MUAR BATTELFIELD DURING WORLD WAR II

Glock19

Battle of Muar
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit
Jump to: navigation, search
Battle of Muar
Part of Battle of Malaya (Pacific War)

Sergeant Charles Parsons' anti-tank gunners firing on Type 95 Ha-Go tanks at point-blank range on the Muar-Parit Sulong road, 18 January 1942. One of them is already destroyed and five more would suffer the same fate.
Date 14–22 January 1942
Location Muar, Malaya
Result Japanese victory, Parit Sulong massacre

Belligerents
Westforce:
8th Division
9th Division
45th Indian Infantry Brigade
53rd Infantry Brigade

2-VLG-V
Twenty-Fifth Army:
Imperial Guards
5th Division
3rd Air Division
Commanders
Gordon Bennett
Herbert Duncan  †
Charles Anderson
Frederick Galleghan Takuma Nishimura
Masakazu Ogaki
Shiegeo Gotanda  †
Fujita Seizaburo
Strength
4000 infantry
60 aircraft 8000 infantry
400 aircraft
40 tanks
Casualties and losses
3100 killed (including 145 PoWs) 700+ killed
6+ tanks destroyed
145 Australian and Indian POWs shot by the Japanese and their bodies burnt to destroy the evidence. (See Parit Sulong massacre)

[hide]v • d • eBattle of Malaya

Kota Bharu – Bombing of Singapore – Krohcol – Prince of Wales & Repulse – Jitra – Kampar – Slim River – Muar – Endau



The Battle of Muar was the last major battle of the Malayan campaign. It took place from 14–22 January 1942 around Gemensah Bridge and on the Muar River. After the British defeat at Slim River, General Archibald Wavell, commander of ABDA, decided that Lieutenant General Lewis Heath's III Indian Corps should withdraw 150 miles south into the State of Johore to rest and regroup, whilst the 8th Australian Division would attempt to stop the Japanese advance.

Allied soldiers, under the command of Major General Gordon Bennett, inflicted severe losses on Japanese forces at the Gemensah Bridge ambush and in a second battle a few miles north of the town of Gemas. Members of the Australian 8th Division killed an estimated 700 personnel from the Japanese Imperial Guards Division, in the ambush at the bridge itself, whilst Australian anti-tank guns destroyed several Japanese tanks in the battle north of Gemas.

Although the ambush was successful for the Allies, the defense of Muar and Bakri on the west coast was a complete failure which resulted in the near-annihilation of the 45th Indian Infantry Brigade and heavy casualties for its two attached Australian infantry battalions.[1] This is the first engagement between units of the British 18th Division and Japanese forces in Malaya.

Contents [hide]
1 Prelude
1.1 Gemas positions
1.2 Gemensah Bridge positions
1.3 Muar positions
2 Battle
2.1 Gemensah Bridge and Gemas
2.2 Muar
2.3 Siege of Bakri
2.4 Parit Sulong Bridge
2.5 Parit Sulong massacre
2.6 Retreat
3 Aftermath
4 See also
5 Notes
6 External links
7 References

[edit] Prelude
The ambush was ordered by the head of Malaya Command, Lieutenant General Arthur Percival's own instructions; he strongly felt that ambush was the way to fight the Japanese.[2] A multinational force under Bennett, codenamed Westforce, was assigned to defend the Muar area.

Westforce took up positions, covering the front from the mountains to the shore of the Malacca Straits. There were two main areas, and both of these were sub-divided into sectors, which were themselves widely separated and linked with each other chiefly by rather tenuous signal communications.[2]

[edit] Gemas positions
The first area was around the central trunk road and the railway beyond Segamat. The three subordinate sectors were:

(a) Astride both road and railway near Gemas. Here, the 8th Indian Infantry Brigade made up the holding force.
(b) Further forward along the same road lay the 27th Australian Brigade. They were charged with a counter-offensive role, and had already prepared an advanced ambush, from the 2/29th Australian Infantry Battalion, for the Japanese several miles ahead at the Gemensah Bridge.
(c) Leftwards was the 22nd Indian Infantry Brigade tasked with guarding the approaches to Segamat from Malacca, which skirt either side of Mount Ophir.
[edit] Gemensah Bridge positions

State of Johore, with Muar on the leftB company of the 2/30th Australian Battalion, under Captain Desmond J. Duffy,[3] entrenched and concealed themselves on one side of the Gemensah Bridge, spanning a stream, as part of the ambush. The bridge itself had been mined with explosives, and a battery of field artillery sited on higher ground behind the infantry whence it could command the Japanese approach to the bridge. The 2/30th (New South Wales) A.I.F. Battalion was under Lieutenant Colonel Frederick Galleghan, nicknamed "Black Jack".[4]

