Operations against the Japanese

The Japanese occupation of Singapore did not run smoothly. On September 26, 1943, an Allied commando unit known as Force Z, led by Major Ivan Lyon, infiltrated Singapore harbour undetected and successfully sank seven Japanese ships, comprising over 39,000 tons.

Major Lyon led another operation against Japanese shipping almost a year later, codenamed Operation Rimau, sinking three ships. But Lyon and his men were discovered and after inflicting severe losses on the Japanese, he was killed, along with thirteen others. The other ten were captured and subsequently beheaded following a mock trial.

Another operation which took place before Operation Rimau was Operation Gustavus, led by Lim Bo Seng of Force 136, an anti-Japanese resistance fighter considered by Singaporeans today as a hero for resisting torture. Their mission was to set up an espionage network and gather military intelligence about the Japanese. This would allow the British to carefully plan Operation Zipper, an operation to liberate Malaya and Singapore. But Lim Bo Seng was betrayed by a fisherman named Chua Koon Eng, who revealed to the Japanese the location of the spies without even being tortured. Most of the men were captured, tortured and mistreated, and eventually Lim Bo Seng was killed. He never revealed any information of Force 136 while he was tortured.

No other operation took place in Singapore until Lord Louis Mountbatten ordered the British Army to retake Singapore, codenamed Operation Tiderace, after the Surrender of Japan. The commander of the Japanese 7th Area Army in Singapore, General Seishirō Itagaki, originally planned to resist the liberation fleet but surrendered without a fight.

Done by Daren Chan