Living in Newick
Lieutenant Harold Robert Ross (known as Bobby Ross), 'Z' special Unit, British Army, son of Irene and Thomas Spinks Ross (formally Lieutenant Colonel Indian Medical Service) was born in India.
His parents lived at Greenfields, Newick
Newick
'Z' special Unit, British Army
Z Special Unit was a joint Allied special forces unit formed during the Second World War to operate behind Japanese lines in South East Asia. Predominantly Australian, Z Special Unit was a specialist clandestine operation, direct action, long-range penetration, sabotage, and special reconnaissance unit that included British, Dutch, New Zealand, Timorese and Indonesian members, predominantly operating on Borneo and the islands of the former Dutch East Indies.
The unit carried out a total of 81 covert operations in the South West Pacific theatre, with parties inserted by parachuting or submarine to provide military intelligence and conduct direct action, irregular warfare (e.g. guerrilla warfare), long-range penetration, and special reconnaissance. The best known of these missions were Operation Jaywick and Operation Rimau, both of which involved raids on Japanese shipping in Singapore Harbour; the latter of which resulted in the deaths of 23 commandos either in action or by execution after capture
Operation Rimau
Operation Rimau was an attack on Japanese shipping in Singapore Harbour, carried out by an Allied commando 'Z' Special Unit, during World War II using Australian built Hoehn military MKIII folboats. It was a follow-up to the successful Operation Jaywick which had taken place in September 1943, and was led by Lieutenant Colonel Ivan Lyon of the Gordon Highlanders, an infantry regiment of the British Army. Lieutenant Harold Robert Ross was an initial part of Operation Rimau.
Originally part of a much larger operation called Operation Hornbill, the aim of Rimau was to sink Japanese shipping by paddling folboats (folding kayaks) in the dark and placing limpet mines on ships. It was originally intended that motorised semi-submersible canoes, known as "Sleeping Beauties", would be used to gain access to the harbour, however, they resorted to folboats. After the raiding party's discovery by local Malay authorities, a total of thirteen men (including raid commander Lyon) were killed during battles with the Japanese military at a number of island locations or were captured and died of their wounds in Japanese captivity.
The Operation
Lieutenant Bobby Ross and Special Unit Z, left their base in Garden Island in Western Australia aboard the British submarine HMS Porpoise on 11 September 1944. The submarine reached the island of Merapas off the coast of Pulau Bintan on 23 September 1944. Although the island was believed to be uninhabited, a periscope reconnaissance the following day spotted three Malays beside a canoe on the beach. To ensure that their stores would remain undiscovered by the natives, one of the officers from the Porpoise, Lieutenant Walter Carey, remained on Merapas as a guard. The rest of the party stayed in the Porpoise which moved off on the evening of 24 September 1944 to capture a native boat. It followed the Karimato Strait along the Borneo coast.
Capture of Mustika
On the afternoon 28 September 1944 the Porpoise stopped a junk from Ketapang named the Mustika off the west coast of Borneo near Pontianak. Seven commandoes boarded the boat and nine Malay crew were taken aboard the submarine. Twelve minutes later, Porpoise submerged with both vessels making their way back west towards a forward operational base at Pedjantan Island. Over the next two nights, 29–30 September 1944, the Rimau commandoes, the SBs, folboats and other stores were transferred from Porpoise to Mustika.
Once completed on 1 October 1944 the second conducting officer, Major Walter Chapman and Mustika's Malayan crew returned to Australia in HMS Porpoise. (The Malay crew would be transported to Fremantle where they stayed for the rest of the war.)
Return to Merapas Island
Mustika returned via the Java Sea and Karimata Straits to Merapas Island. The Rimau Commandos disguised themselves as Malays by wearing sarongs and dyeing their skin. The Mustika had no engine though so the commandoes were dependent on winds.
The Mustika arrived at Merapas on 4 October 1944. It appears Lieutenant Colonel Ivan Lyon, DSO, MBE decided to divide the party into two groups: 19 commandoes to take part in the raid, while four men would be left behind.
The Mustika then headed towards Singapore Harbour, reaching the vicinity of the harbour on or around 6 October 1944. It was thought to have been off the west coast of Pulau Batam. Pulau Laban is located at a distance of 11 miles from Keppel Harbour and was the intended forward point from which the attack was to be launched.
Contact with Japanese
On 10 October 1944, two hours before sunset and an hour before the raid was to commence, disaster struck. A coastal Malay Police patrol boat, the Hei Ho, challenged the Mustika near Kasoe Island and Samboe Island. (The Japanese had increased surveillance of the area since Operation Jaywick.) It is unclear why the patrol boat approached the Mustika – various theories offered included: the ship flew the wrong flag; it was a suspicious size; the sailors were identified as white men, and not Malays.
