Category: The Pacific Raiders

An excellent piece of investigative historical reconstruction, which finally tells the full story of the failure of this operation and the gallant deaths of the raiders.

TRENOWDEN, Ian. Malayan Operations Most Secret – Force 136. 231p., bibliog., illus., index. Singapore: Heineman Asia, 1983. ISBN: 9971640570.

 No copy seen. Appears to be a retitled reprint of the author’s 1978 work Operations Most Secret: SOE, q.v.

MILLAR, Andy. Lost At Sea: Found at Fukushima. viii, 251p., bibliog., illus. Newport, NSW: Big Sky, 2012. ISBN: 9781921941528.

The story of survivors of sinkings of merchantmen by the raider Thor and of their subsequent imprisonment in Japanese camps. Reprinted in 2017 by Pen & Sword Military (ISBN: 9781473878068).

FELTON, Mark. The Sea Devils: Operation Struggle and the Last Great Raid of World War Two. xviii, 334p., illus. London: Icon Books, 2015. ISBN: 9781785780493.

In August 1945, the midget submarines XE1 and XE3 executed a joint attack on Japanese warships within Singapore harbour. The heavy cruiser Takao was damaged beyond repair. Two VCs were amongst the many gallantry awards made.

TRENOWDEN, Ian. Operations Most Secret. SOE: The Malayan Theatre. 231p., bib-liog., illus., index. London: Kimber, 1978. ISBN: 071830036X. 

Force 136 (Group B)'s exploits are recorded. They mounted special operations from Ceylon between January 1943 and the end of the war. They were landed by air and submarine. Reprinted in a revised edition by Crecy Books in 1994 (ISBN: 0947554432).

HORTON, D. C. Ring of Fire: Australian Guerrilla Operations against the Japanese in World War II. xii, 164p., illus., index. Sydney: Macmillan; London: Cooper, 1983. ISBN: 0333356152.

The story of special operations behind Japanese lines. The author took part in some of these.

The story as told by one of the survivors.

Another account of the daring raids on Singapore Harbour in 1943 and 1944.

The author, a Canadian naval officer, set up and led this unit between 1943 and 1945. The unit served in Burma and was mainly involved in the crossing of the Irrawaddy.

The story of Operation Rimau, from its early beginnings to its tragic conclusion.

These two companies fought the Japanese in guerrilla fashion for two years, before evacuation by the RAN. Reprinted in 1984.

A good account of some of the most daring, and politically motivated, missions undertaken by Australian special forces soldiers behind enemy lines in WWII.

Raiding parties in Burma and Malaya in 1945.

Operations Jaywick and Rimau were raids made on Singapore late in the war by small parties from Australia. The first was a success, but the second ended in tragedy with the execution of the raiders. A full if dramatised account.

This little known unit served with American forces in the Solomons Group in 1942-43 and was then disbanded after heavy casualties and meritorious service.

In August 1944 he went to the Small Operations Group in Ceylon. There are some 25 pages on this, but most of the book covers the post-war period.

An account of the little known work of the special forces operating down the Arakan coast of Burma as the Allies advanced.

The well known raids on Oregon and Sydney Harbour were only the tip of a much more ambitious programme

Describes two successful raids on Singapore Harbour in 1943 and 1944 in which almost 40,000 tons of Japanese shipping were sunk by a handful of British and Australian raiders in canoes. A new edition was published in 1970.