Col Doig, in his history of the 2/2 Commando Association of Australia “A great fraternity” recounted:

“In the early days it was realised that, with members widely spread throughout Australia, some form of communication would be required to keep them informed with news of importance to everyone.  A Queensland member, Bulla Tait, attended a meeting held at Monash House in early 1947 [actually 1946] and suggested that a duplicated newsletter be sent to all members whose addresses were known.  Col Doig, who was General Secretary at the time, volunteered to get this newsletter idea off the ground.

Col was employed at the Department of Labour & National Service and his boss was the late Tom Murray, President of our Welfare Association and well and truly in our corner.  Col wrote the first news sheets and had them typed by Lily Davies, a niece of one of our deceased members, Dick McKenzie.  As there was no duplicator available in the building the stencils were sent to the GPO building where the messenger to the State Deputy Post Master General, a Mr Job, would run them off on the P.M.G. machine.  As Mr Job also did the duplicating for the main office of the PMG, the output was considerable and a couple of reams of paper was hardly missed on this monthly basis.  This method continued for some time and, with postage only one halfpenny per item, it was not a very costly exercise for our fledgling organisation.  At that time the mailing list was some 500 members.  Obsolete foolscap envelopes were scrounged from the Department's store and overprinted with a rubber stamp to obliterate the original printed head line.  The addressing was quite a long and arduous task, mostly achieved in 'gash' time.”

The first issue of the newsletter, titled ‘Circular to Members’ was dated 18 December 1946 and is reproduced here.  The publication was renamed ‘Circular Newsletter’ from the second issue distributed in April 1947 and continued in that form (48 editions) until the first ‘2/2 Commando Courier’ was published in August 1951.  Many of the images that were collected as part of the ‘Photographic Scheme’ referred to in the ‘Circular’ can be viewed in the Gallery on the Doublereds website (https://doublereds.org.au/gallery/).

Thank you to Peter Epps for making this unique part of the Association’s history available.

Thanks Rob

THE LOSS OF CHARLIE WALLER AND TARZAN YEATES, KILLED IN ACTION, NEAR BOBONARO – 12 AUGUST 1942

INCLUDING THE LOCATION AND RECOVERY OF THEIR BODIES FOR FORMAL BURIAL

ALSO, THE MEMORIAL TO STUART ‘MONSTA’ JONES AT RAEFUN

*******

Map1: Waller and Yeates burials and Jones memorial locations map

BACKGROUND – THE BEGINNING OF THE JAPANESE ‘AUGUST PUSH’

The New A Platoon Headquarters at Rita Bau

At the end of July Corporal Harry Wray, with Private 'Tarzan' Yeates, was sent by Lieutenant Dexter to reconnoitre a new A Platoon Headquarters at Rita Bau where a house owned by a Portuguese chefe de postowas located on the slope of a mountain behind Cailaco.  It had the advantage of being nearer to Marobo and in a central position for control of the platoon.  The house was a stone and plaster bungalow with a thatched roof and was surrounded by a veranda, while some 10 metres away was a cookhouse and storeroom.  The house was located on the lower end of a spur which sloped down from one corner of the almost rectangular mountain top, a native village being about 400 metres below.

Wray’s report on Rita Bau was favourable, and by the end of July Dexter had located his Platoon Headquarters there.  A Platoon was now coming together, with its headquarters at Rita Bau - 1 Section was located at Cailaco, 2 Section at Maliana and 3 Section at Marobo - and was better able to deal with the troublesome border area. [1]

THE JAPANESE ASSAULT BEGINS

On 9th August the Japanese methodically bombed Beco and Mape.  Next day the bombers were over Mape again and also attacked Bobonaro, where Callinan had his headquarters, and nearby Marobo, thus ushering in a series of raids on the villages which the Australians had been using as their key-points.  It quickly became clear that the Japanese were launched on a widespread and well-organised move to envelop and destroy the Australians and the Dutch.  The pattern which subsequently emerged was that perhaps 1,500 to 2,000 Japanese were on the move; that one column was striking south from Manatuto; two struck out from Dili itself, one south-east then south by way of Remexio, one due south through Aileu; another crossed the border at Memo and drove at Bobonaro through Maliana; attacks from Dutch Timor developed against the Dutch positions in the south-west round Maucatar; a party landed at Beco (but in a rather disorganised state after effective attacks on their convoy by 18 Hudsons).

The bombings drove Spence and his Sparrow Force headquarters out of Mape, and they lost touch temporarily with the main forces.  The Portuguese telephone system of which the Australians had been making full use was disrupted and Callinan moved a few miles out of Bobonaro and set up a wireless control through which he was able to keep in close touch with his platoons.

Perhaps the most difficult fighting, however, developed in the western sector where Dexter had his platoon based on Rita Bau, and Turton was based on Atsabe farther to the east.  As the Japanese advanced, Dexter, fighting hard and manoeuvring skilfully, found his movements hampered by Timorese (mostly from Dutch Timor) whom the Japanese were using to screen their advance.  These Timorese moved among the bewildered local villagers and completed the demoralisation which the bombings had begun, the locals reasoning that surely this time the end had come for the Australians and no sensible man would side with the losers.  Dexter's men fell back towards Bobonaro.

In these encounters, the No. 2 Australian Independent Company (No. 2 AIC) suffered its first casualties in the August push when, on the evening of 12 August, Privates David Waller and Arthur Yeates, both 21, were killed in action on the southern approach to Bobonaro when their Sections engaged the large force.  Waller, a farmer from Wyalkatchem, WA, had joined the company with his brother Frank, 22.

At Bobonaro the column which had come from Memo and the party which had landed at Beco came together on the morning of 13th August and Dexter then joined forces with Turton to fight from a narrow saddle through which the road from Bobonaro passed to Atsabe.

The handwritten Sparrow Force war diary summarised this phase of the battle and the deaths of Yeates, and Waller as follows:

13 August - FORCE HQ at HATA-BUILICO.  Japs at MEMO, LEBOS, LOLOTOI, BECO.  Also pushing down from Dili and reoccupied REMEXIO.  No contact with DUTCH since 11 AUGUST.  All W.T. equipment except the transceiver destroyed by natives at MAPE.  Japs enter BOBONARO resisted by No. 3 Section, A Platoon, No. 2 Independent Company.  Two [men] missing (Private A.E. YATES [YEATES] and D.C. WALLER) and believed killed. [2]

TIMOR GRAVES HARD TO FIND

Shortly after the end of hostilities, an unidentified No. 2 AIC veteran stated that he felt that some of the remains of Australians killed in action in Portuguese Timor would be hard to locate:

Although Japs apparently did not interfere with Australian graves in Portuguese Timor, one Perth guerrilla veteran said yesterday that unless experienced men of the Timor Force were used as guides, guerrilla graves will be extremely difficult to find.

War Graves Commission is known to be searching for Australian graves in the Dutch section of the island, has probably started to comb the Portuguese portion already.

"We split up after the Dili action," said the Perth veteran.  "We maintained contact throughout hut had no central burial ground.

"Very few Australians were killed, but those who were had to be buried where they fell.

"As we had no tools, we had to dig the graves as best we could.  There would be no more than a stick or two for markings, but even though the undergrowth grows swiftly, graves still might be recognisable because of the stones we had to heap on them to protect the bodies from the hordes of dogs which roamed the island.

"But unless experienced men from the original guerrilla force are sent to help the Commission, the graves may never be located."

"We were usually in out of the way places and the territory is rugged.

"We found no instances of Japs disturbing Australian graves, even though they must have come across some, but we took no chances, buried our men where they would not be likely to be I found easily." [3]

AUSTRALIAN WAR GRAVES UNIT ACTIVITY

As part of the Australian War Memorial’s process of improving the usability of their records, they have produced a resource to help find information about the WWII Grave Registration, Enquiry and Maintenance Units.  A spread sheet details where and when specific units were during, and in some cases, after WWII. [4]

The No. 16 Australian Grave Registration and Enquiry Unit (16 AGREU) was deployed to both Dutch and Portuguese Timor to locate and recover for reburial the bodies of Australian servicemen.  The spread sheet reveals that the 16 AGREU was active in Portuguese Timor on unspecified dates between 11 – 31 September 1945 and more specifically in the Bobonaro area on 26 June 1946.

The unit war diary entry covering the period 1 August – 30 September 1945 records that ‘Investigation has disclosed the location of … 16 identified graves in Portuguese Timor’. [5]

Captain R.J. Crilley, the commanding officer of the No. 16 Australian Grave Registration and Enquiry Unit (16 AGREU) first came to Portuguese Timor with the September 23rd Australian Dili expedition, at which time he was able to travel to Aileu, and probably elsewhere on brief trips [6].

Crilley reported on 3 January 1946 that he ‘… rejoined unit on 29 December 1945.  Examinations and investigations were completed in all parts of PORT. TIMOR, with the exception of one grave in the Portuguese enclave of OECUSSI.  It is anticipated that this task will be completed in the near future. [7]

The Australian cemetery in Koepang was also a project of the 16th war graves unit and was constructed by Japanese POW labourers under the war graves unit direction. [8]

BURIAL OF PRIVATE ARTHUR ‘TARZAN’ YEATES

In September 1945, a field team of the Australian Military History Section (MHS) was assigned to collect information related to the war in Timor for the historical record.  An important part of this was taking photographs and making sketches of people and places that had been significant for Australian army troops.  The field team included three key members: a war artist, Charles Bush, a photographer armed with a Mentor reflex camera, Sergeant Keith Benjamin Davis, and a guide, Sergeant George J.B. Milsom, a former member of the 2/40th Infantry Battalion which had been based in Kupang (December 1941 -February 1942) and then the No. 2 AIC which had been based in Portuguese Timor until December 1942. [9]

Sergeant Keith Davis prepared a report on the MHS team’s field trip that included the itinerary they followed.  He recorded that on 13 December 1945:

13 [December 1942] Bobonaro: Found beautifully maintained grave of an Australian service man … ref 121444 etc. [10]

Davis’ photograph of the grave is included in the Australian War Memorial collection:

BECO [SIC] AREA, PORTUGUESE TIMOR. 1945-12-13. TWO NATIVES, KORLIMALI AND NAMAU, STAND BY THE GRAVE OF AN AUSTRALIAN SOLDIER. THE NATIVES MADE THE WHITE TOMBTONE AND TENDED THE GRAVE DAILY. (PHOTOGRAPHER SGT K. DAVIS) [11]

Details enumerated in the ‘Reburial Return’ for Arthur Yeates included in his service record that the human remains discovered at this location were his.  Under the heading ‘Means of Identification’ heading it was noted:

Location of grave confirmed by Sergeant Milsom of 2/2 Cavalry Commando Squadron.  Map of PORT. TIMOR 1:250,000 M.R. [Map Reference] 9 Deg 02 Min South 125 Deg 22 Min East.

This location is indicated on Map 1 as ‘Yeates’ burial’.

Under the heading ‘Remarks’ it was noted:

Sergeant Milsom of 2/2 Cavalry Commando Squadron who was in BOBONARO during August confirms the location of the grave as having been given to Company HQ by natives about 26 August 1942. [12]

Captain R.J. Crilley and other members of the 16 AGREU attended the site along with MHS team as evidenced by the following image taken by Sergeant Keith Davis.

BECO AREA, PORTUGUESE TIMOR 1945-12-13. THE GRAVE OF AN AUSTRALIAN SOLDIER WHICH HAS BEEN WELL KEPT BY LOCAL NATIVES. STANDING BY THE GRAVE IS CAPTAIN R.J. CRILLEY, COMMANDING OFFICER OF THE 16TH WAR GRAVES UNIT. (PHOTOGRAPHER SGT K. DAVIS) [13]

Yeates’ body was exhumed and re-interred at the newly established Koepang War Cemetery on 31 December 1945.

BECO [SIC] AREA, PORTUGUESE TIMOR 1945-12-13. THE GRAVE OF AN AUSTRALIAN SOLDIER, DEPICTED IN PHOTOGRAPHS 121443 AND 121444, WAS OPENED AND THE BODY EXHUMED FOR REINTERNMENT IN THE AUSTRALIAN WAR CEMETERY AT KOEPANG. [14]

Yeates’ final resting place is at the Ambon War Cemetery.  The Cemetery burial record cites the date that he was killed in action as 12 August 1942 and the location as ‘4 hours march west of Bobonaro’. [15] 

BURIAL OF PRIVATE CHARLIE WALLER

Private D.C. (Charlie) Waller was killed on 12 August 1942; Lieutenant Turner was with him when he was shot.  Turner said that after his No. 3 Section had received news the Japanese were only a day away from their position near Bobonaro, all the men were stood to, in anticipation of No. 1 Section withdrawing through them.  When the section failed to appear, Turner took Alf Hillman and Charlie Waller to recce a ridge and the general area in which it was expected.

“We saw quite a large group of men in the distance, but the light was not good enough to identify them,” said Turner.  “We were walking about twenty metres apart approaching the top of the ridge, when we were confronted by three Japanese.  They called on us to surrender but we immediately opened fire, Hillman with his sub-machine gun and Charlie and I with rifles.  It was very quick and short.  I called out to the others to get out, but Alf was hit in the arm and Charlie went down.  He didn’t move.  We ran about 50 metres to the next ridge where there was some cover.  We had no hope of getting Charlie out.”

Turner said he bound Hillman’s arm with a field dressing then the two men returned to their section. [16]

Waller’s body was recovered and buried by men of the No. 2 AIC as verified by the following report:

Most of the equipment which could be recovered had by now been taken back to Company Headquarters.  Cpl Delbridge had taken a small patrol from Two Section down to Mape, collecting gear, returning by way of Bobonaro and collecting more equipment there which had been discarded by the Portuguese army.  They then patrolled as far as Rita-Bau, looking for the body of Pte Yeates, who had been killed in the action there.  Instead of Yeates they found Pte Waller's body there which they buried before moving back to Marobo.  Here they had searched for Japanese bodies, intending to obtain badges of rank and unit insignias, anything which may be of intelligence value.  Moving on to Atsabe they collected more equipment which had been left by D Platoon.  From there they went back to Ainaro, the whole trip taking seven days. [17]

Lieutenant M.J. Muir, the new OC, 16 AGREU, diarised on 22 June 1946:

MV Merauke arrived at Dili.  OC contacted the Australian Consul and Major QUINTON, 3 Australian PW Contact & Enquiry Unit (3APWCEU) in reference to deceased Australian personnel in Portuguese Timor.  The remains of an Australian soldier recovered from the BOBONARO area were handed to the OC. [18]

Muir subsequently diarised on 3 July 1946:

The remains of an unidentified Australian were handed to the OC while in Dili by Major QUINLAN of 3APWCEU.

Major QUINLAN obtained these remains from the Portuguese authorities at Bobonaro.  The only information obtained by him was that they were the remains of an Australian who had been buried by a priest. [19]

Details enumerated in the ‘Reburial Return’ for Charlie Waller included in his service record confirms that it was his remains that were recovered by Major Quinlan; particularly note the ‘Date of Reburial’ of 22 July 1946.

The ‘Remarks’ note that ‘Location of the grave given by Captain P.P. McCabe and Sergeant Milson [Milsom] both of 2/2 Cavalry Commando Squadron who were in this area in 1942.  Sergeant Milson [Milsom] directed recovery party to the grave’. [20]

The location of Waller’s initial burial was recorded on 22 March 1946 as ‘… Buried Marobo … 8° 58’ S, 125° 22’ E’. [21] See Map 1.

Waller’s final resting place is at the Ambon War Cemetery.  The Cemetery burial record gives the same map coordinates and notes the site as being ‘Between Bobobaro [Bobonaro] – Marobo’. [22]

58 YEARS LATER: ANOTHER AUSTRALIAN CASUALTY IN THE BOBONARO AREA

THE MEMORIAL TO CORPORAL STUART ‘MONSTA’ JONES AT RAEFUN

One Australian was killed serving with the UNTAET phase of peace keeping operations in East Timor following the independence referendum.  The Australian contingent was working in the dangerous border area near Maliana, notorious for the incursion of militia death squads from West Timor looking for trophies.  On 10 August 2000 Corporal Stuart ‘Monsta’ Jones was killed when a rifle accidentally discharged in the back of an armoured vehicle while travelling over rough terrain close to the village of Raefun near Bobonaro. [23] This site of ‘Monsta’ Jones accidental death is in close proximity to the locations where Charley Waller and Tarzan Yeates were killed in action on 12 August 1942 and subsequently buried.

The 4 Royal Australian Regiment Battalion Group campaign history notes that:

To remember … ‘Monsta’ Jones in the country of his peril … a cross was erected outside Fort Maliana and dedicated on the 10 July 2001 ….

Although this was a nice tribute the Troop felt it would be more appropriate to erect a stone memorial near the incident site on the 12-month anniversary of Monsta’s death.  This task was one that the Cavalry Boys (2 Cav and 2/14th) took upon themselves to ensure a fitting memorial service was held.

The village people of Raefun were also extremely helpful in assisting with information about the incident site and allowing us to intrude into their quiet little village.  This village, and in particular the memorial site, presented spectacular views over the surrounding countryside.  On the day we erected the pink marble monument, the local’s enthusiasm to help overwhelmed them and they grabbed the shovels from the lads and hooked in to dig in the memorial stone.  The villagers were of great assistance during the preparation of the site and the conduct of the service.

The service was held on 9 August 2001 … [and] … the members of Raefun village accepted our invitation and laid a traditional scarf and wreath. [24]

The villagers of Raefun assiduously maintain the memorial and warmly welcome visitors to the site.

 

Corporal Stuart ‘Monsta’ Jones memorial, Raefun – 30 April 2019

REFERENCES

[1] Corporal Arthur Henry Kilfield ‘Harry’ Wray (WX11485) Recollections of the 2nd Independent Company Campaign on Timor, 1941-42, manuscript in 2/2 Commando Association archives.: 95, 97-98.

[2] [Unit War Diaries, 1939-45 War] Sparrow Force March - December 1942 - AWM52 1/5/55/2 - https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1365575

[3] ‘Timor graves hard to find’ Sunday Times (Perth, WA: 1902 - 1954), Sunday 23 September 1945: 4.

[4] Natasha Bobyreff ‘Second World War graves’ 09 September 2013 https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/blog/second-world-war-graves

[5] AWM52 21/2/17/2 - [Unit War Diaries, 1939-45 War] 16 Australian Graves Registration and Enquiry Unit, June 1945 - December 1946 https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C2703747

[6] Norman K. Wallis ‘Peace comes to Dilli’ Walkabout February 1, 1946: 31.

[7] AWM52 21/2/17/2

[8] AWM52 21/2/17/2

[9] William Bradley Horton ‘Through the eyes of Australians: the Timor area in the early postwar period’ Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies (Waseda University) No. 12 (March 2009): 271.

[10] Sergeant Keith Benjamin Davis. – [Report on Australian Military History Section field trip to Dutch and Portuguese Timor, September 1945 – February 1946].  Partial copy held in 2/2 Commando Association of Australia archives.

[11] https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C200635

[12] YEATES Arthur Edward: Service Number - V12019: NAA: A13860, V12019 https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/DetailsReports/ItemDetail.aspx?Barcode=202936308&isAv=N

[13] https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C200634

[14] https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/121448

[15] https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2172286/arthur- edward-yeates/#&gid=2&pid=1

[16] Cyril Ayris. - All the Bull's men: No. 2 Australian Independent Company (2/2nd Commando Squadron). - [Perth, W.A.]: 2/2nd Commando Association, 2006: 321.

[17] S.A. Robinson. - [Timor (1941-1942) - Sparrow Force and Lancer Force - Operations]: The Campaign in Portuguese Timor, A narrative of No 2 Independent Company.  Story prepared by Corporal S.A. Robinson, No. 5 Military History Field Team. – Australian War Memorial file AWM54 571/4/53: 104-105.  NOTE: Robinson’s report was derived from interviews with the No. 2 AIC men involved with the actions he describes.

[18] AWM52 21/2/17/2.

[19] AWM52 21/2/17/2.

[20] WALLER DAVID CHARLES: Service Number – WX13501 NAA: B883, WX13501 https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/DetailsReports/ItemDetail.aspx?Barcode=6471203&isAv=N

[21] WALLER DAVID CHARLES: Service Number – WX13501 NAA: B883, WX13501

[22] https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2172162/david-charles-waller/

[23] Peter Londey. - Other people's wars: a history of Australian peacekeeping. – Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 2004: 259.

[24] 4 RAR BN GP in East Timor: Op Tanager / ed. By Brian Campbell. - Bayswater, W.A.: Brian Campbell, c2001: 110.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A STORY OF RECONCILIATION AND REDEMPTION

The visit of former Japanese officer Shohachi Iwamura who served in Portuguese Timor to Perth in August 1993

 

A former Japanese officer Shohachi Iwamura who served as a platoon commander with the 48th Division in Portuguese Timor visited Perth in August 1993 and at his request met with members of the 2/2 Commando Association of Australia.

It had not been an easy matter for the 2/2 veterans to agree to host their Japanese visitor.  The Association debated the matter long and hard and there were members who openly expressed their antagonism towards the Japanese because of atrocities the invaders committed in Timor and other islands during World War II.

Nor did Mr Iwamura evade the issue, openly admitting that men under his command had raped Timorese women and that many of the Timorese men mobilised to work for the Japanese had died of starvation because they were not given food.

But there is one issue strong enough to unite the men behind a single cause.  In Osaka and in Perth, both sides have been working persistently and against heavy odds to promote the right to self-determination of the Timorese people in whose country they fought their battles in the 1940s.

The full story of this landmark meeting between former follows:

WAR FOES UNITE BEHIND COUNTRY LEFT BEHIND

 

Fifty years ago, the Portuguese colony of East Timor was the scene of fierce fighting between Australian commandos and Japanese invaders.  But some of the old enemies have now found a common cause in East Timor.  ANDRE MALAN reports on an emotional meeting in Perth yesterday.

WITH shaking hands, but a clear voice, Shohachi Iwamura yesterday made peace with his enemies of 50 years ago.

In halting English, the dignified retired engineer from the Japanese City of Osaka read from a prepared statement: "Fifty years ago, I was forced to meet you as an enemy in East Timor, but now I want to express my respect and brotherly affection for you.

"I am alive today and able to meet you because the Timorese people helped me and fed me, as they did you, when we were in need.

"Now we are no longer enemies, and I am proud to be your comrade and friend.  Thank you."

Listening to this over beer and sandwiches at a Perth hotel were about 20 timeworn Australian veterans who once would have happily killed their visitor.

"I don't think I ever saw his face in my sights," one of them whispered.  "If I had he wouldn't have been here today."

There was no malice in the quip, just a healthy dose of the seasoned larrikinism that old soldiers try on each other when they get together.

The same man later remarked: "It can't have been easy for him to come here.  I admire his guts."

 

Front Row (left to right): Jack Carey, Doc Wheatley, Kiyoko Furusawa (interpreter), Shohachi Iwamura, Domingos De Olivera, Colin Doig, Bill Howell.  Back row (left to right) Bernie Langridge, George Bayliss, Ted Monk, Henry Sproxton, Geoff Swann, John Fowler, John Poynton, Ray Aitken, Bob Smyth, Jack Wicks, Dick Darrington, Les Halse, John Burridge.

 

Nevertheless, it had not been an easy matter for members of the 2/2 Commando Association to agree to host their Japanese visitor.

The association debated the matter long and hard and there were members who openly expressed their antagonism towards the Japanese because of atrocities the invaders committed in Timor and other islands during World War II.

As he posed for a picture with his guest yesterday, the association’s president, Ted Monk, did not forget the 12 men in his section of 19 who had been killed by the Japanese.

Nor did Mr Iwamura evade the issue, openly admitting that men under his command had raped Timorese women and that many of the Timorese men mobilised to work for the Japanese had died of starvation because they were not given food.

But there is one issue strong enough to unite the men behind a single cause.  In Osaka and in Perth, both sides have been working persistently and against heavy odds to promote the right to self-determination of the people in whose country they fought their battles in the 1940s.

Mr Iwamura was a 23-year-old platoon commander in the Japanese 48th Army Division when he arrived in Dili on a Japanese troopship in November 1942.

He was assigned to mopping up operations against Australian and Portuguese soldiers who had resorted to guerrilla warfare in the hills of East Timor, as well as construction of roads and other military facilities.

Yesterday, he recalled several times coming into direct contact with the Australians in East Timor.

Once he was wounded in an exchange of fire when he went into the mountains to collect horses for the Japanese troops, and on another occasion, he helped in the capture of two Australian intelligence officers who had been landed on the coast.

Mr Iwamura said that many Timorese women were raped by Japanese soldiers.

No action was taken against the rapists, but when he heard that men under his command had been guilty of assaulting Timorese women, he forced the entire platoon to kneel on stones as an act of contrition.

When the war worsened for the Japanese, he was transferred to Java, Singapore and Burma before being sent home to a country left in ruins by US air attacks.

However, like many of his contemporaries, Mr Iwamura prospered during the Japanese post-war economic revival.  He married, had two daughters and became a successful engineer.

The former soldier did not give much thought to Timor for the next 40 years until 1985, when he read an account of the 1975 Indonesian Invasion of East Timor.

He joined an infant East Timorese independence support group in Japan and in 1987 he went to New York to make an emotional address to a United Nations special committee on decolonisation.

In tears, he told the committee: "In Japan I am simply one elderly citizen, but I am determined never to forget the crimes Japan committed in World War II and to act on what I have learnt from bitter experience.

"It is painful to speak today of the sacrifices and burdens we forced, upon the East Timorese, a people who had nothing to do with the war."

He said that after the war the Japanese Government did not pay war reparations to East Timor on the ground that Portugal, the colonising power, was not an Allied country.

He noted that Japan had become Indonesia's biggest aid donor and remarked: "If Japan wants to build real friendship with Indonesia it should tell that country, ‘we know from experience that no country can escape the judgment of history on a war of aggression’.

"And let the rest of us remember that grovelling before the strong, while cutting down the weak, is the way of fascism.

"I have learnt much about this issue from young people in Japan who support the East Timorese.

"I have learnt that the big powers, because of narrow national interests, close their eyes to the injustices committed by Indonesia."

The battle for the rights of East Timorese is one that has not been forgotten by members of the 2/2 Commando Association and other veterans who fought against the Japanese on Timor.

A mob of knockabout volunteers, drawn largely from WA, the 2/2 Independent Company was sent to secure East Timor.

Faced with overwhelming odds, they made an orderly retreat into the mountainous interior of the colony and conducted an unremitting guerrilla war against the enemy.

Against far superior numbers, the handful of Australians maintained effective opposition against the Japanese at a time when Allied forces elsewhere in Asia had surrendered or been driven into retreat.

The survival of the Australians depended on the heroic support of the East Timorese and the wartime experience forged close bonds between the soldiers and the Timorese.

After the Indonesian invasion of East Timor, the veterans became a vocal lobby group in favour of a firmer Australian stand against Indonesia's aggression.  But their protests have fallen on deaf ears as successive Australian governments have put the diplomatic and economic relationship with Indonesia ahead of the rights of the East Timorese.

However, with the same persistence they displayed as soldiers, the veterans, most of them now in their 70s or older, have refused to give up.

THEY continue to lobby hard, and to supply books and other aid to the East Timorese — when they can get the goods past Indonesian officialdom.

Yesterday, Mr Iwamura was able to give them guarded good news.  He said the new Japanese Government contained a number of people who were sympathetic to the East Timorese cause and that the Diet — the Lower House of the Japanese Parliament — would in future give more consideration to the rights the East Timorese.

He and the Australian veterans also applauded a decision by the US State Department to reject a request by Jordan to sell ageing American F-5 jet fighters to Indonesia because of Jakarta's human rights record and other sensitive issues.

But nobody is optimistic enough to think that East Timorese independence is on the horizon.

Mr Iwamura yesterday told his Australian hosts of a plan by Japanese East Timor sympathisers who have collected more than $100,000 towards a special school for East Timorese expatriates in Darwin.

The idea is for East Timorese culture to be kept alive at the school in preparation for the day — if it comes — when the refugees reclaim their country. [1]

[1] Andre Malan ‘War foes unite behind country left behind’ The West Australian, Wednesday August 11, 1993: 11.

 

Col Doig reported on the meeting for the Courier as follows:

AN HISTORIC OCCASION

Visit of Mr Shohachi Iwamura and Mrs Kiyoko (Kiyo) Furusawa

 

It is necessary to give some background as to how this visit came about,

When the massacre occurred in Dili, East Timor, in November 1991 the Association made every effort to bring the plight of the people of East Timor to the attention of the world, having failed miserably to move the Australian Government to any real effort in this terrible situation, letters were forwarded to Ex Service Organisations in many parts of the world including The Legion of Ex-Servicemen in the USA, Canada, United Kingdom and New Zealand and it was also decided to include ex-service persons in Japan in the hope that they would also throw their weight behind our efforts and bring the case to the notice of the United Nations.  The only real contributor was the Ex Legion of Canada which made representations to the UN.  The American Legion said this matter was not on 'their agenda', no replies were received from the UK or New Zealand.