For the Japanese side, the Mukaide Force (commanded by Colonel Mukaida) was created to take the lead from the tired Japanese 5th Division and was approaching Gemas and the Australian ambush at Gemensah Bridge.[5] Mukaide Force consisted initially of the 1st Tank Regiment with an infantry battalion and artillery for support under the command of the 9th Brigade. It was reinforced by the 11th Infantry Regiment on 15 January.[1] Colonel Mukaida was the commander of the 1st Tank Regiment, which at the beginning of the Malayan Campaign, consisted of 31 Type 97 Medium Tanks and 17 Type 95 Light Tanks.[6]

[edit] Muar positions
The second area was that which covered the West Coast and the roads which run along it to Johore Straits. This had two sectors, actually more in line with one another than those of the first area, but even less effectively in touch. The defence of this area was assigned to the 45th Indian Brigade, reinforced by a single battery of field artillery. It included the seaport of Muar, and stretched some 30 miles up into the jungle towards Segamat, along the winding course of the Muar River, with its deep-wooded, creeper-covered banks. Under orders from General Bennett, two of the battalions were disposed along the river line, which they thus divided between them, while the third went into active reserve near the coast.[2]

The Imperial Guards Division was moving down the west coast of Malaya, with a battalion sized force under the command of Col Masakazu Ogaki approaching the Muar river area from the sea,[2] while the 4th and 5th Guards Regiments approached Muar from the north under General Nishimura.[1]

[edit] Battle
[edit] Gemensah Bridge and Gemas
Main article: Battle of Gemas

Gemensah Bridge in 1945.The ambush occurred at about 1600 hours on 14 January, when Japanese troops from the 5th Division approached, mounted on bicycles, and crossed the bridge unharassed.[7] Then came the main column, several hundred strong, also cycling, which was followed by tanks and engineer trucks. At this point, the bridge was detonated, sending timber, bicycles and bodies hurtling through the air. B Company, 2/30th Australian Battalion spread out along either side of the road, concealed in well protected firing positions, then opened fire and the Japanese column took devastating blows as row upon row of men and equipment were mowed down by machine gun and rifle fire. Most of the Japanese troops tied their rifles to the handlebars of their bicycles making the ambush even more successful for the Australians.[4]

Heavy casualties continued to mount for the ambushed column. However, the bicycle infantry who had passed through the ambush area discovered the field telephone cable hidden in a patchy undergrowth which linked back to the gun positions, and promptly cut it. As a result, the Allied artillery received no signal, and were not able to support the ambush party.[4]


Japanese troops near Gemas.The Australians nonetheless did receive artillery support, from their counterparts. Most of the Japanese shells rained down on the bridge, where the Japanese infantry were, adding to the rising death toll.[7] The ambush party, having done a substantial slaughter, duly fell back in several groups that same evening and by next day most of B Company had rejoined their battalion in a position near Gemas. B Company lost one man killed in action and six men missing in the fighting at the bridge.[4] The six missing men were later learned to have been shot after being captured by the Japanese.[8] The Japanese 9th Brigade war diary puts the casualties of the Mukaide Detachment at seventy dead and fifty-seven wounded but this does not include the other attached units.[4]

On the morning of 15 January, Japanese aircraft arrived and began dive-bombing the town of Gemas.[2] Six hours after the ambush the Japanese had repaired the bridge and were moving on their way towards Galleghan's main position at the 61 mile peg on the Gemas-Tampin road. The surviving members of Mukaide Force were now reinforced by the Japanese 11th Regiment.[2] The 2/30th Battalion were positioned astride the road and railway line with two 2-Pounder Anti-Tank Guns facing the road.[9] By 1000 hours on 15 January, Japanese infantry clashed with the Allied defence lines, and as the day wore on they were supported by an increasing number of tanks. In a short but violent battle the Australian anti-tank guns, from the 2/4th Australian Anti-Tank Regiment, destroyed six of eight Japanese tanks and their supporting infantry inflicted heavy casualties on the Japanese infantry following the tanks.[9]

Glock19

After twenty-four hours of fighting Galleghan withdrew his battalion from the area.[2] The 2/30th Battalion had inflicted heavy casualties on the Japanese with minimal loss to themselves, suffering in all seventeen killed, nine missing and fifty-five wounded.[4] In the two days of fighting, at the bridge and on the Gemas road, the Japanese 5th Division had suffered an estimated 1,000 casualties.[10] The withdrawal went unharassed, and for the next day or so quiet settled over the Segamat area.

