While Britain and France were busy suppressing colonial rebellions, they had not forgotten to investigate the issue of Japanese spies—especially after the Philippine rebellion broke out.
Although the Japanese government had ordered its overseas spy networks to suspend operations, and the military had also ordered them to scale back their activities, these organizations had long been accustomed to treating government orders like toilet paper. Naturally, they were not so obedient.
The intelligence organizations directly under the government or military were alright; once they received the orders, they all behaved themselves. But the other assorted intelligence outfits were a different matter.
Some intelligence organizations had never received any orders at all. Even their existence was kept secret from both the government and the military.
Against this backdrop, Japanese businesses throughout Southeast Asia immediately suffered devastating blows. Having swallowed a bellyful of anger back home, Churchill set his second fire after arriving in Southeast Asia squarely on the Japanese.
Without reinforcements from home, how could they possibly put down the rebellion in a short time?
Churchill's main force for suppressing the rebellion was still being assembled. At present, all he could mobilize were the several tens of thousands of troops in the Southeast Asian colonies, along with the support the Royal Navy could provide.
Against an island rebellion like that in the Visayas, they would first bombard the place, then send the suppression army ashore. At best, an island could be retaken in ten days to half a month; at worst, two months.
But the rebellion had already spread to Malaysia, and that was different. Defeating them was easy; wiping them out was difficult.
The rebels had studied the art of war too. Relying on the dense jungle, they would emerge every so often to ambush a few cities. Churchill, short on