Regarding our overtures to the Japanese, the only response to a letter put together by Mrs P. Thatcher and translated into Japanese by a University academic was from Mr Iwamura.  It was discovered that he had already put a case to the 'Special Committee on Decolonization' on August 13, 1987.  He had told of the Japanese occupation of East Timor, 1940- 1945, and of the horrific usage by the Japanese of the East Timorese people and pleaded the case for United Nations not to allow the Indonesians to perform the same atrocities once again on these unfortunate people.  As a result of his stance he was ostracised by his own people and especially his old regimental members.  He received death threats and was generally abused.  This did not shake his determination to do something for the cause of the East Timorese, and he joined with a small band in Japan who are promoting the cause of the East Timorese in many centres of Japan, especially in Osaka and Tokyo.

Mr Iwamura was an army officer in East Timor for two years and four months, and was engaged in transportation, security, punitive operations and road construction.  He was an independent platoon commander and a battalion adjutant stationed mainly in Baucau, Baguia, and Aliambata.

As a result of correspondence between Mrs Thatcher and Kiyoko Furusawa, who speaks and writes English excellently, a request was made for these two people to visit Australia with the object of Old Foes meeting to assist the cause of the East Timorese, with the high hope that publicity generated by the visit would awaken deep interest in Japan for the cause, Japan being the greatest contributor to aid for Indonesia.  This idea was forwarded to the WA Branch of the Association for consideration, as WA is generally regarded as the parent body.  At a well-attended committee meeting on July 13, 1993 the matter was brought to the attention of the Committee by Secretary Jack Carey and Col Doig, who had both been contacted by Mrs Thatcher.  After a full and free discussion it was unanimously decided that we would be prepared to accept such a visit as it possibly could do considerable good for the cause.  The decision was conveyed to Mrs Thatcher who was the go-between for the parties.

Advice was rapidly to hand that Mr Iwamura and Kiyo Furusawa would be arriving in Perth on Tuesday, August 10 which, incidentally, was the W.A. Committee Meeting day, and that accommodation and publicity be arranged for an itinerary commencing Perth on August 10, departing for Melbourne Thursday, August 12 and on to Sydney August 15, departing for Japan, Monday, August 16.

A Sub-Committee was called in WA to arrange the necessary details for the WA visit.  Thanks to John Poynton accommodation was arranged at the Airways Hotel (where we hold our Anzac Day Reunions) at excellent rates.  Jack Carey arranged for Andre Malan, special features writer for the 'West Australian' with a photographer to interview the couple, also a segment of the Gerry Gannon talk back programme was arranged for Wednesday, August 11.  A room was booked at the Airways Hotel for a meeting with the Japanese guests and for the necessary Interviews.

It was decided that the Committee meet as usual and at midday all possible to go to the Hotel to meet with the Japanese.  Everything happened in haste and as many as possible of our members were contacted by phone and requested to attend at the Hotel where drinks and snacks were to be available.  Bob Smyth kindly arranged to meet the visitors at 1am and set them up at their hotel.  The actual meeting occurred at 12.15pm with 16 members, Andre Malan and photographer Nic Ellis and Domingos Oliveira representing the Timorese Association in W.A.

The atmosphere was one of expectancy and some excitement, but it did not take long for everyone to become acquainted with the two people who proved to be most genuine and full of personality.  Mr Iwamura did not speak English, but all proceedings were interpreted by Kiyo.  The guest was able to read a specially prepared speech in English which he handed to our President Ted Monk on its completion.  He told of the Japanese treatment of the East Timorese and also spoke of the current treatment of these unfortunate people by the Indonesians and sincerely hoped that this getting together of Old Foes would generate a high degree of publicity in Japan and so help to benefit the cause of the East Timorese people.

Many questions were passed to the speaker who answered each question in a most able manner.  It transpired that Mr Iwamura's speech at United Nations was heard by Domingos Oliveira who was also present at that dramatic meeting.  When this was made known to Mr Iwamura, he immediately left his place to embrace Mr Oliveira - it was a most touching moment. [?] During all this time Andrew Malan was taking notes and later had a lengthy interview with our guest.  Later a special photo for insertion in the 'West Australian' Wednesday edition was taken and also a full group photo was arranged, a copy of which appears in this issue.  The couple were the guests of Mr and Mrs Smyth for Tuesday's evening meal.

The coverage in the Wednesday edition of the 'West Australian' was excellent. Mr Malan did the show really proud, had all his facts right and as a publicity affair it was outstanding, and the photo came up in a grand manner.

On Wednesday, John Fowler and Jack Carey took the visitors on a tour of the suburbs after the interview for the Gerry Gannon show which was steered through for the guests by Ray Aitken.  This was an excellent interview and did the participants great credit.  A tape of this event has been forwarded to Mr Iwamura in Japan.  The couple were entertained at lunch by Jack and Delys Carey, John Fowler, Ray Aitken and Col Doig.  They proved to be a charismatic duo - Kiyoto was especially charming.  They took with them a couple of ‘History’ books and a couple of the new ‘A Great Fraternity’, Delys made a presentation of a koala which played 'A Jolly Swagman' and jack presented a special WA ball point pen made of WA timber with the Double Diamond emblem on it.  In the afternoon and evening the East Timorese of WA took over and had a good rundown with these people.

Bob Smyth delivered the couple to the airport on Thursday morning for onward transit to Melbourne.

To sum up the W.A. section of this exercise, it was as much of a success as could be made of such a project.  The couple proved to be easy to know and most intelligent.  Mr Iwamura is an engineer now retired and Kiyoko is a lecturer at a university.  Both are hard workers for the East Timorese cause in Japan and are most courageous in taking this course as it is currently not a particularly happy one to take, especially in acknowledging Japanese war crimes which definitely brought all types of repercussions on to Mr Iwamura's head.  As Ray Aitken remarked, ‘they are both people you would be happy to know’. [?]

[2] Col Doig ‘An historic occasion: visit of Mr Shohachi Iwamura and Mrs Kiyoko (Kiyo) Furusawa’ 2/2 Commando Courier October 1993: 11-14.

PASSING OF SHOHACHI IWAMURA AND HIS RECOGNITION BY THE GOVERNMENT OF TIMOR-LESTE

 

Shohachi Iwamura passed away at his home in Osaka in May 1994 less than a year after his Australian visit. [3] He was posthumously awarded the Order of Timor-Leste by government of Timor-Leste in February 2015.  The award recognises ‘… those nationals and foreigners, who in their professional, social activity or, even in a spontaneous act of heroism or altruism, have contributed significantly to the benefit of Timor-Leste, the Timorese or Humanity’. [4]

[3] Documents on East Timor from PeaceNet and Connected Computer Networks v. 39, June 28-August 31, 1995: 96.

[4] ‘Decreto do Presidente da República n.º 1/2015 de 4 de Fevereiro, São condecorados com a Medalha da “Ordem de Timor-Leste”, os seguintes’ Jornal da República Série I, N.º 5, Quarta-Feira, 4 de Fevereiro de 2015: 1.

 

 

 

WINNIE THE WAR WINNER – MAPE, PORTUGUESE TIMOR

APRIL 20, 1942

After resistance by the main part of Sparrow Force had ceased in Dutch Timor on the 23rd February 1942, the forces commander began to reorganise and redeploy his troops in the southern half of Portuguese Timor about the middle of March.

Fighting as guerrillas against overwhelming odds, deficient in supplies and out of touch with Australia, it was imperative for the small force to re-establish communications with the mainland.  It was for this purpose that men of the 2nd Independent Company, the fortress signals section on the island, and members of Signals, 8th Division, pooled their resources to build a set capable of raising Darwin.  The most expert and tireless of these was Signalman ‘Joe’ Loveless.  His technical ingenuity and skill was assisted by the professional electrical engineering expertise of Captain G.E. Parker from Dutch Timor.

After many trials and much revision, Australia was contacted on the April 20 1942, and Darwin was made aware that the Australians in Timor were alive and well.

The set was affectionately named "Winnie the War Winner".

 

 

Constructing “Winnie the War Winner”.  Source: Signals – the story of the Australian Corps of Signals, 1949

The story of ‘Winnie the war winner’ has been told many times.  The most recent and authoritative recounting is by Paul Cleary in his book ‘The men who came out of the ground’ which is included in the following extract:

‘[It was] the most important single happening in the life of this fighting force on Timor, as continued resistance would have been impossible for any length of time without it.’

Filmmaker Damien Parer on the remarkable ‘Joe’ Loveless and his building a radio out of ‘odds and ends’ to contact Australia

THE 2/2 COMPANY’S enormous logistical reorganisation in March and April had given it a fighting chance. Vital supplies were safely stashed in mountain hideouts, the Timorese were supplying food on credit and some semblance of order prevailed for a company stretched out along mountain tops over a front of more than 100 km.  Yet the company’s life expectancy was clearly limited without resupply from Australia, and this would not be forthcoming without radio contact.

The company had never had its own radio link with Australia and Sparrow Force’s last radio had been smashed to pieces under orders from Brigadier Veale.  Back in Australia, no-one thought to send a search plane to discover the fate of the 270 men who had been left behind in Portuguese Timor.  In the chaotic months that followed the fall of Singapore and the Dutch East Indies, most likely no-one gave the 2/2 Company a second thought, let alone bothered to send supplies.

‘The boot position is fast becoming critical …’

While ammunition reserves were significant, they would run out with prolonged fighting, and medical stores were in even shorter supply; ‘supplies are being depleted rapidly despite rigid economy,’ reported the senior officers in the war diary on 28 March.  But what inhibited the company’s offensive action more than anything else was not the limited supply of ammunition or the short rations of food or even medical supplies.  It was boots.  The craggy surface of Portuguese Timor was quickly taking its toll on the leather-soled boots issued by the Australian Army.  The company reported in its diary on 27 March: ‘The boot position is fast becoming critical.’  But by the end of April, the situation was extreme.  A pair of leather-soled boots had a life of about one month when soldiers were patrolling in the forward positions, while those in the rear could expect a little more wear, about two months.  Without supplies of new boots the company would lack mobility and would soon be rendered an ineffective fighting force.  The company introduced a routine of taking off boots at times when an attack was unlikely so that the men’s feet would harden, preparing them for a time when they had no boots whatsoever.  Senior officers considered the local manufacture of clogs, but this was not found to be feasible.

Money was also going to be very important if the 2/2 was to be able to continue to buy supplies of food and to pay for services like the pony trains.  The value given by the Timorese to their surats was certain to wane over time if they could not be paid with currency that had an intrinsic value.  They could not live on credit forever.

TX4745, Signaller M. L. Loveless of Tasmania

 

‘… the senior command turned their attention to re-establishing radio contact with Australia’

As the company reorganised in March, the senior command turned their attention to re-establishing radio contact with Australia.  On 7 March, Major Spence gave responsibility for directing this task to a senior signals officer from Sparrow Force, Captain George Parker, 37, an electrical engineer from the Sydney suburb of Earlwood who had survived the Japanese landing in Dutch Timor before arriving at the Sparrow Force HQ in early March.  While Parker had overall responsibility, one of the lowly ranked privates, Signaller Max Loveless, already had the task in hand.

Max Lyndon Loveless, 37, a radio technician from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Hobart radio station, was an edgy man who suffered from anxiety and lacked the physical prowess of the bushmen in the 2/2 Company.  Had selection been based on his physique alone, Loveless would never have got a guernsey, but he was selected because the skills of a radio technician were in high demand at the time.  In Timor, Loveless would face a challenge that he could never have imagined, and he would be called on to contribute more than anyone else to the survival of the company.  Loveless, who was known to most people as ‘Joe’, was starting from way behind because the 2/2 Company was badly equipped when it came to radio communication.  They had been sent to Timor with unwieldy ‘109’ sets which were used by the platoons to contact Company HQ.  When platoons got, their radios working again, each was assigned a time on the quarter hour to contact Company HQ, but the ‘109’ sets used by the platoons weren’t effective beyond a range of about 30 km.  The radio set in Dili that had been previously used to contact Kupang was now in enemy hands.

‘… acquiring as much radio equipment as he could lay his hands on’

Immediately after Captain Parker gained his new assignment, he set about acquiring as much radio equipment as he could lay his hands on.  One of the first targets was a Japanese-owned SAPT plantation at Fatu-Bessi, in the mountains south-west of Dili, which was believed to have a powerful radio.  A party from C Platoon crossed swollen streams to reach the plantation where they seized the radio and interrogated the owner, Jaime Carvhalo, for suspected ‘pro-Japanese activities’.  They piled the radio into the owner’s car, a late 1920s Chevrolet Tourer with running boards and a canvas top, and then drove it to Hato-Lia, before the set was eventually sent to Mapé.  The set was only a receiver, not a transmitter, but even so Parker’s team kept it for spare parts.  The plantation owner was later released. [1]

On 20 March, Parker dispatched Corporal Alan Donovan to lead a three-man patrol to Atambua to recover parts from the set that had been destroyed by Brigadier Veale, but all that he could find were some crystals from the smashed set.  Donovan, who had also joined the 2/2 from Dutch Timor and worked on the radio project, was sent on a second mission into Dutch Timor where he obtained a power pack from a Dutch transmitter, two aerial tuning condensers and 20 metres of heavy aerial wire.  Parker also recovered a ‘109’ radio set that had been buried by Signaller Don Murray after leaving the Three Spurs camp shortly after the invasion.  Murray went back to retrieve the set and while struggling to move it he came upon two Timorese boys who offered to help.  The boys, one named Roberto, helped Murray carry the set all the way to Mapé, on the other side of the island, and then they stayed by Murray’s side for the rest of his time on Timor.  Loveless used the set for spare parts.

 

The probable route taken by Sig Don Murray and the Timorese boys between Three Spurs and Mapé through Taco Lulic, Lete-Foho, Atsabe and Bobonaro can be traced on this road and tracks map.  Source: Area study of Portuguese Timor (1943)

 

‘Loveless and his team were given premises in which to work …’ - Mape

On 1 April, Loveless and his team were given premises in which to work—a small windowless shed that had been used to store rice at the local school in Mapé, a sparsely populated and very marginal town in the south-west corner of Portuguese Timor.  The signallers worked day and night, burning pig fat to provide illumination.  Loveless was supported by a fellow signaller Keith Richards, who proved adept at recycling solder from the spare parts.  With the crystals from the Atambua transmitter Loveless constructed an oscillator, which produced a frequency, and he extracted two valves from the Portuguese receiver.  Parts from the Portuguese receiver were also used to construct a power supply for the unit.  By early April, Loveless had started work on the amplifier using valves from Murray’s ‘109’ set.  Ten days later he completed work on the amplifier, and then he turned his attention to the power supply, which was produced with spare parts.  All the bits and pieces were housed in the two halves of a kerosene tin.  Loveless was almost ready to go, except that he had to devise a system for charging batteries.

 

The hut at Mapé, Portuguese Timor, used by the Signals Section, Force Headquarters, 2/2 Independent Company.  It was here that the famous transmitter Winnie the war-winner, a masterpiece of improvisation, the wireless set was constructed by TX4745 Signalman Max Lyndon Loveless.

 

‘… charge the batteries …’

Using a 6-volt generator donated by plantation owner and former army officer Tenente Lopes, they constructed what Parker called a ‘boong charger’.  Occupying a room of about 3 square metres, the generator was driven by a rope that went around a wheel of 45 cm in diameter, and then attached to this was the much larger wheel which had handles on it so that it could be turned by manpower.  Four Timorese were enlisted to turn this wheel as fast as they could to charge the batteries.  After going to these great lengths, the ‘boong charger’ was a dismal failure.  Parker then dispatched a patrol led by Lieutenant Harold Garnett, which brought back a 6-volt, and 100-watt battery charger salvaged from a car near Dili.  But there was no petrol to run it; this also had to be obtained by another 2/2 patrol.  Petrol was in short supply in the colony, so patrols brought back kerosene and diesel, which was mixed together to produce a substitute fuel for the petrol engine.

By 15 April, Loveless had charged his batteries and could listen into the radio traffic in Darwin.  This feat alone bore great significance; Sparrow Force learned for the first time that 

‘What is the Christian name of Jack Sergeant’s wife?’

Australia had not been invaded, contrary to the propaganda leaflets distributed by the Japanese.  By 17 April, Loveless had the radio set ready for signalling to Australia.  The signallers identified themselves as YCF, the calling sign for Sparrow Force, without knowing that it had been made redundant by the Japanese invasion of Timor, and without knowing that the faint signal could be barely heard in Darwin.  Again, on the night of 18 April, they signalled ‘LOA—LOF— LOW from YCF’.  In Darwin, a senior signals officer, Captain Joseph Honeysett, was on duty that night when the weak and outdated signal came through.  The next evening Honeysett ordered that all radio communication in the region be shut down so that the signal could be heard clearly.  Honeysett thought that the signal could have come from the enemy, given that YCF was no longer in use.  One of the signallers in Darwin knew that Signaller Jack Sargeant was with Sparrow Force in Timor, and he asked if he was with them.  Indeed, he was.  Jack Sargeant was one of the men crouched beside the radio praying like hell that it would reach Australia.  The Darwin signaller asked: ‘What is the Christian name of Jack Sergeant’s wife?’  Sergeant answered that it was Kath.  Then the Darwin signaller asked a second question—what was Sargeant’s street address.  Sergeant gave the details, followed by a stunning message that said: ‘Force intact and still fighting.  Stop.  Badly need boots, quinine, money, and Tommy gun ammunition.’ [2]

‘… Sparrow Force was still a fighting unit’

The message proved conclusively that Sparrow Force was still a fighting unit.  The news that the 2/2 was still waging guerrilla warfare against the Japanese was simply stunning for Australia, as it arrived at the country’s darkest hour.  With the capture of more than 22,000 men in Asia from Japanese victories in the Malayan Peninsula, the Philippines, Rabaul, and in the Dutch East Indies, the news that one band of men was still fighting proved to be tremendously valuable both in strategic terms and in terms of morale.  After this successful transmission, Loveless’s men named the set after Winston Churchill. They called it ‘Winnie the War Winner’.

The chief of the Australian Army, General Sir Thomas Blamey, failed to grasp the significance of this news and he proposed withdrawing the company or using it as part of a much bigger operation to recapture the island.  Blamey outlined these options in a letter to General Douglas MacArthur.  But MacArthur could see the value of keeping things just as they were, and in his reply to Blamey on 11 June 1942 he stated firmly that ‘these forces should not be withdrawn’.  The company should simply continue its campaign of ‘harassment and sabotage’ against the Japanese, as MacArthur put it.  While knowing very little about what the company was doing, MacArthur seemed to perfectly grasp their role.

While Captain Parker had overall responsibility for re-establishing radio contact, he gave full credit to Loveless for showing the ‘greatest initiative’ which ‘undoubtedly led to our success’.  Other men in the unit thought that Loveless’s radio was the work of a genius, or, as his fellow signaller Don Murray put it, ‘pure arse’.  ….  The stress and strain of working day and night on the assignment took its toll on Loveless, who appeared to have suffered a nervous breakdown and was sent back to Australia a few months later after completing the assignment of a lifetime.  His illness continued after returning to Australia and he was discharged from the army in November 1943.

 

‘Winnie the war winner’ on display at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, in the Second World War Galleries

 

NOTES

[1] ‘Report on activities of Special W/T section 2 March–19 April 1942’, Captain George Parker, AWM PR00249.  Parker’s account is by far the most authoritative of what took place in rebuilding the radio, though other details have been taken from the accounts by Callinan and Doig.  One major factual error in other accounts is the claim that a Qantas radio was used by Parker and Loveless to build the radio.  This was not brought to Mapé until 29 April, after radio contact had been established.  The company’s war diary for that day says, ‘Several Portuguese cooperated in bringing from Dili an AS Transmitter, property of Qantas airways.  This they handed to Lieutenant Garnett, who has been operating in the Remexio area.  He arranged for it to be delivered to Force signals.  It proved suitable for their work.’

[2] Some accounts say it was Parker whose details were checked, but this could not have been the case.  Parker was not married at the time.  The reconstruction of the events in November that year by Damien Parer put Sargeant as the person whose family details and address were checked.  There are several versions of the ‘force intact’ message.  This one is taken from D. Parer, ‘Dope Sheet’, AWM FO1814.

 

Joe Loveless was rewarded for his work on ‘Winnie the war winner’ with a ‘Mention in Despatches’

 

ADDITIONAL READING

 

 

Thanks Rob

 

WWII IN EAST TIMOR

AN AUSTRALIAN ARMY SITE AND TRAVEL GUIDE

MANUFAHI DISTRICT

QUICRAS

GPS: 9° 02'48" S., 126° 01'48" E.

Quicras location map [1]

Quicras itself was only a few huts, set in a swamp too malarious for anybody to live in permanently. [2]

The last two entries in the Lancer Force war diary are for the 9-10 January 1943 and record the ‘main body LANCER FORCE’ boarding (with some difficulty) the RAN destroyer, HMAS Arunta at Kicras [Quicras] and then enjoying an ‘uneventful’ voyage to Darwin. [3]

‘We reached the Beach at Quicras by nightfall, and it was a bugger's muddle …. ‘ [4]

The Area Study of Portuguese Timor described the coastline in the Quicras area:

7. South Laclo River to Dilor River:

Over these 20 miles (32 km.) there is continuous low sandy beach with no shelter from surf which breaks close in during the southeast season.

The beach is unbroken except for a narrow stream entering the sea two miles (3 km.) east of Sahi River. This is 30 yards (27 1/2 m.) wide, with a bar which appears dangerous.  Several rivers and streams enter the sea during the wet season, but their mouths are all sanded up at other times.

Behind the beach between the South Laclo River and Quicras, there are extensive areas of low alluvial flats, often cultivated during the dry season. Further east the immediate hinterland is largely swamps with much mangrove. Further inland there is much open country except near Clerec River and Quicras, where there is dense forest and thick undergrowth.

There are no important tracks close to the shore except at Quicras. [5]

No.5 Section, B Platoon, No. 4 Australian Independent Company on the beach at Quicras - Sgt Alan Oakley (left), Doug Gaston, Lofty Hubbard, Arthur King, Cpl Bill Gibbs, Eric Smith, Kit Carson, Dick Spreadborough and Owen McMicking - sitting: Captain Alan Thompson with his criado [6]

CALLINAN’S ACCOUNT OF THE EVACUATION OF LANCER FORCE

Bernard Callinan recounted the story of the evacuation of Lancer Force from Quicras in his book Independent Company: [7]

Quicras had nothing at all to recommend it …

ON the 17th of November 1942, Colonel Spence left to go down to Betano and return to Australia, and I assumed command of the force, whose name had been changed for security reasons from Sparrow to Lancer Force; with him went the correspondents.  The Japanese had been threatening this beach head from the west, and we had reconnoitred two other possible landing places further east of Betano, one near the mouth of the Quelan River and the other near Quicras.  Reconnaissance parties had visited them and reported that they were possible but not extremely suitable for our purpose.  The one at Quicras had nothing at all to recommend it except tracks reached to within two miles of it, and it was cut off from adjacent areas by mangrove swamps. [8]

Evacuation Date Set - 9th - 10th January 1943

One night a very carefully worded message was received asking how long it would take to concentrate the force at any given spot for evacuation.  This was only required for information purposes, and it was not to be taken that evacuation was being considered or was possible.  So, I replied that same night: "Three clear days” and went back to sleep before my turn on guard came round.

The following night - 5th/6th January 1943 - I was instructed to concentrate the force for evacuation on the night of 9th/10th January 1943, and I was to nominate the port of embarkation.  There was no more sleep that night; they had to be some rapid thinking and action.

There would be no rearguard for this withdrawal, and if it were not handled carefully there would be a running fight down to the point of evacuation, and that could be very costly to us.  Security and control would be the matters on which I would have to concentrate, and on their achievement would depend the success of the operation.

The point of evacuation would have to be Quicras.  It was the only place available to us, although the only thing in favour was its equidistance from the two jaws of the enemy which were slowly, closing to us the whole of the south coast.

Diagrammatic map Portuguese Timor – drawn by Major B.J. Callinan 27 November 1942 [9]

The Only Two "Originals" Left

But how long would it take to get the various elements into that area without sacrificing security?  Every move had to be covered by a reason different from the real one in order to deceive the natives and enemy, and the force had to be maintained substantially in its present position until the last moment.  Also, it was important that Baldwin and I should make no moves that would disclose the operation.  It was expected by all that we would go back to Australia; we were the only two "originals" left, and it seemed to be the logical thing, so any moves by us towards the coast would be watched closely and discussed widely.

There were 50 miles between the detachment at Ainaro in the west and that near Ossu in the east, while there were 25 miles between O'Connor's platoon, at Fatu Maquerec, to the beach at Quicras.  Travelling was possible only in the morning and at night, as in the afternoon the rivers became so swollen that it was impossible to cross them. [10]

On The Beach Front At Quicras

About five o'clock in the evening the whole force with its stores was spread along the beach front, concealed in the scrub that came down to the high tide mark.

Private T.E. ‘Kit' Carson, B Platoon No. 4 Australian Independent Company on the beach at Quicras [11]

The eastern detachment were on their way and would reach the beach in time.  There was no news of the Ainaro detachment.  The volunteer party would search for them.  All the weapons, equipment, and wireless gear were there, also the parachutes used for dropping the rifles.  The wireless was set up and established contact with Australia.  Everything was under control.

After dusk the three large signal fires were prepared, and the lamp set up for the passing of the recognition signals.  Each platoon had its assembly area and its responsibility for stores.  The order of embarkation was women and children, then the doctor with the sick and wounded, then the Company, and finally Force Headquarters with Baldwin and me.

Farewell Arnalda

NOTE: Arnalda was Callinan’s criado – the following earlier extracts from Independent Company reveal how their relationship about and developed during the campaign:

Through the efforts of Aranhado I acquired a Portuguese-Tetum grammar and a Portuguese-French grammar.  In my spare time I set about the task of translating the Tetum grammar into English.  The process was from Tetum to Portuguese in one grammar, from Portuguese to French in the other, and French to English in my head.  It was slow work, but it served to keep me busy,

One day as I was sitting in the old native school [at Lete-Foho] working on my translation a native boy came up to me.  He shyly asked if he could come with me and be my criado.  I had not replaced Clementino, and was getting along satisfactorily; also, I doubted if a native would appreciate the continuous moving about which I did.  So, not very enthusiastically, I asked him his name.  He reached for a pencil and piece of paper which lay before me and wrote "Arnalda".  A native who could write was distinctly an asset, so I had a good look at him.  He was darker than the other natives, and had short, curly hair; he was about five feet in height, well built, and with an infectious smile.  So, I told him he could consider himself my criado, to go where I went, and to treat my possessions as most precious.  Later I learnt that he was connected with the liurai or senior chief of the Lete-Foho area and had attended school for three years.  He could read and write good Portuguese and spoke Tetum and five or six other dialects.  From that day he was always with me, or on a journey for me, except for a period of three days during which he searched everywhere for me.  Later, when he was away, everyone on company headquarters missed the "happy bludger" or "black man", as we called him.  Baldwin always called him "Excuse me pleeze” because he was very proud of his manners, and he frequently used this phrase.  He remained faithful to me to the end. [12]

After only a day's rest, a patrol from company headquarters now at Tutoloro, led by Corporal Brown, and with the faithful Arnalda, went back into the Bobonaro area and recovered the battery charger, some petrol and oil, and, strangely enough, a portable typewriter, all of which we had hidden as we moved over the Ramelau Range.  It was a particularly good effort by all as they were very weary, and the feet of the natives were torn and cut from the rocks.  We had observed that three- or four-days’ continuous movement over the rocky tracks made the natives' feet very tender and sore, and normally they had to be given a couple of days' rest.  Arnalda accompanied the patrol as he was the only native who knew where all the equipment had been hidden. [13]

Callinan returned to Timor in 1963 and sought out Arnaldo at Lete-Foho:

I've only been back [to Timor] once, with my wife in 1963.  The Portuguese army commander made a jeep and an officer available to take me wherever I wanted to go.  15 years after the war, there were the postos[districts] and all the colonial officials again, the same as before.

….

At Lete-Foho I met [Arnalda] my creado from 1942.  He had his two muriadors with him, which told me his status, as a chief.  If he wanted a native in his area those policemen went and brought them to him.  The Portuguese left most of the administration of justice to the native Timorese.  He told me that after we left in 1942, he carefully worked his way back to his own area where he was looked after.  There were other creados who survived.  The boys of both companies went back and found some and helped them if they needed it. [14]

[15]

The story of Callinan’s friendship with Arnalda sets the scene for their separation on the beach at Quicras:

I ate an emergency ration although I was not hungry.  Arnalda had not said anything after we left Quicras.  When the last move was obvious, he had said to me, “If all the Australians go, it will be bad for us criados”.  I told him that some would remain, and he had been satisfied.  Now I sorted out the few things I wished to take away with me.  The rest I would give to him.  I wanted to bring home my map, my Portuguese-Tetum grammar which I had so laboriously translated into English, Baldwin’s application to stay with me, and a piece of paper on which Arnalda had written his full name with the name of his village and his father’s district.  I gave him my belongings and some money and a photo which had been taken only a few weeks before.  He did not speak, but when he saw the photograph he said, “That is good; when I look at that I can see you and me together”.  I had put on top of my haversack the green enamel mug that he had taken from his home when we were over near Lete-Foho in October.  I wanted to take that mug back with me, but I noticed he had taken it away with the other belongings I had given to him.  I was sorry, but I could not ask him for it as he would take a request as an order.  A little later, with tears in his eyes, he came to me and said, “Please take this mug, and every time you have a drink in Australia, think of Arnalda”.  He was crying openly before he had finished, and I was not too happy.  I went for a walk alone along the beach to meet Baldwin who had come down by another track.