Gen Bennett, boosted by the initial success, was quoted in the Singapore Times as saying that his troops were confident that they would not only halt the Japanese advance, but compel them to be on the defensive.[2]

[edit] Muar

The Muar Ferry Crossing, where the 45th Indian Brigade was disposed along 24 miles of river front with four companies of infantry north of the river and the remainder positioned south of the river,[2] to cover the main coast road at Muar against the advance of the Imperial Guards Division.On the night of 15 January, the Japanese captured a number of barges moored on the southern bank of the Muar river and towed them overstream to flank both the town of Muar and the Indian garrison's only reserve battalion.[2] Packed barges and junks were making their way across the river mouth, meeting no resistance except a subsequent brush with an Indian patrol, which retired after a brief exchange of shots.[2] The patrol never alerted headquarters that the Japanese were on the South bank. As day broke, the outflanking force surprised a company of the 7/6th Rajputana Rifles, and routed them. The remaining three Indian companies (two from the 18th Royal Garhwal Rifles and another from the Rajputana Rifles) on the north bank were cut off and captured soon after,[2] without the main garrison at Muar even realising that an entire Japanese division was on the other side of the river.[2] By noon, they were attacking from upstream both Muar Town and the garrison's line of communications with its only reserve battalion, 4/9th Jat Regiment, which was located near Bakri, on the main road south from Muar.[2]

At Muar itself, a Japanese attempt to land and seize the harbour was repulsed by Australian artillery, firing at packed barges and junks as they tried to make their way across the river mouth. By late afternoon though the Japanese, who had already made another crossing further up river, were in the town of Muar itself. The commanders of the Rajputana Rifles and the Royal Garhwal Rifles were killed along with most of their officers during the fighting around the town, leaving the mostly teenaged sepoys leaderless.[2] To add to the mounting disasters for 45th Brigade it was at this point in the battle, that an air raid by Japanese aircraft destroyed 45th Brigade Head Quarters, killing all the staff officers and concussing Brigadier Duncan (one of only two survivors of the raid).[2] Due to Brigadier Duncan's concussion and the deaths of two of his battalion commanders and most of the HQ staff, command of the 45th Brigade was temporarily handed over to Lt Col Anderson of the 2/19th Australian Battalion.[2]

By nightfall of 16 January, Muar Town and the harbour had fallen into Japanese hands. The remnants of the 45th Brigade retreated down the coast several miles as far as Parit Jawa. Japanese ambushes were soon deployed to repel any Allied counter-attack, while at the same time they continued their relentless charge towards Bakri, Parit Sulong and Batu Pahat.[2]

[edit] Siege of Bakri

Lt Col Charles AndersonOn 17 January, the surviving units of 45th Indian Brigade, with the Australian 2/19th and 2/29th Battalions serving as reinforcements, were dispatched to re-capture Muar.[2] They rallied around Bakri and organised a rough perimeter defence of it. Their commander, Brigadier Herbert Duncan, planned a three pronged advance from Bakri to Muar; up the main road between the towns, from the jungle island, and along the coast road. The attack went wrong before it could be launched. The brigade ran into one of the Japanese ambushes, and the counter-offensive was cancelled.[2]

The next day at 0645, General Nishimura ordered his own three-pronged attack on Bakri. It was spearheaded by nine Type 95 tanks under Captain Shiegeo Gotanda. However, Captain Gotanda, inspired by the Japanese tank's success at Slim River, advanced without infantry against the 2/29th Battalion, and was wiped out.[4] In a repeat performance of the Australian gunners at Gemas, Lieutenant Bill McClure's two anti-tank guns (also from the 2/4th Australian Anti-Tank Regiment) destroyed all nine of Gotanda's tanks. Sergeant Clarrie Thornton, commanding the first gun received a Mention in Dispatches, and Charley Parsons, commanding the second gun was awarded the DCM.[2] Thornton's gun fired over seventy rounds during the engagement.[11] Lt Col James Robertson (commander of the 2/29th Australian Battalion) was killed soon after this engagement. Deprived of tank support, the infantry were unable to break through, an engagement Nishimura later described as "severe and sanguinary".[2] By dawn the Japanese were in action on the main road, nearly surrounding the brigade.

