Murray-Lyon's plan was to place the 15th Brigade mounted on the road, supported by the 6th Brigade on its left, and keep the 28th Brigade in reserve. But he recklessly tried to cover all the approaches and, to do this, scattered his units; the 15th Brigade alone was to hold a 6 kilometer front through jungle, rice paddies and rubber plantations; the 6th Brigade had an even more difficult role:its field of action extended 17 kilometers to the coast. Neither brigade could support the other. Finally, Murray-Lyon was deprived of its reserves. The troops assigned to the defense of Jitra to the north were the 1/14th Punjabis of the 15th Brigade, and by the evening of 10 December they occupied a position at Changlun. The next day, at 8 a.m., they were attacked by Lieutenant-Colonel Saeki's reconnaissance unit, accompanied by ten tanks. After the Japanese had penetrated several British positions, General Garrett decided to withdraw the battalion to an intermediate position at Nangka, 2 kilometers north of Jitra, and to hold out until the next morning. in torrential rain, Saeki attacked with his tanks and motorized infantry, caught up with them and routed them.
The English explanation for this debacle is that the guns of the 2nd Anti-Tank Battery were out The Japanese testimony is much harsher:according to Tsuji, who was in the thick of the action, "ten guns, their muzzles pointed at us, were lined up along the road, but, close to them, there was no one. The enemy seemed to be sheltering from the storm under the rubber trees [...], he suffered a crushing defeat...”
The Punjabis neutralized, the Japanese attacked the 2/1st Gurkhas frontally and on the flank and soon cut it into small pieces. stains. Like the 1/14th Punjabis, the battalion soon ceased to exist as a fighting unit. Under these conditions, Murray-Lyon engaged another battalion of the 28th brigade, under the orders of General Carpendale, and thus deprived himself of his last reserve.
At nightfall, Saeki sent a patrol commanded by Lieutenant Otto to reconnoitre the position held by the 2/9th Djates, on the right wing of the British. Otto soon returned to inform him that the companies were entrenched behind barbed wire, but that there were gaps in the forward positions and the enemy was apparently continuing to fill them. He thought a night attack was possible.
Saeki took his advice and launched the attack at 8:30 p.m. But the strength of the English response caught them by surprise and attacked was temporarily halted. The Japanese then launched their reserve companies, which in turn failed. Saeki, furious at this failure, announced his intention to commit suicide by launching a desperate assault on the enemy positions, but a senior officer managed to dissuade him. A wavering appeared in the troops who sensed the indecision of their leaders.
In the Caribbean, the use of privateers was particularly popular. The cost of maintaining a fleet to defend the colonies was beyond the capabilities of national governments in the 16th and 17th centuries. These governments therefore granted private vessels a letter of marque (or commission of war)