For the Japanese, the war was marching exceedingly well in these first few weeks.
Poor preparations on behalf of the Allies had left their Pacific possessions in a very precarious
state, with the Japanese rapidly capitalizing on this advantage to spread their rule across East
Asia. The British in particular, focused on their front against Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy,
demonstrated that they were hardly prepared to fight in these conditions and that not even
their impressive fortress at Singapore could save them from the might of the Japanese firepower.
The Malayan Campaign up to this point had been characterized by an ineffective command and a
strain of poor strategic decisions that ended up giving the upper hand to the Japanese invaders;
and today, we are going to see one of the biggest blunders in British history,
as the Japanese decide to attack Malayan positions on the Slim River.
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On January 4, the week started with renewed fighting during the third battle of Changsha.
Just as promised, General Xue Yue of the 9th War Area had brought enough reinforcements to repel
the Japanese invaders, forcing General Anami of the 11th Army to make a quick and orderly retreat
back to the Ku Shui river. As nine Chinese armies and twenty divisions swarmed the Changsha area,
the 3rd and 6th Divisions thus started to cross the Liuyang Ho at Langlishih to
assemble on the northern bank of the river. To cover the withdrawal of these divisions,
Anami ordered the 40th Division at Chinching to advance towards Chunhuashan,
while the 9th Independent Mixed Brigade was ordered to capture the town of Malinshih
and hold onto it until the retreating divisions had passed over. After dusk, the 6th Division had
successfully crossed the Liuyang Ho and was starting to move towards Malinshih, but the
retreat of the 3rd Division was halted by Chinese forces arriving at Lichiachung. Many losses ensued
as the Japanese soldiers tried to cross the river under enemy fire, but by midnight of January 5,
the 3rd had successfully assembled on the northern bank of the river. Earlier that day, the 40th
Division had already gotten to Chunhuashan after routing a small Chinese force, and it
was starting to move west so it could divert the attention of the Chinese 78th Army nearby.
The following day, the 9th Independent Mixed Brigade reached the town of Fulinpu,
a major point for the retreat of the Japanese army. An intense fire exchange ensued as the 9th
struck at the Chinese 20th and 58th Armies, taking the mountain ranges and then occupying Fulinpu.
In the next few days, the 9th’s men would be relentlessly attacked by Chinese forces trying
to dislodge them, but to no avail, as the Japanese offered a well-coordinated resistance. With
the Chinese armies successfully tied down, the retreating divisions got to Malinshih by January
7, the day in which the 40th Division also started its withdrawal. From Malinshih, the battered 3rd
Division would continue on towards Fulinpu covered by the 40th , while the 6th Division advanced to
Lichiao, where on January 8, it was delayed by attacks of the Chinese 73rd and 99th Armies. Faced
with the possibility of losing an entire division while the rest of his army retreated back north,
Anami ordered his forces to stop their retreat and support the 6th Division’s escape towards Fulinpu.
Meanwhile in the Philippines, the defenders had established a line running from the town of Porac
to Guagua on January 2. There, the 11th and 21st Divisions, along with the 26th Cavalry Regiment,
had resisted against swarms of enemy forces for two days while giving time for
General MacArthur’s forces to establish solid defensive positions on the Bataan Peninsula.
In turn, the Japanese had suffered enormous casualties against American and Filipino
firepower, with an entire detachment getting completely decimated at Guagua.
Since January 4 though, the defenders would begin to withdraw to a last line at Layac.
By January 6, most of their forces had retreated behind the Culo River,
blowing up the Layac bridge behind them and causing a minor delay for the Japanese advance. At
dawn that same morning, the defenders were greeted with orders and portions officially placing them
on half-ration ; it was a long resistance that MacArthur was planning on the Bataan Peninsula.
A couple hours later, General Homma’s forces started their attack against the Layac line.
