{"id":107,"date":"2026-01-16T00:40:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T05:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.histoiresdecheznous.ca\/v3\/force-136\/?post_type=csat-story-chapter&p=107"},"modified":"2026-08-05T21:33:50","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T01:33:50","slug":"not-everyone-could-survive-special-operations-training-in-india","status":"publish","type":"csat-story-chapter","link":"https:\/\/www.histoiresdecheznous.ca\/v3\/force-136\/en\/story\/not-everyone-could-survive-special-operations-training-in-india\/","title":{"rendered":"Not Everyone Could Survive: Special Operations Training in India"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
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During the last years of the Second World War, a small number of Chinese Canadians were sent to India for one of the most challenging paramilitary training programs ever designed. These men were being prepared for clandestine missions behind Japanese lines\u2014missions in which failure meant torture and death, and where survival depended on physical strength, mental resilience, and absolute silence.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\n\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tD\u00e9tails de l’image — <\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Image\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Force 136 men in India. From left: Willie Chong, Tommy Wong, Dick Yip, Maurice Jang, Ed Lee, and James Mar. 1945.<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t\t
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The SOE\u2019s Eastern Warfare School in India, called E.W.S.(I) \u2014 located primarily at Poona \u2014 created a curriculum specifically for the jungles, rivers, villages, and frontiers of Southeast Asia. The result was a training system far harsher and more unforgiving than what most modern audiences imagine when they think of \u201cspecial forces.\u201d The files make one thing clear: very few people could have endured this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Why was this program created?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

By 1944, Japan occupied vast areas of Southeast Asia. The SOE needed small, highly trained teams who could operate far from friendly support\u2014destroying supply lines, gathering intelligence, instructing local resistance, sabotaging infrastructure, and vanishing before being detected. The risk of capture was omnipresent. Students were not only trained to survive the environment; they were trained knowing that one mistake could lead them into the hands of the Kempeitai (Japanese Secret Police) or Japanese front-line troops, whose treatment of prisoners was notoriously brutal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What Trainees Had to Master<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t
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Paramilitary: Extreme Physical and Mental Conditioning<\/strong><\/h3>\n \n

The program started with what the School called \u201cbasic para-military training.\u201d<\/em> This included daily physical training beginning at half an hour and increasing progressively, weapons mastery with pistols, rifles, Sten guns, grenades, and the \u201cTommy gun\u201d, fieldcraft\u2014camouflage, stalking, night movement, and concealment, survival skills like map reading, navigation, first aid, and living off improvised resources, endurance tests, group obstacle courses, and leadership assessments that placed students under constant observation.<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

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Students were also taught to recognize and evaluate Japanese tactics, booby traps, and even improvised explosive devices used by enemy forces. This was not theoretical\u2014these lessons came directly from front-line experience.<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

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Jungle Course: Life in a Harsh Environment<\/strong><\/h3>\n \n

The jungle course was designed to strip away the comforts of barracks life. Trainees learned how to cook, move, and build shelters entirely from jungle materials, how to handle leeches, insects, monsoon rains, humidity, and foot conditions that could disable an entire patrol, how to lay and detect booby traps and ambushes, how to operate silently\u2014because in the jungle, sound carries far and can cost lives.<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

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Students practiced living rough for extended periods, sometimes for days on end, with minimal supplies. Improvisation was valued over equipment.<\/p>\n \n

Today this is called Special Forces training.<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

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Small-Boat and Riverine Training: Moving Undetected<\/strong><\/h3>\n \n

Rivers were the highways of the region. Students were trained to paddle canoes, small boats, and rafts at night, navigate fast-moving streams, conduct silent landings, and work in high-risk conditions where a capsize could mean losing weapons, radios, or all supplies.<\/p>\n \n

The hazards were not solely enemy patrols\u2014but crocodiles, rapids, monsoon floods, and darkness.<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

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Industrial Sabotage: Blowing Up What Could Not Be Captured<\/h3>\n \n

A select group was trained in industrial sabotage tailored to Japanese-held territories. Destroying power stations, pipelines, railway lines, and machinery, creating and placing explosive charges with limited materials, and understanding local fuel and power systems well enough to disable them efficiently.<\/p>\n \n

