Operation Adder

Operation Adder was a military operation conducted by Australia's Services Reconnaissance Department in Timor during World War Two in August 1944. A party consisting of two Australian soldiers, Captain John Grimson[1] and signaller Ernest Gregg,[2] and three Portuguese Timorese, was dropped on Timor.

Japanese intelligence knew of the operation and ambushed the team on the morning of 24 August at Cape lie Hoi, during which Gregg and one of the Timorese was killed. There was another skirmish later that day after which Captain Grimson was found dead through self-inflicted wounds.[3][4] The two surviving Timorese were later killed.

References

1. "Grimson, John Edward". World War II Nominal Roll. Commonwealth of Australia. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
2. "Gregg, Ernest Harry". World War II Nominal Roll. Commonwealth of Australia. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
3. Royal Australian Navy. "ML 814". navy.gov.au. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
4. "Ernest Gregg (NX7435, AK157) - "Z" Special Unit Commando". ozatwar.com. Retrieved 20 September 2015.

Further reading

• "The Official History of the Operations and Administration of] Special Operations - Australia [(SOA), also known as the Inter-Allied Services Department (ISD) and Services Reconnaissance Department (SRD)] Volume 2 - Operations Part 1 page 41-42". National Archives of Australia. p. 106-108.
• Powell, Alan (1996). War by Stealth: Australians and the Allied Intelligence Bureau, 1942–1945. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press. ISBN 0-522-84691-2.
• Silver, Lynette Ramsay (1990). The Heroes of Rimau: Unravelling the Mystery of One of World War II's Most Daring Raids Hardcover. Birchgrove, New South Wales: Sally Milner Publishing. ISBN 9781863510530.