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Part of Burma Campaign during World War 2

Operation Character was a Special Operations Executive (SOE) and Jedburgh operation that took place in Burma campaign in 1945 during World War II. 110 British personnel of Force 136 and over a hundred men of various Burmese ethnicities, supported by three-man Jedburgh Teams, mobilized 12,000 Karen people into five regional groups to fight against the Japanese in the Karen Hills. The presuppose was to support General Bill Slim‘s Fourteenth Army which was striking for Rangoon during the reconquest of Burma from the Japanese.

Following the defeat of the Japanese at Meiktila and Mandalay in March, the Karen irregulars harried the 50,000 Japanese attempting to withdraw through the hills. SOE also directed air strikes and providing close reconnaissance of targets for the RAF. Ambushes were made against Japanese forces in the hills attempting to reinforce the front facing Fourteenth army. ‘Character’ as whole proved highly effective, inflicting significant casualties on the Japanese forces and demonstrating the success of the combined SOE and local forces.^[1]

In Burma the Karens were the largest of the minority communities. Although many live in the Irrawaddy delta, the majority of the Karenni live in the mountainous and heavily forested tract along the border with Siam.

Following the retreat in in Burma in 1942 a few British army officers had been left behind in the Karenni as part of SOE section Force 136 headed by Colin Hercules Mackenzie in a hasty attempt to organise a “stay-behind” organisation known as the ‘Oriental Mission’. This force had operated in the South-East Asia region occupied by Japan had been created to encourage and supply resistance movements, and occasionally mount clandestine sabotage operations delaying Japanese advances in during 1942.

Operation Harlington was initiated in 1943 led by SOE British liaison officer, Hugh Seagrim who had stayed behind after the retreat. The Japanese made a ruthless punitive expedition into the Karenni in August 1944, where they knew a British officer was operating. To spare the population Seagrim, voluntarily surrendered himself to the Japanese and was executed along with several of his Karen fighters. Nevertheless, Force 136 continued to supply the Karen fighters.

By the end of 1944 the Fourteenth Army commanded Major General Bill Slim had commenced the reconquest of Burma in Operation Capital. From November 1944 Operation Extended Capital took place – Meiktila and Mandalay were recaptured by March 1945. Slim was also aware of the problems that the monsoon would bring him and he resolved to get to Rangoon much further South before mid-May in Operation Dracula.

An SOE Operation had begun codenamed ‘Nation’ which had been designed to facilitate the defection of the ‘Burma National Army‘ (BNA) from the Japanese to the British side. Force 136 had made contacts with BNA leader Aung San with the help of the Karens and Burmese communists. In late March 1945, the BNA paraded with the Japanese in Rangoon and marched out ostensibly to fight the British in Central Burma. Instead, on 27 March, the 7,000 men openly declared war on the Japanese and combined with Anti-Fascist Organisation (AFO) they rose up in a country-wide rebellion. Nation would be a huge success.

The Japanese commander General Heitarō Kimura realising this situation believed that his forces could hold up the 14th Army before the Monsoon. To support Slim’s advance SOE following on from the success of ‘Nation’ was tasked to raise the Karen levis. The American OSS meanwhile had launched their own clandestine campaign by attempting to raise the Kachins in the hills of north Burma to support the Chinese. Major Edgar Peacock was chosen to “train, plan and lead the Karens into their first action and show them how to do it.” Peacock had worked as a Forest Officer in Burma before the war, which included lengthy tours in the jungle and so knew the various tribes including the Karenni. He had successfully led P-Force in the Chindwin area having successfully led Karen levies from 1943 before being pulled out due to the Japanese Operation U-Go offensive in March 1944.

The SOE portion were trained in Ceylon under the direction of Peacock. Some men had previously served in Jedburgh teams, and others were Chindit veterans.^[5]

P Force became the nucleus for Character’s specific task were grouped into five distinct groups ‘Otter’, ‘Walrus’, ‘Ferret’ ‘Hyena’ and ‘Mongoose’.

• To keep Fourteenth Army informed about Japanese dispositions.
• To harass the retreating enemy, when called upon to do so.
• To keep under surveillance from the Karen Hills the road and railway running south from Pyinmana to Pegu.
• To observe the road from Toungoo in the Sittaung river valley through the Karen Hills and bring in reinforcements coming through the Karen Hills to Bawlake and Loikaw.
• To be prepared to oppose Japanese reinforcements coming up from the south or Japanese forces moving down from north and central Burma.

