Operation Rimau

Operation Rimau was an attack on Japanese shipping in Singapore Harbour, carried out by an Allied commando unit Z Special Unit, during World War II using Hoehn military MKIII folboats. It was a follow-up to the successful Operation Jaywick, which had taken place in 1943, and Rimau, a shortened version of the word Harimau (which is Malay for tiger). It was again led by Lieutenant Colonel Ivan Lyon of the Gordon Highlanders.

Originally part of a much larger operation called Operation Hornbill, the aim of Rimau was to sink Japanese shipping by paddling the folboats in the dark and placing limpet mines on ships. It was originally intended that motorised semi-submersible canoes, known as Sleeping Beauties, would be used to gain access to the harbour, however, they resorted to folboats. Thirteen men, including Lyon, were killed. The ten captured commandos were tried with 'perfidy and espionage' in a Japanese court and executed on 7 July 1945.

Planning

After the success of Operation Jaywick, Ivan Lyon started preparing for Operation Rimau. 'Rimau' is the Malay word for 'tiger' and Lyon had a large multi-coloured tiger head tattooed on his chest.

The mission consisted of 22 men with an additional two performing the duties of "conducting officers".

The plan was to:

• deliver commandoes to enemy waters via submarine with 15 one-man, motorised submersible canoes known as "Sleeping Beauties" (SBs) (these could be used on the surface or travel semi-submerged, with the operator’s head above the water or fully submerged similar to a small submarine);
• travel to the uninhabited Merapas Island which they would use as a base and place enough supplies for three months;
• have the commandoes capture a small fishing boat;
• sail the boat towards Singapore Harbour undetected, disguising the commandos as locals;
• reach the Bay of Kepala Jernih late on 9 October for 24 hours to allow an officer to carry out a reconnaissance from Pulau Subar;
• the officer was to spend the observing targets and later rendezvous with the junk to participate in the attack;
• two canoes would travel north to the vicinity of Labon Island to secure a hide for the junk and for another canoe to proceed to Subar;
• after darkness, the crew was to move the junk to an attack base at Labon
• using the ‘Sleeping Beauties’, the party was to attach limpet mines to Japanese ships, sink thirty of them, damage another thirty, and escape to their base on Merapas Island by paddling their way back in two-man folboats (collapsible canoes), seventy miles to the east of Singapore;
• return to a rendezvous with the submarine on 7/8 November at Merapas Island;
• if the submarine failed to make contact with them then it would stay in the area, returning to the designated point every night until 8 December.

The main differences from Operation Jaywick were:

• delivering mines by special one-man motorised submersible canoes (called ‘Sleeping Beauties’, or SBs);
• a larger team (24 as opposed to 14);
• capturing a boat rather than sailing in one from Australia;
• the boat captured did not have an engine.

The members of the team were:

• Corporal Archie Campbell,
• Sergeant Colin Cameron – Maintenance Technician;
• Lieutenant Walter Carey – conducting officer,
• Lt Walter Chapman – conducting officer
• Corporal Colin Craft – signaller;
• Lieutenant Commander Donald Davidson, RNVR*;
• Able Seaman Walter Falls*;
• Corporal Roland Fletcher – Infantry and Maintenance;
• Sergeant David Gooley – Maintenance Technician;
• Lance Corporal John Hardy – Infantry and Maintenance;
• Able Seaman Andrew Huston,
• Major Reginald Ingleton, RM;
• Lieutenant Colonel Ivan Lyon*;
• Able Seaman Frederick Marsh*;
• Corporal Hugo Pace – Infantry and Maintenance;
• Captain Robert Page*;
• Lieutenant Bruno Reymond, RANR
• Sub-Lieutenant Gregor Riggs, RNVR
• Lieutenant Robert Ross,
• Lieutenant Albert Sargent,
• Corporal Clair Stewart – signaller;
• Private Douglas Warne – Infantry and Maintenance;
• Warrant Officer Alfred Warren;
• Warrant Officer Jeffrey Willersdorf – Maintenance Technician.

(* means participated in Operation Jaywick)

Operation

Lyon and his men left their base in Garden Island Australia aboard the British submarine HMS Porpoise on 11 September 1944.

The submarine reached the island of Merapas off the coast of Pulau Bintan on 23 September. Although the island was believed to be uninhabited, a periscope reconnaissance the following day spotted three Malays beside a canoe on the beach.

To ensure that their stores would remain undiscovered by the natives, one of the officers from the Porpoise, Lieutenant Walter Carey, remained on Merapas as a guard.

The rest of the party stayed in the Porpoise which moved off on the evening of 24 September to capture a native boat. It followed Karimato Strait along the Borneo coast.

