The British depended on their Indian units for a ready source of infantry troops in North Africa, Italy and the Far East. Most of these units, at least the ones that were sent into battle with equipment and training, did exceptionally well against their foes. Not so during the Malayan campaign. The British were so hard pressed to field troops in a short period of time (because they had sent the best Indian units elsewhere prior to the outbreak of war in the Pacific) that they deployed troops totally unfamiliar with their enemies and the jungles they were foredained to fight, die and surrender in. It wasnt a deliberate decision on the part of the British, for English units (with one exception) and Australian brigades were in a similar position.
Those problems were not recognized (and could not have been rectified if they had been). The defenders did not think the Japanese would perform any better than themselves in the jungle nor did they believe the Japanese had a better air force, more competent leadership, and far higher morale (having tanks when the British did not helped a lot as well). Indian units were swept out of position when Australians on their flanks retreated without notice or because they were ordered to fall back by British commanders who clearly were out of their professional depth fighting against the Japanese in the jungle.
The upshot of the entire fiasco is that Indian troops fought better than could be expected, recieved no credit from the British or Australians (who were both looking for a scapegoat rather than examaine their own mistakes) for their considerable sacrifices. All of this took place during a period where Indians were constantly discussing independence from the United Kingdom. The Japanese, through clever propaganda, seemed to offer a surer road to self-determination than the British with the result that thousands of Indians who fought with the British changed sides after the fall of Singapore.
The author's reliance on primary sources lends considerable authority to this work.
Highly recommended for those military history buffs familiar with the 1941 - 1942 campaign but who would enjoy revisiting those events from a different (non-British) perspective.
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