World Battlefronts: New Commander's Job

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The R.A.F. had gone into offensive action only five days before Sir Henry's arrival, fortnight after the first assault, with attacks on Japanese air bases in Thailand and northern Malaya.

General Pownall, reputed to be a harddriving, Blimp-hating, tape-cutting fighter, would have to assimilate these facts and act quickly. His job was not easy: he was as inexperienced in the jungle as a two-counting Sakai would be in Piccadilly Circus. Two days after General Pownall took over, the Jap started a new thrust, in which he succeeded in taking Malaya's tin-mining center, Ipoh. Now it was up to General Pownall to stop the enemy, and stop him fast. The hiatus was over: action was in order.