Operation Tiderace

Last updated

Operation Tiderace
Part of World War II
HMS Sussex signing.jpg
General Seishirō Itagaki signing the terms for the reoccupation of Singapore on board the heavy cruiser HMS Sussex. 4 September 1945
Date4–12 September 1945
Location
Result

Unopposed Allied victory

Belligerents

Merchant flag of Japan (1870).svg  Japan

Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom
British Raj Red Ensign.svg  India
Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia
Civil and Naval Ensign of France.svg France (Naval only) [1]
Commanders and leaders
Merchant flag of Japan (1870).svg Seishirō Itagaki  (POW)
Naval ensign of the Empire of Japan.svg Shigeru Fukudome  (POW)
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Lord Louis Mountbatten
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Robert Mansergh
Strength
77,000 infantry [2]
2 heavy cruisers
1 destroyer
2 submarines
60,000 infantry
7 escort carriers
2 battleships
1 heavy cruiser
2 light cruisers
15 destroyers
3 Royal Fleet Auxiliary
3 hospital ships
14 merchant vessels
43 landing ship, infantry [3]
Casualties and losses
300 suicides
76,700 captured
1 battleship damaged

Operation Tiderace was the codename of the British plan to retake Singapore following the Japanese surrender in 1945. [4] The liberation force was led by Lord Louis Mountbatten, Supreme Allied Commander of South East Asia Command. Tiderace was initiated in coordination with Operation Zipper, which involved the liberation of Malaya.

Contents

Background

With the Soviet invasion of Manchuria and an American planned invasion of Japan, South East Asia Command were also drawing up plans to invade Malaya, codenamed Operation Zipper. With over 100,000 Allied infantry, [5] the plan was to capture Port Swettenham and Port Dickson, and would involve an airstrike of more than 500 aircraft of the Royal Air Force. The assault was scheduled for 9 September 1945, but was forestalled following the Surrender of Japan on 15 August 1945. [6] Once the lodgement was secure, the Allies would have initiated Operation Mailfist, during which ground forces were to advance south through Malaya and liberate Singapore. [7] It was expected that Operation Mailfist would begin in December 1945 and conclude in March 1946. [8]

Operation Tiderace was planned soon after the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August. Emergency planning was put in preparation for the rapid occupation of Singapore at an early date should Japan agree to accept the terms of the Potsdam Declaration of 26 July. [9]

While Operation Zipper was executed ahead of schedule, it did so on a much smaller scale, having quickly transferred a proportion of its original strength to Operation Tiderace. The convoy consisted of about 90 ships, [3] which included two battleships, HMS Nelson and the French battleship Richelieu. [10] The heavy cruiser HMS Sussex served as the flagship. [11] HMAS Hawkesbury was the sole Australian warship during the Japanese surrender, escorting the repatriation transport Duntroon. [12] A smaller British naval force was given the task of liberating Penang under Operation Jurist, a component of the overall Operation Zipper.[ citation needed ]

There were a total of seven escort carriers: HMS Ameer, HMS Attacker, HMS Emperor, HMS Empress, HMS Hunter, HMS Khedive and HMS Stalker. [13]

The Japanese naval fleet in Singapore consisted of the destroyer Kamikaze [14] and two cruisers, Myōkō and Takao, both of which had been so badly damaged before that they were being used as floating anti-aircraft batteries. Two ex-German U-boats, I-501 and I-502 were also in Singapore. [15] Both were moored at Singapore Naval Base. [16] Air strength in both Malaya and Sumatra was estimated to be a little more than 170 aircraft. [17]

Return to Singapore

Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten signs the acceptance of surrender for Great Britain. Brigadier (later Gen.) Thimayya (future Chief of Staff of the Indian Army) is visible on the far left of the Allied table representing Indian forces. 12 September 1945 Official surrender Singapore.jpg
Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten signs the acceptance of surrender for Great Britain. Brigadier (later Gen.) Thimayya (future Chief of Staff of the Indian Army) is visible on the far left of the Allied table representing Indian forces. 12 September 1945

Operation Tiderace commenced when Mountbatten ordered Allied troops to set sail from Trincomalee and Rangoon on 31 August for Singapore. The fleet was not armed with offensive weapons as Mountbatten had good reason to believe that the Japanese in Malaya and Singapore would surrender without a fight: on 20 August General Itagaki Seishiro, the commander in Singapore, had signalled Mountbatten that he would abide by his emperor's decision and was ready to receive instructions for the Japanese surrender of Singapore. [18]

