By
LCDR GJ Swinden
On
the morning of September 26 some 50 Australian and British military
and High Commission staff gathered at Kranji War Cemetery in Singapore
to commemorate Op Jaywick, which had taken place in Singapore
some 60 years before.
In early September 1943 the former Japanese fishing boat ‘Kofuko
Maru’ now renamed HMAS Krait, departed Exmouth Gulf bound for
Singapore.
Still disguised as a Japanese fishing boat and flying the Japanese
flag the Krait had onboard 14 Australian and British personnel
who planned to infiltrate Singapore Harbour and blow up Japanese
shipping.
Krait (LEUT Ted Carse, RANVR) later dropped off the six men who,
using kayaks, were to undertake the raid. She then hid among the
various island of the Indonesian Archipelago. On the night of
September 26, 1943 the six men paddled some 11 km from their hideout
on the island of Subor into Singapore Harbour.
They placed Limpet mines onto seven merchant ships and escaped
without detection.
Next day the mines exploded sinking or badly damaging some 37,000
tonnes of Japanese shipping. Krait successfully rendezvoused with
the six canoeists and despite some anxious moments when she was
shadowed by a Japanese destroyer near Lombok Strait returned safely
to Exmouth Gulf in early October.
All 14 personnel involved in the raid were decorated for bravery.
A year later in October 1944 a similar raid, named Op Rimau was
initiated. Several of the men who had previously taken part on
Jaywick participated.
The 23 personnel were taken by submarine to an area south of Singapore
where they intended to steal a local vessel and use it on the
raid.
Unfortunately they were detected and either killed or captured.
Ten were held as POW’s in Singapore up until early July 1945 when
they were beheaded by their Japanese captors, only a few weeks
before the end of the war.
They are buried at Kranji War Cemetery. At the service at Kranji
on 26 September, Mr Agru Qunilan, the Australian High Commissioner
to Singapore gave a speech outlining the history of the raid.
Wreaths were then laid by Mr Quinlan and the British Defence Advisor
(GPCAPT Martin Stringer). A wreath was also laid on behalf of
Mr Horrie Young (the Leading Telegraphist onboard Krait and one
of only three men still alive from the Jaywick raid).
