The Malayan Campaign #2🎙️The Bicycle Blitzkrieg

Hello, everybody. This is Echoes of War. I am Craig from the Pacific War Channel.

I'm joined here by my co-host, Gareth. How are you? Hey, Craig. Great. I'm glad to be on here. Looking forward to continuing with our series that we are on right now. So for those who don't know, this is part two in an ongoing series covering the Malayan campaign. You don't really have to watch the first episode to watch this one. They're all made independently, of course, but it kind of helps if you did watch the first one.

Before i think i would just say to the audience it does set a lot of the context and opening moves, including a pretty big disaster that the british were gonna experience exactly but uh before we jump into it i just want to say if you want to further support the channel please go check out the youtube membership or the patreon account at www.patreon.com slash the pacific war channel by joining either you get access to the exclusive podcast series really access to all the

content i make and voting rights for the subjects I will tackle next. And so we are March right now. In a few days, I am going to be releasing what is the first episode in a multi-part series, which is behind the paywall, mind you. And it took a lot of time to research, but it is a alternate history of the Pacific War. It is not going to be Japan winning World War II or anything like that. It's honestly, it's pretty serious. I did a lot of research, really thought this through.

And the only thing i'll say is the first episode is titled the great naval battle of pearl harbor i guess that's a bit of a tease yeah i just say i'm sold i'm sold it's you know i'll just say this here something that's very difficult to do is to just come up with how ships are destroyed you know you think after reading uh 50 books of like oh it's a torpedo in the hull here or it snapped the bow here the stern or like it lists flooding damage to boilers and

all that it actually when you're writing it yourself and you're just coming up with it on the fly it's uh it's kind of challenging i actually was one of the most challenging aspects of it but i desist won't go into that yet because today we are going right back to malaya and i tried to prepare a kind of a little brief summary of what we covered in the first episode so basically december 1941 japan launched a lightning invasion of British Malaya,

aiming to seize its vital resources and cripple the Allied power in Southeast Asia. Despite British defences centered around Singapore, the fortress in the east, their forces were underprepared and quite overstretched, and there would be no match for the battle-hardened veterans of the 25th Army led by one General Tomoyuki Yamashita. The campaign began with landings at Kotobaru, where Indian troops fiercely resisted, but they were overwhelmed by the Japanese amphibious assaults. I will add,

Wouldn't really call them amphibious assaults. It's more like Japan just trying to show up on some beaches and fight at the same time. They didn't really prepare for that very well. The Japanese never perfected amphibious assaults, not like how the Americans did. Won't go too far from that, but yeah.

I think it just gives the benefit, I'll just give this little benefit of doubt that the Americans kind of perfected it, but it took literally years and over 15 or so different assaults to really perfect it.

Yeah, I forget the name of the military commander. I think, I don't know if this was, this was not a Joe Rogan podcast, but a military commander was actually explaining no one to this day, a hundred percent understands how to implement amphibious assault other than the United States because of the enormous amount of experience they had in the Pacific war.

Cause even today, if you look at training, let's say in South Korea, for example, cause they do a lot of practice runs, they really don't know everything. The United States is still holding the cards when it comes to that. They know every single ins and outs. It's kind of interesting. I think I'll just add this little thing. I think when the Battle of Iwo Jima.

When amphibian tractors' first waves were moving ashore, the rolling bombardment from the naval support was moving in perfect unison with them so that it was just creeping ahead.

And not to mention, when the first waves came aboard, like came ashore, sorry, while the assault troops moved out, to span like you know fanned out to create a bridgehead or beachhead the there were they were also creating some amount of space for the follow-up troops tanks and guns to even be and supplies to be unloaded that's a culmination of many years of work a lot of experience a lot of mistakes a lot of a lot and a lot of dead guys like just what was it.

Figuring out the necessary technology to sense what the reef conditions were like and at what time of day you needed to go in so the tide wouldn't like screw up your lvts and stuff so that they would scrape against the reefs like there's so much that goes into it but i just says it's a whole other conference that could be a podcast yeah amphibious warfare would be a great podcast but the british back to the british had fumbled by abandoning operation matador

for its lesser cousin, Operation Crowcall. And this led the British to be unable to hit the Japanese at the beachheads, as we would say, and they quickly became overran. Now, devastating blow came on December the 10th when the Japanese sent bombers that sank the British battleships, Prince of Wales, and the battlecruiser, the Repulse, stripping... Like getting George's fifth-class battleship at the bottom of the sea.

One of the... Honestly, one of the better warships of World War II just snipped at the bud, and it stripped Malaya of the only naval protection it had, and well, the British were basically being forced to retreat south. But Yamashita's forces were going to exploit the chaos. Now, this brings us kind of up to date with this episode.

Percival the man in charge of the operations in malaya his first significant defense was going to be around a place called jetra and at this point i'm going to share my screen, and i'm going to bring up i don't like this map as much this map's pretty good, here we go you can see it gerov uh yeah and oh yeah i'll state this again to the audience these podcasts are now on YouTube and we are incorporating a lot of visual aspects of this.

So we're actually going to be going through the maps, might even make some markings on it, you know, using Zoom, unfortunately, might change software in the future. I'm actually looking into Riverside. We'll see. Kind of expensive. And we're going to be putting up photographs, maybe clips, this and that. So there's a big visual component to this now. And I think it really helps because I would assume most of you Westerners listening have no idea of the geography

of Malaya. So yeah, I would watch me on YouTube. And it pays more than podcasts. Yeah. But yeah, Percival's first significant defense is going to occur around Ditra over here in the north. Now, beginning on December the 11th, that's when that's going to go down. The decision to establish a stand there was part of a broader Malayan defense strategy, aiming at pushing the enemy as far north as possible to protect the airfields that were still under Allied control in Malaya.

And this would, you know, also prevent obviously the Japanese from using them to launch further air assaults upon Singapore. During the Battle of Jitra, the absence of tanks would become glaringly evident as Japanese forces would quickly overwhelm the Indian defenders.

One of our dear friends, evil man named Colonel Tsui-ji, had observed during the combat at Jitra, and he made a report, and I will take his literal quote about what he saw, he had this to say, our tanks were ready on the road, and the 20 or so enemy armored cars ahead were literally trampled underfoot. The enemy armored cars could not escape by running away, and we were sandwiched between our medium tanks. It was speed and weight of armor that decided the issue.

Now that's kind of like a little tease of what's to come. But before I get into it, let's talk about the man who's going to be responsible on the Allied side for the defenses, is one major general Murray Leon if you can Gaurav, yeah stop sharing screen yeah I was just gonna ask that so general Murray Leon was probably like that one British officer that his command really was quite small yeah,

Is the screen visible? Yeah. So this is actually Murray Leon, who's on the right in this image, with the commander of the 8th Australian Division, which would be a unit that we will get to in, I think, maybe episode three onwards, since they are in the south, if I'm not mistaken, Greg. So General Murray Leon was a World War I veteran as well.

And I think he was a product despite very valiant service that he put in the First World War you know he got military cross, DSO it was just that during that interbellum Britain had this chronic problem because their army had scaled up so massively really stifled the ability for many commanders to really move up and gain experience at higher units so Murray Leon actually spent, pretty much the entire interbellum between the two wars at the rank of a major

for a while he was like an adjutant of the highland infantry. And served in Egypt and India and then in 1932 he transferred to the British Army. It was only like in the middle of the 1930s that he got promoted to the rank of his general colonel and he took command of you know, the 2nd Battalion of the 4th Prince of Wales on Gurkha Rifles Regiment. And he did fight pretty valiantly as this battalion-level commander, earning a bar to his distinguished.

Service order of medal so just for any listener the bar is just like you know so giving like a separate medal say the bar means that he's won this award a second time so that's just so it's like a second medal of the dso you know he also then took command of that entire regiment just before the outbreak of war in europe and then you know he was initially a liaison officer when war broke out for the Indian Army in Scotland.

And at the start of the war, he returned back to India and was given a brigade. It was called the Jeux Brigade, which is a regional command in 1940. And in October 1940, he gets the 11th Indian Division to command and was given the rank of Major General. And as we discussed, Craig, he is going to be commanding the Northern Section. And ideally, if Operation Matador was to go at full force, It was going to be the bulk of his troops that had to be executing this plan.

