 In August 1940 , the Chiefs of Staff Committee reported that the force necessary to hold Malaya and Singapore in the absence of a fleet was 336 first @-@ line aircraft and a garrison of nine brigades . Churchill then sent reassurances to the prime ministers of Australia and New Zealand that , if they were attacked , their defence would be a priority second only to that of the British Isles . A defence conference was held in Singapore in October 1940 . Representatives from all three services attended , including Vice @-@ Admiral Sir Geoffrey Layton ( Commander in Chief , China Station ) ; the General Officer Commanding Malaya Command , Lieutenant General Lionel Bond ; and Air Officer Commanding the RAF in the Far East , Air Marshal John Tremayne Babington . Australia was represented by its three deputy service chiefs , Captain Joseph Burnett , Major General John Northcott and Air Commodore William Bostock . Over ten days , they discussed the situation in the Far East . They estimated that the air defence of Burma and Malaya would require a minimum of 582 aircraft . By 7 December 1941 , there were only 164 first @-@ line aircraft on hand in Malaya and Singapore , and all the fighters were the obsolete Brewster F2A Buffalo . The land forces situation was not much better . There were only 31 battalions of infantry of the 48 required , and instead of two tank regiments , there were no tanks at all . Moreover , many of the units on hand were poorly trained and equipped . Yet during 1941 Britain had sent 676 aircraft and 446 tanks to the Soviet Union . 
