Endau, 26th January 1942

[greg]

Thanks to Dick in an earlier post this evening, i'm aware of the information contained in "Bloody Shambles Vol 2" on the Endau raid by 36 and 100 Squadrons on Jan 26th 1942.

However, having spent a few hours this evening researching the 100 Squadron losses on this raid, i've become painfully aware that my knowledge of this battle is woefully poor.

Can anyone advise of any other publications available (i have a couple of private manuscripts that give some details) that will help me further my knowledge of this battle?

Thanks as always for any help anyone can offer.

L/O

Greg

[Don Clark]

This is a very old post of Greg's and no doubt by now he's long since found all he wants on Endau in the very difficult phase of the Far East war.

Greg is still active here from time to time and besides, there are always old and new readers looking for references.

Here, then, a very brief reading selection from stuff I still have readily to hand for air ops, at & around the time of Endau:

Gillison RAAF 1939-1942 (WW2 Official History, Air, Vol I)
See Ch 17 Withdrawal from Singapore in full here incl Endau
https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1417594
Full set of Chapters links
https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1417315
and Index to Vol
https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1417634

Hall Glory in chaos: The RAAF in the Far East 1940-42
Highly relevant, RAAF as per title, RAAF and RAF units, RAAF men.

O'Brien Chasing After Danger
See Ch16 and his pungent References note. RAF Blenheim & Hudson pilot, with 62 Sqn Hudsons at Endau.

Richards & Saunders RAF 1939-1945: Vol II The Fight Avails
See Ch II The Fall of Singapore inlc Endau briefly.

Young & Warne Sixty Squadron - 1916 RFC RAF 1966
See Ch 2 Malaya The Retreat to Singapore, re action in Dec and Jan - not Endau specific.

The Aus War Memorial www.awm.gov.au is a museum as much as a memorial, much as the IWM.
All volumes (Army, Navy, Air) of the Australian Official Histories of WW2 are there, digitised.
The RAAF Ch 17 above is one example.
Simply follow the heading links to any others (Army, Navy) of interest for Endau action 26 Jan 1942.

Books: I check www.bookfinder.com first out of choice, as it's coverage of listings is so wide.
Glory in Chaos can be spotted there, at pretty high prices. No copies of Chasing After Danger just now.
For local bookshops in Aus, I also use www.booksandcollectibles.com.au
Both books can be found there now, GIC at high price, CAD at prices so modest as to maybe give Terence's shade a chuckle.
For Sixty Squadron, copies of this edn don't often appear.

[Don Clark]

Good Grief!
How could I possibly have lost sight of...

Campbell & Lovell So Long Singapore: RAF Auxiliary Tung Song December 1941-March 1942 [Campbell, Hobart, 2000]
Apart from extended accounts of 84 Sqn, 205 Sqn (and its tender, Tung Song) and 211 Sqn ops etc, there are several mentions of 100 Sqn, 36 Sqn, and several Endau mentions plus more in Ch 14 P160-164 Endau and Endau to Singapore

A great compilation of the 1942 schemozzle from Malaya to Singapore to Sumatra and on to Java and then into the bag or escape by ship and boat.
From contemporary original sources and participants later recall.
Copies extremely hard to come by, however there are copies lodged in major Libraries around the world, eg
the RAF Museum Library in UK, Library of Congress US, National Library of Australia, Netherlands National Library.

My old friend and correspondent the late Hugh Campbell would have had a good old chuckle at my oversight...

[COL BRUGGY]

Greg,

A piece of the Endau Raid/100 Sqn RAF history slipped by just recently.

The youngest brother of Sgt Graeme Wolsey McCabe RAAF, Peter Wolsey McCabe passed away in Canberra, aged 87, on 20 July, 2021.

Sgt Graeme Wolsey McCabe RAAF, was the observer aboard NZ401769 Flt Sgt David Bruce Smaill Lee's Vildebeest III K6386 on 26 January, 1942*. Flt Sgt Lee RNZAF, and WOP/AG, AUS401050 Sgt Maurice Bert Proven RAAF were both killed, Sgt McCabe was wounded and became a prisoner of war. Graeme McCabe was a POW for over three long years, one of them in Changi and the balance in the mines at Kobe, in Japan.

* See:FYT1/176 & FYT3/298/Martyn.

After his release, Graeme McCabe penned a smallish book entitled, Pacific Sunset:

Pacific Sunset.
McCabe,Graeme
Hobart:Oldham, Beddome & Meredith,1946.
108 pp.

The book is now very scarce, and difficult to find. It was not bound very well in the first place, consequently not many copies have survived intact outside the institutions. Most of what McCabe had to say on the Endau raid has been quoted in, Bloody Shambles Vol Two (pp.19, 20, 21, 23, 24 & 41). McCabe went on to describe his time in Changi and the Kobe mines. He is scathing in his criticism of the Japanese. Graeme Wolsey McCabe passed away in Tasmania, aged 94, on 13 March, 2011. He left us with the following thought:

"Life in this world is a grim business. Always we must be tough and ready and prepared, if we want to hand on a heritage of freedom to posterity."

The McCabe family, whose patriarch was The Reverend Francis Joseph McCabe, of the Holy Trinity Rectory, of Church Street, Hobart, Tasmania, also lost two other sons during WWII. Sub-Lt Donald Wolsey McCabe RAN in 1941 aboard HMAS Sydney, and TX1634 Lt Angus Wolsey McCabe AIF, with the Australian Army in New Guinea, in 1943.