Shots were fired between the vessels – it was later deduced one of the Australian commandos aboard panicked and started firing at the approaching patrol boat. Some of the patrol boat crew were killed but at least one escaped and managed to get back to report the incident.
Lieutenant Colonel Ivan Lyon knew the patrol boat would seek help from Japanese occupation authorities and decided to abort the mission. He scuttled the junk with explosive charges. He then ordered his men to divide into four groups and make their way back to Merapas by use of the folboats that they had stored on Mustika. The groups were led by Lyon, Davidson, Page and Lieutenant Harold Robert Ross.
Attack on Singapore Harbour
Three of the groups headed to Merapas immediately. Lieutenant Colonel Ivan Lyon led his group into Singapore Harbour. It consisted of himself and a small force of six other men — Lieutenant Bobby Ross, Lieutenant Commander Donald "Davo" Davidson, Able Seaman Andrew "Happy" Huston, Corporal Clair Stewart, Corporal Archie Campbell and Private Douglas Warne.
They are believed to have sunk three ships with limpet mines, although evidence confirming this is limited.
The Singapore Garrison of the Imperial Japanese Army did unleash a punitive force of at least 100 soldiers led by Major Hajime Fujita including army, navy and native police to find the commandoes.
Battle of Soreh Island
On 15 October, five of the men (Lieutenant Bobby Ross, Lyon, Davidson, Stewart and Campbell) were on Soreh Island (Pulau Asore), a small island just off Pulau Mapur, near Pankgil Island.
A Japanese patrol caught up with them and arrived at the island at about 1400 hours and a gun battle ensued. The Z Special Unit withdrew to the western end of the northern beach, having selected two defensive positions in an unexposed area.
They ambushed the Japanese and their native auxiliaries. A gun battle ensued. Davidson and Campbell were severely wounded. Bobby Ross, Lyon and Stewart stayed on Soreh to hold off the Japanese in order for the wounded duo to escape. They held off around 80 opposing soldiers forcing them to fight for 9 hours and inflicting heavy casualties.
When darkness fell without a moon, the tide turned against the three Rimau men still alive on Soreh Island. The Rimau commandos tore into the cautiously advancing Japanese with deadly fire and exploding grenades.
Lieutenant Harold Robert Ross's death
Lieutenant Harold Robert Ross (known as Bobby Ross) died on the tiny island of Soreh on 16 October 1944, whilst fighting a rearguard action to assist the getaway of two injured members of the 'Rimau' party. Discovered by a Japanese landing crew, Lieutenant Robert 'Bobby' Ross - together with Lieutenant Colonel Ivan Lyon, DSO, MBE and Corporal Clair Stewart, and the injured Private Archie Campbell and Lieutenant-Commander Donald Davidson—engaged the Japanese in battle, killing and injuring seven. The remaining Japanese escaped. Knowing that the Japanese would come back in a matter of hours with reinforcements—and that there was no possibility of island-hopping to safety with two injured and exhausted comrades—Lyon made the decision to dose the injured Davidson and Campbell with morphine, and set them on their way towards the nearby island of Tapai, where other members of the Rimau party were known to be holed up.
Lieutenant Harold Robert Ross, Lieutenant Colonel Ivan Lyon and Corporal Clair Stewart set about creating rudimentary defences, taking into account the position of a Malay household. The danger of accidentally involving the occupants of the shack in the forthcoming battle led them to switch the position of their defences away from this location, a formidable task given that the tiny island was bereft of significant cover, and almost entirely indefensible in the daylight.
Ross and Lyon climbed a large Ru tree, having first equipped themselves with a massive amount of magazines and grenades. Corporal Stewart was positioned in a stone-lined ditch, about 30 metres (98 ft) to their left, together with a cache of grenades and ammunition for the Silent Stens that all three carried.
The Japanese returned two hours later, consisting of approximately 110 soldiers. For almost four hours, the Japanese suffered tremendous losses, unaware that their enemy was in fact firing from high above them, as well as being caught repeatedly by the grenades thrown by the unseen Stewart. At midnight, Japanese soldiers finally caught sight of the tiny muzzle flashes from the Silent Stens. Grenades were thrown above the branches;
Ross and Lyon fell down from the branches, killed by shrapnel. They had accounted for over sixty dead and wounded Japanese.
Lieutenant Harold Robert Ross Commemoration
Lieutenant Harold Robert Ross is commemorated at Kranji War Cemetery (plot 927, row A, grave 15) Singapore
