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Oboe Six Opens CHAPTER 1 9 OBOE SIX OPEN S HILE the Japanese were launching their final, hopeless counter- W attack against the 26th Brigade in the hills above Tarakan town th e remainder of the 9th Division was landing in north Borneo . Its tasks were "to secure the Brunei Bay area of north Borneo, to permit establishmen t of an advanced fleet base, and to protect oil and rubber resources therein" . Brunei Bay is the best harbour on the north-wes t coast of Borneo . It is about 30 miles by 30 and pro- tected by a group of islands across the northern entrance, the largest being Labuan, a triangular piece of land with sides 8 to 1 2 miles long. Labuan town had a population, before the war, of 8,500 and possessed some port facili- ties ; the Japanese had made two airfields on the island. Except for about 1,500 yards of beach in Victoria Harbour (named Brown Beach for staff purposes) and a few small beaches MILES 100 1°0 MILE S elsewhere, the island was surrounded by reefs . On the mainland about 25 miles east of Labuan wa s the town of Weston from which a light railway ran north-east throug h Beaufort to Jesselton, 55 miles away, and at this time the site of th e headquarters of the XXXVII Japanese Army. The main network of com- munication was formed, however, not by the roads and railway but b y the rivers: the Papar, Klias, Padas, Trusan, Pandaruan, Limbang, Belait and Baram. At the southern tip of Brunei Bay was Muara Island, low-lying an d scrub-covered. On the south-east of the island were two beaches that were considered suitable landing places ("White" and "Red" Beaches) . On the eastern point of the Brunei peninsula near Brooketon were two mor e beaches ("Green" and "Yellow") that were suitable for landing craft . From Brooketon a road travelled to Brunei, a town of some 12,00 0 people, and onwards to the coast at Tutong, and thence, skirting the shore , to the oilfields of Seria, Kuala Belait and Miri . Inland from this road the coastal plain was often swampy ; a few miles from the shore the high , jungle-covered mountains began to rise . 454 OBOE SIX OPENS 1943-45 There were three main elements in the population of north Borne o apart from the Japanese troops and the Indonesians and other civilian s they had imported : the indigenous people popularly known as Dyaks, l who occupied the mountain country and parts of the coast ; the Malays ; and the Chinese of whom when the war began there were some 50,000 i n British Borneo . Most of these people and in particular the Chinese an d the Dyaks of the mountains were ill-disposed towards the Japanese, who had treated the townspeople harshly and had failed to reorganis e an economy that had been upset by the isolation of Borneo from its usual markets. The Japanese had conscripted many people as labourers and had bought food and other produce at low prices . Imports ceased, and the people, dependent on imported rice, in return for which they had formerly exported rubber, began to go hungry . Many Chinese buried their valuables and went farming . The inland people retreated farther into the mountains to get away from Japanese interference . In October 1943 Chinese, helpe d by Dyaks, carried out a well-organised rebellion, took Jesselton and hel d it until driven out by Japanese forces . This led to the execution of hundred s of Chinese by the Japanese, and to harsher treatment of the civilian s generally, with the result that many died of disease and malnutrition . 2 The mountainous interior of Borneo, peopled as it was by warlik e tribesmen who greatly respected the British and disliked and mistruste d the Japanese, provided suitable conditions for guerilla warfare and th e establishment of Intelligence parties. Long before OBOE Six opened small parties mainly led by British officers who had worked in Borneo befor e the war had been at large in the interior. Among the leaders that wer e to be in touch with the Australians was Major Chester 3 who, with others of the "Services Reconnaissance Department " , was landed from a sub - marine in British Borneo in October 1943 to report on shipping in th e sea lanes between there and the Sulu Archipelago, and send out other Intelligence. This they did with considerable success. Later Major W . T. Jinkins (who had escaped from Ambon after the capture of the 2/21s t Battalion there in February 1942) was also landed in east Borneo fro m a submarine to establish a coastwatching station . As an outcome of th e success of these ventures, Jinkins and 10 others