“But do you seriously propose we should now simply abandon the city? It would give the Japanese the greatest harbor in the Pacific!”
Brooke smiled. “They don’t need it. All they wanted there was a moral victory.”
“And we denied them that, while savoring the very same dish ourselves. Singapore was about the moral fiber of this Empire, of the fighting British soldier, and of the word we gave to our friends and allies that we would hold it safe and secure.”
“All well and good,” said Brooke, “but to the Japanese, taking Singapore was a defensive move to shore up their right flank as they push south. They won’t be using it to carry out further offensives, as the only prize west of Singapore is Burma, and they already have troops there. That’s also a defensive move, and one we should strongly oppose.”
“Agreed,” said Churchill. “If they push us out, they’ll be knocking on the door to India.”
“Possibly,” said Brooke. “I rather think they will have other designs in the near run. They’ll take Sumatra. The Dutch can’t hold out for long there, and we simply can’t get sufficient reinforcements there to stop them, but we might do better on Java. That’s where they will turn next. If they take Java, and the islands leading east, then things point in a very dangerous direction—Australia. That’s why the Aussies are pulling their troops out of the Middle East. They’ll need them at home, and on New Guinea. We’ve also received disturbing intelligence that the Japanese are looking over the Bismarck Sea. That would be a prelude to a move into the Solomons, and once they have control of those islands, Australia would be completely cut off. They already have the New Hebrides. When the Yanks ever do muster up to get into the war, they’ll have to operate from Fiji and Samoa. Now then… we might wail over the loss of Singapore if we take Wavell’s advice, but consider the loss of Australia. It isn’t Java we may be trading now for Singapore, it’s Australia.”
That remark so darkened the air in the room that Churchill remained silent, sitting with the grim prospects of their situation for some time. “I see it as plainly as you do,” he said sullenly. “Wavell’s arguments certainly sting. We can’t control the Malacca Strait because the Japanese are sitting on all our airfields in Malaya. The front door is closed, and the only other way in is through the back door in the Sunda Strait between Sumatra and Java.”
“And to use that,” said Brooke, “we’ll have to hold Batavia. You can be sure the Japanese know that, and Java will be next on their list. So even if we hold Singapore, those troops will just sit there, and with dwindling supplies, and no further air cover. After we lose that, the convoys won’t get through in any case. We can’t cover them from Batavia, which is 550 miles from Singapore.”
“Then where do we stand? When do we dig in our heels and tell the other fellow no more. I had hoped we could do that with Singapore, and now you tell me it was all for nothing.”
“Not entirely,” said Brooke. “We’ve taught them a lesson on Singapore. We’ve shown them they aren’t invincible—they can be stopped. Yet now we must learn the hard lesson they are teaching us—that control of the sea is the essential element in all of these maneuverings. That’s what we’ve built this Empire with—the Royal Navy. The Army can’t go anywhere without them, and that is the simple fact of the matter. It comes down to sea power, and control of the air space over those seas. The Japanese have gone and knocked the Yanks off their bar stool at Pearl Harbor, and it may be a good long while before they get up off the floor. In the meantime, the Japanese Navy is the undisputed master of the Pacific, and if we’re going to stop them anywhere, we’ll have to pose a credible threat to that sea power.”
Churchill shook his head, regretfully. “I wanted to send a pair of heavy warships to Singapore, but this Russian Captain let slip they would go down in a Japanese air attack. A hard lesson indeed, General Brooke, but we’re learning it. Our battleships have taken the hard knocks of late in this dirty business off the Canary Islands. So now it’s down to cruisers and aircraft carriers. We’ll be forced to fight the way we should have been fighting all along—by projecting air power at sea.”
“Correct,” said Brooke. “Admiral Tovey knows it. I had a discussion with him when he was in London a while back. He wants to send Somerville to the Pacific, and with three aircraft carriers, and he wants a new dive bomber.”
“That’s the way the Japanese have pulled off their parlor tricks,” said Churchill.
“Indeed,” said Brooke. “I noted Wavell leaned on that rather heavily. He wants to try and salvage something from our stand on Singapore—the Army we sent there to do the job. At the moment, the Dutch are sitting with about 25,000 troops on Java, mostly native units. The Aussies have a brigade there, and there’s a battalion of Yanks in the mix as well. Wavell wants to pull out of Singapore while we still can, and get those troops to Java. To do so we’ll have to be quick. In another week to ten days the Dutch will be pushed right off Sumatra. The Japanese have already taken Airfield P1 near Palembang. They haven’t found P2 yet, but they will in good time. The 18th Division might just slip away from Singapore if we act quickly, but just barely. Otherwise, I’m afraid those troops are as good as lost. In another two weeks we’ll never be able to get them out, nor will we be able to keep them supplied.”
