page_title: Gemas
section_title: Gemencheh Bridge during Battle of Malaya
hierarchical_section_title: Gemas / Gemencheh Bridge during Battle of Malaya
caption_attribution_description: AWM caption&#160;: Gemencheh, Negri Sembilan, Malaya. 1945-09-25. The bridge (middle distance) over the Gemencheh River where, on the 1942-01-14 members of the 2/30th Australian Infantry Battalion supported by no. 30 battery, 2/15 Australian Field Regiment and the 4th Australian anti-tank regiment ambushed and killed some 600 Japanese soldiers (57 mile peg.)
context_page_description: Gemas is a small town in Tampin District, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia, near the Negeri Sembilan-Johor state border.
  Gemas is notable for being at the railway junction between the Malaysian west and east coast rail lines. For this reason, Gemas is comparatively busy for a town of its size.
  In addition to the original town centre of Gemas, the Johorean side of Gemas is known as Gemas Baharu which is located about 1 km from Gemas town centre. It means that the Gemas town centre is in Negeri Sembilanese side.
  To the southwest stands the famed Gunung Ledang, also known as Mount Ophir, with a height of 1276 m.
context_section_description: During the Battle of Malaya in the Second World War, Gemencheh Bridge near Gemas was the site of a fierce battle between the Imperial Japanese Army and the 2/30th Battalion, 8th Division, Australian Imperial Force (AIF). Commanding Officer of the Battalion was Lieutenant Colonel Frederick "Black Jack" Galleghan. Gemencheh Bridge was a bridge over the Kelamah River (Sungai Kelamah in Malay) that connected Gemas with the larger neighbouring town of Tampin. The Japanese had passed through Tampin and needed to cross the bridge to reach Gemas.
  On 14 January 1942, "B" Company of the 2/30th Battalion, launched an ambush against the Japanese in the hope of preventing them from advancing further south. As the advancing Japanese soldiers passed by the ambush site, the bridge was blown. The battle following the ambush, and a further battle closer to Gemas, lasted two days. It ended with the Australian withdrawal through Gemas to Fort Rose Estate.
  Four days later, another encounter between Japanese and Allied soldiers took place near Parit Sulong during the Battle of Malaya. Allied troops, including the Australian 2/19th and 2/29th Battalions, were surrounded and routed there.
  A memorial remembering fallen Australians now stands by the site of the destroyed Gemencheh Bridge in Federal route .
  Recently, a documentary titled The Battle of Gemas was jointly undertaken by Tahan Rata Filem and AVI to expand on the importance of this battle in the context of the Battle of Malaya and the fall of Singapore.
caption: Gemencheh Bridge (middle distance) in 1945. More than 700 troops of the Japanese Imperial Guards Division were slaughtered here, with the Australians losing 8 men and suffering 80 wounded.
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