How to stop the Japanese succeeding in taking British Territories

So as the title says, how could you stop the Japanese in taking the British colonies in the Far East?

One way I can think of initially helping the British Colonies would be in Malaya. Somehow you need to get the Malayans a strong fleet, this had been promised to them for sometime before WWII even broke out but the government never got round to it. Then you need to get the British army in Malaya some tanks, seeing as they didn't have any when the Japanese invaded with 200.

So what do you think? What about Hong Kong? Discuss please :)
 
So as the title says, how could you stop the Japanese in taking the British colonies in the Far East?

One way I can think of initially helping the British Colonies would be in Malaya. Somehow you need to get the Malayans a strong fleet, this had been promised to them for sometime before WWII even broke out but the government never got round to it. Then you need to get the British army in Malaya some tanks, seeing as they didn't have any when the Japanese invaded with 200.

So what do you think? What about Hong Kong? Discuss please :)

gamb1993

There's no way to save Hong Kong. Its simply too exposed.

With Malaya if you can stop the Japanese occupying French Indo-China before fighting starts that would make it a lot more difficult as the allies would be able to take precautions before the Japanese can get into range of the attack.

Failing that a fraction of the modern a/c that were sent to Russia and a small force of tanks would drastically improve the chances of defending Malaya. Also a clearer leadership would help with less concentration on keeping production up and the civilians happy. Alternatively something like clearing Libya earlier is one of the classic option as that would free up the resources necessary for making the defence of both Malaya and the Dutch Indies a lot easier.

Steve
 
Easy, just provide enough combat power to fight the Japanese off.

A recent thread about the French Navy could provide this combat power; The FN transforming the Med and African theatres so combat power that IOTL was was used in the Med/Africa could instead go to SEA. Similarly the thread about Operation Compass continuing also provides combat forces to SEA to fight off the Japanese. My favorite is simply having Percival replaced by someone good so that the extant forces were used to much better effect, a bit like Singapore Slim. There is another about having enough airpower as well, History of the Malaya Campaign I think.

This is an easy scenario because IOTL even with our dismal performance the Japanese were on the verge of falling back from Singapore on the day of surrender due to supply issues.

I too think that HK and probably Borneo are too exposed, I'm refering to Malaya which is the most important colony in the area.
 
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Hong Kong is toast - the sensible thing would have been to accept this and instead of wasting troops, send them to Malaya.

Borneo is also too exposed, although if Malaya is held, Allied air power and subs would make it difficult for the Japanese to get anything useful out of it. Indeed, if might just be a trap for the japanese, soaking up resources - the allies would be more than happy with any long term attrition that is vaguely close to parity, they cant lose in that situation.
 

Markus

Banned
Take the Japanese serious and finding the soldiers and arms is easy.

In Jan/Feb. 1941 five Commenwealth divisions(+corps troops and reserves) went on the counteroffensive in Ethiopia and Somalia. The decisive batte was won in mid-March, most of the Italians surrendered in May. After that resistance was limited to two areas that were sort of under siege. One fell in September.

May to September: As italian armour and air power is eliminated, most AA- and AT-weapons are withdrawn, plus one experienced indian regiment. After September the rate of redeployment is acellerated and on Dec. 7th the 9th and 11th Indian Divisions are brought to full strenght with experienced men. The worst equipment deficiencies have been fixed(AT,AA,radios), even tanks are available albeit older and lighter models.

The RAF has formed four additional fighter squadrons, three with the 90 Curtiss Hawks they got from South Africa one with 25 Gladiators gathered from various sources.
 
So as the title says, how could you stop the Japanese in taking the British colonies in the Far East?

Hong Kong I'm not sure about. But it actually wouldn't be to hard for them to save Malaya. Instead of sending hundreds of Hurricanes to the Soviets or using Spitfires to duel with the Luftwaffe pointlessly over Nazi controlled Europe they could of sent them their. The Hurricane is just about as fast as most Japanese fighters and has better armor and armament. The Spitfire would devastate the Japanese. Also, American planes like the Warhawk, which proved during the war to be effective, could be lend-leased. Since this would be largely defensive, range isn't that important. And, on the ground, send some proper tanks over. Even tanks that had been considered useless when it came to fighting the Germans (like the Lee) could of been effective against the Japanese. And finally train the soldiers in jungle combat like the Japanese were.

Resupplying Malaya would be much more difficult. The only way the RN could plausibly beat the IJN is if they decided in the pre-war era to build wood-deck carriers instead of steel-deckers or battleships and to buy modern aircraft, most likely American designs.
 
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