Sri Lanka News Updates with Discussions

A report, released on March 30 by the Committee on Arms Export Controls of the British House of Commons, welcomed the review and subsequent revocation of nine extant licenses for Military exports to Sri Lanka. The report says the UK Government revoked a number of extant export licenses 'in the light of changed circumstances.' The licenses were for replacement components for military utility helicopters and Military telecommunications equipment.

Ian Lucas, the Minister for Business and Regulatory Reform, has confirmed in December 2009 that all licenses, from 2004 had been reviewed and the UK Government had not supplied any helicopters or airframes to the Sri Lankan Air Force.

The UK however, had supplied helicopter components for Sri Lankan transport helicopters and the Minister has said that based on the available information during the final stages of the conflict, Sri Lanka has used those helicopters for medical evacuation, logistical support, re-supply and other humanitarian purposes.

The Easter Sunday Raid was an air raid carried out by the Empire of Japan on Easter Sunday, 5 April 1942 on Colombo, Ceylon, as a part of the Indian Ocean Raid. A few days later Trincomalee was also attacked. The raids were intended to disrupt the war effort of British Commonwealth nations and force the British Eastern Fleet to leave Asian waters

Background

The British had been in occupation of the coastal areas of the island since 1796, but the colony had not had a regular garrison of British troops since 1917. The Ceylon Defence Force and Ceylon Navy Volunteer Reserve were mobilized and expanded. The Royal Navy maintained naval installations in Trincomalee and the RAF had established an aerodrome in China Bay, Trincomalee long before the war.

After the fall of Singapore the Royal Navy's East Indies Station was moved to Colombo and then to Trincomalee. Admiral Sir Geoffrey Layton was appointed Commander-in-Chief, Ceylon with Air Vice Marshal John D'Albiac as Air Officer Commanding and Admiral Sir James Somerville appointed commander of the British Eastern Fleet.

The fixed land defences consisted of four coastal batteries at Colombo and five at Trincomalee these were established just before the war. Air defences were expanded in 1941 with the RAF occupying the civil airfield at Ratmalana near Colombo with its station headquarters set up at Kandawala. Another airbase was rapidly built at Koggala near Galle and several temporary airstrips were built across the country with the largest at Colombo Racecourse grounds. Several RAF squadrons were sent to Ceylon.

The attack

With Japan's entry into the war, and especially after the fall of Singapore, Ceylon became a front-line British base against the Japanese. Admiral Sir Geoffrey Layton was appointed Commander-in-Chief, Ceylon. Air Vice Marshal John D'Albiac became Air Officer Commanding. Admiral Sir James Somerville was appointed commander of the British Eastern Fleet. Somerville retreated with his main fleet to Addu Atoll in the Maldives, leaving the aircraft carrier Hermes, escorted by the heavy cruisers Cornwall and Dorsetshire, and the Royal Australian Navy destroyer HMAS Vampire in Ceylon.
After the sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse and the fall of Singapore, British morale on the island dropped. The sinking of these two capital ships shocked much of the world the awareness of the superiority of aircraft carriers over battleships increased dramatically. On Ceylon there was understandably much anxiety that a Japanese attack appeared to be inevitable. A large sea turtle which came ashore was reported by an Australian unit as a number of Japanese amphibious vehicles. However, actual preparations for defence were lackadaisical, apart from the deployment of a Royal Air Force squadron at the Colombo race course. Anti-British sentiment increased accordingly within some portions of the indigenous population and their hopes ran high for liberation by the Japanese.

On 4 April 1942 the Japanese Navy fleet of Admiral Chuichi Nagumo was located by a Catalina aircraft flown by Squadron Leader Leonard Birchall out of Koggala. However, Nagumo achieved near-complete surprise when he launched an airstrike on Colombo the next day (Easter Sunday, 5 April). Despite the fact that the war in Europe had been raging for almost 18 months, and in the Pacific for almost four, the British radars were not operating because it was Sunday.

But the greatest shock of the day was probably felt by the Japanese high command, who had expected to catch the remnants of the British fleet at anchor in Ceylon. The Japanese had planned the bombing of the Eastern Fleet's home base with meticulous care and precision in a manner almost exactly like the Pearl Harbor operation (in fact many of the same bombers with the same pilots participated in both strikes). Most of the British Eastern Fleet was maintaining radio silence in Addu Atoll, so that when the Japanese arrived at Colombo there were only three ships at anchor instead of the much larger number they had anticipated.

The continued existence of the remnants of the British Eastern Fleet (which included some Dutch warships as well) prevented the Japanese from attempting a major troop landing in Ceylon. Speaking at a dinner party at the British Embassy in Washington after the war, Winston Churchill called the attempted invasion of Ceylon, the most dangerous moment of World War II. Churchill concluded that if the Japanese fleet had succeeded, they would have controlled the Indian Ocean.

The Hawker Hurricanes of No 30 Squadron were on the ground at Ratmalana when the Japanese aircraft passed overhead. The auxiliary cruiser Hector and the old destroyer Tenedos were sunk in the harbour. The Japanese discovered the Cornwall and Dorsetshire 320 kilometres (200 mi) southwest of Ceylon and sank the two ships. British losses were 424 men killed 1,120 survivors spent hours in the water. The RAF and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) lost at least 27 aircraft the Japanese only five. The Japanese also bombed the lunatic asylum at Angoda, mistaking it for the fuel tanks at nearby Kolonnawa.

On 9 April 1942 the Japanese attacked the harbour at Trincomalee and the British ships off Batticaloa. Hermes, Vampire and the Flower-class corvette Hollyhock were sunk. The Royal Air Force lost at least eight Hurricanes and the FAA one Fairey Fulmar. The Japanese lost five bombers and six fighters, one in a suicide attack on the Trincomalee fuel tanks.

