REVEALED - ‘JUNGLE COMMANDO! THE SPIRIT OF NO SURRENDER’ - DAMIEN PARER, BILL MARIEN AND DICKSON BROWN ON TIMOR 7 – 20 NOVEMBER 1942

[Edward Willis]

Portrait of Damien Parer in the early 1940s [picture] / Max Dupain [1]

Public knowledge of Sparrow Force’s almost year-long guerrilla campaign against the occupying Japanese on Portuguese Timor only emerged in early January 1943 with the release of Damien Parer’s film ‘Men of Timor’ and ABC reporter Bill Marien’s series of articles that were widely printed in city and regional newspapers and radio broadcasts.

A KEY MESSAGE from the film and newspaper articles was that the ‘Men of Timor’ ALONE DID NOT SURRENDER during the dark days of late 1941 and early 1942 when the Japanese rapidly overwhelmed allied armed forces throughout Southeast Asia.  The other defining story they conveyed related to how signallers of Sparrow Force built a radio (nick named ‘Winnie the war winner’) that allowed them to re-establish contact with Australia on April 19 after a long hiatus following the Japanese landing on February 20.

Parer, Marien gathered the material for their stories during a 13 day journey to Portuguese Timor between 7 – 20 December 1942; they were accompanied by the grossly overweight British journalist Dickson Brown.

Parer’s film and photos are available from the Australian War Memorial website and provide an invaluable visual record of that period of WWII on East Timor and are complemented by Marien’s lengthy newspaper articles and radio broadcast transcripts (accessible via the National Library of Australia’s Trove online database).

The story of Parer, Marien and Brown’s Timor journey including an itinerary and map plus Parer’s account of the event follows.

Map showing probable route taken and locations visited on Portuguese Timor by Parer, Marien and Dixon-Brown, 7 – 20 November 1942

Embarkation roll HMAS ‘Kuru’ 18 November 1942 – names of Paper, Marien and Dickson Brown highlighted – Sparrow Force war diary

“AUSTRALIAN ‘DEVILS’ IN TIMOR: ‘LOST’ COMMANDO FORCE IS STILL HARASSING THE JAPS”

By DAMIEN PARER, Cinematographer of the Department of Information, who recently visited Portuguese Timor [5]

 

JUNGLE COMMANDO!  THE SPIRIT OF NO SURRENDER is typified in this striking picture of G. Merritt, one of the gallant band of AIF commandos which, for the best part of a year, has, against odds of 100 to 1, denied the Japanese conquest of Portuguese Timor, 450 miles from Australia's north-west coast, and possible invasion springboard.

Portion of the epic story of these bearded, haggard fighters who, from the time the Japs landed on the island on February 19, until April 19, when communication with Darwin was established by means of a home-made radio, were regarded as a “lost force” has now been told.  It is a story of gallantry of men who have been living close to death, holding vastly superior enemy forces at bay while they, themselves, over a long period lost but 27 comrades.  In succeeding pages, an attempt is made, by means of pictures and information brought back to Australia by an official war correspondent and photographer who recently visited the island, to give some idea of the hardships borne and courage shown by these Australians, to whom the Japanese have paid the tribute “You alone do not surrender to us.”

My film of the Australians in Timor is dedicated to the commandos who are fighting for us on all the worlds battle-fronts, but particularly to those young men of Portuguese Timor. [The men of Timor] [6]

THE day is coming, and the Japan ese realise it, when all the hardships, all the gallantry and courage of these men will be rewarded; the day when they form the spearhead of a great offensive that will drive the enemy back to his own country.

Even, now, while the Australians on Timor are a relatively small and lightly equipped band, they have filled the enemy with a restless nervousness, so much so that the Japanese call them "diavl"-devils.  And devils they are, coming suddenly from nowhere, killing and destroying, and disappearing as suddenly again.

When the Japanese first descended upon Timor, scoring a chain of lightning successes, it was generally thought that the small Australian force on the island had been annihilated; indeed, the Japanese boasted that it had been eliminated … but this lie was soon erased.