The 6th Norfolk Battalion of the 53rd British Brigade, who were assigned to defend a ridge about 5 miles West of Yong Peng, covering the line of retreat for the 45th Brigade, feared they would be annihilated in the now practically-encircled area. Early in the afternoon of 19 January, a Japanese raiding force attacked and drove them off the ridge. The British retired up through the thick jungle to the summit of the northern ridge. The Norfolks were unable to inform headquarters of their position as they had no wireless.[2]

At dawn of 20 January, the 3/16th Punjab Regiment, commanded by Lt Col Henry Moorhead (who took part in Operation Krohcol), were ordered to recapture the ridge. By the time they reached it, they came under friendly fire from the Norfolks, who had mistaken them for the Japanese. After losses on both sides, it was later sorted out. But before a proper defence could be organised, the Japanese attacked, killing Moorhead and driving both the Norfolks and Indian troops off the hill.[4] The 45th Brigade and the two Australian battalions at Bakri were now in danger of being cut off.

That same day, Brigadier Duncan, who had recovered from his concussion and was commanding the rear guard,[4] was killed when he led a successful bayonet charge to recover lost vehicles. With Duncan and Robertson dead, Lt Col Charles Anderson assumed full command of the 45th Brigade and all other units around Bakri.[2] Early in the morning of 20 January, Anderson was ordered to pull out from Bakri and attempt to break through to Yong Peng. Anderson decided to delay until the 4/9th Jat Regiment could reach the column.[2] During this delay most of the 2/29th Battalion were cut off from Anderson's position. Only an estimated 200 men from 2/29th Battalion and 1,000 Indian troops from the 45th Brigade were able to join up with Anderson's column.[2] Other survivors from the 2/29th would make it back in small fugitive parties.[4] Within a mile or so of Bakri, Anderson's column was held up by a Japanese roadblock. Several efforts to break through failed, until a bayonet charge led by Anderson himself was successful.[2]

The young Indian recruits were helpless. They did not even know how to take cover, and there were not enough officers to control them. I say this in no spirit of disparagement. It was the penalty of years of unpreparedness for war coming out in all its stark nakedness.

Lt Gen Arthur Percival[12]More roadblocks lay ahead for the brigade. By sunset, after a struggle which had raged on throughout all the hours of daylight, the column had covered a distance of three miles. Anderson warned that there was to be no rest that night, and ordered the march to go on. The brigade had now reached the edge of some more open country and passage was easier, though the column, by now, was laden with wounded.[2]

The young and inexperienced 45th Indian Brigade had ceased to exist as a formation. Most of its officers were killed or wounded, including Brigadier Duncan and all three battalion commanders.[4] In the space of a few days Percival had lost an entire Indian brigade and the best part of two of his Australian battalions as well as one brigadier, three Indian Army battalion commanders and an Australian battalion commander.

Glock19

Parit Sulong Bridge

Parit Sulong Bridge in 1963. A memorial plaque commemorating fallen Allies was erected there that same year. The bridge was demolished in 1994 and replaced with a new one.
Fighting at Parit Sulong by men of the 2/15th Australian Field Regiment, by Murray Griffin. The area in which the column was forced into measured a distance of only 1200-1500 yards.It took Anderson's column two days to fight their way fifteen miles to get near the bridge.[4] Scouts from the column reported at 0715 that the bridge at Parit Sulong was in Japanese hands. The guards which were placed there by the 6th Norfolks, cut off from all contact and without rations since the Japanese raiding force drove the battalion from the defile a few miles further on, had left their post and set off along the river bank to Batu Pahat.

The brigade made an attempt to dislodge the Japanese from the bridge on 21 January, but were repulsed by tanks, aircraft and artillery. They were then forced into an area measuring only about a quarter-of-a-mile of roadway. Fighting raged all day, and by 1700 casualties were getting severe.[4] A wireless message was then received during the morning that a relieving force from Yong Peng was on its way. The sound of distant gunfire between Parit Sulong and Yong Peng gave the column hope.

The rear of the column was repeatedly assailed by tanks and infantry. During the late afternoon and until after dark, two soldiers successfully disabled the leading tank using grenades. Directing an anti-tank gun, the tank burst into flames, forming a temporary roadblock. This gave the rearward defenders an opportunity to disable the other tanks, using grenades and Boys anti-tank rifles with grim resolve.[2]

With ammunition for the mortars and 25 pounders nearly exhausted, Anderson sent a message to General Bennett requesting an airstrike at dawn on Japanese forces holding the far end of the bridge, and for food and morphine be airdropped on the column. He received a reply, "Look up at sparrowfart".[2]

