Library Reference Number: 056
Force 136 Liberators
It had never been possible to plan operations that meant the equivalent of flying from UK across the Atlantic - and back again, until the arrival of the American-built B24 Liberator in the Far Eastern theatre of World War 2.
Britain had failed to strengthen their defences in the Far East, and when Japanese Forces landed at Kota Bharu on the east coast of
Malaya on 8th December 1941, it was only a short time before Singapore fell, and Malaya was occupied by the Japanese. A British-led
underground resistance group was set up by the Special Operations Executive (SOE) initially with 50 members.
Harassing the Japanese Occupation Forces, this hit-and-run guerilla warfare behind enemy lines was the task of Force 136. No European can live for a day in an Asiatic country without being recognised as a white man, and few Europeans can speak Siamese, Chinese, Karen or even Malay, like a native. It was therefore quickly recognised that this called for a high degree of self-sufficiency and coming to terms with surviving in the Malayan jungle. Intelligence and security was so strict, that one person (Tan Chong Tee) only discovered he was a member of Force 136 after the Japanese surrendered in August 1945.
In a similar way, I only discovered my role in Force 136 after completing several long-range missions from our jungle airfield in Ceylon, 1500 miles across the Indian Ocean, past the Japanese fighter bases at Sabang in Sumatra, then up the Perak River in Western Malaya and into the Malay interior. Once there we dropped in guerilla types of all nationalities behind Japanese lines, and on the way observed many Japanese troops and small, square jeep-like vehicles on the ground beneath us, which even today makes me squirm to see these being driven around in UK. We had experience of very-long-range ops prior to Force 136.
I had spent the past few months with 160 Squadron on 19 hour operations, dropping mines in the Malacca Straits, down the west coast of
Malaya from Penang towards Singapore. We later discovered from post-war records that we accounted for (the destruction of) ten enemy
ships, thus preventing oil from Sumatra and Borneo, and vital supplies and reinforcements from reaching the Japanese based in Burma.
Based in primitive jungle conditions ourselves, those earlier mining operations had given us valuable experience of very-long-range
flying and proved a valuable preparation for what lay ahead. From May until August 1945, we then became the airborne life-line of Force
136.
Into deep valleys, gorges, plateaus of Malaya's Cameron Mountains, we flew, to the secret jungle hide-outs where we dropped in guerilla reinforcements; usually six or seven in number. They would sit in line on a slide like a children's play chute with their 'chutes attached to a static line, we would slide them down and out the rear escape hatch in the floor.
Gurkhas, who, just minutes before had been sitting preparing their kukris, sat beside Canadian Chinese, Brits, Europeans and all with their common skill of jungle survival and their ability to walk for days between their jungle camps and their targets; exterminating Japanese and blowing up ammunition dumps when possible.
Before setting out on every trip we were given reassuring advice, "Don't bother getting shot down or crash-landing, the Japs stopped taking prisoners two years ago!"
We fully realised how vulnerable we were without the usual back ups of air-sea rescue etc. It was all the more remarkable then, when some
of the 'bods' we were about to drop into enemy territory said "You have a very tough job bringing us here and we would prefer to jump out
now rather than spend the next ten hours flying back through that lot."
Well - each to their own - but we considered we had the best option, as several times before, the Japs had discovered the 'dropping zone' in advance and I can still picture the raging jungle fires where they burned out guerilla encampments. Having bailed out - it was impossible to know what lay ahead for these guys?
My longest mission took 23 hours 25 minutes and covered 3,700 miles.
It was exhilarating on the one hand to see all the shipping and city lights going out one by one over Singapore, presumably in response to air-raid sirens warning of our approach. On the other hand it was extremely frustrating, as I knew several close friends were being held as prisoners below us, and after coming all this distance, we were unable to help in this respect.
On another occasion, deep in a valley of the Cameron Highlands after dropping supplies on a plateau, we suddenly turned a corner and found ourselves facing an unexpected mountain peak. Slamming throttles and superchargers forward to scrape over the top, we discovered flames streaming from No.1 & 3 engines towards our tail plane. Plans for an emergency landing were thankfully avoided, as bringing power and revs back solved the immediate problem. None of us ever mentioned those numerous incidents again, since 1600 miles from base, we had no illusions about our treatment as Jap POWs. Radio contact with the guerrillas we had dropped into Japanese territory became so good, that after arriving back at base to be de-briefed, we were told immediately whether it had been an accurate drop - or not.
Not so fortunate was my second crew, who, not surprisingly, on such long range operations, ran out of fuel and ditched in the Indian Ocean. Picked up by a Dutch ship on its way back to Ceylon, the crew were back on operations after 10 days of pumping sea-water out of their bodies. Normal practice was to get back in the air before one thinks too much and upon their return to ops after the ditching, I joined this crew on the next eight long-range operations to replace a member of the crew who had been too seriously injured to continue. This took my tally up to 518 operational flying hours, and my enforced 'grounding'
As one can imagine from such unconventional air operations, many incidents occurred which space excludes from mention on this occasion.
We knew none of the usual aircrew 'perks' living ourselves in jungle conditions without the usual social amenities. Pride of place however, must go to the 'bods' we dropped into the realm of a barbaric, ruthless enemy, whose sub-human treatment of prisoners defied all treaties and conventions.
The Force 136 member's courage in willingly facing such an enemy has never really been recognised, perhaps due to 'the bomb' producing a swift end to the war. Perhaps because of this, Japanese Prison Commandants had no time to carry out their written orders to slaughter all prisoners if the going got tough.
Nevertheless, our worst fears were realised when POWs were flown back to Ceylon after 15th August. It was sickening to see so many of their emaciated bodies being carried about looking like skinny young children. Despite good care, a large number of those who had survived until now, never made it back to Britain alive.