“And the civilians?” said Churchill with a look of anguish. “That is the other side of the moral issue here. There’s a million people on that island. Do we just abandon them? Do we just leave them to the mercy of the Japanese? You know what they did at Hong Kong.”
“Only too well,” said Brooke. “Yet it comes down to losing Singapore now, or losing it later. It’s only a question of time. Mister Prime Minister, we put up the good fight, but our enemy is smarter than all that. Mark my words—they’ll take Java before spring, and then hop their way east towards Australia, whether we still hold Singapore or not.”
Chapter 9
“My god man,” said Churchill, “you make it seem as though we haven’t a shred of hope in any of this.”
“Forgive me if I sound jaded.” Brooke stood there with complete poise, in spite of the gloomy mood that hung over the scene. “I’m a realist. I won’t stir honey into your tea here, because the day I stop telling you what I truly believe, is the day I will be of no further use to you. As to Java, yes, I have my doubts about trying to reinforce it now. Assuming the 18th Division does get to Java safely, I would make arrangements to pull it off in due course. We could use it in Burma. If nothing else, such a maneuver might buy us time. We just might slow them down enough to let the Yanks get back on their feet. You know damn well that we can’t beat the Japanese in the Pacific alone. We’re just hanging on by our fingernails in the west. We need the Americans, and we need Australia. That’s the long view of it all; the hard view. A million souls sit there in Singapore to pay the price for the tens of millions that will fall into the darkness if we lose this war.”
The ticking of a clock on the wall seemed unbearably loud as Brooke waited. Then, slowly, Churchill drew back a chair and sat down. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigar, lighting it with quiet, methodical movements, his eyes fixed on the flame as it began to scorch and burn the tip.
“We can do both at once,” he said. “Make quiet arrangements for the withdrawal of the 18th Division and the Australian and New Zealand Brigades to Java. Mister Curtin will likely want those troops back on Australian soil, and I agree that the 18th Division would be better posted in Burma. Montgomery won’t like it, but we don’t have to tell him anything until the orders have been sent. Get discrete word to the Governor that he should see to the arrangement of daily convoys to move as many civilians as possible off the island. The Indian divisions and the Malaya Brigade, along with all the Fortress troops, will stand the line. We will hold Singapore as long as we possibly can, but make it seem that contingencies compel us to reinforce the Dutch, particularly with the threat that an early enemy occupation of the Malay Barrier Islands would pose to Australia.�
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“You realize that by dividing our forces we risk both ends of this equation,” said Brooke.
“True, but I once told the Australian Prime Minister that as long as we hold Singapore, the Japanese would not dare to attack his homeland, and that should they do so, we would respond by sending a battle fleet. It was only on the assurance that Singapore would be held that the Australian government agreed to join us in North Africa and the Middle East. Those troops were a godsend. Without them we could not have held the line there. We owe them. So now we must fight, as best we can, to retain some footing from which we can restore what we have lost when stronger forces become available. In the short run, I have finally scraped together that battlefleet I promised. Somerville’s job will be to project as much air cover over the area as possible, enough to cover these withdrawals and deter a Japanese invasion of Java. If need be I’ll send a full squadron of Spitfires over there. This is the least we can do, and all we can do for the moment. As for Java… How long can we hold there? Will we be having this same conversation in another two weeks?”
“Everything depends on Somerville. If he can cover Batavia, deter or prevent a Japanese landing on Java, then we might have the time to get our shirts tucked in and make a stand there as we did on Singapore. In this light, I’m of a mind we should leave Montgomery in the Pacific until the question of Java is settled. I told you the Japanese never needed Singapore, except to deny it to us. What they do need, however, is Java. If we do try and hold them off, expect a fight there, and for all the other islands leading east to Timor and Darwin. As for Somerville’s prospects of forestalling an invasion, I very much doubt that. He would have to take his carriers through the Sunda Strait and into the Java Sea to oppose any landing on the north coast. That would be dangerous. He’d find himself boxed in, and if the Japanese move planes to Sumatra, he’d be under their land based air power.”
“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 sec
tor 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.”
Turning Point (Kirov Series Book 22) Page 8