Force 136 Force 136 was the general cover name for a branch of the British World War II organization , the Special Operations Executive ( SOE ) . The organisation was established to encourage and supply resistance movements in enemy - occupied territory , and occasionally mount clandestine sabotage operations . Force 136 operated in the regions of the South - East Asian Theatre of World War II which were occupied by Japan from 1941 to 1945 . Although the top command of Force 136 were British officers and civilians , most of those it trained and employed as agents were indigenous to the regions in which they operated . British , Americans or other Europeans could not operate clandestinely in cities or populated areas in Asia , but once the resistance movements engaged in open rebellion , Allied armed forces personnel who knew the local languages and peoples became invaluable for liaison with conventional forces . In Burma in particular , SOE could draw on many former forestry managers and so on , who had become fluent in Burmese or other local languages before the war , and who had been commissioned into the Army when the Japanese invaded Burma . History . SOE was formed in 1940 , by the merger of existing Departments of the War Office and the Ministry of Economic Warfare . Its purpose was to incite , organise and supply indigenous resistance forces in enemy - occupied territory . Initially , the enemy was Nazi Germany and Italy , but from late 1940 , it became clear that conflict with Japan was also inevitable . Two missions were sent to set up ( and assume political control of ) the SOE in the Far East . The first was led by a former businessman , Valentine Killery of Imperial Chemical Industries ( ICI ) , who set up his HQ in Singapore . A scratch resistance organisation was set up in Malaya , but Singapore was captured on 15 February 1942 , soon after Japan entered the war . A second mission was set up in India by another former businessman , Colin Mackenzie of J . and P . Coats , a clothing manufacturer . Mackenzie ' s India Mission originally operated from Meerut in North West India . Its location was governed by the fear that the Germans might overrun the Middle East and Caucasus , in which case resistance movements would be established in Afghanistan , Persia and Iraq . When this threat was removed late in 1942 after the battles of Stalingrad and El Alamein , the focus was switched to South East Asia . The India Mission ' s first cover name was GS I ( k ) , which made it appear to be a record - keeping branch of GHQ India . The name , Force 136 was adopted in March 1944 . From December 1944 , the organisation ' s headquarters moved to Kandy in Ceylon , and cooperated closely with South East Asia Command which was also located there . Force 136 was wound up in 1946 , along with the rest of SOE . Operations . Malaya . The Oriental Mission of SOE attempted to set up " stay - behind " and resistance organisations from August 1941 , but their plans were opposed by the British colonial governor , Sir Shenton Thomas . They were able to begin serious efforts only in January 1942 , after the Japanese Invasion of Malaya had already begun . An irregular warfare school , STS 101 , was set up by the explorer and mountaineer Freddie Spencer Chapman . Chapman himself led the first reconnaissances and attacks behind Japanese lines during the Battle of Slim River . Although the school ' s graduates mounted a few operations against the Japanese lines of communication , they were cut off from the other Allied forces by the fall of Singapore . An attempt was made by the Oriental Mission to set up an HQ in Sumatra but this island too was overrun by the Japanese . Malayan Communist Party . Before the Japanese attacked Malaya , a potential resistance organisation already existed in the form of the Malayan Communist Party . This party ' s members were mainly from the Chinese community and implacably anti - Japanese . Just before the fall of Singapore , the party ' s Secretary General , Lai Teck , was told by the British authorities that his party should disperse into the forests , a decision already made by the party ' s members . In isolation , the Communists formed the Malayan Peoples ' Anti - Japanese Army ( MPAJA ) . Their first arms and equipment were either donated by STS 101 before they were overrun , or recovered from the battlefields or abandoned British Army depots . The MPAJA formed rigidly disciplined camps and units in the forest , supplied with food by networks of contacts among displaced Chinese labourers and " squatters " on marginal land . Chapman had remained in Malaya after Singapore fell , but had no radio or means of contacting Allied forces elsewhere . Nevertheless , the MPAJA still regarded Chapman as the official British authority , and Chin Peng was appointed as liaison officer with Chapman . Singaporean World War II hero Lim Bo Seng had returned to Malaya from Calcutta in 1942 , and recruited some agents who had made their way to India by 1943 . Force 136 