Koggala lagoon today stands serene hiding, in its tranquility, a past that

bore so much significance during the Sec-ond World War. Today, one would never imagine that this place, tucked away off the main road made such a huge contribu-tion to the allied forces during World War II.

At a crucial moment during the War, Squadron Leader Leonard Birchall of the RAF base located near Koggala lagoon made a critical observation of an incom-ing Japanese threat. Even Sir Winston Churchill noted that it would have been a most dangerous threat had it not been detected. Remarkably, the observation made by Koggala RAF Squadron Leader subsequently contributed immensely to changing the direction of the War. Since then, this station has been spoken of with pride and honour by British aviators.

However, with the passage of time, this base lost its importance and was subse-quently abandoned with the conclu-sion of the Second World War. The RAF Squadrons left the country

after Sri Lanka’s independence and the station was neglected till the latter part of

1978. In October 1984, the Koggala

airfield was renovated as an Air Field Unit and commissioned as Sri Lanka Air

Force Koggala.

SLAF Kog-gala is 14 km away from the Galle town, in an area with a fabulous landscape. The two ends of its runway reach the Koggala lagoon and the sea.

Perhaps, the site would have been se-lected by the RAF to establish the airfield considering its strategic importance for aircrafts engaged in reconnaissance duties in the South East part of the Indian Ocean during the War.

When talking about Koggala and World War II, the name of Squadron

Leader, Leonard Birchall stands out from among many other Army, Navy and Air Force personnel who served in Sri Lanka during that period. Sir Winston Churchill dubbed Birchall as ‘the Saviour of Ceylon’ as the defence of the British fleet had much strategic value in addi-tion to the protection of the island. None of this was known to Birchall at the time, for he was shot down before he received confirmation that his radio report had been heard.

Churchill called it ‘the most dangerous moment’ of the Second World War – the mo-ment when the Japa-nese fleet was steaming towards Ceylon for a surprise

attack on the British fleet. The advance warning by the Cat-

alina crew gave the British and Ceylon the much needed time to prepare. As a result, the losses were minimal and the Japanese were stopped in their tracks.

Flying officer H.A. Halliday describ-ing the situation at the time, wrote in The Tuskers’ Tale: “The military situation in

the east in the spring of 1942 was criti-cal. At Pearl Harbour,

off

Ma-laya, and in the Dutch East Indies, the Japanese had inflicted heavy casualties on Allied air, sea and ground forces. In a blitzkrieg whose scope, speed and successes dazzled even the Germans, the Japanese had swept over the Pacific. Singapore was gone, Burma going. The enemy was at the gates to India, the Bay of Bengal was open to his carriers, and Ceylon was threatened. Re-

alizing this danger, the British rushed forces into the area. These included a fleet under Admiral Sir James Somer-ville, a handful of fighters, and No. 413 Sqn”.

The British were still reeling from a string of recent disasters. The Japanese Army was approaching India’s eastern border. To stem the Japanese advance, available reinforce-ments had been dis-patched to the Far East. Among them was Squadron 413, which, at the end of February, had been ordered to move to Ceylon from Sullom Voe in the Shetland Islands.

Young Squadron Leader, Leonard Birchall, had ar-rived in Sri Lanka on April 2, 1942. He was based at the Royal Air Force Station Koggala by Koggala Lake near Galle. Squadron 413 known as “the Tuskers” was the first such Canadian unit to serve overseas, other than in Britain.

Two days later, the recon-naissance flight of Squadron 413 was about to return to base after completing an assignment, when they saw, “a black speck on the horizon”. They investigated it and managed to make a radio report detailing the extent of

the ma-jor

Japa-nese of-fensive that was heading towards Sri Lanka. The port was cleared and de-fenses were prepared; another Pearl Harbor was averted. But the Japanese had seen the patrol and sent up Ze-ros to shoot them down. Hence on April 4, 1942 Bir-chall and his crew of eight were shot down 300 miles off Sri Lanka’s coast, but not before their reporting of the in-coming Japanese fleet was complete.

