The second installment of the Malaya series is here! Also, this month I am making Historigraph my full time endeavour for the first time. If you'd like to support me in that, check out my Patreon: www.patreon.com/historigraph Come join the historigraph discord: discord.gg/cjTaHFNAjS Follow me on Twitch for upcoming livestreams! www.twitch.tv/historigraph
If I might ask, how do you plan to upload? With that I mean like: Every week, or random? Nontheless it is good work, by the way, is there a chance you making a video about the Winter War? Would be very nice! Keep doing them!
Malaysian here....close to my home,there a WW2 bunker closely beside Permatang Badak Mosque...the bunker is facing the main road to Kuantan...another one is situated beside Kuantan River bridge in Tanah Putih Baharu,also facing toward Kuantan town where the beach is not far from there....thanks for covering the Malaya and Singapore Campaign because it sometime overlooked by bigger event such as the Corregidor, Pearl Harbour and the Chinese-Burma-India road....
I think the Malay invasion should be studied as how not to defend a far off wing of a large centralized empire. I think its notable that all the area commanders of independent action rank were UK natives and not Commonwealth raised allies. I also think the 1950s "crisis" was labeled an "emergency" only to allow insurance claims to be approved for UK corporate losses. Personally I think by this time the UK was so engrossed in being a London dominated imperial empire that local leadership may have actually produced results in incidents like this where the "whole of Commonwealth" response was true to name rather than just on paper.
I can't even imagine the frustration of the III Corps commander seeing the clock ticking, but not being allowed to move forward or back. "Come ON! Can we do SOMETHING?! ANYTHING!?"
He was a good subordinate to the regional commander in chief because he was only informed to go on high readiness alert to watch for the air sighting the previous day to land. The fact there was no landing site to declare meant that no one really knew the best place to send Commonwealth forces.
I see what you are driving at, but with the two vital ports (certainly the primary targets of the Japanese) in front of him and a solid defensive position behind, it must have been maddening to be forced to stand at high alert all night in the rain waiting for HQ to make up their $*@#&! minds.
@@dutch6857 The problem with that of course is that the forces had to be ready instantly for any landing zone and waiting some 30 hours for that command to be issued is rather frightful. I think that once the British knew the area was possibly under attack they had to go after what they thought were the most likely landing zones.
Even worse for the rank and file troops who were told to be on high alert and be ready to move, under the pouring monsoon rain. Imagine the fatigue and listlessness.
@@bensontay1885 Yep. And all your kit is to be packed and ready to go, so no tents, (good luck napping under a monsoon). Support services are probably also loaded up so no hot meal, canteens are going to be running dry (ironically in the pouring rain). Then you feel the first shivers of fever
Pretty much, we Malaysians were sick of British colonials at the point so some groups actually helped the Japanese invade thinking they would save us. Then they didn't.... When they finally left we realized relying on foreign countries was a poor idea and started looking for independence
@@GrapeFaygo959 The polish had been fighting the Soviets before that. Even fought them for their independence post WW1 The nazis invaded them together with the Soviets Its more trading nazis for something even worse
I was born and raised in Kota Bharu. You can still see remnants of the pillboxes along the beaches that was used during the invasion. One of the pillboxes sits directly on Kota Bharu airport (KBR/WMKC) between the runway and the parallel taxiway.
Thanks for covering a part of my nation (Singapore) and region's history. Its so rare to see someone cover a topic on the Southeast Asian theatre, even when Churchill had said that the fall of Singapore was the worst British military disaster ever
nah not really...the British didn't care much about Singapore to begin with...look at how little air forces and naval forces they deployed there to defend it
@@niuchajianfa6222 Malaya considered very important, however consider the demands of the armed forces at the time, as well a losses sustained thus far in the war. The British Empire was not exactly brimming with excess supplies. That, and the middle east/north Africa held primacy, rightly so. Also note that a war with japan was not a certainty before the declaration (a common view is its war in china would take all its attention). So in that respect it would almost be foolish to secure it, with seasoned troops and the better generals. same could be said regarding the planes. In regards to Naval strength, it was planned before the Washington naval treaty that a 3rd fleet exist in the "china station", the said treaty prevented that. This forced the RN to, during the war, to operate to really at its limit. It couldn't afford to send a fleet, the Mediterranean fleet being the fleet in question, as they were occupied. That said, it doesn't take away from the fact that the defence was a farce.
@@niuchajianfa6222 the fact that British had over 80,000 troops defending it and sent two of there best battleships proves otherwise. It basically came down to the fact the British under estimated the Japanese and didn't have enough supplies spare to send due to fighting in Europe.
Well in hoi4 the entire Japanese fleet sailed to fight Germany (me) and got obliterated at the channel by my totally legit and not cheated in navy. So that proves they can get to Europe somehow
@@yuehaowu I quite enjoy screwing around with the navy like that every once in awhile. A good mod for even more stupid navy fun is, if you have MTG, the “MTG Expanded” mod on steam workshop. Combine that with the cheat decisions mod and the xp command and you can have a fun time making broken fleets and seeing what will happen
@@stc2828 You dont need decent road for bicycle that were used by the Japanese. It is a very creative solution as Malayan geography is probably the worst in terms of how much jungle and uneven terrain were there.
I really hope you cover the Battle of Slim River, my grandfather was a member of Australian 8th Division and a surviving POW. Understandably he never talked about it and we didn't ask too many questions After he passed away I was given some of his possessions on of which was a map of anti tank and infantry divisions of Slim River, as well as members of his unit and their status, ie KIA, POW, Repatriated. He was in a transport unit he was tail end Charlie and from my research I may believe that his unit may have had to do more than driving and defend. It is with alot of sadness and contemplation I watched this but so grateful that you made a video So at the going down of the sun and in the morning. We will remember them. Lest We Forget
I believe your grandfather was part of the Australian 2/3 Motor Transport Company which was involved in the guard action at Titi Karangan (17 Dec 1941), Grik road (16-22 December 1941) and later Slim River. The Argylls battalion spoke highly of the Australian 2/3 Motor Transport Company which were highly experienced. Try and read the Moon of Malaya book by Audrey Holmes McCormick and Jonathan Mofatt.