But I think given the major problem that the British forces in this region faced was completely inexperienced troops, no tanks, and I wouldn't say very competent of his leadership, and a very determined enemy. Well said. I think that's it. I think we can now just continue with the... We can see what will happen to his career. Yeah. All right. We're going to pull this up. Okay, conquest from the land. There we go. Well said.

I don't want to say he was kind of just bumped up, but it's kind of like what you were alluding to. You know, World War I, a lot of things were going on. A lot of units were built up.

A lot of guys didn't get an excessive amount of experience as they went through the ranks. And basically, when you were sent over here in the Far East, it's kind of like, let's put out the units that have no experience. It's a good place for them to do training. for an officer to, you know, get a few more notches in his medals and such. And he's one of those guys. And unfortunately, he's going to be dealing with a real situation.

It's actually something Arthur Percival commented, what he just brought up about the transfer to the, you know, the provinces, I would say, for lack of a better term, for the British officers. Exactly. It is that Percival was quite disappointed when he was actually appointed commander of the Malaysian Defense Forces.

Oh of course it's seen as an insult basically if you yeah no yeah and he was saying that there's just two outcomes it's gonna happen one i'm going to be because he knew the state of the army it is possible and robert brooke propham despite their band rep for the defense of this region they did try their level best to really start training and modernizing the army to whatever what they could with the time that they had but Percival felt that it's either going to be.

Really like backwater command he's not going to get any action it's just going to be a really quiet theater corporation that he's just going to get bored out of his life for the entire war, or he's going to be facing a pretty strong enemy with really inexperienced troops and no real equipment to fight them back.

Option number two but you know as you're alluding to also the British were overly confident as well woefully unprepared for a confrontation with the Imperial Japanese army who had been specifically preparing for what they called jungle warfare in Malaya mind you this was actually Tsui-ji, taking Japanese I forget the name of the island they went to they trained on an island that had semi-tropical climate it wasn't exactly what they'd be facing

in Malaya But it was close enough because basically what they said is these veterans who've been fighting in China, the ones in southern China. Sure, you could argue it's a little close to jungle warfare, but not really. It's not the same climate at all. So even the Japanese were not 100% prepared for what they'd be facing because this is plant like these are banana plantations and stuff. It's a very specific like where they're gathering rubber in that very specific geography. Yeah.

It's kind of like how ultimately General William Slim would command the British Army in India. Because everyone else is focusing on artillery and tanks, which is possible in Europe and North Africa where you have a lot of open area. But in the jungle, you cannot. And the infantryman is your champion. And that's what he focused on. Knee motors, basically. Anything you can carry through the brush. That's what's going to be your main arsenal.

And yeah, and yeah, the British, I mean, the British didn't have any sense of armor here either, but they wouldn't have expected a heavy use of armor from the Japanese. But unfortunately, it was Yamashita, and he heavily emphasized it when he wanted to do this campaign. But the IJ troops, as I said, they're battle hardened from years of conflict in China. So these are not greens on the British side. They are certainly green.

And Marie Leone's division appeared strong on paper, but it actually comprised only two regular British army battalions, the Lycus Shire Regiment and the East Array Regiment, which formed the division's core. The remainder consisted of four newly raised and poorly trained Indian army battalions and three Gurkha battalions.

Although the Gurkhas are absolutely renowned elite soldiers of the Commonwealth, these three battalions were primarily composed of 18-year-old recruits who had just recently arrived in Malaya. So, as we, again, agree. Yeah, just throwing kids into the battle. But I would argue Gurkha kids I wouldn't mess with them like Captain America I mean Gurkos. Everyone respects the Gurkhas, except a certain Wingate. Yeah, the weirdest thing, eh? Like, Wingate just has this deal with Gurkhas.

He was jealous of Gurkhas, that's why he didn't like them, basically. But, yeah, they are the super soldiers of the world. And additionally, like all ally forces in Malaya, the 11th Indian Division lacked tanks, while the IGA would have plenty of them at their disposal. As much as people like to make fun of Japanese tanks, in this situation, they would prove formidable. Murray sought permission from General Percival to withdraw from Jitra only after a few days of intense combat.

He was so shocked and taken aback by the Japanese forces that he believed they were much larger than they actually were. Ironically, the Japanese were outnumbered 2 to 1. And before I carry on, actually, I have a map. I'm sorry for the quality of this map, mind you, but this is a map of the action at Jitra. There does not exist any good maps on most of these Malayan battles. This is the best I could find. At least the one that had the most detail.

So you can look at that. But as I was saying, the Japanese were actually outnumbered two to one in this engagement. Yamashita's military strategy aimed to keep the enemy off balance by employing blitzkrieg-like tactics. A significant aspect of his approach involved the use of fast-moving armored units and bicycles. And yeah, you heard that correctly.

I think I just want to reiterate this one point that we did discuss about General Yamashita because he has traveled to Europe, like was in Austria for a few years and spent pretty much most of the, at least half of the calendar year 1940 with Germany, even meeting Hitler. So he was there during the Battle of France. So he understood and saw firsthand the effectiveness of the Blitzkrieg tactics. So that's why she was actually one of the proponents to use the bicycles to.

You know for his men and you know it's actually a pretty good idea considering the japanese never even landed with a single bicycle they forcefully took it from every civilian and retailer or store yep and because they had made a calculation that there will have been enough bicycles imported for their needs that they can just continuously borrow. And it is such a brilliant move if you really look at it. They are moving much faster than the retreating Indian army, causing utter confusion.

And to see, the British Indian army is going to go by the roads, like the major roads.

And even though they're destroying their equipment and retreating, which is just standard in a retreat, the bicycles are faster and they can actually move way quicker through narrow jungle trails than an infantryman or you know they can bypass roads which obviously the trucks and all cannot do and you can ford rivers exactly they they would actually be just picking up the bicycle on their over their heads crossing the river then get

seating themselves and moving and another underrated aspect was the fact that they could carry more supplies for soldier yep the British Indian troops were I think they were burdened with at least 80 to 20 kilograms of equipment per. Person and you could pretty much double it with the bicycles yeah, Yeah, and unfortunately, it was actually our evil friend, Tsuji. He was asked, because he was an intelligence officer, he was asked to look into what would be the best ways to move through Malaya.

And it was Tsuji who realized everybody in Malaya owned a bicycle because of the specific road conditions and the way that the layout is, the geography. They have like these, I can bring it actually back up to my other map. If you look, the routes taken on the East Coast and on the West Coast here, these are the main, we'll call them highways. They're not fully developed at this time. But these are the main pathways.

Well, the interior of the peninsula is extreme, like rubber plantation, very, very tough brush to go through. So basically, these like dirt roads and everything, these bicycles were perfect to go over. And they estimated, I think Soichi estimated there was more than 100,000 bicycles on hand. So the Japanese, yeah, they just came and liberated the bicycles, as they said. Yeah, they actually, the wording is funny.

You know just speaking about our dear friend suji masanobu he had one thing to say about this bicycle blitzkrieg as it got called he says even the long-legged englishmen could not escape our bicycles this is the reason they were continually driven off the roads into the jungle where with their retreat cut off they were forced to surrender yep and he just i just do you mind if i just take over sherry for like literally 20 seconds oh yeah here i have to press the button go so i

just found these images and this is literally like a bicycle blitz streak in action there exists footage uh in color by the way a lot of it okay but you can see here right like literally with the supplies on their cycles loaded it's really an underrated aspect of what they were doing and it was common for the japanese reconnaissance troops on their bicycles to actually be intermingled with the rear guards of the british indian army as it was retreating yeah because

they overtook them right away yeah yeah and one funny thing is these guys rode the bicycle so hard that the tires of the rubber around the wheels were pretty much worn out and they would continue to ride like you know ride with it on the metal spring frame yeah. It would create a noise that actually some allied units you know British and Indian units I thought it was tanks tanks approaching yeah because it's like a hundred bicycles yeah.

It actually kind of reminds me of the siren being fitted on the stuka. On the stuka, yeah. Yeah, the demoralizing effect. Yeah, psychological warfare. It's very impressive. And like you said, they could carry three times the amount of supplies. They could go, I don't know how much more distance on a bicycle. Like anyone can imagine, it's much easier to pedal a bicycle than it is to run for your life.

