Australian Special Forces

[spidge]

Australian Z Force (more correctly called "Z" Special Unit),

[attachmentid=821]




Australian specialist military units were formed in Australia to undertake sabotage operations behind enemy lines and assist resistance groups in occupied territories. In June 1942 Z Special Unit was formed from volunteers from the RAN, the AIF, the RAAF, and Allied service personnel. These commandos were used for covert operations deep into enemy territory launched from bases in Australia.

Their most remembered mission was Operation Jaywick. This secret raid aboard the MV Krait would prove to be the longest commando raid of the war. Conducted from 1 September to 19 October 1943, it involved a clandestine attack by a small group of Allied operatives against Japanese shipping at Singapore.

The M.V. Krait:

After Pearl Harbour and the Japanese invasion of Malaya, the vessel was taken over by the Royal Navy in Singapore and, at the surrender on February15, 1942, she was used by an Australian, Bill Reynolds, to rescue escapees from Singapore. She eventually reached Ceylon, after being machine-gunned by Japanese Zeros in Malacca Strait, and later went to Bombay where she was renamed 'Krait' after a small but venomous Indian snake.

On returning to Australia she was fitted with a new Gardiner engine, prepared for the Singapore raid, and then sailed across North Australia to Exmouth Gulf, Western Australia.

The Krait sailed from Exmouth Gulf through Lombok Strait, across the Java and South China Seas, and through the Rhio Islands to within 20 miles of Singapore. There she dropped three canoe teams who penetrated Singapore Harbour at night and with magnetic explosive limpets destroyed 7 ships and damaged others which totalled nearly 40,000 tons of Japanese shipping.


Members of "Operation Jaywick", "Z" Special Unit.


[attachmentid=822]



On their return and still flying the Japanese flag they were approached at midnight in the Strait of Lombok near Bali by a fast-moving Japanese patrol ship with its searchlights blazing.

Horrie Young is one of the three, surviving Australian members of Operation Jaywick.


[attachmentid=820]



For Horrie Young and his fellow crewmen it was the longest 30 minutes of their lives, during which they awaited what they were convinced was their imminent death.

Horrie Young, a 22-year-old naval telegraphist thought of the young son he would never see, who had been born the night they had embarked from the submarine base at Exmouth in Western Australia.

Thinly disguised in sarongs and wearing foul-smelling hair and skin dye, the 14-man crew knew they would not survive being captured by the enemy - and knew their orders were not to be taken alive. "We all thought that it was curtains," he recalls. "This Japanese patrol ship came tearing up on the port side. They came right alongside and were taking a very good look at us and we were sure they were going to board us."

Lieutenant Donald Davidson, the second in command, came below deck and approached Young who was seated at his radio transmitter. With classic British understatement, Davidson told the young Australian: "I'm terribly sorry, Young, but this doesn't look good."

Both men then looked at the bundle of wired explosives placed above the radio. "The ship was wired thoroughly and ready to blow. The plan was that we would blow ourselves up and try to take them with us," Mr Young says.

"Then, for some unaccountable reason, after about half an hour of watching us, the Japs just turned and tore off at a great rate of knots, and we were able to escape."

Jaywick was the brainchild of Major Ivan Lyon, a member of Britain's secret Special Operations Executive in the Far East. After the success of "Jaywick" another bigger effort was conducted the next year. "Operation Rimau" ended in disaster, with all 23 men losing their lives, including six members of the Jaywick team.

[Blackblue]

Originally posted by spidge@Jun 25 2005, 09:25 PM
"Operation Rimau" ended in disaster, with all 23 men losing their lives, including six members of the Jaywick team.

Quoted post

Ten of them executed by the Japanese.

I was lucky enough to attend the 60th Anniversary of Operation Jaywick at Kranji War Cemetary in September 2003.

The following is the wording of the memorial to members of Operation Rimau at Kranji War Cemetary, Singapore.

IN MEMORY OF THE MEMBERS OF OPERATION RIMAU

IN SEPTEMBER 1944, WHEN SINGAPORE WAS UNDER JAPANESE
OCCUPATION, TWENTY-THREE BRITISH AND AUSTRALIAN MEMBERS
OF SERVICES RECONNAISSANCE DEPARTMENT/Z SPECIAL UNIT
TRAVELLED FROM AUSTRALIA BY SUBMARINE TO THE OUTSKIRTS OF
SINGAPORE HARBOUR. THEIR MISSION WAS TO ATTACK AND DESTROY
ENEMY SHIPPING FROM SMALL SUBMERSIBLE BOATS USING MAGNETIC
LIMPET MINES. THE PARTY INCLUDED SIX FORMER MEMBERS OF THE
HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL RAID LAUNCHED AGAINST JAPANESE SHIPPING
OPERATION JAYWICK. THEY WERE INTERCEPTED BY JAPANESE FORCES
AND IN THE ACTIONS THAT FOLLOWED, THIRTEEN WERE EITHER KILLED
IN ACTION OR DIED OF WOUNDS. THE REMAINING TEN WERE
CAPTURED AND SUBSEQUENTLY EXECUTED ON 7 JULY 1945. THE
PLACE OF THEIR EXECUTION IS APPROXIMATELY 580 METRES EAST
OF THE JUNCTION OF CLEMENT AND DOVER ROADS.

...

WE SALUTE THEIR DARING AND BRAVERY

May these brave men Rest in Peace.

