FREE OFFER: The Great Controversy
TRANSCRIPT:
Here amid the bustling crowds and the high-rise buildings at the wharves of Sydney’s Darling Harbour, near the distinguished HM Endeavour replica, the destroyer HMAS Vampire and the submarine HMAS Onslow, bobs an unassuming old wooden Japanese fishing boat at its mooring beside the Australian National Maritime Museum.
But don’t be deceived by its lowly and unassuming appearance. The humble MV Krait played a major role in one of World War II’s most daring and successful commando raids.
It was codenamed Operation Jaywick. The boat’s crew of Z Special Force operatives sailed undetected through thousands of kilometres of enemy waters to launch a raid on the Japanese-occupied Singapore Harbour in 1943. It was the longest range seaborne raid ever undertaken in the history of war.
After the British surrendered Singapore to the Japanese in 1942, many fled on boats and ships of all sizes. Amid the chaos, Australian Bill Reynolds salvaged a little Japanese fishing boat named the Kofuku Maru.
As he rescued civilians from some islands, it became clear that unlike other vessels, the Kofuku Maru was not being targeted by enemy aircraft or nearby naval vessels.
During that rescue work Mr Reynolds came across a British Special Operative, Ivan Lyon, who became very interested in the little Japanese fishing boat. They realised that if you can get people out of Singapore in that boat, then you can also get people back in, on it.
Join me as we investigate how 14 men successfully sunk seven Japanese war ships and destroyed 39,000 tonnes of enemy shipping in one of the most daring covert operations in military history. And find out more about another battle – the greatest battle of all – that is going on in our world today, and how it affects each one of us.
SINGAPORE
The Port of Singapore is a hub of almost incessant activity, drawing trade from around the globe to this small but formidable city state. The Singapore harbour has a rich heritage dating back to the 13th century, when it functioned as the only southern port in the Strait of Malacca, facilitating trade throughout the region.
In 1818, Sir Stamford Raffles sailed to Malacca and established a British trading post in Singapore. It was at this point, that this strategically located city was turned into a British colony, and a small settlement was established there.
Over 100 years later, when World War II kicked off in Europe on the 1st of September 1939, Singapore was a firmly established British Colony. Then, out of the blue on the 7th of December 1941, Japan decided to enter the arena by launching a surprise offensive against the allied forces.
ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOUR
The Japanese offensive began with a brutal attack on Pearl Harbour at 7:48 am Hawaiian Time on the 7th of December 1941. Over 300 Japanese aircraft began bombing and strafing the U.S. Naval base.
The attack was over in just ninety minutes, but the results were devastating. In total, over 2400 Americans were killed and over 1000 were wounded. The Japanese managed to destroy or damage nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight battleships, and over 300 airplanes. The formidable U.S. fleet docked at Pearl Harbour was devastated.
But Japan was far from done with her offensive. Within seven hours Japan launched attacks against the Philippines and Guam, which were both U.S. held territories; and Borneo, Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong, which were part of the British Empire.
Allied forces rallied to counter the attack but the Japanese, despite the fact that they were outnumbered, began to advance down the Malayan Peninsula pushing back allied defences.
The Allied Forces were worried about losing Singapore, which at the time was a significant anchor point for the American-British-Dutch-Australian command, the first Allied joint command of the war.
In addition to this, Singapore’s strategic location meant that it was the only shipping link between the Indian and Pacific oceans. Losing this stronghold would set the Allied Forces back significantly.
As the fighting intensified and casualties mounted, Allied troops were forced to fall back, leaving Malaysia to the Japanese. Desperate to protect Singapore, they sabotaged the causeway between Johor and Singapore, hoping to fend off the advancing Japanese.
Incapacitating the causeway stalled the Japanese for a week. Then under cover of night on the 8th of February, Japanese troops began crossing Johor Strait. After an hour-long battle the Japanese began pushing through Allied lines.
By the night of the 14th of February Allied supplies were diminishing and their situation was getting desperate. The Allies opted to surrender, and a car with the Union Jack fluttering beside a white flag, cautiously approached enemy lines.
FALL OF SINGAPORE
Shortly after 5pm on the 15th of February 1942, the Allies surrendered Singapore and the Japanese hoisted the flag of the rising sun over the Cathay Building, which at the time was the tallest building in Singapore.
