When you’re surrounded by enemies and everything’s at stake, what would you choose: overwhelming
force or a cunning and subtle tactic?
Don’t answer too quickly!
After this story about a small ship that escaped an entire Japanese fleet by disguising itself
as a tropical island, you may change your mind.
Naval combat is a fearsome thing.
The only thing a crew can rely on is their ship.
Their destinies are intertwined.
If a ship is in danger, its crew is in danger too.
When the battle is already lost and they have a directive to retreat, saving their ship
is the highest priority.
The Battle of the Java Sea was nothing less than a tragedy for Allied Forces in World
War II.
They bought one day of preparation for the Dutch East Indies – Dutch colonies then
and Indonesia now – but the invasion of the Japanese force was inevitable.
The Japanese fleet had 4 cruisers and 14 destroyers – one of the most fearsome vessels in World
War II.
For comparison, the Allied fleet of Dutch, Australian, American and British naval forces
had only 9 destroyers and their cruisers had fewer weapons than the Japanese.
And not to mention the superior air force of the invaders – the notorious Imperial
Japanese Air Force swarmed the skies.
The Battle of the Java Sea started on February 27, 1942.
After 7 dreadful hours of fighting, the whole Allied fleet was destroyed, with just a few
lucky exceptions.
One of those exceptions was a small ship, HN-MLS Abraham Crijnssen.
It wasn’t exactly a battling force, with only one 3-inch gun and two 20-mm cannons
– not quite enough to face 14 destroyers, right?
It was a Dutch minesweeper serving at the shore of the Dutch East Indies.
When the outcome of the battle became obvious, the Abraham Crijnssen received its new directive
– retreat!
But where?
Japanese forces were everywhere!
The closest safe place was Australia; and that’s 1,000 miles (1,609 km) through waters
thoroughly monitored by the enemy […]. But an order is an order, and having a single
chance in a million is better than having none at all.
Four similar ships tried to escape, but soon it was the last ship standing, or floating.
With a top speed of 15 knots (28 kph = 17 mph) and its small but quite notable size,
there was absolutely no way of escaping the Japanese force.
Still, against all odds, this vulnerable minesweeper reached Australia in 8 days.
But how?
Well, it took one very clever and daring idea.
After dark, the captain ordered for the ship to be secured to the nearest tropical island.
Then the crew decorated the top of the ship with tropical tree branches and all sorts
of foliage.
The lower rear sides of the ship were painted gray to mimic the rocky shore.
After its tropical makeover, the ship continued on its way to safety.
But of course, a moving island 184 ft (56 m) long and 25 ft (7,5 m) wide wouldn’t
fool anybody, so it was only moving at night and floating all day near other tropical islands
it met on its way.
Radar scanning was only a rising technology in 1942, so Japanese ships had no access to
it, and the visual deception worked!
The Abraham Crijnssen is intact to this very day, docked at the Dutch Navy Museum, where
it was saved for preservation in 1995.
Disguising a ship as an island to avoid a fearsome foe is one thing.
Imagine disguising a tropical island as a heavily weaponized ship!
Now that would be awesome!
Well, something like this was implemented during World War II on a really big scale.
Set your imagination free for a moment.
What would your reaction be if you saw four soldiers lifting a tank with ease and moving
it away?
There’s a lot of evidence from people all around Europe, especially from France, who
saw just that.
Some of them even thought that American soldiers had some kind of superpower.
The truth was much simpler and equally as interesting.
This was the 23rd Special Troops in action, moving dummy tanks across the disposition
of an imaginary army.
They were called The Ghost Army and for a good reason.
Their first and main task was pretending to be a huge military force while, in fact, consisting
of only 1,100 men, arranged in four units.
Each of these units had a strict specialization, and each one of them was a virtuoso in it.
The first unit broadcasted fake radio transmissions to imitate chatter between different units
of an army.
The second one was all about those dummies.
Tanks made of rubber, planes from wood and cloth, fake jeeps and artillery – you name
it.
Their creations were so close to the real thing, they fooled the enemy into thinking
that huge Allied forces were gathering in their location.
The third unit was the combat engineering unit and the last one is probably the most
interesting of them all – the sonic deception unit.
It’s not enough to make a visual semblance of an army –it should also sound like an
army.
The sonic deception unit had it covered!
They played round-the-clock recordings of different sound effects: the clanking of machine
repair, the roaring of engines and even the random noises that a massive group of soldiers
would make.
The Ghost Army ran more than 22 deception operations.
Am I the only one who thinks that those guys deserve more movies to be made about them?
And speaking of movies!
Where’s the all-new Hollywood blockbuster about the Jaywick Operation?
This story is just insane!
Let’s return to Australia and talk about the revenge Allied forces took upon the Japanese
fleet… with just 14 men.
And only 6 of them were army officers, the other 8 people were just sailors.
They sank 6 Japanese ships without any firepower.
Rest assured, this raid was only a success because of careful planning with a good mix
of deception.
They used a small non-military vessel named Krait.
To save themselves from any suspicion they pretended to be Malay fisherman.
While, by today’s standards, dying your skin to look like another race can be depending
on the context, socially inappropriate, in the time of World War II it was a matter of
life and death.
And let’s not forget that those brave and slightly crazy people on the board of Krait
did even more than that.
They paid a lot of attention to what garbage they threw overboard.
If a ship carrying Asian sailors is leaving a trail of European trash – that would raise
the suspicions of Japanese naval officers.
Because of their meticulous attention to detail, the Krait’s trip to Singapore was almost
completely uneventful.
Under night’s cover, 6 Australian and British officers snuck mines onto 7 Japanese ships
and sank 6 of them.
During all this time no one even noticed the saboteurs, and they were able to return home
untouched!
Wow how sneaky, huh?
Which of these stories were the most interesting to you?
Let me know down in the comments!
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