From the sinking of Repulse and the Prince of Wales to the fall of Malaya, Singapore, Borneo, Sumatra and Java and the bombing of Darwin, Japan's armies crashed through poorly defended and ill prepared colonies. With them came a degree of brutality towards prisoners and ethnic cleansing of Chinese civilians that made Japan's war synonimous with cruelty and prejudice. This ebook explores how the European powers made so many avoidable errors and how they were to learn from their mistakes.