At dusk, with the dead and wounded piling up, Anderson sent two ambulances filled with critically wounded men to the bridge under a flag of truce, requesting that they be allowed to pass through to the Allied lines beyond.[13] The Japanese refused, and instead demanded that the Indian brigade surrender, offering to care for the wounded. Still hopeful of relief, Anderson refused to consider surrendering. The Japanese then ordered that the ambulances were to remain on the bridge to act as a roadblock, and they would be shot if they attempted to move. After dark, Lieutenant Austin[14] and a driver, both of whom were themselves wounded, slipped the brakes of the ambulances, and let them run quietly backwards down the slope from the bridge. Amid the roar of gunfire, they started the engines and drove back to the brigade.[4]

Next morning, two RAF Fairey Albacores arrived from Singapore and dropped supplies on the 45th Brigade.[15] Escorted by three RAAF Brewster Buffaloes, they then turned their attention on the Japanese holding the far end of the bridge, and bombed them.[2] Soon after, enemy tanks were again active, and made a flank attack supported by troops on the shrinking Allied foothold.[16]

Anderson later received another message from Bennett, "Sorry unable help after your heroic effort. Good luck", stating that there was no hope of relief reaching the column on time, leaving it to his discretion to withdraw. As a last resort, he sent a company to test the resistance at the bridge again that same morning, in the hope that the airstrike had weakened it enough for the column to break through. But the response convinced him there was no chance of success.[2]

He finally ordered a retreat at 0900, but not before destroying all guns, vehicles and equipment. The wounded who could not walk were left to the care of voluntary attendants. Anderson and the remnants of the brigade then dispersed eastward through jungle and swamps to reach Yong Peng, leaving behind an estimated 150 wounded personnel.[2] Eventually, about 500 Australians and 400 Indians survived to reach British lines, out of more than 4,000 men from the 45th Brigade and two Australian battalions. Stragglers would keep coming in from the units cut off at Bakri.[4]

[edit] Parit Sulong massacre
Main article: Parit Sulong Massacre
Some of the prisoners were let out of the bungalow to find their captors waiting for them with water and cigarettes which they held just out of reach while a party of Japanese war correspondents took pictures of the captives, about to receive them. When the correspondents had gone, the water was poured away, the cigarettes pocketed and the men bundled back inside.

Colin Smith [4]While most of the Australians, the majority roped together like a chain gang, were first shot,some of the Japanese officer decided it was time the samurai swords they carried - often family heirlooms - tasted blood,and practiced their skills on the Indians, perhaps because the average Asian's collar size tends to be smaller than a Caucasian's.

Colin Smith [4]For the wounded who were left behind, the Japanese, after mistreating them, massacred all except a handful who escaped.[4] A captured Australian ambulance column were not even spared. With kicks, clouts and curses, blows from rifle butts and bayonet jabs, their captors crammed them all into a couple of small rooms in a coolie hutment at Parit Sulong village on the Muar highway. The wounded lay piled upon one another's bodies on the floor. They were denied drinking water by the Japanese, who mocked them by bringing bucketfuls of it as far as the doorway-and then pouring it out upon the ground.[2][4]

The prisoners were soon promptly trussed up into small groups with rope or wire, pushed into a roadside scrub at the point of a bayonet, and machine-gunned. Petrol was then flung over the bodies of the shot prisoners, some of whom were still alive, and then set alight to remove any evidence of war crimes committed by the Japanese.[1]

One of the victims, Lieutenant Ben Hackney of the 2/29th Australian Battalion, along with 2 others, Sergeant Ron Croft and an English soldier, survived to witness the horror. They were granted shelter in a Malay house for a while. Hackney, still unable to stand, persuaded the others to leave him while he remain hidden. Croft was never seen again and is presumed dead on 15 April 1942.[2]

Hackney was soon carried off by the Malays and left some distance from the house. He was often refused help by Malays who feared reprisals, but was generally aided by the Chinese. Caught by a Malay policeman on 27 February, Hackney was turned over to the Japanese, and subsequently beaten up. He survived the war and provided information regarding the massacre. He and Private Reginald Wharton are the only two European men who survived the massacre. Altogether, 145 prisoners lost their lives. Many of the Indian prisoners were beheaded.[4]

Despite one officer (Lieutenant Fujita Seizaburo) admitting to have ordered the massacre, General Takuma Nishimura was believed to have carried out the orders. The sworn evidence of two sepoy survivors (Lance-Havildar John Benedict and Sapper Periasamy) were confirmed by the post-war discovery of the remains. The War Crimes Court, in 1950, sentenced Nishimura to death for it.[4]

