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96-772: All regiments and corps of the army have volunteer battalions/regiments attached with the exception of the Commando Regiment , Special Forces Regiment , and the Sri Lanka Corps of Military Police which only consists of regular units, while the Sri Lanka Rifle Corps , the Sri Lanka Army Pioneer Corps , and the Sri Lanka National Guard consists only of volunteer units. The SLAVF traces its origins to

192-835: A Satyagraha against the language policy of the government. The government responded by dispatching army units to the Jaffna District and declaring a state of emergency under the Public Security Act . Several Tamil leaders were arrested under emergency regulations and the Satyagraha came to a halt. The emergency regulations was in force till January 1963. This allowed the government to keep volunteer units ( reservists ) mobilized and used these units as additional man power during trade union strikes and civil disturbance. In 1961, volunteer units were placed on compulsory leave without pay, reducing expenditure and retaining

288-491: A Buddhist civil servant, M. Walter F. Abeykoon from the Lands Settlement Department, over three other senior Christian police officers. This caused much resentment among these senior police officers, who tendered their resignations, which were later withdrawn. In 1959, Bandaranaike was assassinated leading to a period of political turmoil that resulted in his widow, Sirima Bandaranaike emerging as

384-483: A call at his official quarters that the plan had been compromised and the leaders decided to call off the coup. Temple Trees was informed that the duty officer for the night at Police headquarters ASP V.T. Dickman had been replaced by a known conspirator. At 11:15pm a teletype message was sent out by DIG CID to Colombo and all police stations stating that a coup had been staged against the government by senior police officer and not to carry out any orders other than those of

480-417: A conspiracy by a group of senior police and armed services officers to stage a coup d'état had been foiled and seven police and army officers had been arrested. News then broke-out in the evening editions. The initial detainees were housed in an annex at Temple Trees, while CID and Special Branch carried out investigations to identify other conspirators. Felix Dias Bandaranaike's continued personal involvement in

576-519: A failed attempted coup . The government arrested and prosecuted the Commandant, Deputy Commandant, four volunteer battalion commanding officers, and junior officers including the staff officer, CVF HQ. Following the attempted coup, the two regular and three volunteer battalions suspected to be involved were disbanded along with the CVF headquarters. The functions of the CVF headquarters were transferred to

672-740: A future coup he empowered the Special Branch of the Ceylon Police Force charged with internal security . Sirima Bandaranaike's distrust continued into her second term in 1970, fearful of another military coup, she had the police units such as the Special Branch reorganized and appointed her cousin Anuruddha Ratwatte as commanding officer of the Army's Field Security Detachment tasked with identifying leaders of

768-499: A meeting on 13 April 1966 he was told by Colonel Sir John Kotelawala that he and Dudley Senanayake had been aware of the coup. The Acts offended against the Constitution in that they amounted to a direction to convict the men or to a legislative plan to secure their conviction and severe punishment and thus constituted an unjustifiable assumption of judicial power, by the legislature, or an interference with judicial power, which

864-476: A morning walk at Galle Face Green with C.C. Dissanayake , the Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) for Range I. During the walk Dissanayake had approached Senanayake for his assistance in a secret operation that was due to take place that night. As chief of police for Colombo, his cooperation was vital for the operation to succeed. Returning home, Senanayake was uneasy with the nature of

960-591: A move towards a socialist form of economy, nationalizing several private business and implemented controversial language policies. Prior to these changes, the officer corps of the army were composed of three-fifths Christian, one-fifth Tamil , and one-fifth Burgher . Bandaranaike moved to balance this by increasing the number of Buddhist Sinhalese officers. After sending the serving Inspector General of Police (IGP) Osmund de Silva on compulsorily retirement for refusing to carryout Bandaranaike's orders which de Silva considered to be unlawful, Bandaranaike appointed

1056-472: A potential coup. As a result, the military was under strength and ill-equipped to deal with the 1971 JVP Insurrection , which took the Bandaranaike government by complete surprise and almost defeated. To overcome the perilous situation Ceylon had to rely on help from other countries. Finally when Bandaranaike government introduced a new constitution in 1972, it declared Sri Lanka as a republic breaking

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1152-425: A supplement force to booster the regular army, by means of short service tenures and reduced recruitment restrictions based on age and qualifications. The SLAVF officers and soldiers are paid at a similar rate, while engaged on military activities, as their regular counterparts. Since 2014, recruitment of civil professionals to the volunteer reserve had re-started with the army reverting to a peace time role. The SLAVF

1248-806: A two week long annual training camp held traditionally in Diyatalawa . With Sri Lanka becoming a republic in 1972, it was renamed as the Sri Lanka Volunteer Force. In 1985, following the Manpower Mobilization and Auxiliary Forces Act, No. 40 of 1985 , it was renamed as the Sri Lanka Army Volunteer Force. Since the start of the Sri Lankan Civil War in 1983, the force has been in a continues state of mobilization and has functioned as

