Description
Object description
Collection of photocopies of documents relating to Operation SEMUT behind Japanese lines in North Borneo (March – October 1945) including ts report (20pp, 1945, with pages 3 - 12 duplicated in larger type in an additional 11pp document) detailing the intention of the operation to establish an intelligence network in Sarawak, Brunei and Labuan ahead of AIF coastal landings and the non-military objective of preparing the population for the post war return of British rule, mostly describing activities of SEMUT I, the personnel involved, reconnaissance in the area (from January), parachuting into Borneo (March – April), mobilising the locals against the Japanese, training them in guerrilla activities, the change from their passive to aggressive position to combine with the Allied landings (9 June), which involved blocking the escape of the Japanese inland and actively attacking them (1 – 15 August), the eventual Japanese surrender in the area (29 October) and post war activities of mapping the area, and rounding up collaborators; ts extract (5pp, undated but seemingly written at the time) of diary of P Corrin, an American airman hiding out after having crashed in the Long Berang area (November 1944), referring to SEMUT I operations in the area and his contact with the party; Z Special Unit Association ts newsletter (4pp, September 1988) including an obituary of Lieutenant Colonel G S Carter DSO, party leader of SEMUT II, with a photograph of the men; together with photograph (seemingly taken at the time) of SEMUT I airstrip built to bring in men and supplies and evacuate the downed airmen; colour photographs of carved wooden memorial erected at Pungga Pawan Pass to locals and SEMUT operatives, Z Force contingent at ANZAC Day march (1988), Z Special Unit Memorial Stone and two of the Leyburn memorial to RAAF Z Special Unit Services Reconnaissance Department.
Content description
Collection of photocopies of documents relating to Operation SEMUT behind Japanese lines in North Borneo (March – October 1945) including ts report (20pp, 1945, with pages 3 - 12 duplicated in larger type in an additional 11pp document) detailing the intention of the operation to establish an intelligence network in Sarawak, Brunei and Labuan ahead of AIF coastal landings and the non-military objective of preparing the population for the post war return of British rule, mostly describing activities of SEMUT I, the personnel involved, reconnaissance in the area (from January), parachuting into Borneo (March – April), mobilising the locals against the Japanese, training them in guerrilla activities, the change from their passive to aggressive position to combine with the Allied landings (9 June), which involved blocking the escape of the Japanese inland and actively attacking them (1 – 15 August), the eventual Japanese surrender in the area (29 October) and post war activities of mapping the area, and rounding up collaborators; ts extract (5pp, undated but seemingly written at the time) of diary of P Corrin, an American airman hiding out after having crashed in the Long Berang area (November 1944), referring to SEMUT I operations in the area and his contact with the party; Z Special Unit Association ts newsletter (4pp, September 1988) including an obituary of Lieutenant Colonel G S Carter DSO, party leader of SEMUT II, with a photograph of the men; together with photograph (seemingly taken at the time) of SEMUT I airstrip built to bring in men and supplies and evacuate the downed airmen; colour photographs of carved wooden memorial erected at Pungga Pawan Pass to locals and SEMUT operatives, Z Force contingent at ANZAC Day march (1988), Z Special Unit Memorial Stone and two of the Leyburn memorial to RAAF Z Special Unit Services Reconnaissance Department.
History note
Cataloguer KM