Japan's defeat had caught the Japanese Command in Singapore by surprise. Many were unwilling to surrender and had vowed to fight to the death. Itagaki had initially balked at the order to surrender and instead ordered the 25th Army (the component of the 7th Area Army defending Singapore) to resist when the Allies arrived. [18] There was even a secret plan to massacre all Allied PoWs on the island. [18] However, three days after the Emperor's announcement on 15 August, Itagaki flew from Singapore to Saigon to confer with his leader Field Marshal Count Terauchi, Commander of the Japanese Southern Army and all forces in South-east Asia. Terauchi prevailed over Itagaki who then sent his signal to Mountbatten. Newspapers in Singapore were finally allowed to carry the text of the Emperor's speech, confirming what many already knew from listening to All India Radio broadcasts from Delhi on forbidden shortwave radios. [18]

The Allies arrived in Malaya on 28 August, with a small portion of the fleet sent to recapture Penang as part of Operation Jurist. On 30 August 1945 a flight of 9 RAAF Catalinas landed in Singapore bearing medical supplies and personnel documents in preparation for the Japanese surrender and the liberation of the thousands of PoWs on the island. [19] [20] When Penang surrendered without resistance under Operation Jurist, the Allied fleet sailed for Singapore on 2 September, passing the Raffles Lighthouse at the Southern entrance to the Straits of Malacca. [21] The fleet arrived in Singapore on 4 September 1945, meeting no opposition. [18] However, the French battleship Richelieu struck a magnetic mine at 07:44 on 9 September while passing down the Straits of Malacca. She eventually limped into Singapore at 12:00 on 11 September. [22]

General Itagaki, accompanied by Vice Admiral Shigeru Fukudome and his aides, were brought aboard HMS Sussex in Keppel Harbour to discuss the surrender. They were received by Lieutenant-General Sir Philip Christison and Major-General Robert Mansergh. A tense encounter began when a Japanese officer reportedly remarked, "You are two hours late," only to be met with the reply, "We don't keep Tokyo time here." [21] By 18:00, the Japanese had surrendered their forces on the island. An estimated 77,000 Japanese troops from Singapore were captured, plus another 26,000 from Malaya. [18]

The formal surrender was finalised on 12 September at Singapore City Hall. [18] Lord Louis Mountbatten, Supreme Allied Commander of Southeast Asia Command, came to Singapore to receive the formal surrender of Japanese forces in South East Asia from General Itagaki on behalf of Field Marshal Hisaichi Terauchi, commander of the Japanese Southern Army Group who had suffered a stroke earlier in the year. [21] A British Military Administration was formed to govern the island until March 1946. Itagaki departed for Japan shortly afterwards to face trial and execution as a war criminal. [21]

Japanese reaction to the surrender

Itagaki had met his generals and senior staff at his HQ at the former Raffles College in Bukit Timah and told his men that they would have to obey the surrender instructions and keep the peace. That night, more than 300 officers and men killed themselves by falling onto their swords in the Raffles Hotel after a farewell sake party, and later, an entire Japanese platoon killed themselves using grenades. [18]

About 200 Japanese soldiers decided to join the communist guerrillas whom they were fighting just days before in a bid to continue the fight against the British. But they soon returned to their units when they found out that the MPAJA, which was funded by the Malayan Communist Party, did not plan to fight the returning British. [18]

Nonetheless, some stayed hidden in the jungles with the communists, and when Chin Peng and remnants of the Malayan Communist Party ended their struggle in 1989, two former Japanese soldiers emerged from the jungle with the communists and surrendered. [18]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hisaichi Terauchi</span> Japanese officer, war criminal (1879–1946)

Count Hisaichi Terauchi was a Gensui in the Imperial Japanese Army, commander of the Southern Expeditionary Army Group during World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South East Asia Command</span> WWII commanding body of Allied forces in Southeast Asia

South East Asia Command (SEAC) was the body set up to be in overall charge of Allied operations in the South-East Asian Theatre during the Second World War.