And every single time they would overtake the Allied positions, because the Allies are running on these main roads, And you know where the allies are going to be because there's only a few roads. The allies have only two options. Fight and basically be captured or run into this dense brush where you don't know where you're going and you're just going to get stuck there while the enemy goes further and further ahead.

So it's very impressive and it does earn the name the Bicycle Blitzkrieg as it was called.

And of course, Yamashita being a very studious student of Blitzkrieg tactics, he didn't just use the bicycles. He employed everything available to him. He used bomber aircraft as mobile artillery because obviously artillery in Malaya would not be very easy. You only have a few roads. You can't really bring heavy artillery into most places. It's quite difficult. And so to replace traditional artillery, you'd be using aircraft.

And engagements would typically begin with bombing raids on allied roadblocks and other defensive positions, followed by tanks. And then the bicycle infantry would come in to overwhelm the defenders. As the defenders retreated to more defensible positions, the infantry on the bicycles would just continue to keep going, so they would never let up. Obviously, it's very hard to establish a new defensive line when you're just continuously running for your life. It's very impressive.

And I have a quote here from one Colonel Alfred Harrison of the 11th Indian Division, who said of this fight, Fatigue had stretched the man's mind to the limit and the moral ascendancy which the Japanese achieved in these few weeks, including a psychic side. The troops were beginning to attribute almost supernatural powers to the Japanese. You know, this is something I've actually talked about in multiple podcasts with friends of mine.

At the very beginning of the war, there was these racist attitudes towards the Japanese by Westerners like the Americans, Canadians, British and such. And, you know, it was that the Japanese were farsighted, couldn't fly well, couldn't make good things. Like their technology was all just ripoffs, all sorts of racial bullshit.

Yeah, I think it is like there, I think the best in the world was really taken aback with the scale and successful execution of how we see Japan expanding its reach in the South Pacific areas, just after Pearl Harbor, which completely, you know, really put. Destroy the view that people had because you can't deny the results, right?

But what's funny is as much as it blew apart the racist ideas that the Japanese, for one, couldn't fight at night was a big thing because they all believed, they were told that the Japanese had isolate problems. It's a hilarious racist little story. I won't go down the rabbit hole. But the Japanese exclusively trained for night fighting. And another thing is they were so taken aback by how well the Japanese were doing.

This is particularly in Burma and Malaya, they became to believe that the Japanese were like superhuman jungle fighters. And it's kind of, it's ironic given everything, but yeah. So Yamashita was, you know, greatly impressed by the German blitzkrieg during his time as a military attaché in Berlin. And this is, you know, as we've said and alluded to, this is what really allowed him to be able to coordinate air and ground forces in Malaya with remarkableness.

And he specifically had signal officers stationed you know for air to ground operations and they had their own operational headquarters that sounds like any military today back then that's actually kind of innovative that not everybody was doing that kind of stuff and he had you know practiced all this and even tried to like practice amphibious I just wanted to say considering the fact like, organization of like the chiefs of staff was not really even a thing till like

they did 70s as well you can really understand why Yeah, exactly. And he had all of his men prior to the invasion practice amphibious landings, although not well, I would add. It's the only thing that they ever perfected. Bridge, deconstruction and construction and repair. It's very important in Malaya. There's a lot of significant rivers that are going to hold you back. And of course, jungle operations. Here, I had written my notes here. It was Hainan Island in China. They had practices.

This is where Tzuishi brought them to practice tropical warfare. Even though the island isn't tropical, you would call it a subtropical as a climate.

And notably the bicycles enabled the troops to cover even greater distances and more quickly as you can imagine and less fatigue it's it's brilliant the fact that the british didn't incorporate this in malaya is actually kind of funny given their strategy actually was to fight in the north and then make your way down south but i guess they thought it would go a lot slower in practice the british forces frequently found themselves pushed off the roads by the faster

moving bicycle infantry leading to encirclement in pockets this relentless pursuit had a profound psychological impact. And I've alluded to this, the British commanders mistakenly believed that there were a lot more Japanese than there actually were, just because they were moving so fast. If anybody's listened to, and I know I bring it up a lot, Dan Carlin's podcast, but I'm a big fan. He talked about this when it came to the Mongol Empire.

The Mongols basically were just moving so fast because all of them are mounted that the enemy that they're invading would think, oh my God, this settlement's been attacked, this settlement's been attacked. There must be multiple Mongol armies out there. It's not true. It was the same Mongol army just moving so fast, but that has a profound impact on you. Not even, like, each warrior literally had, I think, like, five or six horses anyways.

Yeah, of course. That was brilliant. So they had their supply horses. They had their rotation. So the horse, when it gets tired, you're still moving with the other horse. Yeah, yeah. Of course. The Mongol Empire is fascinating. And I actually hope to tackle that later. Yeah. I think we just gave ourselves a new idea for the future. Yeah. I've done a far bit of reading in the Mongol Empire. Could do some episodes.

And so yeah the bicycle it's important to note though the bicycles alone were not responsible for all of the success the japanese had a significant advantage when it came to tanks the british had not deployed any tanks to malaya before the war even began which ultimately would contribute to their downfall and with the infantry on the bicycles and the tanks the japanese were engaging the british before they could even establish any defensive positions i would just say like a

like several other regiment of armor just even using middle-door tanks would have stopped the japanese at once oh can you imagine yeah like like we we talked about the north african campaign with the italians going at the british it would be very similar yeah and i think barring i think at that time in the world except for the panzer mark 4.

I don't think there was really a tank that was... No, I think now you had the T-34s and all coming to service, but at least at the Far East, there'd be no tank that could really stand up to them until now. No, and certainly not the Japanese tanks. I mean, we made fun of the Italian tanks, and I'll still make fun of the Italian

tanks. The Gino machines. Yeah. The Japanese tanks were specifically not armored very heavily because they didn't want to waste their resources, and the Chinese were not throwing anything that warranted the need for more armor. I mean, if the British had a significant amount of tanks, it would have been interesting to see what happens, but it wasn't meant to be. So Percival was compelled to authorize a quick withdrawal from Jitra, directing his men to retreat south to Gurren.

But the defenses at Gurren were not yet prepared and the Japanese were moving far too fast. I'm actually going to... yeah, I have a map of this engagement here. This is at Gurren. Sorry, same types of maps with the copyright Alami over it. I couldn't find a non-one, my bad, but yeah. It's the most detailed maps I could find. So yeah, Gurren wasn't prepared. Percival would actually later reflect on this moment in his post-war memoirs, which were titled War in Malaya, and here's a direct quote.

This withdrawal would have been difficult under the most favorable conditions. With the troops tired, units mixed as a result of the fighting, communications broken, and the night dark, it was inevitable that the orders should be delayed and that in some cases they should never reach the addresses.

This is what in fact occurred. The withdrawal, necessary as it might have been, was too fast and too complicated for disorganized and exhausted troops, whose disorganization and exhaustion is only increased. So yeah, things didn't go well. from the offset, the British forces were too thinly... It really feels like disorientation and demoralization and lack of communication by the Allied command. It feels like France, 1940 all over again. Yeah, it's a good comparison. Yeah.

It is quite similar because when the Ardennes offensive, when they figured out what was going on, they didn't know what to do because the impossible had happened and they had put their entire defensive line in the north like that. It just screwed everything up for the French. In retrospect, it's so dumb. How did they not have any reconnaissance in that area? You could have just had aircraft.

They did. Actually, they did. it is reported three times to gamelan really and he just didn't okay he said he just said like no that's a possible you know okay you're right i read something there were like, like dozens of kilometers long traffic jams of german vehicles in the ardent and you just send like a bomber force that's it bye bye he would have assumed it wasn't a significant force he would have assumed it was just like a unit trying i would You know, you dismiss it from what I read. Wow.

It's impossible. Alternate history right there. That would have been a massacre if they hit them. Oh my God, they would have hit them hard too because as soon as they realized what was there, it's like, oh, well, we'll just get this little pocket. Now they're all trapped and we're going to spend two solid days taking out this entire column. Just like, and then Germany surrenders. Like, that's it. But anyways, I just... The cream of the force would be gone,

yeah. Oh yeah, no, France would have invaded. Germany. I don't want to go down the rabbit hole, but the fact that France wasn't the aggressor in World War II invading Germany much more thoroughly, it's insane. When you look at the numbers on paper, it's crazy. The Germans really outpunched their weight, we'll say that much. But from the offset, British forces were too thinly spread across a 14-mile front facing very challenging landscapes.