Character involved the parachute delivery of three-man teams into the Karenni to organise large-scale resistance. With airfields secured in the recent reconquered areas in Burma – C-47 transport aircraft could be used for resupply, but also Westland Lysander single-engined liaison aircraft could also be used over shorter distances and were able to land on smaller quickly cleared areas for makeshift runways. Peacock was part of the ‘otter’ team and was joined by Lieutenant Cromarty and Major Turrell.^[7]

In late February 1945, the three man teams jumped from C-47 aircraft and after landing began to rally the local Burmese Karen people. The ‘Character’ force was to only attack when ordered to do so in order to coincide with Slim’s Fourteenth Army attack Operation ‘Extended Capital’ – the strike for Rangoon. Weapons and officer reinforcements were flown in from India, and a sophisticated intelligence network was established across nearly 7,000 square miles of jungle-covered mountains.

The Karens responded in huge numbers, by March 28 a force of some 12,000 guerrillas, had been organised into the five groups.

Walrus, commanded by Tulloch, was the northernmost, its area lying north of the Mawchi road between Bawlake and Loikaw. Otter, commanded by Peacock, was responsible for both sides of the Mawchi road from the foot-hills near Toungoo to Bawlake. By 13 April Tulloch’s Northern group had some 2,000 guerrillas.

Hyena, commanded first by Turrall and then by Lieutenant-Colonel H. W. Howell (formerly with the Kailan Mining Administration in China), operated round Pyagawpu. The Japanese became aware of the parachute drops and sent out patrols to investigate. After interrogating villagers many of the Karens then hid their women and livestock in the jungle before the Japanese arrived. Turrall arranged for the group to establish a base on Mount Plakho whilst he led the remainder of the group set off to the town of Kyuakkyi in the Sittang valley known to have a large Kempeitai headquarters. On April 15, Turrall launched an attack on the town which was a success, killing some 40 Japanese and rescuing a number of Karens. Turrall was slightly wounded and a number of Karens were killed and wounded. Turrall continued to continue recruit and train the ever increasing flow of Karen volunteers.

To the east of the Hyena Zone near the Salween River the group under Major Roy Wilson found it difficult against the numbers of Japanese troops moving through the area. They achieved a successful number of ambushes against the Japanese but eventually Wilson’s group was dispersed by by aggressive Japanese and had to hide in the jungle.

Ferret was commanded by Major William Eustace Poles, in the Northern sector, under Peacock’s command.

Walrus and Otter saw most of the action in the early stages. The Japanese soon had learnt of SOE’s establishment at their base on the top of the 7,500ft peak Mount Sosiso. This stronghold overlooked the Mandalay-Rangoon Road and was attacked in March, by a Japanese Company some 180 men. After two days of failed attacks the Japanese withdrew after suffering heavy casualties, Peacock’s force lost one dead and five injured. Otter therefore had to limit itself to hit and run tactics for a while.

Mongoose, the last area to be formed, operated in the Papun–Shwegyin–Bilin area. It was commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel R. A. Critchley, a regular soldier who had served in the East African Campaign with Reginald Wingate.^[11]

On April 13, Slim’s force began their advance in the plains heading for Rangoon. They sent word to the Character team that the Japanese 15th Division were being sent down from the Shan States. There was now a race for Toungoo by the British and Japanese. The SOE and Karen forces launched devastating ambushes on this road to Toungoo, destroying truckloads of infantry, blew up bridges and laid booby traps, creating havoc amongst the Japanese who never reached Toungoo. As a result, the Japanese wre delayed for at least seven days and were forced to retreat along the Mandalay-Rangoon road to move from the hills into the plains.

The Japanese seeing the race to Toungoo lost planned to regroup and block the Allied advance on Rangoon. On April 23, 4th Corps reached the town of Toungoo, three days ahead of schedule. However, the monsoon had started earlier than expected which hampered further operations and air power was grounded. Character too was impeded nevertheless and limited patrols were conducted. Conditions cleared and the No. 221 Group RAF were able to strike on targets pinpointed by the Character teams. One of the most notable was the attack on the Rangoon-Mandalay railway station at Pyu where a Japanese troop train had just come in. Hurricane and Spitfire fighter bombers attacked in waves causing considerable damage inflicting some 1,000 Japanese casualties.

Rangoon was captured on 3 May with little resistance, the Japanese having retreated several days later.

After the capture of Rangoon, Karen resistance fighters continued to harass Japanese units and stragglers. Nevertheless XIV Army was not able support Character due to plans to recapture Malaya and Singapore. This frustrated Peackock, Tulloch and Co who now had to rely on just aerial resupply. The Japanese now intended to retreat to the Siamese border which meant that the Karen levies were sitting on all the major Japanese escape routes. The Japanese made another concerted effort to remove them from Sosiso in June. This time the Japanese used Karen levies and captured a number of outposts causing the loss of Sergeant Charlesworth – a blow to the SOE. The Japanese however were driven back and the outposts were retaken. A further issue arose in May as a shortage of supply-dropping aircraft and the poor conditions to fly during the monsoon threatened Character’s survival. By this time some 12,000 guerrillas had been activated multiplying the supplies needed.