@@songkok7hitam You are absolutely correct my friend, he was in the 2/3rd M.T Coy. Thank you so much for your information and knowledge I will look at the book you recommended. Yes my research led me to believe he did more than driving the map I found confirmed in his possessions after he passed that. But also that his mates were more important than his medals as they are unopened from their original wrapping and box, but he kept information from his reunions the status of his former company members, any more information would be greatly appreciated. Thank you once again stranger my good friend, have a beautiful day 🇭🇲🏴🏴🇺🇸
Greetings from Malaysia. Thank you for his service. The Battle of Slim River was one of - if not the - fiercest during the defence of Malaya. I went to the town and there were still many remnants of the battle, including bullet holes on structures.
My great grand uncle was a lieutenant in 2/20th Bn AIF. He led ‘A Coy’ during the siege of Singapore until he was wounded and later died at the regimental aid post. I hope to visit his grave at Kranji some day.
Well done. Greetings from Melaka, Peninsula Malaysia. My dada, who passed away at 90 two years ago, used to tell me bedtime stories of his experience living under Japanese Occupation when a young lad. One of his elder brother served with the Malacca Voluntary Crops and joined the Brits in their retreat to Singapore. He survived the surrender and somehow found his way back home. Good work...very interesting and informative. Keep it up. God bless.
I read about the fighting in Alan Warren’s book on Singapore. Berthold Key was a very good field officer. His troops fought hard. The odds were stacked against them.
A good commander in chief is only as good as the forces under his or her command. As I said, the UK needed to evaluate their colonial defense based on economic potential and native loyalty. A small independent detachment cant do a thing against an organized assault that could actually make use of what the UK had done to Malaysia.
@@martintheiss4038 not to be pedantic, but in the context of this video, it's malaya. Malaysia only existed after 1963 where malaya unite with Sabah n Sarawak to form the federation of Malaysia.
@@martintheiss4038 Blaming the Anzac or Indian troops for this debacle is wrong. They were not remotely trained for Jungle warfare. Despite that the troops did fight fiercely when possible. It's mainly Percival's stupidity about his defences which lost Malaya.
Japanese deployed 70,000 men, some were on two-wheeled bikes. There were 140,000 british soldiers, some were given armoured vehicles. Also the British in Malaya were warned of the fall of Hong Kong and Burma, reinforcements were sent to Singapore. And still they ended up being ill-prepared and out of resources. Anyway british commanders are brave while ordering foreign soldiers 😂
While studying in the Teachers Training College Kota Bharu from 2010-2013, I always had lunch at the Sabak Beach where the Japanese landed. I could only imagine the battle scenes as the beach is very different than how it was around 70 years ago due to corrosion. The RAAF base is now a modern commercial airport and flying school, with the Malaysian Royal Army and Air force base camp just nearby. Old WW2 bunkers dotted the city of Kota Bharu as well as other cities around modern-day Malaya.
KOTA BHARU,KELANTAN is my state..first battle in the Pacific on ww2 at the KOTA BHARU..if you come to KOTA BHARU (PANTAI SABAK) here you can see the first Japanese landing in Malaya(MALAYSIA)
@@DaveSCameron maybe wearing some shorts/pants that at least cover the knees? 🤣🤣 (sarcasm: the dress code to enter government office or some shops in malaysia)
@Its not racist to admit there is a racial hierarchy yeah by not even respect the people like force them to work at railway that cant go home ,got punch, slap, shoot ,bayonet if not folllow order and even not give them the good food until they d1e cause of it! and for long time not even give em food
Arthur Percival is one of the biggest scapegoats in British military history. He didn't play his hand particularly well, to be sure, but he was in a scenario where victory was effectively impossible no matter what he did given the lack of resources on hand (the lack of resources also, incidentally, not really being anybody's fault in particular; Britain did not have sufficient military resources to effectively meet the needs of every theatre in 1941).
With the American position in DC on 6 December being that these Asiatic colonies were a form of imperial control that would have been frowned upon by the Monroe Doctrine if Asia was included. However, the Americans not only had Hawaii and a few other colonies, they did not consider public disclosure of any warfare in that area to be allowable under war secrecy guidance.
True. He did make mistakes and was scared off in the fog of war, but I bet other commanders might not have stood any better chance. Japan was on a roll, and they had Yamashita.
He might have not been remembered so harshly if his intelligence had been just fractionally better. I believe I've read the Japanese had massively over-extended by the time they landed on Singapore, and nobody seemed to know the immense force imbalance at that stage in the campaign? I'm sure if he knew he would have attempted to hold on longer.
Hey @historigraph! Congratulations on becoming full time with youtube, i wish you well! Just wanted to thank you for bringing this series to light. My Great Grandfather who recently passed away served in the Australian 8th division and so I'm really looking forward to both learning more about his final campaign before captivity as well as comparing what i know to what somebody else also knows to better understand the campaign. For example after his death I read his diary and he constantly complained that the British command never allowed his brigade to fight in an effective manner but still he used to tell me proudly about times his unit brigade did perform well against overwhelming odds. Again congrats and I'm looking forward to more content! - a new sub!
I'm always excited to see a new Historigraph video in my subscription videos. The quality is awesome. Now THIS is the type of stuff that should be on the History channel. Keep up the great work big 🐕! Edit: Saw you're gonna try doing videos as a full-time job. Signed up on Patreon; looking forward to more great work, and good luck!
I attended secondary school in Singapore in 1972. One day we had an Indian survivor of the war talk about the Japanese advance thru Malaysia and across the causeway into Singapore. He said that the use of bicycles by the Japanese was a key reason they won, in his opinion. He mentioned that the tires quickly went flat on most of the bikes, and when they ran out of repair kits the Japanese simply rode the bikes on the bare rims. He said the effect of thousands of bare metal rims directly on a hard road surface was that it sounded like tanks were coming, which created a great deal of panic.
I hope you can do something similar for East Malaysia during WW2 or in Borneo in general. There's so little information about the Japanese occupation in Borneo during WW2 in the Internet.
Looking at the positioning at some of those RAF airfields is honestly maddening, especially the one at Kota Bharu lol. It really wouldn't have hurt them to put that airfield more than 2km from the coast... The aircrafts wouldn't have suffered, the army wouldn't have been forced to defend a bad position, there would be no panic, and air support would've been available much longer. Same goes for nearby Machang and Gong Kedak. For example the Kota Bharu airstrip was built only 2km from the coast, meanwhile RIGHT BEHIND the airfield there were several streams running parallel to the coastline, in some places those are too deep to simply wade through them. You'd think that at least one person would've looked at a map and put 1 and 2 together, but apparently not lol.
