon in the Indian Ocean. The ship was carrying papers meant for Air Marshal Sir Robert Brooke-Popham. The information was about the weakness of the Singapore base, and in December 1940 the Germans handed this information to the Japanese.

Alongside this the Japanese broke the British Army Codes in January 1941, learning details of the weakened state of the ‘fortress of Singapore’ thus allowing them to prepare for an invasion.

After the embargo enacted by the US, the UK and the Dutch in July 1941, the Japanese had decided to simultaneously invade their possessions in the East to get their hands on the rich resources they possessed.