were attached to the American submarine force to assist in the rescue of airmen, the evacuatio n of people from enemy territory, and close reconnaissance of shipping . Chester, who had been withdrawn in June 1944, was again landed i n Borneo on the night of 3rd-4th March, leading a party including thre e other officers and three N.C .O's. They were landed from the American submarine Tuna at Labuk Bay. Their task, like that of later parties , was to establish a base on the east coast of British Borneo, set up a nativ e Intelligence network, giving particular importance to information about th e "Dyak " is a derogatory name used by the other peoples of Borneo to describe several distinc t but related tribe s 2 See M . Hall, Kinabalu Guerrillas (Kuching, 1949) . 8 Lt-Col F . G . L. Chester, DSO, OBE ; SRD . Planter ; of Borneo ; b. Johannesburg, South Africa, 14 Jun 1899 . Died 18 Aug 1946. Mar-May GUERILLA PARTIES 455 prisoner camp at Sandakan, and ultimately to "organise such arme d resistance by the natives as might be authorised by G.H.Q." Chester's party, after establishing wireless contact with Australia, recon- noitred the coast and rivers in the Paitan River area in folboats, and soon Chester, who travelled 250 miles by folboat in this phase, had mad e contact with numbers of native people who knew him . About 10th April SOUTH CHINA . : ?hf Rana u .1esseltonl) 4. rPapar Omants Beaufort \Tenom e% BORNE O Lawas ° CD i __ nRES 100 00 y0 4o 20 0 IIX a new base was established at Jambongan Island, where stores were dropped on 20th April . On 3rd May a second group was brought i n including a Chinese medical officer . By 20th May several native guerill a forces had been established . A party under Lieutenant Harlem4 had moved into the interior and found an area for a new headquarters, and a native Intelligence network was in working order. Information sent out by the group had resulted in several destructive air raids . Chester wa s taken to Morotai by Catalina on 21st May to be interrogated by Intelli- gence officers, and it was decided to send a party into the Beaufort- Jesselton area . In consequence Chester and three others were "inserted" near Kimanis on 24th May. Another group, led by Major Harrisson, 5 a British anthropologist who had worked in Borneo, parachuted into an upland valley some 90 mile s south-east of Brunei on 25th March; a third, under Major Carter,° was 4 Lt D . A . L. Harlem, SX1719. 2/48 Bn and "Z" Special Unit . Clerk ; of Adelaide ; b. St Kilda, Vic, 31 Aug 1920 . s Maj T. H. Harrisson, DSO, OBE ; SRD . Anthropologist : of London ; b . 26 Sep 1911 . • Lt-Col G. S . Carter, DSO ; SRD. Surveyor ; of Brisbane ; b. Auckland, NZ, 20 Apr 1910 . Carter had been an oil surveyor in Borneo. 456 OBOE SIX OPENS 1945 inserted farther south in the Baram River basin on 16th April ; and a fourth under Major Sochon7 on the Rajang River in southern Sarawak . These groups, when reinforced, were each up to 50 strong, mostly Australian. In Sarawak Harrisson was given a warm welcome and during his firs t day more than 500 natives had collected round him . This party establishe d a headquarters in the mountains . After reinforcements had landed h e had seven parties in the field and some 300 rifles had been distributed t o natives in the river valleys from the Limbang in the west to the Bahau . In each valley a European with 15 to 25 locally-recruited " regulars" controlled a varying number of guerillas. By July the several parties ha d the support of more than 1,000 armed natives. An airfield was cleared i n a valley in the interior and aircraft landed with men and supplies .° News had reached Australia of the desperate situation of the prisoner s of war in Borneo and the A .I.B. parties were given the additional tas k of examining the possibility of rescuing them . One such party under Flight Lieutenant G . C. Ripley, R.A.A.F., was put ashore in the Ranau are a on 23rd June and at length it collected four escaped prisoners—four of the only six survivors of 2,512 who had been at Sandakan.° The Japanese garrisons in Borneo were part of the XXXVII Army (Lieut-General Masao Baba) and were believed to include the 56th Independent Mixed Brigade in north Borneo, the 71st Independent Mixed Brigade in south Borneo probably with headquarters at Kuching, and per- haps the 25th Independent Regiment at Jesselton. There were indications that the north-eastern tip of the island was being evacuated and a genera l westward movement of troops was in progress.
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