Following the Japanese retreat from Rangoon remnants of Lieutenant General Masaki Honda‘s 33rd Army sought to escape to the east of the Sittaung River, and link with the Japanese occupation forces in Siam, the breakout attempt by the Japanese was attempted in July and August. The breakout fell much in Mongoose’s area, in particular the Shwegyin Chaung (riverbed) was the site of a particular crossing the Japanese had to advance over. Critchley had organised for such an event and with plenty of supply drops had some thirty Bren and Vickers machine guns lining some twenty miles of the eastern bank of the river. The Japanese fleeing east had an assortment of crossing type from bamboo raft and seized native craft. Being swept down stream by the strong current the Japanese would come across at least one of the machine guns posts and took heavy casualties. In one week the levies had killed or forced to drown some 900 men. Airstrikes were also called in adding to the damage. Walrus had also dealt a severe blow to Japanese attempts – in the Dawrawka area a five day battle developed. The Walrus team inflicted severe losses, and was the last action they fought. After this mopping up operations took effect – many of the Japanese had turned to Cannibalism due to severe hunger.

By the end of the operation combined Japanese losses to airstrikes and guerrilla actions were well over half of the 3,000 men trying to cross the Chaung and only a handful managing to get into the Pegu Yomas.

With the majority of Burma liberated, there were some Japanese now in isolated pockets. Fighting albeit very frequent carried on until the Japanese surrender on 15 August.

Once the Japanese surrender had been announced in August, SOE’s next task was to locate the pockets of Japanese in Burma cut off without communication. Despite information leaflets being dropped on these positions in mid-August advising of the Japanese Government’s surrender, fighting around Shwegyin and in other parts of the Karen Hills continued into September. Turrall volunteered to walk into known Japanese lines and advised of the surrender. He was not believed and was held, tied up and beaten for around ten days. Turrall was eventually released after pamphlets were dropped by the RAF with details of the surrender and Turrall’s name mentioned as Lieutenant-General Francis Tucker‘s personal representative. Following this a number of surrendered Japanese soldiers were used by SOE – flown in Lysanders and parachuted into areas to communicate the surrender.

On 13 September 1945, the remaining units of the once formidable Japanese Burma Area Army surrendered to the British.

Operation Character achieved dramatic operational effect at a low cost in terms of men and equipment by helping ‘to protect the flank of Slim’s XIV Army as it advanced into southern Burma. By raising the local population and operating in difficult terrain, the Character teams assisted regular forces by inflicting significant casualties upon the Japanese, as well as psychological damage. Character turned out to be the largest and most successful SOE operation of the entire war. During the Slim’s 1945 campaign some 2,000 British, Indian and Burmese officers and soldiers, along with 1,430 tons of supplies, were dropped into Burma for the purposes of providing intelligence and for guerrilla operations. SOE in this regards were not just intelligence gatherers but also worked in the same way that the Special Air Service (SAS) had done in northwest Europe the previous year.

Character as a whole had accounted for nearly 12,000 Japanese killed and wounded, many of which succumbed to disease. Peacock’s ‘Team OTTER’ guerrillas alone were credited with 2,743 Japanese troops killed, many more wounded and 94 vehicles destroyed. Following the Japanese surrender in August SOE sent out Westland Lysanders with Japanese troops who were to be parachuted into areas where Japanese troops were not in contact with their command. In all SOE took the surrender of 11,000 men all that remained of the Burma Area Army. Throughout their entire operation in Burma, SOE lost only 20 men killed.

Peacock received a bar to his Military Cross, and after the war he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for “outstanding courage and resource” in turning “a small hunted party into the controlling force” in his area of operations.

The lessons of Character were also telling – No. 221 Group RAF in particular was so impressed with Force 136’s intelligence that they proposed that when operations began in Malaya, at least one squadron should stand by to carry out immediate strikes when a mobile target was reported something that had not been done in Burma.

At the Panglong Conference in 1947, an agreement was signed between Aung San as head of the interim Burmese government and the Shan, Kachin and Chin leaders, the Karen however were present only as observers.

After the independence of Burma in 1948, in January the following year the Karen National Union rebelled against the Burmese government, and the Karen Hills saw more action. A number of SOE officers stayed behind or even returned to fight with the Karen to wage a guerrilla war against the government. Under the guise of the Karen National Liberation Army – they fought on until 1995.

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