There's dense jungle on the right flank, monsoon-soaked rice fields and rubber plantations in the center, and mangrove swamps to their left. Yamashda's concentrated attacks breached the allied lines, and in the ongoing retreats resulted not only in the loss of personnel, but also all of their essential military equipment. Because, let's remember, men aren't exactly going to be able to carry everything they brought to these defensive lines easily, especially when you're running for your life.

So, each time a position was overrun, the troops had no the last part was really important running trail live yeah not being a complete. That's why, I guess, you know, when armies retreat in good order or you have an organized retreat, it can be a victory in its own right. It's the identical situation to when MacArthur had blundered up the defense of the Philippines. When he put everybody at the coastal areas, they were supposed to have ample time to move their supplies to Bataan.

And he never allowed them to do that because he implemented War Orange Plan 3 way too late. And they were running for their lives. It's the exact same situation. So, yeah, each time a position is overrun, troops have no opportunity to evacuate critical supplies, and the bicycle infantry just hindered their escape further. The defeat at Jitra highlighted this mistake, that of deploying these under-resourced troops to defend all of Malaya.

What a better idea would have been, in retrospect, of course, they could have all gone to a southern line around Johor, and, you know, this would have shortened their supply lines, extended the Japanese ones, and then more could have been exploited.

Now not to mention if you move back further it also would have let your men stamp to test and also build up more solid defense you would have like an extra few days yeah but as we all know even today military doctrine is you want to have more space of mobility space to move so you always want to keep a greater distance for your enemy there also the plan for the defense of Malaya rested heavily on the idea that they could hold their airfields as long as possible to use them against the enemy.

Unfortunately, that's actually really what they screwed up. A lot of the air personnel sabotaged the airfields prematurely and way too fast, thinking that it was over. And they didn't tell the ground troops. So the ground troops were stuck defending these positions in the north for airfields that were already being destroyed. It was such a cluster. I was about to use the F word, but we're on YouTube. So let's try and limit that. I try to watch my language. It was,

chaotic, to say the least. Consequently, the Allies began to withdraw to the Gurren area, which offered natural defenses. There was barriers that they hoped to use to delay the Japanese advance. Now, the retreat from Jitra was so chaotic, it was a complete disaster. It resulted in many more casualties for Marais, Leon, than the actual fighting at Jitra. So you have to imagine that. It's kind of like what you hear in medieval warfare, you know?

It's not when they're fighting you see the casualties. It's actually when one of the armies is retreating that the casualties start to really occur. Yeah, when they lose their cohesion and discipline, right? And it's a free for all. Exactly. So, a lot of casualties as they're running for their lives. And this is, you know, primarily many units on the front lines that never received the withdrawal orders because it didn't come in time or it simply never came.

While others are, you know, lost attempting to cross natural barriers like the Bata River, just south of Jitra. Eventually, Murray was compelled to withdraw further south to the Muda River, about 3 miles away, to establish defensive positions along the Krian River. Meanwhile, Percival is in a state of absolute panic. The entire defensive strategy relied on holding the Japanese as far north of Singapore as possible to minimize the air threat to the city.

However, with the rapid pace of the Japanese attacks, it seemed that there was simply too many adversaries attacking them. Reluctantly, Percival ordered a general withdrawal south of the Parak River, hoping to delay the Japanese in northern Malaya for as long as possible. His commanders on the ground soon began pleading for reinforcements, as they were heavily outgunned.

Although Percival had an Australian division stationed in Johor, he couldn't send them north for fear that the Japanese would launch a naval invasion further south, which could threaten Singapore without the division's support.

To be more specific, this would be like an amphibious hook, so they would hook behind the position and then, you know, start attacking singapore or even come up north i just really have to ask this question then would it even be possible like for them to even consider this because by now he would have at least gotten information that you know the japanese are launching invasions and units elsewhere right so you have naval units committed in multiple theaters

of operation right now yeah where's the shipping you will not launch any amphibious assault without like you know an escort force and protective force? Well, the British still had a few old gunboats that they were playing around with, so you're right that they could, and they have PT, well, they wouldn't call them PT boats, but they have patrol boats that could harass transports.

But I would assume the Japanese, even though they don't have large naval forces present, they would have something to escort, like. Maybe a destroyer or something. Yeah, I guess that would be more than enough to deal with PT port. Because remember, this is the very early part of the war. The Imperial Japanese Navy wasn't at the point they were actively trying to kill the soldiers. So, you know, they weren't at each other's throat yet that much. It wasn't that bad.

That's, you know, that's like Guelan Canal. During Guelan Canal, that's when the Navy's like, you know what, let's bring these guys to that island and let's not even care if all the supplies get off the boat. Kick them off.

That's the way and we are not going to evacuate it it's fine yeah oh boy that's another episode i'd love to do the the myths and realities of how much they fought because people think like people go a little overboard on it but there are some funny things like the conversation as to the people who thought they would invade australia and how those conversations actually went at in the conferences. That's funny. There was fistfights amongst the Japanese Navy and army.

It's pretty funny. Anyways, furthermore, since the invasion began, the island of Penang had been subjected to daily bombings by the Japanese. I don't think I have a map for where that island's located. One sec. I got this map. I got here. It shows the Prince of Wales sinking. Doesn't show Penang anywhere, does it? Oh, well, anyways, there's an island that's just, oh, here it is. It's at the northwest portion just beside Butterworth. I don't know why that's, I guess it was a commander.

But yeah, that small island over there had been receiving a lot of bombing. Oh, sorry, it's on this map. It's right under Gurun. Yeah. So, so Penang had been quite close to an RAF airfield. One of the assets that was supposed to be protected. Exactly. So Penang had been subjected to daily bombings since this had all begun.

As Yamashita's 25th Army advanced westwards towards the stronghold that was Appenang, British High Command determined that the island should be abandoned due to its lack of tactical or strategic value, in light of the rapid Japanese advance. Sorry, I'm about to sneeze. Try not to sneeze. Thus, on December 17th, European residents were evacuated from the island, while the local Malay inhabitants were unfortunately left behind to face the Japanese forces. No, sorry.

Waiting for that to come. So, as you can imagine, as a Malaysian, you get to watch all the white people get onto ferries and flee to the mainland. It probably did not feel too good, and it was definitely racist as hell. One person who was there was a Mrs. Murray Riley, and she recalled this, It still hurts to think about how the white race let down hundreds of similarly faithful servants who trusted in us and looked to us for protection from the hated Japanese.

We'll cut your racial stuff there. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it's just for the, I think with the locals, it's just choosing one devil for the other. If you really look at it in the grand scheme of things. Oh, oh yeah. And I think in retrospect, they would have preferred the white devil over what's going to come because Malaysia. People don't talk about this and people all know about unit 731 because it's the most famous of hundreds of units that existed that all performed terrible experiments.

There was many in Malaya and Singapore and they did horrible things to the population. I mean, it was bad. And there was multiple massacres. I say you know, like if India had to be like continue to be ruled, better to be under the British rule than Japanese rules.

Oof. And I don't know what it was about the japanese military of world war ii but of all the peoples they came into contact with they were the most racist against india i i've never read any rationale as to why but you read about when they would take prisoners they would do the worst to the indians like the absolute worst, hey you you ever hear me talk about some great pacific war movie or documentary like pearl harbor minute by minute over on netflix and feel the urge to watch

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When the Europeans were being evacuated, the British struggled to transport arms and supplies, resulting in large stockpiles in Penang falling into Yamashita's hands, which he would need. The local Malays, understandably, turned against their former colonial rulers. Just one thing. Can we just call the supplies as Percival rations? Percival rations, that's a good way to put it, yeah.

Percival Rations. Some historians now contend that the moral collapse of the British rule in Southeast Asia occurred not in Singapore, but at Penang. For the next three years and eight months of Japanese occupation, Penang would experience significant turmoil. There was food shortages, hyperinflation caused by the Japanese overproduction of the banana dollar, as it was known, and widespread repression.

Many women from Penang were taken as comfort women, and thousands from the Chinese community were executed during something we might talk about later called the Sukqing Massacre, which was targeting what the Japanese perceived to be elements of Chinese malays who might sabotage or resist their rule and become guerrilla fighters, for example.