Singapore became a Japanese stronghold, commandeering the strategic shipping lines and placing thousands of British and Australian soldiers in the brutal Changi Prison.
In the midst of the Japanese invasion was Bill Reynolds, an Australian who found himself among the Allied fighters defending Malaya. Reynolds was a retired World War I Royal Naval veteran who had spent much of his time working in Southeast Asia.
Reynolds spotted an unused Japanese fishing boat, the Kofuku Maru, docked in Singapore. Quickly Reynolds made her seaworthy enough to sail her away from the invasion.
In the midst of the chaos of invasion and evacuation Reynolds met Ivan Lyon. Now, Lyon was a British Army Captain who had formerly worked for MI6, the British Intelligence Service.
Reynolds and Lyon realised that while many other escaping vessels had been captured or sunk, vessels like the Kofuku Maru, which was nothing more than a 6 metre or 20-foot wooden Japanese fishing boat, had managed to make it out of the fray unscathed.
PLANNING A DARING RAID
This led them both to believe that it was possible to use a similar boat – if not the same one – to return to Singapore and attack the occupying Japanese forces. They enlisted the help of the Commander-in-Chief of the British forces in India and the Far East, General Archibald Wavell.
Wavell insisted that the attack be launched from Australia, arguing that the Japanese were patrolling the waters west of Singapore expecting an attack from that direction, and that they would never dream of an attack from the East.
The mission was codenamed Operation Jaywick and plans were soon underway. Reynold’s boat was renamed Krait, after a small but deadly Asian snake, and shipped to Sydney aboard a Royal Navy freighter.
A few months after the Japanese occupation of Singapore, the Allied Intelligence Bureau, created Z Special Force. It was a secret operations unit that went on special operation missions behind enemy lines in South-East Asia. It was made up of volunteers from all branches of the Allied Forces and came under the direct command of General Douglas Macarthur.
Operation Jaywick, the brainchild of Lyon and Reynolds, would be executed by Z Special Unit Operatives and co-jointly run by the British Special Operations Executive and the Royal Australian Navy.
After receiving the green light for Operation Jaywick, Lyon began recruiting and training the perfect team for the job. His first recruit was Donald Davidson, a tough Naval Lieutenant who had worked in Singapore for many years and who agreed to come on board as second-in-command.
Davidson and Lyon soon began visiting Naval bases, and recruited an initial draft of seventeen eager young Australian sailors, who had put up their hands to be part of an unspecified special services mission.
The commando training regimen was brutal as the men learnt how to fight, kill, wreak havoc and survive. The men lost all sense of night and day. Sometimes when they were sound asleep after a rigorous day’s training, they were woken at 2am for a 35km run over sand dunes.
IN TRAINING
The initial group of seventeen was reduced to eleven at the end of six weeks of training, and the men were sent to remote Refuge Bay just north of Sydney on the Hawkesbury River. When they arrived, they found the small sandy strip of beach strewn with their gear.
They had to haul all of it, tents, food, cooking supplies and sleeping gear, up a sheer sandstone cliff where they set up camp on top. They were informed that their training would begin at the crack of dawn and continue till 10pm at night.
The men were trained to navigate on land and water by day and night, read maps and charts and successfully camouflage themselves and their gear.
Then one day a pair of two-man collapsible canoes were brought to the camp. The collapsible canoes soon became the central focus of their training, and with each passing day the men were pushed to paddle out further and further in the canoes, until finally they set out on their first long distance mission.
They paddled the canoes along the coastal lakes and waterways linking Tuggerah Lake and Lake Macquarie, and carrying their canoes overland between the lakes.
After three months of training, Captain Lyon gathered the men together and informed them that only five of them would be deployed for the final mission. These five men, who would form the core group of Operation Jaywick were between the ages of 18 and 23. The five men were then taken aboard the Krait from Refuge Bay.
Today a plaque attached to one of the sandstone rocks at Refuge Bay beach commemorates the events. It reads: “Z Special Unit commandos sailed from Refuge Bay in MV Krait to attack enemy shipping in Singapore Harbour on 26 September 1942. Operation Jaywick was considered to be the most daring and successful seabourne raid in military history.”
