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(102.24E 6.13N) Also Anglicized as Khota Baharu, Khota Bharu, and other variations, this town on the north coast of Malaya was the key to the defense of the peninsula. From its large, modern air base, which was equipped with an air search radar by late 1941, an air force could have dominated the Gulf of Siam and the Kra Isthmus. Unfortunately, the British had no modern air force to spare in late 1941. The air base had only 10 Hudsons of 1st Squadron protected by just 2 Buffalos of 243 Squadron. There were an additional 7 Vildebeestes of 7 Squadron at nearby Gong Kedah airfield. These obsolete types were inadequate to seriously threaten the Japanese invasion convoys.
When elements of 56
Regiment, 18 Division (Takumi Force)
came
ashore early on the morning of 8 December 1941, they found
the beach
protected by a series of bunkers
manned by 8
Indian
Brigade.
Machine gun fire
inflicted
heavy casualties on the
Japanese until the gun ports were literally
blocked by
Japanese corpses. At that point the Japanese were able to
get
around the
bunkers and take them from the rear. The town fell on 1400
on 9 December. Casualties were 320 killed and 538 wounded, plus a
transport sunk and another badly damaged. The British lost 68
killed, 360 wounded and 37 missing.
With the seizure of the air base, the Japanese were able to bring their fighter aircraft forward and achieve air superiority over the rest of Malaya.
References
http://www.freeport-tech.com/WWII (accessed 2002; now defunct)
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