Just moments before the infamous attack at Pearl Harbor, another little-known storm was building over 6,000 miles away on the distant shores of Kota Bharu in Malaya.
Whispers of nearby Japanese troop movements had earlier reached British ears on the Malay Peninsula, fueling unease. But on December 7, 1941, the British put a potentially vital defensive operation on hold, hesitant to act without American backing. Little did they know that the US would soon have its own hands full.
As midnight broke the next day, British-Indian soldiers, the guardians of Malaya, caught sight of three looming Japanese ships. The British were about to become the first Allied fighters in the Pacific Theatre… before the war had even really started.
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Dark anything, it's got my full attention. Best docs ever and believe me,other than letters home from Vietnam , these are the best. Great commentary
1:10 British feared a Japanese attack on their colonies in the Pacific was likely, while pointing to British colonies in the Indian Ocean.
I am so glad we are not fighting an enemy like the Japanese Army today. Could you imagine these millennials having to defend something like Henderson Field at night in the dark against an enemy like the Japanese? We would be in big trouble. Thats for sure. The Haji's I faced in Afghanistan only seemed to have training in the spray n pray technique. Not too difficult to overcome. Those Japanese especially the battle hardened ones, yikes!!
Clickbait
Error
During that early time period in regards to the war scenario the Brits were concerned in having the USA approval, but it was not Churchill's ultimate concern.
He was more worried at that time about his Commonwealth allies meaning Canada Australia etc.
It’s pronounced Ma – lay – ahh. Try to get place names correct please.
HMS Vanguard being towed out of Portsmouth Harbour in August 1960 for scrapping in Scotland – the ultimate click bait image!
naval battle???? THIS WAS A LANDING FORCE
Why is there a cut-off picture oh HMS Vanguard leaving Portsmouth on her way to scrapping used as a thumb-nail for this? Totally un-related!
How do you know we, British, were awaiting American backing? We had been fighting alone for two and half years. And doing pretty well Usual Yankee arrogance. The biggest war with Japan was Burma, not remote Pacific Islands.
were the fuk is my-lie-ur its mal-lay-a man I hate yank pronunciations
No so much a "Massive Forgotten Naval Battle" then…
Such was Churchill's caution not to give the Japanese and Thais any excuse that the British provoked them to the fight,
i.e. a pre-emptive British move towards Thailand to prevent Japanese ships from landing its troops in Malaya.
That Operation Matador was thus never implemented by the dithering Commander of British Forces in the Far East, Air Marshal Sir Robert Brooke-Popham.
I'm curious to find out why the Army and RAF didn't sink the troop ships before they disembarked their troops?
Don’t forget the battle of Leyte Gulf!
Excellent video, as always. Thanks.
Crappy title. "… Massive … Naval Battle …" This appears to have been a medium sized land battle, with some air action. The only naval operations described were transport. And the thumbnail shows a ship blown completely in half. Please don't do this. Please bring your high standards of video creation to the titles and thumbnails.
Thanks
Naval Battle? Looks like a ground battle? I am confused.
You are a supplier of misinformation. With only tidbits of actual facts. You don't even know how to pronounce the names of the places ships and armies correctly. If this is what you want to do then do it right
I love mr. Dark's content!
It's pronounced MUH-LAY-AH NOT muh-LIE-ah!!!
I have following this channel for a while, but there are changes Im seeing that I dont like.
The click bait title and puctures are completely unnecessary.
We are here for the history. Stick to that please.
Yup had a lot of British soldiers there but being led by a total idiot of a general who in the end surrendered upwards to 90,000 troops instead of fighting.
A "massive naval battle" where one side had no ships? Are you that desperate for a catchy video title?
I enjoyed your video and I gave it a Thumbs Up
That is just a stupid presentation to say the British were waiting for American back up, at this point in Time the BRITISH were twice as powerful as the United States and what changed that was WW2
No reference to a naval battle!
The movie " To End all Wars" clearly shows what these men endured after surrender.
If they had howitzers on Malaya, it seems like it would have been beneficial to use them against the actual Japanese ships when their troops first started boarding the landing crafts.
FAULTY TITLE!
It's "muh·lay·uh" and not "muh·lie·uh"!!!
ANDnot a "naval battle" as the headline states!!!Maps would help explain this story a lot!
@darkDocsSeas very interesting and informative video on the Malayan campaign, but please don't do this: 100% unrelated title and thumbnail.
There is no warship featured in the story and the few japanese transports that landed soldiers definitely don't qualify as "naval battle".
Why are you showing a faked picture of HMS Vanguard running aground in the entrance to Portsmouth Harbour? This happened, true, in the 1960s but was not cut in half. Fake fake fake.
So you make a video concerning the British fighting in the Pacific, yet your video image is a doctored picture of the RN battleship HMS VANGUARD in 1960 aground in Portsmouth on her way to the breakers, but where you've removed he aft portion from the image to make it look like she's been torn in half. Do you realise how much viewers hate clickbait? It greatly diminishes any legitimacy you may be striving for in your documentary.
Incidentally, Malaya is pronounced "Mah-lay-ah", not "Mah-lie-ah."
You refer to this attack as "the brink of World War 2…" Bzzzt! America entered the war the next day. But Germany and the UK had been at war for over two years!
I hope you can do a video on Milne Bay, Lea, Wau and Salamander where the Australian army defeated the Japanese forces.
Wow. This was a naval battle like no other! Amazing how that battleship was cut in half and yet still kept fighting. What a slugfest! Never seen so many salvos launched with such great effect. Oh. Wait. It was a land battle between foot soldiers. Never mind.