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Location
Prior to WWII, British colony, with Singapore Island off the southern tip of the Malayan Peninsula, and Thailand to the north, also today the north-west portion of Borneo. During World War II, the nation was known as the "Malayan States" or "Malaya".
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Malay States |
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Site of inital Japanese landing on December 8, 1941 |
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Present day capital city |
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Bristol Brigand wreck |
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Wreck of the USS Grenadier, and legacy
of her POW crew |
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Unidentified Allied wreck |
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Japanese Sonia wreck discovered in 1995 |
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B-29 Wreck recently discovered |
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Southern tip of Malay peninsula, wartime
airfield |
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Wartime airfield |
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Wartime airfield |
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Johore |
Kluang |
Located in the center of the peninsual's southern coast |
Johore Bahru |
Located on the southern tip of Malay |
Mersing |
Located on the eastern coast |
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Malaysia Borneo (East Malaysia) |
Sarawak |
State of Malaysia, spanning northern coast of Borneo |
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City and airfield on the north-western coast |
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City and airfield near Brunei border |
Sabah |
State of Malaysia, spanning north-eastern coast of Borneo |
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Located at the northern tip of Borneo |
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Japanese wartime airfield |
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Japanese base assaulted
by the Australians July 1, 1945. |
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Japanese airfield constructed by POW labor
and POW camp |
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Japanese airfield constructed by POW labor
and POW camp |
Wartime History
On December 8, 1941, just after 12:25am (local time) Japanese forces landed at Kota Bharu. In retaliation, the British battlefiled 'Z Force' commanded by Rear Admiral Sir Tomas Phillips battleship HMS Prince of Whales and battle cruiser HMS Repulse with four Destroyers set out from Singapore to attack the Japanese expected to land on Maaysia. Sited the next day by Japanese submarine I-65. 'Z Force' made an aborted attempt to thward a report of a Japanese landing at Kuantan that proved to be false. Land based Navy bombers from the Genzan Kokutai (24 G3M), Mihoro Kokutai (33 G3M) and Kanoya Kokutai (26 G4M1 with torpedos) all took off from Saigon.
By December 9 1941, with an additional
reinforcement troops, the Japanese moved into Kota Bharu town after
occupying the Pengkalan Chepa airport a day earlier. The British continued
their withdrawal to Kuala Krai and then to Terengganu. By 22 December
1941, the Japanese completely occupied Kelantan. Although Japanese attacked
Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on 7 December 1941, due to the time difference,
the Japanese actually attacked Kota Bharu one and a half hours earlier.
Life was tough during the Japanese occupation.
Besides a scarcity of necessities of life, there emerged the black
markets to supply the necessities in limited quantities at unlimited
prices. The currency notes issued by Japanese became worthless due
to escalating rate of inflation. The notes became popular known as "banana money" because
of the banana tree on the ten cent note.
In July 1943, Japanese
Prime Minister Hikeki Tojo announced that the Northern Malay States
Comprising Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah and Perlis to be surrendered
to Thailand. This was part of the agreement sighed between the
Japanese and the Thai Government at the end of December 1941. From
18 October 1943, Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah and Perlis were under
the administration by the Thai.
After the British arrived in Malaya
in 1945, they blasted away memorial stones that have been put by
Japanese to remember the falling comrades in Kampar.
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Last Updated
January 23, 2012
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