Battle of Gemas

The Battle of Gemas—part of the wider Battle of Muar—took place during the Japanese invasion of Malaya in the Pacific Campaign of the Second World War. The action occurred on 14 January 1942 at the Gemencheh Bridge near Gemas and saw almost 800 troops of the Japanese 5th Division killed, wounded or missing during a fierce ambush initiated by Australian soldiers from 2/30th Battalion, assigned to the 27th Brigade of the 8th Division. It was the second and last Allied victory of the Malayan campaign. Overwhelmingly heavy losses in the ambush shattered the morale of hundreds of Japanese soldiers.