8th Indian Brigade Group in Kelantan during WWII

In the afternoon of 6th December word was received of Japanese convoy movements to the south of Indo-China, but reconnaissance conditions were bad, and it was impossible to maintain contact - one flying-boat which attempted to do so was shot down. The first clear evidence of the opening of hostilities was when, in the early morning hours of 8th December, Japanese troops started to land from about ten ships at Kota Bharu, in the extreme north-east of Malaya. Later reports stated that large Japanese forces were also landing at Singora and Patani in Thailand, in the southern part of the Kra Isthmus. Very soon after these reports reached Singapore, the first Japanese air-raid on the city was made; the results achieved were small, but it was the first indication to most of the citizens that war had begun. At almost the same time the Japanese attacks on Hong Kong, Pearl Harbour and the Philippines had been launched.

At that date, the 3rd Indian Corps were in northern Malaya, with the 11th Indian Division to the west of the peninsula in Kedah, Perlis and northern Perak, and the 9th Indian Division to the east with the 8th Indian Brigade Group in Kelantan around Kota Bharu and the airfields and the weaker 22nd Indian Brigade Group in the vicinity of Kuantan. The Corps Headquarters was at Kuala Lumpur. In the south of the peninsula, the Australian force in Malaya, a part of the 8th Australian Division, was responsible for Johore and Malacca; it comprised the 22nd and 27th A.I.F. Brigades with divisional artillery and Engineers. Singapore and Penang had their own fortress garrisons, which included the heavy artillery defences of Singapore. The 12th Indian Infantry Brigade formed a Command reserve, and there were a number of Command troops and base and other administrative units. These troops had to defend a country approximately the size of England and Wales without Devon, Cornwall and westernmost counties of Wales, their Command headquarters and principal base being on an island roughly comparable in size and position to the Isle of Wight.