Initially, American artillery managed to inflict several losses on the invaders,
but as time went on, the Japanese started to get the upper hand. Pummeled by Japanese artillery
and air bombardment, General Wainwright ordered his forces to abandon the line at nightfall,
retreating to the new Abucay and Mauban lines and ending their long withdrawal into Bataan.
This officially marks the start of the Battle of Bataan, as all American and Filipino forces
had now assembled on the Peninsula. MacArthur then formed two operational areas for his forces
on Bataan: the 1st Corps, consisting of four divisions and a regiment of Philippine Scouts
under the command of General Wainwright, defending a line that stretched from Mauban on the coast
to the ranges of Mount Silanganan; and the 2nd Corps of General Parker,
also consisting of four divisions and a regiment of Philippine Scouts, covering
a line that extended from Mount Natib’s foothills to Mabatang on Manila Bay just in front of Abucay.
MacArthur’s strategy was to conduct a defense in depth, taking advantage of the rugged terrain
and establishing entrenched defensive positions at the jungles and mountain ranges. Yet in the
center of the American line, there was a huge gap at Mount Natib, which was thought
impassable by the American commanders. This was a mistake as it formed a gap in the defense line
and the two corps were not in direct contact with another; something that the Japanese would use to
their advantage in the future. MacArthur had also formed a rear battle position that stretched from
Bagac to Orion across the Peninsula; this was to be their last line of defense in Bataan.
So far in the campaign, the Americans had lost around 13000 men since the start of the war,
while Homma had only lost 2000 soldiers; yet the Japanese general would unexpectedly see his most
elite division, the 48th, redirected to participate on the Dutch East Indies campaign,
so he could now only rely on the 16th Division and the 65th Independent Mixed Brigade for the
remainder of the battle. An unsettling peace followed until dawn on January 9,
when the Japanese forces started their first attacks against Abucay and Mauban,
which we’ll cover more in-depth next week. Looking back at the Malay Peninsula, the situation was
very dire. Masanobu Tsuji wrote that it appeared to be a mistake for the British to
successively exhaust their military strength in the unprepared fighting zone of Malaya,
but that he was surprised to see the British command repeating the same mistake over and over.
By January 4, the 11th Indian Division had fallen back to the Slim River,
where General Paris formed a new defensive line in front of Kuala Lumpur. Paris had placed the 12th
Brigade on the Trolak sector to the north, while the battered 28th Brigade was placed in defense of
the Slim River crossings and the 15th Brigade was appointed to cover their rear at Tanjong Malim.
In general, this was a sound disposition, giving the British the chance to execute
a defense in depth; yet nonetheless, their efforts were doomed from the start,
as the British command had failed to clearly maintain their lines of communication
and to adequately construct tank defenses, such as anti-tank obstacles or roadblocks.
The Japanese launched their first probe attacks on January 5 at the Trolak sector, which were
easily beaten off by the Indian defenders. These attacks were followed by an unusually quiet day,
so Paris ordered the 28th Brigade to rest at Slim town so that they could recover their
strength. But this moment of calm would be followed on January 7 by a strong Japanese
tank attack along the Trunk Road. Major Toyosaku Shimada came up with a very unusual plan for WW2,
the Japanese would perform a 'night attack using tanks ' to spearhead the infantry, which was
extremely dangerous considering lack of visibility for tank crews. Without any tank defenses, the
Indian defenders were quickly overrun, allowing the Japanese tanks under Major Toyosaku Shimada
to get to the main Indian line. There, they would face more resistance , but eventually the Japanese
would manage to overrun this position as well . The British line of communication had also been
cut by Japanese forces, so they could not alert the 28th Brigade of the impending tank threat
they were about to face. Meanwhile, the Japanese tanks were overrunning position after position
of the 12th Brigade, bypassing the Trolak bridge and advancing about one mile north of Slim town.
The 28th Brigade, which had not deployed successfully after its day of respite, was caught
completely by surprise by the strong tank assault. The Indian positions at Slim were thus overrun,
and the Slim River bridge was taken. The Japanese tanks would then continue their advance for two
more miles after crossing the bridge, finally being stopped by the 155th Field Regiment.