The Evacuation Begins

There was nothing to do but wait.  We examined the beach and could find no better place, but it was certainly not good.  It was long and straight, shelving down steeply, and the surf was coming in breakers five and six feet high with an awkward cross current to the east.

At 11:30 pm the signal fires were lit, and soon good blazes were going up.  Right on the hour of midnight the first recognition signal came from the darkness out to sea.  It was answered, and again came the reply.  Everybody was on his feet, and all was set.

The minutes dragged out, but eventually the sound of motorboats could be heard, and then the flat-bottomed plywood folding boats could be discerned just beyond the line of the surf.  One boat attempted to come through and was swamped; a second succeeded in getting through and was loaded.  It capsized in getting back through the surf.  Time rushed on.  Some boats took several efforts to launch.  There were still 160 troops on the beach when the destroyer signalled that no more boats could be sent.  The naval shore party had returned to the vessel, and it seemed that the previous planning was to be wasted.  I had ordered all the weapons and equipment to be stacked in the scrub.  It was a waste of time attempting to get them into the boats, so at least there would be enough weapons.

The Evacuation Completed

Then another lot of boats came in, towed by their launch.

The surf had eased a bit as the tide went out, and an efficient launching party was organized under O'Connor.  Now the number was down to 80.  But they could send no more boats from the destroyer.  Then came an order that all should swim out beyond the line of the breakers.  This was useless, as it was a pitch-dark night, and a choppy sea would make picking them up very difficult.  Some exceptionally strong swimmers whom we had sent out had found it difficult enough.  Then some boats came in, and by packing them to capacity all the troops for evacuation were off; the boats were launched by the volunteer party under Lieutenant Flood.  Baldwin went in one and I in the other of the last two boats.  I did not feel excited or disappointed.  I could not believe it.  There was a cheer for the volunteer party, and through the night could be heard a faint reply.

… 30 knots straight for Darwin …

Hardly was the last man on board than the destroyer, H.M.A.S. Arunta, a new Australian-built ship, was on its way.  Very shortly it was doing 30 knots straight for Darwin.  There was less than one hour to dawn.  I reported to Commander Morrow.  I do not think he believed me when I said I was the Force Commander.  I was not impressive with my dirty shirt and a pair of shorts, no boots or stockings, hat or equipment, and with a straggly beard.

He offered me the use of his day cabin, and after a bath I got into a pair of his pyjamas and into his bunk. Only once, when called to see an officer who was suffering from an attack of malaria and was worried about the carrying out of a duty, did I leave that bunk.  I was not interested in food, all I wanted to do was sleep, and that I did for 16 hours.

At Darwin in the evening there was a crowd to see us arrive.

After we had seen the last of the troops off, Baldwin and I went back to thank Morrow and ran into Commander Tozer; an old family friend, who was searching for me.  We went back to some beer, whisky, gin and cocktails in the Commander's cabin.  We felt very self-conscious standing there dishevelled and in our bare feet in that well-furnished cabin, surrounded by senior officers.  I felt like letting my head go, but, remembering that I had not eaten since the previous afternoon, I wisely stopped after two beers and three cocktails.

REX LIPMAN’S CAMERA AND PHOTOS

Lieutenant Rex Lipman, who rejoined 4AIC as a member of group of 20 reinforcements arrived on Timor on the Tjerk Hiddes on the 10 December 1942.  He had a small camera with him and took the photos of the Quicras evacuation that feature in this story.  He recalled his use of the camera and how he preserved it and the photos he had taken in his autobiography Luck’s been a lady:

Rex Lipman’s camera

When I was informed that I was to rejoin the Squadron in Timor, I thought that it would be fantastic if I could take a very small camera with me and some gear to develop and print pictures.  I had a vague idea of returning to Australia and being able to sell them for a vast sum of money.  Whilst on the island I took a number of interesting shots and developed them in the middle of the night lying on the ground under a ground sheet.  They all came out surprisingly well.  When it came to the evacuation, I realised that everything would be ruined in the unbelievable surf we encountered during evacuation.  I asked our MO, Doc Hennessy, if he had anything waterproof.  He replied that there were some tough old condoms in the RAP kit.  We both blew up a couple of these, stretched them and squeezed the camera and the films into them and securely knotted the end.  In spite of being a couple of hours in the water, everything arrived back in Australia dry as a bone.  Today, more than 50 years later, when I see notices on the backs of the doors of public toilets and those in airports throughout the world with the message "your condoms - don't leave home without them", I cannot help thinking back how versatile they can be for travellers! [16]

HMAS Arunta memorial plaque with ‘Timor 1943’ battle honour – Australian War Memorial [17]

THE ARUNTA’S STORY OF THE EVACUATION

Commander James Morrow, commanding officer of HMAS Arunta, prepared the following account of the Quicras evacuation for the ship’s ‘Reports of proceedings’: [18]

ROYAL AUSTRALIAN NAVY

From: The Commanding Officer, HMAS ‘ARUNTA’

Date: 12th January 1943                                Reference No.: RP 1/43

To: The Secretary, Naval Board

Subject: REPORT OF PROCEEDINGS – EVACUATION OF 2/4 INDEPENDENT COMPANY FROM TIMOR

Submitted herewith is the report of proceedings for HMAS ‘ARUNTA’ for the period 8th January 1943 to 10th January 1943.

After 0400 the boats began to return at fairly regular intervals under their own power and being towed by the motorboats.
At this time, I signalled the beach that no more equipment or stores were to be brought off and the men must swim through the surf and board the assault craft outside it, otherwise there would be no chance of getting them off before daylight.  I had expected in the beginning to have finished the party by 0400 and been on my way.

At 0500 the latest time I was to leave there were still about 100 men ashore and I decided to wait to get them off if possible before daylight hoping that I would run into the bad weather which was a cyclonic storm when about 30 miles clear of the coast.

The last boats returned to the ship at 0620 and 0630 I proceeded at my best speed.  At 0710 it was daylight and much too clear, but I could see squalls about 20 miles to port of my course and steered towards them and from 0815 onwards the visibility was never more than two miles until I was approaching Darwin.

Secured alongside boom jetty at 1900.

The numbers embarked were 24 officers, 258 other ranks, 11 women and children and 20 Portuguese who had been working with the Army.

Mr Ley, Commissioned Gunner (T), was in charge of the boats inshore and I consider that it was only due to his fine seamanship and drive that all the troops were brought off.  He was most ably assisted by Leading Seaman J. Power, Official Number 18457 and Able Seaman H. Asser, Official Number 21453, who were outstanding in handling their boats and generally taking charge.

J. Morrow

Commander, RAN

REFERENCES

[1] Area study of Portuguese Timor / Allied Geographical Section, South West Pacific Area. - [Brisbane]: The Section, 1943. – (Terrain study (Allied Forces. South West Pacific Area. Allied Geographical Section); no. 50.): Map 1.

[2] Bernard Callinan. - Independent Company: the Australian Army in Portuguese Timor 1941-43 / introduction by Nevil Shute. - Richmond, Vic.: Heinemann, 1984: 217.

[3] [Unit War Diaries, 1939-45 War] Lancer Force [Timor] January 1943 https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1366347

[4] Rex J. Lipman. - Luck's been a lady / [the autobiography of Rex J. Lipman]. - [Adelaide: Rex J. Lipman], 2000: 88.

[5] Area study of Portuguese Timor: 22.

[6] Lipman. - Luck's been a lady: 89.

[7] Callinan. - Independent Company: 217-220.

[8] Callinan. - Independent Company: 185.

[9] Bernard Callinan ‘Reports and administrative papers associated With Sparrow Force guerrilla activities In Timor During 1942 …’ Australian War Memorial, Private Record PR82/090.

[10] Callinan. - Independent Company: 211-212.

[11] Lipman. - Luck's been a lady: 90.

[12] Callinan. - Independent Company: 94-95.

[13] Callinan. - Independent Company: 153.

[14] Telling: East Timor, personal testimonies, 1942-1992 / [compiled by] Michele Turner. - Kensington, NSW: New South Wales University Press, 1992: 62.

[15] Callinan. - Independent Company: 94.

[16] Lipman. - Luck's been a lady: 75.

[17] https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/multiple/display/94625-h.m.a.s.-arunta

[18] https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1420329

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: 288-291.

G. Hermon Gill - Royal Australian Navy, 1942-1945. – Canberra: Australian War Memorial, 1968. – (Australia in the War of 1939-1945, Series 2 (Navy), v.2): 223-224.

Naval Historical Society of Australia ‘HMAS Arunta and Operation Hamburger’ https://www.navyhistory.org.au/hmas-arunta-and-operation-hamburger/

G.E. Lambert. - 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. - Loftus, N.S.W.: Australian Military History Publications, 1997.  See esp. Ch. 15 ‘An unforgettable night’: 191-211.

WWII IN EAST TIMOR

AN AUSTRALIAN ARMY SITE AND TRAVEL GUIDE

ERMERA DISTRICT

VILA MARIA

GPS: 8° 46’ 23.922” S 125° 23’ 26.802” E

Map showing the location of Vila Maria [1]

Vila Maria was an important site in the early stages of the Commando Campaign where the No.2 Australian Independent Company (2AIC) rested and re-grouped and in the weeks following the Japanese landing enjoying the hospitality of the Portuguese landowner Senhor Aphonse Pereira.  Company headquarters was located here between the 25 March and 2 March when it moved further west to Cailaco.

It was used as a base from which some successful raids and ambushes were completed by the unit against Japanese columns probing out from Dili through Ermera towards Hatu-Lia along the road leading towards Dutch Timor.  Signals Lieutenant John Rose gained notoriety for his naïve and brash daring do in these escapades while Private Mervyn ‘Doc’ Wheatley established his reputation as a grimly efficient ambush sniper.

Attractive, young Vila Maria resident Brandolina da Silva bravely resisted the depredations of the occupying Japanese troops and gained the respect and admiration of the Australians.

From mid-year 1942 Vila Maria was permanently garrisoned by the Japanese who pressed the local Timorese to excavate caves in the surrounding hillsides for use as air raid shelters and to store ammunition and other supplies.  A large concrete water storage tank was also constructed in the area.

The house at Vila Maria viewed from the roadside

LOCATION

Vila Maria lies approximately 70 kilometres southwest of Dili by road – way points are Tibar, Railaco, Gleno and Ermera.  Dependent upon whether there has been wet weather and flooding, the road between Dili and Ermera is generally in good condition.  South of Ermera the road forks and the road heading west towards Hatu-Lia should be taken.  The road between Ermera and Hatolia passing through Vila Maria is being upgraded and its condition has improved significantly in recent times.

The description given in the 1943 Area Study of Portuguese Timor, however, is still valid:

HATU-LIA TO JUNCTION FATU-BESSI ROAD (ERMERA ROAD), approximately 20 miles (32 km.):

Road suitable for M.T. in dry weather.  Traffic delayed by floods and bogs after heavy rain.  Road is metalled and wide enough for M.T. to pass, except across the frequent short bridges.  Some, including a 30 ft. (9 m.) concrete bridge 1 1/2 miles (2 1/2 km.) west of Vila Maria were demolished.  Vila Maria is a small hamlet of six houses 3 miles (5 km.) east of Ermera. [2]

The GPS coordinates (8° 46’ 23.922” S 125° 23’ 26.802” E) accurately allow the site to be located approximately midway between Ermera and Hatolia.  The large post WWII residence at the site is situated on the hillside on the right-hand side of the road heading towards Hatu-Lia and can be accessed by a rough track.

A little further down the road is a large modern house and a gated Catholic grotto.

EVENTS AT VILA MARIA

‘The No. 2 Australian Independent Company was now on its own’

Upon Lieutenant John Burridge's arrival at Three Spurs with news of the Japanese landings, word was immediately sent to Company Headquarters and to Captain Laidlaw of B Platoon.  The enemy's next step had to be anticipated.  If their normal tactics were followed, after a brief period of consolidation, the Japanese would thrust inland, in which event C Platoon and the company stores at Three Spurs would be in a perilous situation.

Captains Laidlaw and Baldwin met during the early afternoon of 20 February and decided to make a hurried trip to Major Spence at Railaco to discuss future moves.  Transport was acquired in the form of an ancient truck driven by an even more ancient Chinese man.  Despite its antiquity, the truck carried Laidlaw and Baldwin to Railaco and back, and later did sterling work in transporting stores.  Captain Callinan arrived at Railaco in time for the conference and was able to give a first-hand account of the Japanese landing.  It appeared clear to the officers at the conference that the 2AIC was now on its own. [3]

‘Pigi Vila Maria’

Bernard Callinan made an early reference to Vila Maria in ‘Independent Company’:

I moved down that night and stayed with the sappers at the bridge until it was blown, and then moved up to what was known as the Eleven Mile.  This was just a clearing on the side of the road and was as far as a native with a load could reasonably be forced to go twice in a day.  Here Lieutenant Garnet was in charge.  By the judicious distribution of a small amount of money, by the liberal use of promises and by sheer will power, he was getting the stores on to Vila Maria, which was the home of a very good friend of ours, Senor Pereira.  Any native coming within Garnet's orbit was quickly given a load and ordered to ‘pigi [going] Vila Maria’.  All arguments were settled by a more insistent ‘pigi Vila Maria’, and many a poor native, coming back to complain that he had not been paid, found himself with another load and the injunction ‘pigi Vila Maria’ ringing in his ears.  Even the natives saw the funny side of it eventually, and for days after they could be heard shouting out derisively to one another ‘pigi Vila Maria?’ [4]

At this stage Van Straaten and the remainder of the Dutch force were assumed to be withdrawing towards Dutch Timor, but the Australians had been given information that he and his staff had been captured and killed on the road to Aileu.  As this information accorded with the Australians' knowledge of Van Straaten's intended movements it was accepted as being accurate.  The company's senior officers were concerned that a Japanese advance from Dili combined with a pincer movement along the road from Aileu to Taco-Lulic would trap the small force and, as there were reports of a Japanese move on Aileu, it was decided to withdraw Company Headquarters from Railaco to Vila Maria and to pull Baldwin's platoon back from Three Spurs.

Faced with Japanese invasion the 2AIC began to move to the new positions in accordance with pre-arranged plans.  The plan to move back to Dutch Timor had been frustrated by the Japanese invasion so the alternative scheme to destroy the airfield and to fall back to protect the rear (it was hoped) of the main force was put into effect.  After the destruction of the airfield, the forward platoons, chiefly those led by Baldwin and Laidlaw, were to send out patrols, contact the enemy and learn his lines of movement.  (As the Japanese were moving out from Dili it was not difficult to make contact).  The forward platoons were to delay the enemy as much as possible to give Company Headquarters and its engineer, signals and medical sections time to-move stores back along the company's planned withdrawal route. [5]

At this time the main body of C Platoon started its move to join A Platoon Headquarters at Railaco.  The men, laden like pack-horses and assisted by a few Timorese, set out on their march over the mountainous interior of Portuguese Timor.  On arriving at the A Platoon positions at Railaco the tired men of C Platoon learned that Company Headquarters had moved to Vila Maria, and they were to follow.  The march was resumed and the men, many of whom were weakened by malaria, struggled on under their heavy loads. They crossed the Glano River and when the bridge had been blown, they stopped in their tracks, lay down and slept the sleep of the dead.

The next morning the march recommenced.  Morale was at a low ebb and the fears for the safety of the men who had left for Dili combined with exhaustion from the previous day's march took its toll.  The trip to Vila Maria was nightmarish.  The heavily burdened troops marched through the still, airless heat of the morning along a seemingly endless track.  Distant features seemed to get no closer as the tired men marched on heads down, not daring to look at the climb ahead.

The little town of Ermera was reached in the early afternoon during a tropical downpour which turned previously dry tracks to muddy creek beds in minutes.  A friendly inhabitant provided the troops with shelter and food.  For many of the troops it was the first decent meal in days.  The final stage of the trip lay along what the Timorese claimed was a short cut.  Leaving the well-made track running from Ermera to Vila Maria the troops were led to another which appeared to lead straight up a mountain.  After a long and exhausting climb through the tropical rain the weary men finally arrived at Vila Maria on the evening of 25 February, where they were able to get some rest.  While many stores had been destroyed in the withdrawal much was saved, and after the hard work of the Australians and Timorese helpers, ammunition, medical equipment and weapons were removed to the new camp areas.

…

Fortunately the Japanese did not press on -after their initial drives, giving the commandos time to move their ammunition and stores to safety.  By the end of February Company Headquarters was established at Vila Maria.  Owned by a Portuguese, Senhor Aphonse Pereira, who was to be of great assistance to the Australians over the coming months, Vila Maria was located between Ermera and Hatu-Lia.  A long, low structure built on a levelled area cut into a mountainside, the house looked out over terraced rose gardens to the mountains. [6]

Callinan described his first meeting with Senhor Pereira:

Just out from Ermera we met Senhor Pereira, the owner of the Vila Maria coffee plantation, and with him was Father Carlos.  It was the first time that I had met Pereira, but Turton knew him quite well.  He was a most entertaining person to talk to; he had a wealth of descriptive gestures with his hands and arms, and his facial expressions were a language of their own.  He did a great deal for the Australians.  His house was always at our disposal, and because of this he was eventually a refugee in the hills with his wife and ten children. [7]

Harry Wray Sights Vila Maria

Signaller Corporal Harry Wray recalled his first sight of Vila Maria:

At last, we reached the top of a ridge and could see a large Porto house below us.  We were given to understand that this was close to our destination and with the clearing off of the rain our dropping spirits revived somewhat.  The sides of the track were scored with deep narrow waterways along which the red coloured water from the rain rushed in torrents.  I slipped off the track into one of these miniature mill races and found it hard to regain my feet and scramble out, covered in clay, and dripping in muddy water.  I was so wet from the rain that it did not matter much, but I was very annoyed about it at the time.

We slithered and slipped down the hillside to Vila Maria and were halted at the gates.  This house was a long low structure, built in stone and roofed with iron.  The gardens were spacious and well laid out.  I can remember admiring the wonderful display of roses in this garden. [8]

Callinan Visits Vila Maria

Callinan described his first visit to Vila Maria:

Later in the morning Baldwin and I set off to return by a different route to his area, and we slept that night with Dexter's section, and the following day Cornelius and I set off for company headquarters at Vila Maria.  This took us down into the Glano Valley, and then a climb up to a coffee plantation at Ai-Fu.  We progressed very slowly, and I had to leave Cornelius half-way up the hill and send a native with a horse back for him.  These people at Ai-Fu were very good, and I filled in the time waiting for Cornelius by having a bath.  When he arrived, they gave us a meal which was much appreciated as we had not eaten since early that morning, and it was now well on towards evening.

We pushed on the mile or so into Ermera, where it was arranged that Cornelius would sleep for the night whilst I went on to Vila Maria.  The owner of Ai-Fu lent me a horse and saddle for the trip.  It was my first experience of riding a Timor pony.  It was not a very long trip, fortunately.  I had difficulty in staying in the saddle as the pony jumped from rock to rock; at least, that is how it appeared to me at the time.  It was about eight o'clock when I arrived at Vila Maria, and there met a Portuguese girl who was to give us a lot of assistance and, because of it, to be placed on the list for an unpleasant death if the Japanese caught her.  She was Brandolina da Silva.  She directed me on to the actual headquarters, which was about half a mile further on.

Vila Maria was a high house placed on a platform cut into the side of the hill.  The roof was thatched, and the walls were of the typical sawn timber framework, filled in with palm stems placed vertically; there were wooden shutters over the windows which lit the few large rooms of the house, and the whole was very attractive.  The kitchen was a separate building.  The soil cut away from the hillside had been spread out in front of the house to give a terraced garden which was laid out in regular little garden plots filled with roses, and in the centre was a fishpond with water lilies.  Later it was to achieve fleeting world notice when the B.B.C. announced that Allied planes had attacked an enemy post at Vila Maria in Portuguese Timor.

The next day was spent in passing on my information to Major Spence, and in learning all the dispositions he had made to protect this area against a Japanese attack.  The ammunition was being hidden in small dumps, most of them within a small area, because transport was unprocurable; but wherever possible the dispersal was being increased.  Our role at this stage was to protect the rear of the main force.  Everything there was organized, so it was decided that I should set off to go overland down to Koepang to contact the main force, and to give them a report of our positions, also to ask them for food, money, tommy gun magazines, and quinine. [9]

‘Our fine leader became deeply infatuated …’

Reinforcement detachment member Private Des Lilya recalled his arrival in Timor and progressive movement to Vila Maria where his sub-section officer Lieutenant John Laffy succumbed to the charms of Brandolina da Silva:

On January 16th, 1942, I sailed from Darwin as a reinforcement to the 2/2 Independent Company which was stationed somewhere in the NEI [Netherlands East Indies].  After three days at sea, we arrived at Koepang, the capital of Dutch Timor.  Our party for the 2/2 AIC [Australian Independent Company] consisted of 50 ORs [Other Ranks] and 3 officers.  We were immediately transferred to a Dutch gunboat, and after half a day wandering through the dusty, yet somehow picturesque street of the small capital, we sailed for Dili the capital of Portuguese Timor.

On arriving the following day, we moved straight out to the Dili drome, and I was taken on by truck to Three Spurs camp.  There we were made into D platoon, and after about a week we moved on to occupy Railaco.  Here we stayed about three weeks digging AA [Anti-Aircraft] defences and building Water Pipe Camp.  Then a subsection of us with Mr [Lieutenant] Laffy in charge, moved on to make the first staging camp at Vila Maria.

Here, our fine leader became deeply infatuated with a Portuguese by the name of Brandolina de Silva.  But on the night of February 19-20th, news came through that the Japs had landed at Dili in force, and our movements were much faster from then on.  Major Spence came through and detailed us all our jobs and patrols. [10]

Laffy along with Lilya, Arnold Webb, Bob Larney and ‘Curly’ Freeman shortly afterwards defected from their assigned patrol and decided to attempt to make their way independently back to Australia by boat. [11] Love (or lust) prevailed and Laffy left his three compatriots when they reached Suai on the south coast and rejoined the unit making his way to Hatu Builico where he was temporarily reunited with Brandolina.  Ray Aitken observed their relationship with interest:

At this time, Brandolina had a 'thing' about one of our reinforcement officers known as Tenente Jack [Lieutenant John (Jack) Laffy].  The Tenente was a plausible rogue of considerable presence and carriage.  Brandolina's image of him was that he was the individual hero of the Company and that while he stayed on the island the Japs were in imminent danger of defeat.  This was not at all our opinion of the Tenente, but emotional interest is notoriously blind. [12]

Brandolina da Silva (left rear) with her family in Portugal, June 1945 [13]

Battery Charger Retrieved

There is a report that a battery charger was retrieved from Vila Maria while it was occupied by the Japanese and used in the construction of ‘Winnie the War Winner’:

Loveless got to work on a second transmitter twice as big as that first attempted, which proved unsuccessful, and built it into a four-gallon kerosene tin.  A battery charger was recovered from enemy-held territory.  To get it 14 Commandos went through the Japanese lines to the old Australian headquarters at Vila Maria.  There, within 100 yards of Japanese sentries, protected only by the dark, they dug up the charger which had been buried when the headquarters were evacuated. [14]

Anzac Day Ambush

Anzac Day 1942 (25 April) brought considerable Japanese movement from Lete-Foho and Hatu-Lia to Ermera and Dili.  Lieutenant Rose and a party of four men ambushed a truck filled with Japanese troops near Vila Maria.  The Australians fired into the truck from their ambush positions and the panic-stricken survivors attempted to clamber up an almost vertical bank beside the road, less than 50 metres from the Australian positions.  The approach of a large convoy forced the Australians to break off and withdraw into the bush before they could complete their work.  Behind them they left between 12 and 15 Japanese dead.  One of the commandos, Private M.L. 'Doc' Wheatley, a professional kangaroo shooter in civilian life and regarded as one of the best marksmen in the company, accounted for eight of the enemy. [15]

The Australians were now falling into instinctive jungle fighting.  They were adopting the policy of hitting hard, quickly and often, then getting out.  As they knew the country well that they had selected to work in and knowing that the Japanese would not leave the road in pursuit, their getaways were usually fast and safe.

To the Australians this was a particularly adaptable policy and proved most effective.  The rugged conditions and lack of manpower made it almost impossible to transport casualties and it was far better to kill a small number of Japanese in a short, hard hitting action with no casualties to the Australians than to engage in longer battle which would almost certainly produce wounded.

This policy was to prove very effective and fitted admirably to the peculiar situation.  It had a great moral effect on the Japanese, who after every ambush sent out large parties of troops, at times as many as 200 strong to attempt to ferret out the Australians.  This usually amounted to nothing more than additional casualties to the Japanese and the Australians, using the jungle where the enemy used the roads would then proceed to pull off a series of ambushes until the Japanese tired of the fruitless pursuit and retired to their bases.

These continuous hard hitting actions also built up 'face’ with the Timorese who soon were talking of the white men's bravery and skill.  The troops were getting very sure of themselves, knew that they were more than a match for the Japanese, even at the great odds which they allowed the enemy.

The Atura Raid

By early May the Japanese were occupying the Villa Maria down to Ermera area and from reports received from native sources it appeared that they were going to consolidate probably for a push south.  Plans had already been made by the company to move east if the Japanese forced them from their central and southern coastal positions, but at the same time it was considered that a little diversion behind their own back, a strike at their rear may take their minds off their direct front.

The Japanese had established a base at Ermera, and the commandos soon found the convoys moving along the road from Dili to be a tempting target.  After several ambushes had taken their toll the Japanese set up strong posts along the road from which they sent out patrols to prevent further raids.  This was just what the Australians wanted.  The Japanese troops were dispersed and tied down in fixed locations where they could be observed by the Australians and attacked at leisure.  One such raid took place on 9 May when Lieutenant John Rose and a soldier, who had been on a two-week reconnaissance in the Vila Maria area, attacked an enemy outpost at Atura, a small village on the main road to Lete-Foho.  After blacking themselves with dirt and grease from the native cooking pots, Rose and the soldier together with a party of Timorese entered the village at night and attacked two huts occupied by Japanese soldiers with tommy-gun fire and grenades.  The outpost was wiped out, some 20 Japanese soldiers being killed or wounded. [16]

Vila Maria Under the Japanese

By the beginning of June, reports showed clearly that there were about 1200 Japanese troops occupying Ermera, so Sparrow Force headquarters asked for a bombing raid on the town.  They also asked that Vila Maria, Taco-Lulic and Tai-Bessi be bombed at the same time.  This was done on 6 June and details of the strike were immediately radioed back to Australia.

From late 1942 Vila Maria was permanently garrisoned by the Japanese who pressed the local Timorese to excavate caves in the surrounding hillsides for use as air raid shelters and to store ammunition and other supplies.  A large concrete water storage tank was also constructed in the area.  Reputedly, after August 1942 most of the local leaders switched their support to the Japanese.

What Happened to the Pereira and da Silva Families?

All members of the Pereira and da Silva families were evacuated from Portuguese Timor to Australia and survived WWII.  Whilst resident in Armidale, NSW Brandolina studied for and gained bookkeeping qualifications.  She corresponded with Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Spence and in a letter to him she referred to a visit from some of her Australian ‘soldier friends’:

Now a few items of news from Armidale: Captain Dexter, Bill Tomasetti and Captain Neave [17] … came to this town to meet their Portuguese friends, and of course we were thrilled at having had the chance of seeing our soldier friends again, and of speaking about past times and adventures in Timor.  Captain Neave whom I met only once over there, brought his wife to meet us and I think she liked the Portuguese people fairly well.  Captain Dexter looked very happy and different from when I met him in Vila Maria …. [18]

The da Silva family, including Brandolina moved to Portugal at the war’s end.  The Pereira family returned to Portuguese Timor. [19]

John Burridge met up again with Aphonse Pereira on a visit to Timor in 1966:

I had little more than one day left and was quite busy.  The first call was to Aphonse Pereira, who many will remember at Vila Maria.  He is starting to look a little old now but really has changed very little in 24 years and still has the same ‘explosive’ personality. [20]

Visiting Vila Maria Today

A substantial post WWII residence now stands on the site of what was the simpler structure described above.  The existing house unfortunately has been abandoned and neglected and is falling into ruin.  Overgrown agricultural or garden terracing and two roofless subsidiary buildings can be seen to the left-hand side of the house as you face it.  Local residents can point out and lead more agile visitors to the caves reputedly built during the Japanese occupation further up the steep hillside behind the house.  A Japanese built concrete water tank is situated further down the road towards Hatolia on the right-hand side – again, local residents can guide visitors to its location. [21]

Overgrown agricultural or garden terracing and two roofless subsidiary buildings on the left-hand side of the house at Vila Maria

REFERENCES

[1] Area study of Portuguese Timor / Allied Geographical Section, South West Pacific Area. - [Brisbane]: The Section, 1943: Map 1 – Portuguese Timor [163] https://repository.monash.edu/items/show/26455#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=0

[2] Area study of Portuguese Timor: 36.

