Will Davies - Secret and Special

By Major General Paul Kenny, DSC, DSM

Whether it be from films, television, comics, or even as Dr Davies gamely admits in his preface to this vital work from books reread and cherished as a child, many of us have formed a view of the quintessential Australian soldier. This soldier is unassuming and willing to accomplish the most impossible of tasks with a minimum of fuss, against all odds.

The stories contained within Secret and Special are of talented but ordinary men who were thrust into the most extraordinary of circumstances. Each of their journeys is unique, representing the best of all of us.

It is hard not to be moved by the audacity and determination of Bill Reynolds, commandeering an abandoned Japanese fishing vessel and piloting it through the Rhio Strait, rescuing anyone he could find as he went. Nor that of Lieutenants Page and Jones, paddling as silently as possible through enemy waters and attaching limpet mines with a terrifying clang to the sides of warships, while hoping for a clean escape. Likewise the diligent and level-headed Sergeant Ellwood, soldiering on with an increasingly doomed mission on the outskirts of Dili, digging a pit to bury his diary and sensitive plans while hoping to evade the next patrol.

Those who served in the Services Reconnaissance Department and Z Special Unit from 1942 until 1945 operated in environments of extreme peril. They did so with feelings of fear, apprehension, the thrill of adventure, and ultimately a slow dawning of hope that they would see their secret missions through. When their country called upon them to do something extraordinary, they did. Often it was at the cost of their own lives.

In the finest traditions of what would become Special Operations Command of the Australian Defence Force we know today, they embodied our values of service, courage, respect, integrity and excellence and we are forever indebted to them.

The keen and carefully researched narrative that Dr Davies paints within these pages is, ultimately, one of heroism. Often heroism performed with the hard knowledge that few would ever hear about it, or understand, the secret work these men performed. Dr Davies also places these deeds in the context of centuries of warfare, highlighting that while the character of war may change constantly, its dark truth and nature never does. Dr Davies research allows us to share the private lives of these men, of whom so much was asked, and their families at home who shared the burdens of their service. I was deeply moved by the aftermath of the tragic Operation Copper, when Sapper Dennis honoured his commitment to his lost mates and visited their families to tell them what he could of their loved ones last moments.

As the Special Operations Commander Australia, who is humbled and privileged to serve in the Australian Defence Force, it is a striking reminder of why I serve. Im inspired by the Australian Defence Force values these men embodied. They were certainly different times, and yet our values remain the same. It is also a reminder that all of us in uniform ultimately serve to protect our families, our friends and the people we are fortunate to call fellow Australians. These men served to keep us safe, prosperous and free.

Dr Davies does us a significant service in bringing their stories, and the stories of their families and colleagues, to light.

This book had its origins in the mid-1960s, when, as a schoolboy, I read Ronald McKies book The Heroes , the story of the audacious Operation Jaywick raid on Singapore. This had been undertaken in late 1943 when a captured Japanese fishing boat, the Kofuku Maru , renamed Krait after the deadly snake, sailed from Australia to near Singapore where a group of operatives in kayaks paddled into Singapore Harbour and blew up Japanese ships. They then rejoined the waiting Krait and returned to Australia.

At the time, little was known; the files were still embargoed and the men whod taken part in the raid were bound to silence by the Official Secrets Act. But while some information had been made public about Jaywick and Krait , only the vaguest details had been revealed of the disaster of a similar operation in 1944, again on Singapore Harbour: Operation Rimau and the final execution of ten operatives just six weeks before the end of the war.

In 1988, I began working as the series producer on a four-part documentary series titled When the War Came to Australia for the ABC. Knowing a little of the Jaywick and Rimau stories, I decided to follow up with research at both the Australian War Memorial (AWM) and the National Archives of Australia (NAA) in Canberra. Armed with some file numbers provided to me by the Research Centre at the AWM, I put in an order to read some selected files at the NAAs Mitchell repository. Of the five or six I ordered, in the end two were withheld for some reason unknown to me at the time, but those I did see gave me a glimpse of the wealth of information, the rich history and the untold stories, that resided there.

As part of my research at the NAA, I also met and talked with a wonderful group of veterans who were clearing files from the Second World War. One area of interest I wanted to include, and something I was able to ask them about, were the mysterious beadles the men of the Volunteer Air Observers Corps but as they told me, the files of their service had vanished. I was able to confirm, however, that most of the operational files of the highly secret Services Reconnaissance Department (SRD) and Z Special Unit had been cleared and would be available at the NAA in due course. These organisations were the forerunner of todays Special Air Service and operated from 1942 until 1945 in the Japanese-held areas to the north of Australia. And as such, their actions and the danger of their missions has always fascinated me.