Day at the River PTO (id:#57944)

Heat of Battle (Tropic Thunder! ID: TT10)   [next]   [previous]

Klias River, Brunei Bay, Borneo 1945-06-21 (3 others)

Overview:

At the same time as the 2/28th and 2/43rd Battalions were fighting on Labuan Island, the rest of the 24th brigade, the 2/32nd Battalion, was landed at Brunei Bay. Initially meeting little resistance, they had cleared the Japanese from around the bay, Inland, however, the defenses stiffened, and the 2/43rd was soon transferred to the mainland. The main Japanese force was concentrated around the town of Beaufort, an important road, rail, and river junction. Rather than fight overland through terrain that favored the defense, it was decided that the attack would be mounted from the rivers. A policy of aggressive patrolling was initiated, with the 2/32nd on the Padas River, and by the 2/43rd and 2/11th Commando Squadron on the Klias Peninsular and river. There were several actions as a result of the Australian patrolling, including one on June 21st, in which two platoons of B Company, 2/43rd landed "firing from the hip" to engage a group of Japanese occupying a white house beside the river.

Defender: Japanese (56th Independent Mixed Brigade, 37th Army)  

Errata (source)