“And if we lose Java?” Churchill’s question betrayed his uncertainty. He took a long drag on his cigar, and now his wandering eye sought out his brandy flask.
“Then we will fight them from Darwin,” Brooke said flatly.
It was what happened the following day that finally put the real fear into Churchill’s soul. The Japanese bombed Port Darwin. Their attack was meant to prepare the way for planned invasions into the Celebes at Kendari and Makassar, and an attack aimed at Amboina and eventually Timor. It was thought that any naval forces worth the name that might be mustered in Port Darwin could be eliminated as easily as the American Navy had been humbled at Pearl Harbor.
When Churchill got the news, Brooke’s words about trading Singapore for Australia were finally riveted home. Orders went out from the Chiefs of Staff immediately:
19 Feb, 1942
TO: ABDACOM
FROM: COMBINED CHIEFS OF STAFF
In light of Japanese operations now underway against Tarakan, Samarinda and Balikpapan on Borneo, and against Menado, Baubau, Makassar and Amboina in the Celebes region, it is anticipated that further enemy operations will be directed against the Malay Barrier Islands as early as 24 Feb, 1942. It is therefore ordered that:
1. JAVA should be defended with the utmost resolution by all forces present on the island. Every day gained is of importance.
2. You have discretion to augment defense of Java with available naval forces and with U.S. aircraft now at your disposal assembling in Australia.
3. Land reinforcements to be moved from Singapore should augment defense of points in your area vital to the continuance of the struggle against Japan, namely, Java, Bali, Sumbawa, Flores and Timor. Of these, Java, Bali and Timor are to be held with the utmost tenacity, and every provision must be made to cover and defend the Port of Darwin on the Australian mainland.
4. HQ Fortress Singapore is hereby reinstated to overall command of General Percival, and will defend in place with the following forces now assigned as permanent garrison:
- 11th Indian Division: 28th Indian Brigade, 41st Indian Brigade
- Malaya Brigade, S.S.V.F. Brigade, and all Fortress Troops.
5. Insofar as available shipping permits, every effort will be made to see to the safe transit of civilians by sea to friendly harbors.
6. HQ staff and personnel assigned to General Montgomery will be withdrawn in such a manner, at such time and to such place within or without the ABDA area as the commanding officer may decide, but its timely withdrawal, concurrent with forces listed in paragraph 7, is essential, and will be given the highest priority.
7. Forces to be assigned to Java Command are as follows:
- All brigades of the British 18th Infantry Division
- 6th New Zealand Brigade
- 22nd Australian Brigade augmented by 2/26th Battalion
- Maori Battalion and all Gurkha Battalions on Singapore
- Dalforce units selected at Commander’s discretion
8. JAVA CMD forces will coordinate with Commander in Chief, Eastern Fleet, Admiral James Somerville, especially in regards to all operations requiring naval air cover by the fleet.
9. In light of paragraph 7, control of Sunda, Bali and Lombok Straits is deemed essential to permit offensive or defensive operations as may be deemed necessary and prudent by the Commander, Eastern Fleet.
10. Every effort will be made by the Army to hold major ports on Java secure, notably Batavia, Semarang, and Surabaya, so that they may serve as embarkation points for relief and supply convoys routed to Fortress Singapore. To this end, the ports of Tjilatjap and Bantu on the southern Java coast should be held secure in the event operations in the Java Sea cannot be undertaken with reasonable expectation of success.
It was all bravado, except for the reality inscribed in that last line, and like all plans and devices in the whirlwind of war, these orders and dispositions would soon be put to a severe test. A powerful force was now rising in the southwest Pacific, and nothing Churchill or Brooke would devise was going to stop it.
It was immediately clear to Percival that he was now to be offered up as the sacrificial lamb on Singapore, as the command he had so badly managed prior to Montgomery’s arrival was now to be stripped of its best fighting units. His situation would have been seen as hopeless, if not for the fact that the Japanese had also made substantial withdrawals to pursue objectives in Sumatra and prepare for operations against Java and the barrier islands.
To this end, the entire 5th Division was pulled off Singapore Island, leaving only the 18th Division holding the western segments taken during their ill-fated assault. The new commander, Nishimura, was not content to see his forces divided by the marshy Kranji river, and saw no point in leaving the 18th Division in place there. He therefore gave orders that it should withdraw on the night of February 20th and move to reinforce the positions being held by his own Imperial Guards Division. In his mind, the possession of the Causeway Bridge, which his troops and engineers had fought for so gallantly, was the one essential avenue to supply any Japanese presence on the island itself.
In the short run, with his divisions badly depleted, and no ammunition for the artillery remaining beyond a few rounds for each gun, a lull fell over the battle for Singapore, with both sides digging in and doing little more than probing at the enemy lines for purposes of reconnaissance. While Montgomery and the better units still remained on the island, he worked with Percival to outline the best defensive dispositions possible given the limited forces that would remain.
The 28th Indian Brigade still held positions on the northern coast of the island, blocking the way to the old naval base. 41st Indian relieved the Australians and took up positions astride the Mandai Road. The Malay Brigade took up positions on the defensive works formerly occupied by the British 18th Division near Tengah Airfield, and also stood up one of its battalions as a local reserve at Bukit Pandang on the Mandai Road. Elements of Dalforce, their ranks now swelled by over two thousand Chinese Volunteers, were forged into a makeshift screening force that now patrolled the northwest sector that had been the scene of so much fighting earlier. The S.S.V.F. Brigade took up similar duties along the exposed northeast and east coast of the island, and Fortress Troops remained in and around the city to act as a constabulary force and impose order on an increasingly frightened population.
No matter how discrete and quiet the withdrawal was, rumors were soon flying that the British were pulling out, and the frightened disorder in the harbor swelled to a near panic, until Montgomery gave strict orders to quell the disturbances until his troops could board available shipping for the transit to Java. It was a hard and desperate thing for the people to see the very same men who had come to their rescue weeks ago now leaving them, but the stalwart effort made by the men to stop the Japanese attack had at least bought the troops the goodwill of most everyone who came into contact with them.
“Tojo has a mind to get his hands on Java,” a Captain in the 53rd Brigade told them. “Now we can’t have that if we want to keep the supply convoys running in here with food and such. You just stand fast while we get over there and settle the matter.”
It was a very narrow escape the night of the 23rd of February. Just a few days earlier on Feb 21st, a Japanese task force centered on the light carrier Ryujo had covered operations to land elements of the 229th Infantry Brigade of 38th Division, which had embarked from Hong Kong. Their target had been the port and airfields near Palembang on Sumatra, where fighting was already underway with Dutch garrisons sparring with Japanese paratroopers that had landed to seize Airfield P1. Once those troops were ashore, Ryujo had moved into the Malacca Strait to cover further operations against Medan in northern Sumatra. This left a brief window where the British forces could make their dangerous move by sea to Java.