[3] Christopher C. H. Wray - Timor 1942: Australian commandos at war with the Japanese. - Hawthorn, Vic.: Hutchinson Australia, 1987: 71.

[4] Bernard Callinan - Independent Company: the Australian Army in Portuguese Timor 1941-43. - Richmond, Vic.: Heinemann, 1984: 50-51.

[5] Wray, Timor 1942: 71-72.

[6] Wray, Timor 1942: 72-74.

[7] Callinan, Independent Company: 72-73.

[8] Harry Wray Timor memoir.  Manuscript copy in 2/2 Commando Association of Australia archives: 65.

[9] Callinan, Independent Company: 54-55.

[10] ‘Des Lilya's Story via Dave Dexter’ 2/2 Commando Courier April 1991: 7.

[11] Ed Willis ‘Escape from Timor – how four men made it back to Darwin after the Japanese invasion of Portuguese Timor – Arnold Webb's and Des Lilya's Stories’ https://doublereds.org.au/forums/topic/218-escape-from-timor-–-how-four-men-made-it-back-to-darwin-after-the-japanese-invasion-of-portuguese-timor-–-arnold-webbs-and-des-lilyas-stories/#comment-399

[12] Ray Aiken - Tales of the Second Second: 60-61.  Manuscript copy held in 2/2 Commando Association of Australia archives.

[13] Photo in 2/2 Commando Association of Australia archives provided by Genevieve Isbell from the Alexander Spence collection.

[14] ‘Let us remember these men, too - Rabaul, Ambon, and Timor’ The Australasian (Melbourne, Vic.: 1864 - 1946) Sat 28 Oct 1944: 9. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/142419751/12685836

[15] Wray, Timor 1942: 95.

[16] Wray, Timor 1942: 100.

[17] Lieutenant (later Captain) David St Alban Dexter, VX38890, 1 Section, A Platoon 2AIC; Staff Sergeant William (Bill) Ernest Tomasetti, VX28767, Headquarters Section, 2AIC and Captain Reginald (Reg) Claydon Neave, NX70843, Sparrow Force Headquarters.

[18] Letter from Brandolina da Silva to Alexander Spence from Armidale, NSW, dated 19 September 1944. Copy in 2/2 Commando Association of Australia archives provided by Genevieve Isbell from the Alexander Spence collection.

[19] Yvonne Fraser - Bob's Farm cadre camp: refugees from Timor in Port Stephens during World War II. - Tanilba Bay, NSW: Port Stephens Family History Society Inc., 2014: 58-59.

[20] John Burridge ‘A report on a trip to Portuguese Timor: June 15 to June 22, 1966’ 2/2 Commando Courier July 1966: 10-11.

[21] Notes by Ed Willis made during visit to Vila Maria on 11 May 2019.  Thank you to John Cramb for providing me with his notes on the site prepared during a visit to the site in 2013.  See also ‘Australian link with East Timor’ Wyvern Magazine Issue 23, 2014: 12.  Copy attached to this post.

WWII Timorese Z Special veteran Senhor Câncio Dos Reis Noronha recently passed away (late February 2022) at his home in Melbourne aged 99 years.  Ed Willis, President expressed condolences and sympathy to Snr Noronha’s son Nando and the rest of his family on behalf of the 2/2 Commando Association of Australia. [1]

Timorese at Fraser Commando School, Fraser Island – November 1942 --Câncio Noronha 4th from left, Bernardino Noronha 2nd from left. [2]

Câncio’s elder brother Luís dos Reis Noronha was the liurai of Laclo (a village situated 11 kilometres west of Manatuto) when the Japanese invaded. [3] Câncio recalled later:

The Japanese knew our family helped Australians and our elder brother Luís was in hiding.  They caught one of our chiefs called Macao.  He was tied up, beaten and burnt, but still he would not tell where Luís was, so the Japanese made him dig his own grave, then killed him.  There were so many like Macao, brave people who died so they didn't betray their friends.  If there was a book recording the heroes of Timor from that war it would be too long for anyone to read.

Our people told us the Japanese knew most Timorese would help Australians, so they took revenge on any, took people off to fix roads that had been destroyed and treated them very badly and many died.

At first the Japanese tried to make our sisters stay in a brothel for Japanese soldiers.  Many girls were forced to go there.  But our sisters knelt and said the rosary and would not see the soldiers, so the Japanese put them in a separate place, where they had to stay until the war ended.  My sisters were told by those who saw Tenente Pires that still in prison he held his head high.  He was a brave man who loved Timor.

They captured Luis.  He wrote to our sisters asking them to forgive the man who informed on us to the Japanese, not to have him killed.  Luís was tortured, hung by his feet and forced to drink water.  A friend of his, Procopio Rego, was killed with him. [4]

During 1942-43 over 600 Portuguese and Timorese men, women and children were evacuated to Australia from Timor to escape the harsh Japanese occupation. [5]

Motivated by what had happened to their elder brother Luís, Câncio and his other brother Bernardino were two of the approximately 100 of the men evacuated who volunteered for service with the Services Reconnaissance Department (SRD), which was the special operations arm of the Australian Army.  Both young men were among those selected to receive formal commando training and become operatives in the Z Special Unit of the SRD.  They completed training courses at Mount Martha, Fraser Island and Rockhampton, were qualified in signals, throwing grenades and parachute jumping and noted as being ‘very keen’.  Though fully trained and ready to be deployed to undertake coast watching in their home area on Timor, successive missions to which the brothers had been assigned were cancelled. [6]

They were perhaps fortunate in that regard because all the missions that were inserted were undermined by compromised radio communications – most of the men involved (Australian, Portuguese and Timorese) were captured by the Japanese or killed in action.  Many of those captured were tortured and starved and also did not survive. [7]

Câncio and his brother Bernadino were both members of a select Timorese ‘band of brothers’ who served with distinction in the Australian Army’s Z Special unit and deserve considerably more recognition and reward than they have so far been accorded; Ernie Chamberlain so aptly titled his book about them ‘Forgotten men’.

Chamberlain summarised his life after WWII as follows.  Câncio requested release from SRD in March 1945, and he departed Newcastle on the SS Angola on 27 November 1945.  He joined the Health and Hygiene Service on return to Dili as an aspirante.  First serving in Dili, then posted to the Sub-Delegação at Ossu in October 1947.  He was later employed at the Overseas National Bank (BNU) in Dili – as empregado bancário and ‘treasurer’ an appointed as a member of the Conselho do Governo on 15 November 1959.  Member of the União Democrática Timorense UDT political association/party from 1974-75 and served on its Central Committee resigning only in 1994.  Following the Indonesian invasion in late 1975, he moved with his family to West Timor in 1976, then to Portugal and Australia arriving in 1986.  He was granted Australian citizenship on 7 May 1992, working and living in Melbourne (Gladstone Park) for the rest of his life. [8]

LEST WE FORGET

REFERENCES

[1] ‘In Memory of Câncio Dos Reis (Mass) Noronha, 1923 – 2022’ https://tobinbrothers.com.au/tribute/details/23705/Cancio-Dos-Reis-Mass-Noronha/obituary.html#tribute-start

[2] The photograph was taken by H.B. Manderson and is in the Australian War Memorial (AWM) collection – PR91/101 Part, L15.

[3] ‘Luís dos Reis Noronha’ in Ernest Chamberlain - Forgotten men: Timorese in special operations during World War II. - Point Lonsdale, Vic.: Ernest Chamberlain, 2010, Annex A: 45.

[4] Câncio dos Reis Noronha ‘So, they didn't betray their friends’ in Telling: East Timor, personal testimonies, 1942-1992 / [compiled by] Michele Turner. - Kensington, NSW: New South Wales University Press, 1992: 54.

[5] Yvonne Fraser - Bob's Farm cadre camp: refugees from Timor in Port Stephens during World War II. - Tanilba Bay, NSW: Port Stephens Family History Society Inc., 2014.

[6] ‘Bernardino dos Reis Noronha’ and ‘Câncio dos Reis Noronha’ in Chamberlain - Forgotten men, Annex A: 20-21.

[7] Narelle Morris ‘Gross inefficiency and criminal negligence’: the Services Reconnaissance Department in Timor in 1943–45 and the Darwin war crimes trials in 1946’ Intelligence and National Security 32 (2) 2016: 179-194.

[8] ‘Câncio dos Reis Noronha’ in Chamberlain - Forgotten men, Annex A: 21.

Prepared by Ed Willis

Revised 8 March 2022

WWII IN EAST TIMOR

AN AUSTRALIAN ARMY SITE AND TRAVEL GUIDE

THE JAPANESE ASSAULT ON DILI, 19-20 FEBRUARY 1942

THE FATE OF THE NO. 2 AUSTRALIAN INDEPENDENT COMPANY MEN WHO WERE VICTIMS OF THE RATION TRUCK MASSACRE AND KILLED IN ACTION DEFENDING THE AIRFIELD

The Documentary Evidence from the Australian War Crimes Section Investigations and Related Files

INTRODUCTION

In September 1946 No. 1 Australian War Crimes Section (1AWCS) began investigating which Japanese armed services personnel were responsible for the execution of 15 Australians in two or more incidents that occurred in Dili between 20-22 February 1942 usually referred to collectively as the Ration Truck Massacre. [1] This process involved interrogation of Japanese Army and Navy personnel who were involved in the initial sea-borne assault on Dili on those dates.

The investigation was taken over by 2AWCS and its Commanding Officer submitted his final report on the investigation in May 1949 and referred to difficulties in completing their work because of the duplicity of a primary witness, Naval Warrant Officer Kasai Tomojiro and collusion between officers of the Army’s 228 Regiment - their further interrogation clearly established the fact that they had conspired at Rabaul to give false information to the Australian investigators there and that since repatriation to Japan they had maintained a liaison with one another.  Whilst admitting the conspiracy, the officers maintained that their object had been to hasten their own repatriation to Japan not to conceal evidence of the executions.

Six weeks of extensive investigation that were made following Kasai’s allegations failed to establish the probability that any of the Army officers named by him had participated in the executions, other than 228 Regiment Captain Maeda (deceased) concerning whom there was a doubt.

Former Naval Warrant Officer Okamura Toshio, who unsuccessfully attempted suicide in February 1949, was also recalled.  On 18 May, after several days of interrogation, he completed a sworn statement in Japanese and then tellingly early the following morning hanged himself. [2]

Though the report concludes by stating that ‘The investigation is proceeding’, at the time Australia was under pressure from the US and UK to wind down its war crimes proceedings, and all efforts to pursue justice in this case were abandoned in 1951. [3]

RON KIRKWOOD ENQUIRES

Ron Kirkwood enquired to the Adjutant-General, Army Headquarters in Melbourne about the status of the war crimes investigation into the Ration Truck Massacre on behalf of the Ex 2/2 Commando Association on 20 July 1950:

Ron Kirkwood’s enquiry elicited the following reply:

NO. 2 AUSTRALIAN WAR CRIMES SECTION FINAL REPORT ON THE RATION TRUCK MASSACRE

The Adjutant-General’s succinct reply was based on the following report on the investigation prepared on 24 May 1949 by Lieutenant Colonel D. Beresford Goslett, Officer Commanding No. 2 Aust War Crimes Section (2 AWCS), Supreme Command of the Allied Powers (SCAP):

(46A)                AUSTRALIAN MILITARY FORCES
DBG/HSW/bej                            2 Aust War Crimes Sec SCAP
In reply quote                            TOKYO
WC 533                            24 MAY 49
Subject: EXECUTION OF AUSTRALIANS – DILI AREA, TIMOR 20 FEB 42.
Refs 2 AWCS memo WC 329 dated 24 Mar 49.
Army Headquarters,
MELBOURNE.
1.    In the abovementioned memorandum it was advised that:
(a)    Naval Lt HONDO Mitsuyoshi mid WO OKAMURA Toshio had ordered the killing of 4 Australian PW during the morning of 20 Feb 42;
(b)    Naval WO KASAI Tomojiro had named 7 Naval officers and 5 Army officers as having killed the remaining Australian PW on the night of 20 February 1942.
2. Because of the information furnished by KASAI it was confidently expected that the investigation of this case would be concluded within about 4 weeks from that date.  All the Japanese named by KASAI were called for interrogation.  Some of the Army officers had already been interrogated at RABAUL in 1946 prior to repatriation to Japan, and they had subsequently been interrogated in TOKYO several times.  Their further interrogation clearly established the facts that they had conspired at RABAUL to give false information to the Australian investigators there and that since repatriation to Japan they had maintained a liaison with one another.  Whilst admitting the conspiracy, the officers maintain that their object was to hasten their own repatriation to Japan.
3. Six weeks of extensive investigation that were made following KASAI’s allegations failed to establish the probability that any of the Army officers named by KASAI had participated in the execution, other than Captain MAEDA (dead) concerning whom there is a doubt.  KASAI was therefore recalled.  From the attached translation of his latest sworn statement it will be noted that he has withdrawn his former sworn statement, which he now admits was false.  However, KASAI has proved such a ready liar that little credence is now attached to anything that he says.
4. Former Naval WO OKAMURA Toshio, whom it will be recalled unsuccessfully attempted suicide in February last, was also recalled.  On 18 May, after several days of interrogation, he completed a sworn statement in Japanese (translation enclosed) and then early the following morning hanged himself.
5. The results of the investigations made to date are summarised hereunder:
(a)    16 Australian soldiers, comprising a ration party, were captured on the morning of 20 February 1942.  4 were shot shortly afterwards.  An hour or so later one was handed over to the Army, and about the same time an additional Australian soldier who was riding a motorcycle was captured.  The 12 prisoners who were then alive were taken to DILI town nearby.  According to KASAI they were killed the same night.  OKAMURA claimed that they were killed on the night of 21 or 22 February.
(b) Suspects - Execution of 4 Australian PW on morning of 20 Feb 42.
(i)    Naval Lt HONDO Mitsuyoshi - ordered the execution.  An order for the apprehension of HONDO was issued, but his arrest has been deferred because he is at present hospitalised with TB. [Died 14 June 49]
(ii)    Naval WO OKAMURA Toshio - implemented order for execution.  Committed suicide on 19 May 49.
(iii)    Maintenance WO (SEIBI HEISOCHO).  KASAI states that this man was WO KUBO (KIA IWOJIMA, 17 Mar 45), whereas OKAMURA denied that KUBO was present.
(iv)    1st Cl Seaman SASAKI (FNU) - believed to be identical with SASAKI Tadashi - not yet located.
(v)    3 other Naval ratings of 3 Air Force (not yet identified).
(c) Suspects - Execution of 12 Australian PW on night of 20, 21 or 22 Feb 42.
(i)    Naval Lt HONDO Mitsuyoshi - ordered execution (vide sub-para (b) (i) above).
(ii)    WO KUBO Takaichi. (KIA 17 Mar 45).
6. The undermentioned Japanese have been interrogated since our memo WC 329 of 24 Mar 1949 was forwarded:
OZEKI    Wasaburo    (No connection with case)
UNIGUOHI    Tadamitsu    Lt-Comd, 3 Naval Air Force.
SEINO    Isao    (No connection with case)
NAKAMURA    Tetsuzo    (No connection with case)
IMAI    Miyoshi    (No connection with case)
NAGATA    Kiyoshi    (No connection with case)
ISHIWATA    Asakichi    Lt, 3 Naval Air Force,
OZAWA    Kunio    2nd Lt, 228 Inf Regt.
MAEDA    Eichiro    (No connection with case)
NAWATA    Hisakazu    Civilian guide attached 228 Inf Regt.
ONUKI    Shigenobu    2nd Lt, 228 Inf Regt.
ONUKI    Zenzo    (No connection with case)
ONOGI    Isamu    Capt, 228 Inf Regt.
GOTO    Takezu    Seaman, 3 Naval Air Force.
IWATA    Seiichi    Capt, 228 Inf Regt.
MORO    Hajime    Surgeon Lt, 3 Naval Air Force.
KIMURA    Eijiro    Major, 228 Inf Regt.
YOSHIYASU    Tatsuo    Lt, 228 Inf Regt.
YAMADA    Nobuyoshi    Lt, 228 Inf Regt.
ARAKAWA    Kuwakichi    2nd Lt, 228 Inf Regt.
NAKAJIMA    Yasushi    2nd Lt, 228 Inf Regt.
OKAMURA    Toshio    W0, 3 Naval Air Force.
YOKOUCHI    Keisuke    Surgeon 2nd Lt. 228 Regt.
Copies of interrogation reports, notes and sworn statements in connection with the above interrogations are forwarded herewith for information.
7. The following Japanese who are referred to in some of the interrogation reports and sworn statements are reported to be dead:
Paymaster Lt    TODA     Shigeo    3 Naval Air Force.
Naval WO    KUBO    Takaichi    3 Naval Air Force.
Army Capt    MAEDA    Eichiro    228 Inf Regt.
8. The investigation is proceeding.  A further report will be submitted as early as possible.

Lt Col D Beresford GOSLETT
OC 2 Aust War Crimes Sec SCAP

THE DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE FROM THE AUSTRALIAN WAR CRIMES SECTION INVESTIGATIONS

A landing force consisting of elements of the Imperial Japanese Army’s 228th Regiment (DOI Butai) and Imperial Japanese Navy’s 3rd Naval Air Force arrived off Dili early in the morning of 20 February 1942 in two transports escorted by two destroyers.  The Army made a landing west of the airfield, with the object of capturing the airfield and then advancing on Dili town.  The non-combatant 3rd Naval Air Force landing party of about 80 men comprising airfield construction workers and signals personnel, landed further west on the other side of the Comoro River and followed in the rear of the Army.

Sketch map showing landing place and route taken by the 3rd Naval Air Force landing force into Dili via the airfield

The landing party were charged with occupying the airfield after it had been captured by the Army, establishing radio communication with 3rd Naval Air Force headquarters in Kendari, assessing the condition of the airfield and then organising and conducting the work required to bring into operational use by the unit’s Zero fighters as soon as possible.  It was not a combat unit – the officers carried swords and revolvers while only some of the seamen carried rifles and others just bayonets.

Commanded by Lieutenant Hondo Mitsuyoshi, the group was weighed down by heavy signals gear and construction tools.  The party had only just crossed the Comoro River west of Dili when they heard a truck coming along the road.  The armed Navy personnel fired on the truck as it approached, puncturing one of the tyres and bringing it to a halt.  When the Australians alighted from the truck, they were surrounded by the sailors who bound the hands of all the men before loading their heavy equipment onto the back of the truck.  This meant there was no longer enough room for all 16 Australians, so four men were forced to march behind.

The truck had only gone a short distance when the remnants of the Dutch force opened fire on the Japanese with a machine gun.  Warrant Officer Okamura Toshio saw the bullets hitting the dust about 50 metres beyond the utility, though one of the marines, Leading Seaman Goto Takeza, was wounded just above the knee and an Australian soldier suffered a flesh wound in the arm.

The Dutch broke off the engagement, but Lieutenant Hondo is alleged to have then ordered that the four Australian POWs be killed because the situation was deemed dangerous.  Warrant Officer Okamura, acting on instructions sent to him from Lieutenant Hondo, ordered that the four prisoners at the back of the truck be executed.  He decided to shoot the Australians in a field just off the road.  As the rest of the Australians looked on, Sergeant Gordon Chiswell, and privates Harvey Marriott, Frank Alford, and Keith Hayes, were rounded up for execution.

Okamura asked some of his men to step forward to form the firing squad.  The men who were being pressed into service looked puzzled as discussions proceeded about how to conduct the execution.  Okamura thought it was ‘too cruel’ to shoot them without blindfolds, so some had to be found.  Then there was a discussion about what part of the body to shoot at, the head or the chest.  After some minutes they decided that they would shoot the prisoners in the head.  As this was happening, an English-speaking Japanese officer approached and spoke in an agitated way to the officer in charge.  He wanted one man to go into Dili to search for the Japanese consul and his family.  For this task Private Peter Alexander was chosen.

Sketch map showing the disposition of the Japanese personnel and the Australian prisoners for the first executions

With the execution party assembled by the side of the road, the four Australians were told to turn their backs.  The Japanese sailors were reluctant to follow Okamura’s orders; only two had agreed to form the execution squad, so the four soldiers would have to be shot two at a time.  Private Keith Hayes was standing alongside Chiswell and Alford when the bullets struck them in the head, killing them instantly.  Moments later, the sailors fired on Marriott and Hayes.  Okamura watched the four prisoners fall down, and then he ordered that they be bayoneted ‘to kill them completely’.  The executioners took what valuables they could find on the Australians; one untied the hands of Keith Hayes so that he could take his watch.

Shortly afterwards, the Japanese heard the sound of a motorcycle, and captured Private Reg Alexander, who joined the remaining prisoners.  Alexander, had been sent from the Railaco headquarters, located above the Three Spurs camp, to travel to Dili with a message for Callinan.  The main Company HQ was also oblivious to the dramatic events earlier in the morning.

Members of the Navy landing party brought the 12 remaining prisoners to Dili in the early afternoon and kept them under guard.  The Japanese Army had allowed medical treatment to be given to the wounded Private Merv Ryan, but Lieutenant Hondo refused the Army’s request to hand over the prisoners for interrogation.

Surgeon 2nd Lieutenant Yokouchi Keisuke attached to DOI Butai observed the POWs in Dili:

On 20 February I participated in the landing that was made at DILI, Timor.  I was then a Surgeon 2nd Lieutenant attached to DOI Butai.  The first time when I saw a prisoner of war was during the morning when I saw a young Australian soldier.  He seemed so young that I asked him his age.  He replied 16.  He did not seem to me much older ….

Later that day, the 12 were taken to a shed adjacent to a church near the airfield, while Lieutenant Hondo was heard discussing plans to execute them.  Hondo told Warrant Officer Kubo Takaichi to arrange for the execution of the prisoners.

Kubo collected shovels to bury the prisoners, and later that evening some of the senior officers and warrant officers — Okamura, Toda, Moro, Hondo, and ensign Sasaki — boasted that they had ‘tested their swords’.  Some days after the executions, Portuguese resident Sebastião Graça saw the bodies of as many as seven Australians, still with their hands tied, half buried in a ditch by the side of the road near the airfield.  They were only partly covered, with legs and feet still protruding out of the ground.  Francisco Tilman de Ataídealso witnessed this gruesome sight and saw another three Australian bodies on the airfield.

A month after the massacre, Callinan tried to investigate the whereabouts of the Australians while on a visit to an observation post in Dili.  He was shown from a distance a spot where the bodies of six soldiers had been burnt, but he was unable to get close to it.  Callinan learned that two Australian soldiers were being held prisoner in the town.  Peter Alexander had escaped execution because his custody had been taken over by the army.  He was joined by Merv Ryan, who had been wounded on the airfield, together with some Dutch soldiers. [4]

‘The Ration Truck Massacre’ Cover illustration for Ken White. - Criado: a story of East Timor. - Briar Hill, Vic.: Indra Publishing, 2002 - an original oil painting by Wolfgang Grasse

ATTEMPTS TO LOCATE THE REMAINS OF THE EXECUTED SOLDIERS AND THOSE KILLED IN ACTION

Captain R.J. Crilley of the 16th Australian War Graves Unit and Captain A.D. Stephenson of the Services Reconnaissance Department (SRD) visited Dili in March 1946 and initiated the war crimes investigation of the Ration Truck Massacre.  They submitted the following report:

EXTRACT FROM REPORT BY CAPT COCKS, 9 MAR 46

Para 4. MASSACRE OF IND COY PERSONNEL AT DILI

With further reference to LANDFORCES AG10729 of 251500K.  Capt CRILLEY and Capt A.D. STEPHENSON of SRD have visited DILI, searched the area in which 2 Ind Coy and later 4 Ind Coy operated, and recovered all known bodies.  They were accompanied by TX4141 Sgt MILSOM G of 2 Ind Coy.

During the interrogation of natives in the area, nothing was heard of any massacre of Australian personnel.

On the day of the Japanese landing at DILI, 20 Feb 42, a truck load of Aust personnel were proceeding from THREE SPURS towards DILI, unaware that the landing had taken place.  This vehicle was ambushed, and a number of the occupants killed, though some escaped.  It is suggested that this incident might be the massacre referred to.  A thorough search by 16 Aust War Graves Unit has failed to locate the remains of the above personnel, or the wreckage of the vehicle.

…..

Para 8

…….

e.  SW end of DILLI airstrip: Remains of 6 unidentified Aust soldiers in a trench - probably members of the detachment from 2 Ind Coy, defending the airstrip, on 20 Feb 42. [5]

Major N.F. Quinton, (later with 1AWCS) also visited Dili soon afterwards in June 1946 to conduct further enquiries.  He reported as follows:

Memo by Maj N.F. Quinton, OC 3 Aust PW Contact & Enquiry Unit (SEAC Detachment), 23 July 1946

…..

I have to report that as requested by you in your memo above, I proceeded to Portuguese Timor, leaving Singapore on 1st June 1946 and arriving at Dili, Portuguese Timor on 21st June 1946, after very considerable movement difficulties.  The journey to Dili was taken by Air to Darwin, by sea to Koepang, Dutch Timor, and overland by various means to Portuguese Timor.

On arrival at Dilli I reported to the Australian Consul, Mr. Chas. Eaton, and to the Portuguese Acting Governor.

It was found that Captain Hugo POS of the N.E.I. Army had arrived in Dilli on the same mission with credentials from Captain McCloud of Batavia Aust War Crimes Section and also at the request of the United States Chief Prosecutor, TOKYO, to enquire into acts of violation of Portuguese neutrality by the Japanese and murders of Portuguese civilians and the massacre of natives.  Information regarding these matters is mentioned in para 8 of your number 96 of 31st March 1946 to HQ, A.M.F.

The Portuguese authorities in Dili had not permitted Captain POS to commence his investigations so I arranged a conference with the Acting Governor for Captain Pos and myself.

It was requested by the A/Governor that after communication with his Government in Lisbon that I, Capt. Pos and a Portuguese representative be formed into a Committee of Enquiry to examine witnesses and make full investigations into war crimes committed against Australians, Portuguese and natives and other acts of Japanese against Portuguese neutrality.

I consulted with the Australian Consul regarding this and pointed out that such an inquiry would involve me in a number of matters of a political nature and extraneous to my particular inquiries.  A further conference was held with the A/Governor who stressed that I would not be permitted to make independent inquiries or interview witnesses unless they were brought the proposed Committee of Inquiry.  As it appeared that I could not get my information by any other means I agreed to this course and the Committee of Inquiry was set up.

It became evident however, that the Portuguese authorities were not co-operating to any great extent in obtaining witnesses and Capt. Pos and I were obliged to make independent inquiries amongst the population of Dili in order to obtain the necessary witnesses and bring them before the Committee.  In obtaining these witnesses difficulties regarding the Portuguese and native (Tetum) language were encountered.

……

During the examination of witnesses, it became apparent that none of the witnesses could give any information as to the particulars of the Japanese units or their Commanders during the relevant period of our inquiry and although the Japanese Headquarters was established at the Governor’s Palace during the occupation, we were informed that the there was no record of the Japanese units or their Commanders.  It appeared that this information was being suppressed from us.

Regarding the alleged murder of twelve Australians by Japanese near Dilli in February 1942, the evidence of one eyewitness, namely SEBASTIAO GRACA, of the murder of seven Australians was obtained.  A number of other statements of hearsay witnesses regarding the murder of these seven Australians was also obtained.  No names of the Japanese responsible for these murders could be obtained.

From previous statements obtained by Flt/Lt McDonald it appears that there were no members of the Kempei-Tai in Dili until October 1942 and the Kempei-Tai do not appear to be concerned in the murder of these seven Australians.

……

Lieutenant Colonel R.C. Smith, Officer Commanding 1AWCS, subsequently provided the following progress report of the investigation in September 1946:

Memo by Lt Col R.C. Smith, OC 1 Aust War Crimes Sec SEAC, 4 September 1946:

Subject: EXECUTION OF AUSTRALIAN POWs, DILI AREA, TIMOR, 20 FEB 42

On 20 Feb 42, a party of japs wearing caps bearing a Gold anchor on front, captured near DILI, a ration party of 16 Aust soldiers.  Four of these men were ordered to stand at the side of the road and were then shot from the rear.  Three of these men died, but one, WX12317 Cpl HAYES KH survived his wounds and later provided the above information.  The twelve remaining were placed in a truck which was driven towards DILI aerodrome.  Out of this party, WY,12344 Pte ALEXANDER P was detained, survived, and later provided corroboration of HAYES’ story.

