Ww2dbaseThe defenses in Malaya and Singapore were equally unprepared for war. Meanwhile, the Imperial Guard Division, elite academically, had no combat experience. On paper, he commanded a force 70,000-strong, organized into three divisions in reality, the Japanese strength was less than that, as the 5th Division left behind a whole regiment in Shanghai, China as late as, while the 18th Division left two headquarters regiments in Canton, China. Yamashita was given the overall responsibility of the invasion. Furthermore, Japanese intelligence only detected 30,000 to 50,000 British and Commonwealth troops in Malaya, when in fact there were about 88,600 men this under-estimation could have easily caused serious harm in the Japanese invasion, but General Tomoyuki Yamashita would later admit that "our battle in Malaya was successful because we took the enemy lightly". The Japanese Army did not embark on conducting research with jungle warfare until Dec 1940, and even then the effort was not fruitful, as the responsibility of the research was given to the Taiwan Army, and the island of Taiwan lacked any jungle for this purpose. Ww2dbaseIn general, the Japanese troops knew very little of jungle warfare. This perimeter extends from the Kurile islands down to Wake, Guam, the East Indies, Borneo, Malaya, and up to Burma. In addition to the natural resources, Malaya was also part of Japan's "Outline Plan for the Execution of the Empire's National Policy", a plan to expand the outer perimeters so wide that her enemies would not be able to attack by air against the home islands. In Jun 1941 Japan was refused supplies of iron and oil from United States, Britain, and Netherlands, therefore further reinforced Japanese thought that Southeast Asia must be taken. While Malaya only had a limited amount of oil production, the peninsula was a perfect staging point to launch and support further invasion for the oil rich islands of Borneo, Java, and Sumatra. The Japanese Navy alone needed 400 tons of oil an hour to maintain its war readiness. Every drop of oil consumed by Japan's military and industrial capacities had to be imported. The first was that most of this rubber and tin supply went to Japan's potential cross-ocean rival, the United States. In 1939, Malaya was the resource of 40% of the world's rubber and 60% of the world's tin that fact alone interested Japanese expansionists, but two additional reasons sealed the approval on the invasion planning that started in early 1941. Ww2dbaseMalaya was known for its rich natural resources, and that very aspect was eyed by the Japanese militarists and industrialists.
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