attempted to regain contact with Chapman in Operation " Gustavus " , by infiltrating parties which included Lim Bo Seng and former STS 101 members John Davis and Richard Broome by sea into the area near Pangkor Island . Their radio was unable to contact Force 136 HQ in Ceylon and the MPAJA contacts on Pangkor Island were betrayed to the Japanese . The radio brought in by " Gustavus " was finally made to work in February 1945 . Chapman was able to visit Force 136 HQ in Kandy and report . By this time , Force 136 had substantial resources , and in the few months before the end of the war , they were able to send 2 , 000 weapons to the MPAJA and no less than 300 liaison personnel . About half of these were British who had worked or lived in Malaya before the war , the others were Chinese who had made their own way to India or who had been taken there by Force 136 for training . With these resources , the MPAJA was built up to become a substantial guerilla army with about 7 , 000 fighters . However , Japan surrendered before it had a chance to stage a major uprising . In isolation in jungle camps for several years , the MCP and MPAJA had purged themselves of many members suspected of treachery or espionage , which contributed to their post - war hard - line attitude and led in turn to the insurgency known as the Malayan Emergency . Kuomintang . The Kuomintang also had a widespread following in the Malaysian Chinese community in the days before the War , but were unable to mount any significant clandestine resistance to the Japanese . Partly , this was because they were based among the population in the towns , unlike the MCP which drew much of its support from mine or plantation workers in remote encampments or " squatters " on the edge of the forest . Most of the KMT ' s supporters and their dependents were therefore hostages to any Japanese mass reprisal . When Lim Bo Seng and other agents from Force 136 attempted to make contact with Kuomintang networks in Ipoh as part of Operation " Gustavus " , they found that the KMT ' s underground actions there were tainted by corruption or private feuding . Malayan resistance . The force also collaborated with many Chinese Malayan villages . As a multi religious and multi - racial country , the population of Malaya was also strongly divided along communal and religious lines , with some portion of the populace loyal to the Allied forces , while others loyal to Nazi Germany and Fascist Japan . Thus , agents risked the constant threat of being betrayed . Even though the Malays ( who are Muslims ) and Indians were not badly treated by Japanese forces in the beginning of the occupation , later they too felt the hardship of life under the occupation and this was magnified by the brutal treatment of anyone who was suspected of being anti - Japanese ( although hardly any atrocities were inflicted on them ) . Thus the SOE found a suitable backing among a few Malays and sent their officers to train local resistance forces famously known as " Harimau Malaya Force 136 " ( Tigers of Malaya of Force 136 ) . However , certain individuals in Malaya were strong supporters of the Japanese , and were actively involved in the notorious Kempeitai " mopping up " operations and other atrocities . It was due to these ill - treatment that prompted the local populace ' s involvement in Force 136 . The main base for this group was near Gerik , a district in the state of Perak . The force ' s main task was to form an intelligence - gathering network and , should prospects be favourable , to establish a resistance movement in northern Malaya . The force also arranged the reception of other parties of Force 136 who landed by parachute , providing them with guides and local contacts in the areas of their planned operations . A novel loosely based on the exploit of the resistance force was produced in late 1980s and there were several known figures in the book including Lt . Colonel Peter Dobree , a well - known commander of the force . China . From 1938 , Britain had been supporting the Republic of China against the Japanese , by allowing supplies to reach the Chinese via the Burma Road running through Burma . SOE had various plans regarding China in the early days of the war . Forces were to be sent into China through Burma and a Bush Warfare School under Michael Calvert was established in Burma to train Chinese and Allied personnel in irregular warfare . These plans came to an end with the Japanese conquest of Burma in 1942 . Strictly speaking , SOE was not tasked to operate inside China after 1943 , when it was left to the Americans . However , one group , the British Army Aid Group under an officer named Lindsay " Blue " Ride did operate near Hong Kong , in territory controlled by the Communist Party of China . In Operation " Remorse " , a businessman named Walter Fletcher carried out covert economic operations such as trying to obtain smuggled rubber , currency speculation and so on , in Japanese - occupied China . As a result of these activities , SOE