Sinking of <i>Prince of Wales</i> and <i>Repulse</i> December 1941 naval engagement in the Pacific Theater of WW2

The sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse was a naval engagement in World War II, as part of the war in the Pacific, that took place on 10 December 1941 in the South China Sea off the east coast of the British colonies of Malaya and the Straits Settlements, 70 miles east of Kuantan, Pahang. The Royal Navy battleship HMS Prince of Wales and battlecruiser HMS Repulse were sunk by land-based bombers and torpedo bombers of the Imperial Japanese Navy. In Japan, the engagement was referred to as the Naval Battle of Malaya.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South-East Asian theatre of World War II</span> Campaigns of the Pacific War in Southeast Asia

The South-East Asian Theatre of World War II consisted of the campaigns of the Pacific War in the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Indochina, Burma, India, Malaya and Singapore between 1941 and 1945.

Japanese cruiser <i>Myōkō</i> Myōkō class heavy cruiser

Myōkō (妙高) was the lead ship of the four-member Myōkō class of heavy cruisers of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN), which were active in World War II. She was named after Mount Myōkō in Niigata Prefecture. The other ships of the class were Nachi, Ashigara, and Haguro.

During World War II, Operation Zipper was a British plan to capture either Port Swettenham or Port Dickson, Malaya, as staging areas for the recapture of Singapore in Operation Mailfist. However, due to the end of the war in the Pacific, it was never fully executed. Some of the proposed landings on Penang went ahead as planned to probe Japanese intentions, encountering no resistance. The planned deception for this attack was called Operation Slippery, whilst a small Special Operations Executive team led by Tun Ibrahim Ismail which landed in October 1944 managed to convince the Japanese that the landings were to be on the Isthmus of Kra, 650 miles (1,050 km) to the north.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Japanese occupation of Singapore</span> 1942–1945 Japanese military rule over Singapore

Syonan, officially Syonan Island, was the name for Singapore when it was occupied and ruled by the Empire of Japan, following the fall and surrender of British military forces on 15 February 1942 during World War II.

Operation Culverin was a planned operation in World War II, in which Allied troops would recapture the northern tip of Sumatra from the Japanese. "Culverin" was a code name for "Operations against northern Sumatra / Malaya" and "First Culverin" was "Operations against northern Sumatra" alone. It was never carried out. Lack of resources prevented it being mounted as originally planned, and other events later made it unnecessary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of the Malacca Strait</span>

The Battle of the Malacca Strait, sometimes called the Sinking of Haguro, and in Japanese sources as the Battle off Penang (ペナン沖海戦), was a naval battle that resulted from the British search-and-destroy operation in May 1945, called Operation Dukedom, that resulted in the sinking of the Japanese cruiser Haguro. Haguro had been operating as a supply ship for Japanese garrisons in the Dutch East Indies and the Bay of Bengal since 9 April 1945.

Japanese destroyer <i>Shirakumo</i> (1927) Fubuki-class destroyer

Shirakumo was a Fubuki-class destroyer and the eighth in a class of twenty-four vessels built for the Imperial Japanese Navy following World War I. When introduced into service, these ships were the most powerful destroyers in the world. They served as first-line destroyers through the 1930s, and remained formidable weapons systems well into the Pacific War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Japanese occupation of Malaya</span> Empire of Japan military rule in contemporary Malaysia

Malaya, then under British administration, was gradually occupied by Japanese forces between 8 December 1941 and the Allied surrender at Singapore on 15 February 1942. The Japanese remained in occupation until their surrender to the Allies in 1945. The first Japanese garrison in Malaya to lay down their arms was in Penang on 2 September 1945 aboard HMS Nelson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matome Ugaki</span> Imperial Japanese Navy admiral

Matome Ugaki was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II, remembered for his extensive and revealing war diary, role at the Battle of Leyte Gulf, and kamikaze suicide hours after the announced surrender of Japan at the end of the war.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Military Administration (Malaya)</span> Postwar administration of Malaya before its independence

The British Military Administration (BMA) was the interim administrator of British Malaya from August 1945, the end of World War II, to the establishment of the Malayan Union in April 1946. The BMA was under the direct command of the Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia, Lord Louis Mountbatten. The administration had the dual function of maintaining basic subsistence during the period of reoccupation, and also of imposing the state structure upon which post-war imperial power would rest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Japanese Cemetery Park</span> Cemetery park in Singapore