I was watching one documentary on tv about the invasion of Singapore. Where the Australians had a massive line of Japanese forces blocked on a narrow jungle road. They had artillery within striking distance, but when they tried to get a message back to the base to call in the artillery the copper communication wire had been damaged, so they couldn't get the message through. If they could of, they said it would have stopped the invasion of Singapore.
This also led to the destruction of Force Z, a naval task force comprised of battleship HMS Prince of Wales and battle cruiser HMS Repulse; a futile attempt to stem the Japanese naval and air superiority
@@historigraph wow, that'll be great! Actually both ships sunk just off the coast of Kuantan city, nearby my hometown of Pekan in the state of Pahang, Malaysia
General Tomoyuki Yamashita was called "Tiger of Malaya". Japanese army under his command defeated British, Australian & Indian in every battle in Malaya campaign and conquered Malaya is less than 2 months 8 days.
Welp this invasion and malaya insurgency/emergency teaches us how to defend ourselves and show our own raw strenght in war with proper command and action. Rest in peace to those who died fighting side by side with our troops in malaysia. British,Anzacs and Commonwealths.
This is what i wanted to learn about in school in singapore. Instead, i spent 6 years learning about life under Japanese occupation. It becomes boring and repetitive after 2 months.
Incredible to see how indecisive the British high command was. To be fair, they were making tough decisions with limited knowledge, but one would have imagined that they would be more willing to roll the dice a little bit.
Given the Japanese did not declare war at this point they had to be extremely cautious for a good reason. They could not afford another war with yet another powerful nation at this time.
Thank you for this video. Very fascinating to see if they did secure the songkhla and pattani and prevented the japanese from landing in Thailand. The British could've found the big armada and destroyed them through the air..... fascinating to think of the alternative scenario and its outcome
Claims of cowardice and desertion by Australian troops in Singapore surfaced in 1993 when a secret report by the British general Sir Archibald Wavell was discovered in London. It baldly said: "For the fall of Singapore itself the Australians are responsible." Sydney Morning Telegraph The day the empire died in shame page
Malaysian here, I am really appreciated your work about making this and your other videos. My father's home town at Gerik had a small airfield for British forces but now it has been a recreational area. And my grandfather on my mother's side was in part of Malayan forces. I didn't know much info about him since he already passed away, but I remember I found the samurai sword when I was cleaning his home for renovations, unfortunately I did not know what happened to the sword, until know I still don't have the answer.....
According to local people. British defense on the beach that Japanese landed is weak because the strong wave current on that beach. But Japanese decide to use it for element of surprise. British also busy with war at Europe of course they will give most of the attention to their own land. But they don't want to lose recourse in Malaya and especially Singapore. Of course they will use most of the force to defend Singapore rather than Malaya. Furthermore most of European or Englishman already left before Japanese came.
Percival was commander land forces. Back in the mid 1930s he was promoted to Brigadier General Staff and was responsible for planning defense of Malaya. He requested 40: battalions off infantry and 2 tank Regts. He also requested 350 of the new monoplanes fighter and bombers. Percival commanded a Devision of the BEF in France, before being promoted and sent back to Malaya. The guns on Singapore island where there to defend the navy dockyard not Singapore Island, they where equipped with armor piercing and semi armor piercing shells to sink ships no high explosive for land use was issued. Leadership in War by Jack Smythe V.C. M.C. JOHN
I was kinda hoping you'd show what happened to the Hudsons, including the one that crashed into a landing barge taking out some 60 Japanese troops or so. There was a great article somewhere online that put forward a pretty compelling theory that Kota Bharu, right here, was the moment that the various wars raging around the world finally were united into a single World War. I'll see if I can find it.
i still remember after independence of Malaysia, around 1977, Malaysia Airlines flight MH653 were crashed at Tanjung Kupang. Reports found that the airplane were bombing by Japanese
I agree. I think part of the problem that India never created a well designed native governance process was that the UK was so focused on having UK leaders do the heavy lifting while never training native help to understand and learn how to command things like infrastructure or war plans.
They thought the various Japanese tech was rip-offs of their own and inferior. Instead of what they truely were. You would think Russia getting wrecked in the war against Japan in early 1900s would be a clue.
@Far Day When Sir Stamford Raffles first arrived, Singapore Island was an island of covered in vegetation and swamps, and within a few decades it had become one of the biggest trading hubs in the region. Which it still is to this day. And at the time, Malaya were the biggest producer of naturized rubber, in addition to tinn, raw materials that were in high demand in time of war. Many doesn't hold the British Empire in high regards today, but the truth is, they were interested in trading with the Far East, in particular China, for its tea and porcelain, and unfortunately opium. The Japanese wanted to create an Empire of slaves and sub humans. And if you look closely at how they treated their subjects, it makes the British look like nicely in compare. One line the Japanese propaganda stated, was that it's goal was to liberate Asia from it's European colonizers. Unfortunately, the Asians discovered that the Japanese were far worse than the Europeans. Like the Soo Ching Massacre, and the notorious Thai-Burma railway.
@Far Day true they dont care about the locals living there but mostly the natural resources Which explains why they have planned to have 300-500 aircrafts to be stationed there, a reinforcement fleet from the Mediterranean
If camera focus is important to you, keep looking. Edit: Revisited after query from poster and found it of great quality. Not sure why it was blurry at first.
The myth that there were no tanks in Singapore is something that I've always argued. We had the 100th light tank squadron. Next myth is our guns pointed out to sea . The Labrador and Changi 16 inches can turn 360
1 explanation I heard is that turning the guns wasn't done earlier as that'd point it towards Malaysia & thus probably be insulting to the _sultan_ (monarch) in the southernmost state of _Johor_ . The guns apparently had the wrong shells also anyway I heard (anti-ship instead of anti armour ones)
my ancestor once told me about..there a 2 pride battleships of royal british navy being sunk by japanese near my hometown kuantan during japanese invasion.
Imagine putting all the costal guns on the south of Singapore loading mostly of AP shells to deal with Japanese warships only for the Japanese to come from the north
My late grandfather became a soldier on the 8th Dec 1941, according to his documents i saw few years back when he's still alive. However it is not known he coincidentally became a soldier on the day Japan attacked Malaya or he became a soldier due to the attack.