Lt Col Ivan Lyon DSO MBE, Gordon Highlanders, 16 Oct 1944, 29 years.
Maj Reginald Ingleton, Royal Marines, 7th July 1945, 35 years. Executed.
Capt Robert Page DSO, Australian Imperial Force, 7 Jul 1945, 24 years.
Lt Walter Carey, AIF, 7 Jul 1945, 31 years. Executed.
Lt Bruno Reymond, RANR, 21 Dec 1945, 31 years.
Lt H.Robert Ross, British Army, 16 Oct 1944, 27 years.
Lt Albert Sargent, AIF, 7 Jul 1945, 26 years. Executed.
Sub Lt J.Gregor Riggs, RNVR, 5 Nov 1944, 21 years.
WO2 Alfred Warren, AIF, 7 Jul 1945, 32 years. Executed.
WO2 Jeffrey Willersdorf, Feb 1945, 22 years.
Sgt Colin Cameron, AIF, 5 Nov 1944, 21 years.
Sgt David Gooley, AIF, 5 Nov 1944, 26 years.
Cpl Archibald Campbell, AIF, 18 Oct 1944, 24 years.
Cpl Colin Craft, AIF, 21 Dec 1944, 25 years.
Cpl Roland Fletcher, AIF, 7 Jul 1945,29 years. Executed.
Cpl Clair Stewart, AIF, 7 July 1945, 35 years. Executed.
AB Walter Falls DSM, RANR, 7 July 1945. Executed.
AB Andrew Huston DSM, RANR, 16 Dec 1944, 20 years.
AB Frederick Marsh, RANR, 11 Jan 1945, 20 years.
LCpl John Hardy, AIF, 7 July 1945, 23 years. Executed.
LCpl Hugo Pace, AIF, Jun 1945, 32 years.
Pte Douglas Warne, AIF, Apr 1945, 24 years.
Also executed during rescue operations:
Lt Clifford Perske, AIF, 30 Mar 1945, Executed.
Lt John Sachs, AIF, 30 Mar 1945, Executed.

Photograph of Jaywick participants:
Front row centre: Lt Col Ivan Lyon DSO MBE
Front row far right: Lt Robert Page DSO
Centre row second from right: AB Walter Falls DSM
Back row third from right: AB Frederick Marsh
Back row far right: AB Andrew Huston DSM

Rgds

Tim

[DirtyDick]

Do any of you recall the several Australian tv films featuring this (similar)operation? I saw them in the UK over ten years ago. (Not Attack Force Z with Mel Gibson and the 1980s RAN "O" Class submarine landing them!)

I think they were made in the late 80s/very early 90s: one starred Jason Donovan and the other Craig someone (used to play Henry in Neighbours). Despite this, as I recall they were quite good and would be worth getting on DVD.

Richard

[spidge]

[quote=DirtyDick,Jun 26 2005, 10:45 PM]
Do any of you recall the several Australian tv films featuring this (similar)operation? I saw them in the UK over ten years ago. (Not Attack Force Z with Mel Gibson and the 1980s RAN "O" Class submarine landing them!)[[quote]]


Spyforce made in the 70's avoids the well-trodden path of Hollywood war epics. "It showed that the war was not entirely won by America. Spyforce was a special group of operatives working for Australian Intelligence, operating from a top secret headquarters in Sydney. The series did not dwell on the torture of captured soldiers by the Japanese, nor did it paint the Australians as lily white.

The premise of the series is based on fact, as the opening narrative explains:

Early in 1942 the Japanese Army swept through the South Pacific towards the Australian mainland. They overran the Malay Peninsula and reached deep into the jungles of New Guinea. As a result numbers of civilian planters and soldiers were formed into highly trained espionage teams by Allied Headquarters in Australia. These men were directed into sabotage operations deep behind enemy lines throughout the Pacific area. Much of their work must remain top secret. One of these groups may well have been called: Spyforce.



[attachmentid=836][attachmentid=837][attachmentid=838][attachmentid=839]



[

]I think they were made in the late 80s/very early 90s: one starred Jason Donovan and the other Craig someone (used to play Henry in Neighbours). Despite this, as I recall they were quite good and would be worth getting on DVD.

Richard

Quoted post

I remember him in a movie but not in a series.

I am sure he was in "Heroes of the Krait (1982) but cannot confirm.[attachmentid=840]

It is available on VHS only.

[Blackblue]

The was a four part 1988 TV series about Jaywick called 'The Heroes' which starred Jason Donovan, Cameron Daddo etc. I believe 'The Heroes of the Krait' was a movie.

http://movies.channel.aol.com/movie/main.a...=synop&mid=3804

Rgds

Tim D

[spidge]

Originally posted by Blackblue@Jun 27 2005, 07:55 AM
The was a four part 1988 TV series about Jaywick called 'The Heroes' which starred Jason Donovan, Cameron Daddo etc. I believe 'The Heroes of the Krait' was a movie.

http://movies.channel.aol.com/movie/main.a...=synop&mid=3804

Rgds

Tim D

Quoted post

I can remember seeing them with their faces blackened but couldn't get a grip on the title. Now you mention Cameron Daddo it is a bit clearer.

Thanks Tim.

[Saddleback Mac]

I am interested if the series about the Heroes of Rimau is available. Please let me know. A mighty big thanks from a US Marine!

[Mark Hone]

The film version is called 'The Highest Honour', made in 1982. It was an Australian/Japanese co-production. It covers the operation itself and the subsequent controversy about the execution of members of the Z Special Force just before the end of the war. It's some years since I've seen it, but I remember it as being pretty good. As a result of seeing the film my late father and I made a point ofvisiting the graves of the men at Kranji War Cemetery when we visited Singapore in 1990.

[Maria Jackman]

I have the following videos :-
Heros Of The Krait (it also includes Rimau)
Heros. 1 1 The Return. A two-part T V series.
Unsung Heros "Tigers & Snakes" Semi documentry narrated by Sir James Killen
The Highest Honor.
Regards Mariamvfhj@hotmail.com

[spidge]

Hi Maria,

Have you seen this movie "The Highest Honour"?