Cocos Islands Mutiny

The Cocos Islands Mutiny was a failed mutiny by Sri Lankan servicemen on the then-British Cocos (Keeling) Islands during the Second World War.

The mutineers were to seize control of the islands, disable the British garrison and transfer the islands to the Empire of Japan.

However, the mutiny was defeated after the Sri Lankans failed to seize control of the islands. Many mutineers were punished, and the three ringleaders were executed; they were the only Commonwealth servicemen to be executed for mutiny during the Second World War.

Units belonging to the Ceylon Defence Force (CDF), including the Ceylon Garrison Artillery (CGA), the Ceylon Light Infantry (CLI) and the Ceylon Volunteer Medical corps, were mobilised on September 2, the day before Britain declared war on Nazi Germany. The CGA was equipped with six-inch (152 mm) and nine-inch (227 mm) guns. Several of them were posted to the Seychelles and the Cocos Islands, accompanied by contingents of the CLI and the Medical Corps.

The fall of Singapore and the subsequent sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse, punctured forever the myth of British invincibility. Whatever remained was ripped to tatters by the sinking of the aircraft carrier Hermes and the cruisers Cornwall and Dorsetshire off Sri Lanka in early April 1942; accompanied at the same time by the virtually unopposed bombing of the island and bombardment of Madras.

The feelings of the Sri Lankan troops had been excited by the work carried out by the pro-independent Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP), both before and during the war. They had volunteered to fight the racism of the fascists and had found institutionalised racism in their own regiments. Even the Burghers, who were of European ancestry, found themselves discriminated against.

With the Japanese successes, public sentiment on Ceylon turned in favour of the Japanese; being unaware of the fate that befell Japan's East Asian conquest, many Sri Lankans thought that the Japanese would serve as liberators. At this time J.R. Jayawardene, later to be President of Sri Lanka, held discussions with the Japanese with this aim in mind.

Mutiny

Indian troops, who made up the majority of the garrison on Christmas Island, rose up against the British troops and killed them in March 1942, before surrendering to the invading Japanese.[1] The Ceylon Garrison Artillery on Horsburgh Island in the Cocos Islands mutinied on the night of 8/9 May, intending to hand the islands over to the Japanese.

The plan was to arrest Captain Gardiner, the British Battery Commanding Officer and his second-in-command, to disarm the troops loyal to the British Empire, to turn the 6-inch guns on the CLI troops on Direction Island, and to signal the Japanese on Christmas Island. However, the soldiers all proved to be poor shots with small arms - one soldier was killed and another wounded.

The rebels' one Bren gun jammed at a crucial moment, when Gratien Fernando, the leader of the mutiny, had it trained on Gardiner. The rebels then attempted to turn the 6-inch guns on Direction Island, but were overpowered. [2]

Messages sent by Fernando were received in Sri Lanka, indicating that there was co-operation between him and both CLI troops and the Australian signallers on Direction Island. He declared he had surrendered on condition that he would be tried in Colombo - it may be that he intended to give a speech from the dock to inspire his compatriots. However, the rebels were court martialled on the Cocos Islands.

Fernando was defiant to the end, confidently believing that he would be remembered as a patriot, and refused a commutation of punishment. He was executed on August 5 1942 at Welikada Prison, and two other mutineers shortly thereafter. Fernando's last words were "Loyalty to a country under the heel of a white man is disloyalty".

Consequences

No Sri Lankan combat regiment was deployed by the British in a combat situation after the Cocos Islands Mutiny. The defences of Sri Lanka were beefed up to three British army divisions because the island was strategically important, holding almost all the British Empire's resources of rubber. Rationing was instituted so that Sri Lankans were comparatively better fed than their Indian neighbours, in order to prevent disaffection among the natives.

The LSSP's anti-colonial agitation now included references to the Cocos Islands Mutiny. Public disgust at British colonial rule continued to grow. Sir Oliver Ernest Goonetilleke, the Civil Defence Commissioner complained that the British commander of Ceylon, Admiral Sir Geoffrey Layton called him a 'black bastard'.

Sri Lankans in Singapore and Malaysia formed the 'Lanka Regiment' of the Indian National Army, directly under Subhas Chandra Bose. A plan was made to transport them to Sri Lanka by submarine, to lead a liberation struggle there, but this was aborted.

Mutineers

The men who were convicted by court martial of mutiny were:

" Bdr Gratien Fernando - Death (Executed on 5 August 1942)

" Gnr Carlo Augustus Gauder - Death (Executed on 7 August 1942)

" Gnr G Benny de Silva - Death (Executed on 8 August 1942)

" Gnr R S Hamilton - Death (Commuted to penal servitude for three years)

" Gnr Gerry D Anandappa - Death (Commuted to penal servitude for three years)

" L/Bdr Kingsley W J Diasz - Death (Commuted to penal servitude for four years)

" Gnr A Joseph L Peries - Death (Commuted to penal servitude for four years)

" Gnr A B Edema - Imprisonment for one year without hard labour

" Gnr M A Hopman - Penal servitude for three years

" Gnr F J Daniels - Penal servitude for seven years

" Gnr Kenneth R Porritt - Imprisonment for one year with hard labour Leader

Gratien Fernando (1915 - 1942) was the leader of the Cocos Islands Mutiny, an agitator for the freedom of Sri Lanka from the British and a hero of the Sri Lanka Independence Struggle.

Wathumullage Gratien Hubert Fernando was born to Sinhalese Buddhist parents. His father was a superintendent at the Ceylon Telegraph Office.

He went to school at St. Thomas', Mt Lavinia. He was later converted to Roman Catholicism. He was impressed by the programme of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party and by the anti-imperialist literature which it circulated.

He was very much an anti-racist in his attitude and at the beginning of the Second World War joined the Ceylon Garrison Artillery in order to fight fascism. He was shipped off with his unit first, to the Seychelles and later to Horsburgh Island in the Cocos Islands.

Here, he argued with his officers and agitated for action among his colleagues: his agenda was the opening of the battle against British colonialism. He finally persuaded a core group to rebel, seize the island and signal the Japanese that they had done so.

On the night of 8/9 May, led by Fernando, men of the unit mutinied. However, their plan failed and the rebellion was suppressed the next day. The leaders of the mutiny were court-martialed and condemned within a week.

Fernando's father petitioned the army authorities to commute the death penalty and asked Sir Oliver Ernest Goonetilleke, the Civil Defence Commissioner, to intercede with Admiral Sir Geoffrey Layton, the British Commander of Ceylon. However, when Layton interviewed Fernando, he was adamant that he did not wish to be reprieved or pardoned. He told his family 'I'll never ask a pardon from the British: that would disgrace the cause. Many years hence the World may hear my story'.

He was executed on August 4 1942 at Welikada Prison, and two other mutineers shortly thereafter. They were the only British Commonwealth troops to be executed for mutiny during the Second World War. Fernando showed defiance to the end, his last words being 'Loyalty to a country under the heel of a white man is disloyalty'. He was buried at the Kanatte cemetery, Borella, in an unmarked grave.