[edit] Retreat
On 23 January in the final act of the battle, the 2nd Loyals, covering the last men of Anderson's column to make it into British lines, had two companies positioned as rear guard facing the defile on the road to Yong Peng. At 2 pm, as they were about to withdraw, seven Japanese tanks supported by an estimated two battalions of infantry emerged rapidly from the defile and attempted to dismantle the Loyal's road block.[17] In the short battle that followed the 2nd Loyals inflicted heavy casualties on the Japanese infantry attempting to dismantle the road block but ultimately the Loyals, without any anti-tank weapons, were driven off by the tanks and out numbered by the Japanese infantry. During the Battle of Muar and as the rear guard the 2nd Loyals suffered an estimated 200 casualties before withdrawing to Singapore.[18][19]

Glock19

Aftermath

Lt Ben Hackney, one of only two men to survive the massacre“ This Brigade had never been fit for employment in a theatre of war. It was not that there was anything wrong with the raw material, but simply it was raw. — Lieutenant General Arthur Percival[20] ”

Shortage of signal equipment and transport were the cause of the Allies slow response. During the week, the Japanese were able to operate 250 bombers and 150 fighters from airfields in Malaya and Southern Thailand. Operational Allied aircraft available were probably two or three dozen bombers and about as many fighters by this stage of the campaign.[2] Arthur Percival blamed the 45th Indian Brigade, who were handed the most important tasks despite their lack of training and experience prior to the war, for the failure of the defence of Muar. To be fair to the 45th Indian Brigade; they were against a far superior fighting force and did not stand much of a chance.

“ To put Duncan's novices in the same ring with Nishimura's Guards, who already had the advantage of aerial superiority and tanks, was ludicrous. — Colin Smith[4] ”

Despite this, the brigade did achieve a vitally important task in nearly a week of night-and-day fighting. While they fought on from Muar Harbour to Parit Sulong Bridge, stalling the Imperial Guards Division, strongly backed by air and tank support, the three brigades of Westforce in the Segamat area were able to withdraw safely down the central trunk road to Labis, and thence towards the key crossroads at Yong Peng.[2]

Nevertheless, the 45th Brigade's losses were devastating, especially in officers, and the brigade was not able to rebuild in the last few weeks of the Malayan campaign. Only 400 Indian soldiers from the 45th Brigade and 500 soldiers from the two Australian battalions escaped with Anderson's force.[21] A fitting tribute, both to his own outstanding valour and also to the service and self-sacrifice of his men, was the award of the Victoria Cross to the last commander of the brigade, Lt Col Charles Anderson.[22] Even though they suffered such heavy casualties, Anderson's force had kept the Imperial Guards occupied for four days. Percival recorded in his official record, "The Battle of Muar was one of the epics of the Malayan campaign. Our little force by dogged resistance had held up a division of the Japanese Imperial Guards attacking with all the advantages of air and tank support for nearly a week, and in doing so had saved the Segamat force from encirclement and probable annihilation. The award of the Victoria Cross to Lt Col Anderson was a fitting tribute both to his own prowess and to the valour of his men."[23]

The brigade was soon disbanded, and the remaining troops were transferred to other Indian brigades. The two Australian battalions fared little better. 271 men from the 2/19th Battalion made it to British lines, but only 130 from the 2/29th Battalion would make it back to British lines before Singapore surrendered.[24] Many men of both battalions were still in the jungle when the campaign ended.[2] According to Peter Graeme Hobbins; in 22 days of fighting (including on Singapore itself) the 2/19th Battalion suffered "more dead, missing and wounded than any other Australian Infantry Force unit in the Second World War", with 335 killed and 97 wounded.[25]

One criticism aimed at Percival was his decision to deploy the 53rd British Infantry Brigade to the front line. The brigade had disembarked at Singapore on 13 January, just three days earlier before being sent to the front, after nearly three months at sea in crowded troopships, travelling from England to the east coast of Africa, where they had no exercise whatsoever. The brigade, part of the 18th Division, was originally assigned to take part in the North African Campaign, but the troopships were redirected to Singapore when the Japanese invaded Malaya.[2]

News of the slaughter at Gemensah Bridge were well received in Singapore. Despite the defeat at Muar, Bakri and Parit Sulong, many civilians thought the action at Gemensah was the long awaited turning point and that the rout of the Japanese invasion force was not long in coming. The Japanese losses of 700 infantry was the biggest loss suffered in any single action. A commentator, over a Singapore radio, announced flamboyantly that the news gave good reason to believe that the tide of battle was on the turn, "with the AIF as our seawall against the vicious flood".[2]

Lt Col Frederick Galleghan, who commanded the Australians at Gemas, was awarded the Distinguished Service Order on March 15, 1942, while a POW at Changi Prison,[26] and Captain Desmond Duff, commanding B Company at the bridge ambush, was awarded the Military Cross.

