[1] The mission had been requested by the Netherlands Indies Civil Administration who was, according to Dick Horton "embarrassed that the Sultan...had been captured by the Japanese ... and was being held hostage in his own castle".

[citation needed] The Allied contingent consisted of eight Australians from Z Special Unit, and three Dutch officers and a Timorese corporal.

[1] The mission left Morotai on 8 April 1945 aboard two Australian crewed US Navy patrol boats and landed on the northern coast of Hiri Island,[1] two kilometres north of Ternate.

[3] Warrant Officer Dick Perry assumed command and attacked the remaining Japanese, who were all killed.

[4] The mission reportedly inspired the film Attack Force Z (1981), even though the plot of that movie was very different from the facts of Opossum.