A Portuguese eyewitness saw 7 Australians bayonetted to death on or near DILLI aerodrome about this time.  The fate of the four others is not determined but, in absence of advice of their survival, are presumed dead.

…..

Northern Territory Memorial to the Missing located in the Adelaide River War Cemetery

COMMEMORATION AND BURIAL

Further research needs to be done regarding the work done 16 Australian War Graves Unit to locate the remains of the 2AIC men executed and killed in action during the Ration Truck Massacre and defence of the airfield.  No detailed information has been located thus far. [6]

The dearth of information is highlighted by the fact that the remains of one massacre victim were located – those of Private Harry Cotsworth.  His remains were interred at the Ambon War Cemetery.  Interestingly, map coordinates in Dili given for where his remains were found show a location 2.3 kilometres south of where the executions of the men are believed to have taken place. [7]

All the other men are commemorated on Panel 3 of the Northern Territory Memorial to the Missing located in the Adelaide River War Cemetery.

‘The Northern Territory Memorial to the Missing is one of several erected around the world for those who have no known grave. This Memorial was erected specially to commemorate those of the Australian Army, the Royal Australian Air Force and the Australian Merchant Navy who lost their lives in the South West Pacific region during the Second World War’. [8]

The men are also commemorated with individual plaques in the Lovekin Drive Honour Avenue, Kings Park located in association with No 2 Australian Independent Company - 2/2 Australian Commando Squadron memorial. [9]

REFERENCES

[1] https://doublereds.org.au/news/the-ration-truck-massacre-75-years-ago-r20/

[2] All the war crimes investigation documents referred to in this post were contained in three key files held at Australian Archives – Melbourne Office, Victorian Archives Centre, North Melbourne: War crimes Timor - Murder of members 2 Independent Company near Dilli - Porto – Timor.  Execution of Australian Prisoners of War and natives - Dilli Timor - February 1942 - MP742/1, 336/1/2073 Parts 1-3.

[3] See Tim McCormack and Narrelle Morris ‘The Australian War Crimes Trials, 1945–51’ in Georgina Fitzpatrick, Tim McCormack [and] Narrelle Morris [editors]. - Australia’s War Crimes Trials 1945-51. - Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill Nijhoff, 2016: 5-26.

[4] Callinan report, AWM52 25/3/2.

[5] Re-occupation of Portuguese Timor - NAA: A816, 101/302/9.  All of the following findings related to the efforts to locate the remains of the men were extracted from this file.

[6] [Unit War Diaries, 1939-45 War] 16 Australian Graves Registration and Enquiry Unit, October 1942 - May 1945 - AWM52, 21/2/17.

[7] Commonwealth War Graves Commission burial record for Private Henry James Cotsworth, Service Number: NX23164 - https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/4007094/henry-james-cotsworth/

[8] Adelaide River War Cemetery brochure https://www.dva.gov.au/documents-and-publications/adelaide-river-war-cemetery

[9] Images of the individual plaques can be searched for and viewed through Honour Avenues Group website: https://honouravenueskingspark.com.au

Prepared by Ed Willis

Revised: 17February 2022

 

 

 

Hi Fiona:

My apology for not replying sooner.  I don't have access to the original photo of John McInerney's grave but have attached a copy of the 1966 issue of the 'Courier' where it was displayed.  A quick web search brought up an article about the plane crash in which Dr McInerney was killed - 'Wewak, Vanimo and the Auster crash of 1953: Peter Skinner' https://pngaa.org/wewak-vanimo-and-the-auster-crash-of-1953-peter-skinner/ .  Making an enquiry to the Papua New Guinea Association of Australia through their website https://pngaa.org may be helpful - they may have a photo of the grave or be able to direct you to a source where one can be obtained.

Regards

Ed Willis, President1966-01 - Courier January 1966.pdf1966-01 - Courier January 1966.pdf1966-01 - Courier January 1966.pdf1966-01 - Courier January 1966.pdf

 

CHARLES ‘MOTH’ EATON – AVIATOR AND DIPLOMAT - THE TIMOR CONNECTION [1]

 

INTRODUCTION

Charles Eaton (1895–1979 had long experience as a pilot; he left school at 14 to become a messenger with a town council in London.  His chance to fly came with WW1 after a stint in the army as a trench bomber, he joined the fledgling Royal Flying Corps and flew as a bomber and reconnaissance pilot in France.

When the engine in his DH9A failed in June 1918, he crashed into the forward line of German trenches and was captured.  Undeterred, he made three escape attempts, the third successful.

Between the wars Eaton continued his flying career with the Royal Air Force; flying the world's first international passenger service between London and Paris; with the RAF in India; and with the RAAF in Australia, which he joined on 14 August 1925.  The nickname ‘Moth’ was awarded after he piloted the first prototype metal De Havilland Gypsy Moth, Prudence, in the 1929 Sydney-Perth air race. [2]

Commanding Officer RAAF Station Darwin Group Captain Charles Eaton, October 1941 [3]

TIMOR RECONNAISSANCE MISSION 1941

 

In February 1941 Pearl Harbour was still 10 months away but fears of a Japanese advance into south-east Asia were gathering strength.  Australia hurriedly set out to plan the defence of the islands to its north.  One of these islands was Timor.

On 27 February 1941 Group Captain Eaton and Wing Commander W.L. (Bill) Hely left Darwin under ‘most secret instructions from the Air Board’ to travel to the Netherlands East Indies.  They returned on 11 March. [4] This was a reconnaissance mission to Dutch Timor, Ambon, the Tanimbars, Buru Island and Babo, in western Dutch New Guinea, to gauge the current defence strengths and capabilities of those areas and to report on the possible use of facilities there by the RAAF. [5] 

They flew first to Koepang, the capital of Dutch West Timor where the local Dutch commandant, Lieutenant Colonel W.E.C. Detiger, met them when they landed and over the next few days assisted them as they travelled around the island.  Eaton was able to make great use of information he gathered on this visit in air operations over Timor later during the war.

Mina River bridge, Dutch Timor. Photograph by Eaton during his visit to Timor in 1941 [6]

 

Eaton took many photographs of possible targets for the RAAF.  One that most impressed him was the Mina [Mena] River bridge, which connected Koepang with the hinterland.  This bridge was of strategic importance but, as he observed, ‘was supported by very strong concrete pillars and was fairly narrow’ - a difficult target.

COMMANDER 79 WING, NORTHERN TERRITORY

After returning from the Netherlands East Indies in March 1941, Eaton was posted to various RAAF commands, and in 1943 he returned to the Northern Territory to form and command 79 Wing, a composite wing operating against the Japanese in Timor and the eastern Netherlands East Indies.  Four squadrons, operating from four different airfields, made up the wing: 1 and 2 Squadrons, RAAF, flying Beauforts for bombing and reconnaissance; 31 Squadron, RAAF, with Beaufighter strike fighters; and a Dutch unit, 18 Netherlands East Indies Air Force (NEIAF) Squadron, flying B25 Mitchell bombers.  Not far away Louis Spence was commanding a squadron of Spitfires.  In 1947 Spence became one of Eaton's first military observers in Indonesia and was later killed in Korea in 1950. [7]

 

NEIAF No. 18 Squadron at Batchelor, May 1944. Second from right, Captain Dick Asjes.  Far right, Group Captain Eaton [8]

 

The relationship between NEIAF and RAAF officers was far from cordial at the time, with a perception existing that some top-ranking RAAF officers were anti-Dutch.  Eaton, however, stated that No. 18 Squadron was one of the best he ever commanded.  To the Dutch he became ‘Oom’ Charles (Uncle Charles) and was well respected by all the Dutch Officers, NCOs and men, including the Indonesian contingent. [9]

‘… BOMBING TIMOR ON A DAILY BASIS’, 1944

By 1944 Eaton's wing was bombing Timor on a daily basis.  Invariably accompanied by his pipe, ‘Moth’ often flew with the lead aircraft of a strike.  This meant enduring many uncomfortable hours standing in a cramped Beaufighter cockpit between the pilot and navigator.  One such raid brought him close to disaster.  In Eaton's own words:

In a Beaufighter, with S/Ldr Boyd, together with other Beaufighters, we set out to do some ground strafing at a camp near Dili, and I had rather an amazing and exciting experience.  After crossing the coast at Timor low down, looking for targets, we were in a valley, when an odd .5 bullet from the Japanese hit our starboard engine.  It went right through the front housing and out came the hot oil enveloping the engine with smoke. The propeller was immediately feathered, and we climbed out of the valley and headed for home some 400 miles [640 km) away.

Eaton with officers of No. 79 Wing planning a mission. Batchelor, August 1944 [10]

 

As a protection one of the other Beaufighters was ordered to accompany us and the other six to carry on with the job.  Over Timor, with one engine, was not very pleasant, but once the coast was reached, we seemed fairly safe.

Our predicament was wirelessed back to Darwin and a Catalina was sent out to pull us out of the drink if necessary.  About 50 miles (80 km) out from the coast of Timor the port engine started to give trouble and developed a tremendous vibration.  It seemed the only thing to do was to ditch and so down we went to ditch.  Boyd let the ditching hatch go and I opened my parachute to rest my head against to take the bump.  At that time, I lost my hat.  When only about 100 feet [30 m] above the sea, the port engine came good again, so we went towards the coast of Australia.  About halfway across, Boyd endeavoured to pump the petrol from the starboard (wing) to the port engine, but unfortunately the pipes were blocked, and the petrol could not get through.  There was nothing to do but to dump the petrol on the starboard side into the Timor Sea and go on until we ran out of petrol. With great skill in the use of his remaining engine, after what seemed a very long time, the north coast of Australia was sighted, and we got down OK at Snake Bay at the top of Melville Island.

‘A wing and a prayer’ was often sung to me after that show.

An even more calamitous event had occurred on this particular flight: during the excitement, ‘Moth’ had broken his beloved pipe!  Eaton instructed the Beaufighter's navigator, Fred Anderson, to signal RAAF Darwin for a new pipe and a car - in that order - to meet them if they got back.  Anderson later reflected that the Group Captain might have been less worried about his pipe if he knew that the rubber dinghy was shot through, and they only had five minutes' petrol left when they landed.

 

‘The Mena River Bridge’ by Charles Bush (1945, oil on canvas, overall: 45.2 x 60.4 cm, AWM ART26318)

 

ATTACKS ON THE [MENA] RIVER BRIDGE AND HATOLIA

On 19 February 1944, three years after the Japanese bombing of Darwin, Eaton had the chance to put his pre-war reconnaissance to work by launching an attack against the Mina [Mena] River bridge.  Three of the wing's squadrons took part in the raid.  Eaton, who had photographed the bridge before the war, flew with Wing Commander Mann in the leading Beaufighter, and later recalled:

On the day in question, we set out from Darwin with Beaufighters andB-25s.  I went in low with W/Cdr Mann to strafe the bridge with cannon and put out any defences.  As we passed through, the Mitchells bombed from 6,000 feet [1,850 m] and on top of the Mitchells again more Beaufighters as air cover.  The plan worked well.  We got three direct hits with 600 pounders on the bridge and returned without casualty.  A year afterwards the bridge was still under repair.

 

Hatoelia [Hatolia], Timor.  1944-11-17.  The shadow of a Beaufighter of no. 31 squadron RAAF can be seen on the ground as aircraft attack Japanese occupied buildings.  This attack was the first use by the RAAF of rocket projectiles in this theatre of war.

 

Eaton was keen for the Beaufighters to be equipped with rockets, and in November 1944 he was responsible for the first RAAF rocket strike in the South-West Pacific Area.  The target was a Japanese headquarters in East Timor, located in an old monastery in a deep valley near Hatolia. [11] Conventional bombing had proved impossible since aircraft could not line up to release their bombs without plunging into the sides of the valley.  Now six aircraft equipped with rockets executed a close and aggressive air strike against the hitherto invulnerable target.  The attack was pressed at such low altitude that the Beaufighter in which Eaton flew returned from the attack with a ‘chunk of rocket’ wedged in the wing.

Under Eaton's command the wing completed some 30,000 operational hours and sank 107 vessels of all descriptions, from 4,000 ton ships to seagoing barges.  Nearly 1,200 tons of bombs were dropped on military targets on Timor and in the surrounding areas.  After the war General T. Kaida, the Japanese garrison commander on Timor, commented that all Japanese military and naval movement came to a standstill as a direct result of these attacks.

Eaton may have done his work too well, as his units were running out of targets, but as a result of his efforts in Batchelor he received a Mention in Despatches (MID).  His participation in the Mina River bridge bombing was mentioned in the citation as an example ‘of his interest in the operational work of his units’.  The citation went on: ‘His outstanding keenness and devotion to duty have been an inspiration to all personnel and is deserving of the highest praise’.  Eaton was later honoured by the Dutch also; at the direction of Queen Wilhelmina on 10 August 1945 Eaton was made a Knight Commander in the Order of Orange Nassau with Swords. [12]

POST WAR – AUSTRALIAN CONSUL, DILI

In December 1944 Eaton was appointed Air Officer Commanding Southern Area, but he was not finished with Timor.  After the war he joined the Department of External Affairs, and early in 1946 he arrived in Dili, the capital of Portuguese East Timor, as Australian Consul.  In an unhappy precedent to the destruction of 1999, the town had been almost completely destroyed by the combination of Japanese occupation and allied bombing.

 

Consul Eaton and son coming ashore after arriving at Dili on HMS Camperdown, 26 January 1946 [13]

 

The destruction caused by Allied bombing in the territory was widespread and the governor had his hands full in planning reconstruction.  Eaton felt it would be indiscreet to elaborate on his own not insubstantial contribution to the destruction but took the opportunity to visit the sites of some of No. 79 Wing’s more memorable bombing missions, especially the ones where he had been present. [14]

Eaton threw himself into the task of assisting the Portuguese authorities by organising supplies from Australia and acting as intermediary between Portuguese and Australian contractors.  He was responsible for setting up a regular RAAF Catalina mail and cargo service from Darwin and, drawing on his aviation experience, gave advice on the building of airstrips and other matters.

 

‘Mt Paicnau from Cape Lore’ by Charles Bush (1945, colour wash on paper, overall: 21.6 x 27.9 cm; AWM ART26156)

 

During his time as consul, he toured the rough terrain of East Timor by jeep and was also able to travel to West Timor and inspect the site of the Mina River bridge which he had reconnoitred in 1941 and bombed in 1944.

Eaton visited Hatolia in October and December 1946 but made no mention in his report of the events he had been involved in two years previously.  During his visit to the Lore district, however, Eaton made a point of inspecting the sites of former Japanese camps and defence works and the ‘Cape Lore’ radar station.  Eaton had been personally involved in the bombing of the radar station in December 1944:

During my last visit to the interior, I was particularly interested to see the Japanese defences of Lautem-Cape Lore areas.  I do not know if the full facts are known to our military authorities but at one time some 25,000 Japanese soldiers occupied these areas.  The Japanese camps and defence works along the road between Lautem and Fuiloro were considerable and the camouflage almost perfect.  The Cape Lore beachhead was the best defence work I have seen in Timor; the earth and wire works were extensive.

I also visited the Japanese Cape Lore radar station. This station is actually on the top of a mountain at the rear of Cape Lore.  I was very interested in this station as I personally took part in an attack on this work in December 1944.  The attack was an interesting one as it was the first time that diaphragm bomb-heads were used in Timor.  The Radar Station had been hit but the extent of the bomb damage was difficult to ascertain as after the attack the Japanese dismantled the remains.  Without doubt the main building was severely damaged by the diaphragm bombs. [15]

 

Dili, Portuguese Timor, 1946-01-20.  The bomb damaged cathedral. (Photographer Sgt K. B. Davis)

 

Another case where Eaton had been personally involved was in the bombing and destruction of the Dili Cathedral following the reception of intelligence that it was being used by the Japanese for munitions storage.  Indeed, Eaton, or men under his command, had been involved in much of the extensive destruction of housing and infrastructure throughout Timor during the war.  Eaton was very conscious of this and suggested to his wife and son that it would be indiscreet to mention the role that he had played in the destruction of so many public and private buildings. [16]

On one occasion he flew the Portuguese Governor, Captain Oscar Ruas, on an aerial inspection of Timor in a Portuguese Air Force Tiger Moth.  The Portuguese government asked that Eaton be allowed to receive and wear the decoration of Commander of the Portuguese Military Order of Christ:

… in recognition of his useful co-operation in securing all necessary facilities in connection with reconstruction and development in Timor.

The Australian Prime Minister, R.G. Menzies, refused to allow him to accept the award.

CONCLUSION

Australia's recent closer engagement with East Timor would not have surprised Charles Eaton, who in his diplomatic despatches stressed the strategic importance of Timor to Australia and reported militia-type infiltration from West Timor.  Much sooner than that, however, he was to play his own part in the history of peacekeeping.  In August 1947 he left Portuguese Timor to take up an appointment as Acting Consul-General in Batavia, capital of the Netherlands East Indies.  In that position, as a member of the United Nations Consular Commission charged with monitoring a ceasefire in the war between the Dutch colonial masters and the Indonesian Republicans, he was instrumental in bringing military observers - the first ever United Nations peacekeepers - to Indonesia. [17]

REFERENCES

[1]     This post has been adapted and expanded from - Mitch Williamson ‘On a wing and a prayer: ‘Moth’ Eaton over Timor’ Wartime: official magazine of the Australian War Memorial no. 10, Autumn 2000: 31-35.

[2]     Charles Stuart Eaton. – The cross in the sky: the life and adventures of Charles ‘Moth’ Eaton - soldier - pioneer aviator - pathfinder for global peacekeeping. – Melbourne: Echo Books, 2021.  See esp. Chapters 1-17: 1-182 for Eaton's pre-WW2 life and career.

[3]     Steven Farram. - Charles ‘Moth’ Eaton: pioneer aviator of the Northern Territory. – Darwin: Charles Darwin University Press, 2007: 26.

[4]     RAAF Unit History sheets (Form A50) RAAF Station Darwin Jun 40 - Jun 52 - NAA A9186 208.  https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/DetailsReports/ItemDetail.aspx?Barcode=1359597&isAv=N

[5]     Farram, 2007: 27.

[6]     Farram, 2007: 44.

[7]     See Peter Londey ‘The first United Nations Peacekeepers’ Wartime: official magazine of the Australian War Memorial Issue 1, November 1997: 52-56.  Coincidentally, Squadron Leader Louis Spence was the brother of Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Spence, OC, Sparrow Force in Portuguese Timor, May-December 1942.

[8]     Farram, 2007: 39.

[9]     Eaton, 2021: 234.

[10]   Farram, 2007: 46.

[11]   31 Squadron – Operations record book, Appendix 8 – Commanding Officer’s operational summary for the month of November 1944: 266 https://31squadronassociation.com.au/archives/31-squadron-operational-log/.

[12]   EATON CHARLES: Service Number - 24 - NAA: A9300, EATON Chttps://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/DetailsReports/ItemDetail.aspx?Barcode=5370909&isAv=N

[13]   Farram, 2007: 15.  This photograph was probably taken by Sergeant Keith Davis of the Australian Military History Section Field team, which was still in Dili when Eaton arrived; see W.B. Horton, ‘Through the eyes of Australians: the Timor area in the early postwar period’, Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies, No. 12, March 2009, p. 271.

[14]   Eaton, 2021: 260.

[15]   Eaton, 2021: 268.  See also RAAF Unit History sheets (Form A50) [Operations Record Book - Forms A50 and A51] Number 2 Squadron May 37 - May 46 - NAA: A9186, 5: 717-718.  See also Gordon R. Birkett ‘The Churchill Wing Offensive operations Chapter 3: The November 1944 raid’ ADF Serials Telegraph News: News for those interested in Australian Military Aircraft History and Serials 1 (5) Summer 2011: 9-11.  http://www.adf-serials.com.au/newsletter/ADF%20Serials%20Telegraph%20News%20-Summer%202011%20Vers%201.pdf.  ‘On board the lead B-25, captained by F/Lt Hodges, there was an additional observer, G/Capt Eaton of 79 Wing had decided to accompany the crew on this mission’ and John Bennett. - Highest traditions: the history of No. 2 Squadron, RAAF. - [Fairbairn, ACT]: Royal Australian Air Force, Air Power Studies Centre, 1995: 225.

[16]   Eaton, 2021: 261.

[17]   Peter Londey. - Other people's wars: a history of Australian peacekeeping. – Crow’s Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin, 2004.  See esp. Ch. 2 Indonesia: 13-28 and Ch. 15 East Timor: 231-261.

Prepared  by Ed Willis

Revised 21 January 2022

 

‘What the bloody hell is happening in Portuguese Timor’

INVESTIGATION MISSION TO DILI

8 January 1942

INTRODUCTION

(Edwin) Harry Medlin (1920–2013) was Deputy Chancellor of the University of Adelaide from 1978 to 1997. [1] As a young man he was commissioned in 1939 and was serving as a Lieutenant in the 2/1st Fortress Company Engineers at the time Sparrow Force took up defensive positions around Koepang in Dutch West Timor in mid-December 1941.  He was captured by the Japanese and held as a prisoner of war in Timor from 23 February 1942 and transferred to Batavia in Java in September 1942 until he was freed on 23 September 1945.

Medlin wrote in detail about events in Timor, especially in relation to the action, but also before action and afterwards, including his life as a POW in Timor and Java; his objective was to 'set the record straight' about what he believed to be serious errors of omission and fact in all accounts of the history of Sparrow force in Dutch Timor, and his first-hand account provided valuable insights. [2]

In early January 1942, prior to the Japanese assault on Timor, Medlin was a member of a small Allied (Australian/Dutch) mission that travelled from Koepang to Dili in Portuguese East Timor to investigate a report that the ‘… Portuguese Governor has complained that Allied Commanders, particularly the Dutch, are behaving in a very high-handed manner and are requisitioning extensively, impressing foreign residents etc. [and] that fresh troops are being disembarked and that Governor is in state of high indignation’.

HARRY MEDLIN RECALLS THE MISSION TO DILI

Medlin’s recollections of the mission follow [3]:

Wigmore [4] reports on a conference in Koepang on the evening of 15 December 1941 between Mr. Niebouer (Dutch Resident at Koepang) [5], Ross [6], van Straaten [7], Leggatt [8], Detiger [9], Commander of the Soerabaja (5644 tons), Wing Commander F. Headlam (C.O. RAAF squadron) [10], Major A. Spence (OC 2/2 Indep. Coy.) [11] and staff officers.  The decision was taken to occupy Dili because Japanese ships were said to be in the vicinity.

Wigmore then describes negotiations with the Governor of Portuguese Timor (Manuel de Ferreira de Carvalho) and the subsequent occupation by Australian and Dutch troops.  There is no record anywhere that I can find of the next development which, it was said, arose out of a curt telegram from the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill.

Portugal (like Sweden and Switzerland) was neutral during WW2, and it suited the (Northern Hemisphere) antagonists’ purposes to preserve that neutrality.  Portuguese troopships were said to have been coming from Lorenzo Marques in East Africa.  The hearsay catalyst is said to have been the cable ‘Highest British Political Authority demands to know what the bloody hell is happening in Portuguese Timor’.

Athol Wilson [12], a Melbourne lawyer, led the Inquiry in Dili.  I was chosen as Staff Officer to Major Wilson.  I assume that Wilson was chosen because Leggatt, although also a lawyer, had been involved in that initial decision to occupy Portuguese Timor.

Although I do not recall the date, I believe it to have been about 10 January 1942, but it might well have been later because photographs show me with a ‘tin hat’ and air raids did not start until 26 January 1942.

Fokker aircraft of the type used to fly the investigation team from Koepang to Dili

We flew in a 3-engine Fokker with ‘pusher’ engines; we were camouflaged from above and flew extremely low to evade possible Japanese fighters.  There were two pilots and three passengers namely Wilson, Headlam and Medlin.  I have photographs of Wilson, Ross, van Straaten and Spence in conference and with (Capt.) Callinan [13], Medlin and (? Mr.) Whittaker [14] in attendance.  I have other photographs taken that day including one of a small Japanese ship tied up at a jetty in Dili Bay.

I think that I know that the recommendations were that our occupation was justified, and that the Dutch presence was no long-term threat to Portugal.

In the final event the Japanese invaded the whole island and demonstrated a complete contempt for Portuguese neutrality.  There is no reference by Churchill even in his history, The Second World War, nor of any concern for Timor except to comment [15] (v.4 The hinge of fate, p.128) upon its loss to the Japanese.  I repeat that I find it, at best, strange and possibly somewhat sinister that there is no record either of Wilson’s inquiry or of his report.  The Inquiry was conducted -- I was there - and I knew Athol Wilson well enough to know that there was a Report.  WHERE IS IT?

Medlin recorded another recollection of this event: [16]

Senior officers always have to have junior officers around, looking after their needs and what not, so I went.  We met with Major Spence who was the commanding officer of 2/2nd Independent Company, and the governor of Portuguese Timor, and as I say I have taken photographs in the plane and we flew very low because we were camouflaged from above, not below and there was a risk of being shot down by Japanese fighters.

And I believe that the conclusion of Athol Wilson and of the governor, and of the Dutch was, that although Dili had been occupied there was no long-term risk of the sovereignty of Portugal over Portuguese Timor.

Now I have tried myself to find a copy of that report, I knew Athol Wilson well enough to know that there would have been a report, but it could find nothing.  But you have triggered me into remembering this, I will look again, there will be a report somewhere, and I know enough about the army to know that they never destroy anything, not openly anyway.  So that was that.  Well, I think I said before, when the Japanese landed, they took no account of Portuguese neutrality, and the Independent Company just withdrew and harassed them from the hills.

PHOTOGRAPHIC RECORD OF THE MISSION

Harry Medlin notes that a camera was in his possession during the mission and he took photos at various times featuring the participants and street scenes and aerial views of Dili.  As Medlin himself appears in some of the photos, Athol Wilson probably took some of them.  These images provide a unique and valuable record of the occasion; the personal photos are remarkably candid and evocative. [17]

1. Major Athol Wilson (rear), unidentified soldier (front)

2. Frank Whittaker (Australian Naval intelligence officer) (left), Dutch officer Lieutenant Jan Zijlstra (right)

3. Frank Whittaker (Australian Naval intelligence officer)

4. Wing Commander Frank Headlam (left), Lieutenant Harry Medlin (right)

5. Lieutenant Harry Medlin (left), Wing Commander F. Headlam (RAAF) (right)

6. David Ross (Left), Lieutenant Colonel Van Straten (right)

7. Left to right – Lieutenant Colonel Van Straten, Major Athol Wilson, David Ross, F.J. Niebouer (Dutch Resident Koepang)

8. Major Alexander Spence (left), Lieutenant Harry Medlin (right)

9. Portuguese artillery piece

10. Portuguese artillery piece close up

11. Dili street scene

12. Dili street scene

13. Dutch soldiers

14. Dutch soldier

15. Japanese spy ship Nanyei Maru

16. Dili harbour

17. Residence British Consul, David Ross

18. Dili street scene

19. Aerial view Dili

20. Portuguese military barracks, Dili (Dutch HQ)

21. Dili street scene

22. Rua de?, Dili

23. Aerial view Dili (Taibessi?)

24. Aerial view Dili Harbour

25. Aerial view Dili

26. Sunset, Port of Dili

THE DOCUMENTARY RECORD OF THE MISSION

Medlin is correct in asserting that ‘… there would have been a report’ submitted on the mission but the documentary record is patchy and difficult to locate.

The earliest relevant document located thus far originated on 26th December 1941:

DEPARTMENT OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

CABLEGRAM

2648, sent 26th December 1941

TO BRITISH CONSUL, DILLI.

C.G.S. has been informed by Sparrow force through Army channels as follows:

‘Dilli position most unsatisfactory.  Governor organising troops who may harass our troops and will certainly assist any Japanese landing.  Van Straaten awaiting instructions Dutch headquarters.  Essential to take military control and disarm Portuguese.  Delay through political negotiations becoming dangerous.  Urgent.’

Inform Commander of Australian forces that on other hand Portuguese Governor has complained that Allied Commanders, particularly the Dutch, are behaving in a very high-handed manner and are requisitioning extensively, impressing foreign residents etc. that fresh troops are being disembarked and that Governor is in state of high indignation.

You will observe that this is [a] complaint which reaches us from U.K. via Portugal.  I am greatly surprised that you have not sent regular reports as I have asked.  We desire urgently your comments and suggestions on above. In particular what restrictions or censorship are being imposed upon Portuguese authorities.

