Order Of Battle for the Japanese Forces in Malaya in 1945

For 15 August 1945:

7th Area Army (HQ Singapore)

- 29th Army (HQ Taiping)

– 94th ID (Sungei Patani)

– 35th IMB (Port Blair)

– 36th IMB (Car Nicobar)

– 37th IMB (Camorta/Nicobar)

– 70th IMB (Kuala Kangsar)

Directly under 7th Area Army:

—- 46th ID (Kluang)

—- 26th IMB (Singapore

3d Air Army (HQ Singapore)

- 55th Flying Training Division (Singapore)

46th Division:-

123rd Infantry regiment

145th Infantry regiment

147th Infantry regiment

46th Tank unit

46th Transport regiment

Army division communication unit

94th Division:-

94th Infantry group:

256th Infantry regiment

257th Infantry regiment

258th Infantry regiment

94th Field artillery regiment

94th Engineer regiment

94th Transport regiment

Army division communication unit

26th IMB:-

146th Independent infantry battalion

147th Independent infantry battalion

148th Independent infantry battalion

149th Independent infantry battalion

Brigade artillery troops

Brigade engineer unit

Brigade communication unit

35th IMB:-

251st Independent infantry battalion

252nd Independent infantry battalion

253rd Independent infantry battalion

254th Independent infantry battalion

255th Independent infantry battalion

256th Independent infantry battalion

257th Independent infantry battalion

Brigade artillery troops

Brigade engineer unit

Brigade communication unit

36th IMB:-

258th Independent infantry battalion

259th Independent infantry battalion

260th Independent infantry battalion

261st Independent infantry battalion

Brigade artillery troops

Brigade engineer unit

Brigade communication unit

37th IMB:-

262nd Independent infantry battalion

263rd Independent infantry battalion

264th Independent infantry battalion

265th Independent infantry battalion

Brigade artillery troops

Brigade engineer unit

Brigade communication unit

70th IMB:-

428th Independent infantry battalion

429th Independent infantry battalion

430th Independent infantry battalion

431st Independent infantry battalion

Brigade tank unit

Brigade artillery troops

Brigade engineer unit

Brigade communication unit

Here is some additional information on the JAAF and the JNAF as of July – August 1945:

JAAF

3d Air Army (HQ Singapore)

- 1st Field Replacement Flying Unit (elements at Kluang, Kajang, Ipoh and Tengah – NATE, OSCAR, TONY, TOJO, LILY, DINAH, SALLY)

- 71st Independent Flying Squadron (elements occasionally at Car Nicobar – OSCARs and TOJOs)

- 55th Flying Training Division (Singapore)

– 107th Flight Training Brigade (Ipoh)

— 2d Flight Training Unit (Sungei Patani – Ki-54, Ki-79, IDA light bomber training)

— 3d Flight Training Unit (Taiping – Ki-54, IDA, SONIA reconnaissance training)

— 12th Flight Training Unit (Alor Star – Ki-55, Ki-79, IDA, NATE, OSCAR fighter training)

— 28th Operational Flight Training Unit (Ipoh – Ki-54, PEGGY bomber training)

– 109th Flight Training Brigade (Kuala Lumpur)

— 2d (Renshu) Flight Training Unit (Kluang – Ki-55, Ki-79, IDA reconnaissance training)

— 44th Flight Training Unit (Kuala Lumpur – Ki-55, Ki-79, IDA fighter training)

— 45th Flight Training Unit (Khota Bharu – Ki-54, IDA reconnaissance training)

— 17th Operational Flight Training Unit (Singapore – IDA, SONIA, OSCAR fighter training)

15th Air Sector Command (Singapore-Kallang)

27th Airfield Bn. (Singapore-Changi)

85th Airfield Bn. (Sungei Patani)

101st Airfield Bn. (Alor Star)

16th Airfield Co. (Singapore-Tengah)

28th Airfield Co. (Singapore-Kallang)

20th Field Air Supply Depot (Singapore)

16th Field Air Repair Depot (Singapore)

3d Air Signal Command (Singapore)

3d Air Signal Brigade (Singapore)

11th Air Signal Regiment (Singapore)

3d Air Fixed Signal Unit (Singapore)

33d Ground-to-Air Radio Unit (Sungei Patani)

3d Meteorological Regiment (Singapore)

JNAF

13th Air Fleet (Singapore)

- 936 Kokutai (Singapore-Seletar – 17 JAKE and 7 PETE

floatplanes)

- Malay Airfield Unit (Singapore-Seletar – controlled all JNAF airfields in Malaya)

(JNAF ground organization omitted)

A redeployment movement was ordered in late June 1945 that resulted in the transferring of most first line JAAF air units from D.E.I., Malaya, F.I.C., and Borneo to Formosa. This movement was completed by around 10 July and left that area pretty stripped of everything except training units.

