Operation Semut

Operation SEMUT was a series of reconnaissance operations carried out by Australia's Z Special Unit during World War II as part of the Borneo Campaign.^[1][2][3]

Operation GIRAFFE 3, connected with the reconnaissance operations of SEMUT East of Borneo, was a party of nine deployed via HMAS Blacksnake, commanded by Sub-Lieut John Key. On the 26th April 1945 they anchored off the West coast of Maloe Island in the Celebes. Using Hoehn military folboats (collapsible canoes), the party of four, including Key, landed at Pasirpoeth to gain information from the natives and repair their boats, which were used in reconnaissance work. The GIRAFFE 3 team then sailed on to nearby Tifore Island to give assistance and medical attention to natives. On the 30th April 1945, Blacksnake returned to Morotai.

At Sarawak on the 2nd August 1945, Lieutenant Frank Oldham paddled up Balui River from Balaga with a patrol, then to Long Nawang to prepare for a planned re-occupation by Allies and investigate Japanese atrocities.

At Sarawak on the 13 to 23 August 1945, SEMUT IVB. sailed out of Labuan via HMAS Tigersnake and moored at Mukah. Party leader; Lieutenant Rowan Waddy and Lieutenant Ron Hoey, paddling Hoehn folboats (collapsible canoes) journeyed along the Mukah River to engage, with the help of local natives, any remaining hostile Japanese groups. On the way they were threatened by a crocodile about the length of the folboat.

References

Further reading

• Powell, Alan (1996). War by Stealth: Australians and the Allied Intelligence Bureau, 1942–1945. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press. ISBN 0-522-84691-2. 
• Hoehn, John. (2011). Commando Kayak: The Australian Folboat in the Pacific Campaign. hirschbooks.net & ozatwar.com/hoehn .ISBN 978-3-033-01717-7