MINISTER FOR EXTERNAL AFFAIRS [18]

On the next day, the following signal was received by Sparrow Force; note the reference to ‘highest political minister’ that connects with Medlin’s recollection of the stimulus for the mission:

To Sparrow Force

From Army Melbourne MC4088          27/12  Immediate

For OC SPARROW stop  Your message 27/12 through DARWIN regarding situation DILLI stop  Whole message now being considered main body highest political minister officially informed essential SPENCE OC no contact ROSS and last named forward his views immediately. [19]

No documents have so far been located that specifically refer to the establishment and conduct of the mission though Medlin’s recollections and subsequent reports confirm that it actually took place; for e.g., the No. 2 Independent Company War Diary entry for 8 January 1942 recorded:

… Visit to Dili by NEI resident from KOEPANG.  PORTUGUESE GOVERNOR has reported adversely on behaviour of NEI and Australian commanders in requisitioning Portuguese property and impressing foreign nationals, particularly NEI commander.  This report which has just reached Dili has surprised all – at the same time as he sent report off – told Colonel VAN STRAATEN that the behaviour of the occupying force had been good.  The opinion of interested persons have that Colonel VAN STRAATEN, who has CO of Force, carried out all negotiations with governor, has been most restrained, in spite of lack of cooperation from Governor.  15 natives arrived at company HQ for work on shelters. [20]

Prime Minister John Curtin communicated the findings of the investigative mission to the British government on 10 January 1942:

PRIME MINISTER'S DEPARTMENT CABLEGRAM.

DECYPHER TO SECRETARY OF STATE FOR DOMINION AFFAIRS, LONDON

0.985 0.986 0.987

DATE SENT: 10 January 1942

No. 38. Repeated to Governor of the Straits Settlement for Commander in Chief, Far East, No, 3, and Prime Minister of New Zealand No. 18.

SECRET.

TIMOR.

Your telegram 25th December No. 895 paragraph 1.

Ross reports that allegations against occupying force attributed to Governor entirely without real foundation and that no serious complaint had been made by any inhabitants including foreign nationals now under restraint.  No Portuguese property other than open land has been requested.

Ross adds that complaints to Lisbon referred to are even contrary to the views expressed personally by the Governor to the Dutch Commander.  In his opinion complaints are nothing more than an attempt to stir up trouble and influence political negotiations.

No restrictions of any sort have been placed on Portuguese authorities who are at liberty to send and receive any radio messages on Government business.  Whole attitude of Dutch Commander has been one of extreme courtesy and consideration oven when latitude allowed has been abused and petty obstructive tactics employed against him.

CURTIN

Copy sent to Dr. Evatt, Mr. Forde, Col. Hodgson, Mr. Shedden

13.1.42 [21]

The British Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs responded to Curtin’s message two days later (12 January 1942): ‘Ross’s reports as to allegations against the Allied Force noted’. [22]

REFERENCES

[1]     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Medlin

[2]     Peter Henning. - Doomed Battalion: mateship and leadership in war and captivity - the Australian 2/40 Battalion 1940-45. – 2nd ed. - [Exeter, Tasmania]: Peter Henning, c2014: 7.

[3]     Dr. Harry Medlin ‘Timor and Java’ https://studylib.net/doc/9066385/timor-and-java---the-recollections-of-lt-harry-medlin: 11.

[4]     Lionel Wigmore. - The Japanese thrust. - Canberra: Australian War Memorial, 1957.  (Australia in the war of 1939-1945. Series 1, Army; v. 4) - Ch. 21 ‘Resistance in Timor’: 469.

[5]     Mr. F.J. Nieboer, Dutch Resident (Governor), Koepang 1941-42.

[6]     Mr. (later Group Captain) David Ross, British Consul, Dili, Portuguese Timor, 1941-42.

[7]     Lieutenant Colonel N.L.W. van Straten, Commanding Officer, Dutch contingent, Portuguese Timor 1941-1942.

[8]     Lieutenant Colonel W.W. (Bill) Leggatt, Commanding Officer, 2/40 Battalion, also original Commanding Officer Sparrow Force, 1941-42.

[9]     Lieutenant-Colonel W.E.C. Detiger, Commanding Officer, Dutch Timor and Dependencies Territorial Command, 1941-42.

[10]   Wing Commander Frank Headlam, Commander, No. 2 Squadron, Penfoei, Dutch Timor 1941-42.

[11]   Major Alexander Spence, Commanding Officer, No. 2 Independent Company, Portuguese Timor, 1941-42.

[12]   Major Athol Wilson, Commanding Officer, 2/1 Heavy Battery, Koepang, Dutch Timor, 1941-42.  He died of wounds 20 February 1942 at Klapalima, Dutch Timor.

[13]   Captain Bernard Callinan, 2nd In Command, No.2 Independent Company, Portuguese Timor, 1941-42. Callinan was in fact not present at the meeting.

[14]   Mr. F.J.A. (John) Whittaker, Civil Aviation clerical officer, British Consular Office, Dili, Portuguese Timor, 1941-42.  In mid-April 1941, the Director of Naval Intelligence proposed appointing an officer to Dili ostensibly in the role of a Civil Aviation clerical officer – citing an Australian War Cabinet agendum (No.109/1941 – February 1941) that directed their military intelligence services should arrange ‘for special watch to be kept by them on the peaceful penetration by Japanese into Portuguese Timor … ‘.  The Australian Naval Board concurred and coordinated with DCA for a naval intelligence officer – Paymaster Lieutenant F.J.A. Whittaker, to operate ‘nominally as a clerk to assist Mr David Ross’ and ‘who would, in the guise of a civilian, be able to discharge the Naval Intelligence duties required of him’.  See Navy Office, Memorandum 018820 - 43/85, Melbourne, 28 April 1941 (NAA: 981 TIM P 6, p.57; NAA: B6121, 114G).

[15]   Winston Churchill. – The hinge of fate. – London: Cassell & Co., 1950: 126.

[16]   ‘Edwin Medlin (Harry) - Transcript of interview Date of interview: 8th March 2004’ Australians at War Film Archive http://australiansatwarfilmarchive.unsw.edu.au/archive/1503

[17]   These photos were in the personal papers of Sir Bernard J. Callinan and were kindly made available to the 2/2 Commando Association of Australia archives by his son Nicholas.

[18]   26/12 War Cabinet Agendum - No 270/1941 and supplements 1-3 - Occupation of Portuguese Timor - NAA_ItemNumber11294556 2.pdf – NAA, A2671, 270.

[19]   Sparrow Force war diary, message received 27 December 1941 – Australian War Memorial RCDIG 1024692.

[20]   No. 2 Independent Company War Diary 8 December 1941 - 16 December 1942.  An entry in Colonel Van Straten’s dairy covering this period also provides confirmation:

Furthermore, the ashes in Lisbon are burning quite violently, which even resulted in an official complaint via London, whereupon the GG (Governor-General Sjarda van Strakenborgh Stachouwer) sent the resident of Koepang (Niebouer) for an investigation, which, however, was entirely in my favour.

Source: E-mail from: Gerard van Haren to author sent Thursday, December 23, 2021 10:13 PM.

[21]   War Cabinet Agendum - No 270-1941 and supplements 1-3 - Occupation of Portuguese Timor - NAA_ItemNumber11294556.pdf – NAA A2671, 270/1941.

[22]   Occupation of Portuguese Timor - (File 1) to 30-1-1942 - NAA_ItemNumber170185-2.pdf. – NAA A816, 19/30.

Prepared by Ed Willis

Revised 9 January 2022

CHRISTMAS DAY IN DILI

25 DECEMBER 1941

INTRODUCTION

The fullest (and frankest) account of how the men of the 2nd Independent Company spent Christmas Day 1941 in Dili is provided by Cyril Ayris in ‘All the Bull’s men’ (pp.71-74).

Annotation on rear of photo: Timor-Dilli Chinese Studio Xmas 1941: Colin Criddle – Pinky L, Fred Smith – Smithy C, Cyril Doyle – Tiger R - [Source: 2/2 Commando Association of Australia photo archive]

One photo located in the Association archives was taken on Christmas Day 1941 in Dili.  It is a remarkably evocative informal group portrait of three men from No. 2 Section: Colin (Pinky) Criddle, Fred Smith, and Cyril (Tiger) Doyle; they distinguished themselves in the defence of the airfield when the Japanese landed nearly two months later on February 19 1942.

2nd Independent Company men on leave in Dili – January 1942 – Tony Adams tentatively identified on the right – [Source: 2/2 Commando Association of Australia photo archive]

The men of the Signals Section also spent the day together and Corporal Harry Wray recorded his memories of it and related events and personalities.

HOW THE SIGNALS SECTION SPENT CHRISTMAS DAY IN DILI, 1941 [1]

For the first few days at the Dili aerodrome my Section was camped in a lean to shed of palm thatch, about six feet high in front and three feet high at the back.  The mosquitos were very thick at night and we slept under nets, all snowy white, and could be seen for hundreds of yards at night.  The Dutch had green nets, and green tents, all our equipment shone with new whiteness, and was difficult to camouflage.

Photo included in 'Report on a visit to Portuguese Timor' by Captain Johnston, Dr. Bradfield and Mr. Ross - 29th December, 1940 - 1st January 1941 (NAA: A816, 19/301/778)

Later we shifted to a coconut grove skirting the aerodrome and pitched tents there.  The ground was very wet, almost boggy in fact, and even with ground sheets under our sleeping bags became damp.On Christmas Day, we were allowed leave to visit Dili in the afternoon, and several of us hired a tiny carriage drawn by two Timor ponies and set off in state.  We had a look at the cathedral, and a walk around the town, which did not take long.  

Portuguese postcard showing the Dili Cathedral

We bought soap and Chinese cigarettes from some of the numerous Chinese shops, then went to the waterfront and had a look at the small Jap ship tied up at the jetty.

This ship used to lie off Dili prior to our arrival and before the Jap entry into the war, and every day would go out beyond the three-mile limit and send and receive messages from Japan on the very powerful wireless set, which had been installed on board.

After the Japs came into the war our Hudson’s based at Koepang heard of the ship and how it went out each day to send and receive messages, so one day a Hudson swooped down and machine gunned it to such an effect that most of the crew jumped overboard, and the crew of the Hudson had the pleasure of seeing sharks put an end to those who did so.  The remainder of the crew took cover and let the ship run as she pleased until she piled up on the beach of a nearby island.

Later a Dutch ship found her deserted and towed her back to Dili where the Dutch almost tore her apart searching for what they could find.  When I saw her the panelling was ripped off walls, bedding ripped open, and everything in a terrible mess after the search.  Goodness knows if anything worth having was found.  We managed to get a few batteries from the radio installation, which came in very useful later on.

A fair number of drums of oil and petrol were found in the holds of the ship; however, the Japs had put sand in the oil and petrol before leaving her derelict.  After filtering, some of the oil and petrol came in quite handy to the Dutch, and us also.  The Japs had also taken the precaution of removing a few vital parts from the engine, which made it hopeless to attempt to get the engine running.

I noticed that the Hudson had made a good job of the doing over, which it gave the ship, as the bridge and decks were holed like the top of a pepper pot.

Patricio Luz, a radio operator at the Portuguese radio station prior to the occupation.  Behind him is the wreckage of the Japanese ship, ‘Nanyei Maru’, in Dili harbour.  It had been bombed and strafed by the RAAF immediately after the declaration of war with Japan and after drifting unmanned was eventually towed to Dili harbour.  (Photographer Sgt K. Davis).  Source: AWM photo ID number 121402: Dili, Portuguese Timor 1945-12-09.

After visiting the Jap ship, we went back to the town square near the cathedral and hired a couple of the carriages to take us back to the aerodrome.  The drivers at once whipped at their horses and off we went at a gallop.  Our ponies managed to take the lead, and one of our chaps in the other carriage thinking he could make a better job of the driving took the reins from the native boy, and with whip and shouts urged the ponies on to greater efforts.  This resulted in his carriage gaining on us, and in trying to pass he took his carriage too near the edge of the drain running alongside the road.  This drain was about twelve feet deep and about twelve feet wide.  Jerry’s carriage hung balanced on the edge of the drain while the ponies hung down the sides.  We ran back to the rescue and soon dragged the terrified little ponies back onto the road and righted the carriage.  Jerry had to pacify the boy with an extra Pataka (1/8).

Annotation on rear of photo: Taken January 1942 – One of the carts used to a great extent – L to R – M. Ryan, F. Smith, A. Dalbridge.  Source: 2/2 Commando Association of Australia photo archive.

All hands were supposed to take quinine twice a day.  This quinine was in powder form, and it was very difficult to persuade anyone to take it, and I imagine this contributed to the heavy toll malaria was soon to take.  I had the job of seeing that my Section had his quinine, and watched to see that everyone did take it, but I used to wrap each dose in a cigarette paper, and consequently did not have much trouble getting everyone to have his dose.  One man who preferred the powder neat, and said he liked it: a peculiar taste.

The only other time I was in Dili was one morning when we had a few hours leave.  One of our officers said he would take a few of us who had happened to run into him in the street, to dinner at one of the few hotels. [2] On the way, there he told me that he was short of money and perhaps I could lend him some.  I did and had the pleasure of him standing us all drinks and dinner at my own expense, as I only recovered a very small part of the loan a few days later.

Source: Hudson Fysh ‘Australia’s unknown neighbour – Portuguese Timor’ Walkabout, vol. 7, no.7, May 1st 1941, p.7.

At this hotel, we met a man who was an employee of Imperial Shell and had been making a survey of Timor for the purpose of assessing the geological possibilities as regards oil. [3] This chap told us an amusing tale, or rather an amusing experience.  Not long before the Jap declaration of war, such as it was, the Japs had concluded a treaty with the Portuguese by which they were given full rights to the use of Dili aerodrome, for civil purposes of course, or what they told the Portuguese at the time.  On the day that this treaty was finalised the Shell man happened to be in Dili staying at the hotel.  Later in the day a Qantas flying boat pilot came along to the hotel for the night.  The flying boats stayed overnight at Dili at that time.  The pilot and the Shell man were old friends.  The pilot asked the Shell man to accompany him to a function that evening to celebrate the treaty between the Japs and the Portos.  The Shell man was finally persuaded, and the pilot obtained the necessary invitation for his friend.

Mr George Bryant, an Australian who has lived in the area for the past 24 years, being welcomed aboard the RAN vessel HMAS ‘Warrnambool’, a section of Timforce, which has arrived in the area to ensure that the Japanese forces carry out the surrender terms.  Source: AWM phot ID number 117047: Dili, Portuguese Timor, 1945-09-23.

The Shell man told us it was a terrific celebration, with both the Japs and the Portos getting more and more drunk as time went on.  Everyone was on the best of terms with everyone else, the Japs sang songs in praise and honour of their Porto friends, and the Portos did likewise, but the cream of the piece came when the Japs and Portos decided to honour their English and Australian friends by roaring out ‘God save the King’ in the heartiest fashion.  Only a few weeks after this token of their everlasting friendship, they were at war with us.

I do not know what became of the Shell man, as several Qantas flying boats called after I saw him, and before the Japs appeared on the scene.  He may have left safely, and in time.

There was an old man living in Dili, an Australian who had been there for years.  He did a little prospecting at times, but latterly I think he was living at the Australian Consul’s house doing odd jobs there.  As it happened, he was the uncle of one of our men, quite a coincidence that they should meet in Dili of all places.  I do not know what became of this man, he was in Dili during the Jap occupation I believe and may still be there. [4]

I forgot to say that our Lieutenant [John Rose] managed to buy a bundle of fresh fish something like herrings in appearance, and full of bones, for our Christmas dinner.  We also provided a few fowls, which we souvenired from a deserted house nearby.

The owner of the house was an Arab, and we learned later a spy in the pay of the Japs.  He kept well out of the way while we were at the aerodrome.  We did hear subsequently bumped him off for some reason best known to themselves.  They liquidated several of their friends at different times, as you will hear later, one of their very good friends just because he was unlucky enough for appearances to be against him.

To get back to the Christmas dinner, the fowls gave us a terrific chase in the heat of the day, but we managed to catch about six of them, so with the fish did quite well for ourselves.

NOTES

[1] Corporal Arthur Henry Kilfield ‘Harry’ Wray (WX11485), Recollections of the 2nd Independent Company Campaign on Timor, 1941-42, manuscript in 2/2 Commando Association archives.

[2] This was probably Lieutenant Colin Doig.

[3] This was M.L.E.J. Brouwer, a Dutch geologist from Bataafsche Petroleum Maatschappij (Shell), arrived in Timor during April 1941.  There was considerable suspicion that Brouwer was a Nazi sympathiser, but a later memo indicated that 'Brouwer is a geologist for cover only' suggesting that his primary role was not exploration.  See Tim Charlton ‘History of petroleum exploration in Timor-Leste’ http://www.timcharlton.co.uk/other-projects/timor-leste-history-of-oil-exploration

[4] Bernard Callinan described Bryant as David Ross’ ‘general factotum’.  Bryant’s nephew was Cpl. Bryant, William Frederick VX29713, a cook in Q Section.  Bryant was born in Melbourne in 1882 and had worked in Portuguese Timor for at least 28 years.  Although ill, Bryant survived the war in Dili.  For an interesting summary of Bryant’s life, see J. Carey ‘Link with the past’ 2/2 Commando Courier vol. 140, September 2002, pp.10-11 https://doublereds.org.au/couriers/2002/September/

 

Revised and adapted from an earlier post commemorating the 75th Anniversary of this event

Ed Willis

23 December 2021

THE OCCUPATION OF DILI BY THE NO. 2 AUSTRALIAN INDEPENDENT COMPANY AND THE DUTCH CONTINGENT – PART 2

December 16-20, 1941

Paul Hasluck prepared a succinct and authoritative summary of the events leading up to the joint decision made by the Australian, British and Dutch governments to proceed with the occupation of Dili in neutral Portuguese Timor in mid-December 1941. [1-2]

Hasluck’s summary of the Allied decision-making process and concomitant diplomatic negotiations with Portugal regarding this initiative is complemented by Lionel Wigmore’s brief narrative of the actual events.

Both Hasluck’s and Wigmore’s contributions were prepared for the official history ‘Australia in the War of 1939-1945’.

This post supplements an earlier contribution commemorating the 75th anniversary of this event from a more personal viewpoint; see:

https://doublereds.org.au/forums/topic/89-75-years-on-the-australian-and-dutch-landings-at-dili-17-20-december-1941/#comment-135

Hasluck’s summation follows:

THE ‘TIMOR PROBLEM’

Australia itself, adding to the measures previously taken for collaboration with the Netherlands East Indies and for the security of New Caledonia, had given further attention to the position of Portuguese Timor.  Early in 1941 the Australian Government had become concerned at reports of Japanese activities in Portuguese Timor and particularly the way in which Japan was gaining support from the local population by arranging to purchase the exportable surplus of their coffee crop.  As in the case of New Caledonia the first move by Australia was in the direction of giving commercial support to the Portuguese dependency.

At the same time arrangements had been made to use Dili as an alternative stopping place on the Australia-Singapore civil air route and advantage was taken of this arrangement to appoint the Chief Flying Inspector of the Department of Civil Aviation, Mr David Ross, [3] as Australian Civil Aviation representative there.  From the outset, however, it was indicated that Ross, who was furnished with light aircraft for his use, should also report to the Australian Government on the general situation in Portuguese Timor, both keeping an eye on what the Japanese were doing and also advising the Government on any opportunities which Australia could take to improve its position.

The measures for the defence of Timor in the case of Japanese action against the Portuguese were also discussed in the course of conversations with the Dutch and the British in February 1941, and it had been agreed to have certain Australian troops available with Dutch troops at Koepang in Dutch Timor.

Later in the year the possibility of a German move through Spain and Portugal caused the Department of External Affairs to draw attention to the possibility that, if control of the colony from Portugal were broken, Japan would probably seize the opportunity to take Timor under protective custody.  The Government therefore approached the United Kingdom Government with a view to reaching an understanding between the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Australia regarding the occupation of Portuguese Timor, either jointly or by the separate forces of one of the three nations in the event of either German occupation of Portugal, a Japanese landing in Timor without the outbreak of war between Japan and the Allies, or, in the final extremity, in the case of war with Japan. [4]

The United Kingdom agreed with the sense of the Australian proposals and also proposed discussions with Portugal.  For the purpose of these discussions the United Kingdom asked Australia whether, if Portugal agreed to accept reinforcements, Australia would be willing to accept commitments in respect of Portuguese Timor in addition to the commitments already accepted in respect of Ambon and Koepang.  By a War Cabinet decision of 15th October Australia agreed that Portugal should be asked whether she was ready to accept outside help if help should be found necessary by the military authorities on the spot, and that both the Netherlands and Portuguese Governments should be asked to agree to local discussions between Australian, Dutch and Portuguese military authorities regarding the necessary preventive measures.  The War Cabinet also decided that, in view of the threat to Australia which would arise from a Japanese occupation of Timor, Australia should cooperate to the fullest practical extent in measures for the defence of the colony.  To that end the Australian air forces to be provided for reinforcement of Ambon and Koepang should also be available for operations in Portuguese Timor and an additional battalion of supporting troops should be made available to reinforce Portuguese Timor if the Portuguese agreed to accept reinforcements. [5] At the suggestion of the United Kingdom, Ross was given rank as Australian Consul at Dili in order to facilitate his work.  Negotiations with the Portuguese Government had not been concluded when war came.

BRITISH NEGOTIATIONS WITH PORTUGAL

As mentioned earlier, some 1,600 Australian troops had been sent to Dutch Timor from Darwin on 12th December.  That day the Portuguese Government agreed to a proposal made by the British Government, with Australian and Dutch approval, that the Governor of Portuguese Timor should acquiesce in the arrival of Australian and Dutch forces in Portuguese Timor if it was attacked.

The colony of Portuguese Timor, consisting mainly of the eastern half of Timor Island, only 400 miles from Darwin, had a population of 450,000 including only about 300 Europeans and being half a world away from a metropolitan state of limited economic and military resources was itself backward in development and practically undefended.  Defensively it was the weakest point in the Indonesian chain and the point nearest to the Australian mainland.  There had been signs of increasing Japanese interest in the colony for some years.

The diplomatic weakness of the Portuguese arose both from the position of Portugal as a small Continental European state conscious of the dominating power of Nazi Germany on the Continent and from the fact that the most important of its Asiatic colonies, Macao, was under immediate threat from the Japanese army in South China.  The Portuguese Government, under Dr Salazar, though holding to the current alliance with Great Britain, was susceptible to Axis pressure both in Europe and Asia.  They had no love for the Japanese but were not strong enough to risk offence.

THE DIE IS CAST

On 16th December the British Government informed the Portuguese Government that a Japanese attack on Timor seemed imminent and it had arranged with the Australian Government that Dutch and Australian officers should see the Governor of Portuguese Timor and, in anticipation of an invitation to lend help, some 350 Dutch and Australia n troops would arrive two hours after the interview. [6]

On the 17th the Australian Lieut-Colonel Leggatt [7] and the Dutch Lieut-Colonel Detiger, both in civilian clothes, arrived at Dili, the capital of the Portuguese colony, and were introduced to the Governor by Mr David Ross, the Australian Consul there.  The Governor said that his instructions were to ask for help only after being attacked.  He was told that troops were on their way.  (Netherlands Indies troops numbering 260 and 155 Australians had embarked for Dili in a Dutch warship on the 16th).

Meanwhile in Lisbon:

Dr Salazar's reaction was sharp and violent.  He refused to allow the Governor to agree to assistance except in the event of an attack.  He argued that an earlier admission of Allied troops would mean the abandonment of Portuguese neutrality and would be followed by the Japanese seizure of Macao. [8]

At Dili at 9.45 a.m. on the 17th the Governor told the Australian and Dutch envoys that he had received a message from Lisbon and wanted an hour to decode it.  This was agreed to.  The Dutch warship carrying the troops had already arrived.  At 10.50 the Governor said that the message instructed him not to allow troops to land unless Portuguese Timor was attacked, and therefore his forces must resist.  Leggatt and Detiger replied that they hoped there would be no fighting and pointed out that the defending force was too small to succeed.  The Governor said that he would see the commander of his troops and, in the words of Leggatt's report, ‘ascertain what arrangements could be made’.  That afternoon the troops landed unopposed.  The inhabitants seemed friendly.

The British Government, anxious to avoid a break with Portugal, proposed that the Allied forces should be withdrawn on the arrival of Portuguese reinforcements, and this was agreed to.

On 31st December the Australian Advisory War Council was informed of a proposal to replace Dutch forces in Portuguese Timor with an equivalent number of Australian troops from those already in Dutch Timor.  They were also informed of Japanese pressure on Portugal to secure withdrawal of Allied forces, under threat of Japanese action, and advised of the proposal that Australian and Dutch forces be withdrawn from Portuguese Timor on the arrival of 700 Portuguese troops. [9]

The Australian Chiefs of Staff, however, in a report dated 4th January, expressed the view that 700 Portuguese would not constitute an adequate protection. It was decided to place this view before the British Government.

By 22nd December the Australian force around Dili had been increased until it comprised a complete Independent Company.  Soon it was learnt that the Portuguese reinforcements were not expected before the second week in March.  On 20th February, however, Japanese forces landed in Dutch and Portuguese Timor. [10] By the 23rd the main Allied force in Dutch Timor had been overcome but the Independent Company fought on in the mountains where it was joined by a considerable number of men from Dutch Timor. [11]

Lionel Wigmore continues the story of the occupation in a more narrative fashion: [12]

DECISION MADE TO OCCUPY DILI

Preceded by about 100 additional troops from Java, Colonel van Straaten arrived at Koepang by air on 15th December to command the Dutch forces on the island.  He was to be under Leggatt's command.  A conference held that evening was attended by the Dutch Resident at Koepang (Mr Niebouer); the Australian Consul at Dili, Mr Ross; van Straaten; Leggatt; Detiger; the Commander of the old 16-knot Dutch training cruiser Soerabaja (5,644 tons); the Officer Commanding the Australian air force squadron, Wing Commander Headlam; [13] the Commander of No.2 Australian Independent Company, Major Spence; [14] and staff officers.  Van Straaten said he had been informed by the Governor-General of the Netherlands East Indies, Jonkheer Tjarda van Starkenborgh Stachouwer, that as a result of negotiations between the United Kingdom, Dutch, Australian and Portuguese Governments it had been agreed that in case of aggression against Portuguese Timor by Japan, the Governor of Portuguese Timor would ask for help, and Australian and Netherlands East Indies troops would be sent there; further, that if the Government of the Netherlands Indies considered the matter urgent, and an attack on Dili was imminent, the Portuguese Governor would be informed and would ask for these troops to be sent.  The colonel added that he was instructed by the Governor-General to say that Japanese ships were now in the vicinity of Portuguese Timor, and it was urgent that troops be sent to Dili.  It was agreed that Leggatt and Detiger leave for Dili next day by the Canopus, [15] and convey this information to the Governor at 8 a.m. on 17th December.  Ross flew back to Dili to arrange the interview.

INDEPENDENT COMPANY AND DUTCH TROOPS TRANSPORTED TO DILI

Netherlands Indies troops numbering 260, and 155 of the Independent Company embarked on the Soerabaja at 8 a.m. on 16th December, leaving the remainder of the Independent Company to follow aboard the Canopus on its return to Koepang.  Wearing civilian clothes, Leggatt and Detiger were introduced by Ross to the Governor on the 17th, and Leggatt conveyed to him the message he had received through van Straaten.  The Governor said that his instructions were definitely to ask for help only after Portuguese Timor was attacked.  He was told that this would be too late; the troops were on their way and must land.  He then asked that the matter be put in writing, and when this had been done, asked for half an hour to discuss the matter with his Ministers.  At 9.45 a.m. he said a message had been received from Lisbon, and he wanted an hour to decode it.  This was agreed to, but meanwhile the Soerabaja had arrived off Dili, escorted by Australian aircraft.  At 10.50 a.m. the Governor announced that the message was to the effect that he definitely must not allow troops to land unless Portuguese Timor was attacked, and that therefore his forces must resist such a landing.

 

Obviously, the Governor was seeking to follow a diplomatically ‘correct’ procedure which would avoid prejudice to Portugal's neutrality.  The delegation, however, expressed the hope that there would be no fighting, pointing out that the Portuguese force was too small to succeed.  The Governor said that when the landing occurred, he would see the commander of his troops, and ‘ascertain what arrangements could be made’. [16] Leggatt and Detiger then boarded the Soerabaja and reported the interview to van Straaten.

DILI TOWN AND THE AIRFIELD OCCUPIED

That afternoon the troops landed.  Spence told his men that they might have to fight as soon as they stepped ashore; but they and 50 Dutch troops landed unopposed, on a sandy beach about two miles and a quarter west of Dili, in the early afternoon.  A small party of signallers went into the town under Lieutenant Rose, [17] to take over the radio station and signal Sparrow Force at Koepang.  They were agreeably surprised to find the inhabitants apparently friendly towards them, and to experience no difficulty in taking over the radio station.

The Dutch were to occupy the town, and the Australians the airfield about a mile and a half west of it on the coast.  As a precaution, the Australians took up positions near their objective, while Spence advanced with his No. 1 Section to the airfield and met the Governor, the Dutch Consul at Dili, and Ross.  Australian occupation was agreed to by the Governor, though apparently with reluctance.  Spence was unable to discover the whereabouts of the Portuguese troops, or their strength.  The Australians then moved in, and at dusk were digging in around the two runways, and the hangars.