Relatively large numbers of JAAF ground maintenance and airfield construction personnel departed Malaya in spring 1945, the former returning to Japan and the latter going to unspecified locations in the D.E.I./Borneo area. My assumption is that the former moved by air via China while the latter moved by ship.

Operation Zipper

Operation Zipper was the plan for the capture of Port Swettenham on the north-west coast of Malaya leading to a southward advance on Singapore. The plan was devised by Admiral Lord Mountbatten’s South-East Asia Command after receiving instructions on 3 February 1945 to complete the liberation of Burma as rapidly as possible and then liberating Malaya.

In this sweep “Zipper” concentrated on capturing a beachhead in the Port Swettenham/Port Dickson area of south-west Malaya. The opposition was found by Field marshal Count Hisaichi Terauchi’s Southern region command, i.e. the 29th Japanese Army in Malaya under the command of General K. Doihara’s 7th Area Army. “Zipper” faced two Japanese divisions and an Independent Mixed Brigade, supported by a tank battalion, in the Kra isthmus region.

The Allied Landing Force for “Zipper” was Lt.General O.L.Robert’s XXXIV Indian Corps (5th, 23rd, 25th and 26th Indian Divisions, 3rd Commando Brigade and one Parachute Brigade of the British 6th Airborne Div.), and though “Zipper” itself was to use just two divisions and one brigade, the corps’ additional forces were to be landed as soon as possible for the advance south towards Singapore.

D-day for Zipper was pushed to 9 September and would have landings near Morib with the 25th Indian Division and the 37th bde of the 23rd Indian Division. By D+6 they expected to have airfields near Port Swettenham and Port Dickson.

By D+8, 3 divisions (23rd, 25th, and the 5th) as well as 2 infantry brigades and the 50th Indian Tank Brigade were to be there with the XXXIV Corps HQ.

By D+53 the advance to Singapore ws to be well underway.

To support the landings more than 500 aircraft of strategic, tactical and general reconnaissance units of the RAF were assembled at airfields in Burma, Ceylon and the Cocos Islands. At the same time the supply of arms and equipment to the underground organisation in Malaya was intensified and photographic aircraft worked hard to provide advanced information for all three services. One of their tasks was to secure detailed pictures of the proposed landing areas, and most of this was done by a detachment of four Mosquitos from the Cocos Islands under the control of Wing Commander Newman of No. 684 Squadron.

The collapse of Japan eventually removed the urgency from “Zipper”, but the operation was undertaken in advance of the original schedule as the best means of getting Allied troops back into Malaya.

On 9th September 1945 Major General G.N.Wood’s 25th Indian Division and Major General D.C. Hawthorns’s 23rd Indian Division each landed one Brigade (south of Port Swettenham and north of Port Dickson). The landings were extremely difficult as the beaches were far softer than expected, but the forces secured their objectives without undue difficulty as there was no opposition, and troops plus their equipment and vehicles began to come ashore in large numbers for the reoccupation of Malaya.

It was met by local resistance fighters who were members of, or had been trained by, Force 136. Some of these people had been taken by submarine from Japanese occupied Malaya and parachuted back after training and planning. Various equipments had also been parachuted to them. They were to sabotage communications and installations and attack Japanese positions at the time of our landings. It is a tribute to Force 136 that no detail of these plans reached the enemy. Malaya had been considered to be a place where the Japanese were most likely to resist, despite the surrender. They did not. Landed units were soon inland to Seremban and across the peninsula to the East Coast at Kuantan. A few days, later Singapore was re-occupied.

Operation Zipper: The Invasion of Malaya, August 1945 Commonwealth OOB

HQ 14th Army

HQ XXXIV Corps

Corps Troops

11th Cavalry

25th Dragoons

1st Indian Medium Regiment

8th Sikh LAA Regiment

9th Rajput LAA Regiment

18th Field Regiment RA

208th Field Regiment RA

6th Medium Regiment RA

86th Medium Regiment RA

1st HAA Regiment, Hong Kong & Singapore Regiment RA

Major Formations

5th Indian Division

23th Indian Division

25th Indian Division

26th Indian Division

50th Indian Tank Brigade

3rd Commando Brigade

5th Parachute Brigade