Force 136 was the general cover name for a branch of the British World War II organisation, the Special Operations Executive. Force 136 operated in the regions of the South-East Asian Theatre of World War II which were occupied by Japan from 1941 to 1945.
Although the top command of Force 136 were British officers and civilians, most of those it trained and employed as agents were indigenous to the regions in which they operated. British, Americans or other Europeans could not operate clandestinely in cities or populated areas in Asia. However, once the resistance movements engaged in open rebellion, Allied armed forces personnel who knew the local languages and peoples became invaluable for liaison with conventional forces.
History
SOE was formed in 1940, by the merger of existing Departments of the War Office and the Ministry of Economic Warfare. Its purpose was to incite, organise and supply indigenous resistance forces in enemy-occupied territory. Initially, the enemy was Nazi Germany and Italy, but from late 1940, it became clear that conflict with Japan was also inevitable.
Two missions were sent to set up (and assume political control of) the SOE in the Far East. The first was led by a former businessman, Valentine Killery of Imperial Chemical Industries, who set up his HQ in Singapore. A resistance organisation was set up in Malaya, but Singapore was captured soon after Japan entered the war on December 7, 1941.
A second mission was set up in India by another former businessman, Colin Mackenzie of J. and P. Coats, a clothing manufacturer. Mackenzie's India Mission originally operated from Meerut in North West India. Its ___location was governed by the fear that the Germans might overrun the Middle East and Caucasus, in which case resistance movements would be established in Afghanistan, Persia and Iraq. When this threat was removed late in 1942, the focus was switched to South East Asia.
The India Mission's first cover name was GS I(k), which made it appear to be a mere record-keeping branch of GHQ India. The name, Force 136 was adopted in March 1944. From December 1944, it moved to Kandy in Ceylon, and cooperated closely with South East Asia Command.
Force 136 was wound up in 1946, along with the rest of SOE.
Operations
Malaya
Before the Japanese attacked Malaya, a potential resistance organisation already existed in the form of the Malayan Communist Party. This party's members were mainly from the Chinese community and implacably anti-Japanese. They formed the Malayan Peoples' Anti-Japanese Army, and their first members were trained by British officers such as Freddie Spencer Chapman. Although they mounted a few operations against the Japanese lines of communication during the invasion of Malaya, they were cut off from the Allied commanders with the fall of Singapore.
Using organisers and agents such as Lim Bo Seng, Force 136 was able to re-establish contact with the MPAJA, which had continued to exist in camps deep inside the forests. With equipment and supplies from Force 136, the MPAJA was built up to become a substantial guerilla army. However, Japan surrendered before it had a chance to stage a major uprisisng.
China
Strictly speaking, SOE had no right to operate inside China, which was left to the American CBI Theater Command. However, one group under an officer named "Blue" Ride did operate near Hong Kong, in territory controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.
Europeans and other characters loosely affiliated to SOE carried out dubious operations such as trying to obtain smuggled rubber, currency speculation and so on, in China. It is rumoured that as a result of these activities, SOE actually returned a financial profit in the Far East.
Siam
In 1941, the Siamese government had signed various pacts with Japan, which allowed Japan use of its territory. Late in 1944, Force 136 had established links with the pro-Allied Regent, Pridi Panomyong, and were steadily creating a resistance movement within the government. The war ended before this movement could openly declare itself.
Burma
Burma was the theatre in which the major Allied effort was made in South East Asia, and Force 136 was heavily involved. Initially, it had to compete with other intelligence organisations such as V Force for suitable personnel and other resources. It was also overshadowed by the Chindit operations, but eventually played a significant part in the liberation of the country.
The Burma section of Force 136 was commanded by John Ritchie Gardiner, who had managed a forestry company before the war and also served on the Municipal Council of Rangoon. He had known personally some Burmese politicians such as Ba Maw who had later formed a government which collaborated with the Japanese occupiers.
Hill Peoples
The minority peoples of Burma, particularly the Karen, were always pro-British, and a resistance movement flourished from the first days of the campaign. In 1943, the Japanese made a ruthless punitive expedition into Karen territory. To spare the population, a British liaison officer, Hugh Seagrim, voluntarily surrendered himself to the Japanese and was executed. However, Force 136 continued to supply the Karen resistance. In April 1945, the Karens staged a major uprising in support of the Allied offensive, and prevented the Japanese 15th Army forestalling the advance on Rangoon. It was estimated that at their moment of maximum effort, the Karens mustered 8,000 active guerillas, plus many more sympathisers and auxiliaries.