The attitude of the Portuguese authorities continued to cause concern.  Leggatt and Detiger returned to Koepang on 17th December, but Leggatt was back in Dili for a few hours on the 19th.  He found that at van Straaten's request the Governor had sent most of the Portuguese force out of Dili, but that the Portuguese Council was meeting that day to discuss the situation brought about by the landing.  Subsequent indications were interpreted as meaning that the Governor was definitely against the occupation, was obstructing by all means in his power, and probably would assist any Japanese attack.  Leggatt reported to Australian headquarters that the pro-British Portuguese in Dili could form a government, with the support of the Allied force, and that Ross recommended that that support be given if the Governor persisted in his attitude.

On 31st December a message was received by Sparrow Force to be passed to Ross that, owing to a severe Portuguese reaction and threats to break off diplomatic relations, British proposals had been submitted to Portugal with Australia's approval.  These were that the Dutch force withdraw to Dutch Timor and be replaced by more Australians from Koepang.  The message added that this might relieve the situation, as the Portuguese were highly antagonistic to the Dutch, and had presented a note amounting to an ultimatum. [18] Sparrow Force replied to the message from Australia that the arrangement whereby forces had to be maintained at Koepang and Dili meant that they were weak at both points.  If the proposals were carried into effect Koepang would be further weakened.

INDEPENDENT COMPANY DISPOSITIONS

By 22nd December the remainder of the Independent Company, comprising a third platoon (Captain Laidlaw [19]) with signallers and engineers had reached Dili, and the company had received its only transport vehicles - two one-ton utilities and three motor-cycles.  The Australians quickly set about obtaining a thorough knowledge of the country in which they might have to fight. [20] They formed friendships with the people of Dili so quickly that a picquet with transport had to be sent to the town to bring men back to their lines after the hospitality they enjoyed on Christmas Day.

REFERENCES

[1] Paul Hasluck. -  The government and the people 1939-1941. – Canberra: Australian War Memorial, 1952. (Australia in the War of 1939-1945, series 4 (Civil), v.1).  See esp. Ch. 13 ‘Danger from Japan, July-December 1941’: 538-539.  https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1417319/538-539/

[2] Paul Hasluck. -  The government and the people 1942-1945. – Canberra: Australian War Memorial, 1970. (Australia in the War of 1939-1945, series 4 (Civil), v.2).  See esp. Ch. 2 ‘The enemy at the gate, February-March 1942’: 100-102.  https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1417320

[3] Gp Capt D. Ross, RAAF.  Aust Consul in Timor 1941-42; escaped from Japanese; joined guerrilla forces; Dir of Transportation and Movements RAAF to 1946.  Of East Malvern, Vic; b. 15 Mar 1902-1984.

[4] War Cabinet Minutes 1313, 13 Aug and 1333, 3 Sep 1941.

[5] War Cabinet Minute 1410, 15 Oct 1941.  War Cabinet Agendum 270/1941.

[6] L. Woodward, British Foreign Policy in the Second World War (1962), p. 376, a volume in the official series, History of the Second World War.

[7] Lt-Col Hon Sir William Leggatt, DSO, MC, ED. (1st AIF: Lt 60 Bn.) 2/22 Bn; CO 2/40 Bn 1941-42. MLA, Vic 1947-56.  Barrister; of Mornington, Vic; b. Malekula Is, New Hebrides, 23 Dec 1894-1968.

[8] Woodward, p. 376.

[9] Advisory War Council Minute 639, 31 Dec 1941.

[10] The Portuguese troops had left Lourenco Marques in a slow troopship on 28th January and were still on passage.  They returned to East Africa.

[11] Hasluck’s contribution, though written between 1952-1970 is still relevant and prescient.  For a comprehensive up-to-date account and interpretation of these events, see, Bernard Collaery. - Oil under troubled water: Australia's Timor Sea intrigue. – Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2020.  See esp. Ch. 2 ‘The Allies, Australia and Portuguese Timor’: 36-62.

[12] Lionel Wigmore. - The Japanese thrust. - Canberra: Australian War Memorial, 1957.  (Australia in the war of 1939-1945, series 1 (Army), v.4).  See esp. Ch. 21 ‘Resistance in Timor’: 466-495.  https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1417309

[13] Air Cdre F. Headlam, OBE. Comd No. 2 Sqn 1941-42; Comd various training schools 1942-44; Staff Officer Administrative HQ North-West Area 1945.  Regular airman; of Hobart; b. Launceston, Tas, 15 Jul 1914-1976.

[14] Lt-Col A. Spence, DSO, QX6455. OC 2/2 Indep Coy 1941-42; Comd Sparrow Force 1942; CO 2/9 Cav Cdo Regt 1944-45.  Journalist; of Longreach, Qld; b. Bundaberg, Qld, 5 Feb 1906- 10 July 1983.

[15] A steam yacht of 773 tons displacement, normally part of a civil force used in peacetime by the NEI government for customs and police duties, but in time of war attached to the navy.

[16] Report by Lieut-Colonel Leggatt.

[17] Capt J.A. Rose, NX65630.  2/2 Indep Coy; "Z" Special Unit. Salesman; of Manly, NSW; b. Wagga Wagga, NSW, 8 Jul 1920-1972.

[18] Throughout the colonial history of Timor the Portuguese had mistrusted the Dutch, fearing that they would seek to annex their part of the island.  Now they suspected that the Dutch would use the war as an excuse for doing so.

[19] Maj G.G. Laidlaw, DSO, NX70537.  2/2 Indep Coy; 2/2 Cdo Sqn. Salesman; of Maryville, NSW; b. Gosford, NSW, 12 Dec 1910-1978.

[20] The company's mapping work was so extensive that it enabled the Allied Geographical Section of South-West Pacific Area Headquarters, established later, to produce early in 1943 the most detailed map of Portuguese Timor that had been made.  See ‘75 years on - exploring around Dili, December 1941-February 1942’ https://doublereds.org.au/forums/topic/91-75-years-on-exploring-around-dili-december-1941-february-1942/#comment-138

 

 

 

SPARROW FORCE DEPLOYS FROM DARWIN TO KOEPANG, DUTCH WEST TIMOR

8 – 15 December 1941

With the passage of 2021 and the transition to 2022 we move through the 80th anniversary years of significant events in the history of the Doublereds.

December 10 2021 marks the 80th anniversary of the embarkation of the unit for Timor.  Over the course of the new year we will post other stories marking significant events that occurred during 1942 during the 2nd Independent Company’s campaign on Timor.

The following post utilises content from Cyril Ayris’s official history of the No. 2 Australian Independent Company (2/2nd Commando Squadron) All the Bull’s men. [1]

DARWIN, MONDAY 8 DECEMBER 1941

When the 260-strong No. 2 Australian Independent Company (No. 2 AIC) arrived by train in Darwin at midday on Monday 8 December 1941, orders came through to board ship, their destination, as always, a mystery.

Zealandia at sea [2]

Their ‘troopship’ was the battered old coal steamer S.S. Zealandia, which, it could be conservatively stated, had seen better days.  She had been around during World War I and had spent her last 25 years as a tramp steamer on the Australian coast.  Other units to board the Zealandia were the 2/40th Battalion, the 2/1st Heavy Battery, 2/1st Searchlights, an L.A.D., a company of 2/11th Engineers and 2/1st Fortress Signals, all under the command of Colonel W.W. Leggatt, Commanding Officer of the 2/40th Battalion.

The 2/40th was in an unhappy frame of mind.  The men had been pushed from pillar to post in the Territory, while their numbers were continually depleted, supplying reinforcements to units already fighting overseas.  To make matters worse they had been promised leave in the south and were waiting to board the Zealandia, which had been sent to Darwin to collect them.  They had been looking forward to a leisurely cruise down the coast, followed by some leave in their home states when the order came to board ship – for somewhere overseas.

……

Sergeant Bill Tomasetti said: ‘The embarkation was marked by some shameless pillaging of our stores by wharf labourers.  It was brief because some No. 2 AIC personnel with a sense of justice, jumped down to the wharf and violently stopped it.  We later heard that there had been a formal complaint over our intervention, however, there was no apparent follow-up’.

Sergeant Bill Tomasetti [3]

DARWIN, MIDNIGHT WEDNESDAY 10 DECEMBER 1941

It was about midnight, 10 December 1941, when the Zealandia finally slipped her moorings and turned her bows towards Beagle Gulf and the open sea.  Most of the men lined the rails to watch the last Australian lights slide silently past until eventually there was nothing but the darkness, the ship’s creamy wake and the seagulls, wheeling and diving.  It was a moment for reflection and perhaps a private prayer.

Two escort ships took up positions on either side of the Zealandia – the Ballarat a corvette, and the Westralia a merchant cruiser which had been armed for her new role.  Sunrise saw the little convoy clear the heads.  At the same time a couple of Hudson aircraft appeared overhead to keep a watch out for enemy warships.

It is a measure of the secrecy surrounding the formation of the independent companies that the commanding officer, Colonel Leggatt, had to ask Major Spence, on the Zealandia, precisely what the No. 2 AIC had been trained to do.  He did not know its strength, what weapons the men carried or even what the company’s role was likely to be in the event of hostilities.

It was after the No. 2 AIC’s special training had been explained, that the Colonel revealed they were going to Dutch Timor.  He said their probable role would be to guard the aerodrome at Atamboea in the middle of the island.  He explained that although the airfield had been rendered unsafe it could soon be repaired if captured by the enemy.  The No. 2 AIC, with their expertise in stealth, booby traps and surprise raids, could keep the airfield unusable, unless the enemy committed a large force to its protection.

The assembled officers were told that the group had been named Sparrow Force.  They were given maps of Timor and reports on local conditions to study so that they could relay the information to their men.  The reports revealed that rainfall on the island was best measured in metres rather than millimetres (it ranged from 490mm to 2950mm, depending on the location).  The interior, it was noted, was populated by headhunters.

The No. 2 AIC’s 60 Thompson sub-machine guns meanwhile had aroused so much interest, Lieutenant Tom Nisbet gave a talk on the weapon to the other officers.

The men received the news that they were bound for Timor with mainly blank looks – only a handful knew where it was.  The announcement that the Dutch would not allow the troops to bring Australian currency into the colony was also of academic interest as most were still broke.  However, anybody who had any money had to hand it in for crediting in his pay book.

The tropical heat turned the Zealandia into a floating furnace.  The sun and the coal-fired boilers combined to create near-impossible conditions in the cabins and holds.  Metal was too hot to touch and scarcely a breath of air reached below deck.  A beer ration was announced but the grog was so warm it was almost undrinkable.

More speed was required – the old ship could raise only seven knots.  Volunteers were called to help the stokers shovel more coal into the boilers and, for once, there was a mini rush for the job.  The reward was a beer which, the men were assured, would be cold.

The three ships glided smoothly through the coppery sea, sending flying fish darting in silver flashes from the bows.  The only sound was the steady thumping of the ship’s engines and the low chatter of the soldiers and crews.

Signaller George ‘Happy’ Greenhalgh was one of the men who enjoyed standing near the bow.  He recalled 60 years later: ‘We had never seen flying fish before.  It was all so new to us, a great adventure.  I remember the sea – it was like a millpond.  You could stand on the bows and spit into the sea and you could see your spit land in the water’.

Ray Parry: ‘We could see the seabed and odd patches of seaweed.  The extreme heat and high humidity made conditions close to unbearable’.  It was difficult to imagine amid such serenity that in other parts of the world nations were tearing themselves apart in mortal combat.  It was even more difficult to imagine the tumult overflowing into these quiet waters.

KOEPANG, DUTCH WEST TIMOR, AFTERNOON FRIDAY 12 DECEMBER 1941

On the afternoon of the second day, 12 December 1941, a faint smudge appeared on the horizon which slowly materialised into the island of Timor.

As the Zealandia approached Koepang, a Dutch destroyer swept up alongside and took over escort duties from the Ballarat.  (The Westralia had sailed ahead and was already in Koepang with a battery of 2/1st Australian Heavy Regiment).  The Sparrow Force that landed in Koepang comprised 70 officers and 1330 men.  The resident Netherlands East Indies garrison was about 500-strong.

The Zealandia and her new escort slid through the channel between the small island of Roti and Timor, before turning north towards Koepang Bay.  The men stared in dismay at the height and ruggedness of Timor’s mountains; those of Wilsons Promontory seemed tame by comparison.

Koepang was like many north Australian harbours – shallow with big tidal variations.  The Zealandia dropped anchor in the bay, leaving about 150 metres of mud between the ship and a causeway protruding across ugly brown coral.  The shore was flat and palm fringed, but beyond the palms were low-lying hills which gave way to the distant mountains etched in rugged silhouette against a blue sky.  From the sea there was nothing attractive about the place – and the brief glimpse of Koepang’s scattering of off-white buildings did nothing to improve first impressions.  The unmistakably tropical smell of decay and cloying humidity, combined with the grotesque, betel nut grins of the ship’s new lumpers, left nobody in doubt that they had entered a new world; a world foreign to their own, a mere 600 kilometres over the horizon.

Panorama of Koepang waterfront at low tide, taken from end of pier [4]

Lighters pulled alongside swarming with Celebes boys who were much favoured by shipping companies because of their almost superhuman strength.  They were a happy, laughing people, varying in colour from brown to black.  Their short, slightly built stature belied their physical strength.  The men climbed down the ship’s side on ropes and waded ashore through the shallows.

Any hopes of a cold beer and some relaxation in Koepang were dashed when they were formed into ranks to march to their camp on an airfield at Penfoei.  The situation on the waterfront was chaotic – there was no transport and no facilities for handling the big volume of stores and supplies that had to be transferred to the aerodrome.

Callinan was given a lift to the airfield to inspect the camp site.  At first glance he was agreeably surprised – it had been established on a hill of coral rock and was enclosed by a three-metre, barbed wire fence.  It was a busy scene, home to a thousand men.  Teams of 10 or 20 women, working under the direction of generally less energetic men, were hurrying everywhere with building materials in four-gallon petrol tins, suspended from bamboo poles across their shoulders.  Their loads were in excess of 35 kilograms, yet they flitted barefoot over the rocky ground like swarming ants.

Huts with cement floors and palm stem walls supporting thatched roofs had already been built for men and stores.  There were even iron bedsteads, one for every man.  And there were showers ...... and toilets.  The drainage for these last two luxuries was not yet complete but work was progressing.

Callinan’s spirits lifted at the sight of all this activity – then a Dutch adjutant broke the news that as the Australians were expected to go to Atamboea almost immediately, and as the camp was still under construction, they had been allocated an area outside the eastern fence.  Tents would be supplied.  The area proved to be a stretch of broken ground that had recently been excavated for its gravel.  It was littered with refuse and in the middle was the locals’ latrine.

It was mid-afternoon when the troops shouldered their weapons and struck off along the causeway through the coastal fringe of palms and scrub to their new home.

Describing the campsite, Harry Sproxton said: ‘It looked like a limestone quarry.  The ground was so hard we couldn’t get a tent peg in’.  By nightfall tents were erected and water was boiling on a campfire.  …..

The 2/2nd’s camp guard during that first night in Timor was extremely efficient, which was not well received by several officers and NCOs from other units who were challenged and made to say the password.  A number of officers took offence at this perceived impertinence, but the guards stood their ground.

PENFOEI, DUTCH WEST TIMOR, MONDAY 15 DECEMBER 1941

The No. 2 AIC suffered its first casualty on 15 December 1941, soon after its arrival at Koepang, when Lieutenant Doig accidentally shot and killed Private R.R. Swift, a driver.  Doig was immediately suspended from duty and his commission was held in abeyance pending a court of inquiry.  The court was never convened – the company was overtaken by events and the inquiry was put on hold, eventually to be forgotten.  Company records … note: ‘December 15 1715 hours.  Driver Swift VX33731 was accidentally shot with a .45 pistol and died approximately 15 minutes later on way to hospital.  Swift was given a military funeral with B Platoon forming the guard of honour’.

Driver Ronald R. Swift memorial plaque, Lovekin Drive, Kings Park

Colonel Leggatt quickly realised that he had nothing like the strength needed to defend an island the size of Timor from enemy attack.  He twice requested that an officer be dispatched to the island to make an independent inspection.  Both requests were ignored.

There had also arrived in Koepang about a 100 Dutch troops from Java under the command of Colonel van Straaten.

On the evening of 15 December 1941, the day van Straaten arrived, a meeting was convened between the Dutch Resident at Koepang, Mr Niebouer; the former Department of Civil Aviation officer, now British Consul in Dili, Portuguese Timor, David Ross; Colonel Leggatt; Colonel van Straaten; the Dutch Territorial Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Detiger; the senior RAAF officer, Wing Commander Headlam; Major Spence and a number of other officers.  The meeting was called to discuss the Japanese advance and the danger of neutral Portuguese Timor falling into their hands.

Van Straaten said he had been instructed by his (Dutch) government to inform them that, if the Japanese arrived off Portuguese Timor, the Governor of Portuguese Timor, Manuel d’Abreu Ferreira de Carvelho, would ask for their help.  He said that the British, Dutch, Australian and Portuguese governments had agreed that, in such an eventuality, Australian and Netherlands East Indies troops would be dispatched to resist any Japanese invasion.

He then dropped his bombshell.

Japanese ships had been seen in the area, he said, and it was urgent that troops be immediately dispatched to Dili.  The instructions were that Colonels Leggatt and Detiger were to leave the following day, on the steam yacht Canopus, and inform the governor, at 8 a.m. on 17 December, that an allied occupying force was on its way to take over the task of protecting the colony.  David Ross was instructed to fly to Dili ahead of them and arrange the meeting.  The Netherlands troops and the majority of the No. 2 AIC were to sail at 8 a.m. on 16 December.  The rest would follow on the Canopus when she returned from Dili.

The ramifications of these orders were explosive, both politically and militarily.  In essence, Australian troops would be landing in neutral Portuguese territory, hoping to be welcomed by the incumbent Portuguese, who had a garrison of about 500 mainly Timorese troops, with Portuguese officers and non-commissioned officers.  These occupying forces were armed only with six Vickers machine guns … and some early-model Winchester rifles.  The bottom line was that if the Portuguese resisted, the Australians would have to take Dili … by force.  Australia, it was argued, could hardly stand idly by while the Japanese occupied half an island that was within bombing range of Darwin.

…… the die was about to be cast.

REFERENCES

[1] Ayris, Cyril. - All the Bull's men: No. 2 Australian Independent Company (2/2nd Commando Squadron). - [Perth, W.A.]: 2/2nd Commando Association, 2006: Chapter 3 ‘Invasion’ pp.50-55.

[2] Starboard side view of the merchant vessel SS Zealandia.  Zealandia was sunk on 1942-02-19 during a Japanese air raid on the Darwin area.  (Also, formerly P0444/214/214 and P00444.214)

[3] Australian guerrillas in Timor.  Sgt. W. Tomasetti (Melbourne) and Sgt. J. Garland (N.S.W. (negative by Parer). https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C33194

[4] Area study of Dutch Timor, Netherlands East Indies / Allied Geographical Section, South West Pacific Area. - [Brisbane]: The Section, 1943. – (Terrain study; no. 70) https://repository.monash.edu/items/show/26287#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=0

Thanks Trevor for the reminder about the excellent "Australians At War Film Archive" -- https://australiansatwarfilmarchive.unsw.edu.au

 

Thank you for making contact Robert and letting the Association know about your Timor campaign film project.  The video including the interviews with Tom Forster, Ray Aitken, John Burridge, Ray Parry and ‘Doc’ Wheatley is very interesting and will make a valuable addition to our video and image gallery on the Doublereds website.

The post WWII fate of the criados was of considerable interest to the veterans of the 2/2 and 2/4 several of whom visited Timor and attempted to locate the young men who had campaigned with them including Paddy Kenneally, Ray Aitken, John Burridge, Arch Campbell and others.  References to these activities can be found in the Ayris book and Arch Campbell’s book that can also be purchased and downloaded as an e-book from the Doublereds store (https://doublereds.org.au/store/).

Please contact me directly by e-mail at: president@doublereds.org.au and I can refer you to other sources of information that are relevant to your project and also to discuss your request to film the forthcoming 2/2 commemoration ceremony at Kings Park on November 21.

Ed Willis

President, 2/2 Commando Association of Australia

Consolidated PBY Catalina amphibious aircraft on display at the Aviation Heritage Museum, Bull Creek, Western Australia

Rai-Mean is 35 miles (56 km.) from Aileu at a bearing of 198° and in the southwest corner of the province; suitable anchorage for small vessels.  Good tracks run to Suai, Cumnassa and Beco.  Cumnassa has possibilities for air strips.  This town was shown on the Asia Co. map 5 miles (8 km.) west of its true position.

Rai-Mean: Approximately 6 miles (9 1/2 km.) east of the mouth of the Lono-Mea River (not as shown on map).

The anchorage is not very good.

The surf is sometimes very heavy and rough and there is no shelter in the southeast season.  It was found necessary during April to desist from landing stores and return to Suai, which is more sheltered.

Track 26 - Beco to Rai-Mean:

This track is subject to tidal rivers which would cause delay to all classes of traffic.  Rai-Mean is approximately 2 hours journey north from the beach and the track passes through thickly timbered country; swampy in wet weather.  It is situated on the flat coastal belt between the mountains and the sea which varies in depth approximately 5 to 12 miles (8 to 19 km.). [1]

During mid-May 1942 there had been quite a deal of activity at Sparrow Force HQ.  From Australia a message had come that Brigadier Veale was to return to the mainland for a conference and also that one Dutch officer was to accompany him.  It was decided that this officer would be Lieutenant-Colonel van Straaten.  It was also decided that Major Spence would take command of [Sparrow] Force HQ so on 20 May he was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel and shifted down to Mape.

From Australia it was also advised that a Catalina would be making a flight into Portuguese Timor to evacuate wounded and sick personnel and the Australian and Dutch Officers.

Captain Dunkley was notified of this evacuation and leaving Ainaro with four or five of his worst patients he travelled to Mape where he collected three more men who had been on their way to the hospital.  On 21 May, Force was informed that the evacuations to take place at Suai on the south coast, so the doctor took the sick and wounded men down there to wait for the plane.

However, on 22 May twenty two it was advised from Norforce that the plane would not be landing at Suai but at Rai-Mean the next anchorage along the coast towards Betano.  Captain Dunkley could be given only one day’s notice of this change and had to then move his patients to the new evacuation point.  He left on the morning of 23 May and commenced the trek along the coast, only to find that one of the many unnamed rivers running down to the coast was swollen from the recent heavy rains and was absolutely impassable.  The party was forced to remain that night on the wrong side of the river with the knowledge that the plane was due in and would not be able to wait for any length of time, certainly not overnight.  However, about 10 p.m. word was passed through to Captain Dunkley by native runner that the arrival of the plane had been put back a day and would not arrive until the following night the 24 May.

Route followed by Captain Dunkley and party to Rai-Mean

The next day the river was down sufficiently to allow the party to cross and move on down the coast to the village of Rai-Mean.  They stayed in the village only a couple of hours before proceeding down to the beach where the plane was to come in.  On the fading light of day the Catalina winged across the bay and touched down on the water.  Stores were unloaded onto rubber rafts which had been brought over from Darwin and the sick and wounded, Lance Corporal P.G. Maley, Privates E.H. Craghill, A.A. Hollow, C.D. Varian, H.R.C. Cullen and K. Hayes went on board with Brigadier Veale and Lieutenant-Colonel van Straaten.

Charles Bush - Depicting a scene of the evacuation of the wounded by Catalina from Rai Mean, Timor [2]

The Catalina took only two hours to unload and load then took off and headed for Australia, leaving behind it the first mail the troops had received for some months. [3]

Lieutenant Thomas H. Moorer, US Navy

The pilot of the Catalina was Lieutenant Thomas H. Moorer of the US Navy.  Moorer’s prior battle experience probably explains why he was personally selected by General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Allied Commander Southwest Pacific Area, to undertake this hazardous mission:

[On the 20 February 1942] one of the Darwin-based U.S. Navy Catalinas, commanded by the C.O. of Patrol Wing 22, Lieutenant Thomas Moorer, had the misfortune to cross the path of the incoming air fleet just north of Bathurst Island.  Attacked by nine Zeros, the plane crash-landed on the water in flames.  The crew escaped in their inflatable dinghy and were soon picked up by Florence D, one of two Filipino-manned ships in the vicinity.  The other was Don Isidro; and both were blockade-runners, loaded with supplies for MacArthur’s men on Corregidor.

[Both ships had been] sent off … by a circuitous route, to avoid Japanese-held territory, that passed just north of Melville Island - and they, like Moorer’s Catalina, had the bad luck to be directly in the path of the carrier-based Darwin attack force.

….

The [Japanese] Hiryu squadron saw Florence D, bombed and sank her.  For the second time that day, Moorer and his men found themselves in the water.  All but one of the flying boat crew lived to get ashore on Bathurst Island, with 40 survivors from the ship.  Some walked across the island to the Catholic mission.  Most, with the crew of Florence D, were picked up during the next three days by the rescue corvette H.M.A.S. Warrnambool. [4]

After that harrowing experience, Moorer and his crew enjoyed a quieter time flying reconnaissance missions from the Catalina base that had been established at Pelican Point on the Swan River in Perth.

Moorer wrote to Archie Campbell in December 1992 and gave him an account of his role in the Timor rescue mission:

This is an extract from my Flight Log for May 1942.  Note that I flew from Perth to Melbourne to see General MacArthur on May 16, then from Melbourne to Darwin, Alice Springs and Daly Waters on May 19, 20 and 21, I then went by car from Batchelor to Darwin Harbour to join my plane crew and support ship.

On May 22, I took a seven hour flight in a RAAF Hudson to the Beco, Timor area to examine the coast line and select my landing spot.  On May 23 and 24 I took short flights simply to check out my plane and familiarise myself with the Darwin area.

On the night of May 24 I made the rescue flight to the Timor coast near Beco [Rai Mean], returning to Darwin precisely at midnight.  All the six men were in bad shape and my crew had some difficulty loading them aboard.  I remained at the aircraft controls in case a Japanese patrol boat showed up.  I never did get a good look at all of my passengers and that explains why I could not remember exactly how many we rescued.  I did remember Brigadier Veale.

I returned to Perth on May 25, having gone full circle - flight time 64.3 hours. [5]

Flight log of Lieutenant Thomas H. Moorer [6]

Moorer served in several other demanding roles during WWII and then progressed a distinguished and decorated career in the US Navy for the remainder of his working life, retiring in July 1974 as a full Admiral and Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff. [7]

[8]

REFERENCES

[1] Area study of Portuguese Timor / Allied Geographical Section, South West Pacific Area. - [Brisbane] : The Section, 1943. – (Terrain study (Allied Forces. South West Pacific Area. Allied Geographical Section) ; no. 50.): 16, 46, 82. https://repository.monash.edu/items/show/26455#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=0

[2] https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C174949

[3] [Timor (1941-1942) - (Sparrow Force and Lancer Force) - Operations:] The Campaign in Portuguese Timor, A narrative of No 2 Independent Company.  (Story prepared by Cpl SA Robinson) (No 5 Military History Field Team) - AWM54 [not digitised]: 50-51.

[4] Alan Powell. - The shadow's edge : Australia's northern war. - Rev. ed. - Darwin, N.T. : Charles Darwin University Press, 2007: 91-92; see also Tom Lewis and Peter Ingman. – Carrier attack Darwin 1942: the complete guide to Australia’s own Pearl Harbour. – Kent Town, S.A.: Avonmore Books, 2013: 96, 121-122, 224, 226-228.

[5] Archie Campbell ‘Sequel to Admiral Tom Moorer's query in October Courier’ 2/2 Commando CourierDecember 1992: 10; see also Archie Campbell ‘Where are the Sparrow 20?  Appeal from Admiral Thomas Moorer’ 2/2 Commando Courier October 1992: 15.

[6] Archie Campbell. - The Double Reds of Timor. - Swanbourne, W.A. : John Burridge Military Antiques, c1995: 67.

[7] ‘From Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima: the World War II experience of Admiral Thomas H. Moorer’ American Valor Quarterly Autumn 2008: 4-8.  https://view.joomag.com/american-valor-quarterly-issue-4-autumn-2008/0040648001422301760; see also Greg Tyerman ‘The life and times of Admiral Thomas Moorer’ 2/2 Commando Courier September 2004: 13-17.

[8] Archie Campbell. - The Double Reds of Timor. - Swanbourne, W.A. : John Burridge Military Antiques, c1995: 68.

Prepared by Ed Willis

Revised 3 September 2021

 

 

 

 

 

 

[1]

At the time of the Japanese advance into Hatu-Lia in mid-March 1942 the town was occupied by three No. 2 Independent Company signallers.  They were in communication with headquarters through the party-line telephone service, and by Aldis lamp with a small party of signallers under Corporal Harry Wray at Cailaco on the other side of the valley.  As the Japanese approached Hatu-Lia the signallers remained in the town to report on the enemy's movements until they were almost upon them.  After signalling by Aldis lamp that they were leaving due to the Japanese advance, the signallers withdrew from Hatu-Lia to an observation post overlooking the town.

