56 Sri Lankan soldiers served in Cocos Island during World War II and they were known as Ceylon Garrison Artillery. It is an artillery unit. Captain George Gardiner, who was a British national, acted as the commander of the camp and under this military unit, 152 mm and 222 mm cannons were installed on the island.
With the unfortunate end of the 1848 struggle, the era of Sinhalese raising swords against the British came to an end. Instead, the educated people of this country strive to fight for the country's freedom through political campaigns. When the situation in Sri Lanka calmed down to some extent with the political reforms, Sri Lankan youths also got the mandate to join the British Royal Army. This group is a group of young people who came together like that.
Thus, the Sri Lankan youths who join the Royal Army of the Sunless Empire have to fight in the foreign fronts in the First and Second World Wars, representing the British government. AD From September 1939 AD For six years until August 1945, this country, then known as Ceylon, had to make a special contribution as a British colony to the Second World War, which took place between America, the British-led Allies, and the Axis powers led by Germany and Japan.
The Japanese forces launched a strong attack on British power in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Because of that, the British arranged for military bases to be established on almost all the small islands south of Sri Lanka. Caucus Island, located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean between Sri Lanka and Australia, is also an island where a military unit was kept.
Cocos Island, also known as Keeling Island, is a group of islands with a size of 14 square kilometers. It includes about 27 islands formed by coral reefs. 600 miles east of it is Christmas Island. Although Christmas Island fell into the hands of the Japanese forces during the Second World War, the attempt to capture the Caucus Island into the hands of the Japanese failed, writing an important event in the history of Ceylon.
By this time, the Japanese forces managed to capture the British military headquarters in Singapore. Because of this, there was a great threat to British shipping in the sea area between India and Australia. Protecting the Cocos Islands, which were northwest of Australia, was important for the British fleet, and capturing those islands was important for Japan. And during this period, the administration of Caucus Island was done through Sri Lanka, which was known as Ceylon.
The rebellion against the British in Cocos Island is led by a young army soldier named Gretion Herbert Fernando of Bombardier Watumulla. He was born in a Sinhala Buddhist family near Colombo and studied at Mount St. Thomas College. He was inspired by socialist politics in this country.
He first went to the island of Seychelles, and secondly
Also dispatched to the Cocos Islands. Fed by anti-imperialist ideas, Fernando managed to get 30 of his fifty-six comrades to lean towards his ideas. It ended with them rebelling and planning a battle to liberate Caucus Island from the British.
On May 8, 1942, at 8:30 PM, their plans were put into action. 30 of the 56 soldiers of the Ceylon Garrison Artillery kept on the island took small arms and started the fight against the British.
Their aim was to remove the Caucuses from British control and hand them over to Japan. Gardiner, the commander, was arrested and it was later revealed that they had planned to signal their mutiny to the nearby Japanese-owned Christmas Island with cannon fire.
But to their disappointment, another group of Sri Lankan soldiers loyal to the British government launched a counter attack. Samaris Jayasekara, a soldier of the anti-insurgent army team, was shot dead by the insurgents. Lieutenant Stephens, the island's second in command, was also wounded.
The rebels tried to take the artillery under their control, but by now they had defeated it. Because of this, by nightfall, the rebellion had ended in defeat for the Sri Lankan soldiers.
Fernando, the rebel leader, offered as a condition of surrender that the case against him should be tried in Ceylon and not in this island. But the British, who refused, put Herbert Fernando and 15 others before a court-martial on the same island.
It was decided that seven rebels should be sentenced to death. Four people were sentenced to prison. The British Army gave full military honors to Samaris Jayasekara, a soldier who helped the British to quell the rebellion, and buried his body temporarily on Hosburgh Island near the island. Uttamachara was buried among the military cemeteries.
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