Japan's invasion of Malaya was an Army operation and many (or perhaps all) of their fighters were the older, less performant and not really technically better Ki types. It has been suggested the Japanese won due to good planning and leadership in all phases of the operation vs bad planning and leadership on the part of the allies. It can be argued the American air force in the Philippines fared worse bc they knew the Japanese were on the way and got caught on the ground anyway.
The Ki-43 was definitely superior to the Buffalo’s, and about equivalent to the Hurricanes which came later. There were also a number of Zeros which took part as IJN Air Forces flew from land based
Not covered? Wtf i learned it since darjah lima until tingkatan 5 broo , every single details ade dalam buku sejarah. Ni bro mesti muka2 takde sijil spm ni.
Or i can suggest youre below 10 years old. Bcs we started to learn about this history from the age of 11 until diploma even. If you fail history subject in Malaysia means byebye no cert for you. If youre above 17 , you must be one of the people with no spm certificate 🤣🤣🤣
@@zacktan1403 No bro , every school in Malaysia ada Sejarah subject. If not how would you gonna pass your pmr/pt3 and spm? Sejarah spm adalah subjek wajib lulus Malaysia , jadi dont lie subject sejarah is not in your course.
The Allied losses in the Malaya Campaign was truly embarrassing. The Japanese lost less than 10,000 in this campaign, compared to nearly 150,000 Allied losses. That's not even getting to the enormous Allied losses in territory, aircraft, heavy weaponry, etc.
I'm Malaysian and i heard some people in my home's area (I'm a Selangorian btw) that they saw a Japanese soldier patrolling during night time although some people tried to find the soldier but there are literally no Japanese Soldier there...
in 2010 the commander in chief of the UK army said that he was aware that the UK defense budget was less than 2 percent of the GDP of the empire and even he admitted it would be a challenge but a welcome challenge to set up a defense plan that would be up to the task if needed.
The second installment of the Malaya series is here! Also, this month I am making Historigraph my full time endeavour for the first time. If you'd like to support me in that, check out my Patreon: www.patreon.com/historigraph
Come join the historigraph discord: discord.gg/cjTaHFNAjS
Follow me on Twitch for upcoming livestreams! www.twitch.tv/historigraph
If I might ask, how do you plan to upload?
With that I mean like: Every week, or random?
Nontheless it is good work, by the way, is there a chance you making a video about the Winter War? Would be very nice!
Keep doing them!
@@henrikihle4449 My plan at the moment is a video every two weeks. And always a possibility to cover the winter war
Love your channel keep up the good work
@@historigraph Will you always cover modern warfare or do you plan on also covering older battles?
Miau
Malaysian here....close to my home,there a WW2 bunker closely beside Permatang Badak Mosque...the bunker is facing the main road to Kuantan...another one is situated beside Kuantan River bridge in Tanah Putih Baharu,also facing toward Kuantan town where the beach is not far from there....thanks for covering the Malaya and Singapore Campaign because it sometime overlooked by bigger event such as the Corregidor, Pearl Harbour and the Chinese-Burma-India road....
I think the Malay invasion should be studied as how not to defend a far off wing of a large centralized empire. I think its notable that all the area commanders of independent action rank were UK natives and not Commonwealth raised allies. I also think the 1950s "crisis" was labeled an "emergency" only to allow insurance claims to be approved for UK corporate losses. Personally I think by this time the UK was so engrossed in being a London dominated imperial empire that local leadership may have actually produced results in incidents like this where the "whole of Commonwealth" response was true to name rather than just on paper.
@@martintheiss4038 Malaya only 5 million at the times compare to Singapore 2 million people.
Orang kuantan detected
@@munzirmujahid1150 iam kedahan Malaysian
In my hometown Sg Petani, Kedah, theres a abandoned ww2 bunker facing a road, closes to Merbok and the bunker was located beside the paddy fields
I can't even imagine the frustration of the III Corps commander seeing the clock ticking, but not being allowed to move forward or back. "Come ON! Can we do SOMETHING?! ANYTHING!?"
He was a good subordinate to the regional commander in chief because he was only informed to go on high readiness alert to watch for the air sighting the previous day to land. The fact there was no landing site to declare meant that no one really knew the best place to send Commonwealth forces.
I see what you are driving at, but with the two vital ports (certainly the primary targets of the Japanese) in front of him and a solid defensive position behind, it must have been maddening to be forced to stand at high alert all night in the rain waiting for HQ to make up their $*@#&! minds.
@@dutch6857 The problem with that of course is that the forces had to be ready instantly for any landing zone and waiting some 30 hours for that command to be issued is rather frightful. I think that once the British knew the area was possibly under attack they had to go after what they thought were the most likely landing zones.
Even worse for the rank and file troops who were told to be on high alert and be ready to move, under the pouring monsoon rain. Imagine the fatigue and listlessness.
@@bensontay1885 Yep. And all your kit is to be packed and ready to go, so no tents, (good luck napping under a monsoon). Support services are probably also loaded up so no hot meal, canteens are going to be running dry (ironically in the pouring rain).
Then you feel the first shivers of fever
The embodiment of the “You saved us” “I would say ‘saved,’ more like ‘under new management’” meme
That’s like what happened to the Polish after the Soviets pushed the Nazis out of Poland.
@@GrapeFaygo959 The Baltics and Ukraine was this twice.
Pretty much, we Malaysians were sick of British colonials at the point so some groups actually helped the Japanese invade thinking they would save us. Then they didn't.... When they finally left we realized relying on foreign countries was a poor idea and started looking for independence
ooffff man dont do my country dirty like thay hahaha
@@GrapeFaygo959
The polish had been fighting the Soviets before that. Even fought them for their independence post WW1
The nazis invaded them together with the Soviets
Its more trading nazis for something even worse
I was born and raised in Kota Bharu. You can still see remnants of the pillboxes along the beaches that was used during the invasion. One of the pillboxes sits directly on Kota Bharu airport (KBR/WMKC) between the runway and the parallel taxiway.
are they national or regional historical sites such as with the US National Park Service?
Ohhh is that why the pillbox is there... I've always wondered bakpe ado kubu tgh2 airport.
Almost all the pillbox along the beach has been swallowed by the sea now... The two main site of the landing, SABAK & KUALA PAK AMAT...
