Ackroyd-George-Harry

To honour those who served their country

“In this their finest hour”

2979950

Private

George Harry Ackroyd

1918/10/27 - Born Leeds, Yorkshire

Occupation Engineer

1937/05/01 - Enlisted

Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

2nd Battalion

Service

Service Book

From Ian Stewart's Book, George is the one still stood in the river on the far left hand side of the photo

Japanese Invade Malaya

1941/12/08

11th Indian Division

Battle of Slim River, Malaya

Major-General Paris had taken over the 11th Division from Murray-Lyon and was told by Heath that the Japanese had landed a sea-borne force twenty miles to the south of their present position. Paris asked if he could withdraw his troops south so they would not get cut off and Percival agreed as long as he kept the Japanese north of Kuala Kuba till mid-January. This was to stop the Japanese getting the airfield of Kuantan but the Japanese attacked the 22nd Indian Brigade at Kuantan on the east coast on the same day, this move gave the Japanese the air-base they wanted to attack Singapore, for the final assault.

On the 2nd January the Japanese Guards Division tried landing troops at Kuala Selengor and Port Swettenham but were held off till the 4th when they achieved a landing just north of Kuala Selengor and moved inland at Battalion strength. Percival asked the Perak Flotilla to stop any more landings but it had been bombed continuously and was down to only two motor launches. While the landings were taking place 11th Division had retreated to the Slim River with very thick jungle on either side it was thought the Japanese could not outflank the defenders and the road defences would stop the tanks.

Heavy bombing stopped day time activities and the commanding officer of 5/2nda Punjab wrote:

‘The battalion was dead tired: most of all the Commanders, whose responsibilities prevented them from snatching even a little fitful sleep. The battalion had withdrawn 176 miles in three weeks and had only three days rest. It had suffered 250 casualties of which a high proportion had been killed. The spirit of the men was low, and the battalion had lost 50% of its fighting efficiency.’

On the 5th January the Japanese attacked the 4/19th Hyderabad and were beaten back leaving about sixty dead. They then attacked again after midnight down the road and railway line and their artillery put down a concentrated fire at 0300 hours, this was followed by tanks and lorries carrying infantry. When the front tank was blown by a mine the Japanese infantry left their transport and attacked the Punjabis and a fierce battle was fought which developed into hand to hand fighting. The Japanese then found some old roads that had been overgrown, these were then used to by-pass the defences. The Japanese came across the Punjab Reserve Company who again held them back with some gallant defines, but again some more loop roads were found by the Japanese. The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders just had time to erect a road block when four tanks appeared and swept it aside, the tanks went on to Trolak six miles north of the Slim River Bridge. Some Argyll armoured cars armed with ant-tank rifles tried to stop them but the tanks destroyed them and overtook a Punjab unit scattering them into the jungle now Japanese infantry were supporting the tanks. The Japanese kept going and went straight through the 2/9th Gurkhas and went on to deal with the 2/1st Gurkhas who were scattered into the jungle, the Japanese tanks reached the Slim River Bridge at about 0830 hours. The bridge had not been blown yet and only had anti-aircraft guns defending it which the tanks dispatched quickly, some of the tanks went over the bridge leaving a tank to guard it. The 155th Field Regiment were completely surprised by the tanks but quickly got their act together and stopped the tank advance, the tanks withdrew to the bridge defending it in numbers.

Wavell took over the command while the Japanese were bursting through our defences at the Slim River, there was now no natural obstacle left to stop their advance. The Australians led by Gordon Bennett had been defending Jahore and had not seen action yet, his troops were untrained when they arrived in Malaya but he had not wasted the time and trained them in jungle warfare. Wavell ordered Bennett into new positions at the Muar River allowing Heath’s III Corps to fall back through the lines from Kuala Lumpur. The disadvantage was that the Japanese would have no opposition from Kuala Lumpur to Muar, but he could see the 11th Division were now not in any condition to carry on.

1942/01/12 - George was captured Tanjong Malim Perak, Malaya

Japanese PoW

Japanese Index card - Side One

Japanese Index Card - Side Two

*Date*	*Camp*	*Commander*
*1942/01/12*	*Captured Tanjong Malim Perak*
*1942/01/20*	*Taiping, Malaya*	*Major Gardener, A.S.H*
*1942/07/05*	*Kuala Lumpur, Malaya*	*Col. Deacon, A.S.H*
*1942/10/14*	*Transported to Thailand*	*With 390 PoWs*
	*PoW No. IV 13069*
*1942/10/25*	*Tha Makhan, Thailand*	*Col. Toosey, RA*
*1943/07/20*	*Tarsao, Thailand*	*Col. Knight, R.N.R*
	*New PoW No. IV 1804*
*1944/04/10*	*Tha Muang, Thailand*	*Col. Knight, R.N.R*