Malayan campaign

Malayan campaign
Part of the Pacific War of World War II

Troops of the Imperial Japanese Army crouch on a street in Johor Bahru in the final stages of the Malayan campaign
Date8 December 1941 – 15 February 1942
(2 months, and 8 days)
Location
Result

Japanese victory

  • Surrender or expulsion of all British Empire forces in Malaya
Territorial
changes
Japanese occupation of Malaya
Belligerents
 British Empire
Netherlands

Kuomintang of Malaya[1]
Communist Party of Malaya[1]
Empire of Japan Japan
Thailand Thailand
Young Malays Union
Commanders and leaders
Archibald Wavell
United Kingdom Robert Brooke-Popham
United Kingdom Arthur Percival Surrendered
United Kingdom Lewis Heath Surrendered
United Kingdom David Murray-Lyon Surrendered
United Kingdom Archibald Paris 
United Kingdom Arthur Barstow 
Australia Gordon Bennett
United Kingdom Tom Phillips 
United Kingdom Conway Pulford 
Leong Yew Koh[1]
Lai Teck
Empire of Japan Hisaichi Terauchi
Empire of Japan Tomoyuki Yamashita
Empire of Japan Takuro Matsui
Empire of Japan Takuma Nishimura
Empire of Japan Renya Mutaguchi
Empire of Japan Michio Sugawara
Empire of Japan Nobutake Kondō
Empire of Japan Jisaburō Ozawa
Empire of Japan Shintarō Hashimoto
Ibrahim Yaacob
Units involved
Far East Command[a]
ABDA Command[b]
Malaya Command
United Kingdom RAF Far East

ML-KNIL


East Indies Fleet
OCAJA[1]
MPAJA[1]
South Expeditionary Army

25th Army


2nd Fleet
Royal Thai Police
Young Malays Union
Strength
130,246 troops[2]
253 aircraft
810 artillery pieces
208+ anti-tank and anti-aircraft guns
54 fortress guns[3][c]
250+ AFVs[3][d][4]
15,400+ motor vehicles[5][e]
125,408 troops[6]
799 aircraft[7]
440+ artillery pieces[8]
265 tanks[9]
3,000+ trucks[10]
Casualties and losses
130,246 (Including the casualties of the Battle of Singapore)
7,500–8,000 killed[11]
11,000+ wounded
~120,000+ captured or missing[12]
14,768 (Including the casualties of the Battle of Singapore)
5,240 killed
9,528 wounded[13]
>30 tanks destroyed[14]
108–331 aircraft damaged or destroyed[15]

The Malayan campaign, referred to by Japanese sources as the Malay Operation (馬来作戦, Maree Sakusen), 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 between British Commonwealth army units and the Imperial Japanese Army, with minor skirmishes at the beginning of the campaign between British Commonwealth and Royal Thai Police. The Japanese had air and naval supremacy from the opening days of the campaign. For the British, Indian, Australian, and Malayan forces defending the colony, the campaign was a total disaster.

The operation is notable for the Japanese use of bicycle infantry, which allowed troops to carry more equipment and swiftly move through thick jungle terrain. Royal Engineers, equipped with demolition charges, destroyed over a hundred bridges during the retreat, yet this did little to delay the Japanese. By the time the Japanese had captured Singapore, they had suffered 14,768 casualties;[16] Allied losses totaled 130,246, including around 7,500 to 8,000 killed, 11,000+ wounded and 120,000+ missing or captured.[17]

  1. ^ a b c d e Kratoska 2018 pp 299
  2. ^ Farrell, 2015[page needed]
  3. ^ a b Allen (2013) pp. 300-301.
  4. ^ Sandhu 1987, p. 32.
  5. ^ Allen (2013) pp. 300-301
  6. ^ Farrell, 2015[page needed]
  7. ^ JM-54, "Malay Operations Record" p. 11. 612 Army and 187 Navy planes, of which 153 Army and 29 Navy planes were reserve. Retrieved 4/1/2022
  8. ^ Allen, Louis. Singapore 1941–1942: Revised Edition, Routledge, 2013. p. 169
  9. ^ Farrell, 2015[page needed]
  10. ^ Toland, John. The Rising Sun New York: The Modern Library, 2003. p. 272
  11. ^ Farrell, 2015[page needed]
  12. ^ Farrell, 2015[page needed]
  13. ^ Akashi, Yoji (2010). General Yamashita Tomoyuki: Commander of the Twenty-Fifth Army. Marshall Cavendish International (Asia) Pte Ltd.
  14. ^ Smith, Colin (2006). Singapore Burning. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0141010366.
  15. ^ Roy, Kaushik (2019). Battle for Malaya: The Indian Army in Defeat, 1941-1942. Open Road Integrated Media.
  16. ^ Akashi, Yoji (2010). General Yamashita Tomoyuki: Commander of the Twenty-Fifth Army in A Great Betrayal? The Fall of Singapore Revisited. Marshall Cavendish International (Asia) Pte Ltd.
  17. ^ Farrell, 2015 pp 472–475


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