The 194th Tank Battalion of the Texas National Guard, sent to the Philippines, isn't given 37mm ammunition for its tanks until the Japanese are on top of them. The British in Malaya don't have a single tank. Many troops have never seen one. Aside from the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, most British troops are untrained and ill-equipped for jungle warfare. Lacking anti-tank weapons, the British troops hurl whiskey bottles full of explosives at Japanese T97 tanks.
Allied equipment is generally inferior to Japanese gear.
American Mark 14 torpedoes, tested in Long Island Sound, fail to explode even on point-blank direct hits. American cruisers don't carry torpedoes, but are full of wooden furniture and fittings, highly flammable. American airpower in the Philippines includes ancient P-26 open cockpit fighters, while the British in Malaya still operate Vildebeeste biplanes as bombers. As the Japanese advance from victory to victory, they gain a reputation as Asiatic supermen. In the Mediterranean, the Royal Navy pounces on an Italian convoy and sinks three Italian cruisers.