@@dannyz4232 Hahahaha.... Peninggalan sejarah tu... Ada ser lg kubu kat blakang Hotel Riverview, KB. Tapi xtau la jadi ape skrg ni...
@@martintheiss4038 sadly no. Rising sea levels has swallowed some of them. But the one in the middle of the airport is still in good condition
Thanks for covering a part of my nation (Singapore) and region's history. Its so rare to see someone cover a topic on the Southeast Asian theatre, even when Churchill had said that the fall of Singapore was the worst British military disaster ever
NO IM WINSTON CHURCHILL
nah not really...the British didn't care much about Singapore to begin with...look at how little air forces and naval forces they deployed there to defend it
I’ve been to the “chopsticks”, as well as the big military cemetery there. Very somber.
@@niuchajianfa6222 Malaya considered very important, however consider the demands of the armed forces at the time, as well a losses sustained thus far in the war. The British Empire was not exactly brimming with excess supplies.
That, and the middle east/north Africa held primacy, rightly so. Also note that a war with japan was not a certainty before the declaration (a common view is its war in china would take all its attention). So in that respect it would almost be foolish to secure it, with seasoned troops and the better generals. same could be said regarding the planes.
In regards to Naval strength, it was planned before the Washington naval treaty that a 3rd fleet exist in the "china station", the said treaty prevented that. This forced the RN to, during the war, to operate to really at its limit. It couldn't afford to send a fleet, the Mediterranean fleet being the fleet in question, as they were occupied.
That said, it doesn't take away from the fact that the defence was a farce.
@@niuchajianfa6222 the fact that British had over 80,000 troops defending it and sent two of there best battleships proves otherwise. It basically came down to the fact the British under estimated the Japanese and didn't have enough supplies spare to send due to fighting in Europe.
Just woke up at read that as "japanese d-day: invasion of malta" i need more sleep
Would be fucking impressive, considering how good the Japanese were at sneaking large fleets around without detection it wouldn't even be that weird.
@@hedgehog3180 Casually sneaks an entire elite carrier force and invasion force through the Indian Ocean and Suez Canal to take Malta for the Italians
the closest example we have of this is a HOI4 mp game lol
Well in hoi4 the entire Japanese fleet sailed to fight Germany (me) and got obliterated at the channel by my totally legit and not cheated in navy. So that proves they can get to Europe somehow
@@yuehaowu I quite enjoy screwing around with the navy like that every once in awhile. A good mod for even more stupid navy fun is, if you have MTG, the “MTG Expanded” mod on steam workshop. Combine that with the cheat decisions mod and the xp command and you can have a fun time making broken fleets and seeing what will happen
The use of bicycles was a game changer in this conflict much could be written on the use of this weapon !
Duh, it's literary a poor man's motorbike. You need decent road conditions to ride bikes through, they won't cross the jungle like tanks.
@@stc2828 Dirt path is good enough for bicycles tbh, dont know about supply lines tbh
@@stc2828 You dont need decent road for bicycle that were used by the Japanese. It is a very creative solution as Malayan geography is probably the worst in terms of how much jungle and uneven terrain were there.
@@AHappyCub If you can ride bicycles, you can definitely run motorbikes, which are much more efficient.
@@stc2828
Excellent point and a gallon of gas might get 20 soldiers to their destination very quickly
I really hope you cover the Battle of Slim River, my grandfather was a member of Australian 8th Division and a surviving POW. Understandably he never talked about it and we didn't ask too many questions After he passed away I was given some of his possessions on of which was a map of anti tank and infantry divisions of Slim River, as well as members of his unit and their status, ie KIA, POW, Repatriated. He was in a transport unit he was tail end Charlie and from my research I may believe that his unit may have had to do more than driving and defend. It is with alot of sadness and contemplation I watched this but so grateful that you made a video So at the going down of the sun and in the morning. We will remember them. Lest We Forget
I believe your grandfather was part of the Australian 2/3 Motor Transport Company which was involved in the guard action at Titi Karangan (17 Dec 1941), Grik road (16-22 December 1941) and later Slim River. The Argylls battalion spoke highly of the Australian 2/3 Motor Transport Company which were highly experienced. Try and read the Moon of Malaya book by Audrey Holmes McCormick and Jonathan Mofatt.
@@songkok7hitam You are absolutely correct my friend, he was in the 2/3rd M.T Coy. Thank you so much for your information and knowledge I will look at the book you recommended. Yes my research led me to believe he did more than driving the map I found confirmed in his possessions after he passed that. But also that his mates were more important than his medals as they are unopened from their original wrapping and box, but he kept information from his reunions the status of his former company members, any more information would be greatly appreciated. Thank you once again stranger my good friend, have a beautiful day 🇭🇲🏴🏴🇺🇸
Greetings from Malaysia. Thank you for his service. The Battle of Slim River was one of - if not the - fiercest during the defence of Malaya. I went to the town and there were still many remnants of the battle, including bullet holes on structures.
My great grand uncle was a lieutenant in 2/20th Bn AIF. He led ‘A Coy’ during the siege of Singapore until he was wounded and later died at the regimental aid post. I hope to visit his grave at Kranji some day.
Well done. Greetings from Melaka, Peninsula Malaysia. My dada, who passed away at 90 two years ago, used to tell me bedtime stories of his experience living under Japanese Occupation when a young lad.
One of his elder brother served with the Malacca Voluntary Crops and joined the Brits in their retreat to Singapore.
He survived the surrender and somehow found his way back home.
Good work...very interesting and informative. Keep it up.
God bless.
There is so much about these videos, each small detail makes them seem fresh and it genuinely relaxes me to watch
I read about the fighting in Alan Warren’s book on Singapore. Berthold Key was a very good field officer. His troops fought hard. The odds were stacked against them.
A good commander in chief is only as good as the forces under his or her command. As I said, the UK needed to evaluate their colonial defense based on economic potential and native loyalty. A small independent detachment cant do a thing against an organized assault that could actually make use of what the UK had done to Malaysia.
@@martintheiss4038 not to be pedantic, but in the context of this video, it's malaya. Malaysia only existed after 1963 where malaya unite with Sabah n Sarawak to form the federation of Malaysia.
@@martintheiss4038 Blaming the Anzac or Indian troops for this debacle is wrong. They were not remotely trained for Jungle warfare. Despite that the troops did fight fiercely when possible. It's mainly Percival's stupidity about his defences which lost Malaya.
