Shadows of the Empire To Jo

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.