1344-533: Is responsible for VIP protection, hostage rescue and anti terrorist tasks and war dog operations. Four groups which were conducting long range patrols since 1995 was converted into the third regiment was formed 1 August 2007 with Maj Uditha Bandara as the Commanding officer. The Commando Regiment consists of four regular battalions. The Regimental Headquarter which includes the Regimental Centre and

1440-706: Is shorter in duration to the counterparts in the regular force and followed up with annual refresher training camps. Potential officers are mostly recruited between the ages of 18 and 26 years (regular force its 18 and 22 years) as officers cadets, who follow the Volunteer Commissioning Course (Volunteer Officer Cadet Intake) at the Sri Lanka Military Academy . The Volunteer Force Training School (VFTS) conducts shorted commissioning courses for direct entry and commissioning from other ranks selected as probationary officer . With

1536-606: The Armoured Corps , Artillery , Engineers , Sri Lanka Light Infantry , Sinha Regiment and the Gemunu Watch on a volunteer basis. Lt Percy Fernando was drawn from Officer Cadet School to assist in training. Lt. Srinath Rajapaksa, Lt. Vijitha Walikala, and four officers volunteered for the second training course conducted at Diyatalawa. All trainees of both courses, except for aforementioned officers, returned to their parent units after training. A Commando squadron

1632-776: The British Army , and many were killed in action . One of them mentioned by Arthur Conan Doyle was Private Jacotine of the CLI, who was the last man left alive in his unit at the Battle of Lys , and who fought for 20 minutes before he was killed. In 1939, the CDF was mobilized and an enormous expansion took place that required raising new units such as the Post and Telegraph Signals, the Ceylon Railway Engineer Corps,

1728-780: The Ceylon Defence Force . From 1949 the Ceylon Cadet Corps with its cadet battalions came under the Volunteer Force until 1988 when the National Cadet Corps was formed as a separate entity under the provisions of the Mobilization and Supplementary Forces Act, No. 40 of 1985. The Sri Lanka Army Volunteer Force is to be a versatile and efficient organization through training while being a reliable outfit and ready to assist and support

1824-844: The Ceylon Light Infantry Volunteers which was formed in 1881 as a Volunteer Force and evolved into the Ceylon Defense Force . With the formation of the Ceylon Army under the Army Act of 1949, the Ceylon Volunteer Force was established to function as the reserve force of the newly formed Ceylon Army. It consisted of non-career officers and soldiers, who were only mobilized during national emergencies. These personal were attached to local units that trained on weekends and under took

1920-491: The Lanka Sama Samaja Party , but the latter was convinced by the government to support the bill by an assurance that it would be used only for the prosecution of the members of the coup. … whether a criminal act is done or not, the agreement, and not the act, is what is penalized. ‘The conspirators may repent and stop or they may either have no opportunity or may be prevented, or may even fail. Nevertheless,

2016-873: The Second Boer War in South Africa . Their services were recognized by presentation, in 1902, of colors to the CMI, and a presentation in 1904, of a Banner to the CPRC. In 1922, the CDF was honored by the presentation of the King's and Regimental colors to the Ceylon Light Infantry (CLI). During the First World War , many volunteers from the Defence Force traveled to England and joined

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2112-585: The Sravasti , the hostel for MPs, while others were to be detained at their homes. Selected members of parliament living out of Colombo were to be arrested and detained at the local police stations. Key to the success of the coup would be to prevent, troops loyal to the government from staging a counter-coup. To this end, it was deemed that troops from the Panagoda Cantonment, were to be prevented from entering Colombo at all cost. The primary threat

2208-483: The composite guard was selected from the Ceylon Light Infantry with Major A. Hulangamuwa in charge. The officers were held in solitary confinement in the hope of getting confessions. The conditions were improved later. Extensive interviews were carried out among the small officer coupe of the Ceylon Army to gain evidence against the accused. One officer, Captain Poulier took his own life with his service revolver. In

2304-491: The 24 accused including De Saram, De Mel brothers, Douglas Liyanage, Sidney de Zoysa, Wilmot Abraham, B. I. Loyola, Wilton White, Nimal Jayakody, Noel Matthysz, Victor Joseph, Basil Jesudason, John Felix, David Tambyah and Samuel Jackson. The sentence was ten years in jail and confiscation of property. Wilmot Abraham later died in prison in 1964. The names of Sir Oliver Goonetilleke , and former Prime Ministers Dudley Senanayake and Colonel Sir John Kotelawala had come up in

2400-515: The Act had denied fair trial. According to the Privy Council, the law had been specially enacted to convict the men; under trial they did not have the protections that they would have had under general criminal law. It acquitted all the eleven. They were released from prison after four years in remand . Of the accused, De Saram returned to his family law firm and legal practice, Douglas Liyanage