Capture of Mustika

On the afternoon 28 September the Porpoise stopped a junk from Ketapang named the Mustika off the west coast of Borneo near Pontianak. Seven commandoes of boarded the boat and nine Malay crew were taken aboard the submarine.

Twelve minutes later, Porpoise submerged with both vessels making their way back west towards a forward operational base at Pedjantan Island.

Over the next two nights, 29–30 September, The Rimau commandoes, the SBs, folboats and other stores were transferred from Porpoise to Mustika.

Once completed on 1 October the second conducting officer, Major Walter Chapman and Mustika's Malayan crew returned to Australia in Porpoise. (The Malay crew would be transported to Fremantle where they stayed for the rest of the war.)

Porpoise arrived safely back in Fremantle on 11 October 1944. On 15 October, Chapman, along with Corporal Ronald Croton, embarked in the submarine HMS Tantalus under the command of Lt Commander Hugh Mackenzie. This submarine was conducting an offensive patrol in the South China Sea and was due to rendezvous with the Rimau party on 8 November.

Return to Merapas Island

Mustika returned via the Java Sea and Karimata Straits to Merapas Island. The Rimau Commandos disguised themselves as Malays by wearing sarongs and dyeing their skin. The Mustika had no engine though so the ccommandoes were dependent on winds.

The Mustika arrived at Merapas on 4 October 1944. It appears Lyon decided to divide the party into two groups: 19 commandoes to take part in the raid, while four men would be left behind. These were meant to be Carey, Warren, Craft and Cameron or Pace.

The Mustika then headed towards Singapore Harbour, reaching the vicinity of the harbour on or around 6 October 1944. It was thought to have been off the west coast of Pulau Batam. Pulau Laban is located at a distance of 11 miles from Keppel Harbour and was the intended forward point from which the attack was to be launched.

Contact with Japanese

On 10 October, two hours before sunset and an hour before the raid was the commence, disaster struck. A coastal Malay Police patrol boat, the Hei Ho, challenged the Mustika near Kasoe Island and Samboe Island. (The Japanese had increased surveillance of the area since Operation Jaywick.) It is unclear why the patrol boat approached the Mustika – various theories offered included: the ship flew the wrong flag; it was a suspicious size; the sailors were identified as white men, and not Malays.

Shots were fired between the vessels – it was later deduced one of the Australian commandos aboard panicked and started firing at the approaching patrol boat. Some of the patrol boat crew were killed but at least one escaped and managed to get back to report the incident.

Lyon knew the patrol boat would go for help and decided to abort the mission. He scuttled up the junk and the Sleeping Beauties (which were top secret weapons at the time), and ordered his men to divide into four groups and make their way back to Merapas by use of the folboats that they had stored on Mustika. The groups were led by Lyon, Davidson, Page and Ross respectively.

Attack on Singapore Harbour

Three of the groups headed to Merapas immediately. Lyon led his group into Singapore Harbour. It consisted of himself and a small force of six other men — Lieutenant Commander Donald "Davo" Davidson, Lieutenant Bobby Ross, Able Seaman Andrew "Happy" Huston, Corporal Clair Stewart, Corporal Archie Campbell and Private Douglas Warne.

They are believed to have sunk three ships with limpet mines, although evidence confirming this is limited.

The Singapore Garrison did unleash a punitive force of at least 100 soldiers led by Major Fujita including army, navy and native police to find the commandoes.

Initial Flight

It is probable that some of the folboat parties stopped on the headland of north-western Batam and left. Batam had been used during ‘Jaywick’ as a hiding place by Davidson in 1943. .

On 14 October some commandos were reported as being on Pankgil Island (thought now to most likely be Page's group). Japanese soldiers were sent to the island but did not find them.

Battle of Soreh Island

On 15 October 18 men of the raiding party were on Soreah Island, or Pulau Asore, a small island just off Pulau Mapur, near Pankgil Island.

A Japanese patrol caught up with them and arrived at the island at about 1400 hours and a gun battle ensued. The Australians withdrew to the western end of the northern beach, having selected two defensive positions in an unexposed area.

The Australians ambushed the Japanese and their native auxiliaries. A gun battle ensued. Davidson and Campbell were severely wounded. Lyon, Ross and Stewart stayed on Soreh to hold off the Japanese in order for the wounded duo to escape.

Lyon and Davidson held off 8–90 opposing soldiers forcing them to fight for 9 hours and inflicting heavy casualties, before being killed.

Tapai Island

The wounded Ross and Campbell made it by folboat to Tapai Island on 16 October. They encountered a Japanese patrol and gun shots were exchanged. Both men died there, either from their wounds or committing suicide.

