Force 136 was a unit of the Special Operations Executive. special operations”) formed by the British during the Second World War, to supervise the maquis in the territories of Asia occupied by the Japanese and to carry out subversive actions there. It was made up of British soldiers or other allied countries.
But, because the British (David Smiley, Peter Fleming, Peter Kemp, Sydney Hudson, Christopher Blathwayt, Benjamin Hervey-Bathurst, Rowland Winn, George Musgrave...), Americans, French (Pierre Boulle, Jean Le Morillon , Jean Sassi, Bob Maloubier, Jean Deuve...), obviously cannot operate clandestinely in Asia, they are assisted by Asians (Subha Chin Svasti and Kris Tosayanonda in Thailand, Lim Bo Seng in Malaysia for example), trained by the SOE and forming resistance and guerrilla groups.
It is only once these groups are engaged in open rebellion that they can receive effective assistance from Allied armed forces personnel who know the languages and the people and who prove invaluable in liaison with conventional forces.
History
As early as 1941, the SOE prepared plans for operations in the countries of Southeast Asia occupied by the Japanese. As in Europe, after the initial Allied military disasters, the SOE established a special branch, which received the cover name of Force 136 in 1943. This branch was led by British officers and civilians.
British officers David Smiley, Peter Kemp, Rowland Winn, Christopher Blathwayt, Sydney Hudson, John Davies, Richard Broome, Spencer Chapman and French colonels Jean Le Morillon, Jean Sassi and Jean Deuve were members of Force 136. Bob Maloubier, also of Force 136, parachuted into Laos in August 1945.
Singaporean officer Lim Bo Seng (1909-1944), who enlisted and recruited many agents, is considered a national hero in Singapore.
Force 136 in Malaysia
From the fall of Singapore, the Kuomintang, withdrawn to Chungking, sought to unite the energies of overseas Chinese. This is how several hundred young Chinese from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong and elsewhere joined Chungkinq. After a severe selection, some are then transferred to British India to undergo intensive training (especially in the vicinity of Pune) with a view to infiltration into Malaysia.
From May 1943 to January 1945, 10 submarine landing operations (including a Dutch submarine rescued from the Dutch East Indies) infiltrated Malaya with about 50 Chinese liaison and intelligence personnel under the command of British officers . The first two operations were codenamed Gustavus 1 and Gustavus 2, commanded by Captains Richard Broome and John Davies.
The objective of the mission was to liaise with the maquis of the Malayan People Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA), the armed wing of the MCP, the communist party of Malaya, for the purpose of training, supplying arms and ammunition and funding. A formal agreement (Joint Action Agreement) was signed at Bukit Bidor camp at the end of December 1943 between Captains Davies and Broome and Chin Peng for the MPAJA. At the same time, it was about establishing an intelligence and espionage network in the cities.
The British infiltrated an equal number of officers and soldiers, mostly based in camps in the jungle, while the Chinese agents were based in the cities under various cover. The Chinese agents had the title of Special Chinese Liaison Agents.
Among the British officers disembarked, we can also mention Major Spencer Chapman (Freddie), an SOE officer who remained "behind the lines" after the fall of Singapore, and Captain Fenner. British officers remained in practice confined to jungle camps and had only a partial view of reality. It was not until early 1945 that a radio link could be established with the operational center in Kandy (Ceylon). Operations were overseen in India by Colonel Basil Goodfellow.
The Chinese leader (from Singapore) Lim Bo Seng landed in October 1943 and joined the camp at Bukit Bidor, about 50 km south of Ipoh.
Dissension within the Kuomintang teams and between Kuomintang and MCP Chinese seriously hampered the progress of the mission.
Liaisons with Allied submarines off Pangkor often failed.
Relations between British officers and Chinese agents were marked by mutual distrust.
Betrayals intervened. Leaks from MPAJA guerrillas, captured and tortured by the Japanese, put them on the trail of Chinese agents. Two of them, captured on March 21, 1944, eventually spoke.
The Kenpeitai and the Japanese counterintelligence service of Colonel Satoru Onishi managed on March 26, 1944 to dismantle the spy network and capture a number of agents, including Lim Bo Seng who perished under torture at Batu Gajah (10 km north of south of Ipoh) on June 29, 1944.
From February to August 1945, the British parachuted in 30 commandos made up of an equal number of Chinese agents and British soldiers. These commandos, in liaison with the MPAJA, greatly contributed to the defeat of the Japanese troops.
Force 136 in Malaya was awarded the "Malayan Command Service and Burmese Medal" by the British. The Chinese liaison officers of this force were demobilized in January 1946.
Force 136 in Indochina
In 1944, a French intelligence service was set up in Calcutta, the French Liaison Section in the Far East, which had an action service called the French Indo-China Section (lit. "French Indochina section"), headed by François of Langlade, which depends for employment on Force 136. of Force 136, and the execution center in Calcutta, India. From November 1944, the FIS began to parachute a limited number of commando teams, notably into Laos.
Most of the French officers in Force 136 are former BCRA (Central Intelligence and Action Bureau), the secret services of Free France, often Jedburghs such as Jean Sassi, Jean Larrieu. Others, such as Bob Maloubier, the future founder of the French combat swimmer corps, came from other sections of SOE.
Jean Deuve parachuted into northern Laos on January 29, 1945.
Jean Le Morillon will be parachuted into Laos on February 28, 1945.
David Smiley, a British officer, was parachuted into Thailand in May 1945 and participated with French teams in the evacuation of French civilian prisoners.
Jean Sassisaute over Laos on June 4, 1945.
Bob Maloubier was parachuted into Laos in August 1945 and was wounded during engagements with the Japanese.
Jean Larrieu, joined Bombay on April 23, 1945, and jumped to Luang-Prabang in Laos on September 18, 1945.
It is interesting to note that the missions after the Japanese coup of March 9, 1945 had a double objective:to fight of course against the Japanese forces, but also, and already, against the Viet Minh maquis, supplied by the Japanese in weapons seized from the French and also supported by the American OSS.
Force 136, dependent on the British South East Asia Command covering India and South-East Asia and the OSS, dependent on the nominal command of Chiang Kai-Shek, but effective American, on the China-Pacific theater, seem pursuing contradictory objectives. The United States no longer wanting to support the "colonial forces" (British and French) soon ceased all logistical support to Force 136. The last parachuted teams would be with equipment made "of bits and pieces", such as the pearly butt given to Lieutenant Jean Sassi for his mission in Laos; "It was a small gun for women!" he exclaimed.
Notes
In the film The Bridge on the River Kwai, the sabotage of the bridge is carried out by a commando from Force 316. In fact, it is indeed Force 136, the actors displaying on the sleeve of their uniform the crest of this special force. This is a "wink" from the author of the novel that inspired the film. Pierre Boulle, member of Free France, was himself a soldier of this special force.