actually returned a financial profit of GBP 77 million in the Far East . Many of these funds and the networks used to acquire them were subsequently used in various relief and repatriation operations , but critics pointed out that this created a pool of money that SOE could use beyond the oversight of any normal authority or accountability . Thailand . On 21 December 1940 , a formal military alliance between Thailand under Field Marshal Plaek Pibulsonggram and Japan was concluded . At noon on 25 January 1942 , Thailand declared war on the United States and Great Britain . Some Thais supported the alliance , arguing that it was in the national interest , or that it was better sense to ally oneself with a victorious power . Others formed the Free Thai Movement to resist . The Free Thai Movement was supported by Force 136 and the OSS , and provided valuable intelligence from within Thailand . Eventually , when the war turned against the Japanese , Phibun was forced to resign , and a Free Thai - controlled government was formed . A coup was being planned to disrupt the Japanese occupying forces in 1945 , but was forestalled by the ending of the war . Burma . Burma was the theatre in which the major Allied effort was made in South East Asia from late 1942 onwards , and Force 136 was heavily involved . Initially , it had to compete with regular formations such as the Chindits and other irregular organizations for suitable personnel , aircraft and other resources . It eventually played a significant part in the liberation of the country by slowly building up a national organization which was used to great effect in 1945 . Two separate sections of SOE dealt with Burma . One concentrated on the minority communities who mainly inhabited the frontier regions ; the other established links with the nationalist movements among the majority Bamar peoples in the central parts of the country and the major cities . It has been argued that this division of political effort , although necessary on military grounds , contributed to the inter - community conflicts which have continued in Burma ( Myanmar ) to the present day . There were Indians and Afghans who were part of Force 136 and were heavily involved in Burmese operation , like C . L . Sharma , an Indian Professor of Linguistics at British Army Headquarters in India who later became an active member of Force 136 and spent almost 6 years mainly in various missions of the Force in Burma . Karens , Chins , Arakanese and Kachins . The majority community of Burma were the Bamar . Among the minority peoples of Burma , including Chins , Karens and Kachins , there was a mixture of anti - Bamar , anti - Japanese and pro - British sentiments . In 1942 , the pro - Japanese Burma Independence Army raised with Japanese assistance , attempted to disarm Karens in the Irrawaddy River delta region . This created a large - scale civil conflict which turned the Karens firmly against the Japanese . The Karens were the largest of the minority communities . Although many lived in the Irrawaddy delta , their homeland can be considered to be the " Karenni " , a mountainous and heavily forested tract along the border with Thailand . They had supplied many recruits to the Burma Rifles ( part of the British forces in Burma during the early part of the war ) , and in the chaos of the British retreat into India , many of them had been given a rifle and ammunition and three months ' pay , and were instructed to return to their home villages to await further orders . The presence of such trained soldiers contributed to the effectiveness of the Karen resistance . A few British army officers had also been left behind in the Karreni , in a hasty attempt to organise a " stay - behind " organisation . In 1943 , the Japanese made a ruthless punitive expedition into the Karenni , where they knew a British Officer was operating . To spare the population , a British liaison officer , Hugh Seagrim , voluntarily surrendered himself to the Japanese and was executed along with several of his Karen fighters . However , Force 136 continued to supply the Karens , and from late 1944 they mounted Operation " Character " , in execution similar to Operation Jedburgh in Nazi - occupied France , in which three - man teams were parachuted to organise large - scale resistance in the Karenni . Some of the " Character " teams had previously served on " Jedburgh " , others had previously served in the Chindits . In April 1945 , Force 136 stage - managed a major uprising in the region in support of the Allied offensive into Burma , which prevented the Japanese Fifteenth Army forestalling the Allied advance on Rangoon . After the capture of Rangoon , Karen resistance fighters continued to harass Japanese units and stragglers east of the Sittang River . It was estimated that at their moment of maximum effort , the Karens mustered 8 , 000 active guerrillas ( some sources claim 12 , 000 ) , plus many more sympathisers and auxiliaries . SOE had some early missions to Kachin State , the