Originally Posted by
Stanwell
May a mere colonial pipe up here?
Ha! Modesty and irony in equal measure... brothers and sisters, all!
... the pathetic and futile sacrifice of our good fighting men generally, at that time, made a lot of people angry. It was bloody obvious that we weren't going to stop the Japs, nor even slow them down...
...The question I ask is just what was the mentality behind that wanton waste of, not only life, but the few good pilots we had left?
With hindsight, what you say makes sense... a waste of life in a hopeless cause. On the other hand, it wasn't in the British tradition to hoist the white flag without first putting up some sort of fight. It was a similar deal in WW1. To some British troops on the Western Front, it seemed pointless to keep up the pressure on the Germans over the miserable wintertime. By contrast, the French seemed to have a tacit agreement with their enemies in the trenches opposite, to go easy... lob a token shell or two, but not more. The British attitude was always to display 'fighting spirit'. And that attitude had a long history... personal honour was staked upon ones readiness to fight. A Captain in Nelson's Navy who, having spotted an enemy ship, failed to close with it, would likely be court-marshaled.
People in 1942 were asking similar questions about certain military commanders being 'asleep at the wheel'.
Quite so, it was a national disgrace, for Britain, Holland and the USA that they were so readily turfed-out of Southeast Asia. But, at least it was a fighting withdrawal, with many brave men losing their lives... not just a raising of white flags.