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Mersing (103.833E 2.433N) was a fishing port and one of the few sizeable towns on the northeast coast of Malaya in 1941. It was garrisoned by Australian 22 Brigade when war broke out.
During the British
retreat in Malaya, the final
attempt to hold the line Batu Pahat (102.921E
1.845N)
- Kluang - Mersing ended in
disaster. Heath meant to
hold the town at all cost, but the commander of 15
Indian Brigade evacuated the town after he lost
communications with headquarters. Ordered to retake the town, he
withdrew a second time on 25-26 January when it became clear that
his force was in imminent peril of being cut off and destroyed.The
brigade was forced to abandon
its vehicles when yet a bridge was blown too soon, and
more than 1000 men had to be evacuated by sea as the rest
infiltrated back through Japanese
lines. Some 4000 men escaped to British lines or were evacuated by
sea.
22
Indian Brigade successfully ambushed the Japanese advance
from Mersing on 26 January, driving the Japanese back to Mersing
and delaying their advance by three days. However, the brigade was
caught on the wrong side of a river the next day when yet another
bridge was prematurely demolished. The commander of 9
Indian Division, Arthur
Barstow, was ambushed and killed when he went forward
to reestablish communications. Only a handful of survivors of 22
Indian Brigade ever reached Singapore.
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