territory inhabited by the Kachins of northern Burma , but for much of the war , this area was the responsibility of the American - controlled China - Burma - India Theater , and the Kachin guerrillas were armed and coordinated by the American liaison organisation , OSS Detachment 101 . The various ethnic groups ( Chins , Lushai , Arakanese ) who inhabited the border areas between Burma and India were not the responsibility of Force 136 but of V Force , an irregular force which was under direct control of the Army . From 1942 to 1944 , hill peoples in the frontier regions fought on both sides ; some under V Force and other Allied irregular forces HQ , others under local or Japanese - sponsored organisations such as the Chin Defence Force and Arakan Defence Force . Burmese political links . The Burma section of Force 136 was commanded by John Ritchie Gardiner , who had managed a forestry company before the war and also served on the Municipal Council of Rangoon . He had known personally some Burmese politicians such as Ba Maw who had later formed a government which , although nominally independent , collaborated through necessity with the Japanese occupiers . In 1942 , when the Japanese invaded Burma , the majority Bamar ( Burman ) people had been sympathetic to them , or at least hostile to the British colonial government and the Indian community which had immigrated or had been imported as workers for newly created industries . Bamar volunteers flocked to the Burma Independence Army which fought several actions against British forces . During the years of occupation , this attitude changed . The Burma Independence Army was reorganised as the Burma National Army ( BNA ) , under Japanese control . In 1944 , Aung San , the Burmese nationalist who had founded the BIA with Japanese assistance and had been appointed Minister of Defence in Ba Maw ' s government and commander of the Burma National Army , contacted Burmese communist and socialist leaders , some of whom were already leading insurgencies against the Japanese . Together they formed the Anti - Fascist Organisation ( AFO ) under the overall leadership of Thakin Soe . Force 136 was able to establish contact with this organisation through links with Burmese communist groups . During the final Allied offensive into Burma in 1945 , there were then a series of uprisings in Burma against the Japanese , which Force 136 supported although it had little control or even influence over the rebellious BNA and its supporters . The first rebellion involved a locally recruited force known as the Arakan Defence Army turning on the Japanese in Arakan . The second involved an uprising by BNA units near Toungoo in Central Burma , beginning on 8 March 1945 . The final uprising occurred when the entire BNA changed sides on 27 March . The forces of the AFO , including the BNA , were renamed the Patriotic Burmese Forces . They played a part in the final campaign to recapture Rangoon , and eliminate Japanese resistance in Central Burma . The BNA ' s armed strength at the time of their defection was around 11 , 000 . The Patriotic Burmese Forces also included large numbers of communists and other irregulars with loyalty to particular groups , and those Karens who had served in the BNA and Karen resistance groups in the Irrawaddy Delta . In arranging the acceptance of Aung San and his forces as Allied combatants , Force 136 was in direct conflict with the more staid Civil Affairs Service Officers at South East Asia Command ' s headquarters , who feared the postwar implications of handing out large numbers of weapons to irregular and potentially anti - British forces , and of promoting the political careers of Aung San or the communist leaders . The AFO at the time of the uprising represented itself as the provisional government of Burma . It was eventually persuaded to drop this claim after negotiations with South East Asia Command , in return for recognition as a political movement ( the AFPFL ) . Indian National Army . Another force operating under Japanese command in Burma was the Indian National Army , a force composed of former prisoners of war captured by the Japanese at Singapore and some Tamils living in Malaya . However , Force 136 was prevented from working with anyone in the Indian National Army , regardless of their intentions . The policy towards the INA was formed and administered by India Command , a British rather than Allied headquarters . Field Operations . Force 136 was also active in more conventional military - style operations behind Japanese lines in Burma . Such an operation could comprise a group of up to 40 infantry with officers and a Radio Operator , infiltrating Japanese lines on intelligence and discretionary search and destroy missions . Such missions , which could last several weeks ( supplied by C47 transport aircraft ) kept close wireless contact with operational bases in India , using high - grade ciphers ( changed daily ) and hermetically sealed wireless / morse sets . Every day ( Japanese permitting ) at