Realising that war was imminent, the Brooke government, under Sir Charles Vyner Brooke, conducted preliminary work to establish airstrips at selected locations throughout the country. These airstrips would be located at Kuching, Oya, Mukah, Bintulu, and Miri.
With no air or sea forces stationed in or around Sarawak, the British government encouraged the Brooke regime to adopt a "scorched earth policy" in the event of a Japanese attack. Later, schemes were developed to destroy the oil installations at Miri and Lutong.
The Brooke government learned of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor (on 7 December 1941) and quickly ordered the total destruction of the oil fields and airfields at Miri and Seria.
Orders for the demolition of the refinery at Lutong and the oil wells reached the officer commanding at Miri on the morning of 8 December, and by that evening, the task was completed.
The garrison, a company of the 2/15 Punjab Regiment then left for Kuching by sea on 14 December. The Japanese captured the city on 17 December.
Japanese Destroyer Shinonome
Japanese destroyer Shinonome was a Fubuki class was the sixth of twenty-four Fubuki-class destroyers, built for the Imperial Japanese Navy following World War I.
They served as first-line destroyers through the 1930s, and remained formidable weapons systems well into the Pacific War.
From 16 December, Shinonome was assigned to cover Japanese landings during "Operation B", the invasion of British Borneo.
December 17, 1941 (Wednesday) the Japanese destroyer Shinonome was sunk near Miri, Sarawak, probably from an air attack, after being struck by two bombs from a Dornier Do 24 flying boat X-32 of the Royal Dutch Naval Air Group GVT-7, which detonated her aft magazine.
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