Operation Krohcol
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Operation Krohcol, or the Battle for The Ledge, was a British operation in December 1941 to move into southern Thailand following the Japanese invasion of Malaya and Thailand during World War II. It was authorised by Lieutenant-General Arthur Percival as a "mini Matador" after Operation Matador a preemptive strike into Thailand which had been opposed by the British government was not carried out. Due to delays in authorisation by Percival and in the forwarding of his order, the need to reorganise the troops for Krohcol instead of Matador, and the Thai resistance the Krohcol column did not reach the Ledge in time.
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[edit] Forces
Krohcol was the most important of three columns sent into Thailand to harass and delay the Japanese advance from their beach heads at Songkhla and Pattani. It was named Krohcol as it was operating on the Kroh–Pattani road. The column consisted of men from the 3/16th Punjab Regiment and some engineers under the command of Lt.Col. Henry Moorhead. Attached to Moorhead's command were some Australian veterans of the First World War from the Australian Reserve Transport Company. Krohcol was under its designated strength and delayed due to a second battalion of Punjabi Infantry and a light artillery battery failing to arrive on time. The column left without them. The column's objective was a six mile stretch of road cut through a steep hillside and bounded on the other side by sheer drop into a river and known as The Ledge. Blowing the hillside on to the road would cause the Japanese invasion force considerable delay.
Opposing this Commonwealth invasion force was the very unexpected resistance of the Thai gendarmerie who skilfully caused further delays to the column.
[edit] The attack
Krohcol crossed the frontier some fourteen hours after the landings at Kota Bharu and met the stubborn opposition of Thai policemen and civilian volunteers commanded by Police Major Prayoon Rattanakit, Betong's police commissioner. This force harassed the British column from the safety of the surrounding forests and felled rubber trees across the narrow road, slowing down the progress of the Bren gun carriers. In the meantime much of the Thai population of Betong evacuated the town, leaving behind the Chinese and the Indian merchants.[1] Thai resistance delayed the Punjabis until the following afternoon and they did not reach the town of Betong, only five miles inside the frontier, until the evening of the 9th December. The Thais were gradually pushed back until Kilometre Sign 35, when Krohcol halted its advance.
That night the policemen were joined by Japanese tanks coming down from the landings at Pattani, who proceeded to pursue and engage Krohcol. Krohcol was a mere five miles from the Ledge, their objective. A prisoner released from the local jail, an ex-bandit who knew the area well, was borrowed by the Japanese. Betong was reoccupied, and the force under Prayoon began taking punitive actions against the local Chinese, who were believed to have greeted Krohcol flying the Union Jack as well as the Kuomintang flag. A local Indian accused of volunteering his services (as a guide) to Krohcol was tracked down, cornered, and shot dead by a group of vengeful Thais. Moorhead was forced to make a fighting retreat back to Kroh where his missing battalion was digging in.
[edit] The two other columns
[edit] Laycol
One of the other columns, consisting of 200 truck-borne troops from the 1/18th Punjabis, and a section of the 273rd Anti-Tank Battery had crossed the Thai border at the same time as Krohcol. The column, named Laycol after Brigadier William Lay, commander of the Indian 6th Infantry Brigade, crossed the frontier at 1730 hours on December 8, 1941 and moved towards Songkhla to harass and delay the enemy. Laycol reached Ban Sadao, ten miles north of the frontier at dusk, where it halted and took up a position north of the village. It made contact with a Japanese mechanised column from Colonel Saeki's reconnaissance unit from the Japanese 5th Division. The force was led by tanks and moved in close formation with full headlights. The two leading tanks were knocked out by the anti-tank guns, but the Japanese infantry quickly debussed and started an enveloping movement around the flanks of the Punjabis. Laycol withdrew on December 11 through the outpost position at Kampong Imam, destroying two bridges and partially destroying a third on the way back.
[edit] Armoured train
The last column was an armoured train, with a 30 men from the 2/16th Punjab Regiment and some engineers, advanced into Thailand from Padang Besar in Perlis. This armoured train reached Khlong Ngae, in Thailand, and successfully destroyed a 200 foot bridge before successfully withdrawing back to Padang Besar.
[edit] Notes
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- OPERATIONS OF MALAYA COMMAND, FROM 8TH DECEMBER, 1941 TO 15th FEBRUARY, 1942 Section XVII: — The Opening of Hostilities 6th - 8th December, 1941, paragraph 130
- Chronology of Malaya and Singapore
- http://www.cofepow.org.uk/pages/armedforces_m_campaign.html
[edit] Sources
- Colin Smith (2006). Singapore Burning. England: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-101036-6.
