Chapter 50
Malayan Front
January - April 1942
With the supply situation in Thailand stabilizing, and the securing of the Thai coastline, General Yamashita could finally prepare his operation to take Singapore. This veteran of two wars sought to bring the Malayan Peninsula to heel and take Singapore, thus removing a serious thorn in the side of Japan.
To do so, he needed to replenish his forces, which had been severely hit during the retaking of Singora, and to devise a plan to attack the colonist forces. To this end, Yamashita asked for another landing to be made, near Kuantan this time. This would allow Japanese forces to flank Commonwealth forces deeper than at Kota Bharu, where Yamashita surmised that they had been dropped on the front lines. These forces could then outflank the Commonwealth and even push to cut the road Kuala Lumpur – Kota Bharu Road. Yamashita had wished to land further south, at Mersing, and run towards the airfield at Kluang, but such an operation without having secured Borneo or the Riau Archipelago first was deemed too risky to be attempted. After the landing at Kuantan, and with Commonwealth troops in disarray, Yamashita would then be able to punch through towards Pattani, and run along the eastern coast of Malaya, perhaps even encircling troops around Penang which would’ve been under pressure from Yamashita’s divisions coming from Singora [1].
The problem with that plan, as sound as it was, is that it assumed that the Commonwealth troops were truly spread thin. However, far from it, General Harold Alexander benefited from experienced troops which had been replenished thanks to the “Singapore Convoys”, and from bountiful air support which still managed to hold the Japanese at bay despite increasing pressure. Even better, in January, he received the reinforcement of ten submarines from Europe: the HMS
Upright, Urge, Ultimatum, Ulster, Unshaken, Usurper, Unbending, United, Triumph and
Trident [2]. Churchill furthermore promised him larger surface units (including carriers) to compensate for the loss of the
Prince of Wales,
Hermes and
Formidable as soon as the upcoming operation in the European theater was over. In fact, the arrival of several American heavy units at Bandung, Batavia and Darwin gave way to cautious optimism on Alexander’s side.
Finally, on March 11th, once his army was well-supplied and with the promise of naval and air support, Yamashita launched his great offensive towards Singapore. Unfortunately for him, the convoy leading troops for the landing at Kuantan was spotted, twice. First by the USS
Sargo, which operated a “Singapore Express”, and then again by the HMS
Unshaken, which managed to sink the destroyer
Shirayuki before running. It is unknown whether the HMS
Proteus, which was lost around that time, also managed to spot the convoy.
When the Japanese 9th Division landed at Kuantan, they were thus expected, but the Japanese were lucky. Most aircraft had to defend Singapore Naval Base from the largest Japanese raid since the start of the War, thus leaving the 11th Indian Division to fend for itself. This one, far from being discouraged, waited for nightfall in order to attack, free from harassment by air or sea. It was thus the turn of the Japanese to be taken by surprise. All of a sudden, the entire beachhead lit up, with the Indians detonating explosive charges in the middle of landing barges which had come to reinforce the Japanese that had landed in the afternoon. A lucky hit made an ammunition barge explode, wreaking havoc and causing panic amidst the Japanese. The soldiers were thus pinned on the beaches, with the bravest trying to advance being cut down in the Indians’ prepared positions. It would not be until dawn that the Japanese fleet would be able to reply.
The big guns of the battleships started to shell the Indian positions…until an explosion came from behind them! The ammunition transport ship
Kashino had just been blown up by a salvo from the HMS
Urge, which had managed to sneak into the anchorage! Minutes later, it was the turn of the Beauforts of Sqn 458 RAAF and the Hudsons of Sqn 1 RAAF to attack the ships, wreaking havoc and damaging the heavy cruiser
Mogami. Fearing a trap, Admiral Nagumo, in charge of the operation, had to order a withdrawal in order to not risk his heavy units.
The landed Japanese were thus now at the mercy of the Indians. They would resist for a time, but the following night, an audacious raid carried out by the destroyers HMS
Encounter, Foxhound, HMAS
Napier,
Nestor and HMTS
Phra Ruang managed to sink several transports still at anchor, along with a minesweeper and the destroyer
Asagiri, left behind to protect the landing barges. All five destroyers would rally Singapore without any issues, escaping Nagumo’s wrath.
With no hope of reinforcement or supplies, the landed troops of the 9th Infantry Division had no choice but to fight to the last or commit suicide by either drowning or throwing themselves on the Indians. Just like Kota Bharu, Kuantan had been a disaster for the Japanese [3].
Thankfully for Yamashita, his attack on the Commonwealth positions at Singora seemed to be more fruitful. Initial engagements south of the city proved successful for the Japanese, allowing them to extend the perimeter around the city. However, Yamashita also had cause for concern. In the air, the promised superiority was not there, and the Commonwealth ground units had an unhealthy number of AA batteries! By force of numbers, though, the Commonwealth troops were repulsed towards Hat Yai and along the coast, with Japanese forces threatening to cut off the Hat Yai – Pattani Road.
It was on the coast that the Japanese advanced the most, with the Australians forced to withdraw across the Na Thap River, conceding control of the road. However, the Japanese were not able to break through at Hat Yai, solidly held by the Indians of the 17th Infantry Division. On the evening of March 15th, Yamashita still had yet to reach Pattani, with the Australians of the 1st Armoured Division delaying his advance along the coast.
