5 Malaysian Towns That Were World War II Battlefields

Aking

Noel Wong @ FMT Lifestyle

In the early hours of Dec 8, 1941, the residents of Kota Bharu were awoken to the thunderous sounds of gunfire, as bright flashes lit up the sky.

The Japanese had arrived, landing on the beaches of Kelantan and eventually breaking through British defences and forcing a retreat.

In no time at all, the invading forces would push the British all the way back to Singapore before seizing the island fortress itself.

It has been many generations since the Japanese invasion of Malaya, and memories of those violent times have long since faded.

While the war is obviously taught in schools, many people remain unaware that their hometowns may actually have seen significant action during the war.

So, which Malaysian towns were the sites of bloody encounters?

Here are some spots in Malaysia that were a completely different place during that traumatic time.

1. Jitra, Kedah

A relatively quiet town back then, Jitra remains rather idyllic even today despite the march of progress and modernisation.

Historically though, Jitra would be the site of one of the earliest major battles fought in the Malayan campaign.

The British forces had chosen to made a stand there, but failed to prepare defences in time even as the invasion began.

Monsoon rains would impede British efforts, flooding defensive trenches and causing visibility to drop, which allowed the Japanese to ambush the Gurkha and Punjab troops stationed there.

Japanese colonel Masanobu Tsuji later boasted that the British believed they could hold Jitra for three months; but the Japanese took it in fifteen hours.

2. George Town, Penang

Penang, like Singapore, was a Straits Settlement and was expected to be an island fortress to hold out against the Japanese.

The British built a fortress on the southeastern part of the island, the site of the current Penang War Museum.

However, things went awry when Japanese warplanes attacked the Bayan Lepas airfields, defeating the Royal Air Force with relative ease before attacking ships in the harbour.

George Town lacked anti-aircraft defences and soon, the Japanese took to terror-bombing the city, destroying homes and gunning down civilians who had taken to watching the air fight.

In a demoralising act, the British chose to abandon the city, leaving the local population to fend for itself while European citizens were ferried off to Singapore.

After capturing the island, the Japanese would send a mocking radio message to Singapore, “Hello, Singapore, this is Penang calling. How do you like our bombing?”

3. Kampar, Perak

Today, Kampar is better known as a tin mining town that has since been transformed into an education centre thanks to a university and a college there.

Back in 1941 though, Kampar was the site of a rare British victory, where the defenders successfully delayed the Japanese advance as ordered.

Despite being heavily outnumbered, 1,300 British, Sikh and Indian troops fought off an attacking force of 9,000 Japanese soldiers.

The hills around Kampar were an excellent defensive position, and the flat mining lands allowed British artillery to continue firing on Japanese troops.

The Gurkhas and Sikhs would fight valiantly, the former repelling Japanese banzai attacks with their kukris and the latter leading a bayonet charge under heavy fire.

4. Kuala Lumpur, WP Kuala Lumpur

A tin mining town turned commercial and administrative hub, the future capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur unsurprisingly ended up in the sights of the Japanese as they advanced south.

The residents of Kuala Lumpur were informed that the war had arrived at their doorstep when on Dec 22, Japanese bombs began raining down over the city.

By Jan 11, 1942, Japanese tanks were already on the edge of the town and the British, realising that there was no hope in holding Kuala Lumpur, fled.

Again, the European residents were evacuated southward, and panic ensued among the population left behind, with large-scale looting taking place as law and order collapsed.

Despite minor resistance, the Japanese soon took the Sultan Abdul Samad building, the railway station and Pudu Jail, which was turned into a prisoner-of-war camp shortly after.

5. Muar, Johor

Muar is currently one of Johor’s best tourist destinations, being a royal town that is home to delicious rojak and otak-otak.

However, during the war, Muar would be the site of the last major battle in Malaya before the Japanese would turn their attention to Singapore.

During the battle, Australian troops at Gemas managed to ambush the Japanese and inflict severe casualties on them.

However, at Muar itself, the Indian garrison was mauled, left leaderless when an air raid struck the British headquarters, killing most of the officers there.

Despite their eventual victory and the British retreat, the Japanese were furious about the bloodbath at Gemas, and sought revenge.

At Parit Sulong, the Japanese massacred their prisoners-of-war, mowing them down with machine guns, burning them alive and beheading them.

Only a handful of Allied soldiers escaped, aided by the local population, who would later testify against the men responsible for the atrocity.

Artemesiaa

Menarik dapat lihat gambar2 lama macam ni banyak sejarahnya