This is classic Japanese divide in rule policies, which would see them favoring ethnic malays to, you know, kind of fuel some inter-racism towards the Chinese population and da-da-da-da-da. Just like a pecking order was put into play. The Battle of Jitsha highlighted the folly of attempting to defend all of Malaya with an undermanned army. As I had said, a more strategic line could have been made at Johor, which would have just helped the British in most ways.

Now, as December drew close, the Japanese began occupying most of northern Malaya and continuing their advance southwards. The defenders made continuous attempts to establish defensive lines, but they were unable to maintain them. Armed with tanks and stolen bicycles, the Japanese employed blitzkrieg tactics that the British and Indian defenders were simply not prepared for.

On Christmas Eve, Marie-Leon was dismissed as the commander of the 11th Indian Division, and he would become a casualty of circumstances, we would say, having been the man who tried to prepare Operation Matador, but it was never allowed, and it probably would have helped him greatly. He would return to India and soon retire from military service. And I actually think that kind of worked out more for him. At least he didn't

become a POW. But ultimately. It's one more thing that kind of boggles against both Marie Leon and Percival. When war broke out and they knew the Japanese threat is also...

Coming the british indian army was expanded rapidly yes now the problem was the small core of professional officers they now had to be completely dispersed throughout the entire army to spread their experience across and that obviously left every unit throughout the army that is gonna have a shortage of well-trained officers of course i don't think that really like you know it's it's just really downplayed i mean like it downgrades the ability of the army to function yeah he was

going to be succeeded by brigadier archibald paris i don't know if do you have any information on paris i do just unfortunately i cannot find a photo of him it's just only his father unfortunately so i'll just just speak so brigadier archibald charles Melville Paris you know was the son of General Sir Archibald Paris a Royal Marine officer who actually commanded the Royal Naval Division in the First World War.

And you know he's also from his mother's side the daughter of Henry Melville who was you know Order of the Order of Bath and you know descended from the Melville family he you know was a military man served from 1909 onwards you know he was a lieutenant and captain in world war one winning the military cross in june 1970 then again the typical thing that he continued to serve in the army since he's descended from both sides like with military

service like the founding like the person that is considered the founding founding member of the melville family right from his mother. He also served in the armed forces so that military tradition is there. So in December 1941, he would be given command of the 12th Indian Infantry Brigade. I'm not sure if it was actually attached to the 11th Indian Division, but it was a unit that was stationed in Malaysia at this time, just not 100% sure which was the division it was attached to.

And what would happen is, as we have already alluded to, the 11th is retreating in complete disarray. And the 12th under Paris' very exceptional and capable leadership, they are going to launch stiff rearguard actions that actually catches the Japanese completely off guard. These guys are going to give a bloody nose to the Japanese advancing units as they cover the retreat of the division. And it's more thanks to you know, Brigadier Paris.

And when Marie-Leon just got sacked for, A while Brigadier Paris is given the temporary command of the 11th Division before he would have to hand it over to Major General Biliki. And then he would return to command the 12th, and he would be in command of this unit for the end of the campaign. All right. Here, let me just bring up my map again.

So yeah Brigadier Archibald Paris is now here but as I've already alluded to it's quite a chaotic scene and I think it's pretty unexpected for him to be just tossed into the fire like this by December the 26th the Japanese 5th Division and the 4th Guards Regiment had crossed the Peric River and began preparing for a general offensive against Kampar and I'm going to bring up my last map, yeah here we are the area of Kampar Now, Khabar was crucial for the defense

of central Malaya, as it was not easily outflanked inland. Located halfway between Penang and Ptolampur, its terrain was unsuitable for the Japanese tanks, making it an ideal defensive position. Paris prepared to make a stand with infantry battalions, some of which were composed of survivors from Jitra and Gurun. Among them were a British battalion from the Leicesters and the Isurais, as well as a Jat-Punja battalion that included some Sikhs.

The 12th Brigade was tasked with hastily digging in trenches, wiring them up, and clearing fields around the ridges of Kampar to improve visibility for the enemy. Now, after three weeks of perpetual fighting and retreat, the morale of the defenders, as you can imagine, collapsed. As Colonel Alfred Harrison of the 11th Indian Division observed on Christmas Day, this quote. Oh, sorry, I've already given that quote. Sorry. I'm looking at my notes.

This is the quote I had given before about the Japanese have supernatural powers. Thank you. I think that was when we were discussing the bicycle blitzkrieg. Yeah, yeah. But yeah, I guess this is exactly where he'd given the quote. Sorry. In contrast, the well-trained and battle-hearted Japanese forces had become so accustomed to the endless amount of victories that they approached the battle with the firm belief that the guys were just going to run before them.

Yamashita applied lessons learned from the Germans about using aircraft as mobile artillery, which proved highly effective in the challenging jungle terrain, where positioning and utilizing ground artillery was difficult if not impossible. Most of the engagements began with bombing raids on allied roadblocks quickly followed up by frontal assaults until a front line was established. The Japanese then sought opportunities to flank the defenders through the jungles and encircled them.

Essentially, Yamashita executed sophisticated blitzkrieg tactics adapted to jungle warfare, and he achieved devastating results with this. Now, when the attack commenced, it came from the west coastal roads. Japanese tanks struck the 12th Brigade along a three-mile stretch of rural road south of a tin-mining town named Gopeng. As the tanks advanced, small arms and heavy machine gun fire erupted from both sides of the road.

Following the tanks were trucks filled with Japanese infantry who disembarked and spread out into the brush. The machine gun fire originated from the jungles, with occasional shells being fired from some tanks' 37mm cannons, splintering rubber trees. Initially, the defenders were paralyzed by the sight of Japanese tanks, but this fear soon faded, and they began to unleash a barrage of fire upon the Japanese infantry.

Some tanks advanced alone onto a bridge near a small hamlet named Dipang, where they encountered defenders armed with Lanchester submachine guns and Bren gun carriers equipped with anti-tank rifles, which is going to make Swiss cheese of Japanese tanks, mind you. Lieutenant Colonel Ian Stewart noted, The anti-tank rifle made no impression against the Japanese mediums, while their 37mm guns went right through our armor like paper.

So obviously it's an uneven battle there. I'm not sure, did you find anything on Colonel Ian Stewart? No, actually I did not. No worries. I mean, he is a low-ranking individual in this, but a lot of the testimony actually comes from him. He had a lot to write about the events. Despite the British lacking any effective response to the tanks, the Japanese assumed that anything that approached them would have the means to counterattack. So they approached with caution.

Those inside the tanks closed their hatches, which created a sensation of being in a Turkish bathhouse.

As you can imagine, this is the jungle. It's very hot, subtropical conditions, and you're in a cramped tank. There's no air conditioners in these tanks. It's not modern at all, you know. So the defenders armed with the Lachesters shot desperately at the little slits in the tanks, you know, where you would stick your guns out, and their bullets, you know, usually would just ricochet off.

Evidentially, oh, sorry, eventually, a two-pounder anti-tank gun succeeded in destroying a single tank, prompting the Japanese armor to retreat slightly to allow their infantry to catch up. Now, on the other side of the bridge, 200 defenders received orders to destroy it. Fortunately for them, the water at Camp Par was quite shallow, and most managed to wad across about a mile downstream from the bridge.

So you got to imagine these allies are like trying to protect this like bridgehead and They blow up the bridge on them, so all the guys on the other side basically were left to die if the water had been higher. Now, Stewart's 12th Brigade had bought enough time for the defenses at Kampar to be strengthened. The observation posts at Kampar Hill provided excellent artillery spotting.

And in terms of artillery, the British were actually better off than the Japanese, even though they didn't have much naval or aerial support. Throughout much of the war in Malaya, the Japanese kept the defenders on the edge, staying very close to them to complicate any artillery strikes. The defenders often attempted to withdraw to create space for artillery bombardments, only to have the Japanese quickly pounce on them.

However, Kampar offered sweeping fields of fire, providing much more room for maneuverability. The defenders' line at Kampar resembled a goose egg on the map, with an all-around defensive perimeter surrounded around Kampar Hill. Their artillery was concealed amongst the greenery, with 200 rounds of neatly stacked ammunition beside each gun.

