65th Anniversary of the Japanese conquest of South East Asia

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Burma was conquered by Japan in December 1941. By conquering Burma, Japan could then stop war supplies from being sent to China from Burma via the Burma Road.
In December 1941, Japanese troops invaded the Philippines. Although the American and Filipino troops fought bravely, they eventually surrendered to the Japanese on 6 May 1942 due to a lack of armed forces.
On the same day it attacked Pearl Harbour, Japan landed in Southern Thailand and northern Malaya. It dropped its first bombs on Singapore. Within ten weeks, Malaya and Singapore fell into Japanese clutches.

In December 1941, Japan began to invade the East Indies. In January 1942, they conquered Borneo and gained control of the Dutch and British oil fields.
In the Battle of the Java Sea, the powerful Japanese defeated a combined fleet of British, Dutch, Australian and American warships. After that, it successfully conquered Java, Sumatra and other islands in the East Indies. Thus within a short period of six months, Japan conquered almost the whole of Southeast Asia. Only Thailand remained unconquered because the Thais signed a treaty of friendship with Japan, allowing Japan to set up military bases in Thailand.



Japanese Invasion Malaya and Singapore were two important targets of the Japanese.
Malaya was rich in raw materials while Singapore was a busy port and strong fortress. The British defences in Malaya and Singapore proved no match for the Japanese invaders. The Japanese "Zero" fighters defeated the outdated British planes easily. The Japanese also destroyed two British warships, the Prince of Wales and the Republic sent from the Singapore naval base to defend Malaya.

THE MARCH THROUGH MALAYA
8 December 1941:
Japanese forces landed on the east coast of South Thailand and North Malaya. 11-12 December 1941:
At Jitra (in Kedah) the British were defeated by the Japanese. The Japanese were armed with tanks. They were also well-trained in jungle warfare. The British troops retreated, leaving behind ammunition for their enemies. A British map in north Malaya was also left behind. The Japanese made use of the map to plan its attack.