On March 16th, he thus ordered an assault on Hat Yai, in order to gain ground and push the British troops back to the border. Under severe artillery fire, the Indians fought bravely, but it was an uneven battle. At nightfall, General Alexander ordered General Lewis to withdraw his troops to the border, at Changlun. With this advance, and fearing a turning movement by the Japanese towards the east, General Gordon Bennett ordered the 8th Australian Division (and the elements of the 1st Armoured still engaged) to withdraw towards Pattani in order to protect the city and the road to Kota Bharu.
Yamashita had for his part sent the Imperial Guards Division in pursuit of the Australians, but they were ambushed along the coastal road by delaying elements left there by the Aussies. The RAAF, too eager to support its compatriots, kept the Japanese in check in the sky, further angering Yamashita who already saw himself in Kuala Lumpur by this point! It wouldn’t be until March 19th that Pattani was finally in artillery range, and March 22nd when they entered the city.
In Pattani, fights were fierce. The 1st Australian Armoured jumped at the throats of the Imperial Guards, almost annihilating an entire company of Ha-Go light tanks. Likewise, the 8th Australian Division fought to delay the Japanese forces entering the town, which had spread their forces thin. Yamashita was forced to cancel the assault on March 25th, while waiting for reinforcements to catch up [4].
This respite could’ve led to believe the Commonwealth forces that the Japanese had been spent, but quite the opposite. On March 31st, Japanese troops advanced on the Indian positions on the border, while Pattani was assaulted on April 4th. The former did not last very long: Changlun and Arau were only delaying positions, with the biggest hope of stopping the Japanese being at Jitra, where the British 18th Division had set up a collection line. Soon enough, the 17th Indian Division was ordered towards Jitra, from where they would pass on the torch to the 18th Division, recuperating at Alor Setar, and, if necessary, defending the crossroads there.
At Pattani, though, the assault by the Japanese Imperial Guards, supported by the 56th Infantry Division, did not have the expected results. The 8th Australian Division, still supported by the Crusaders and Valentines of the 1st Australian Armoured, stopped the assault a second time, on April 8th. By now, Yamashita had grown sick of the determined resistance, and, knowing full well his units would be too exhausted to carry on further than this, ordered a general assault.
This one came on April 13th, after a deluge of artillery, at the same time as an assault on Jitra. Both positions seemed to hold, but the Australians, exhausted and outgunned, started faltering. Despite the efforts of the RAAF to support their compatriots on the ground, the situation became dire as elements of the 56th Infantry Division broke through to the south, threatening to encircle the town. With this in mind, General Bennett ordered to withdraw on April 16th, after almost a month of delaying manoeuvres. The Japanese were thus victorious, and ran towards Yala and the border, but were once more delayed by the 1st Australian Armoured, which ambushed the Japanese along the bottlenecks in the hills around the coast. On April 22nd, the Japanese came into contact with the 7th Australian Division, at Kota Bharu, which had set up a collection line along the Kelantan River. The 7th was the last “true” unit to have never seen combat, and as such was completely fresh, forcing an exhausted Yamashita to stop the pursuit and dig in along the Kelantan.
At Jitra, things were not looking up either for the soldiers of the Rising Sun. Thanks to support from Sabang and Alor Setar, the British of the 18th Infantry held the Japanese attackers in check, while the guns of the HMAS
Adelaide and the HMS
Dragon calmed the ardor of those who tried to attack on the coastal road. By April 25th, Yamashita had to throw in the towel. After a month and a half, his forces had certainly managed to take some territory, but they had hardly managed to scrape Malaya, and Singapore remained far away.
The Japanese offensive did do some non-negligible damage to the Allied forces, and was overall a success. The 17th Indian Division had been severely mauled and would need rest. The 8th Australian was withdrawn entirely, with coastal defence duties near Singapore, it also needing rest and recompletion. The 1st Australian Armoured was also withdrawn from the front, having taken serious casualties and needing its stocks to be replenished. Lucky them, the next Singapore Convoy (Calendar) was due to arrive on the 27th of April with a batch of new armoured vehicles, the long-awaited M3 Stuart and M3 Grant! After that, we would have to wait for the Harpoon convoy, in June… [5]
For Yamashita, it was a setback, but not a failure. He had yet to commit the 5th Infantry Division, which was resting around Surat Thani, and could hope to have the Allies pinned down by the Dutch East Indies Campaign. This would allow him to rely more on his air support, which had been lacking until then, and for him to be able to cut his way straight towards Penang, then Kuala Lumpur! The start of the operation was slated for May 9th, and it was to be considered the last successful large-scale Japanese offensive in the South-East Asian theatre.
[1] More or less OTL Yamashita's plan.
[2] The
Ulster is OTL's HMS
P-36, which will live to see it being assigned a name ITTL.
[3] This time the Japanese underestimated the sheer submarine presence the Allies have, and their ability to be extremely annoying to the Japanese. Not to mention the Commonwealth Air Force, which is still just as present in the skies over Malaya.
[4] Just like ITTL's Rommel, Yamashita gets some comeuppance for being too hasty in exploiting his breakthroughs, as the Australians inflict a painful defeat to him early on in his "Blitzkrieg".
[5] The Japanese certainly will not wait that long!