The Battle of Muar was the last major battle of the Malayan campaign. 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 Wavell, commander of ABDA, decided that Lt. Gen. Heath's III Indian Corps should withdraw 150 miles south into the State of Johore to rest and regroup, whilst the 8th Australian Division would attempt to stop the Japanese advance.

PropertyValue
dbpedia-owl:Event/date
  • 1942-01-22 (xsd:date)
dbpedia-owl:MilitaryConflict/causalties
  • 3100 killed (including 145 PoWs)
dbpedia-owl:MilitaryConflict/combatant
  • Twenty-Fifth Army:
    Imperial Guards
    5th Division
    3rd Air Division
  • Westforce:
    8th Division
    9th Division
    45th Brigade
    53rd Infantry Brigade
    2-VLG-V
dbpedia-owl:MilitaryConflict/commander
dbpedia-owl:MilitaryConflict/notes
  • 145 Australian and Indian POWs shot by the Japanese and their bodies burnt to destroy the evidence. (See Parit Sulong massacre)
dbpedia-owl:MilitaryConflict/partOf
dbpedia-owl:MilitaryConflict/place
dbpedia-owl:MilitaryConflict/result
  • Japanese victory, Parit Sulong massacre
dbpedia-owl:MilitaryConflict/strength
  • 4000 infantry
    60 aircraft
  • 8000 infantry
    400 aircraft
    50 tanks
dbpedia-owl:causalties
  • 3100 killed (including 145 PoWs)
dbpedia-owl:combatant
  • Twenty-Fifth Army:
    Imperial Guards
    5th Division
    3rd Air Division
  • Westforce:
    8th Division
    9th Division
    45th Brigade
    53rd Infantry Brigade
    2-VLG-V
dbpedia-owl:commander
dbpedia-owl:date
  • 1942-01-22 (xsd:date)
dbpedia-owl:notes
  • 145 Australian and Indian POWs shot by the Japanese and their bodies burnt to destroy the evidence. (See Parit Sulong massacre)
dbpedia-owl:partOf
dbpedia-owl:place
dbpedia-owl:result
  • Japanese victory, Parit Sulong massacre
dbpedia-owl:strength
  • 4000 infantry
    60 aircraft
  • 8000 infantry
    400 aircraft
    50 tanks
dbpedia-owl:thumbnail
dbpprop:abstract
  • The Battle of Muar was the last major battle of the Malayan campaign. 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 Wavell, commander of ABDA, decided that Lt. Gen. Heath's III Indian Corps should withdraw 150 miles south into the State of Johore to rest and regroup, whilst the 8th Australian Division would attempt to stop the Japanese advance. Allied soldiers, under the command of Major General Gordon Bennett, inflicted severe losses on Japanese forces at the Gemensah Bridge ambush and in a second battle a few miles north of the town of Gemas. Members of the Australian 8th Division killed an estimated 700 personnel from the Japanese Imperial Guards Division, in the ambush at the bridge itself, whilst Australian anti-tank guns destroyed several Japanese tanks in the battle north of Gemas. Although the ambush was successful for the Allies, the defense of Maur and Bakri on the west coast was a complete failure which resulted in the near-annihilation of the Indian 45th Brigade and heavy casualties for its two attached Australian infantry battalions. This is the first engagement between Australian and Japanese forces in Malaya. The 53rd Infantry Brigade was also the only British unit of the 18th Division to fight the Japanese in Malaya.
dbpprop:align
  • center
dbpprop:caption
  • Sergeant Charles Parsons' anti-tank gunners firing on Type 95 Ha-Gos at point-blank range on the Muar-Parit Sulong road, 18 January 1942. One of them is already destroyed and five more would suffer the same fate.
dbpprop:casualties
  • 3100 killed
  • 700+ killed 10+ tanks damaged or destroyed
dbpprop:combatant
dbpprop:commander
dbpprop:conflict
  • Battle of Muar
dbpprop:date
  • 14–22 January 1942
dbpprop:hasPhotoCollection
dbpprop:notes
  • 145 Australian and Indian POWs shot by the Japanese and their bodies burnt to destroy the evidence.
dbpprop:partof
dbpprop:place
dbpprop:quote
  • Some of the prisoners were let out of the bungalow to find their captors waiting for them with water and cigarettes which they held just out of reach while a party of Japanese war correspondents took pictures of the captives, about to receive them. When the correspondents had gone, the water was poured away, the cigarettes pocketed and the men bundled back inside.
  • The young Indian recruits were helpless. They did not even know how to take cover, and there were not enough officers to control them. I say this in no spirit of disparagement. It was the penalty of years of unpreparedness for war coming out in all its stark nakedness.
  • While most of the Australians, the majority roped together like a chain gang, were first shot,some of the Japanese officer decided it was time the samurai swords they carried - often family heirlooms - tasted blood,and practiced their skills on the Indians, perhaps because the average Asian's collar size tends to be smaller than a Caucasian's.
dbpprop:reference
dbpprop:result
dbpprop:source
  • - Colin Smith
  • — Lieutenant General Arthur Percival
dbpprop:strength
  • 4000 infantry 60 aircraft
  • 8000 infantry 400 aircraft 50 tanks
dbpprop:width
  • 50
  • 60
  • 80
dbpprop:wikiPageUsesTemplate
dbpprop:wordnet_type
rdf:type
rdfs:comment
  • The Battle of Muar was the last major battle of the Malayan campaign. 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 Wavell, commander of ABDA, decided that Lt. Gen. Heath's III Indian Corps should withdraw 150 miles south into the State of Johore to rest and regroup, whilst the 8th Australian Division would attempt to stop the Japanese advance.
rdfs:label
  • Battle of Muar
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skos:subject
foaf:depiction
foaf:name
  • Battle of Muar
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