15th and 6th brigades occupied the low ground where the road and railway ran alongside the hill and throughout the town and i don't believe you found any information on major general saburo kuwamara just a very little bit beyond the fact that he was executed for war crimes after the war but he wasn't really i would say a guy at the senior post that had combat experience this was one of the only times he would be doing it because from his history you know 1937

to 38 he was a senior staff officer in the ministry of war then you know continues to do that with the china army so between 1941 march 1941 sorry yeah march 1941 to pretty much end of 1942 sorry may 1942 He commands the 213th Infantry Regiment, and then as we see in this campaign, he is demanding the 9th Infantry Brigade. And after this, his command rolls really ends, because for the rest of the war, he is mostly serving in Indochina and the garrison command as a chief of staff.

And even like you know for the home defense of Honshu he's the chief of staff of the 59th army so this is like literally his real combat that you would see as in general, Alright. So, it is going to be him who's leading the attack upon Kampar with his 9th Brigade. Now, on December 31st, he initiated a probe against the 28th Gurkha Brigade, which had entrenched themselves in some scrub on the hill. Once the Japanese pinpointed the Gurkha's location, they began shelling them with howitzers.

However, this revealed their positions, allowing the defenders to retaliate with artillery fire, which proved very effective in repelling the Japanese advances. At about midnight on New Year's Eve, Lt. Col. Augustus Murdoch, commanding the 155th Field Regiment, ordered a 12-gun salute fired at the Japanese, kind of as, you know, a cheeky gesture. About seven hours later, Kawamura launched his main assault on the western side of Kampar Hill, targeting the Trunk Road, as it was known.

The brunt of this attack fell on the newly formed British battalion, the Leicesters and the Isures, who struggled to escape the battles of Jitra and Gurren. Exhausted from navigating through mosquito-infested knights in the jungles and swamps and paddy fields, many were suffering from malaria, which is kind of the untold or unknown enemy in this area of the world. Man, malaria hit everybody. It took out so many, so many guys.

Mosquitoes, I don't know. I can't remember the direct quote, but mosquitoes have killed more people than like anything else, I think, on Earth. I wouldn't be surprised. I wouldn't be surprised if it is. Just like in Burma, I mean, yeah. Malaria was hitting people hard on both sides. They numbered about 600 under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Esmond Morrison, a 48-year-old with a World War I military cross amongst his many medals. When the war began, he proved to be a pretty serious soldier,

despite some referring to him as a polo-playing playboy. It's probably an interesting story there. Morrison often shared the dangers at the front lines and frequently picked up a rifle and a baton at clear roadblocks. I would just say that reputation is since British officers actually, like when their shift or duty for the day is over, they're not really even expected to talk about military matters or how to improve the army facilities or training regimen.

They're supposed to talk about anything else. This is like really pre-World War II, like interwar period British Army. Yeah. And that's the gods. The Japanese infantry came out of the mist, carrying four-inch motors behind them. The Japanese began to motor fire. One of the early casualties was a company commander who had been evacuated as a motor splinter shattered his jaw.

Despite the heavy motor fire, the observation officers of the 88th field were able to pinpoint Japanese advances, and they got their artillery to fire 25-pounder shells upon them. Colonel Tujimase-Nobu would write in his memoirs, A continuous stream of casualties coming back down the hill to safety, either carried on stretchers or supported on the shoulders of comrades, who they themselves were wounded. So yeah, Tsui-ji, he's an eyewitness to most of this.

He had a lot to write about in the Malayan campaign, except for the many massacres that he ordered under Yamashita, where Yamashita had no idea and he was basically doing this on his own to besmirch the guy's career. But anyways. Obviously, he's not going to write about this. Yeah, exactly. The Japanese attempted to locate the Allied artillery, but it was being discreetly towed by vehicles to hide their positions within the secondary jungle of the hill.

During the battle, one of Morrison's lieutenants was walking alone in a trench just before the main action began when he heard movement and encountered Japanese soldiers. He fired his revolver at them and then quickly retreated to a nearby platoon. The Japanese were known for their strength and stealth, especially at night, sneaking behind enemy lines.

A driver from a gunnery regiment, while delivering rations on a hill, noticed that a nearby Bren gun position had just become overrun by Japanese troops. Instead of quietly escaping to seek help, the driver, whose name was Walker. Exited his vehicle, armed with a Thompson submachine gun, stealthily approached the Japanese and launched a surprise attack, forcing them to retreat, and he would receive a medal for his bravery.

Now, a troop sergeant, major named Hugill, stationed at an outlying observation post connected by a field telephone to the main post, received a Distinguished Conduct Medal for his calmness in continuing to call in artillery fire, creating a protective wall around him after being cut off by the enemy. Once the attack subsided, he made his way back to the main observation post, but stumbled across some isolated Japanese soldiers who had just captured a Vickers machine gun.

Uyul quickly gathered five other infantrymen, and he led a bayonet charge to reclaim the position. Which is kind of ironic. It's giving the Japanese a taste of their own medicine, I guess. Emergency... Banzai. Yeah, you can scream Banzai at them. Banzai, that was... Emergency Commission Officer Lieutenant Edgar Newland, who was commanding a platoon of about 30 men from the Leicesters. Sorry, I keep saying that differently. What's the pronunciation of that British

term? Of that area in the world? Britain? Leicester. Leicesters. Okay. Goddamn, I keep saying Leicesters. My bad. Sorry, Britain. I only know this just because Leicester City is in the football in the Premier League. That's how I know it. Leicesters. In one of the most forward positions of the defensive lines during intense attacks and counterattacks.

His platoon was cut off and he was surrounded for much of the battle, yet Newland and his men successfully repelled numerous assaults and held their isolated position for two consecutive days. General Percival specifically praised Newland and his men for their crucial role in defending Campar. Newland was awarded a military cross, while his regular platoon sergeant, Ewan MacDonald, would receive a distinguished conic medal.

It's a moment like these, where forces engaged in fierce combat, reveal the extraordinary nature of heroism and bravery. Often, the individual actions and battles are overlooked, and, you know, these are the kinds of stories we should share, because it highlights what it was really like to fight in these situations, certainly bloody ones. Now, after two days, the Japanese managed to capture part of the eastern sector of the location known as Thompson's Ridge.

Trying to look on the map. It's very small, but you can see it here. I can actually zoom in for a second. Right here is Thompson's Ridge. Yeah. All right. I'm going back. British battalions, including a jet punjet battalion, made unsuccessful attempts to recapture it. Morrison believed the British defenders needed rest before launching another counterattack. So he sent two platoons of Sikhs and Gujarz to bayonet charge Thompson's Hill under some motor fire.

Now, tragically, 34 soldiers would die, including their 21 year old commander, Charles Lamb, who was killed in the initial charge. The second commander, Captain John Graham, lost both of his legs to a grenade, but he continued to encourage his men and he was seen throwing a grenade at the Japanese trenches before he bled out. That's a hell of a scene. That's like going down fighting. That's like the truest detonation. Yeah, that's Hollywood movie moment stuff right there.

Ultimately courage artillery and favorable terrain would be insufficient to actually hold Kampar Yamashita decided to outflank Percival by maneuvering around Kampar with a series of seaborne landings and I think I can pull up my map not sure if it shows the sea doesn't exactly show but you can imagine here in this I don't know if you can see my mouse cursor but he would make what we call a naval hook basically so he would I guess it's around that,

where we see that kind of U-turn around the local. Yeah, I believe that would be that one. So it was actually a series of seaboard landings along the western coast where 40 small craft, you know, some of them being used in Singora and Pitani Islands and others by rail at Al-O-Sitar. Tsuji opposed Jimash's plan to do this, by the way, arguing that using the crafts would put them at risk as they were needed for the upcoming assault on Singapore.

Because the Japanese had a very limited amount of small vessels, I guess you could say. They're not really, they're not transports by any means, that they would need to cross over to hit Singapore Island. Despite the objections, Yamashita ordered landings near the port of Telak Anson, located about 30 miles southeast of Kampar. The forces managed to get behind Percival's 11th Division, 11th Indian Division, which were fiercely defending Kampar, as you can imagine, and they were going

to be cut off in this process. Yamashita also devised a three-pronged attack. One prong would involve a fresh Imperial Guards Division arriving from Thailand, who would paddle down the Perak River directly into the town itself. Another prong would approach from the west on landing crafts to enter the river from the opposite direction, and the third prong would move up the Burnham River, land about 50 miles from Perak, and then march north towards Tilakansan.