As the enemy swept into Timor, occupying all the larger towns and bases, our men retired to the hills and formed themselves into a mobile force. They lived like natives and learned to speak the native language.  They had no organised lines of communication and no visible means of support, but they soon began to strike fear into the hearts of the Japanese, who put a price on each man's head and encouraged the natives to round them up and bring them in. But those of the natives who were in contact with the Australians learned to respect them and became their allies against the enemy and the pro-Japanese blacks.

HQ MAINTAINS RADIO communication with forward units.  Original wireless message to Darwin from the "lost" force was transmitted on makeshift set ingeniously built from scrap materials.  (Dept of Information)

Strain Began to Tell

For a little while the band was able to maintain itself fairly well, but before long the strain began to tell.  There were no supplies and no contact with Australia.  Their boots wore out; they got tropical ulcers; 90% of them went down with malaria - and there was no quinine.  They had no money or barter goods to trade with the natives for food or labour and transport animals.

And so things gradually got worse until young Joe Loveless, of Hobart, began to build a radio transmitter.  For 6 weeks while he worked the eyes of the whole force were hopefully turned on him, although to many in seemed a forlorn hope.

He had very little to work on - an old radio set, a few simple tools, and some kerosene tins.  He melted solder from the old set to use on the new one, running it into a small piece of bamboo.  Eventually it was finished, and the moment came for its trial.  Would it give a signal strong enough to break into the ears of the mainland listeners who would have no knowledge of the call sign or of the transmission frequency?

For several hours the signalmen on Timor kept trying to attract the attention of the mainland.  They prefixed the repetition of their call sign with the signal "emergency operations," the highest priority on the air.  Then suddenly they heard a mainland operator warning all other senders off the air, telling them to stand by to receive signals from the mystery callers.

AMONG THIS GROUP OF AUSTRALIAN COMMANDOS in Timor is Pte Merv ("Doc") Wheatley, of Perth (second from right in front), former West Australian kangaroo shooter, who is credited with having killed 47 Japs with his sniper's rifle.  (Dept of Information)

They sent out more signals and got a reply, establishing contact with the headquarters of the Northern Territory force ... it seemed like a miracle.  But the people at the other end were taking no chances … they suspected a Japanese trick.  So a message came through to the men in Timor saying: “Prove your identity by sending the name of Capt Blank's wife.”

"Her Name is Joan … !"

On a wild hill on Timor the Aussies clustered round the radio; all looked at each other and grinned.  The reply went out: "His wife's name is Joan" … and Timor is in touch with Australia again.

Then followed the news that filled the High Command with amazement and jubilation.  “The Timor force is intact and still lighting.  Badly needs boots, quinine, money, and tommy gun ammunition.” And so opened another chapter in the history of Australia at war.

Soon supplies began to come to the Timor force.  They were able to buy ponies and to hire native labour; to doctor themselves and supplement the native food with a small amount of army rations; but perhaps more heartening than all of this they began to get an occasional mail from home.

Portuguese Timor is mountainous and extremely steep, except for a narrow coastal belt, but it is not thickly covered with vegetation, as, for instances, are the rain forests of New Guinea.  Gum trees grow in profusion, but the main growth is of bamboo, which is used for all buildings and for making domestic utensils.

There is very little variation in the diet, rice being the staple food of the troops, although on the coastal strip where it cannot be obtained maize is used instead.  Rice and water and buffalo meat have been the standard food of the force for almost a year, but very often a wild pig or some other kind of game finds its way into the cooking pot.

All Day Without Food

Quotations from the diary of one of the men give some idea of the general conditions of Timor, for instance: “We moved all day without food, finally relieving our stomachs with ground maize flour.  Maize meal and wild honey go well, like nectar of the gods. … Daily becoming more like natives, sharing common spoon and common plate.”

Another extract reads: "Rode for hours over the most difficult tracks imaginable.  Narrow rocky gulches, steep descents, and almost impossible ascents, long continuous climbing, slippery clay and boggy clay ... it was a revelation of the ability of these Timor ponies.”  And again: “There is so little diversion, so much sameness, sameness of work, sameness of food; it is small wonder that we long for a change.”

