On January 18, 1942, the commander of 16th Army Lt. General Hitoshi Imamura arrived at Takao, Taiwan from his base at Saigon.

Following the surrender of Hong Kong, the 228th, 229th and 230th Infantry Regiments from the IJA 38th Division were also deployed to Netherlands East Indies separately.

The center group was composed of IJA 48th Division, left for Java on February 8, 1942 from Lingayen Gulf, in the Philippines.

On February 25, the convoy arrived at Balikpapan and the Sakaguchi detachment (56th Regiment Group) joined the force.

[citation needed] Earlier on January 11, the Sakaguchi detachment and 2nd Kure Special Naval Landing Force occupied Tarakan.

[6] The Sasebo Combined Special Naval Landing Force then attacked and occupied Kendari on January 23.

The 1st Kure Special Naval Landing Force and 228th Infantry Regiment from 38th Army and Airplane Carrier Division 2 from Japan, reached Ambon on January 30.