Lieutenant General Takuro Matsue of the Japanese 5th Division was going to be commanding these landings. Was the Guards Division still symbolic like how we had the.

Armies of europe with their guards divisions being their elite and best was it still true for would we say that would be applicable for the japanese yeah so they the men like most of these symbolic divisions the men were chosen for their height so they and their physicality they would have to be quite strong but particularly the japanese really wanted to be the tallest guys because it was a psychological kind of factor to like scare the enemy but in this particular case They weren't elites.

They weren't trained any better than anybody else. I don't want to say they're paper tigers, but they don't match other groups like the Germans who put out. This is not a real elite force. So despite being called the Imperial Guards, this particular one isn't anything special. I guess one of, just because Guards units, it kind of takes me back to the Napoleonic era. Yeah, exactly. Because we know the Imperial Guard of Napoleon,

that was his ultimate fighting force. Yeah, yeah, that's like you don't waste them on anything unless you need to, yeah. You know the situation screwed up, like Russia, 1812. Exactly. Now, while the British held the line at Kampar, 1,500 Matsui's men crowded onto landing crafts, navigating the coast and trying to identify various gaps in the mangrove hedges.

One steamer, towing about 10 landing crafts, went too far south and attempted to enter the Selangor River, which was defended by a Jap battalion supported by artillery. The Japanese were repelled, losing one of three landing crafts before moving further north, which is a terrible loss to them. They needed every single landing craft they had. Within Parak, Matsue faced a significant setback when four landing rafts ran aground on a sandbar at the river's mouth and required rescue.

A British patrol boat actually would spot them and left a report of the situation, leaving the Japanese vulnerable and exposed. Nothing happened, however, as Percival would later remark, here's a quote, Unfortunately, neither the Navy nor the Air Force were able to take advantage of this unique opportunity. And it would have been quite an opportunity. Wouldn't the army also have had guns? Also, they could have trained a couple of them more.

Yeah, but I guess it was a secondary thing in the grand scheme of things when they're fighting for the life of Kippur, but I don't know. Despite the setbacks, the Japanese forces managed to land and advance on Telekansan.

On January 2nd, they encountered the 3rd Indian Cavalry and the 1st Independent Company. Under Stuart's command, these troops were equipped with armored cars and additional Thompson and Bren guns, allowing them to engage the Japanese in the narrow streets of Telakansan. They inflicted significant casualties, but with only about 250 men, they were unable to hold back the enemy. Stewart ultimately decided to order them to conduct delaying actions instead of attempting to actually defend the town.

Consequently, the defenders began to impede the Japanese' advance on the main north-south road, but Telakansan would ultimately fall. This left the defenders at Kampar at risk of encirclement and destruction. Although Kawamura's forces at Campar showed no signs of actually breaking through, and after four solid days of fighting, they were losing a lot of men, Paris was troubled by the possibility that his main supply road up to Campar had just been cut off.

Obviously, that really is kind of an endgame scenario for you. He requested permission from Percival to withdraw to the next defensive line behind the Slim River. For Paris, the priority was to preserve his troops rather than territory, ensuring that when reinforcements arrived to Malaya, he would have enough men to launch a counterattack. He stated at the time, with no reserves in hand, we were still in a position of being unable to accept major losses.

Thus, it fell to the 12th Brigade to keep the enemy at bay while Paris organized a safe withdrawal with the rest of the division. Which would have been the first real withdrawal. Not just a bunch of guys fleeing for their lives, like an orderly retreat, as you would say. An unusual side story emerged during the delaying actions with the 12th Brigade. Brigadier Stuart discovered the body of a dead European cyclist.

I remember writing this in my notes. I don't this this didn't by the way for people who don't know a lot of what I'm talking about is built off of previous notes for the work I did with Kings and Generals for their Pacific War week by week series and the associated podcast but this never made the YouTube episode it's an interesting weird little story so Brigadier Stuart he discovers the body of a dead European, on a bicycle he's dressed apparently and there's the quote in khaki shorts a

gray uniform with a shirt and a forage cap. Now, earlier in the campaign, a Punjabi sentry had shot a man on a frontline river bridge, believing him to be British until when he looked over and he attempted to grab the guy tried to grab the sentry's Thompson from him. It turns out he was not British. He was German. So yeah, they found a German guy here in Malaya. Now, to kind of explain something. Yeah.

Just before hostilities had begun, the British legation in Bangkok had warned that deserters from Vichy French-owned Indochina, specifically the 5th Regiment of the French Foreign Legion, were in the area and in contact with the Nazi embassy. And they were likely offering assistance to their Japanese allies, you know, via sabotage and espionage. So this is kind of like this small story, but basically there's this belief that this is a German guy kind of working on behalf of the Japanese.

And it's a unique case where maybe the Germans and Japanese were actually helping each other because notoriously during World War II they really didn't often so yeah.

But wouldn't be surprising like you have this kind of civilians or local like you know one two man kind of tasks Norway you had the heavy water raid that was like five six men in the raid yeah exactly but, the only reason why I bring this up is Percival receives a report about this and he's pretty shocked because the report's like there was a German guy and he tried to disarm a sentry and seize a bridge single-handedly.

So from Percival's viewpoints, like, oh, are there German like special forces helping the Japanese? Like what's going on, right? It's kind of like the Pearl Harbor myth where they're like, oh, the Japanese couldn't have done this by themselves. Must be Germans. I just, but why would you think there'll be sizable German formations because Barbara also started months ago.

Yeah, I know. It's ridiculous. But anyways, Anyways, there's a whole funny, I read this in one book where the guy went into depth about who this guy was. And it turns out that this guy, anyways, he was in a civilian capacity. He was a former soldier and stuff, but. I was brave, too. He really did try to break down a bridge for the Japanese. It's kind of funny. But as the 12th Brigade continued their delaying actions, they discovered another European body accompanying Japanese troops.

Local police identified the corpse as that of a German political refugee. He was a former mining engineer who had disappeared weeks earlier. So you kind of have to go figure. So there's like two German guys found. So Percival's like curious as to what's going on. Basically, the Japanese were just grabbing this guy because he knew demolitions. He was an expert, so they could use them for ridge destruction and stuff. And he knew the territory because he did mining excavations.

Oh, in my notes, I actually have the book where I read this. It was titled Singapore Burning, Heroism in Surrender During World War II by Colin Smith. It's just like political refugee. Yeah, the German government wouldn't have sanctioned his book. Oh, you know, there's multiple places that had German embassies and Italian and the Japanese when they would occupy certain places.

There was a lot of mischief and a lot of, yeah, we'll call it harsh letters between governments, Germany and Japan, about the treatment of their people. Yeah, especially in the Dutch East Indies. There was a lot of German, they're not colonists. There were like, I guess you'd call them like visa workers. They were there for the oil rigs and stuff. And anyways, yeah, the Japanese didn't know what to do with them or how to treat them.

Exhausted after three weeks of near constant combat with little sleep, the 12th Brigade continued to conduct delaying actions. The Japanese Air Force wreaked havoc on vehicles and anyone traveling along the roads during daylight hours. Stewart estimated that approximately half of the casualties in his brigade resulted from aerial attacks, totaling some 90 killed and wounded.

Given that there were at least 4,000 troops, this casualty rate was relatively light, and Stewart expressed satisfaction with the outcome stating this quote. Had been an eminently successful battle. However, it was less of a battle in the traditional sense and more of a series of brief skirmishes. The brigade managed to delay the enemy and inflict heavy casualties upon them when possible, but they were often doing so while retreating.

Ultimately, Kampar would fall when Talaq Ansan was finally captured. Percival could have sent some Australian brigades from Johor or a few garrison battalions from Singapore eager for the action, but he chose instead to concentrate the forces at Kampar that were already there and not to send any more reinforcements, because he thought that Yamashita might attack him elsewhere. And Yamashita was giving the impression he was open to more, you know, amphibious hooks, so he has reason to believe so.

The forces at Kampar, under the protection of the 12th Brigade, retreated some 30 miles to Slim River. Now, Colonel Tsuji was reluctant to acknowledge it, because, of course, he hates Yamashita. But Yamashita's breakthrough at Kampar was impressive, albeit somewhat risky. And Yamashita is known as a gambler. Yeah, you about to say something? I mean, Hitler was also a gambler with military strategies. Yeah, Hitler was the kind of guy that... An arch gambler.

