ACTIVITIES OF ALEX HAWKINS  IN Z SPECIAL UNIT. 1944/45

My original unit: was 2/21 BN which was lost at Ambon; from where I escaped. Initial training at Fraser Island, Queensland, then sent to Mt. Martha, Victoria for special training for Folboat attack on Shell Oil Refinery on islands south of Singapore harbour. This operation was to be known as "Panther" but was called off after Rimau failed. Following this training, I Joined "Politician" under Major Bill Jinkins operating out of Naval Base camp near Rockingham, south of Perth, W.A.

My first operation was Politician 3rd Patrol with Lt. John Sachs as party leader on USS Bream in December, 1944. The patrol area of the Bream was the Java sea entering through Lombok Strait, the Straits of Makasser and the South China sea including the Anambas Islands and the Great Natuna Group with the Patrol extending North East toward Palawan. We had no specific task but "targets of opportunity". On leaving Perth, we headed to Exmouth Gulf (Potshot) for fuel top up then direct to Lombok Strait.

Submarines don't carry passengers, and we were no exception. We took our turn on watch - 4 hours on, 4 off - 2 hours of the watch were spent on Deck, the second 2 hours decoding in the ward room, where we also slept. In the event of action our job was to take photographs through the second periscope.

My first taste of action came on Xmas Eve, 1944 as we approached the entrance to Lombok Strait at dusk. Due to the very strong tide rip in Lombok it had to be negotiated on the surface and I happened to be on deck watch at the time. The Japanese had a battery of heavy guns covering the strait and we came within range before it was dark enough for cover. -The first thing I knew were great spouts of water springing up around us. The captain wisely decided to retire to a safer distance and wait for darkness. The best part was the Captains statement that as it was Xmas Eve we would "Splice the Mainbrace" normally unheard of in the US Navy. They are dry ships. Our joy was short lived. We got half a medicine glass of Cavalier whisky each and that was that.

Whilst approaching Makasser Strait, we sighted a floating mine. We first brought a rifle on deck in an effort to explode it, whilst I stood by with camera poised to capture the explosion for posterity. The rifle fire being to no avail a Browing 30 cal. machine gun was mounted on its bracket on the conning tower. This again had no effect, so the next move was to get the Oerlikon Deck mounted heavy machine gun on the job. This meant opening the ammunition lockers on deck at the base of the conning tower. At this stage there were a good number of bodies on deck, 3 lookouts, 2 watch officers, myself with camera, 3 gunners. Just as the Oerlikon went into action one of the lookouts yelled "Aircraft coming in fast"! The diving alarm was immediately sounded, the gunners down on deck dropped everything and leapt for .the conning tower whilst the rest of us went down the hatch standing on the head of the one below. When clearing the deck under these circumstances you grab the outer rail of the access ladder, place your feet out on either side of the vertical tubular supports and slide using your grip on the side supports to control your descent - there's no time for fancy ladder climbing.
We did a crash-dive and sounded before the enemy got within range.
Eight men down a 30" diameter hatch in seconds flat. There was a lot of work to do later, drying out ammunition lockers and contents and the guns, which were all left to take their chance.
As a point of interest, the American submariners were fine chaps and very competent, particularly with under water navigation.
Later on in this patrol, in the South China sea, we came across a small island called Itu Aba on which it was believed that the Japs had a radar station. It was decided that this would be a good target for Sachs and Hawkins to have a go at. During the afternoon we spent some time making a careful periscope recce to decide on approach and landing areas. We sighted two large towers which looked like a target and we decided to go in that evening. We proceeded to prepare charges and get all our gear laid out ready for passing out of the forward torpedo hatch for assembly on deck during the final submarine approach.
The beam of a folboat is greater that the diameter of the hatches on the fleet type submarines, therefore, it was necessary to assemble the boat on deck. All the pieces being passed up to the assembler in the correct sequence.
The twin seat folboat is approximately 16 feet long and is made up of plywood frames notched around the edges to accommodate ½" wooden doweling fitted with brass joining sleeves. When the frame is assembled, a skin of rubberized canvas is stretched over making a very efficient kayak. We could assemble a folboat very quickly in complete darkness.
In this instance, I was assembling and John was passing the gear up as we approached our launch area. I had the frame half assembled when all of a sudden the diving alarm was sounded. I immediately made a dash for the forward torpedo hatch only to find it had been slammed the moment the alarm sounded. I then, very quickly, clambered up into the conning tower to find another closed hatch.
At this point of time, a number of different thoughts were flashing through my head, not the lease being that it would be nice right now to be sipping a cold beer in Perth. It must have been realised quickly that I was still on deck, as the sub did not submerge. This was most unusual, as normally the vessel would not be risked for one body, particularly an expendable one. The cause for the alarm was a radar ping we received on our approach. As we consequently found, the Japs could not have identified us as a menace otherwise they would have had a reception party awaiting our landing.
The palpitations having subsided, we completed the assembly of the Folboat and continued in to our launch point while the executive officer Lt. Commander . Gordon Nickodemus gave us star sights to follow in and out. We had allowed three hours from landing to return to our hidden folboat. On the approach to our selected landing point we passed through a patch of white water which must have been a reef, as we cut a small hole in our rubber skin which at that time we didn't notice. Having made a fairly easy landing we carried the boat inshore across a substantial tank ditch and hid it carefully and then proceeded under cover of the scrubby timber towards our target about a mile along the coast. On approaching the target, we came to a series of stone fences enclosing small areas. We used these to cover our final approach. To our disappointment we found our target consisted of two stone towers, which appeared to be used for grain stores. At this point, I found my Luger pistol was missing and John waited while I retraced my tracks and found it where we had crossed one of the stone fences. It is surprising how naked I felt without it.

