Did the Americans condemn Scots soldiers to death?

THE Scottish heroes of an audacious commando raid on Japanese shipping during the Second World War were sacrificed by their American allies, a new book has revealed.

The 23-strong British and Australian force involved in Operation Rimau were wiped out when their mission to destroy boats off Singapore harbour using mini-submarines went horribly wrong.

Attacked by superior Japanese forces, the men fled to pre-arranged rendezvous points hoping that a British submarine lying off the coast would come to their rescue.

But the submarine never came and those who were not killed in action were captured and tortured before finally being beheaded.

Until now it has been assumed that the mission was doomed from the moment the Japanese uncovered it.

But a new book by two Australian journalists claims the Americans could have saved the men but chose to let the attack run its fateful course.

Declassified documents reveal that US codebreakers had deciphered messages from the Japanese during the battle, which proved the mission was in trouble.

Yet according to Peter Thompson and Robert Macklin, authors of Kill the Tiger, the Americans never passed the information on to the Royal Navy. They believe the Americans could have been trying to protect the fact they had cracked the Japanese codes - but that the US’s long-standing objection to the mission and frictions with the British were also to blame.

Led by Colonel Ivan Lyon of the Gordon Highlanders, a dashing cousin of the Queen Mother, Operation Rimau (the Malay word for tiger) was the largest behind-the-lines raid of the Pacific war. It was designed to show the world that Britain would reclaim her Far Eastern empire and avenge the fall of Singapore, which was overrun by the Japanese in 1942.

For the flamboyant Lyon, who bore a tattoo of a tiger’s head on his chest that gave the mission its name, it was also personal. He wanted to avenge the Japanese capture of his wife and son. He and his commandos had already struck a blow for Britain in September 1943 with Operation Jaywick, when they canoed into Singapore harbour and sank seven ships.

Lyon had been recommended for a Victoria Cross for his leadership of the operation and now he was just the man to lead a larger mission scheduled for October 1944.

However, the careful planning behind the operation quickly came unstuck when the Chinese junk the men were sailing in was approached by a boat containing four Malayan policemen.

One of the servicemen panicked and fired his gun, killing three of the policemen but leaving a fourth alive to raise the alarm. It was decided to scuttle the experimental mini-submarines to prevent them falling into the hands of the enemy. Already the Americans were aware that the mission was in difficulty but said nothing.

Against the odds, Lyon insisted the men press on with their objective of destroying Japanese shipping. Using canoes they penetrated the enemy’s shipping lines in the approaches to Singapore and placed limpet mines destroying three vessels. Infuriated by their loss of face, the Japanese instigated a massive search and destroy operation. Lyon and his comrades split up and fled to pre-arranged pick-up points, lying low during the day and canoeing at night to avoid detection by Japanese spotter planes and naval vessels. But, controversially, the British submarine Tantalus never arrived to pick the men up.

Macklin and Thompson believe American General Douglas MacArthur had no interest in seeing the British re-establish their Eastern dominion. He saw Operation Rimau as an imperial sideshow that should not detract from his triumphant return to the Philippine islands.

"The people around MacArthur were not interested in Rimau and saw it as an attempt by the British to re-stake their claim to a Far Eastern empire," said Thompson. "They knew that the operation was in trouble from intercepts of Japanese radio traffic. But the British and Australians were never alerted and rescue plans were not put into operation.

"It is clear that the mission’s controllers were not told by the Americans that the raid was in trouble. It may have been that the Americans wanted to keep their ability to crack Japanese codes a secret or that the in-fighting between various intelligence units had become so poisonous that communication between them was deeply compromised."

But Thompson also believes that rivalry between the British and American high commands in the Pacific was a factor.

The American silence meant the British and Australian commandos were on their own. Many of them chose a hero’s death. Lyon died fighting off the Japanese with fellow commando Bobby Ross for a remarkable five hours.

Another stand was made by sub-lieutenant Gregor Riggs, a 21-year old Scottish mini-submarine expert. Along with fellow Scot Colin Cameron he died in a hail of bullets putting up a last ditch defence behind stone barricades on an island beach. The second-in-command, a tough Scot and son of the manse, Donald Davidson, also fought to the end.

Two of the group chose to bite on their cyanide suicide pills rather than endure the horrors of capture by the Japanese. Others were tortured to death.

Ten - among them able seaman Walter Falls from Aberdeen - were captured and tortured. They were put on trial by the Japanese in July 1945 and were beheaded just weeks before the end of the war.

Even after their deaths, squabbling between MacArthur and the British prevented justice being done.

As the British steamed through the Straits of Malacca on August 19 to reoccupy Singapore, MacArthur ordered them to stop. When Lord Mountbatten, who headed the Allied South-east Asian Command, protested to MacArthur, he was told: "Keep your pants on."

Thompson explained: "MacArthur’s egomania for pomp, ceremony and publicity helped the miscreants to escape. He ordered that no landings could be made in any of the occupied territories, including Singapore, until the surrender document had been signed in Japan. This gave the Japanese several more days to destroy evidence, falsify reports and murder witnesses."