The early operations in the former Dutch colony were a complete disaster it was SOEs most hazard prone missions, mainly due the reluctance of British to lease with the Dutch. It was felt that the Dutch’s reluctance to deal with anyone whom they saw as being less than their political ideal, was a hindrance to SOE.

“Matriarch” was the first Dutch lead operation, a team of five Dutch and two British in witch they were supposed to contact a local headman to organise resistance parties, but it fell apart when the headman refused to join them and promptly retired into his abode. At which point the party on returning to the beach they had landed on were ambushed, all reached the sub unharmed but one of the boats was sunk.

The following missions fared no better. One that was planned to support the invasion of Northern Sumatra was favoured by Winston Churchill was Mission “Culverin.”

Churchill wrote “After engaging every means in your power the main thing is for you to concentrate on First Culverin after the monsoon. This I am determined to press to the very utmost day in day out. Here is your great chance. Do not allow anything to take your eye off it. Here alone will you have the opportunity of opening new fields in the war, talk it over with Wingate and if you can prepare a good plan the rest can be made to obey”

“Culverin” never took place, the plan was to organise parties that would bring down power and telephone lines, create landing strips and cause general mayhem in support of an Allied landing, and the main problem was gaining support from the locals.

Further actions that were carried out in Sumatra by SOE gained little more, Sugarloaf a plan to establish landing strips for an airborne assault were one stop short of farcical. At the second attempt of surveying a possible place, the submarine that had taken and successfully landed the party ashore, on the return trip caused a near disaster. When it rammed two of the boats that had been used with their crew, and slung them unceremoniously into the sea.

As it was noted by SOE, the Achinese were only interested in getting rid of there Dutch masters and gaining independence from them. The reluctance of the Dutch to co-operate with Communist resistance fighters made SOEs task that much harder. In fact the reluctance of the Dutch resulted in Mountbatten to reduce and eventually ban the Dutch from active service in any military roll

Taken from Charles Cruickshank's "SOE in the Far East" and records in the National Archives. HS 7/120