Jesselton revolt

Jesselton revolt
Part of World War II

Some names of resistance movement members aside from the main group who were subsequently executed after the revolt.
Date9 October 1943 (1943-10-09) – 21 January 1944; 80 years ago (1944-01-21)
(3 months, 1 week and 5 days)
Location
Result

Japanese victory.

Belligerents
Kinabalu Guerrillas Defence Forces  Empire of Japan
 • Occupied British Borneo
Commanders and leaders
Albert Kwok Executed
Hiew Syn Yong Executed
Kong Tze Phui Executed
Li Tet Phui Executed
Tsen Tsau Kong Executed
Charles Peter Executed
Jules Stephens Executed
Budh Singh Executed
Sohan Singh Executed
Panglima Ali Executed
Orang Tua Arshad Executed
Musah
Duallis
Jemalul
Saruddin Executed
Subedar Dewa Singh
Shimizu
Units involved

Overseas Chinese Defence Association
 • Chinese National Salvation Association
North Borneo Volunteer Force
North Bornean indigenous volunteers
Philippine indigenous volunteers
Members of Indian Imperial Police


Limited arms support:

United States Forces in the Philippines
Imperial Japanese Army
 • Kenpeitai
Strength
100 Chinese
≈200 Bornean/Philippine indigenous peoples[note 1]/Eurasian/Sikh Indian
≈Hundreds Japanese police (1943)
≈Thousands Japanese troops (post 1943)
Casualties and losses
324 resistance members killed 50–90 police/soldiers killed[note 2]
2,000–4,000 civilians massacred by the Japanese

The Jesselton revolt (also known as the Jesselton uprising or the Double Tenth Revolt/Incident) was a revolt by a resistance movement known as the Kinabalu Guerrillas, comprising local Chinese, indigenous peoples, Eurasian and Sikh Indians of Jesselton, North Borneo and led by Albert Kwok, against the Japanese occupying forces of North Borneo.

The movement succeeded in killing around 50–90 Japanese police and soldiers and temporarily took control of Jesselton (which after the war in 1946 would become the North Borneo and then later Sabah capital) and several neighbouring districts of Tuaran and Kota Belud. Owing to extremely limited arms supplies, however, the movement was forced to retreat to its hide-out. The Japanese Kenpeitai then launched attacks against coastal settlements in western North Borneo to find the leader and members of the guerrilla force, with many innocent civilians suffering the various atrocities that have become synonymous with Japanese conquest in the Pacific War.

The leader of the revolt finally decided to surrender following Japanese threats to execute more civilians if the guerrillas did not turn themselves in. Following the arrest and subsequent execution of the rebel alliance, the Japanese returned to administer North Borneo until 1945 when the main Allied liberation mission arrived.
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