I would say Hitler's the kind of guy that if he's playing blackjack and he hits a 20, he'll take a hit. He's an idiot. But, you know, like... No, like, I think the book I was written about the war at the best by James Holland. Yeah. And he literally describes him as the arch gambler in military sense. Yeah, you know, a lot of ways. And Hitler, Hitler got lucky a lot of times. He got really lucky, but you can't win a war on luck alone.

So over on the East Coast, because this is basically everything we're talking about is the West Coast and there's a lot going on the East. The defenders were facing, you know, more resistance. Percival clung to an airfield at Guantan, determined to deny it to the Japanese. And every other RAF airfields on the peninsula for as long as possible. But this was not for the British to use them, because they didn't really have any aircraft.

It was just to limit the enemy's ability to, you know, conduct further air raids and have an easier time of it. Because everything was to protect Singapore. And meanwhile, the first convoy of reinforcements was about 24 hours away from Keppel Harbor, coming in from Bombay with fresh Indian forces. Originally intended for training in Iraq, actually. They were only half-trained and untested. Specifically, it was the 45th Brigade under Brigadier Horatio Duncan.

Now, Quantan lies roughly halfway between Cotobaru and Singapore. Actually, let me just check the map. Do I have it? Oh, here, I'll just go over here. As you can see, we're actually in the central part of Malaya. Malaysia. Yeah, Malaysia. I know, I have that thing because it was called Malaya back then. Fair enough. It's like the Kingdom of Siam. We call it Thailand today. It changed names three times in this period. I don't know why they did that, but yeah.

So it's about halfway over on the way to Singapore. And the defenders were up against the Takumi detachment of the 18th Division. The 22nd Indian Brigade, led by Brigadier George Painter, was tasked with defending Quintan. His forces fortified the airfield with barbed wire and trenches. And as Takumi's forces crossed the river and approached the airfield, Pinner ordered several men to withdraw further west to set up roadblocks and ambushes. One battalion remained by the airfield, and...

Was commanded by somebody who had seen some action during the Cote of Valor landings, and the Japanese were met with a barrage of 4.5-inch howlisters, inflicting significant casualties. I believe that was Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Cummings. Ah, yes, and I think you have some information on him. Yeah, unfortunately, pictures, again, for a lot of these folks are hard, but this guy is one brave commander. So he was born in British India, you know, in Karachi.

So like Pakistan but you know that was British India back then so at the time of the war he was commanding the 2nd 12th Frontier Force Regiment of the army. And you know I think on third night when they made an attack near Kuantan the Japanese make a huge attack, and this guy to allow the battalion to safely withdraw he gathers a party of like a small group of men.

You know just leaves a counter charge small group against a larger force to allow his battalion to withdraw every one of his casualties including him he got like two bayonet wounds in his stomach, but the entire battalion was able to end up being withdrawn with its vehicles.

And he later would be driving in a carrier under very heavy fire and would direct his driver of that carrier to pick up isolated men from the British Indian Army you know as they continue their retreat and this gallantry would earn him the Victoria Cross hmm I know, yeah and he would yeah I think dresses like you know post this campaign so. Right this week enough. You're just going to bring back the map.

Okay. So as you said, Cummings men fought fiercely, firing on the struggling Japanese as they attempted to breach the defenses. Each defender equipped with six grenades instead of the usual two, creating a lot of chaos and quite a deadly situation. Suiji noted that the airfield was defended very well, particularly due to the effectiveness of the grenades thrown during the nighttime, which thwarted Japanese night raids.

Defenders reported rolling two grenades into confined trenches where multiple enemies were hiding, resulting in devastating effects. Word reached Cummings' men that the entire 9th Indian Division under General Barstow was retreating through Kuala, Lippus-Jurantut-Rabs area, and this prompted the 22nd Brigade to quickly demolish all the buildings and installations in Quotan and to prepare for their own retreat. But their rear guard risked being cut off in the midst of the Japanese assault.

So one night, while investigating his southern flank with Captain Ian Grimwood, Cummings spotted silhouettes of Japanese soldiers attempting to climb over some barbed wire just meters away. Armed with his .45 Webley revolver, which is actually a pretty big gun, the largest caliber service revolver at the time, Cummings and Grimwood realized... Quite a big bullet. Yeah, it's kind of like Patton with his freaking Colts there. That's the kind of gun there. The Webley revolver, that's a huge gun.

Grimwood and Cummings realized the danger when seven Japanese soldiers charged at them with bayonets and they began firing at them, probably like Clint Eastwood would, as they were knocked to the ground, killing all the attackers, but leaving Cummings stunned with two bayonet wounds to his stomach, which you had already talked about. Grimwood managed to get him to his feet, reload the revolver,

and drag Cummings to the battalion HQ for first aid. The, With the Japanese beginning to overrun the airfield offenses, Cumming knew that they had to evacuate before their escape route was cut off. So he sent word for his men to withdraw, and he was struck by a grenade or possibly a motor round, knocking him unconscious at some point. When Cumming regained consciousness, he found himself in a vehicle where the driver, Private Abel Singh, informed him a Japanese roadblock was ahead of him.

Spotting a fallen tree that created just enough space for the vehicle to pass, Cumming ordered Singh to charge the hell through it. As they sped forward, machine gun fire rained upon them, and Cumming was hit again, suffering a shattered arm, possibly from an anti-personnel mine, while Singh endured a .256 armor-piercing bullet through both thighs. Oh, owls. Yeah. Can I imagine armor-piercing? Yeah, it's going right through. Yeah. And it's going to back more explosive power. Ugh.

Yet still through this, he managed to control and drive 30 miles per hour right through. When they reached a friendly platoon, the vehicle was covered in blood with its six occupants. It was a gruesome sight to be sure. Singh was safely removed from the driver's seat, and Grimwood took over, driving them to the new Brigade HQ. By the time they arrived, Cumming was in and out of consciousness, I bet, but he was still alive.

He would later receive the Victoria Cross for his terrorism, as you had mentioned. It's a hell of a story, by the way. That's an interesting one. George Painter was ordered to hold the Quesan airfield for as long as possible, and it was just long enough for the convoy reinforcements to arrive. The prolonged defense cost much of his best Indian battalions in Malaya.

But unfortunately, like many British commanders, Painter was fixated on the fear of being outflanked, believing it was better to lose half of a battalion than the entire Brigade, as he would say. The 22nd Indian Brigade lost a third of its strength, but the remainder managed to retreat by January the 3rd. That sounds like a lot more than half a battalion. Yeah.

Now, while all of this unfolded in the east, Yamash's forces continued their advance to try and catch the fleeing British defending the south. The defenders were repairing a new line of defenses at Trolloc, about five miles north of Slim River. Meanwhile, reinforcements had arrived, that being the 45th Brigade, and they're immediately dispatched to repel the enemy's advance on Kuala Selangar, which was another crucial airfield.

But are they going to be able to do so? Because that's where we're going to be ending this episode. I'm just going to stop share screen. It was hard to choose where to end this one because I could have done a neat package and made the last episode Singapore itself, but I think this series needed four episodes. So we're going to be covering the rest and in the next episode and then the last episode will be exclusively on the battle for singapore.

That's definitely one I'm really looking forward to. Yeah, Singapore's fall is quite interesting. But before we let you go, audience, I just want to reiterate again, if you'd like to further support the channel, please check out the YouTube membership or the Patreon account at www.patreon.com slash the Pacific War channel. By joining either, you get access to the exclusive podcast series, really access to all the content I make and voting rights for the subjects I will tackle next.

Perhaps some of the stuff we talked about here, like amphibious warfare during the Pacific War, specifically. Or a future Mongol series. A future Mongol series, which I wouldn't feel comfortable because I'm not an expert, but I happen to work with one of the greatest experts in the entire world, Mr. He's actually a fellow YouTuber, actually, Jack Meister. If anyone wants to

check out his channel, he is incredible. And I don't want to give anything away, but I can't say anything because it's not... Something very big is coming down the pipeline from him and kings and generals. I'll say that much. It's very big. It's very impressive about the Mongol Empire. But stating all of that, thank you, Gero, for being a hostage in the brutal jungles of Malaya. Until next time. My pleasure.