Battle of Sarimbun Beach The Battle of Sarimbun Beach was the first stage of the Japanese assault on Singapore in February 1942 during World War II . Sarimbun , in the west of Singapore Island , was the area in which Japanese troops , under the overall direction of Lieutenant General Tomoyuki Yamashita , first attacked Allied forces . The commander of Allied forces in Singapore , Lieutenant General Arthur Percival , did not expect the Japanese to make their main attack in the west , and failed to reinforce the Australian 22nd Brigade , which took the brunt of the assault . The main Japanese objective to the immediate rear of Sarimbun was Tengah Airfield . Background . In the lead up to the invasion , Percival gave Major - General Gordon Bennett ' s two brigades , from the Australian 8th Division , responsibility for the north - western sector of the island , which including the prime invasion points . The terrain was primarily mangrove swamp and tropical forest , broken up by rivers and creeks . Brigadier Harold Taylor ' s 22nd Infantry Brigade , augmented by most of the Australian 2 / 4th Machine Gun Battalion , was assigned a 10 mile ( 16 kilometre ) wide sector centred on Sarimbun Beach . The Jind Infantry Battalion of the Indian States Forces , which was guarding Tengah , and a company from Dalforce , a guerilla militia recruited from Singaporean Chinese . The 27th Infantry Brigade was assigned an adjoining 4 , 000 yard ( 3 , 650m ) wide zone to the north , adjoining the causeway . The Australian 2 / 4th Machine Gun Battalion was distributed among the infantry units . Battle . At 8 . 30pm on 8 February , Australian machine gunners opened fire on vessels carrying a first wave of 4 , 000 troops from the 5th and 18th Divisions towards Singapore island . The Japanese assaulted Sarimbun Beach , which was held by the 22nd Brigade . Fierce fighting raged all day but eventually the increasing Japanese numbers — as well as their superiority in artillery , planes and military intelligence — began to take their toll . The Japanese exploited gaps in the thinly - spread Allied lines such as rivers and creeks . By midnight , the two Australian brigades had lost communications with each other and the 22nd Brigade was forced to retreat . At 1am , further Japanese troops were landed and the last Australian reserves went in . Towards dawn on 9 February , some elements of the 22nd Brigade had been overrun or surrounded , and the 2 / 18th Australian Infantry Battalion , in the centre , had lost more than half of its personnel . The 2 / 20th Australian Infantry Battalion , on the right flank was also heavily committed . At the same time , the 2 / 19th Australian Infantry Battalion , on the left , was being outflanked , and only " B " Company faced the initial landings by the Japanese . Percival maintained a belief that further landings would occur in the northeast and did not agree to reinforce the 22nd Brigade until Tengah Airfield itself was threatened . However , before limited British and Indian infantry reinforcements arrived , the badly - battered Australian and Singaporean units , along with the Jinds , had retreated to take up positions on the " Jurong Line " , stretching south from the village of Bulim . Tengah Airfield was taken by the Japanese at around midday on 9 February . Aftermath . Shortly after dark on 9 February , three British Fairmile B motor launch es were sent on a raid up the western channel of the Straits of Johor , adjoining Sarimbun Beach . Their objective was to attack Japanese landing craft and communications . They came under fire from enemy forces on both shores , but pressed on almost as far as the causeway . A few Japanese landing craft were sunk before the launches returned down the channel , reaching Singapore safely and suffering minimal damage . Some Allied soldiers saw this as an example of effective defensive tactics that were used too little and / or too late by their senior commanders .