FTM page 4

At midnight on the 7th December word was received that hostilities had commenced with the Japanese landing at Kota Bahru in northern Malaya and at 2.00am bombers were sighted heading for Singapore. Two days later more Japanese were landed near Beserah and civilians were evacuated from the Mersing area to prevent any passing of information onto the Japanese. By the end of the month, about 3 divisions of Japanese troops were in the Mersing area.
The 18 pound field guns that the regiment was using were replaced with 25 pounders in early January when the Japanese were on their doorstep. The troops then needed to be trained on the new guns, however, this coincided with the start of the dive bombing and machine gunning of the area.

Japanese troops were able to quickly advance through Malaya and, by January, they had entered Johore. The regiment first went into action on 21 January, when it was called upon to bring down artillery fire on Japanese troops along the Mersing-Endau Road, north of Lalang Hill. The Japanese force had cut off a platoon from the 2/20th Battalion but the regiment's fire allowed the platoon to escape.