24 – 26 March 1942. Malaya
Lieutenant-General Alan Cunningham’s orders were for Mackay’s Corps to attempt to advance further up the Malaya peninsula before the Australian Corps went into reserve. Brigadier Victor Windeyer, (OC 20th Australian Brigade) had been given the task of advancing towards Alor Star, with Brigadier Raymond Tovell’s 26th Brigade in support.
During the campaign the Royal Navy’s small ships had been keeping the west coast of Malaya clear, running supplies up the coast and maintaining the stay behind forces as best they could. With the RAF having the airfield at Ipoh operational, and therefore adequate aircover guaranteed, the Royal Navy were supporting the Australian push. The light cruiser HMS Danae (6x 6-inch guns), with HMS Kashmir (6x 4.7-inch guns), were providing naval gunfire support. The two ships were accompanied by HMS Scout along with the Perak flotilla (a variety of launches, motor boats, including the Yangtze gunboats, HMS Grasshopper and Dragonfly, with increased AA capability). This flotilla had been the main force landing troops and supplies behind enemy lines.
Some Royal Marines, along with men from a variety of units, had volunteered to work with the Perak flotilla to learn how to infiltrate and exploit the Japanese weakness of having no naval support on the west coast. The flotilla carried a Company of Commandoes which would land behind the Japanese to help the Australians at the various river crossings.
As expected, 20 Brigade made good progress for the first ten miles, 2/13 Bn and 2/15 Bn arriving at the river Sala and Pendang respectively. A couple of batteries of 25-pdrs opened fire on the other side of the river, and the first of the 6-inch and 4.7-inch shells landed for the Forward Post Observer to correct the naval gunfire. After a few minutes of intense bombardment, B Company 2/13 Bn moved up and made their assault across the river unopposed. The rest of the battalion followed up, and the engineers started organising a couple of bridges for both men and vehicles.
At Pendang, 2/15th Bn swept in and around finding no sign of the enemy. The Malay volunteers found some mass graves and some locals hiding in the forest. Their account of what the Japanese had done between when they arrived and withdrew was a horror story of terrible proportions. They’d begun with confiscating all the food they could find, executed those who hid food from them, and then used the locals as slave labour. Those who could had escaped into the jungle, but the killings, rapes and exploitation had carried on unabated.
The account continued that the Japanese troops who had retreated after the battle at Ipoh were even more despicable, there was real evidence of cannibalism. The Australians had been raised in a society where fairness and justice had ruled, at least for most, and their hatred of the Japanese troops grew.
At 06:00hrs 25 March, the Brigade’s artillery began a barrage of the opposite side of the river. The two companies leading the assault already knew from the night patrols that the enemy only had some outposts closer to the Kedah River at Alor Star, and other than some booby traps and a couple of sniper teams, the Brigade was able to make rapid progress northwards. Coming to the site of the ambush of the Cavalry a few days previously, the Australians found that their dead comrades had been desecrated, and evidence that the missing men had been captured alive, tortured and murdered. The treatment of the natives had riled the Australians, but this was of a different measure altogether.
The rest of the day brought the two Australian Brigades to the Kedah River, which they cleared the approaches to. The Royal Navy had landed the commandoes behind the Japanese positions, where they created a roadblock to prevent reinforcements coming or to harass any retreating Japanese. The assault over the Kedah in three places was supported by the Royal Navy and the Australian Division’s artillery. The objectives were to advance towards the commandoes, occupy the airfield and clear out the Japanese. The first two objectives were achieved by last light, but it would take another day or two to dispose of the isolated Japanese positions that continued to resist.