The MV Krait sailed from Refuge Bay up the east coast of Australia to Cairns, where the crew were joined by other crew members, before their final deployment for Operation Jaywick from Exmouth Gulf in Western Australia. However, they still didn’t know what the operation entailed.
MISSION REVEALED
On the 2nd of September the Krait slipped out of the American submarine base at Exmouth Gulf, and charted a course towards Lombok, Indonesia. The next day, on the 3rd of September, the crew gathered on the deck, where Captain Lyon gave them their mission.
They were told that they would be sabotaging Japanese vessels at anchor in the Singapore Harbour. The men recognised that the mission was almost impossible and potentially suicidal, but they were still willing to try.
Lyon began to break down the components of the mission, informing them that they would infiltrate the harbour using the canoes with the limpet mines that they carried on board. Lyon then assigned the crew their specific tasks.
They would be divided into two parties. Six men who would make up the raiding party paddling into the harbour to plant the mines, and the remaining eight would stay on board the Krait, navigating it among the islands around Singapore before meeting the raiding party at their rendezvous point.
On the 5 September, as the boat motored northwards, the men applied dye to their skins. The dye was meant to stain their skin dark brown making them look more Asian than European from a distance.
The dye wasn’t a very effective camouflage up close but from a distance it worked to make them look like a group of Indonesian fishermen in Japanese controlled territory. To complete the disguise the men dyed their hair black and wore sarongs. Then on the 6th of September the men raised a worn Japanese flag. They were now ready to sail behind enemy lines.
Over the next three weeks the little fishing boat navigated strong tides, rough seas and raging tropical storms out in the open ocean. The men were constantly under strain for fear of being caught by patrolling Japanese ships as they searched for a forward and a return base.
They decided that the final rendezvous point for Operation Jaywick, was Pompong Island, a small uninhabited coral reef island in the Celebes Sea.
After navigating the islands around the Indonesian archipelago the crew decided on Pandjang Island as a canoe base for their mission. They landed at Panjang Island in the dead of night and anchored close to a small beach.
FINAL PREPARATIONS
They managed to get themselves and their gear ashore as quickly and as quietly as possible. Captain Lyon was the last to leave the Krait and as he left he told the remaining crew on board that they were to take the boat and return to Australia, if the raiding party didn’t make it back to the rendezvous point on Pompong Island.
Meanwhile, on Panjang Island the raiders set up camp and began preparing for the mission ahead. They set up their three canoes and loaded supplies on board including the limpet mines they would need for the mission.
Finally in the dead of night, the men got into their black waterproof suits and smeared their faces with black dye. They then began their long canoe trip towards Singapore. They paddled for hours before pulling their canoes ashore on a small island where they could rest and wait for nightfall.
Then, at nightfall they made their way back into the ocean and began paddling once more. On the 22nd of September they arrived at Dongas Island, which they had chosen as their forward attack base. From here they would launch out on the final leg of their mission.
SPECIAL OPERATION BEGINS
On the night of the 26th of September 1943 the men finally set off in their ‘folboats’ to paddle the last 13 kms, or 8 miles for Singapore Harbour. The men were camouflaged to prevent detection, but that didn’t quell their fears.
When they entered the harbour, it was well lit and bustling with activity. The men noticed Japanese soldiers patrolling the docks and men working on vessels that were anchored there.
Staying in the shadows, the three teams carefully navigated their way alongside the big ships berthed in the harbour. Quietly they pulled up to the ships and took out the limpet mines they had brought with them.
Each two-man team had a total of nine limpet mines in their possession, which they were to attach to the hulls of the ships anchored in the harbour. Carefully they attached the magnetic mines to the hulls of seven ships and then turned around and hightailed it out of the harbour.
They paddled hard to reach their hideout on Dongas Island, and arrived just before 5 am on the 27th of September. The mines had been set to detonate at around 5 am, and the men had just enough time to drag their canoes ashore before they heard the loud explosions in the distance.
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
At 5:15am a series of timed explosions rocked the Singapore Harbour. The occupying Japanese forces were stunned as they watched seven of their vessels berthed in the port either sinking, destroyed or damaged by the blasts. The unexpected attack left the Japanese forces reeling with shock.