According to Alan Warren in his book Britain's Greatest Defeat; Tomoyuki Yamashita described the battle at Muar as the most "savage encounter" of the campaign. Warren states that, "Between 16 and 22 January the Imperial Guards lost a company of tanks and a battalion's worth of infantry casualties... The significance of the fighting between Bakri and Parit Sulong is that it was one of the few occasions where the Japanese received as good as they gave."[27]

Glock19

Pembunuhan beramai-ramai di Parit Sulong
Posted on the October 9th, 2009 under Sejarah by zamreda679


Pembunuhan beramai-ramai Parit Sulong berlaku pada 23 Januari 1942 yang dilakukan oleh anggota Division Pengawal Imperial (Imperial Guards Division) dari Tentera Imperial Jepun terhadap tentera berikat semasa penaklukan Tanah Melayu ketika Perang Dunia II. Beberapa hari sebelumnya, tentera Berikat telah menyerang hendap tentera Jepun berhampiran Gemas dan meletupkan jambatan di situ dalam pertempuran Jambatan Gemencheh.

Semasa Penjajahan Jepun di Tanah Melayu, anggota pasukan Division ke 8 Australia (Australian 8th Division) dan Brigade Infantri ke-45 India (Indian 45th Infantry Brigade) sedang berundur sambil berjuang apabila mereka dikepong berhampiran dengan jambatan di Parit Sulong. Pasukan Berikat bertempur dengan pasukan Jepun yang lebih besar selama dua hari sehingga mereka kekurangan bekalan peluru dan makanan.


Setelah gagal berunding di bawah bendera putih untuk membenarkan mereka yang tercedera untul lalu, pemerintah pasukan memutuskan bahawa pihak Jepun akan mematuhi Perjanjian Geneva (Geneva Convention ) mengenai tawanan perang dan memerintahkan kesemua mereka yang sihat dan mampu diperintahkan untuk berpecah ke dalam hutan, satu-satunya jalan bagi mereka kembali menyertai barisan pihak Berikat; tetapi bagi sekitar 110 tentera Australia dan 40 tentera India yang cedera terlalu teruk untuk melarikan diri, pilihan mereka yang ada hanyalah untuk menyerah diri.

Tahanan perang yang cedera itu ditendang dan dihentak dengan buntut senapang oleh Pengawal Imperial. Mereka yang tercedera ditahan dalam bangunan kayu. Mereka kemudian dikumpulkan dan diperiksa oleh Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Nishimura Takuma, General Officer Commanding, Division Pengawal Imperial yang memberikan arahan untuk “menghapuskan” tahanan yang tercedera.

Dalam perbicaraannya, Nishimura mendakwa bahawa ini bererti “memindahkan mereka yang tercedera kebelakang” – tetapi Chief of Staff, Kolonel Imai Kamerjiro – yang tidak terselamat dalam perperangan – menambah; “Mayat tahanan hendaklah dibakar selepas selesai pembunuhan itu”. Teks penuh arahan tersebut diberikan kepada Lt. Fujita yang ditugaskan bagi menghapuskan tahanan.



Pada petang 22 Januari 1942, mereka diperintahkan untuk berkumpul di belakang baris kedai yang rosak berdekatan. Mereka yang tercedera dipapah oleh mereka yang mampu berjalan, setelah dijanjikan rawatan perubatan dan makanan. Sementara menunggu ditempat perkumpulan, samaada duduk atau terbaring lemah, tiga mesingan, tersorok di bilik belakang mulai menembak, mengsasarkan tahanan tersebut. Sejumlah tahanan yang masih hidup di tikam dengan bayonet. Selepas itu baris rumah kedai tersebut dirobohkan dan mayat tahan diletakkan di atasnya. Enam puluh galon minyak dituang diatas timbunan itu dan api dihidupkan. Menjelang tengah malam, timbunan kayu dan mayat membentuk abu setinggi dua kaki sebelum diisikan kedalam lubang bom dijalan berhampiran.

Terdapat keterangan saksi lain yang menyatakan kisah berlainan, anataranya: Sesetengah dari mereka diikat dengan kawat di tengah jalan sebelum ditembak dengan mesingan dan dicurah dengan petrol dan dibakar dan (dalam kata-kata Russell Braddon) selepas “dibakar hangus sebelum digelek kehadapan dan kebelakang (secara teratur) dengan lori yang dipandu oleh tentera Jepun.” (Braddon, p. 101) Kebanyakan mayat tersebut dijadikan pengisi lubang bom dijalan. Kenyataan penduduk tempatan turut melaporkan bahawa tahanan perang (POWs) diikat beramai-ramai dengan kawat dan dipaksa berdiri di atas jambatan, sebelum seorang tentera Jepun menembak seorang, menyebabkan yang lain jatuh kedalam sungai Simpang Kiri dan lemas.

