Barely a month ago, the fast progress in the Japanese campaigns across the Pacific had prompted them to start what was one of their most important operations of the war: the invasion of the Dutch East Indies. As we’ve seen, the main objective of this operation was the island of Java, yet the invaders first needed to take several airports and major towns around it, known to the Japanese as Java’s Dehors. Now, the Japanese are on the verge of completing their conquest of these dehors on Borneo, the Celebes and the Moluccas. Concurrently, the island of Java was also one of the main links of the Malay Barrier, and its safety was a huge concern for the ABDACOM. Seeing that it was to be in huge peril if the cities of Makassar and Banjarmasin fell to the Japanese, the Allies prepared to fight in any manner they could to keep the Malay Barrier intact and accomplish their mission to protect the Dutch colony. The stage was set for a very important battle of the Pacific War.