2496-614: The Army headquarters. Till 1962, volunteer regiments and battalion recruited officers and other ranks directly through sponsorships or applications. Which allowed for battalions to recruit from a particular geographical area such as the Kandy-based 2nd(v) Battalion, Sinha Regiment . This process was discontinued the Army headquarters undertaking recruitment and training centrally and allocations based on vacancies in each unit. Weekend training and annual training camps were reduced. Volunteer personal were further subjected to scrutinization in

2592-647: The Army); the police element was led by DIG C. C. Dissanayake , (second most senior officer in the Police) and Sydney de Zoysa (a retired DIG), who was responsible for coordination between the services; the coup had been planned by Douglas Liyanage of the Ceylon Civil Service and supported by Rear Admiral Royce de Mel , recently retired Captain of the Navy and brother of Colonel Maurice de Mel. The coup

2688-561: The CDF became the nucleus of the Ceylon Army and all-volunteer units of the CDF—which was the majority—became the Ceylon Volunteer Force (CVF). Many Second World War veterans were serving in the CVF at the time and in the post-Independence years, the CVF played an important role while a new regular army was forming. During this time the CVF was mobilized repeatedly to counter riots and strikes. In 1962, senior officers CVF were implicated in

2784-531: The CID office in fort were to be taken over. Newspaper office buildings of the Lake House and Times of Ceylon were to be taken over and publications to be stopped for several days. Signals Corps despatch riders , fully armed on motorcycles, were standing by from about 11pm at Torrington (Independence) Square to storm Radio Ceylon once the password 'Holdfast' was given. A special direct telephone line had been laid

2880-908: The Ceylon Electrical and Mechanical Engineer Corps, the Auxiliary Territorial Service, the Ceylon Corps of Military Police, the Ceylon Signals Corps and the Colombo Town Guard Unit, which had been previously disbanded, but was re-formed to meet military requirements. During the Second World War Britain assumed direct control over the Armed Forces of Ceylon. Following the formation of the Army in 1949,

2976-592: The DIG CID. Having decided that no officers of the Royal Ceylon Air Force were connected to the coup, a security cordon around Temple Trees was deployed from airforce personnel, since no one was sure how deeply the conspiracy had penetrated the ranks of the army, navy and police. The prime minister ordered the arrest of Dissanayake and J. F. Bede Johnpillai (ASP Traffic). They were arrested that night by teams made up personnel from all three services and

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3072-528: The Government. A restructuring followed with officers and men linked to the coup being discharged. The 1st Heavy Anti-aircraft Regiment (the primary unit involved in the coup), the 2nd (V) Anti-aircraft Regiment and the 3rd Field Regiment of the Ceylon Artillery were disbanded in disgrace and remaining officers and men transferred to form the 4th Regiment, Ceylon Artillery. It was then moved to

3168-655: The Jaffna peninsula. By Delta Patrol of 1st Commando Regiment. Another successful raid was done in Welioya Thannimuruppu Kulam area in 1993 by a small team of Bravo Group of 2nd Commando Regiment. LTTE's Colonel Amudan alias Thambi (tag no 0003) was also killed in 1994 creating a great impact on the chain of command of the LTTE. Commando Regiment deployed its units in Colombo on following LTTE attacks With

3264-528: The LTTE strongholds around Thoppigala and Narakamulla. Gaining control of the A–5 road which runs from Maha Oya to Batticaloa via Chenkaladi was essential to gaining access to the jungles of Thoppigala. From Pullumale to Black Bridge at Chenkalladi road was totally controlled by the LTTE. Further, the LTTE was operating freely in the jungles between the A−27 and A−5 roads. Hence, it was essential to gain control of this portion of

3360-690: The P. O. Fernando Committee Report on port labor, and the Wilmot Perera Report on the Public Service. This resulted in several strike action by port workers and the Ceylon Transport Board in November and December 1961, which was followed by a general strike. The Ceylon Volunteer Force was deployed and restored much of the operations. On 13 December 1961, Dr N. M. Perera said in parliament that Felix Dias Bandaranaike

3456-557: The Panagoda Cantonment from its traditional home, Rock House . The 2nd (V) Field/Plant Regiment of the Ceylon Engineers and the 2nd (V) Signal Regiment of the Ceylon Signals Corps were also disbanded in disgrace and the remaining men of the latter were brought to form the Ceylon National Guard . In 1999, the 2nd (V) Sri Lanka Signals Corps was formed, but none of the other regiments were reformed even during

3552-514: The RCyAF in November 1962 from Air Vice Marshal John Barker . Temporary Commodore Rajan Kadiragamar remained Captain of the Navy with his appointed confirmed in 1964. Both General Winston Wijekoon and Colonel Heyn were not aware of the coup and their regiment, the 1st Battalion, Ceylon Light Infantry, based in Panagoda, was the unit the plotters had wanted to prevent coming to the aid of