The Japanese Cemetery Park is a Japanese cemetery and park in Hougang, Singapore. It is the largest Japanese cemetery in Southeast Asia at 29,359 square metres, consisting of 910 tombstones that contain the remains of members of the Japanese community in Singapore, including young Japanese prostitutes, civilians, soldiers and convicted war criminals executed in Changi Prison. It was gazetted as a memorial park by the Singapore government in 1987.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bombing of Singapore (1944–1945)</span> Military campaign conducted by the Allied air forces during World War II

The Bombing of Singapore (1944–1945) was a military campaign conducted by the Allied air forces during World War II. United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) long-range bomber units conducted 11 air raids on Japanese-occupied Singapore between November 1944 and March 1945. Most of these raids targeted the island's naval base and dockyard facilities, and minelaying missions were conducted in nearby waters. After the American bombers were redeployed, the British Royal Air Force assumed responsibility for minelaying operations near Singapore and these continued until 24 May 1945.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Kita</span> 1945 Japanese military operation in World War II

Operation Kita was conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during the Pacific War in February 1945. Its purpose was to return two Ise-class hybrid battleship-aircraft carriers and four escort ships to Japan from Singapore, where they had been based since November the previous year. The movement of the Japanese force was detected by the Allies, but all attempts to attack it with submarines and aircraft failed. Nevertheless, as a result of the intensifying Allied blockade of Japan, the Ise-class battleship-carriers and their escorts were among the last IJN warships to safely reach the country from the Southwest Pacific before the end of the war.

Operation Mailfist was a planned Allied offensive to liberate Singapore from Japanese occupation during World War II. It was intended to follow on from the landing in Malaya, Operation Zipper, and take place between December 1945 and March 1946. However, it was not conducted as Japan surrendered shortly before Operation Zipper was to have been launched. Instead, Singapore was re-occupied in the unopposed Operation Tiderace.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Jurist</span> British recapture of Penang following Japans surrender in 1945

Operation Jurist referred to the British recapture of Penang following Japan's surrender in 1945. Jurist was launched as part of Operation Zipper, the overall British plan to liberate Malaya, including Singapore.

The Yanagi missions, or more formally the Submarine Missions to Germany, were a series of submarine voyages undertaken by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during the Second World War, to exchange technology, skills and materials with Japan's Axis partners, principally Nazi Germany. These voyages had to run the gauntlet of the Western Allies naval superiority in the Indian and Atlantic Oceans; of the five westbound voyages, three arrived safely, with two submarines sunk en route, while of the three successful vessels only one completed her return voyage, with two sunk before reaching home.

References

Notes

  1. Sarnet & Le Vaillant, p. 330
  2. "H.M.S. Rotherham (H09)" . Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  3. 1 2 H.M.S. Attacker
  4. Park, p. 2156, para 360.
  5. Park, p. 2155, para 349.
  6. Park, p. 2155, para 351.
  7. Chant (2013)
  8. Warren, p. 297
  9. Park, pp. 2155–2156, para 358.
  10. "H.M.S. Cleopatra" . Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  11. "H.M.S. Sussex" . Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  12. HMAS Hawkesbury (I), Royal Australian Navy
  13. H.M.S. Hunter
  14. IJN Kamikaze: Tabular Record of Movement, Long Lancers, retrieved 12 June 2011
  15. IJN Submarine I-501: Tabular Record of Movement, Bob Hackett & Sander Kingsepp, retrieved 9 December 2009
  16. IJN Submarine I-502: Tabular Record of Movement, Bob Hackett & Sander Kingsepp, retrieved 9 December 2009
  17. Park, p. 2156, para 371.
  18. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "The real Japanese surrender" (PDF). The Sunday Times. 4 September 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 January 2008. Retrieved 9 December 2009.
  19. Agency, Digital Transformation. "Flying boats in the Second World War, 1939–45 | australia.gov.au" Archived 24 August 2017 at the Wayback Machine . www.australia.gov.au. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  20. Albert Minty, Black Cats: the real story of Australia’s long range Catalina strike force in the Pacific War, Solomons to Singapore, Cairns to the coast of China, RAAF Museum, Point Cook,1994
  21. 1 2 3 4 Forgotten wars: Freedom and Revolution in Southeast Asia, Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2007, ISBN   9780674021532
  22. Sarnet & Le Vaillant, pp. 331–334

Bibliography