27 - 28 March 1942. Victoria Point, Burma.
14th/20th King's Hussars Stuart Light Tanks, had been part of the force that had successfully recaptured the airfields at Tavoy, Mergui and Victoria Point. The fact that the Japanese hadn’t garrisoned the airfields was a sign that they were short of troops. The RAF were working on getting all three airfields repaired and they weren’t far from operational availability. Victoria Point was the crucial airfield, as if provided single engine fighters a place to refuel between Rangoon and Singapore. A small flotilla of vessels had brought fuel, along with all the other necessities, for the air bridge to be reopened.
With the territorial integrity of Burma re-established, the next phase of operations was to cut the railway between Bangkok and the border with Malaya. The Royal Navy once again provided escorts with the Landing Craft Tanks, Lighters and a Landing Ship Infantry to carry a force based around B Squadron, 14/20th King’s Hussars, with 1/4th Bn Bombay Grenadiers to cross into Thailand, aiming for Jumbhorn (Chumphon) to cut the supply route for the Japanese in Malaya.
Two Companies of the Grenadiers had sailed up the Brui River about 20 miles to just short of the township of Kra Brui. The Bombay Grenadiers were confronted by some local Thai police who realised they were outnumbered and without options, so they stood down. Along with the infantry, a troop of the Hussars’ tanks, a battery each of 25-pdrs and 2-pdrs AT with some engineers had been delivered by the flat-bottomed Lighters.
The larger Landing Ships Tank and Infantry, despite their shallow draft, had to unload at Ranong. These ships were carrying the rest of the tanks, artillery and stores. Once again, the local Thai authorities acquiesced to the arrival of the British. The road between Ranong and Kra Brui was better than a cart track, as Ranong was one of the places that tin was exported from. The Stuart tanks were well capable of traversing the road, their problem was water courses which were more of a struggle to cross, bridges were too weak, or the ferries were too fragile.
Rafting the tanks over rivers, or improvising other kinds of crossings, took a lot of time and effort, the rest of the Bombay Grenadier Battalion being used as labourers alongside the attachment of engineers. The Lighters, having dropped their load at Kra Brui, came back and started shuttling elements of the force up the river to join the others. A Platoon of Grenadiers had begun to reconnoitre the road over the hills of the Peninsula towards Chumphon, while the rest of the force gathered its strength.
The arrival of the British forces had not gone unnoticed by the Japanese, who had been informed by the Thai authorities of the incursion. The local Japanese commander had few resources at his disposal, the town of Chumphon was simply part of the logistical network towards the front in Malaya. The size and make-up of the British force was unknown, the intelligence given by the Thais suggested that it was a very large force.
Having requested reinforcements, the Japanese commander set off with about a Company’s worth of men, to find out more about the British strength and to set up some kind of defensive position to hold the enemy away from Chumphon until reinforcements could arrive.