3648-649: The Regimental Headquarter Battalion handles administration and welfare while the four regular battalions are organised into the Commando Brigade (CDO BDE) which comes under the operational command of I Corps . Current CR roles are believed to include In early years, most of the operations conducted by the Commando Regiment are Covert operations . A successful small group raid was done in 1990 In Mallakam in

3744-1100: The Regular Force during any eventuality locally or internationally The SLAVF consists of about 50,000 volunteer combat officers and other ranks attached to various units and regiments of the Sri Lanka Army. Sri Lanka Armoured Corps Sri Lanka Artillery Sri Lanka Engineers Sri Lanka Signals Corps Sri Lanka Light Infantry Sri Lanka Sinha Regiment Gemunu Watch Gajaba Regiment Vijayabahu Infantry Regiment Mechanized Infantry Regiment Military Intelligence Corps Engineer Services Regiment Sri Lanka Army Service Corps Sri Lanka Army Medical Corps Sri Lanka Army Ordnance Corps Sri Lanka Electrical and Mechanical Engineers Sri Lanka Army General Service Corps Sri Lanka Army Women's Corps Sri Lanka Army Pioneer Corps Sri Lanka Rifle Corps Sri Lanka National Guard Volunteer Force Training School SLAVF focuses on basic training for commissioned officers and other ranks , which

3840-684: The Squadron moved to its new premises in Ganemulla. In 1981 the Commandos were employed in counter terrorist operations in Jaffna for the first time. It also performs special duties in the Presidential Security Division. To meet the operational requirements the Commando Regiment was expanded and a Commando Brigade was formed on 18 March 1997.4 Commando regiment was formed before the 3 Commando Regiment on 15 March 2003 which

3936-567: The United Kingdom by plan with her family to join her daughter who was studying at Oxford at the time. The government's concern was to understand the depth of the conspiracy and identify conspirators. This task was led by Felix Dias Bandaranaike with the CID undertaking the investigations. Security of the Prime Minister and Minister Felix Dias Bandaranaike were increased by police and armed forces, while their country seats in their constituencies were supplemented by local party volunteers. Felix Dias Bandaranaike called for regular security briefings for

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4032-475: The ammunition magazine, which was an underground bunker and were to be held there until further instructions. Major General H. Winston G. Wijeyekoon , Commander of the Army and Colonel B. R. Heyn , Chief of staff of the army, the IGP and the Air Force Commander were to be prevented from leaving their houses as well as several cabinet ministers and important officials having been placed under house arrest. Government members of parliament were to be detained at

4128-493: The army, while Colonel B. R. Heyn took over as Commandant of the Ceylon Volunteer Force. In April 1963, Walter Abeykoon was replaced by S. A. Dissanayake as IGP and John Attygalle was promoted DIG (CID). The following December General Winston Wijekoon retired and Colonel Udugama succeeded him as Army Commander. The command of the air force was shifted to Ceylonese officers from RAF officers on secondment, with Temporary Air Commodore Rohan Amerasekera taking over as Commander of

4224-451: The battlefield creating a favorable situation to launch a historical major offensive to liberate Eastern Province from LTTE. The Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol (LRRP) is a covert operation (black ops) unit of the Sri Lanka Army. This unit is operated under the Directorate of Military Intelligence of the Army and it is composed of personnel from the Commando Regiment and Special Forces Regiment . The 3rd Commando Regiment participated in

4320-623: The command of de Saram and de Mel starting at 11:00pm and to be completed by 1:00am on the 28 January 1962. Lieutenant Colonel Wilmot Abrahams leading the 3rd Field Artillery Regiment was tasked with the capture of Temple Trees and detailing the Prime Minister assisted by ASP Lionel Jirasinhe. In this move, the Prime Minister was to be placed under house arrest. Senior Ministers, government officials and key advisers, were to be arrested and taken to Army Headquarters . This included Felix Dias Bandaranaike , N. Q. Dias , S. A. Dissanayake , John Attygalle , Rajan Kadiragamar . There they would be held in

4416-441: The commencement of the 4th phase of the Sri Lankan Civil War (often cited as 4th Eelam war ), the Commandos and Special Forces were tasked to conduct deep operations to disrupt and deny the freedom of action of LTTE . Commandos were able to disorientate the LTTE Leadership by conducting Ambushes and Raids by inflicting attrition on LTTE, thus forcing them to deploy more troops for their rear area security. Their operations shaped up

4512-421: The country was passed down from the British to the Ceylonese Christian elite , who had risen to positions of power largely owing to their education and religion during the British colonial period. As a result, all of the high offices of state were held by these elites. In 1956 S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike , an Anglican who had converted to Buddhism , was elected after a nationalistic movement in which he gathered

