Since the end of the Second World War, the audacious Operation Jaywick has remained little known amongst the public or military in the United Kingdom. It was an incredible endeavour executed by British and Australian service personnel. The deepest surface waterborne penetration behind enemy occupied lines undertaken by special forces of WW2. This hand- picked band of men would achieve what some thought to be impossible, a major strike at the very heart of the Japanese in their newly acquired Empire in South East Asia. This story ranks and deserves the same acknowledgement as exploits such as the Dambusters or the Cockleshell Heroes.
In the words of British Generals and US Admirals and Commanders it achieved what everyone thought was impossible, without loss and with the minimum expenditure of resources. A terrible twist in the tale is that by not using the success of the mission as a propaganda victory, as had been intended by Jaywick’s commanders, a terrible price was paid by local Singaporeans who were scapegoated by the Japanese Secret Police. This is perhaps the reason that Operation Jaywick was never hailed with the success it truly deserved. The highly effective delivery of Operation Jaywick gave a green light to an even more ambitious endeavour from which no British or Australian personnel would survive, many being executed, beheaded by their Japanese captors.
The Tiger’s Revenge
is the story told by the son of a special forces crew member who was the only post WW2 British survivor of Operation Jaywick.