Gemas (Negeri Sembilan Malay: Gomeh) is a small town and a mukim (township) in Tampin District, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia, near the Negeri Sembilan-Johor state border. It is 101 km southeast of Seremban, the state capital city, and 32 km north of Segamat, Johor.
Gemas is at the railway junction between the Malaysian west and east coast rail lines.
On 14 January 1942, "B" Company of the 2/30th Battalion, launched an ambush against the Japanese in the hope of preventing them from advancing further south. As the advancing Japanese soldiers passed by the ambush site, the bridge was blown. The battle following the ambush, and a further battle closer to Gemas, lasted two days. It ended with the Australian withdrawal through Gemas to Fort Rose Estate.
Four days later, another encounter between Japanese and Allied soldiers took place near Parit Sulong during the Battle of Malaya. Allied troops, including the Australian 2/19th and 2/29th Battalions, were surrounded and routed there.
A memorial to Australians killed there is by the site of the destroyed Gemencheh Bridge in Federal Route 1.
On the national level, Gemas is part of Tampin constituency of the Malaysian Parliament.
Since 1988 Gemas is also an autonomous sub-district ( daerah kecil), consisting of the Adat Perpatih customary districts of Gemas and Air Kuning. Municipal works and parliamentary representation remain under Tampin.
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