Merapas Island

On 4 November eighteen of the group were together on Merapas Island. A small Japanese force landed on the island, and was attacked by the commandos. Two of the Rimau commandos – Riggs and Sergeant Colin Cameron – were killed in combat on the island, while the remainder now split into two groups and went to different islands.

(The bodies of Riggs and Cameron were discovered on Merapas in 1994.)

Rescue Mission

Australian forces intercepted a Japanese coded message reporting activity by about twenty commandos in the attack area. However, if the Australians had responded, it would have shown that the Allies had broken the Japanese secret codes. So the appointed rescue submarine was not told of the sudden urgency of the situation.

The orders to the commander of the rescue submarine, HMS Tantalus, Lieutenant Commander Hugh Mackenzie, were to go to the rescue rendezvous area of Merapas Island on 7 November, and to remain there until 7 December if necessary.

The Tantalus left Australia on 15 October. The orders of the captain stated that:

The Commanding Officer HMS Tantalus is responsible for the safety of the submarine which is to be his first consideration and has discretion to cancel or postpone the operation at any time.... Subject to patrol requirements HMS Tantalus will leave her patrol at dark on 7 November and proceed to the vicinity of Merapas Island.... In the event of the pick up party and the RIMAU party failing to keep the rendezvous for the embarkation, the greatest caution is to be exercised by Tantalus, who should not hesitate to abandon the operation if contact is not re-established, or if he has some reason to suspect that the operation is compromised.

On 7 November ten of the Rimau commandos were in place to meet the rescue submarine but it did not appear, as Mackenzie had instead chosen to hunt for enemy shipping in the area. He made this decision in consultant with Major Chapman, Z Unit's contact on the submarine. Tantalus' main objective was offensive action against the Japanese and the orders to the Rimau party were that they might expect to be picked up at any time within a month of the initial rendezvous date.

On 21 November the submarine reached Merapas Island. Chapman and another commando, Corporal Croton, were worried about the surf and tracked their landing canoe around the island to calmer waters, away from the set position at 0200. Chapman wanted to head back to the submarine but Croton drew his pistol and forced Chapman on.

Croton and Chapman arrived at the designated meeting point after dawn on 22 November. They found some evidence of the commandos having been there – the beginnings of a large lean-to shelter in a clearing at the top of a hill, away from the original base site; empty rations tins; half-cooked food on 'Commando Cookers'; fires seemingly kicked out; a few pieces of silver foil; empty cigarette cartons. They did not question local people about what happened.

Croton and Chapman returned to the submarine. Chapman and Mackenzie agreed that the operation had likely been a failure and that no purpose could be served in returning to Merapas, contrary to what had been planned.

Tantalus resumed its patrol and arrived back in Fremantle on 6 December 1944 having never returned to Merapas Island.

None of the officials in Australia who knew that the Rimau commandos were in trouble try to contact the submarine and order them to remain in the area for any survivors.

Attempted Escape

Once 7 December final deadline passed, the survivors realised that they would not be rescued. They attempted to make their way home the three thousand kilometre distance to Australia.

Over two weeks all the men were either captured, killed in firefights or drowned.

The last commando was captured in March.

Capture and Execution

In all, eleven members of the contingent were captured. They were brought to Singapore and held at Outram Road Prison. One commando, Marsh, died of malaria. During the imprisonment the men were tortured and starved.

On 3 July 1945, they were put on trial for espionage, found guilty and sentenced to death.

Official Japanese records state that the ten men were beheaded at Passir Panjang on 7 July 1945 – barely a month before the war came to an end. Later evidence stated it took guards more than half an hour to execute the men, sometimes requiring two or three blows to complete beheading.

The men executed were

• Major Reginald Ingleton,
• Captain Robert Page,
• Lieutenant Albert Sargent,
• Lieutenant Walter Carey,
• Warrant Officer Alfred Warren,
• Sergeant David Gooley,
• Corporal Clair Stewart,
• Corporal Roland Fletcher,
• Able Seaman Walter Falls,
• Lance Corporal John Hardy

The bodies were dumped in three unmarked graves.

Seventeen of the Rimau commandos, including Lyon, are buried at Kranji War Memorial.

References

• Thompson, Peter and Macklin, Robert. (2002). Kill the Tiger: The Truth About Operation Rimau. Hodder. ISBN 978-0-7336-1448-4
• Hoehn, John. (2011). Commando Kayak: The Australian Folboat, Pacific Campaign. hirschbooks.net & ozatwar.com/hoehn . ISBN 978-3-033-01717-7

External links

• MINDEF Singapore: Operation Rimau
• In Memoriam: Major Reginald “Otto” M. INGLETON
• Chapter in Rimau in Official History of World War Two
• Operation Rimau: What Went Wrong at Australian Bunker Military Museum