increasing tensions in Europe, he came into conflict with the Military Board after he wrote a number of newspaper articles expressing his concerns about complacent defence policy and the efficiency of regular officers. World War II When World War II broke out in 1939, although only 52, Bennett was passed over for command of the Second Australian Imperial Force, the position going to General Thomas Blamey. The Chief of the General Staff, General Sir Brudenell White, seems to have been opposed to Bennett being given an active command. A. B. Lodge, Bennett's biographer, comments in the Australian Dictionary of Biography (ADB): "Because of his temperament, he was considered unsuitable for a semi-diplomatic command, and one that involved subordination to British generals. Bennett was as scathing of British officers as he was of Australian regulars." Bennett was instead given a command in the Volunteer Defence Corps, the Australian version of the British Home Guard. In July 1940, he took over command of the Eastern Command Training Depot. After White's death in the Canberra air disaster in August 1940, Bennett was appointed commander of the newly formed 8th Division, replacing Vernon Sturdee, who was promoted to White's former role. In February 1941, the 8th Division's headquarters, along with one of its brigades – the 22nd – was posted to Malaya after a request from the British for Australia to contribute troops to bolster the garrison there, amid growing concerns of war with the Japanese, and as part of the plans that had been formulated as the pre-war Singapore strategy. The 27th Brigade was also dispatched in August, but the division's third brigade, the 23rd Brigade remained in Australia. Relations between Bennett and his superiors, and also his subordinate brigade commander, Brigadier Harold Taylor, were not good. Lodge comments: "Bennett's dealings with British senior officers, especially with the general officer commanding, Malaya, Lieutenant General A.E. Percival, were devoid of harmony." In December 1941, the Japanese invasion of Malaya began. Bennett found himself in command of an ad hoc force known as "Westforce", which included the Australian 27th Brigade – but not the 22nd, which had been transferred to III Indian Corps – and several Indian units. Bennett's command was not engaged in the early stages of the fighting as the initial Japanese attacks fell on British and Indian units around Kota Bharu and the Thai–Malay border; but as the Japanese pushed the defenders