{"id":7070,"date":"2015-01-24T18:12:42","date_gmt":"2015-01-24T10:12:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stuif.com\/blog\/?p=7070"},"modified":"2022-01-19T22:31:25","modified_gmt":"2022-01-19T14:31:25","slug":"japan-invades-malaya-194142","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stuif.com\/blog\/?p=7070","title":{"rendered":"Japan invades Malaya 1941\/42"},"content":{"rendered":"

On\u00a08 December 1941, just after midnight, Japan invades Malaya, one hour before the attack on Pearl Harbour. Less than eight weeks later, on 31 January 1942, the British Indian army has to retreat\u00a0across the causeway to Singapore. A fascinating\u00a0chronology of the invasion\u00a0can be found here<\/a><\/p>\n

One of the most decisive\u00a0battles between the Japanese and British Indian army in the Malaya campaign has been fought near Kampar,\u00a0the Battle of Kampar<\/a>. The Japanese army advanced along the trunk road nr 1 and the British army had built fortified positions on the Bujang Melaka\u00a0hill ridges near Kampar, overlooking the trunk road.\u00a0My friends Chadel and Keong explored one of these ridges a couple of years ago and Chadel asked me recently if I was interested to go again and explore more. I was….:-)<\/p>\n

We decided to follow the retreat of the British Indian Army from Kuala Kangsar until Serendah. In the three maps below (click to enlarge), the old trunk road nr 1 is highlighted in black. Red circles indicate points of interest. In what follows, I will comment on these “red spots”<\/p>\n

\"tripmaptotaal\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0The Sungei Perak bridges<\/span><\/p>\n

On 19 and 20 December, heavy fighting took place on the Grik-Kuala Kangsar road near Lenggong. Japanese troops used the Cenderoh lake and the Perak river to float\u00a0down in rafts, in the night bypassing Kuala Kangsar. It would be a disaster if they would\u00a0take the two bridges (road and railway) across the Perak river, therefore\u00a0the\u00a0commander of all troops west of the Perak River, ordered on 21-12 an immediate withdrawal across the Perak river. This withdrawal was\u00a0complete on 23-12 and the two bridges were\u00a0demolished.<\/p>\n

Here is where our recce started. We drove along the highway to Kuala Kangsar, where we had lunch in the Yat Lai shop, boasting on the best halal<\/strong><\/span> pow of Malaysia..:-) It was crowded and we shared a table with Ali, a friendly Malay gentleman, 83 years old. Of course I asked\u00a0him if he had memories of the Japanese invasion. Not really anything \u00a0memorable, of course he was still a young boy, living in ‘remote’ Sauk.<\/p>\n\n\t\t