Having decided that we had missed our objective, we scouted deeper into the jungle along a pathway in the hope that we would come across something worth placing our charges on. Time was running out if we were to keep our R.V. with the submarine. At this time John decided to have a smoke, which to my horror he proceeded to do. Strange cigarette smoke can be detected at a considerable distance.
We squatted down just off the track, while he smoked, and decided that it was time to return. After the bad start with the diving alarm, the general nervous tension which I imagine we all suffered at these times, and finally John smoking, I was quite happy to retire.

We had no trouble returning to our hidden boat or launching it in a rising sea, but when we were some half mile out, we found we were making water which we had at first put down to the launch in the surf. It got deep enough to put our radio battery out, this was situated under the seat of the rear paddler. We had hoisted our Radar Reflector and had been trying to contact the sub in order that they could direct us in to the R.V. by using their radar. The radio's we used at this time were ATR4A*s with a range of up to 500 miles in favourable conditions. With both radios on the same frequency we should have had no trouble but our wet battery fixed that for us .
John then decided to stand up in the boat and flash his torch in the general direction of our R.V. To stand up in rough water in a folboat is no mean feat and we were lucky to get away with it. In the mean time the sub had picked us up on radar and was coming in to us "hull down", that is partly submerged with just the conning tower out of water to make a smaller target. They picked up our torch flashes and as they neared us they blew their tanks and surfaced fully . It's rather hard to judge distance over water at night and when they surfaced the bow came up very close to us like a three storey building rising out of the sea - another fright in a frightening night. We paddled around to the lee side in order to get into quieter water and pick up a line from the sub. Just as we took the line a large wave picked us up and deposited us on the deck. I managed to get my waist cord undone and get out whilst John was having problems with his. Before he could get clear another wave washed John and canoe back over-board. How we got John back on board is still not clear in my mind but we did it and unfortunately lost the folboat and all our gear. We still had a back up folboat for any further operations. So ended my first operation. What a night!

We had an uneventful trip back to Perth, until we docked at Fremantle and we had to get out "illegals" past the guard post at the entrance to the docks. We had no passes for them so I formed them into a squad marched them past the guard and mumbled something about a working party. The ruse worked and we put them into a waiting truck and they were whisked away and I never did find out what happened to them.
On returning to Base I found out the reason for the message to the Brill for us to abort our mission.
John Sachs with a new partner, Cliff Perske, a new recruit to Politician, had sailed on Politician's 8th. Patrol only a few days before we had left Perth. They were once again on the Bream. While on patrol in the Java Sea they intercepted an enemy convoy. It appears that the Japs were alerted to the danger of attack and took refuge in an anchorage at Great Masalembo Is. It was decided that the convoy at anchor would be a good target for a folboat attack. From subsequent reports it appears that John and Cliff got off course on their approach to the convoy and were picked up by the Japs. This led to a heavy attack on the Bream which was lucky to survive the subsequent depth charging.
This operation put paid to our Politician Party association with the American Task Force 71.