In 2007, Peter McCabe wrote a touching tribute to his family:

http://www.holytrinityhobart.org/ind...age=story&id=5

Now, he has also departed. Vale.

Col.

[greg]

Don and Col,

Many thanks for your replies last year to my original 2007 post asking for further details of the Battle of Endau. Apologies for not seeing your replies, and thanking you earlier - this thread came up in a search for "gen" on K6386 I did last night, and that's when I discovered your replies.

Many thanks for the details and links you posted, I shall have a good look at them while the thunder is rumbling outside the window this afternoon. In the period since my original post in 2007 I have managed to find and buy some of the books you mentioned, but there are also some you mention which I shall try and track down, either on the web, or via the IWM / RAFM / British Library. Thanks Don for the links to the official history too.

My research has come along significantly since my original post re: Endau 15 years ago, but your replies prove there is always more to learn!! I have managed to tie up the crews lost from 100 (and also 36) Squadron in that period with aircraft serials, and also gather much information on the men lost. McCabe was one who I didn't have much on (save for a short paragraph in the book "Tasmanians At War In The Air 1939-45" by Johnson and Winspear), so the information above is of great value.

Thanks again chaps, as always, I owe you both a pint of decent (Welsh) beer!!

Best as always,

Greg

[paulmcmillan]

AIR81/11805 Squadron Leader J D Tillott, Pilot Officer J E Morrison: killed; Flight Sergeant S D Birdsall: prisoner of war; Vildebeest K6390, 100 Squadron; aircraft failed to return from an operational flight over Endau, Malaya, 26 January 1942.


Warrant Officer Stephen Dale BIRDSALL (551090) POW Death. Captured on 1942-02.26 Died 1944-09-12

[greg]

Thanks Paul - I sent all that over to Bill this morning.I suspect F/O "Reggie" Lamb, who flew on the same operation, might crop up on your list too.

L/O

Greg

[greg]

Don / Col,

Is there a list available anywhere of RAAF Prisoners of War for the Far East Theatre available anywhere, in the same vein as Oliver Clutton-Brock's seminal "Footprints On The Sands Of Time" which lists all Bomber Command Airmen lost in the European Theatre?

Thanks in anticipation,

Greg

[paulmcmillan]

Greg have you checked out https://www.cofepow.org.uk/research-database

[Don Clark]

I'm not aware of a single RAAF PoW listing, overall or for the Far East. There may be one*, though I've not come across it. Others may know better.

The COFEPOW site is a very valuable resource. Some parts of it are open but some parts, inc the list of FEPoWs, are not.
You need a paid membership to access.

An alternative is
L&P Stubbs, Unsung Heroes of the Royal Air Force: The Far East Prisoners of War (Barny Books 2002)
This book is mainly a comprehensive roll of Air Force FEPoWs which does include Australians serving as RAF, and as RAAF.

Copies do appear for sale from time to time and I have found it an invaluable work, a comprehensive roll of air force FEPoWs of commendable accuracy.
Right now there is one Second Hand copy listed on Bookfinder.com and at fair price.
There is also one copy listed there as New but at a frankly exorbitant price and, to my chagrin, by an Australian dealer via Amazon.

The alternative is a visit to the British Library where a copy is held, or to a good library to seek an InterLibrary Loan - which comes at a cost.
The RAF Museum likely holds a copy but you'd need to ask DoRIS, as site searching remains quirkazoid at best.
Bonus for Greg in particular:
There is a copy of the Stubbs' invaluable book in the National Library Of Wales, shown in the online catalogue.

Good luck Greg and well met

Addendum
Last time I checked there was no on-line roll of RAAF PoWs or FEPoWs at the AWM or NAA.
For whatever reason, I cannot recheck the AWM as the site fails to respond correctly in either of my browsers*.

See this previous discussion here for other details inc access to WO Rolls from UK National Archives via commercial sources:
https://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?26766
Peter may have made more progress on FEPoWs since Nov 2020.
They are not currently incl in the RAF POWs db here
http://www.rafcommands.com/database/pows/

My own compilations of 211 Squadron PoWs - the vast majority FEPoWs - shown here incl 3 RAAF survivors:
http://www.211squadron.org/far_east_pows.html
Sourced as noted and much credit to Les and Pam Stubbs.


* Late final extra
Roundabout return to AWM site found it behaving better, to be reminded of this useful summary page for Aus prisoners of the Japanese
https://www.awm.gov.au/research/guide/pow-ww2-japanese
which in turn refreshes my Aus WW2 Nominal Roll site knowledge.

The DVA WW2 Roll now includes a Prisoner of War field
Not at the Home page search box, but by using the main WW2 Search page
https://nominal-rolls.dva.gov.au/ww2#Search
Here, entering just
Service RAAF and
PoW Yes
is sufficient to draw forth a Roll of prisoners, 1428 in all, overall, RAAF only.
Winnowing the FEPoWs out would need a bit of work.
Australians commissioned in the RAF will not be found, as far as I can tell:
eg Australian RAAF July 37 Pt Cook transfer to RAF, 40045 P/O WH Edwards, PoW in Germany, not listed.

all the best Greg, and once more, all, excuse my habitual edits & addns