 The Japanese attack came in the night of 8 / 9 February , after a heavy artillery and aerial bombardment that had lasted throughout the day . ' D ' Company , positioned in various locations in support of the Australian 22nd Brigade in the north @-@ western area , found themselves in the thick of the fighting as the Japanese concentrated their landing on the Australian 8th Division front . <unk> and stretched out across a large frontage over ground that was unsuited to defence , the Australians were almost immediately under pressure . Shortly after 8 : 00 pm , 13 Platoon , supporting the 2 / 20th Infantry Battalion around the head of the Lim Chu Kang Road , was confronted by a large number of landing barges filled with Japanese assault troops . For almost six hours , the platoon , under Lieutenant Eric <unk> , fought a desperate action to repel the invaders . With four machine guns , as well as personal small arms and grenades , the platoon inflicted heavy casualties on the Japanese and sank several barges . Despite heavy casualties from Japanese mortar and machine gun fire , they kept fighting until early in the morning on 9 February when , threatened with being outflanked and low on ammunition — each gun had fired over 10 @,@ 000 rounds — and having had one gun knocked out , the platoon was forced to withdraw . Destroying their equipment as they went to prevent it from being captured , the platoon was forced to withdraw in contact , taking their wounded with them ; the action was later rewarded with a Military Cross for the platoon commander , who was badly wounded after taking over one of the machine guns after its crew had been wounded . 
