The Battle of Gemas—part of the wider

Battle of Muar The Battle of Muar was the last major battle of the Malayan Campaign during the Second World War. It took place from 14–22 January 1942 around Gemensah Bridge and on the Muar River. After the British defeat at Slim River, General Archibald W ...

—took place during the Japanese

invasion of Malaya The Malayan campaign, referred to by Japanese sources as the , was a military campaign fought by Allied and Axis forces in Malaya, from 8 December 1941 – 15 February 1942 during the Second World War. It was dominated by land battles betwee ...

in the Pacific Campaign of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. The action occurred on 14 January 1942 at the Gemencheh Bridge near

Gemas Gemas (Negeri Sembilan Malay: ''Gomeh'') is a small town and a mukim in Tampin District, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia, near the Negeri Sembilan-Johor state border. It is situated 101 km northeast of Seremban, the state capital city, and 30 km no ...

and saw around 1,000 troops of the Japanese 5th Division killed or wounded during a fierce ambush initiated by Australian soldiers from 2/30th Battalion, assigned to the 27th Brigade of the

8th Division 8th Division, 8th Infantry Division or 8th Armored Division may refer to: Infantry divisions * 8th Division (Australia) * 8th Canadian Infantry Division * 8th Air Division (People's Republic of China) * 8th Division (1st Formation) (People's Repu ...

Battle

The 2/30th Battalion's commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Frederick "Black Jack" Galleghan,Long 1973, p. 140. was ordered to mount an ambush on the main road, west of Gemas in the hope of preventing the Japanese from advancing any further south. The ambush site was located at a point where a wooden bridge crossed the Sungei Gemencheh river, connecting Gemas with the larger neighbouring town of

Tampin Tampin is a town in Tampin District, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia, which borders Pulau Sebang town in Alor Gajah District, Malacca. History and etymology Tampin gets its name from the container or pouch weaved from the pandanus fronds. The con ...

, and bringing traffic on the road into a long cutting through thick bushland.Coulthard-Clark 2001, p.197. The 2/30th Battalion subsequently deployed one company in the ambush position forward of the main body of the battalion. The Japanese had passed through Tampin and needed to cross the bridge to reach Gemas and at 16:00 on 14 January 1942, "B" Company 2/30th Battalion under Captain Desmond Duffy, initiated the ambush. As the Japanese passed through the engagement area in their hundreds—many of them on bicycles—the bridge was blown and the Australians opened fire with machine guns, rifles and grenades. Faulty telephone lines back to the main battalion position prevented Duffy from being able to call in artillery fire on to the follow on Japanese forces, however, and the forward company was subsequently forced to withdraw after a 20-minute engagement as the Japanese began to press their positions.

Aftermath

The battle following the ambush, and a further action closer to Gemas during which the Australian anti-tank gunners from the 2/4th Anti-Tank Regiment destroyed six out of eight Japanese tanks, lasted another two days. The fighting ended with the Australians withdrawing through Gemas to the Fort Rose Estate. According to Coulthard-Clark, total Japanese casualties in the wider battle numbered over 1,000, while the Australians lost 81 killed, wounded or missing; Allen Warren provides figures of 70 killed and 57 wounded in the initial engagement. Despite the tactical victory at Gemas, as well as strong stands later at Bakri, the 22nd Australian Brigade’s ambush north of Jemaluang and the fighting withdrawal from Muar, the Japanese advance down the Malay Peninsula was only temporarily slowed.

Documentary

The Battle of Gemas has remained a footnote in the broader Battle of Muar until a documentary by the same name expanded the importance of this battle. File:Frederick Galleghan.jpg, Lieutenant Colonel Frederick Galleghan examining a map with Sergeant Heckendorf outside the command post at Gemas. File:Japanese troops near Gemas, Malaya.jpg, Japanese troops advancing near Gemas.

Notes

References

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1942 in British Malaya

Australia–Japan military relations January 1942 events