Lim Bo Seng - Operation Gustavus

Operation Gustavus

Operation Gustavus was aimed at establishing an espionage network in Malaya and Singapore to gather intelligence about Japanese activities, thereby aiding the British in planning their re-capture of the colonies, codenamed Operation Zipper.

On 24 May 1943, the first group of Force 136 agents, codenamed Gustavus I and led by Davies, arrived in Perak on board the Dutch submarine O-24. The O-24 would rendezvous with Gustavus I again in September and November 1943, transferring supplies and personnel from Gustavus IV and V respectively. Its sister ship, the O-23, transported Gustavus II and III, under Captain Richard Broome, arriving on 25 June and 4 August 1943 respectively. Lim arrived in Malaya on 2 November 1943 as part of Gustavus V. He travelled under the alias "Tan Choon Lim" (simplified Chinese: 陈春林; traditional Chinese: 陳春林; pinyin: Chén Chūnlín) to avoid identification by the Japanese, claiming to be a businessman when he passed through checkpoints.

In Perak, Davies and Lim reestablished contact with Major Freddie Chapman, who was part of a British unit that stayed behind after the Malayan Campaign, carrying out small-scale attacks against the Japanese during the Japanese occupation of Malaya, North Borneo and Sarawak. They also met guerrilla fighters of the Malayan People's Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA), two of whom were Chin Peng and Lai Teck, where they reached an agreement that the resistance group would fall under British command, in exchange for weapons, supplies and training. One of the Chinese provision shops in Ipoh, Jian Yik Jan, was used as an Allied espionage base. Communications between the agents were done by smuggling messages in empty toothpaste tubes, salted fish and diaries.

Operation Gustavus failed before the agents managed to achieve any results. A communist guerrilla was captured by the Japanese in January 1944, who revealed the existence of the Allied spy network operating on Pangkor Island. The Japanese launched a full-scale counter espionage operation on the island and by late March 1944, more than 200 soldiers were on the island. On March 24, the Kempeitai arrested a fisherman, Chua Koon Eng, at Teluk Murrek on the Perak coast. Chua was working on Pangkor Island when Li Han-kwang of Force 136 approached him and requested to use his boat for their communications. Chua told the Kempeitai what he knew when he was interrogated. Li was later captured by the Japanese and he confirmed Chua's accounts of Force 136 under torture and then began to feign cooperation with the Japanese in order to escape captivity. The entire spy network was destroyed by 31 March 1944, and was not reestablished until February 1945.