but it could do little, most of its forces having been deployed to the war in Europe against Nazi Germany and the Kingdom of Italy. The defence of Sarawak depended on a single Indian infantry regiment, the 2/15 Punjab Regiment, together with the local forces of Sarawak and Brunei. As Sarawak had a significant number of oil refineries in Miri and Lutong, the British feared that these supplies would fall to Japanese control, and thus instructed the infantry to carry out a scorched earth policy. On 16 December 1941, a Japanese navy detachment on arrived at Miri from Cam Ranh Bay in French Indochina. The Japanese then launched an air attack on Kuching on 19 December, bombing parts of the town airfield while machine-gunning people in the streets. The attack created panic and sent residents fleeing to rural areas. The Dutch submarine managed to bring down the Japanese from Miri but, with the arrival of the together with other ships, the Japanese secured the town on 24 December. From 7 January 1942, Japanese troops in Sarawak crossed the border of Dutch Borneo and proceeded to neighbouring North Borneo. The 2/15 Punjab Regiment were forced to withdraw to Dutch Borneo and later surrendered on 9 March after most of the Allies had surrendered in Java. A steamship of Sarawak, the , was sunk while evacuating nurses and wounded servicemen in the aftermath of the fall of Singapore. Most of its surviving crew were massacred on Bangka Island. Lacking air protection, Sarawak, together with rest of the island, fell to the Japanese and Vyner took sanctuary in Australia. Many of the British and Australian soldiers captured after the fall of Malaya and Singapore were brought to Borneo and held as prisoners of war (POWs) in Batu Lintang camp in Sarawak and Sandakan camp in neighbouring North Borneo. The Japanese military authorities placed the southern part of Borneo under the navy, while its army were responsible for management of the north. As part of the Allied Campaign to retake their possessions in the East, Allied forces were then sent to Borneo in the Borneo Campaign and liberated the island. The Australian Imperial Force (AIF) played a significant role in the mission. The Allies' Z Special Unit provided intelligence gathering which facilitated the AIF landings. Most of the major towns of Sarawak were bombed during this period. The war ended on 15 August 1945