Word: malaya
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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Singapore gave Malaya meaning; nearly everyone knew that Singapore was a great naval base. Burma had no Singapore. Burma was a strange place, with strange names, where Japanese invaded, British retreated, and young Americans flew gallantly in the alien sky. Last week, as the battle for Burma ran its course, it was still a remote, uncomprehended struggle to most of the world...
...supply lines long, the U.S. and British lines, from supply sources to the battle areas, were infinitely longer. Moreover, if the Jap fronts stretched far from home, they were nevertheless fairly close to each other. Result: the Japs could switch squadrons back & forth from one front to another, from Malaya to Java, from Java to Burma, and could usually base them near their next objective. Old crates could be used where opposition in the air was inconsiderable or nonexistent. Until last week, one such place was Japan itself...
...Malaya, off Java and now off India, the naval story was the same: the U.S. and British were caught by superior Japanese forces. The Allies in these areas had lost the equivalent of a formidable fleet: two capital ships (Prince of Wales, Repulse), four heavy cruisers, three or more light cruisers, twelve to 15 destroyers. At any one place and time, with effective air support, they could have beaten the Japs. As it was, piecemeal, the Allies lost both the ships and the battles...
...probably R.A.F. bombers from Ceylon, tracked down a Jap carrier and attacked. They missed; they also "suffered some losses." The Royal Navy still had "substantial forces" in the Bay of Bengal; enemy accounts mentioned at least several more cruisers, another aircraft carrier, two battleships (including the old, U.S.-repaired Malaya). The British figured that the Japs had three of their newest 50,000-ton battleships, five aircraft carriers, a strong complement of cruisers and destroyers. Gloomiest index of the results of the first battles for the Bay was a British call for help from the U.S. Navy...
...situation. The logic is derived in part from shocking news-hitherto completely unsuspected in Britain-that the Englishmen in Singapore were all very rich, drank a great deal went to nightclubs and failed to inspire the natives to die for the Empire. The question of whether the natives of Malaya should have been given their freedom had apparently not been brought up. But it was indeed recalled that the Indians had requested freedom some time ago. And it was excessively annoying" to discover that such a simple-and presumably inexpensive gift-had not long since been arranged...