Japanese deployed 70,000 men, some were on two-wheeled bikes. There were 140,000 british soldiers, some were given armoured vehicles.
Also the British in Malaya were warned of the fall of Hong Kong and Burma, reinforcements were sent to Singapore. And still they ended up being ill-prepared and out of resources. Anyway british commanders are brave while ordering foreign soldiers 😂
As a Malaysian, I like how you tell the history.
While studying in the Teachers Training College Kota Bharu from 2010-2013, I always had lunch at the Sabak Beach where the Japanese landed. I could only imagine the battle scenes as the beach is very different than how it was around 70 years ago due to corrosion.
The RAAF base is now a modern commercial airport and flying school, with the Malaysian Royal Army and Air force base camp just nearby.
Old WW2 bunkers dotted the city of Kota Bharu as well as other cities around modern-day Malaya.
As a Malaysian, thank you for covering this!!!
KOTA BHARU,KELANTAN is my state..first battle in the Pacific on ww2 at the KOTA BHARU..if you come to KOTA BHARU (PANTAI SABAK) here you can see the first Japanese landing in Malaya(MALAYSIA)
British Army: Wearing Shorts while crossing the river
Leeches: Yummy*
In 95% humidity, what would you recommend….?😂😂
@@DaveSCameron maybe wearing some shorts/pants that at least cover the knees? 🤣🤣
(sarcasm: the dress code to enter government office or some shops in malaysia)
As Malaysian this is perfectly documentary about a war
I would love to see a serie about the invasion of the Dutch east indie
Thank you. Excellent narration and wonderfully explained. Kudos! Keep up the fabulous work.
I'm glad you're coving this...always been fascinated by the Malaya/Singapore campaign. It's not so much a forgotten campaign as a hidden one.
Two lessons here, don't trust the slogan "Asian for Asian" and your neighbor.
LOL😆
Yup
@Its not racist to admit there is a racial hierarchy nah
@Its not racist to admit there is a racial hierarchy yeah by raping and killing all the third worlds.
@Its not racist to admit there is a racial hierarchy yeah by not even respect the people like force them to work at railway that cant go home ,got punch, slap, shoot ,bayonet if not folllow order and even not give them the good food until they d1e cause of it! and for long time not even give em food
Arthur Percival is one of the biggest scapegoats in British military history. He didn't play his hand particularly well, to be sure, but he was in a scenario where victory was effectively impossible no matter what he did given the lack of resources on hand (the lack of resources also, incidentally, not really being anybody's fault in particular; Britain did not have sufficient military resources to effectively meet the needs of every theatre in 1941).
With the American position in DC on 6 December being that these Asiatic colonies were a form of imperial control that would have been frowned upon by the Monroe Doctrine if Asia was included. However, the Americans not only had Hawaii and a few other colonies, they did not consider public disclosure of any warfare in that area to be allowable under war secrecy guidance.
This reply has no relation to my comment.
True. He did make mistakes and was scared off in the fog of war, but I bet other commanders might not have stood any better chance. Japan was on a roll, and they had Yamashita.
I’d agree with that. You can’t defend everywhere in force.
He might have not been remembered so harshly if his intelligence had been just fractionally better. I believe I've read the Japanese had massively over-extended by the time they landed on Singapore, and nobody seemed to know the immense force imbalance at that stage in the campaign? I'm sure if he knew he would have attempted to hold on longer.
Amazing! glad to see more videos from u
Hey @historigraph!
Congratulations on becoming full time with youtube, i wish you well! Just wanted to thank you for bringing this series to light. My Great Grandfather who recently passed away served in the Australian 8th division and so I'm really looking forward to both learning more about his final campaign before captivity as well as comparing what i know to what somebody else also knows to better understand the campaign. For example after his death I read his diary and he constantly complained that the British command never allowed his brigade to fight in an effective manner but still he used to tell me proudly about times his unit brigade did perform well against overwhelming odds.
Again congrats and I'm looking forward to more content!
- a new sub!
I'm always excited to see a new Historigraph video in my subscription videos. The quality is awesome. Now THIS is the type of stuff that should be on the History channel. Keep up the great work big 🐕!
Edit: Saw you're gonna try doing videos as a full-time job. Signed up on Patreon; looking forward to more great work, and good luck!
Every video you make mate is banger, Please keep up the brilliant work.
It's really nice to see someone doing videos about my country's history. Very interested on what's left out in our history books during my school life
I attended secondary school in Singapore in 1972. One day we had an Indian survivor of the war talk about the Japanese advance thru Malaysia and across the causeway into Singapore. He said that the use of bicycles by the Japanese was a key reason they won, in his opinion. He mentioned that the tires quickly went flat on most of the bikes, and when they ran out of repair kits the Japanese simply rode the bikes on the bare rims. He said the effect of thousands of bare metal rims directly on a hard road surface was that it sounded like tanks were coming, which created a great deal of panic.
I hope you can do something similar for East Malaysia during WW2 or in Borneo in general. There's so little information about the Japanese occupation in Borneo during WW2 in the Internet.
Looking at the positioning at some of those RAF airfields is honestly maddening, especially the one at Kota Bharu lol. It really wouldn't have hurt them to put that airfield more than 2km from the coast... The aircrafts wouldn't have suffered, the army wouldn't have been forced to defend a bad position, there would be no panic, and air support would've been available much longer.
Same goes for nearby Machang and Gong Kedak.
For example the Kota Bharu airstrip was built only 2km from the coast, meanwhile RIGHT BEHIND the airfield there were several streams running parallel to the coastline, in some places those are too deep to simply wade through them. You'd think that at least one person would've looked at a map and put 1 and 2 together, but apparently not lol.
I was watching one documentary on tv about the invasion of Singapore. Where the Australians had a massive line of Japanese forces blocked on a narrow jungle road. They had artillery within striking distance, but when they tried to get a message back to the base to call in the artillery the copper communication wire had been damaged, so they couldn't get the message through. If they could of, they said it would have stopped the invasion of Singapore.
Nice explanation. Love it. Very helping me doing my research
thank you what a great! content glad you're back
Japanese at Malaya: "TENNO HEIKA BANZAI !"
Japanese at Borneo: *Got looted by native headhunter tribe*
Tell
Wait that actually true? I'm a Sarawakian but I didn't know that actually happened
dream
@@acapraichu4879 Yes it's true
jokes
Well presented. Looking forward to the future episodes.
