Операция «Римау»: диверсия в Сингапурской гавани во время Второй мировой войны.

Allied attack during World War II

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 Australian built Hoehn military MKIII folboats. It was a follow up to the successful Operation Jaywick which had taken place in September 1943, and was again led by Lieutenant Colonel Ivan Lyon of the Gordon Highlanders, an infantry regiment of the British Army. 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. After the raiding party's discovery by local Malay authorities, a total of thirteen men (including raid commander Lyon) were killed during battles with the Japanese military at a number of island locations or were captured and died of their wounds in Japanese captivity. A group of ten commandos were transported to Outram Road Jail in Singapore after capture by the Japanese, were tried on charges of perfidy and espionage in a Japanese kangaroo court and executed on 7 July 1945.

Lyon and his men left their base in Garden Island in Western 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 1944. 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 1944 to capture a native boat. It followed Karimato Strait along the Borneo coast.

On the afternoon 28 September 1944 the Porpoise stopped a junk from Ketapang named the Mustika off the west coast of Borneo near Pontianak. Seven commandoes 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 1944, the Rimau commandoes, the SBs, folboats and other stores were transferred from Porpoise to Mustika. Once completed on 1 October 1944 the second conducting officer, Major Walter Chapman and Mustikas Malayan crew returned to Australia in HMS 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 1944, Chapman, along with Corporal Ronald Croton, embarked in the submarine under the command of Lieutenant 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 1944.

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 commandoes 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.

On 10 October 1944, two hours before sunset and an hour before the raid was to 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 seek help from Japanese occupation authorities and decided to abort the mission. He scuttled the junk and the Sleeping Beauties (which were top secret weapons at the time) with explosive charges. He then 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.

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 of the Imperial Japanese Army did unleash a punitive force of at least 100 soldiers led by Major Hajime Fujita including army, navy and native police to find the commandoes.

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 1944 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.

On 15 October, five of the men (Lyon, Davidson, Ross, Stewart and Campbell) 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, Ross and Stewart held off 80–90 opposing soldiers forcing them to fight for 9 hours and inflicting heavy casualties. Lyon and Ross had climbed trees for an elevated firing position, and remained unseen until muzzle flashes betrayed their positions and they were killed by grenades. Stewart remained at large, but his folboat was taken and he was found days later on a subsequent sweep of the island.

The wounded Davidson and Campbell made it by folboat to Tapai Island on 16 October 1944. Both men died there, either from their wounds or committing suicide by cyanide capsule.

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.)

Once the 7 December 1944 final deadline passed, the survivors realised that they would not be rescued. They attempted to make their way home the 3,000 kilometre distance to Australia. Over two weeks nearly all the men were either captured, killed in firefights or drowned. Two men, Willersdorf and Pace were captured on 17 January 1945 on Romang Island, Indonesia, some 350–400 miles from Australia after a journey of approximately 2,000 miles by folboat. Willersdorf died of his wounds in Japanese captivity in Dili, East Timor in March 1945. Pace died of starvation several months later in June 1945 in the same facility. Both were buried on a hill approximately 200 metres from the prison facility. Warne was able to evade Japanese patrols until March 1945 but was captured after a bout of delirium brought on by fever. He was taken to Surabaya under the control of the Naval Police and interrogated so brutally he died of untreated wounds one month later.