Pantai Kundor? Where’s that? It’s not in Singapore, that’s for sure. Here’s a treat for you World War II buffs – Pantai Kundor is in Kelantan, on the eastern side of Peninsular Malaysia. Kelantan was one of the first places invaded by the Japanese during their invasion of Malaya and Singapore. On this stretch of beach of Pantai Kundor is a pillbox that used to guard the shores from incoming enemies approaching from the South China Sea.

It is interesting to note that almost all remaining WW2 pillboxes in Kelantan were built to face the sea, proving that the British already knew where and how the Japanese invasion would take place.

Though the Japanese, being made aware of such British preparation through their spy networks in the then Malaya, could simply choose an alternative route through land from Pattani and Singhorra ( their troops landed on both places a day earlier ), they chosed to face the British head to head, instead. I am not sure why but I do know that the attacking force was lucky enough as the defending party were ill equipped as the British decided to pay more attention to the defense of Singapore.

You can read more about this WWII-era military structure here. The author has also written about a number of other WWII military structures in Kelantan.

Tags: Pillbox, World War II, Kelantan, Malaysia