(In the area of Burma covered by the US-controlled Northern Combat Area Command, and in which the Kachin tribe predominated, a US organisation known as OSS Detachment 101 made use of a similar guerilla force, although it had more direct contact with active Allied formations. Up to 3,000 Kachin guerillas cooperated with US and Chinese forces and with the Chindits.)
Burmese political links
In 1942, when the Japanese invaded Burma, the majority Burman people had been sympathetic to them. During the years of occupation, this attitude changed. Force 136 was able to establish contact with Aung San, commander of the Burma National Army which originally operated under Japanese control, and induce the BNA to change sides in 1945. The BNA played a part in final campaign to liberate Rangoon, and eliminate Japanese resistance in Central Burma. In arranging the acceptance of Aung San and his forces as Allied combatants, Force 136 was in direct conflict with the more staid Civil Affairs Service Officers at South East Asia Command's headquarters.
Field Operations
Force 136 was also active in more conventional military-style operations behind Japanese lines. Such an operation typically comprised a group of about 40 infantry (such as Gurkhas) with officers and a Radio Operator, infiltrating Japanese lines on intelligence and discretionary search and destroy missions. Such missions, which could last several weeks (supplied by Douglas Dakota) kept close wireless contact with operational bases in India, using high-grade ciphers (changed daily) and hermetically-sealed wireless/morse sets.
Every day (Japanese permitting) at pre–arranged times, the Radio Operator (with Gurkha escorts) climbed to a high vantage point (usually necessitating a gruelling climb to the top of some slippery, high, jungle-clad ridge), and sent the latest intelligence information and the group’s supply requests etc, and received further orders in return. The Radio Operator was central to a mission’s success and his capture or death would spell disaster for the mission. To avoid capture and use under duress by the Japanese, every S.O.E. operative was issued a cyanide pill.
One such Radio Operator was James Gow of Argyll, Scotland (originally Royal Corps of Signals), who recounted his first mission in his book “From Rhunahaorine to Rangoon”. In the summer of 1944, the Japanese push toward India had been stopped at the Battle of Kohima. In the aftermath of the battle, Japanese forces split up and retreated deep into the jungle. As part of the initiative to find out if they were reforming for a further push, he was sent from Dimapur with a 40-strong group of Gurkhas, to locate groups of Japanese forces, identify their strengths and their organised status.
Discretionary attacks on isolated Japanese groups were permitted (no prisoners to be taken), as was destruction of supply dumps. One particular Gurkha officer under whom James Gow operated was Major William Lindon-Travers, later to become Bill Travers, the well-known actor of Born Free fame.
Other
Force 136 played only a minor part in attempts to organise resistance in French Indo-China. This was partly due to American reservations over restoring the French colonial regime there. Also, the complexities of the relationships between the Vichy-leaning officials in Indo-China, and the rival Giraudist and de Gaullist resistance movements made liaison very dificult. SOE had few links with the indigenous Viet Minh movement.
Except for the island of Sumatra, the Dutch East Indies were outside South East Asia Command's area of responsibility. In 1943, an invasion of Sumatra, codenamed Operation Culverin was tentatively planned. SOE mounted some reconnaissances of northern Sumatra (in the present-day province of Aceh). In the event, the plan was cancelled, and nothing came of SOE's small-scale efforts in Sumatra.
Another branch of SOE codenamed Force 137 operated out of Australia in the other islands of the Dutch East Indies, and on Borneo.
Communications
Until mid-1944, Force 136's operations were hampered by the great distances involved; for example, from Ceylon to Malaya and back required a flight of 2800 miles (4480 km). Such distances also made it impossible to use small clandestine craft to deliver supplies or personnel by sea. The Royal Navy made few submarines available to Force 136. Eventually, converted B-24 Liberator aircraft were made available.
In Burma, where the distances involved were not so great, C-47 Dakota transport aircraft could be used. (V Force used Lysander liaison aircraft or even helicopters over shorter distances).
See also
Sources
- SOE, M.R.D. Foot, BBC Publications, 1984, ISBN 0-563-20193-2
- Jungle Fighter, John Hedley DSO, Tom Donovan Publishing Ltd, ISBN 1-871085-34-9
- The Jungle is neutral, Freddy Spencer Chapman, Lyon Press, ISBN 1-592281-07-9
- Burma: the longest War, Louis Allen, J.M. Dent and sons, ISBN 0-460-02474-4