Britain's Greatest Soldier — Part 3: Operation Jaywick
In Extremis - Stories from the Edge of HistoryShow Notes
In November 1943, an Australian merchant mariner steps off an American submarine alone, and rows for the shoreline of an island held by the Japanese. He is at least 50. He has no support. Within three days, he has been betrayed and captured. Within nine months, he is dead — but not before showing his executioners what a man can endure. This is the story of Bill Reynolds' last mission, and of what happened to the operation he had helped to dream up when his place was filled by another man. In Part 3 of the Operation Jaywick arc, the mission Ivan Lyon and Reynolds had spent eighteen months fighting for finally moves into execution. The Krait sails. But the man now navigating her is a wildcard — Ted Carse, a forty-two-year-old with a chequered naval career, a weakness for beer, and a track record that should have ruled him out entirely. Storms, navigational errors, near-misses with reefs, and a propeller shaft held together by a hasty weld plague the voyage. And as the boat enters the Lombok Strait at the worst possible moment, Lyon realises the tide will not let them out before sunrise — with Japanese garrisons on both shorelines. We also pause to ask why Jaywick got the green light when its near-twin, Operation Scorpion, didn't. The answer says something important about how wars are actually won — and what role morale, propaganda, and Singapore's symbolic weight played in tipping the scales. We leave the Krait locked in the strait, dawn approaching. The conclusion of Operation Jaywick comes next week. If you have a family connection to anyone in this story, or a story of your own you think belongs on the show, I'd love to hear from you: [email protected] If you're enjoying In Extremis, the most useful thing you can do is follow the show, leave a rating, and share it with one person who'd enjoy it.
More from In Extremis - Stories from the Edge of History
Nehvizdy, December 1941. Two parachutists land in an open field of snow, miles from their drop zone. One is injured. By first light, a stranger has found their buried parachutes and followed their footprints to the quarry where they’re hiding. Operation Anthropoid is only hours old, and already on the brink of disaster. In Part 2, we follow Jozef Gabčík and Jan Kubiš through five months in occupied Prague. They break the most important rule of their mission to survive, rely on the families who risk everything to hide them, and patiently track the most dangerous man in the Protectorate. As the day of the attack approaches, the Czech resistance begs London to call it off. Then we spend a final morning with Reinhard Heydrich, a man at the height of his power, with no idea what is waiting for him on the road into Prague. SOURCES Callum MacDonald, The Killing of SS Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich (1989) Robert Gerwarth, Hitler’s Hangman: The Life of Heydrich (2011) Miroslav Ivanov, Target Heydrich (English translation, 1974) Jan Wiener, The Assassination of Heyrich: Hitler's Hangman and the Czech Resistance (1969)
Prague, 27 May 1942. Two men wait at a hairpin bend on a quiet suburban road. One carries a briefcase holding an anti-tank grenade. The other is assembling a Sten gun beneath a raincoat. Their target is Reinhard Heydrich, head of the Nazi security apparatus, ruler of occupied Bohemia and Moravia, and the man who chaired the Wannsee Conference. In Part 1, we go back to how Heydrich seized control of the Protectorate, the reign of terror that earned him the name “the Butcher of Prague,” and the political calculations in London that set Operation Anthropoid in motion. Then we board an overcrowded Halifax bomber over snow-covered Bohemia, as two Czechoslovak soldiers prepare to jump into the night. In this episode The Munich Agreement and the destruction of Czechoslovakia How Heydrich used Karl Hermann Frank’s ambition to push aside Konstantin von Neurath Martial law, mass arrests and the deportation of the Protectorate’s Jews Heydrich’s leading role at the Wannsee Conference Why Edvard Beneš wanted Heydrich dead, and why Britain’s Special Operations Executive agreed The meaning behind the codename “Anthropoid” The night drop of Jozef Gabčík and Jan Kubiš on 29 December 1941 Sources and further reading Callum MacDonald, The Killing of SS Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich (1989) Robert Gerwarth, Hitler’s Hangman: The Life of Heydrich (2011) Miroslav Ivanov, Target Heydrich (English translation, 1974) Laurent Binet, HHhH (2010), a novel If you’re enjoying In Extremis, please follow the show, leave a rating, and share this episode with one person who loves a good story from history.
February 1912. Lieutenant Teddy Evans is dying of scurvy in a tent on the Ross Ice Shelf. Hut Point is 56 km away. There is food for two days at most. Tom Crean pockets a few biscuits and a little chocolate, and starts walking. Part 2 picks up where we left off, with three men on a runaway sledge on the Shackleton Icefalls. Crean, Evans and William Lashly then pick their way down the Beardmore Glacier through a maze of crevasses, crossing one chasm on a knife-edged snow bridge with the sledge balanced on its peak. Far to the south, Scott reaches the Pole and finds Amundsen's tent waiting for him. Then scurvy takes hold of Evans. Crean and Lashly haul him on the sledge for around 100 km. Evans orders them to leave him and save themselves. They refuse. With the rations almost gone, one man has to go for help alone. Crean had done it before. A year earlier, adrift on breaking sea ice with Henry Bowers and Apsley Cherry-Garrard and killer whales circling, he leapt from floe to floe and climbed the face of the Barrier to raise the alarm. This time he sets out exhausted, half-starved and without water. He walks for around 18 hours with a single five-minute rest, and reaches Discovery Hut half an hour ahead of a blizzard. Sources The Worst Journey in the World, Apsley Cherry-Garrard South with Scott, Edward Evans Under Scott's Command: Lashly's Antarctic Diaries, William Lashly Scott's Last Expedition, the journals of Robert Falcon Scott An Unsung Hero: Tom Crean, Antarctic Survivor, Michael Smith
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Tom Trumble speaks at Reflections at Bukit Chandu, a WW2 and social history museum in Singapore, on the subject of his fourth book, Survival in Singapore: Elizabeth Choiy, Operation Jaywick, and the Battle for Truth in Changi (Penguin Random House, 2025). The presentation occurred on 12 September, marking the 81st anniversary of the liberation of Singapore and the end of the Japanese Occupation. Bukit Chandu—Malay for Opium Hill—overlooks the harbour where Operation Jaywick, a devastating commando mission, mined and destroyed Japanese ships. The museum sits at the edge of the Battle of Pasir Panjang, where the First Malay Regiment made their last stand under Second Lieutenant Adnan bin Saidi before the British surrender. Bin Saidi was captured and executed by the Japanese, and is regarded as a national hero. This presentation examines the unforeseen consequences of Operation Jaywick and the stories of survival and resistance during the Japanese occupation of Singapore. Speaking Inquiries: [email protected]