What a interesting thread!
First things first;
I have been doing lots of research these past six months for a thread I want to do and yes there were reinforcements that could have been sent to Rabaul, Ambon, and Timor. The Australian had the brigades to defend these three places, it just that Australia in 1941 still depended on England to send a fleet, which was difficult to send since the British fleet was in two theaters at war, Mediterranean and Atlantic.
So where are the reinforcements? I'll explain. In 1941 the Australian could have build six more brigades up and could have train them to do home protection, releasing 4 brigades to be station at the three places I have mention plus sending another brigade to Singapore. This are the four brigades that could have been sent: the 28th Brigade could have been sent to Timor, the 29th Brigade to Rabaul which also would have the 11th Field Company R.A.E., and the 30th Brigade to Ambon. The 8 infantry division (Australian) would have all three brigades and its field artillery regiments. Also another brigade could have been sent to Singapore, the 5th Brigade. Now the 28th, 29th, and 30th brigades would each have a field artillery batteries to support them.
Now that we have gotten that out of the way, there were other reinforcements that could have been sent to Singapore. Where? Easy Canada and New Zealand. Canada wanted to see its troops in action and not in protection duty in England. If the British had ask Canada to send a brigade to Singapore in early 1941, a good brigade could have been sent. In my research I found out that tanks and planes could have been sent if the government had force to build the twice of tanks and planes for both Canada and Russia but I am not going to write on it since its not propitiate for this thread.
Now if ABDA had started to train in early 1941 with its ships, by the time war came they would have been ready. Also in my opinion sending the destroyer tender and a submarine tender to Singapore and getting its refits there would have helped out the Asiatic fleet. The floating dry dock USS Dewey could have also been sent to Singapore with a seaplane tender. By the latest August all this could have helped out not only the Asiatic fleet but also the Dutch, Australian, British, Canadian, and also New Zealanders.
First things first;
I'd argue that politics of coalition cooperation at this time, despite lack of any stated commitments or alliances from the United States, were such that U.S. forces being on British or Australian territory in the South Pacific is not politically impossible. British forces stationing in terrain in Sumatra, or Australians in the Dutch part of New Guinea should not be impossible either [I don't know if there were any good ports on the Dutch side of New Guinea].
I have been doing lots of research these past six months for a thread I want to do and yes there were reinforcements that could have been sent to Rabaul, Ambon, and Timor. The Australian had the brigades to defend these three places, it just that Australia in 1941 still depended on England to send a fleet, which was difficult to send since the British fleet was in two theaters at war, Mediterranean and Atlantic.
So where are the reinforcements? I'll explain. In 1941 the Australian could have build six more brigades up and could have train them to do home protection, releasing 4 brigades to be station at the three places I have mention plus sending another brigade to Singapore. This are the four brigades that could have been sent: the 28th Brigade could have been sent to Timor, the 29th Brigade to Rabaul which also would have the 11th Field Company R.A.E., and the 30th Brigade to Ambon. The 8 infantry division (Australian) would have all three brigades and its field artillery regiments. Also another brigade could have been sent to Singapore, the 5th Brigade. Now the 28th, 29th, and 30th brigades would each have a field artillery batteries to support them.
Now that we have gotten that out of the way, there were other reinforcements that could have been sent to Singapore. Where? Easy Canada and New Zealand. Canada wanted to see its troops in action and not in protection duty in England. If the British had ask Canada to send a brigade to Singapore in early 1941, a good brigade could have been sent. In my research I found out that tanks and planes could have been sent if the government had force to build the twice of tanks and planes for both Canada and Russia but I am not going to write on it since its not propitiate for this thread.
Now if ABDA had started to train in early 1941 with its ships, by the time war came they would have been ready. Also in my opinion sending the destroyer tender and a submarine tender to Singapore and getting its refits there would have helped out the Asiatic fleet. The floating dry dock USS Dewey could have also been sent to Singapore with a seaplane tender. By the latest August all this could have helped out not only the Asiatic fleet but also the Dutch, Australian, British, Canadian, and also New Zealanders.