4608-417: The country. Other changes followed, N. Q. Dias was appointed as Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Defense and External Affairs. In this capacity Dias began a program of recruitment of Sinhalese Buddhist officers to the army, while recruitment in the navy was stopped. Colonel Richard Udugama was recalled from Jaffna, where he was serving as Commander Troops, Jaffna to take over as Chief of Staff of

4704-689: The coup leaders feared was the 1st Battalion, Ceylon Light Infantry , which was based at the cantonment. The other infantry regiment of the army, the 1st Battalion, Ceylon Sinha Regiment was deployed in Jaffna at the time. Therefore, troops from the coup with armored cars were to be stationed at the two Kelani river bridges, the Wellawatte-Dehiwela bridge and the Kirillapone bridge. Soon after midnight police cars equipped with loud hailers were to be sent out to announce an immediate curfew in Colombo city limits. The Central Telegraph Office and other city telephone exchanges were to be taken over and put out of operation. Shortly after mid-night Police Headquarters and

4800-469: The court saying that they were appointed by the Executive, when the latter had no constitutional right to do so. The Criminal Law Act was then amended to get the Supreme Court to appoint the judges. The second court also dissolved itself because of one of the judges, Hon. Justice A.W.H. Abeyesundere , QC , in his earlier post as Attorney General , had assisted the investigation of the case. A Third Court sat for 324 days from 3 June 1963, and convicted 11 of

4896-607: The crime is complete and was complete when they agreed. Excerpt from judgment - Queen v . Liyanage- 67-NLR:203/204, In June 1962, the Attorney General of Ceylon , Douglas Jansze , QC filed charges against 24 on three counts of attempting to The Minister of Justice , under the new law, appointed a Trial-at-Bar made up of three Supreme Court Judges . Of the 24 charged, all were Christians ; in terms of ethnicity, there were 12 Sinhalese, six Tamils and six Burghers among them. The remaining five were not prosecuted due to lack of evidence or having turned Crown witness. In

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4992-442: The exception of commissioning from other ranks, all potential volunteer officers need to be processionals, employed as executive grades in public/private sector or have a private income of Rs.500,000 per year. Recruit training for other ranks takes place at regimental training battalions and units. VFTS conducts advance training programs such as staff and command courses for junior and senior volunteer officers. Three former members of

5088-399: The first batch of officer cadets of the Ceylon Army who had been trained at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst . At this time, the first and only arrest of the coup was to be effected at 9.30pm when Neal de Alwis , Member of Parliament for Baddegama was arrested from his residence and taken to the Galle Police Station and held there for nine hours. At this point C. C. Dissanayake received

5184-477: The government and not on seniority as such as in the case of the IGP and the Army Commander. In the latter, B. R. Heyn was overlooked in favor of Richard Udugama . This practice was continued by successive governments and had a negative effect on the professionalism and impartiality of the armed forces and the police. Funding for the services were cut drastically in the immediate aftermath, greatly affecting its growth and disabling its ability of defending Ceylon in

5280-415: The government came on Saturday 27 January 1962, when the IGP Walter Abeykoon, who was at the Orient Club playing bridge was visited by Patrick de Silva Kularatne who had hurried to Colombo from Ambalangoda after receiving a call from his daughter Maya. Early that day, Kularatne's son-in-law, Stanley Senanayake , the Superintendent of Police (SP) (Colombo) in-charge of police for the city of Colombo had

5376-400: The government soon discovered that there were no provisions within the penal code to prosecute the accused. The accused claimed that they had merely planned a drill to execute in the event of a collapse of law and order. So they were remanded, pending trial, in a special section of the Welikada Prison called the Magazine Section. To guard these officers, a special security detachment called

5472-440: The height of the Sri Lankan Civil War when the Sri Lankan Army saw a major expansion. In all 31 persons were arrested, these included officers from the Army and the Navy, gazetted officers from the police, civil servants and several civilians. All arrested military officers were stripped of their ranks, while the police officers and civil servants were interdicted pending trial. Since no shots were fired and no troops deployed,

5568-461: The internal security reviews in 1970. In 1971, there was a general mobilization with the start of the 1971 Insurrection undertaking counter-insurgency operations. With the start of the Sri Lankan Civil War , the volunteer force expanded along with the regular force and since 1993 remained mobilized throughout the war and after. The volunteer force proved to be a means of recruiting officers and other ranks that could not be otherwise be recruited into

5664-480: The investigation and trial. Goonetilleke was removed from his position as Governor General and replaced by William Gopallawa on 20 March 1962 and went into exile in London. He was tried and sentenced in absentia for exchange control offences by the Criminal Justice Commission in 1972 and was pardoned following the repeal of the Criminal Justice Commissions Act in 1977. No moves against Senanayake or Kotelawala were made, but years later J. R. Jayewardene stated that at