Following the demise of Politician our party moved across to Brisbane for re-equipping. Our final destination was to be Labuan from where we would be carrying out various missions in Sarawak, Borneo. The operation was code named Semut IV A. I was involved in three sorties namely:-
Semut iv A 1st. sortie,
This was to make contact with an Iban longhouse, Rumah Manggau, on the Similajau river with the intention of using it as a base for a further intelligence gathering sortie covering Bintulu.
This Sortie was led by Lieut. Bill Chaffey. The other members were Lts. Alex Hawkins, Hugh Ellis, Tom Muirson, Mr. Harry Buxton .
The party was transported by American P.T. Boat to the entrance of the Sungei Similajau. Following a successful launching the party proceeded up river in folboats with the intention of locating Rumah Manggau, it was not certain just how far the village was from the river mouth. After paddling for some hours we heard a strange noise, which we could not identify so it was decided to back off until daylight and make a fresh approach. When we reached the area of the strange noise in daylight after a careful final approach we felt a little silly- the noise was made by a bough hanging in the water and being bent back by the current then sweeping back out of the water. Shortly after this we came across a small hut near the riverbank and made contact with the villagers of Rumah Manggau. We were very glad to get out of the boats and stretch our legs.
Harry Buxton was a great help to us when making these first contacts as he had previously worked in the timber industry and knew the area fairly well, being a Eurasian he helped to break down any early suspicions the Ibans may have had.
Having made our initial contact we returned to Labuan and prepared stores for the next sortie.

Semut IV A Second Sortie.
This Sortie was led by Lieut. Alex Hawkins. The other members were Lts. Hugh Ellis, Tom Muirson, Sig. Susans, Mr. Harry Buxton.
The Party this time travelled by FELO work boat and used a rubber boat to transport the large amount of stores whilst the first two went in by folboat. (see attached operation orders and stores list etc)
The object of this operation was to travel up the Similajau to the Sibiu river and Rumah Ugon then move on to Sebauh and collect intelligence on the Bintulu area where there was an airfield and reportedly about 300 Japs.
On reaching Rumah Ugon the party was recalled to the Similajau to receive replacements. Lts.Dodds and Walne and Sig. Vincent replaced Lts. Ellis and Muirson and Sig. Susans. The instructions were to pursue our original intention.
The party set off once again up the Similajau to the Sibiu and Rumah Ugon. It is interesing to note that whilst the terrain was extremely mountainous and the maps we had were almost useless, often not even showing contours, the native carriers were generally on the ball, although at times they had to cast around to find rarely used trails. At other times we would come across areas where the natives had cleared areas for planting rice. They simply felled trees and left them where they fell.
To negotiate, these so called clearings it was necessary to climb along a felled trunk which was pointing somewhere in the desired direction then change to the next trunk and so on until you were clear of the area.
On this section of the trip we had a funny experience with our signaller, Ray Vincent. We used the American hammock, which was most suited to our purpose having a water proof top with mosquito netting all round and suspended by ropes tied to convenient trees, this kept one above ground and the leeches.
When travelling in company with the Ibans we lived as closely as possible to their system, eating rice cooked in bamboo tubes with small fish caught in the stream near which we had selected our campsite for the night. After our meal the Ibans would dispose themselves around the perimeter of the site as sentries and we would yarn until time to crawl into the hammock.
This night we had been discussing the fate of one of our groups in New Guinea who had camped as we were and they had been jumped by a Jap patrol and cut to ribbons before they could get out of their nets. We generally had to cut down small bushes between the two trees selected to tie the hammock between. This was done simply by slashing them off just above ground with a parang.
Nothing more was thought about the subject of the patrol who had been caught until the middle of the night, when there was a hell of a commotion. Needless to say we were out of our hammocks very smartly, all except Cpl. Vincent who was on the ground well and truly trussed up in his netting and hacking away furiously with his knife to free himself. He had neglected to tie his hammock ropes securely and he had been let down forcibly on the sharp ends of the cleared scrub. His first thought was Japs!!
We always slept with pistol and knife in the hammock. The Ibans were a happy lot and we got along well with them - they had a good sense of humour and loved a joke.
When living with them in the longhouse they would arrange a concert with dancing accompanied by music from brass cymbals and log drums. The dancers would portray a fight with parangs or dance in and out between two poles clapped together in time to the music and held just above the floor.
The whole community would turn out on these occasions and the long-house would really get a shake up. A lot of Tuak, native rice wine, was consumed on these occasions.
After leaving the Similajau and travelling across some pretty rough mountain country we reached Rumah Ugon on the Sibiu river where we decided to rest a day or so, Stan Dodds had malaria badly.
At this time there had been a lot more Jap air activity than usual. Just before we arrived at Rumah Ugori we decided to wash up in the nearby stream so we all stripped off and soaped up. When we were about to leave the water we found the whole village standing on the bank, women, children and the village men all looking with much amusement.
Just after arriving at Rumah Ugon a Jap plane flew over with a long banner streaming out behind and we were informed on our radio that day that an Atom Bomb had been dropped on Japan and that their surrender was imminent.