The force that Birchall spotted was the First Air Fleet, the carrier battle group that had previously attacked Pearl Harbor. It was commanded by Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo, and it com-prised six carriers Akagi, Hiryu, Soryu, Shokaku, Ryujo and Zuikaku, the battle-ships Kongo, Haruna, Kirishima, and

Hiei, the heavy cruisers Chikuma and Tone, a light cruiser, and eight destroyers. It was a well-trained, powerful force with more than 300 modern combat aircrafts includ-ing superb Mitsubishi A6M Zero fight-ers. The primary purpose of the Japanese mission, which they called Operation C, was to secure Japan’s western flank by neutralizing British naval and air forces in the Indian Ocean.

Secondary objec-

tives included disrupting shipping in the Bay of Bengal, and en-couraging the Indian independence move-ment, which desired to take India out of the war. In other words, this was a raid, and not an invasion of Ceylon.

Rob Stuart wrote in the National De-fence and Canadian Armed Forces (Jour-nal): “At 1600 hours on April 4, Birchall

and his crew sighted the First Air Fleet 360 miles from Dondra Head, the south-ernmost point in Ceylon, bearing 155 degrees from Ceylon. As noted earlier, they had just arrived in Ceylon on April 2. They were given 24 hours to rest after

their 10-day trip from Sullom Voe, but then, before being given any opportunity to familiarize themselves with their new operational area, they were ordered to join the search for Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo. They took off from Lake Koggala, the Catalina base on the south coast of Ceylon, before dawn on April 4, and they were scheduled to return after dawn on April 5”.

Birchall arrived in his patrol area just

as the sun rose. Hour after hour, the Catalina flew 150 mile-long east-west lines,

spaced 50 miles apart, at an altitude of 2000 feet over the water. While they were flying the last assigned

leg, Birchall’s naviga-tor, Warrant Officer

Onyette, the only other Canadian aboard, pointed out that if they flew an extra leg, he could con-firm their actual posi-tion by using the moon, which was then ris-ing. Since they were required to re-main air-

borne until after dawn the next day in any case, Bir-chall agreed.

His fateful message dis-patched, Birchall’s next priority was to turn and return to Koggala very fast. But his slow-flying Catalina was no match for Japanese fighter planes. Six Zero fight-

By Camelia Nathaniel

With A Glorious DeedThe Lagoon Glistens

ers launched from an aircraft carrier, shot down the lumbering flying boat like a sitting duck. Birchall and five of his crew survived the attack, only to be fished out of the water and taken captive by the Japanese. As a prisoner of war, Birchall showed extraordinary courage, braving repeated beatings and near executions in the defence of his men.

Even after the war, Birchall led a re-markable life. He was the longest serving member of the Royal Canadian Air Force (62 years) and worked as Canadian Air Attaché in Washington and with NATO.

He retired from the military as an Air Commodore and Commandant

of the Royal Military College.

Sri Lanka remained a constant in Birchall’s life. He made what he called his first ‘pilgrimage’ soon after the war. There were many others as well; most notably his visit to celebrate the 50th and 60th anniversaries of the defence of Sri Lanka, along with other veterans.

In 2002, he was accompanied on what would prove to be his last trip to Sri Lanka by his son Charles, an accomplished envi-ronmental lawyer. Birchall said during that visit, “I love the country and I’m happy to be here, especially when there’s such a wonderful hope for peace. I pray it will work. I would do anything I could to help make it work”. During that visit, he went to the Katunayake Air Force base to see the mural of his Catalina exploit in the officers’ mess. He did not live to realize his dream

of an end to the violent conflict, since two years later at age 89, he bid fare-

well to the world.They shall

not grow old as we

that are left

to grow old,

Age shall not

weary them nor do the years con-

demn them,At the go-

ing down of the sun and in the morning we

will remember them,

When you go home tell them of

us and say,‘For your tomor-

row we gave our to-day’ Extracted from

the Ode of Remem-brance by Laurence

Binyon on the War Me-morial in Koggala

A group of RAF airmen in Koggala in 1942

Leonard Birchall at the War Memorial in Koggala in 1992

A visiting Canadian delegation

Monument to commemorate the 50th anniversary of foreign allied troops who died in WWII while based in Sri Lanka

Sunderland aircraft in 1948

A group of RAF personnel in 1944