In total the six-man team managed to damage or sink seven warships and 39,000 tons of Japanese shipping. The offensive, Operation Jaywick, was a resounding success and served to establish Z Special Unit as a formidable player in the realm of covert special forces operations.
After months and months of training, weeks of travelling and hours and hours of frenzied paddling, the men were elated to realise that their mission, against all odds, had been a resounding success.
The team were able to make it to Pompong Island where they were picked up by the Krait. The entire crew made it safely back to Australia without a scratch on them or their little fishing boat. It was a moment of exhilarating victory.
The story of Operation Jaywick is a remarkable account of courage and fortitude. The men of Operation Jaywick were willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for freedom, and the allies and their efforts were rewarded with success.
ANOTHER BATTLE
Operation Jaywick is a reminder that we are all involved in a battle – the battle of life. And in many ways the story of Operation Jaywick echoes the story of the greatest battle this universe has ever seen.
The last book of the Bible, Revelation, gives us an insight into this battle and helps us to understand what is at stake. Revelation 12:7 tells us, “And there was war in heaven, Michael and His angels fought against the dragon and the dragon fought and his angels”
The Bible describes a great cosmic conflict, a great controversy between Christ and Satan, that began in heaven. Revelation 12 goes on to describe the outcome of this conflict in verse 9, “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the Devil and Satan, which deceives the whole world: he was cast out into the earth and his angels were cast out with him.”
The Bible tells us that Satan, or Lucifer as he was known, was cast out of heaven to planet earth.
Genesis chapter 3 sheds light on what happened next, as Satan plots to deceive Adam and Eve and enlist them both in his war against God. He does this by tempting them to blatantly disregard God’s word – to rebel against God.
God had given guidelines to Adam and Eve, advising them how to maximise their fulfilment and happiness, and plainly laid out the consequences of disobedience to them. Satan contradicted God. He told them that God was lying to them and that by obeying God, they would fail to reach their potential of immortality.
Buying into Satan’s lies, Adam and Eve chose rebellion against God in the hope that they would be able to attain a higher state of being. Sadly, by doing this, they fell far short of God’s original plans for them, and lost the freedom and happiness God intended for them.
In choosing to buy into Satan’s lies Adam and Eve placed our planet at the very centre of the great controversy between Christ and Satan, and each of us, as we go about our daily lives, find ourselves pitched into the centre of this conflict.
OUR CONFLICT
We live in a battle zone, mired in conflict, in the midst of a tug of war between the Word of God and the wiles of Satan. A battle between the principles of God’s law of self-sacrificing love and Satan’s ideals of selfishness and hate.
Like the men of Operation Jaywick, we find ourselves as it were on a small boat, in a vast ocean, sailing deep into enemy territory, vulnerable to imminent attack. And like the men of Operation Jaywick we need to prepare ourselves to do battle.
We need to arm ourselves with the weapons that are needed in spiritual warfare, the Word of God, faith and prayer. The Word of God gives us a clear purpose and mission, clear instructions on how to engage the enemy and win the battle.
Prayer gives us a lifeline to our heavenly command centre, where we can always be sure to find a never-failing supply of heavenly strength to meet every circumstance. And faith anchors us in the assurance of God’s saving grace, helping us to stay afloat even in the midst of the worst storms of life.
There is no safety for us in this war zone we find ourselves in, outside of Jesus. It is only through Jesus; through the Cross, through the certainty of His word, the power of prayer and the steadfast anchor of faith in Him that we can safely navigate our way out from behind enemy lines.
SPECIAL OFFER
If you would like to find out more about the cosmic conflict raging in our world today. If you would like to choose to ally yourself with God in this war zone and find hope, peace and happiness, then I’d like to recommend the free gift we have for all our Incredible Journey viewers today.
It’s the amazing book, The Great Controversy. This book will share with you how the history of the world has been predicted in the Bible and what the future holds. I guarantee there are no costs or obligations whatsoever. So, make the most of this wonderful opportunity to receive the free gift we have for you today.
FINAL PRAYER
Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for your love and constant protection and for the markers of history you give us in the Bible. There is a battle going on this world and we want to be prepared for the final outcome. We ask you to lead us and guide us, and bring us safely through the challenges of life. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
