Not sure what Fiolar is on about in the original post but without denying the capacity of 'military mind' to get things wrong, much the same as the rest of us; the snapshot of these events is a bit simplistic and unfair. The fighting retreat down the Malaya peninsular by poorly equipped troops with virtualy no air cover (the 11th division and Gordon Bennetts' Austarlians were particulaly successful)held up the Japanese advance for two months, enraging Yamashita.

EJ's summary is pretty spot on, but is anyone has any lingering doubts, try reading "'Knights of Bushido'a short history of Japanese war crimes' by Lord Russell of Liverpool

Pete M