On 9 February 1942 the Imperial Japanese Army assaulted the north-western front of the British colony of the Island. Their primary objective was to secure a second beachhead after their successful assault at the Beach on 8 February, in order to breach the defence line as part of their southward thrust towards the heart of the City. Defending the shoreline between the River and the Causeway was the Australian 27th Brigade, led by Brigadier Duncan Maxwell, and one irregular company. On 10 February the Japanese forces suffered their heaviest losses while moving up the River, which caused them to panic and nearly aborted the operation. However, a series of miscommunications and withdrawals by Allied forces in the ensuing battles allowed the Japanese to swiftly gain strategic footholds, which eventually led to the fall of Island on 15 February 1942.
The terrain around here was primarily mangrove swamps and tropical forest intersected by streams and inlets. The shoreline between the River and the Causeway, nearly four kilometers long, was defended by theAustralian 27th Brigade, led by Australian Brigadier Duncan Maxwell. The 27th Infantry Brigade consisted of three battalions—the 2/30th, 2/29th, and 2/26th and was supported by the 2/10th Field Artillery Regiment, as well as one platoon from the 2/4th Machine Gun Battalion.
They were supported by one company from Dalforce (named after its commander, Lieutenant-Colonel John Dalley of theMalayan Police Special Branch), a local Chinese militia consisting of Communists, Nationalist supporters, and other volunteers. As the war intensified, the Dalforce volunteers were given only three to four days of training and sent to the war front with elementary weapons. Lacking uniforms, the volunteers improvised by wearing a red triangle on their blue shirts to avoid being mistaken for Japanese by the Australians.
The Allied forces here were assaulted by the Imperial Guards Division led by Major General Takuma Nishimura. 400 Imperial Guards had landed and taken Pulau Ubin, an island in the north-east of the island, in a feint attack on 7 February, where they encountered minimal resistance.
So which of the 13 chapters in The Art of War best described this Battle ?
Use the bonus data collected from The Art of War Chapter 8 to 13 to derive the final coordinates :
- N 01° 26. [(C8 + C10 + C12) X 21] - 8
- E 103° 44. [C9 + C11 + C13) X 5] - 17
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