Love you're videos!! Keep up the great work!
This also led to the destruction of Force Z, a naval task force comprised of battleship HMS Prince of Wales and battle cruiser HMS Repulse; a futile attempt to stem the Japanese naval and air superiority
boy do I have the video for you
@@historigraph wow, that'll be great! Actually both ships sunk just off the coast of Kuantan city, nearby my hometown of Pekan in the state of Pahang, Malaysia
th-cam.com/video/-kkrHswfPVs/w-d-xo.html
General Tomoyuki Yamashita was called "Tiger of Malaya". Japanese army under his command defeated British, Australian & Indian in every battle in Malaya campaign and conquered Malaya is less than 2 months 8 days.
Thanks for covering this topic
from 🇲🇾🇲🇾
Welp this invasion and malaya insurgency/emergency teaches us how to defend ourselves and show our own raw strenght in war with proper command and action. Rest in peace to those who died fighting side by side with our troops in malaysia. British,Anzacs and Commonwealths.
Thank you for your country’s sacrifice while fighting side by side with my own. From an Australian
Great content, love to see history channels making great videos
Enjoyed your video and I gave it a Thumbs Up
This is what i wanted to learn about in school in singapore. Instead, i spent 6 years learning about life under Japanese occupation.
It becomes boring and repetitive after 2 months.
Yeah idc about occupation. I want the battles.
The real lessons that should be taught is the failures that led to british and japanese imperialism, and how to prevent it from the start.
It is all fun and games until they ask to write an essay about the battle in exam
@@zakwanarif I honestly would go on a rant about that
@@zakwanarif
That will be fun, if they gave me 3 hours to rant during SPM, i do it. Let start from the incompetency of Percival.........
Japanese: “Konichiwa there.”
I see what you did there
I imagine shinobu saying that....
"Konichiwa, selamat pagi fellow Malays"
General Yamashita
*This enraged British officer, which punished Malayan citizen severely*
Keep them coming!!
Incredible to see how indecisive the British high command was. To be fair, they were making tough decisions with limited knowledge, but one would have imagined that they would be more willing to roll the dice a little bit.
Given the Japanese did not declare war at this point they had to be extremely cautious for a good reason.
They could not afford another war with yet another powerful nation at this time.
@@Madhattersinjeans
This is literally Germany appeasement tactic by British PM, which you know did not end well.
thank you for the much nicer and softer ending!
Yay, always love your vids
Thank you for this video. Very fascinating to see if they did secure the songkhla and pattani and prevented the japanese from landing in Thailand.
The British could've found the big armada and destroyed them through the air..... fascinating to think of the alternative scenario and its outcome
Neutral nation of Thailand, lets Japanese pass through its borders without resistance into Malaya
Britain : losing shit
japan : It's Free Real Estate
Claims of cowardice and desertion by Australian troops in Singapore surfaced in 1993 when a secret report by the British general Sir Archibald Wavell was discovered in London. It baldly said: "For the fall of Singapore itself the Australians are responsible."
Sydney Morning Telegraph The day the empire died in shame page
Japanese D-day would have been an awesome title
It only a matter of time until he make enough video for entire WW2 chapter
Malaysian here, I am really appreciated your work about making this and your other videos. My father's home town at Gerik had a small airfield for British forces but now it has been a recreational area. And my grandfather on my mother's side was in part of Malayan forces. I didn't know much info about him since he already passed away, but I remember I found the samurai sword when I was cleaning his home for renovations, unfortunately I did not know what happened to the sword, until know I still don't have the answer.....
According to local people. British defense on the beach that Japanese landed is weak because the strong wave current on that beach. But Japanese decide to use it for element of surprise.
British also busy with war at Europe of course they will give most of the attention to their own land. But they don't want to lose recourse in Malaya and especially Singapore. Of course they will use most of the force to defend Singapore rather than Malaya. Furthermore most of European or Englishman already left before Japanese came.
U deserve more love :), l can't wait to see another
Looking forward to the next one.
There are still british pill boxes on the beaches near Kota Bharu. Just went and saw one last week
Sad stuff. Great video!
Percival was commander land forces. Back in the mid 1930s he was promoted to Brigadier General Staff and was responsible for planning defense of Malaya. He requested 40: battalions off infantry and 2 tank Regts.
He also requested 350 of the new monoplanes fighter and bombers.
Percival commanded a Devision of the BEF in France, before being promoted and sent back to Malaya.
The guns on Singapore island where there to defend the navy dockyard not Singapore Island, they where equipped with armor piercing and semi armor piercing shells to sink ships no high explosive for land use was issued.
Leadership in War by Jack Smythe V.C. M.C.
JOHN
I was kinda hoping you'd show what happened to the Hudsons, including the one that crashed into a landing barge taking out some 60 Japanese troops or so. There was a great article somewhere online that put forward a pretty compelling theory that Kota Bharu, right here, was the moment that the various wars raging around the world finally were united into a single World War. I'll see if I can find it.
i still remember after independence of Malaysia, around 1977, Malaysia Airlines flight MH653 were crashed at Tanjung Kupang. Reports found that the airplane were bombing by Japanese
That airplane was said to be hijacked. Not bombed by Japanese
The Indians did not receive enough recognition for the part they played in defeat of the Axis powers. Kudos even today!
I agree. I think part of the problem that India never created a well designed native governance process was that the UK was so focused on having UK leaders do the heavy lifting while never training native help to understand and learn how to command things like infrastructure or war plans.
Duh, Indians gained independence through the war, that is something.
Pakistan too
Thank you so much
@@zainmudassir2964 yes, absolutely. I always imagine how stronger we can be if we can erase the border between us and can be together again.
How many parts will there be in this mini-series?
4-5
@@historigraph thank YOU 🙏 ABSOLUTELY CAN'T WAIT 😎🙏💪👏👏👏👏👏
Thank you!
@@historigraph LESSGO
Fascinating video, thank you!
Very nicely done!!! There's not a whole lot of material on this theatre, or this campaign!!!
The situation wasn't helped by fact that the Allies severely underestimated the capabilities of the Japanese.
Citation needed.
@@Madhattersinjeans british view on japanese army-mhv
They thought the various Japanese tech was rip-offs of their own and inferior. Instead of what they truely were.
