Shadows of the Empire

Alarm bells ring in Allied capitals after Jitra and wheels are in motion to reinforce the garrison defending Malaya and Singapore. Malaya Command seizes the opportunity to fight it’s version of an ideal battle with ample artillery and un-flankable positions, determined to maul the Japanese for 10 days. Despite grievous casualties, Yamashita exploits British caution with an outflanking maneuver from the Sea, further cementing his reputation as the Tiger of Malaya, and forcing a British withdrawal in four days.

Reeling from Jitra, 11th Indian Division decides to next resist the Japanese at Gurun. Meanwhile, the RAF faces high casualties and begins to abandon Northern Malaya to fall back on defending Singapore. The Island of Penang falls and the crisis deepens in Northern Malaya leading to a leadership change. 

The Japanese using a vanguard of about 500 men equipped with some small tanks and light guns, rampage through the best prepared defense line Malaya Command would have in the campaign. The surviving 11th Indian Division was effectively smashed, with Brigades decimated, heavy equipment abandoned, and morale shattered.

Over the objections of the Admiralty, Churchill orders the HMS Prince of Wales and Repulse to the Far East in December 1941. The Japanese prepare to hunt and destroy "Force Z" and two days after hostilities begin, disaster strikes. 

The main Japanese landings in Thailand are carried off largely without any resistance, the window for Operation Matador comes and goes without the green light, and the Japanese successfully dogfight a foothold at Kota Bahru forcing the 8th Indian Brigade to withdraw and surrender the Coast and the northern airbases.

Operation Matador: the Empire’s one chance, in theory, to forestall a Japanese invasion of Malaya and the subsidiary plan to advance to the Ledge.

To meet the demand for scout cars for the British Indian Army and New  Zealand, the Indian Pattern Carrier was developed. Marrying the Canadian  Military Pattern trucks made by Ford and GM along with an armor package  from Tata Steel in India, the IPC proved to be an effective scout car  in operations and not to mention it looks like a moon buggy.

(Fixed for Audio Glitches at the end of the Episode)

Our best estimates have the Japanese forces at about 60,000 men against a  Malaya Command of 86,000, and despite the protestations from some  sources, it’s highly unlikely that the Japanese ever managed to equal  let alone exceed British Empire forces. So the question remains: how the  heck did they win? And so quickly? And with relatively light losses?

Malaya Command at the eve of War finds itself under equipped and over stretched. Its senior commanders do not have good relations and the one plan it could execute to win the coming campaign will not be put into action.

Imperial Japan in the Fall of 1941 decides to go to war to conquer South East Asia and to strike at Pearl Harbor. Lt. General Yamashita is assigned to lead the Malaya invasion force and crafts a daring plan to land in neutral Thailand and advance to the Base. 

The defeat of France in the Summer of 1940 upends Britain's plans for the Second World War. Britain takes steps to remain in the war while its lack of naval resources in the Far East become apparent as the Singapore strategy evolves, and the Americans are brought into it's war planning. 

Britain enters into the Interwar years balancing budget cuts, growing discord in the Empire, and an aggressive Imperial Japan. It's solution is the building of a "Gibraltar of the East" but the reality was a far cry from the marketing.

Welcome to the Shadows of the Empire podcast, a deep dive into the rear guard actions of the British Empire beginning on the beaches of Malaya...