5760-445: The investigation was termed by some as an inquisition . The plan of the coupe which was code-named Operation Holdfast , came to light based on the statements given the arrested officers and was published in a parliamentary white paper on 13 February 1962. The plan called for quick deployment of troops to seize strategic positions and installations, cordon off Colombo preventing troops from the Panagoda Cantonment reaching Colombo. In

5856-429: The junior police and army officers who were known to be acting under the orders of the coup leaders to be summoned to Temple Trees, where they were questioned by Bandaranaike personally and the CID. It was revealed that the coup's military element was led by Colonel Fredrick C. de Saram (a cousin of S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike) and Colonel Maurice De Mel , the Commandant of the Volunteer Force (second most senior officer in

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5952-488: The leader of his party and gaining a majority in parliament, resulting in her becoming the first female prime minister in the world in 1960. She continued her husband's policies, with Felix Dias Bandaranaike and N. Q. Dias serving as her close advisers. By 1961 resentment was building up among the Christians, who felt that they were systematically being eliminated. The regime appear to have targeted minority communities by taking over and renaming Catholic schools, whilst at

6048-479: The long term. Military hardware procurements were limited. The Navy was hardest hit, with many of its ships were sold and its blue water capability lost, it would not regain it former ability until the 2000s, having rebuilt its brown water capability over the 1980s and 1990s. Inter service cooperation in the form of joint operations were suspended. Following the Bandaranaike government's electoral defeat in 1965, Dudley Senanayake became prime minister. To prevent

6144-447: The major offensive. The capture of Unnichchai tank bund was one of the most significant raids conducted by commandos to facilitate break out of the major offensive to capture the LTTE stronghold Thoppigala. Attempted military coup in Ceylon, 1962 The 1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt (also known as the Colonels' coup ) was a failed military coup d'état planned in Ceylon ( Sri Lanka ). A group of Christian officers in

6240-413: The meantime the government passed a new law called Criminal Law (Special Provisions) Act, No. 1 of 1962 which gave additional provisions for prosecution beyond the limitations of the Evidence Ordinance , such as the use of hearsay as evidence; to bring the coup case under the new law it was given retrospective effect from January 1, 1962. The law was opposed in parliament by the United National Party and

6336-499: The military and police planned to topple the government of Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike during the night of 27 January 1962. Organised by Colonel F. C. de Saram (Deputy Commandant, Ceylon Volunteer Force ), Colonel Maurice De Mel , ( Commandant, Ceylon Volunteer Force ), Rear Admiral Royce de Mel (former Captain of the Royal Ceylon Navy ), C.C. Dissanayake ( DIG , Range I), Sydney de Zoysa (retired DIG) and Douglas Liyanage (deputy director of Land Development), it

6432-415: The military offensive which was launched to capture the Thoppigala (Baron's Cap) from LTTE during the period of June/July 2007. They managed to seize the rocky plateau which had been named by the LTTE as Tora Bora . Around 200 LTTE cadres were killed during the entire offensive. After a successful operation to capture Vakarai and Sampur by the Special Forces Brigade, the Commandos were tasked to capture

6528-474: The operation and confided in his wife Mala Senanayake the details which had been shared with him by Dissanayake. Mala Senanayake immediately called her father Kularatne who was a member of parliament and a founder of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party . Kularatne shared with Abeykoon all the information he had. Abeykoon called and informed the head of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) S. A. Dissanayake and went back to his game of bridge. S. A. Dissanayake (who

6624-582: The police, however the Bandaranaikes wanted to replace the Governor-General. Bradman Weerakoon , secretary to the prime minister was dispatched London to present the Prime Minister's request to the Queen to replace her Governor-General in Ceylon. On 26 February 1962, Radio Ceylon announced that the Queen had accepted the request of the Government of Ceylon to appoint William Gopallawa (the Prime Minister's uncle) as Governor-General of Ceylon succeeding Sir Oliver Goonetilleke with effect from 20 March 1962. Goonetilleke quietly left Queen's House on 2 March and left

6720-419: The police. The following day arrest warrants were issued for Colonel F. C. de Saram, Colonel Maurice de Mel and Rear Admiral Royce de Mel. Colonel de Saram drove to Temple Trees where he was arrested, Colonel de Mel was arrested at home and Admiral de Mel went into hiding. In the Sunday afternoon of 28 January 1962, Radio Ceylon aired a special news bulletin interrupting its scheduled programs, announcing that

6816-447: The previous day, from Army Headquarters at Lower Lake Road to the Echelon Barracks , for use by army personnel. Colonel Maurice de Mel would command operations from Army headquarters, while Colonel de Saram would position himself at Temple Trees and direct operations from there. The password would be British Grenadier . C. C. Dissanayake would take up position at Queens House and direct operations from there till police headquarters

6912-483: The prime minister which were held at Temple Trees , Horagolla Walauwa and at Weke Walawwa. Dr N. M. Perera revealed the details of the attempted coup in Parliament on 13 February 1962 and published a white paper with its details. On 18 February 1962, Felix Dias Bandaranaike stated in Parliament that Sir Oliver Goonetilleke's up in the investigations. Goonetilleke indicated he had no objection to be questioned by