On hearing this news we decided that L.C. Waine should take a couple of natives and push on to Sebauh to make contact with our other Semut Patrol, whilst we would follow with Stan Dodds as soon as he was fit enough. Co travel. A day or so after John Waine had left it started to rain heavily and we received a message to get our radio code book and signaller to Sebauh as quickly as possible, I decided to leave Stan Dodds to follow on as best he could and headed off with the Sig. and some natives. Water was lapping at the supports of the Longhouse and the creek in which we had been caught soaping up had disappeared in a great expanse of foaming muddy water. There was nothing for it but to make sure the code book was well protected in a waterproof bag and walk out into the water. We spent the whole day in water varying at times from our ankles to over our heads as we forded streams, which could not be seen until we walked in.

The possibility of tangling with a snake was ever present, there were plenty in there with us. We eventually walked out and obtained a couple of canoes in which we followed a series of waterways until next morning we reached Sebauh where we re-united with John Waine, Bill Chaffey and a number of our other people, I met up here with Lester Roylewho had been a N.C.O with me in the 5Bn, Victorian Scottish Regiment pre-war.
We then prepared a couple of prahu's,fitted with Bren guns in preparation for our movement down stream to Bintulu, In the meantime Lt. Royle moved down stream and set up a standing patrol to keep an eye on any Jap movement. When we arrived at Bintulu and made a recce, of the airfield and town we found the Japs had already evacuated down the coast towards Mukah and we beloved were headed for Kuching where it was reported they were assembling prior to surrender negotiations. About the time Semut IV A entered the Similajau, Semut IV B was sent into Mukah under Lt. Rowan Waddy who was a great friend of mine. We had lost contact with him and feared he may have come to grief with the influx of Japs heading down the coast.
It was decided that I should take a patrol of four native troops and try to contact Waddy.

We left Bintulu in a native sailing prahu with one of the local natives sailing it. After the first day he decided that he had gone far enough so we then took to the land. We knew that there were a lot of Japs also using this route so proceeded with caution. We must have been lucky as we never encountered any, maybe we were in the middle of two groups and all moving a the same speed.
As our people at Bintulu hadn't heard from either myself or Waddy they were concerned that we might both have copped it. We eventually reached the vicinity of Mukah and at the mouth of the river as we walked over a sandy stretch a bad smell was evident, so we proceeded to trace the source and found a corpse partly buried in the sand. It was well bloated and minus head and genitals and naked. We guessed there had been a skirmish and it appeared the corpse had been a Jap so proceeded cautiously.
On arriving in the town the natives told us that a number of Japs had been seen in the vicinity and Waddy had evacuated the town with Mr. Brodie and a group of Ibans under Penghulu Belaja. During the evacuation they came across a party of three Japs, one of whom was reputed to belong to the Kempei Tei. The Japs fired on the party and would not surrender when called upon to do so, they then retreated to the beach area amongst a lot of fallen logs and continued the engagement so Waddy opened up with a Bren and cut the log and Jap to pieces. Of course the Dayaks finished the job. Not many years before these people had been headhunters and old habits die hard. In fact we had unofficially legalised head hunting, for Jap heads only. Unfortunately the Dayaks seemed to have difficulty differentiating between Japs and Chinese. The reason for this appeared to be that the Chinese population, which is quite numerous, were traders, whilst the Dayak was an itinerant to a large extent and always seemed to be the poor relation. The balance of wealth accumulating in favour of the Chinese, So the Dayak found head hunting good sport as well as a means to clear up old grudges.

