{"id":551,"date":"2026-05-18T12:21:03","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T16:21:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.histoiresdecheznous.ca\/v3\/force-136\/gallery\/hs-7-88-93-copy\/"},"modified":"2026-10-21T23:56:17","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T03:56:17","slug":"document-page-1-of-3","status":"publish","type":"csat-media-element","link":"https:\/\/www.histoiresdecheznous.ca\/v3\/force-136\/en\/gallery\/document-page-1-of-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Document page 1 of 3"},"featured_media":535,"menu_order":18,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"image":535,"media-type":"image","audio":0,"video":0,"credits":"The National Archives, London, UK. Used with permission.","caption":"SRD history of the operational groups, page 1 of 3.","description":"Opening page of \u201cHistory of the Operational Groups \u2013 Group A,\u201d from a Services Reconnaissance Department (SRD) history of Australian special operations during the Second World War. The document explains the establishment of SRD operational groups in November 1944, with Group A responsible for planning, inserting and supporting clandestine parties in Borneo and surrounding operational areas. Its geographical subdivisions covered Dutch Borneo, British North Borneo, Sarawak and Brunei, and the China Coast. Major Courtney assumed command on 28 February 1945, supported by officers including Major Wylie, Flight Lieutenant Ripley, Captains Cunning and Crowther, and Lieutenant Mackenzie. On 23 March 1945, an advance party travelled from Melbourne to Morotai to establish headquarters and prepare for the arrival of additional personnel. The document identifies other staff members and describes preparations for Operations SQUIRREL and AGAS IV, including activities preceding the Australian assault on Tarakan under Operation OBOE I. These records illustrate SRD's organizational structure, personnel assignments and preparations for clandestine operations in Borneo.","_thumbnail_id":535},"class_list":["post-551","csat-media-element","type-csat-media-element","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","csat-media-element-type-image","csat-chapter-usage-chapter-13"],"media_element_thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.histoiresdecheznous.ca\/v3\/force-136\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/182\/2026\/05\/hs-7-88-93-copy-150x150.jpeg","acf":[],"lang":"en","translations":{"en":551,"fr":553},"pll_sync_post":{},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.histoiresdecheznous.ca\/v3\/force-136\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/csat-media-element\/551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.histoiresdecheznous.ca\/v3\/force-136\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/csat-media-element"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.histoiresdecheznous.ca\/v3\/force-136\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/csat-media-element"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.histoiresdecheznous.ca\/v3\/force-136\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/csat-media-element\/551\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2478,"href":"https:\/\/www.histoiresdecheznous.ca\/v3\/force-136\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/csat-media-element\/551\/revisions\/2478"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.histoiresdecheznous.ca\/v3\/force-136\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.histoiresdecheznous.ca\/v3\/force-136\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}