7008-573: The process detain the Prime Minister and government leaders. The service commanders and the IGP were kept unaware of the plan. It would be initiated by C. C. Dissanayake at 10:00pm on the 27 January 1962 by issuing a take post order to his men. Thereafter ASP Johnpillai, ASP Traffic would have all main roads and highways cleared within 30 mins. This will facilitate the rapid movement of troop convoys from their barracks to predetermined destinations under

7104-666: The regular force, due to age and qualification restrictions. Volunteer units played a vital role in Sri Lankan civil war in battles such as the Weli Oya , Kokavil , Mandaitivu and in the 1987–1989 JVP insurrection sustaining many casualties. Since the formation of the first cadet platoon with students of the Royal College, Colombo which was attached to the Ceylon Light Infantry , the Cadet Battalion came under

7200-476: The road and in the jungles, to launch an operation to destroy the bastion of Thoppigala. However, the A-27 road which runs from Maha Oya to Potuvil and the road from Trikonamadu to Kalmunai were controlled by the Army but was vulnerable to the LTTE attacks. After finalizing plans for a major operation, the mobilization of assigned troops commenced in preparation for launching a decisive attack against LTTE strongholds in

7296-573: The same time some of the elite Anglican schools were not targeted. Already by this point many Christians were leaving Ceylon mainly to the UK. The country's economy worsened, resulting in increasing cost of living and rising unemployment. The military coup by General Ayub Khan in Pakistan inspired a group of disenchanted officers to take action. In February 1961, the Federal Party launched

7392-650: The support of the Buddhist Sinhalese people majority of the country, who were considered underprivileged compared to the Christian minority. As promised during the election Bandaranaike began a rapid Sinhalisation of all parts of the government, which culminated in the passage of the controversial Sinhala Only Act . At the same time, he had the last of the British military bases in Ceylon removed and led

7488-602: The theatre. However, intelligence revealed that the LTTE planned to destroy the Unnichchai tank bund if the Security Forces launched an operation to gain control over the area. They intended to inundate the area by destroying the tank bund to destabilize the government and ultimately spoil the security forces' plan. In this backdrop, commandos were tasked to capture the Unichchai Tank bund intact to facilitate

7584-485: The trial it was revealed that the coup had the backing of several former statesmen, and brought out the brewing conflict between the entrenched elites and the newly emerging elites in post-independence Sri Lanka. Ceylon gained independence from Britain in 1948 as the Dominion of Ceylon , marking the beginning of self-rule for the local population. However, much of the political, governmental and military leadership of

7680-399: The trial of Queen v. Liyanage and others , the accused were defended by some of the top lawyers of the time including G.G. Ponnambalam , QC ; H. W. Jayewardene , QC ; S. J. Kadirgamar and K. N. Choksy . The prosecution was led by Attorney General Jansze, who relied heavy on the confession given by Colonel de Saram assuming full responsibility and on witness accounts. The judges dissolved

7776-591: The two CID officers. The information took the Prime Minister by shock, however under the directions of Felix Dias Bandaranaike, all service commanders, Major General Gerard Wijekoon , Commodore Rajan Kadiragamar , Air Commodore John Barker and the IGP Abeykoon were called to Temple Trees for an emergency meeting. Stanley Senanayake was also summoned to Temple Trees and was questioned by Bandaranaike and CID officers to reveal everything he knew. A list of possible coup members were made and Bandaranaike ordered

7872-455: The units in mobilized state so that they could be recalled more quickly than in a mobilization . In October 1961, Felix Dias Bandaranaike Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of External Affairs issued an order to the service commanders to prepare for a series of strikes and rioting by Leftist and trade unions. The government at this stage delayed implementation of wage revisions based on

7968-598: The volunteer force have been awarded the honorary rank of a General of the Volunteer Force of the Army. Sri Lanka Army Commando Regiment The Commando Regiment ( Sinhala : කොමාන්ඩෝ ‍රෙජිමේන්තුව komāndo rejimēnthuwa ; Tamil : இலங்கை இராணுவத்தின் கமாண்டோ படைப்பிரிவ ) is the commando formation of the Sri Lanka Army . The unit specializes in various roles including hostage rescue , counter-terrorism , unconventional warfare , special reconnaissance , counter-insurgency , and personnel recovery . It

8064-503: The volunteers grew large enough to become independent. The different units that emerged from the Volunteer Force were: In 1910 the name of the military was changed to the Ceylon Defence Force (CDF). It continued to grow throughout the early 20th century. The CDF saw active service when a contingent of the Ceylon Mounted Infantry (CMI) in 1900, and a contingent of Ceylon Planters Rifle Corps (CPRC) in 1902, took part in