Quite often while living with the Dayaks one would see a head suspended behind the cooking fire slowly dripping fat or whatever and being smoked to a shriveled appearance. The majority we assumed were Jap.
Following the Kempei Tei episode, Waddy and party retired up river. When we found Mukah to be clear I sent a message up river to Waddy to the effect that I had his beer ration and if he didn't get back quickly. I would drink it! He got back on the double.
During this period Belaja wanted to tattoo both of us to commemorate our activities and bond the three of us as blood brothers. The Dayaks have a very fancy tattoo, amongst others, starting at the chin and extending down the throat to spread out over the chest. We were both horrified at the thought of going out to a dinner party back home in white tie and tails sporting this fancy tattoo and eventually talked Belaja into a simple three dots on the left wrist representing the three of us which we could hide under a wrist watch. The tattoos were applied by means of a flat piece of bamboo similar to a school ruler with a split at one end in which were fixed three or four sharp bamboo needles joining at the points, the needles were dipped in a mixture of ashes, water and the sap of some plant, then heated over the fire. Then the ruler was tapped with another stick, the needles penetrating the skin and depositing the die. A sore formed for a few days then when healed revealed the tattoo.
The blood brother ship bond is taken quite seriously and on a trip back to Borneo a few years ago my wife and I met up with Belaja, the first thing he did was to grab my wrist and check my tattoo. When Waddy and party came back down river to collect his fictitious beer ration we had quite a re-union. We made contact with our Labuan base and it appeared that I had been given up for lost as a party of several hundred Japs had been reported following me down the coast and our people thought l was a goner.

Referring back to the attitude of the Dayaks to the Chinese we had a funny experience on a patrol from Mukah to the Oya area following our meeting with Waddy. We came across a Chinese village, which had just been vacated by the Japs. We had paddled across a river to this village and as we were walking down the only street with the welcoming crowd there was a series of sharp explosions, Waddy and I took to cover very smartly thinking we had walked into an ambush, however it was only the beginning of festivities with fireworks! The Chinese headman led us into a large house and we were seated at a long table. The Dayaks dispersed themselves around the village as sentries, except for Belaja who remained watching our hosts who he didn't trust. When we entered the room we removed our pistols and belts and hung them on pegs on the wall. Once we were seated, Belaja took our pistols off the wall and pointedly hung them over the backs of our chairs as if to say, "You might trust the Chinese but I don't". Then he retired to his post at the door.
After sixteen courses with a small glass of Chinese whisky between each course we somehow managed to get our selves back across the river to our camp.
After returning to Mukah from Oya we had a visit from one of our Snake Boats, the Mothersnake, they had a sick man aboard who appeared to be in great pain, they asked if one of us could give him an injection. I volunteered and went aboard to find him packed in ice bags to keep his temperature down. The only injection we had was Morphia, so after a couple of Jabs I managed to get the needle through his tough hide. Some weeks later on returning to Labuan I enquired after his health and found he had recovered, much to my surprise. He had been suffering from pneumonia; he must have had a good constitution. Not long after the visit of Mothersnake we received orders to return to Bintulu where I found that the people of Rum ah Munggan on the Similajau had made a parang for me and had sent it on to me by some of our people.
As mentioned earlier I returned to Sarawak in 1983 and the greatest surprise I had was to find Bintulu is now a thriving oil town, my wife and I stayed in a modern hotel, The Aurora Beach Hotel. We were the first tourists to visit there although there were many Europian oil workers in the town. We got the "Red Carpet" treatment, I was sorry to miss Harry Buxton in Kuching and it was only on my return home to Tasmania when Mr Brodie's wife Harriet paid us a visit that I learned Harry's daughter works at the Holiday Inn in Kuching