31 Jul 1945, Mini-sub cuts Japanese undersea communications cables

On this day, the British mini-submarine XE-4 and its five-man crew cut the undersea communications cables connecting Singapore to Saigon, and Saigon to Hong Kong. This forced the Japanese to communicate via radio, which was easier for the Allies to intercept.

Adam Bergius was one of the divers who did the actual cutting. This extract from his obituary in the the Scottish Sunday Herald explains:

Mr Bergius, his fellow divers and their midget subs arrived in Labuan, off Malaysia, in July 1945 on board their depot ship HMS Bonaventure, which had been built in Greenock as the Clan Campbell of the Clan Line but was requisitioned for the war effort.

On July 31, in the Mekong Delta, the XE-4 snagged on its targets, the Japanese communications cables. Sub-Lieutenant Briggs dived from the sub and returned with a snippet to prove he had cut it. An hour later, they located the second cable and Sub-Lieutenant Bergius dived from the sub to snap it after four attempts at a depth of 50 feet. He was hauled back into the mini-sub in complete exhaustion but brandishing a length of cable. Mission accomplished, the war was about to be over.

For the rest of his life, Mr Bergius kept that length of cable as a war souvenir.

Thanks to Jill for the link to the obituary.