There's an ANZAC connection to my father. He was stationed on Palawan, P.I., flying B-25's, mostly against Japanese shipping. They got a call from an Aussie commander (British, of course) pleading for air support as they had been trying to take a mountain pass in Borneo. With the three previous attacks being costly in casualties, they finally called someone. Dad's and two other B-25 crews took off to see what they could do, with ol' Dad being the lead plane/mission commander. They flew over at high altitude, so as to appear oblivious to the Japanese defenders, and made their plan.
The plan was rather strange. They feathered their props and idled the engines, gliding down the slope in relative silence, one behind the other. And, they got lucky, because they arrived and attacked as the evening meal was being served. Rifles neatly stacked in the usual conical method. The B-25's straffed and bombed and flew away into the sunset, with no munitions left. Three days later, they got a message from the Aussie troops that they took the pass without opposition. If you know what mountain pass that would have been, I'd be interested. I haven't been able to figure it out. Malaysia now. 
Steve
This is the closest I can find on the Borneo action in 1945. The tactics you describe were pretty much general Allied practice in that time frame. One story I'm familiar with that a friend's RAAF father got a DFC for a glide bombing raid on a Japanese Airfield at about 2am on the morning of a nearby planned Allied Landing. He glided a PBY-5 at 50' over the main dispersal area and dropped four bombs on all the armed and gassed up aircraft. They could see the glow of the fire at 50 mile distance.
[begin quote]
Labuan–Brunei Bay, on the north-west coast of Borneo, was the scene of landings on 10 and 16 June 1945 which formed the second phase of the Allies’ campaign to seize the island from the Japanese. The operation, codenamed ‘Oboe 6’, was conducted by the 9th Australian Division commanded by Major-General George Wootten—less the 26th Brigade which was still engaged at Tarakan (q.v.)—and involved a total of more than 29,000 men. The objective of the invasion force was to secure the ground needed for an advanced fleet base to be established, and also to protect oil and rubber-producing facilities in the area. On the morning of 10 June, following a heavy air and naval bombardment, the 24th Brigade (2/28th and 2/43rd battalions) was put ashore on the southern end of Labuan Island in the entrance to Brunei Bay. At the same time the 20th Brigade was landed on the southern edge of the bay—the 2/17th Battalion securing a beach-head at Brunei Bluff on the mainland of Borneo itself, just north of the town of Brooketon; the 2/15th seizing the small Muara Island close by. The enemy had retired to defensive positions away from the beach-front, so there was no opposition to any of these landings; Muara was quickly found to be ungarrisoned by the enemy anyway.
On Labuan, the town and airfield were both secured by dusk at a cost of only a few casualties to steadily increasing Japanese resistance. When the Australians pressed their attack over the next two days, however, the surviving Japanese withdrew into a stronghold dug into a tangle of jungle-covered ridges on the edge of a mangrove swamp little more than a kilometre west of the airfield. Realising that a full-scale attack would be needed to subdue the enemy resisting in what became known as ‘The Pocket’, a five-day barrage was laid down before infantry and tanks advanced on 15 June. After only a few posts were taken, but two tanks damaged by the defenders, it was decided to continue the bombardment before making a further attempt. In addition to artillery, gunfire from the Australian cruiser Shropshire and
aerial bombing was also brought to bear. On 21 June two companies again assaulted The Pocket, supported by tanks (some with flamethrowers). About 180 Japanese were killed in the attack, bringing to 389 the number of enemy dead since the Labuan landing; Australian dead numbered 34. [end quote]
Clark, Chris. The Encyclopaedia of Australia's Battles (p. 252). Allen & Unwin. Kindle Edition.
Topic: ANZAC DAY (Read 407 times)