Breakthrough at Bakri - The Matrix Games version of Rising Sun

Bakri, 150km NW of Singapore, Malaya: [Best played as Axis] By the middle of January 1942, the Japanese 25th Army had pushed Malaya's Commonwealth defenders two-thirds of the distance down the peninsula toward its objective at Singapore. While the 5th Division shifted its focus to the center and fought a bitterly contested battle around Gemas, the Imperial Guards Division continued to advance south along the west coast from Kuala Lumpur. The Japanese high command realized that they had to prevent the British from establishing a solid defensive line across the peninsula or face a lengthy battle of attrition. On January 16th, while the 4th Guards Regiment made a sea-borne end run down the coast, the 5th Guards Regiment crossed the Muar River near Simpang Jeram. The next day they struck the Australian 2nd/29 Infantry Battalion and a battered battalion of the 45th Indian Brigade that were busily fortifying their positions around Bakri. Colonel Iwaguro was well aware of the importance of his mission. A breakthrough at Bakri would unhinge the Commonwealth defense and open the way to Singapore.