 As the situation worsened , early on 9 February ' A ' Company , which had been in reserve , and HQ Company were sent forward to provide further assistance to the 22nd Infantry Brigade , which was slowly being pushed back towards the tactically important <unk> airfield , via the village of <unk> <unk> . They took up positions at Bulim , east of the airfield ; shortly afterwards they were joined by 7 Platoon , from ‘ B ’ Company , which had been detached from the Causeway sector . The remnants of the 22nd , numbering around only 500 men from its original 2 @,@ 500 , with a further 500 or so isolated and attempting to fight their way through , was pushed further back throughout the day . Orders were passed for a counter @-@ attack around the airfield but as the size of Japanese forces in the area grew to around 20 @,@ 000 men , they were later cancelled in favour of establishing a line between Bulim and <unk> , to the east of the airfield . Established in the early afternoon , within this line , the 2 / 4th 's ' A ' Company was positioned east of Bulim with 7 Platoon , ' B ' Company , while the remnants of ' D ' Company , amounting to only 47 men , were moved south , where they joined with ' C ' Company , which was supporting the Indian 44th Brigade , which although it had not yet been engaged , had fallen back from the south @-@ west coast to avoid being cut off and had established itself west of <unk> <unk> , behind the Sungei <unk> . 