For six hours, Shimada’s tanks had rumbled down a single road, machine-gunning and shooting up
everything in their path. This resulted in the destruction or dispersion of five battalions
and the shattering of the British positions on the Slim River. The 12th Brigade had been almost
completely annihilated, while the 28th Brigade had been cut down to a third of their force,
then retreating to Tanjong Malim on January 8. Thus, the disastrous Battle of the Slim
River constituted the final destruction of the already debilitated 11th Indian Division
and also signified the complete fall of central Malaya into Japanese hands.
Back on January 1, during the talks of the Arcadia Conference, the Allied governments
had agreed to form a joint command and an integrated staff for the Pacific War:
the American-British-Dutch-Australian Command, or ABDACOM for short. It was to
be responsible for the defense of the vast area that ranged from Burma to northwestern Australia,
and for the maintenance of the Malay Barrier, a line running down the Malayan Peninsula through
the southernmost islands of the Dutch East Indies. British General Sir Archibald Wavell was the man
appointed as Supreme Commander of the ABDACOM, with Dutch General Hein ter Poorten as commander
of the land forces, British Air Marshal Sir Richard Peirse as commander of air forces,
and American Admiral Thomas Hart as commander of naval forces. On January 7, as Paris’ men were
being overrun at the Slim River, General Wavell arrived at Singapore to assume control of the
British Far East Command. Wavell quickly realized that Johor was the vital ground,
and that they needed to gain enough time for the arrival of reinforcements. He then appointed the
8th Australian Division to defend northwestern Johor, while the Indian forces were placed in
defense of southern and northeastern Johor. This meant that central Malaya , along with important
cities like Kuala Lumpur and Kuala Selangor, were going to be abandoned to the Japanese;
but this also meant that for the first time in the campaign, the British were going to attempt
to buy real time, instead of just throwing their forces into the meat grinder over and over again.
We’re now going to take a quick detour to the island of Borneo,
where the last actions on the British side of the island were about to happen. On December 28, upon
returning back to Miri from his attack on Kuching, General Kawaguchi ordered the battalion-strong
Watanabe Force to advance and then capture Brunei with the objective of acquiring small boats for
an attack on North Borneo. Three days later, the Watanabe Force carried out their orders,
but found all big ships in Brunei’s harbour already destroyed by the British defenders.
This forced Kawaguchi to employ only small fishing boats for his next attacks.
After taking Labuan Island on January 1, Kawaguchi decided to launch his main attack on North Borneo.
On January 8, two infantry platoons occupied the towns of Jesselton and Beaufort,
while the Watanabe Force captured Sandakan, the seat of government of North Borneo,
then rescuing some 600 interned Japanese citizens. Kawaguchi’s men would then continue their advance
throughout British Borneo, with Governor Robert Smith finally surrendering on January 19.
Meanwhile, the Watanabe Force captured Tawau on January 24 and Lahad Datu on January 31, freeing
up a further 1500 interned Japanese citizens. On January 9th as the Japanese were falling
back from Changsha, a section of their forces were ambushed by Chinese troops at Luoyang River
causing massive casualties. The last actions of the week would happen in Changsha,
where the 6th Division finally managed to break through towards Fulinpu on January 10,
reuniting with the 3rd Division and then starting to march north towards a line that stretched from
Mount Mashihshan to Mount Piaofengshan. The Japanese divisions would then continue
their withdrawal under considerable hardship up until Mount Yingchushan, where the Chinese forces
finally abandoned their pursuit. By January 13, the 11th Army had regrouped on the right bank
of the Ku Shui; and by January 15, Anami’s forces had reached the northern bank of the
Hsinchiang Ho, finally completing their withdrawal from Changsha and marking the end of the battle.
Next week we will delve into the plans for the Japanese attack on the Dutch East Indies
and cover the progress of the Malayan and Philippinean campaigns,
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