This was not demolition for engineers\u2014this was the art of causing maximum disruption with minimal equipment inside hostile territory.<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

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Intelligence and Guerrilla Skills<\/strong><\/h3>\n \n

Trainees learned interrogation resistance and enemy tactics, how to observe, record, and report enemy activity accurately under stress, how to gather local information discreetly in villages or markets, Japanese language basics, currency, psychology, and equipment recognition.<\/p>\n \n

Students examined real captured Japanese gear, documents, uniforms, and rations so they could identify enemy units quickly in the field.<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

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Communications Training: Keeping a Team Alive<\/strong><\/h3>\n \n

Wireless (W\/T) training determined who could be trusted with radio communication\u2014often the only lifeline to Allied command. Students were expected to reach 16\u201320 words per minute in Morse code. Training continued under exhaustion, hunger, and \u201cfield conditions\u201d to mimic real operations. <\/p>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

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Operators learned coding, decoding, and maintaining fragile equipment in jungle humidity and monsoon weather.<\/p>\n \n

A single missed message could doom an entire mission.<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t\t

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As Real As Possible<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

At EWS(I), the instructors emphasized realism:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2026all training must be carried out to the highest possible standard\u2026schemes and exercises were made as realistic as possible, with the use of live ammunition and explosives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students were frequently startled by simulated ambushes, live-fire exercises, and the unpredictable introduction of \u201cenemy forces\u201d into their training scenarios. The goal was simple: if something could go wrong in the jungle, they must practice it first at Poona.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Would you have survived?<\/strong>
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The SOE program required:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  • Hunger tolerance<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Sleep deprivation<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Mental resilience under constant surveillance<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • The ability to learn complex skills quickly<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Adaptability to tropical disease, insects, and climate<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Functioning under the knowledge that failure meant death<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Cultural sensitivity and emotional control during covert interactions with civilians<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Leadership under fear, not comfort<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    This course combined extreme physical hardship with clandestine work, improvisation, and the omnipresent threat of capture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    A Rare and Demanding Path<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Records show that SOE training in India was not glamorous. It was dirty, exhausting, punishing work carried out at speed and with uncompromising standards. Only a small number of candidates successfully completed the program; those who did became some of the most capable operatives in the Allied war effort. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Completing the course at EWS(I) Poona\u2014the \u201cbasic\u201d<\/em> school\u2014was an achievement few could manage. Those who passed were then sent to even more specialized and punishing phases: parachute qualification at ME89 (Jessore)(Military Establishment 89); advanced wireless and clandestine communications at ME25 (Ceylon);<\/strong> and finally to ME90, where only the strongest candidates were formed into Patrol Liaison Teams (PLTs) for deployment behind Japanese lines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This training pathway makes clear that these men were not simply well-prepared\u2014they were the elite. Each stage stripped away all but the most resilient, adaptable, and mentally disciplined individuals. Surviving Poona alone required uncommon fortitude; reaching the PLTs meant belonging to one of the most highly trained and exceptional groups of operatives produced anywhere in the Allied war effort. People who did not make it were Returned To Unit (RTU) to become ordinary soldiers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\t\t<\/div>\n\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":92,"template":"","class_list":["post-107","csat-story-chapter","type-csat-story-chapter","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"lang":"en","translations":{"en":107,"fr":1817},"pll_sync_post":{},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.histoiresdecheznous.ca\/v3\/force-136\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/csat-story-chapter\/107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.histoiresdecheznous.ca\/v3\/force-136\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/csat-story-chapter"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.histoiresdecheznous.ca\/v3\/force-136\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/csat-story-chapter"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.histoiresdecheznous.ca\/v3\/force-136\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/csat-story-chapter\/107\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1803,"href":"https:\/\/www.histoiresdecheznous.ca\/v3\/force-136\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/csat-story-chapter\/107\/revisions\/1803"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.histoiresdecheznous.ca\/v3\/force-136\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.histoiresdecheznous.ca\/v3\/force-136\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}