pre – arranged times , the Radio Operator ( with escorts ) climbed to a high vantage point , usually necessitating a gruelling climb to the top of some slippery , high , jungle - clad ridge , and sent the latest intelligence information and the group ' s supply requests etc . , and received further orders in return . The Radio Operator was central to a mission ’ s success and his capture or death would spell disaster for the mission . To avoid capture and use under duress by the Japanese , every SOE operative was issued a cyanide pill . One such Radio Operator was James Gow ( originally from the Royal Corps of Signals ) , who recounted his first mission in his book " From Rhunahaorine to Rangoon . " In the summer of 1944 , the Japanese push toward India had been stopped at the Battle of Kohima . In the aftermath of the battle , Japanese forces split up and retreated deep into the jungle . As part of the initiative to find out if they were reforming for a further push , he was sent from Dimapur with a 40 - strong group of Gurkhas , to locate groups of Japanese forces , identify their strengths and their organised status . Discretionary attacks on isolated Japanese groups were permitted ( no prisoners to be taken ) , as was destruction of supply dumps . One particular Gurkha officer under whom James Gow operated was Major William Lindon - Travers , later to become Bill Travers , the well - known actor of " Born Free " fame . Other . SOE ' s French Indo - China Section ( 1943 – 1945 ) . Force 136 played only a minor part in attempts to organise local resistance in French Indochina , led mainly by Roger Blaizot , commander of the French Far East Expeditionary Corps ( " FEFEO " ) and General Eugène Mordant , chief of the military resistance . From 1944 to 1945 long - range B - 24 Liberator bomber aircraft attached to Force 136 dropped 40 " Jedburgh " commandos from the French intelligence service BCRA , and agents from the " Corps Léger d ' Intervention " also known as " Gaur " , commanded by Lieutenant - Colonel Paul Huard , into Indochina . However Indochina was not originally part of the South - East Asian theatre , and therefore not SOE ' s responsibility . Notable French Force 136 members dropped in Laos in 1945 include : ( 22 January ) , ( 28 February ) , Jean Sassi ( 4 June ) , ( August ) There were also American reservations over restoring the French colonial regime after the war , which led the Americans eventually to support the anti - French Viet Minh . Together with the complexities of the relationships between the Vichy - leaning officials in Indochina , and the rival Giraudist and de Gaullist resistance movements , this made liaison very difficult . SOE had few links with the indigenous Viet Minh movement . Dutch East Indies & Australia . Except for the island of Sumatra , the Dutch East Indies were also outside South East Asia Command ' s area of responsibility until after the Japanese surrender . In 1943 , an invasion of Sumatra , codenamed Operation Culverin , was tentatively planned . SOE mounted some reconnaissances of northern Sumatra ( in the present - day province of Aceh ) . In the event , the plan was cancelled , and nothing came of SOE ' s small - scale efforts in Sumatra . During September 1945 , after the Japanese surrender , up to 20 small teams ( normally 4 men , an Executive Officer , a signaller , a medical officer and a medical orderly ) were parachuted into the islands of Dutch East Indies , 6 weeks ahead of any other allied troops . Known as RAPWI ( Repatriation of Allied Prisoners of War and Internees ) Teams , they were tasked with locating and arranging care for all those who had been held in camps . Using Japanese Surrendered Troops , they arranged food , quarters and medical suppliers for the tens of thousands of POW and internees , saving many lives . Many of the Executive Officers were members of the Anglo Dutch Country Section ( ADCS ) of Force 136 . Another combined Allied intelligence organisation , Special Operations Australia ( SOA ) , which had the British codename Force 137 , operated out of Australia against Japanese targets in Singapore , the other islands of the Dutch East Indies , and Borneo . It included Z Special Unit , which carried out a successful attack on shipping in Singapore Harbour , known as Operation Jaywick . Communications . Until mid - 1944 , Force 136 ' s operations were hampered by the great distances involved ; for example , from Ceylon to Malaya and back required a flight of . Such distances also made it difficult to use small clandestine craft to deliver supplies or personnel by sea ( although such craft were used to supply the MPAJA in Perak late in the war ) . The Royal Navy made few submarines available to Force 136 . Eventually , converted B - 24 Liberator aircraft were made available to parachute agents and stores . In Burma , where the distances involved were not so great , C - 47 transport aircraft could be used . Westland Lysander liaison aircraft could also be used over shorter distances .