8160-414: Was DIG (CID) and younger brother of C. C. Dissanayake) was not on talking terms with his brother. At the time the CID was tasked with internal security duties. S. A. Dissanayake understanding the depth of the situation, discussed the matter with John Attygalle , SP (CID); given the nature of the threat and not knowing the extent of the conspiracy, they both decided to approach Felix Dias Bandaranaike , who

8256-617: Was appointed Secretary to the Ministry of State in the early 1980s, Capt. John Felix went on to become the Commissioner-General of Inland Revenue and Lt. Col. Basil Jesudasan became the Chairman of Carson Cumberbatch PLC. The primary result of the coup attempt was that it led Sirima Bandaranaike to develop a distrust of the military. Senior appointments in the armed services and the police were made from officers trusted by

8352-589: Was formed in 1980 and is based in Ganemulla , a suburb of Colombo . The Commando Regiment currently consists of four regular battalions organized into the Commando Brigade, under the operational command of I Corps forming its Special Operations Force along with the Special Forces Regiment . In 1977 Lt. General Denis Perera issued a call to combating terrorism in Sri Lanka, a decision

8448-655: Was formed in Gemunu Watch 'B’ Camp at Diyatalawa and Maj S.D. Peiris, GW was appointed officer commanding, and Capt. Sarath Handapangoda was appointed as second in Command. Shortly after that, the squadron received specialised training in anti-terrorist and anti – hijack techniques conducted by the members of the elite Special Air Service of the British Army . The Commandos were later trained in parachuting at Agra, India and they performed their maiden display during Army Day celebrations on 10 October 1980. 4 December 1980,

8544-587: Was founded in 1861 when the Ceylon Light Infantry Volunteers were created. The second phase in the employment of non-British military personnel commenced in 1861 after an ordinance authorized the creation of Volunteer Corps. This move addressed the disbanding of the Ceylon Rifle Regiment in 1874. The Ceylon Light Infantry Volunteers was originally administered as a single unit. However over the years various sections of

8640-557: Was made by the Army HQ to raise a special counter-terrorist unit. Maj. Sunil Peris from 1st Gemunu Watch , Capt. Sarath Handapangoda from 1st Sinha Regiment and three other ranks were selected as a Core Group and training commenced in the Ella Camp, Army Training Centre , Diyatalawa . On 9 February 1978 the first ever commando training course commenced, Lt U. Edirisinghe and Lt. P. Chandrawansa, and 24 Other Ranks were drawn from

8736-411: Was making arrangements to rule the country with the army and navy. On 9 January 1962 Pieter Keuneman stated that there a situation was developing to create the basis for permanent military rule in the island; and on 12 January 1962 a statement by Wijeyananda Dahanayake claimed that someone in the government was preparing to set up a military dictatorship. The first indications of a threat to overthrow

8832-607: Was outside the legislature's competence and was inconsistent with the severance of power between legislature, executive and judiciary which the constitution ordained. Lord Pearce , Daily News However, the condemned appealed to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council . In its ruling given on 21 December 1965, it held the Special Act of 1962 was ultra vires of the Ceylon constitution and that

8928-729: Was taken over. The password would be Dowbiggin . Once the corp was complete the coup leaders with Major General de Saram as General Officer Commanding - Ceylon, would meet at the Queen's House where they would have the Governor General Sir Oliver Goonetilleke to dissolve parliament and take direct control of the state. He would be assisted by a governing council of former prime ministers made up of Dudley Senanayake and Sir John Kotelawala , with Wijayananda Dahanayake also invited to join. The coup leaders had intended to send Sirima Bandaranaike to

9024-498: Was the Minister of Finance and Parliamentary Secretary for Defence and External Affairs. Being the nephew of the prime minister, he was her principal adviser at the time. CID officers met the minister at his residence at 7.00pm where the police officers gave the Minister all known information. Felix Dias Bandaranaike wanted to act quickly to stop the potential coup and left for the Prime Minister's official residence, Temple Trees with

9120-762: Was to be carried out by troops from the 3rd Field Regiment and the 2nd Volunteer Anti-aircraft Regiment of the Ceylon Artillery (almost all the officers of these regiments were later found to be involved), 2nd (V) Field/Plant Regiment, Ceylon Engineers ; 2nd Volunteer Signals Regiment, Ceylon Signals Corps and Armoured cars of the Sabre Troop of the Ceylon Armoured Corps . Involved were Captain Nimal Jayakody and Captain Tony Anghie of 3rd Field Artillery Regiment, Ceylon Artillery, members of

9216-426: Was to take place in the night of 27 January 1962, but was called off as the government gained information in the afternoon and initiated arrests of the suspected coup leaders before the coup was carried out. The arrested conspirators were tried under a special law, convicted and jailed. Their sentences were overruled later on appeal as it found the new law violated the Ceylon constitution and denied fair trial. During

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