You would think Russia getting wrecked in the war against Japan in early 1900s would be a clue.
@Far Day When Sir Stamford Raffles first arrived, Singapore Island was an island of covered in vegetation and swamps, and within a few decades it had become one of the biggest trading hubs in the region. Which it still is to this day. And at the time, Malaya were the biggest producer of naturized rubber, in addition to tinn, raw materials that were in high demand in time of war.
Many doesn't hold the British Empire in high regards today, but the truth is, they were interested in trading with the Far East, in particular China, for its tea and porcelain, and unfortunately opium.
The Japanese wanted to create an Empire of slaves and sub humans.
And if you look closely at how they treated their subjects, it makes the British look like nicely in compare.
One line the Japanese propaganda stated, was that it's goal was to liberate Asia from it's European colonizers. Unfortunately, the Asians discovered that the Japanese were far worse than the Europeans.
Like the Soo Ching Massacre, and the notorious Thai-Burma railway.
@Far Day true they dont care about the locals living there but mostly the natural resources
Which explains why they have planned to have 300-500 aircrafts to be stationed there, a reinforcement fleet from the Mediterranean
Great vid
Pretty hype ngl
It's kinda sad how my grandma used to born in 1941 but luckily my grandma survived glad that she survive
If camera focus is important to you, keep looking. Edit: Revisited after query from poster and found it of great quality. Not sure why it was blurry at first.
What did you find was the problem with it?
@@historigraph Edited my post.
Nicely done video
The myth that there were no tanks in Singapore is something that I've always argued. We had the 100th light tank squadron. Next myth is our guns pointed out to sea . The Labrador and Changi 16 inches can turn 360
That light tank squadron arrived in Singapore in January 1942. This video discusses events almost a month earlier
@@historigraph yes you're right.. the 100th came on the Empire star on the 29th January.
1 explanation I heard is that turning the guns wasn't done earlier as that'd point it towards Malaysia & thus probably be insulting to the _sultan_ (monarch) in the southernmost state of _Johor_ . The guns apparently had the wrong shells also anyway I heard (anti-ship instead of anti armour ones)
my ancestor once told me about..there a 2 pride battleships of royal british navy being sunk by japanese near my hometown kuantan during japanese invasion.
The best history channel
"If the Japanese were to came, we could have get the emergency alarm"
Oi pak cik, today is Saturday"
Great content UTV
Imagine putting all the costal guns on the south of Singapore loading mostly of AP shells to deal with Japanese warships only for the Japanese to come from the north
Yamashita : we do bit of trolling
Once Malaya fell Singapore was doomed
@@abdulwafri1283 lmao love that
I'd say they worked - they deterred a direct attack from the sea, forcing the Japanese to commit to a riskier solution.
My late grandfather became a soldier on the 8th Dec 1941, according to his documents i saw few years back when he's still alive. However it is not known he coincidentally became a soldier on the day Japan attacked Malaya or he became a soldier due to the attack.
Tq..from KL,Malaysia
British: We don't want to invade a neutral country like Siam that might make us look bad.
Iceland and Iran: ...
British actually lost 2 war in South East Asia :
1. Battle of Singapore
2. Battle of Surabaya
Did the British lost the battle of Surabaya tho? They did captured the city in the end.
@@dchegu Indonesia declared independence and they won.
British has no interest in surabaya..so it not really important..
Please make Dutch East Indies Campaign or Battle of Java Sea too!
Biar mati bermaruah jangan hidup dijajah - Lt Adnan bin Saidi
Japan's invasion of Malaya was an Army operation and many (or perhaps all) of their fighters were the older, less performant and not really technically better Ki types. It has been suggested the Japanese won due to good planning and leadership in all phases of the operation vs bad planning and leadership on the part of the allies.
It can be argued the American air force in the Philippines fared worse bc they knew the Japanese were on the way and got caught on the ground anyway.
The Ki-43 was definitely superior to the Buffalo’s, and about equivalent to the Hurricanes which came later. There were also a number of Zeros which took part as IJN Air Forces flew from land based
as a malaysian i would like to thank you for covering this topic as it is not covered in our own lessons.
Not covered? Wtf i learned it since darjah lima until tingkatan 5 broo , every single details ade dalam buku sejarah. Ni bro mesti muka2 takde sijil spm ni.
Or i can suggest youre below 10 years old. Bcs we started to learn about this history from the age of 11 until diploma even. If you fail history subject in Malaysia means byebye no cert for you. If youre above 17 , you must be one of the people with no spm certificate 🤣🤣🤣
@@milzirwannadzreen9695 bro im 15, and i assume u go government school i go private and tidak adah sejarah malaysia
@@zacktan1403 No bro , every school in Malaysia ada Sejarah subject. If not how would you gonna pass your pmr/pt3 and spm? Sejarah spm adalah subjek wajib lulus Malaysia , jadi dont lie subject sejarah is not in your course.
@@milzirwannadzreen9695 dont know lah, i learn british empire
Excellent
Kudos to the Indian brigade entrenched on the beach, not sure if they were as green as the rest mentioned but that was an effective defense
Indian troops are always tough
The Allied losses in the Malaya Campaign was truly embarrassing. The Japanese lost less than 10,000 in this campaign, compared to nearly 150,000 Allied losses. That's not even getting to the enormous Allied losses in territory, aircraft, heavy weaponry, etc.
Allies on d day: tanks, jeeps
IJA in Malaya: BICYCLES
3:00 so naturally…
I like how the british build coastal cannon in Penang only for the Japanese arriving from the east coast and thailand
Nice, I once heard someone on YT pronounce Johor as Yohor.
I'm Malaysian and i heard some people in my home's area (I'm a Selangorian btw) that they saw a Japanese soldier patrolling during night time although some people tried to find the soldier but there are literally no Japanese Soldier there...
Ok that's creepy
when you hear the start of the episode and you just know it is gone go so wrong. not even a little but badly
in 2010 the commander in chief of the UK army said that he was aware that the UK defense budget was less than 2 percent of the GDP of the empire and even he admitted it would be a challenge but a welcome challenge to set up a defense plan that would be up to the task if needed.
@@martintheiss4038 so basicly, the modern commander(s) would think, even with a tiny fraction of the empire's budget, that he could get a better plan?
@@martintheiss4038 what are you talking about?
The wound from this battle have long been healed. The scar is still visible even after 82 years later, though😢