The relations of our force with the natives embrace the two extremes.  On the one hand there are the natives who are employed by the Japanese, in many cases armed with rifles and encouraged to hunt down our men and to intimidate the natives who are friendly to the Australians.  On the other hand we would hardly have been able to exist without the help and kindness of the mountain natives, who are loyal to the Portuguese Administration and who have formed a strong attachment to the Australians.  The Japanese pay great attention to the native question, striving by all means to set them against the Australians and against the still constitutional Portuguese Administration.  They supply them with arms and encourage them to undertake forays against the mountain natives who are friendly toward the Australians.

Jap Losses 100 to 1

Invasion is a possibility that considerably worries the Japanese.  Furthermore, they have lost so many of their own men in their attempts to round up our commandos that they are now using natives for this job, directing them behind the lines.  It has been reliably estimated that we have killed about 100 Japanese for every one of our own men killed in action in this cunning, stealthy warfare of the mountains.

In spite of all the hardships, the extreme danger, and the Isolation, our troops are maintaining a magnificently high morale.  There is no despair and little complaining, only a firm resolve to keep an Australian foothold on the island and to kill as many Japanese as possible.

When it was known at headquarters that I wanted to go out and photograph the men in action a signal was sent to the leader of a forward patrol.  It read:

“Newsreel cameraman leaving for your HQ in search of action pictures.  If possible hold off burning of Z (Japanese base) and offensive moves towards Moabisse until his arrival.”

The reply shows the spirit of the Timor commandos:

“Observation post reports about 200 boongs (pro-Jap natives) approaching our area.  X and Y in action positions.  No details of contact yet.  Will delay burning of Z if possible.  Now bring on your cameraman.”

TIMOR, THE PART-PORTUGUESE, PART-DUTCH ISLAND, lies only 450 miles across the Arafura Sea from Australia's northern coastline, and, in certain circumstances, would form an excellent springboard for an invasion of this continent.

Japanese troops occupied Koepang, in Dutch Timor, and Dilli, in Portuguese Timor, during their rapid advance south early last year, but in Portuguese Timor they reckoned without an intrepid band of Australian commandos who had established themselves there before the Japanese arrived.

Retiring to the hills, the Australians have kept up a continuous kill-and-run campaign ever since.  They have been reinforced, and are now being supplied from Australia.

This map shows the contours of the island, which is 300 miles long, and has a mean width of 60 miles.

The mountains inland are very steep, and rise to a height of 9,600ft. Much of the vegetation is very similar to Australia and  there are many eucalypts.

The Portuguese settled there in the sixteenth century, and the Dutch drove them out of the western portion in the seventeenth century, and then established a colony of their own.

REFERENCES

[1] https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/704266.

[2] Commando, from Tidal River to Tarakan : the story of the No. 4 Australian Independent Company AIF later known as 2/4th Australian Commando Squadron AIF, 1941-45 / [compiled by] Lambert, G.E. - - Loftus, N.S.W. : Australian Military History Publications, 1997: 154

[3] Gill, G. Hermon. - Royal Australian Navy, 1942-1945. – Canberra: Australian War Memorial, 1968. (Australia in the war of 1939-1945, Series 2 (Navy); v.2): 214

[4] Gill. - Royal Australian Navy, 1942-1945: 214.

[5] Damien Parer “Australian ‘devils’ In Timor: ‘lost’ commando force is still harassing the Japs” The AustralasianSaturday 9 January 1943: 6. 

[6] ‘The Men of Timor’ OZ movies [website] https://www.ozmovies.com.au/movie/men-of-timor#details.

ADDITIONAL READING

Paul Cleary. - The men who came out of the ground : a gripping account of Australia's first commando campaign : Timor 1942. - Sydney : Hachette Australia, 2010.  Ch. 19 ‘Shooting the extras’: 251-264.

Tony Hall. – Voices from the air: ABC war correspondents of the Second World War. - Sydney South, NSW :  Harper Collins Publishers Australia, 2016.  See Ch. 7 ‘Back from the unknown – Timor’: 92-96.

Neil McDonald. - Kokoda front line. – Sydney: Hachette Australia, 2012.  See Ch. 18 – ‘All but you have surrendered’: Japanese to 2/2nd Independent Company, Timor, November—December 1942: 246-255.

 

Edited October 20, 2025 by Edward Willis
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