Tiga orang tentera Australia terselamat dan dua daripadanya masih hidup sehingga tamat perang. Dua tentera Australia yang tercedera dan sempat melarikan diri dari pembunuhan beramai-ramai itu dan menjadi saksi mengenai layanan Jepun terhadap tahanan perang. Rekod rasmi menunjukkan seramai 150 orang yang tercedera dibunuh.

Leftenan Jeneral Takuma Nishimura kemudiannya disabitkan terbabit dalam pembunuhan beramai-ramai di Parit Sulong oleh Mahkamah Tentera Australia (Australian Military Court) dan digantung hingga mati pada 11 Jun 1951. Dia telah disabitkan oleh mahkamah British bagi penjara seumur hidup bagi Pembunuhan beramai-ramai Sook Ching.

wrw967

patutnye jgn la bia die kne gantung.... sekse dlu.. bio die rase... sekse sampai la die mati.. ni gantung je trus.. ape pun die tak rase...

din_atos

kan bgs klu kisah ni dimsk dlm cite pacific

azifah84

aduyai.....panjang sangatla
jenuh ambo nak baca
bagi kesimpulan cte tuan tanah
plzz.....
hehe

kegimaru

kejam sungguh askar jepun nih..bunuh trus tawanan

impreza_X

nippon yg kejam

cilok

jenuh nak baca.......kesimpulannyer org jepun zaman dlu memang kijam...

jkkkj

Ada sorang kawan aku cakap kalau dia dapat peluang pegi Jepun,rasa nak kasi penampar jer kat orang-orang yang umur 70-80 tahun ke atas di sana.

Mana la tau kot-kot diorang tu ada yang pernah jadi askar di Tanah Melayu neh.

sallycity

The next day at 0645, General Nishimura ordered his own three-pronged attack on Bakri. It was spearheaded by nine Type 95 tanks under Captain Shiegeo Gotanda. However, Captain Gotanda, inspired by the Japanese tank's success at Slim River, advanced without infantry against the 2/29th Battalion, and was wiped out.[4] In a repeat performance of the Australian gunners at Gemas, Lieutenant Bill McClure's two anti-tank guns (also from the 2/4th Australian Anti-Tank Regiment) destroyed all nine of Gotanda's tanks. Sergeant Clarrie Thornton, commanding the first gun received a Mention in Dispatches, and Charley Parsons, commanding the second gun was awarded the DCM.[2] Thornton's gun fired over seventy rounds during the engagement.[11] Lt Col James Robertson (commander of the 2/29th Australian Battalion) was killed soon after this engagement. Deprived of tank support, the infantry were unable to break through, an engagement Nishimura later described as "severe and sanguinary".[2] By dawn the Japanese were in action on the main road, nearly surrounding the brigade.

Patutlah sekolah aku kat Bakri dulu ada mcm2 hantu Jepun..Hantu berkawad lah, hantu org kena kejar ngan hantu Jepun lah..Hantu tak dak kepala lah..

alphawolf

Heheh....asal ada tempat pertempuran ajer mesti ada hantu....cuma aku tertanya2 ada tak kes hantu menghantui pantai2 Normandy, Bastogne, Hurtgen Forest, Stalingrad, Kursk blablabla?

Glock19

Reply 6# wrw967

kejam sungguh ko ni.........kita xusah wat apa yang dah diorg wat sbb kita xada perbezaan dengan diaorg betul x...hehehehehe

Glock19

aik mcm tergantung n xmeriah je thread ni???

rurouni_khairul

Heheh....asal ada tempat pertempuran ajer mesti ada hantu....cuma aku tertanya2 ada tak kes hantu me ...
alphawolf Post at 17-5-2010 16:12

Mungkin ade kot cume kite jer x tau..

Glock19

rurouni_khairul posted on 14-9-2010 05:16 PM
Mungkin ade kot cume kite jer x tau..

yup mesti ada cuma xheboh2.....

Dimarmalam

kenapa hantu askar jepun yang tadak kapla
sedangkan askar jepunlah yang pancung askar melayu, omputeh, askar india, masyarakat setempat.
pelik tol...
adakah propaganda jepon nak tutup kesalahan masa wwwII
maka diwujudkan cerita askar jepon yg kena aniaya....

shamsadis

mengikut perjanjian Geneva juga...pasukan payung terjun yang sedang terjun tidak boleh ditembak sehingga mereka mendarat di bumi....sekadar info