The sortie demonstrated Japanese superiority in carrier operations. Good luck favored Somerville when the Japanese did not find his fast carriers Indomitable and Formidable these ships were saved to fight another day. But British prestige was brought even lower than it had been after the fall of Singapore.

Churchill quote -

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill said: 'The most dangerous moment of the War, and the one which caused me the greatest alarm, was when the Japanese Fleet was heading for Ceylon and the naval base there. The capture of Ceylon, the consequent control of the Indian Ocean, and the possibility at the same time of a German conquest of Egypt would have closed the ring and the future would have been black.'

Quote about the Easter Sunday (April 5, 1942) Raid on Colombo, Ceylon (Sri Lanka). From a conversation at the British Embassy, Washington D.C

Ceylonese units

Ceylon Defence Force

Ceylon Garrison Artillery (CGA) (equipped with six-inch (152 mm) and nine-inch (227 mm) guns)
Ceylon Light Infantry (CLI)
Ceylon Planters Rifle Corps (CPRC)
Colombo Town Guard

Commonwealth units

34th Indian Division.
16th Brigade, 7th Australian Division.
17th Brigade, 7th Australian Division.
24th East African Brigade.

Air

No. 222 Group RAF

RAF

No. 11 Squadron RAF (Bristol Blenheims) (Colombo Racecourse)
No. 30 Squadron RAF (Hawker Hurricanes) (RAF Ratmalana, Colombo)
No. 258 Squadron RAF (Hawker Hurricanes)(Colombo Racecourse)
No. 261 Squadron RAF (Hawker Hurricanes)(China Bay, Trincomalee)
No. 273 Squadron RAF (Fairey Fulmars) (China Bay)
No. 202 Squadron RAF (PBY Catalina one aircraft)
No. 204 Squadron RAF (PBY Catalinas)
No. 205 Squadron RAF (PBY Catalina one aircraft)
No. 321 Squadron RAF (PBY Catalinas) (Dutch unit under formation at China Bay)
No. 413 Squadron RCAF

Fleet Air Arm

788 Naval Air Squadron (Fairey Swordfishs)
803 Naval Air Squadron (Fairey Fulmars)
806 Naval Air Squadron (Fairey Fulmars)

On 5 April 1942 the Japanese struck with a force of 125 aircraft, made up of 36 'Val' dive bombers and 53 'Kate' torpedo bombers with 36 Zero fighters as escort. The aircraft, under the command of Commander Mitsuo Fuchida of the Akagi, who had led the attack on Pearl Harbor, made landfall near Galle. They flew up the coast for half an hour in full view of everybody, but nobody informed the RAF at Ratmalana, whose aircraft were still on the ground as the Japanese flew overhead.

The Japanese attacked the naval base at Colombo, Ceylon, sinking the auxiliary cruiser Hector and the old destroyer Tenedos in the harbour, but losing a claimed eighteen planes to heavy flak (the Japanese only admitted to five, three of them over land - as only three destroyed planes were discovered on land). The RAF lost at least 27 planes. Then Japanese search planes discovered the Cornwall and Dorsetshire, commanded by Captain Augustus Agar, 200 miles southwest of Ceylon and sank them, killing 424 men.

On 6 April 1942 the Indian sloop Indus was sunk by air attack off the coast of Burma, off Akyab.

On 9 April 1942 the Japanese attacked the harbor at Trincomalee at 07:00. The British again had warning of the attack, and Hermes and her escorts had left the night before. They were returning to port when they were discovered at 08:55. Hermes had no aircraft on board, and so was defenceless when 70 bombers attacked her at 10:35 off Batticaloa. Hit 40 times, Hermes sank with the loss of 307 men. Vampire and the corvette Hollyhock were also sunk.

The hospital ship Vita later picked up 590 survivors. The RAF lost at least eight Hawker Hurricanes and the Fleet Air Arm one Fairey Fulmar. The Japanese lost five bombers and six fighters, one in a suicide attack on the Trincomalee fuel tanks.

The sortie demonstrated Japanese superiority in carrier operations, and exposed the unprofessional manner in which the RAF was run in the East, but it did not destroy British naval power in the Indian Ocean. It is arguable that, by making full use of signal intercepts, decryption, reconnaissance and superior radar, Somerville was able to save his fast carriers Indomitable and Formidable to fight another day. However, it might equally be said that the blunders made by the Royal Navy meant that the main fleet from Addu was not able to make contact with Nagumo's force as it intended.

An invasion was feared by the British, who interpreted the Japanese failure to do so as due to heavy losses over Ceylon - and hence led to claims of a British victory. However, in reality the Japanese did not have the men, shipping or land based air power to spare for an invasion and occupation and were not even in a position to make a temporary occupation as a raid. The island did not face a real threat of invasion at any point during the war.

The island of Ceylon (Sri Lanka), was strategically important, since it commanded the Indian Ocean. Thus it controlled access to India, also the vital Allied shipping routes to the Middle East and the oilfields of the Persian Gulf. Ceylon held most of the British Empire's resources of rubber. An important harbor and naval base, Trincomalee, was located on the island s eastern coast. Japanese propaganda had suborned many of the native Sinhalese population, who now awaited their arrival.

The raid had allowed the Imperial Japanese Navy to demonstrate their mastery of the Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal also their ability to seize territory by capturing the Andaman Islands. Despite losses, the British fleet escaped conflict by retiring in view of the overwhelming superiority of the Japanese, particularly in carrier operations, this seems to have been a wise decision by Admiral Somerville. Japanese plans were already made for a submarine base in the island of Madagascar to attack Allied shipping routes now a weakened Ceylon invited invasion, possibly with limited objectives, the taking of Trincomalee, a more convenient base.