the Basra railhead. The new commanding officer of the 21 LAA Regt, Lt-Col Martin Saunders, was called to the War Office in the third week of November and was given instructions on the regiment's destination and operational tasks. It was a secret operation known only to a few. He was the only one among the regiment who knew that they were to be a part of a small advanced force for a landing in French Algeria and then a subsequent dash to capture the airfields at Tunis and Bizerta. Deployment The battery gunners left Gourock on the Warwick Castle at 08:00 on 7 December 1941. A small team from the 79th accompanied their equipment on the SS Malancha, which sailed independently from Liverpool on the same day as the Japanese launched their attacks on Malaya and Pearl Harbour. While at sea, the planners at the War Office decided to reschedule the operation which had been one of Winston Churchill's pet projects, but without letting him know. The Operation would eventually take place a year later as “Operation Torch.” The small convoy, which had been embedded in a much larger troop convoy WS(14) for their voyage to Gibraltar – the staging post for the invasion of Algiers – did not detach on 11 December as planned, but stayed with the main convoy en route to South Africa. The 'Force' received no instructions about what would be their new destination and mission. In Cape Town, they were to learn that Britain was now at war with Japan and their new assignment was to defend Singapore. Singapore was under attack before they arrived and they were redeployed to Batavia on the jungle-covered island of Java on 3 February 1942. Their ship was attacked as it arrived in port. In Batavia the 79th LAA Battery was split in half. Troop B was sent to defend the airfield of Malang while Troops A and C boarded the Ban Hong Leong on 9 February to defend Penfui airfield in Dutch Timor – the closest airfield to Australia. Timor After their ship was chased and attacked by two Japanese submarines, the ship was attacked by Japanese bombers as they arrived at Koepang port on 16 February. In Timor, the battery of 189 personnel joined Sparrow Force – a contingent of 1400 Australian troops, under the command of Australian Lt. Colonel William Leggatt. To cope with jungle conditions