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Old 6th Feb 2016, 08:37
  #8175 (permalink)  
Brian 48nav
 
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Herefordshire
Posts: 1,094
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Invasion of Malaya

Grand-daughter sitting in Romsey so I'm away from my 'library' and unable to check my statement below.

I'm pretty sure Operation Zipper, the planned re-taking of Malaya, was centred on the small ( at least then ) town of Morib on the west coast, which IIRC is WSW of KL. I guess it was chosen because it was free of mangrove swamp, so no impedance for landing craft and maybe because it would have been very rural in 1945, and there would have been fewer casualties among the civilian population when the Commonwealth navies 'softened' the area up prior to troops making a landfall.

I guess information about likely sites and disposition of Japanese forces had been sent by agents from Force 136 ( ?? ) who were holed up in the jungle. A thoroughly good book to read is F Spencer Chapman's 'The jungle is neutral".

In 1991 Mrs 48N and I took our bikes to Singapore and cycled some way up the west coast and night-stopped at the golf club resthouse in Morib.
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