MALAYA DEFENCE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20634, 9 December 1941, Page 5

MALAYA DEFENCE

REBUFF TO JAPS. ORDER OF THE DAY PRESERVING FREEDOM Ele-. Tel. Copyright—United Press Assn.) (Reed. Dec. 9, 9 a.m.) SINGAPORE, Dec. 8. It is officially stated that the first attempted Japanese landing was made soon after 1 a.m. local time. It was repulsed by small arms fire and air action. The enemy troops succeeded in landing on a beach near Pandangstabek and are reported to be infiltrating towards the Khota Baru aerodrome. Land forces are engaging them. Planes are also attacking enemy ships It is officially announced from the lorth Malayan front that all enemy surface craft are retiring at high speed. The few troops left on the beach are being heavily machinegunned The Commander-in-Chief in the Ear East, Air Chief Marshal Sir Robert Brooke-Popham, in an order of the day, states: “Japan’s action to-day gives the sitrnal for the Empire army, naval and air forces with their Allies to go into action with a common aim and ideals. We have had plenty of warning. Preparations have been made and tested. We do not forget in this moment the years of oatience and forbearance in which we have borne with dignity and discip’ine petty insults and insolences inflicted on us by the Japanese. We know that those things were done only because Japan thought she ■:ould take advantage of our supposed .veakness.i Now when Japan herself has decided to put the matter to a sterner test she will find that she has made a grevious mistake Mood of Desperation “What of the enemy? We see before us a Japan drained for year* past by the claims from her wanton onslaught on China. We see Japanese trade and industry so dislocated by /ears of reckless adventure that, in a mood of desperation, her Government plunges her to war under the delusion that, by stabbing a friendly ration in the back, she can gain her ends. “We here in the Far East form part of a great campaign for the preservation of truth, justice and freedom. Confidence, resolution, enterprise and devotion to the cause must and will inspire everyone of us to present a bold front to the enemy and place our faith in final victory.” Three hundred Japanese troops landed at Padang Sabek, which is 13 miles couth of Kotabaru. Two bombs fell in the centre of Singapore and others elsewhere. Slight damage was caused. Gunfire was to-day reported off Mersing on the east Malayan coast, 90 miles from Singapore. A Hudson ’plane scored a direct hit on a barge full of troops on ne Kelatin River

Bangkok was bombed from the air and shelled from the sea. Ten ships are reported off Bangkok.

■ The Governor of the Straits Settlements, Sir Shenton Thomas, announced that the Japanese force off Kotabaru consisted of one cruiser, four destroyers, one armed merchantman and one transport. The main landing occurred off Singora.

Royal Air Force reports say the Japanese also landed at Patani from transports and destroyers.

The air raid casualties in Singapore are GO persons dead, and 135 taken to hospital. Other reports say that the enemy lanuing near Kotabaru means that members of the Australian Air Force were first in action in defence of the Malays. The R.A.F. bomber squadrons are operating from Kotabaru aerodrome, while the defence of the aerodrome itself is in the hands of Indian troops, who have been trained for months past to repel landings such as this. Although the aerodrome is close to the coast the attacking troops were obliged to traverse considerable areas of jungle to reach the objective.