During the afternoon the Australians saw a party of men dressed in khaki uniforms approaching their observation post.  Believing the approaching men to be Australians, one of the observers, Signaller Gerry Maley, stepped forward and waved to them.  The advancing men went to cover and Maley, realising that they were Japanese, yelled to his companions to take cover before throwing himself down behind a tree.  He was too late, and a burst of machine-gun fire shattered his thigh.  Maley's companions dragged and carried him away to a native hut a short distance away.  With the assistance of the inhabitants the wounded man was hidden in a storage area in the ceiling of the hut.  The other signallers then set out for assistance through the Japanese-occupied countryside.

The Japanese knew that one of the Australians had been wounded and for several days they searched for him questioning Timorese in the area.  Fortunately, they did not carry out a thorough search of the hut in which Maley was hidden.  For much of the time the Australian was delirious with the pain of his wounded leg, but the Timorese tending him were able to keep him quiet while the Japanese searched the area.

Lieutenant Campbell, whose section was at Cailaco, wanted to lead a party to rescue Maley, but it was impossible as the Japanese were in force between his position and Maley's hiding place.  Captain Dunkley, the unit medical officer, was determined that Maley would be rescued and, accompanied by Lieutenant Turton and a party of Timorese, he set off for Atsabe.  After days of dodging Japanese patrols, including one group of about thirty Japanese who they found swimming in a buffalo wallow, the party rescued Maley.  After Dunkley splinted and dressed Maley's wound the injured man was carried by Timorese in a litter back to Atsabe where he received the best medical care available.  Later Maley was flown back to Australia with Private Hollow on the first flying boat to reach Timor. [2]

Maley said many years later that he owed his life to the Timorese boys, whose initiative in making the stretcher got him to safety: ‘I owe my life to Antonio and Manere in the first place.  If they weren’t able to rig up that stretcher in the first place I was gone’. [3]

Gerry never forgot his debt to the East Timorese for saving his life in 1942.  Following the influx of Timorese refugees to W.A. in 1975 Gerry, as the 2/2 Commando Association's liaison officer did a sterling job, helping them settle in their new country, encouraging them to maintain their culture and joining in their social activities.

COL DOIG TELLS THE STORY

The following account of Gerry Maley’s wounding and rescue was prepared by Col Doig for his unit history:

A saga of the early Timor Campaign which to date has not been adequately told, was the wounding and rescue of Signaller Gerry Maley.

"Sometime in the middle of March 1942 Sig. Maley was at Hatu-Lia with the Sigs attached to C Platoon.  A patrol led by Cpl Alf Walsh, comprising Ptes ‘Rocky’ Williams, Carl Maher, ‘Slim’ Elder and Sig Gerry Maley, were detailed to go into Aileu to rescue Merv Ryan who had been reported by Timor rumour to be in the vicinity of that Posto.  The patrol got into the vicinity of Aileu but somehow or other the whole plan went awry and anyhow word was received that Ryan had never left Dili.  The patrol came back to Hatu-Lia.  Orders were received for Sigs ‘Taffy’ Davies, ‘Rip’ McMahon and Maley to wait in Hatu-Lia and join another Section coming through.  The rest of ‘C’ Platoon moved on.

 

Signallers Observation Post (OP) Overlooking Hatu-Lia

At this time the Nips came through from Vila Maria and Gerry Maley had time to contact Capt Callinan by party phone at Atsabe and Bernie told the Sigs to move to Calaico.  The Sigs requested permission to set up an OP over Hatu-Lia.  Permission was readily granted as Callinan was particularly keen to get the best possible information at this time of Jap movement and the methods of operation.  This OP was set up on a spur (Timor absolutely abounds in spurs overlooking something or other) overlooking Hatu-Lia.  The Sigs were still watching for the Section which was to come through as they did not want them to march into a nest of Nips.

Gerry Maley Wounded

From the OP the party saw a small body of troops in khaki moving along the track towards the spur.  They covered these but they turned and went below the spur.  Timorese, who were with the Sigs, said ‘Australie’.  Gerry and co exposed themselves and waved to indicate their position.  Gerry used a beaut white hanky to do the waving.  Soon as the other party saw this they smelt a rat and broke up.  Our boys soon woke up this was no Aussie party but a small band of Japs on the prowl.  Gerry, Taffy and Rip dived for cover.  Rip was a little slow still firmly believing it was some of our boys.  Taffy whipped behind the biggest tree that could have grown on the island, Rip scrambled for cover behind Gerry as the fire opened up.  Bullets everywhere.  One grazed Rip's forehead and the very first burst of machine-gun fire got Gerry through the knee and shoulder.  The three could not move as they were pinned down by Jap fire.  This all happened about 8 a.m.

Gerry Left In The Care of Local Timorese

There was nothing for it but to wait and see just what the Nips would do.  They did not advance on the position, so Gerry told Rip and Taffy to try and fashion a stretcher.  With a couple of bamboos and stuff they made a stretcher of sorts and put Gerry on and carried him to a native village not so far away from the OP.  As the stretcher party came into the village the Nips opened fire on the village.  Gerry suggested to Taffy and Rip that they open fire on the Japs to draw their fire and leave him to the Timorese to look after.  The Timorese were the staunchest of allies.  They got Gerry into a hut, into the darkest possible corner and covered him up.

The Japs moved in, occupied the village and searched right and left to try and find Gerry.  They stayed in the village a day or so.  Gerry was in this village for several days.  He then sent a message to Cailaco by the Timorese advising of his plight and where he was.  All this time he was in terrific pain with the wound in the shoulder and the broken knee.  Gerry's message was acknowledged by Lt Arch Campbell.  After a few days nothing happened so Gerry got the Timorese to build a strong stretcher and talked them into taking him to another village.  All this was done while the Japs were having a siesta!  The loyal Timorese carried Gerry to another village after dark.  This village was on the Atsabe side of the ridge from Aileu.

Probable route to and from Ainaro and Hatu-Lia via Atsabe taken by Dunkley and Turton to rescue Maley

 

Doc Dunkley And Don Turton To The Rescue

At this time 5 Section who had gone back to Nasuta to recover gear which had previously been buried, had returned to Atsabe.  Also, there was Cpl Ray Aitken and Pte Charlie King who had gone with 5 Section to recover the gear, including a 108 [radio] set.  Capt Dunkley had set up his hospital at Ainaro.  Lt Campbell had got word to Major Spence that Maley was badly wounded and would require assistance.  Capt. Dunkley got wind of this, God alone knows how, and suggested that he go and handle the rescue.  Dunkley was firmly told that Sgt Major Craigie would handle the evacuation of Gerry from Cailaco.

Dunkley was never the type of man to take no for an answer or an order and promptly set off from Ainaro to get on with the rescue.  He moved to Atsabe and contacted Lt Don Turton who was there with a small number of Sappers, including Spr ‘Smash’ Hodgson.  Dunkley left it up to Turton to decide the best method of going about the rescue.  ‘Smash’ told this writer many months after that the cool, calm and collected manner in which Turton and Dunkley set about going after Maley, who for all they knew was still in a Jap occupied village, made his blood run cold.  ‘Smash’ said if requested by Turton to accompany him on the venture he would have gone but he was just as pleased when he wasn't asked.  As dusk started to fall Turton and Dunkley set off for the village. 

It was pretty dark when they ran in with some Timorese and managed to make them understand that they were seeking a wounded ‘Australie’ soldier.  Lucky they were that these were Timorese of that particular village and they led the two officers into the village to the hut where Maley was hidden practically unconscious with the pain.  Dunkley immediately set the leg and splinted it while Turton arranged for a strong stretcher to be made and a party of Timorese to carry it.  The ingenuity of the Timorese in fashioning stretchers had to be seen to be believed.

The Return Journey

The concourse pushed and prodded by Dunkley got away from the village and headed for the hospital at Ainaro, via Atsabe.

Aitken and Tapper went on to Ainaro to try and get someone to assist with the crossing of the river which ran below Ainaro.  They weren't very successful and returned to the river just as the Doc and the party arrived.  When Dunkley realised it was only Aitken and Tapper, he asked, ‘Where are the others?’ then ‘Don't tell me!’ and proceeded to give tongue.

The river crossing was effected with much incident.  All Timor streams are strewn with big boulders in the bed and flow at a rate of knots.  Every jerk of the stretcher was sheer hell to Gerry and the poor native carriers got an impatient cuff from the Doc for their trouble.  Once over the river it was plain sailing and on reaching Ainaro the Doctor had a few well-chosen words to say in a few pink ears for the lack of assistance.

Ainaro hospital in 1938

 

The hospital was probably the best one used by Dunkley during the whole campaign and was built for hospital purposes originally.  The beds were hard but there was one mattress normally used by the Doc, but Gerry soon found himself in a comfortable bed on the Doc's mattress.  The writer also remembers, at a later date, having the use of this same mattress smartly surrendered by the Doc when he came into hospital a bit the worse for wear.

Aftermath

There remains little more to tell of this incident except that Gerry had his knee properly set, his shoulder dressed and after contact was made with Australia, Gerry, along with Allan Hollow, Eddie Craghill, the Brigadier and Col Van Straaten, was evacuated to Australia with the first landing by a Catalina.  It was not long before he was in hospital in Hollywood.

The whole of this epic from the time of wounding until the evacuation deserves a better pen than mine.  It shows the terrific endurance of Gerry Maley.  It shows the intense loyalty of the Timorese who not only secreted him from the Japs but acted as his stretcher bearers.  It shows the rare medical skill combined with outstanding courage by Capt Dunkley who, with no regard to his own safety, went after a wounded man in what was thought to be Jap occupied territory.  It shows the strength and dependability of Don Turton, a thing so much in evidence then and always as the various campaigns went on.  If ever a show deserved recognition by way of a decoration, then this was it.  Properly handled Dunkley should have received a DSO, but once again we missed out and all that came of Dunkley's many epics was C in C's Commendation Card and an MID.

 

Captain Roger Dunkley’s MID citation

All that can be said in passing is that we were, as a Unit, singularly fortunate in our Capt ‘Cadbury’ as our MO. [4]

Gerry Maley’s Early And Postwar Life

Gerry passed away in the Hollywood Hospital on Sunday 24thJune at the age of 78.  He suffered indifferent health for many years brought on by a severe leg wound he received back in 1941.  He was born in Subiaco on the 2nd August 1922 into a large family, having three brothers and five sisters.  He enjoyed his school years excelling at sport and was a very bright pupil.  He was awarded a scholarship to attend Perth Modern School, which had the reputation of being the most progressive school for learning in W.A.  One of his teachers was the great Gerry Haire.  Gerry was to meet up with his tutor later in the 2/2nd.  His education at Modern School gave Gerry a sound grounding for his working life.

Gerry Maley in later life

Gerry enlisted in the A.I.F. at 18 and went on to join the 2/2nd as a signaller.  He was badly wounded in the shoulder and right leg in an encounter with a Jap patrol near Hatu-Lia in March 1942.  With the help of friendly natives who hid him in a hut for several days he was eventually rescued by a party led by Doc Dunkley and Don Turton.  He then spent nearly two months in Ainaro before being flown to Darwin on a Catalina on 24th May 1942.  A lengthy spell in a number of military hospitals followed.  While in Heidelberg, he had 37 operations on his leg with many of the skin grafts not taking.  It was a case of try and try again.  It was a very stressful time for Gerry, but he stood up to it well.  He was discharged in July 1944.  He ended up with one leg shorter than the other, a disability that was to cause severe back problems in later life.

Gerry spent his post war years in Sydney where he stayed with Jack O'Brien and did a course of accountancy under the rehab scheme.  Jack had the honour of being the NSW branches first president and Gerry their first secretary.  This was in 1946.

Gerry moved to Melbourne in the early 1950s marrying his first wife Margo.  They had three children and Gerry worked as an accountant for a wool firm.  He was an active member of the Victorian Branch being secretary for six years from 1952-57.

He returned to his home state in the 1960s living first at North Beach then at Yokine.  He ran an Ampol Service Station in Nollamara for a number of years, during which time he met Dorothy whom he later married.  They had one son Rodney.  Gerry went on to work as a purchasing officer for John Court (Northwest} before ill health forced his early retirement.  Gerry served on our WA executive and was Secretary from 1970-73 and president in 1978-79.  He was made a life member in 1972.  He had the distinction of being secretary in three state branches - a fine achievement indeed.  His advice was often sought after when contentious matters arose concerning the Association.  He also played a major role in the affairs of the TPI Association, Gerry himself being a TPI.  He went on to become the State President of that association and later their National President.

Under his leadership and guidance, he welded the state branches into a cohesive and effective lobby group, which eventually ensured its then 23,000 members, obtained their full entitlements.  This took all of Gerry's guile as at the time the NSW and Victorian Associations didn't see eye to eye when it came to TPI matters.  All in all, he made 13 train trips to Canberra on the TPI Associations behalf and each trip was a real effort for him.  In 1987 Gerry was awarded an Australian Honour, an OAM for his contribution to the TPI cause.

Gerry never forgot his debt to the East Timorese for saving his life in 1942.  Following the influx of Timorese refugees to W.A. in 1975 Gerry, as our Association's liaison officer did a sterling job, helping them settle in their new country, encouraging them to maintain their culture and joining in their social activities.

Gerry and Dot moved to Coodanup in Mandurah in 1989.  A devoted couple this was a happy time for them until Gerry's health deteriorated to the point he was in constant pain.  He was a well-read man, took a keen interest in botany and was a good lawn bowler when a member of the Yokine Club.

He enjoyed our Anzac Days and always had a ready grin and was good company.  We will miss him.

The large attendance at Gerry's funeral service on 27th June [2001] was an indication of the respect and esteem in which he was held. [5]

REFERENCES

[1] Ayris, Cyril. - All the Bull's men: No. 2 Australian Independent Company (2/2nd Commando Squadron) / Cyril Ayris. - [Perth, W.A.]: 2/2nd Commando Association, 2006: 177.

[2] Wray, Christopher C. H. - Timor 1942: Australian commandos at war with the Japanese. - Hawthorn, Vic.: Hutchinson Australia, 1987: 95-96.

[3] Gerry Maley interview in ‘Independent Company: The Australian 2/2 Independent Company, Timor 1941–42’ (Documentary), Media World, 1988.

[4] A history of the 2nd Independent Company and 2/2 Commando Squadron / compiled by C.D. Doig. - Carlisle, W.A.: Hesperian Press, 2009. [First published: 1986]: 89-91.

[5] Jack Carey ‘Vale Philip Gerard (Gerry) Maley WX10772’ 2/2 Commando Courier September 2001: 4-6.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks Rob

Thanks John - discovered Merv Ryan's statement to the Australian War Crimes Section team in a file at the National Archives in Melbourne - a real 'eye opener' - I don't think his story has been fully told before.

Merv Ryan [1]

Sporting journalist Ross Elliott headed a story about No. 2 Independent Company veteran Merv Ryan: ‘Hobbling Army mate is not a ghost’ [2].  The reason for him heading the article this way is revealed as the story unfolds:

It was February 1942 when the Japanese landed in Portuguese Timor in thousands.  To oppose them were 350 [sic] Australian commandos of the 2/2 Independent Company.

The Japs swept through the capital Dili and attacked the airfield.

Knowing there was no hope of holding the field, a small section covered the retreat of their mates to the hills which was to be the base from which they harassed the Japs for 12 months.

Bren gunner Merv Ryan was hit by a hand grenade and his leg shockingly injured.

Corporal (later Lieutenant) Kevin Curran gave Ryan a field dressing and also gave him his water bottle.  There was little else he could do.

Ryan was one of 17 men who were wounded and unable to get away.

In one of the first recorded atrocities of WWII, the wounded were shot and bayoneted.

At that time all the men were thought to be dead.

In 1948 Hawthorn ruck man Kevin Curran won the Simpson Medal as the best player of the match between WA and Victoria at the Subiaco Oval.  WA had won the match and as the siren sounded, thousands of delighted local fans swarmed on to the ground.

As the weary Curran trudged his way towards the Victorian dressing rooms he was brought up short as a man on a walking stick hobbled towards him.  A shaken Curran stammered ‘It must be – but it can’t be’ …… [2]

The hobbling man Curran encountered on the oval was his former compatriot, Merv Ryan who two years before this event, in late July 1946, had recorded a more detailed account of how he came to be injured in a sworn statement prepared for the 1st Australian War Crimes Section investigating the ‘Ration Truck Massacre’:

STATEMENT BY MERVYN PETER RYAN

IN THE MATTER of War Crimes

and

IN THE MATTER of the shooting of a party of Australian POW at DILI Aerodrome, Timor, during February 1942

I Mervyn Peter RYAN of 11 Federal Street, NORTH COTTESLOE, in the State of Western Australia, formerly WX13624 Private M.P. RYAN of 2/2 Aust Independent Company (AIF), being duly sworn, and say as follows:

1. I arrived with my Unit in Timor on or about 15 December 1941.  From the 15 December 1941 I camped with the main group of my unit on the aerodrome at DILI.  I was then removed with ‘A’ Platoon to an area known as 'Cactus Camp’ approximately 18 kilometres from DILI.  We were stationed there until approximately the first week in February 1942 and then proceeded to relieve No. 1 Section of guard duty on the Aerodrome, where we remained until action started against the Japanese on 19 February 1942.

2. On the night of the 19 February 1942 I went into action with my Company against the Japanese and was wounded in the leg and arm.  My mate, Private F. SMITH was also wounded and died later on.  I remained lying on the ground for 24 hours.  During that time, at approximately 1000 hrs on the morning of the 20 February 42, I happened to see a party of men being escorted by Japanese in front of the hangers our old gun positions.  I couldn’t see much as I was fired upon by some Japanese.  I was lying on top of a drain when they opened up on me and I rolled over into the drain, which was about six feet deep.  I could see, however, that the men being escorted were Australians by their physique and their looks, although I did not recognise any of them.  I did not actually see Private AIREY in this part as my visibility was poor and I was lying, on the ground.  I only assumed later that AIREY must have been in this party when I heard what had happened from Private ALEXANDER.

3 . After rolling into the drain, where I found Private SMITH dead, I remained there for approximately 8 hours.  I then crawled across the road to a seal drain where I must have laid for some time.  I was next awakened by the sound of an Army truck, which was an Australian truck bearing a Japanese flag.  I hailed for water and a Japanese officer got out of the truck and after interrogating shot me through the shoulder.  I collapsed and later on awakening I crawled to a nearby native hut.

On the morning of the 23 February 42 I came to again and tried to contact some natives travelling through the area.  At approximately 1100 hours I eventually got one native to contact the Portuguese doctors, who arrived about 1300 hours.  Travelling with the doctors were Portuguese Police who assisted me by having the doctors attend to me and remove me to the Portuguese hospital.  The Japanese interrogated me and other POW in the hospital at DILI, where I remained until April 42.  From hospital I went to the prison camp at DILI, where I met up with Private ALEXANDER.

4. The Portuguese Police were held responsible by the Japanese for holding me while I was in hospital at DILI.  A Portuguese Police Officer gave me the information that he had been a witness to the burial of approximately 11 or 12 Australian soldiers who were executed by the Japanese on the DILI aerodrome.  He could not give me information as to who was responsible for the executions although he tried to find out for me.  I did know the name of this officer at the time, but I have now forgotten it.  He actually took information from me to the Companies in the hills which can be verified by Private Mervyn WHEATLEY, who was a member of my unit and received information from him.

This Portuguese officer had lived in DILI for the best part of his life and was the owner of the Australian Tearooms in DILI which was run up till the time of the invasion when the Japanese took it over.  This Portuguese Officer was about 5'10" in height; weight about 10 stone; age about 45 years; could only speak Pidgin English.

5. While I was at the hospital a Portuguese Roman Catholic Priest came to the hospital.  The Portuguese Officer referred to above told me that this Priest had said that he had buried 11 or 12 Australian soldiers at DILI aerodrome.  This Priest visited me later on when I was still very low in health, but he would not give me any information about the men who were buried.  He just refused to tell me anything about the burials because of my sickness.  From what the Portuguese Police told me this Priest was a very creditable witness and these Police later brought me very accurate information on other subjects about the Japanese.  I saw this Priest about four times while I was at the hospital but only conversed with him the once.  The Portuguese Police said that the Priest could not identify the bodies as there were no identification discs and the bodies had suffered from attacks from animals.  I did not learn the name of this Priest, but he was a tall man, about 6'; weight about 13 stone; age about 30 years; spoke English very well.

6. While I was in hospital I had a native laundry boy to act as my servant.  He told me that he had heard from other natives that a party of men had been executed by the Japanese at the DILI aerodrome.  Three of the men he said had escaped and from the description of one who was found dead in a culvert I took this man to be S/Sgt WALKER who was CQMS of 2/2 Independent Coy.

I also learned :from this native boy that another soldier had died in a coconut plantation.  The third escapee I was given to understand had been treated by natives and returned inland.  When I returned to Australia I learned that this man was Pte. HAYES.

7. About two months after I became a POW I met Pte ALEXANDER at the DILI guard camp.  He related to me that about 0800 hours on the morning of the 20 February 42 one section of ‘B’ Company [Platoon] who were stationed approximately 20 miles out of DILI on outpost duty were proceeding to DILI in a ration truck for supplies and four hours leave.  He told me that he was a member of the party, which numbered approximately 15 men.  As the truck was entering a cutting through the hills near DILI I they were surrounded by Japanese who came out of the bush and opened fire on the truck, causing them to stop.  The party had no time to return the fire and they were all captured.  Pte. ALEXANDER said that no-one was wounded.  The Japanese then escorted the truck into DILI.  At the DILI aerodrome Pte. ALEXANDER said they were all taken away behind the hangars where he, ALEXANDER, was released from the file and escorted to DILI town where he was interrogated by the Japanese officer there.  He said that was the last he saw of the men.  Pte. ALEXANDER said he thought the men were being used by the Japanese as a working party.  I told him what I knew about a party of men being shot.

8. From April 42 I was a POW at DILI prison camp and then I went to KOEPANG about June 42. Until August the 3rd I was at KOEPANG and then I embarked for Java.

SWORN by the said Mervyn Peter RYAN at PERTH in the State of Western Australia this 30th day of August 1946

Before me: G. Neal

A Commissioner for taking affidavits in the Supreme Court of Western Australia. [3]

Pte. Merv Ryan field tests the showers at Dili drome [4]

The Portuguese Dr Mario Borges Olivera who treated Merv Ryan’s wounds at the Lahane hospital also gave a statement to the 1st Australian War Crimes Section:

AFFIDAVIT

I MARIO BORGES OLIVERA, being duly sworn state:

I am a physician of the DILI HOSPITAL and reside at DILI.  I am a Portuguese subject and a captain in the Portuguese Army.

On 20th February 1942 I was in Dili when the Japanese landed, and I remained in Dilli for four months after the first Japanese occupation.

At the time of the Japanese landing there was an Australian civilian named BRYANT living at the Australian Consulate.  Mr ROSS was the Australian Consul.  I had been treating BRYANT but when I went to visit him to give him an injection, I was prevented from entering the Consulate by the Japanese.  Both Mr ROSS and BRYANT were confined to the Consulate and no one was permitted to see them.

On the 20th February, a man named DOMING0S SALDANHA, a native, told me  there was a wounded Australian soldier lying on the DILI aerodrome.  Fighting between the Japanese and the Australians had taken place on the aerodrome.  I sent four men to bring the wounded soldier to the hospital.  He arrived at about 10 am and I examined him.  He was conscious and gave his name as RYAN.  He was suffering from a high fever and twenty seven wounds which appeared to have been caused by shrapnel.  The soldier was covered in blood.  He asked for water and I commenced my treatment of him.

The Australian soldier stayed at the hospital for one month.  During this time, he recovered and was able to walk.  At the end of his months stay in the hospital, a Japanese officer and three Japanese soldiers came to the hospital and took RYAN away together with one Dutch soldier and three Javanese soldiers.  All these soldiers had been wounded.

The Director-Doctor of the hospital protested to the Japanese officer telling him that the Portuguese were neutral and that the hospital was showing the Red Cross and under International Law, they could not be taken away.  The Japanese took no notice and the soldiers were taken away.

I do not know what happened to the soldiers and furthermore I do not know of anyone who does know what happened to them. [5]

Annotation on rear of photo: Taken January 1942 – One of the carts used to a great extent – L to R – M. Ryan, F. Smith, A. Delbridge. [6]

News of Merv Ryan’s survival and capture by the Japanese was relayed to his parents after the No. 2 Independent Company was evacuated from Portuguese Timor:

A crumpled note, its pencilled message hardly decipherable, is a cherished possession of Mr. and Mrs. W. Ryan, of Simper Street, Wembley, for it is the last direct link they have with their 20-year-old son Pte. Mervyn Peter Ryan, now a prisoner of war.  The note was smuggled out to his mates by Ryan after he had been taken captive.  At first he was reported missing; later came advice that he was reported to be a prisoner of war, believed wounded in action.

Although he had fallen into enemy hands and was wounded Ryan did hot despair of his freedom.  Members of his own guerrilla company also had plans made to effect his escape.  A faithful native of the country in which they were fighting was their principal go-between.  Partly crippled, he is understood to have been shot later by the enemy as a spy.

Ryan's message, addressed to one of his company pals, was as follows:

Here's the answer to your note.  You will find it hard to read for I have lost the power of my right hand also my right leg.  But it won't keep me from having another go at these Japs.

I have been in hospital for five weeks now, but I won't be a pris[oner] for I am getting help from your native as you know.  Give my regards to all the boys.  I have some good information but dangerous to write.  See you all in two weeks. Your 'old faith, Merv.

ENEMY LANDING

Story of Ryan's adventures has been pieced together from scraps of information communicated to his parents by members of his company.

Ryan and another West Australian named Smith were out on patrol with a machinegun.  They were hidden at a point hear the coast about midnight when they heard the noises made by a party obviously landing in force.  At first they had reason to assume these were friends, not foes, but they soon learned to the contrary.  It was an enemy landing and Ryan and Smith found themselves in a tight corner.  They opened fire and in the exchange of shots Smith was killed by a grenade burst and Ryan wounded in the arm and leg.

NEWS AT LAST

For two days Ryan was able to lie hidden, thanks to the co-operation of friendly people.  A revolver was procured for him and patrols from his company instituted a search for him and for others.  A note was got through to Ryan and the message quoted was his reply.  The enemy evidently got wind of the rescue attempts before escape plans could be fulfilled.  That was the last heard of Ryan until recently when news came that he was well and that his people should not worry.  Ryan was well-known in the Brunswick district and was employed there when he enlisted.  A younger brother, Private Ronald Patrick Ryan, is serving with an A.I.F. engineering unit. [7]

After his repatriation to Australia at the end of the war, Merv Ryan gave more detail about his wartime experiences in a newspaper interview:

Wounded badly, in an agony of thirst, and on the point of exhaustion, Private Mervyn Peter Ryan pleaded with a Japanese guard for water.  Laughing his request to scorn, the Jap whipped out his revolver and shot him through the shoulder.  This was the worst but not the only example of the enemy's inhuman treatment which came the way of Ryan, now home at Shenton Park after being a P.O.W. in Timor, Java and Malaya since late 1941.

Ryan, who is 23 and a strapping physical specimen, lost more than four stone during his incarceration.  He belonged to the 2/2nd Commandos who landed on Timor shortly before Christmas, 1941.  He and the two other members of his gun crew shared the brunt of the fighting when the battle occurred for Dilli drome.  One of the trio escaped unwounded, a grenade burst open Ryan's right leg some inches above the ankle, while the third man was severely wounded and died two days afterwards.  As the scene of the fighting moved away the two men lay in their 'nest’.  With his mate dead Ryan crawled painfully towards the native house.  Lack of food and water and the untreated, bleeding wound caused him torture and he had spells of dizziness and coma.  It was while he was making this desperate journey that the water incident occurred.  He was apparently left for as good as dead.  It took him four hours to cover 25 yards.

RAW MEAT

Near the house he located a kerosene tin half-filled with brackish water, risked drinking it and munched buffalo grass shoots.  He awakened from another fainting fit to find himself surrounded by a group of gesticulating natives.

These gave him buffalo meat which he sucked raw, water and rice.  They then brought Portuguese and native doctors to him and they got permission for him to be taken through the enemy defence lines to the nearby hospital.  Here he had to be given intravenously such sustaining liquids as goat's milk.  The doctors and natives established communication with his unit which was then engaged in furious fighting with the Japanese in the foothills.  He planned an escape but was put in a prison camp.

NIGHT RAIDERS

One night in May, 1942 a small party of his unit daringly stormed the camp, apparently bent on rescuing him and Peter Alexander, of Kalgoorlie, who was also in the camp.  They heard the sound of .303 bullets and a volley of these was fired on to the verandah of their camp hut, the guard being wounded.  The whole camp was roused and the Dilli town alarm sounded while Jap infantry moved off with armoured cars and M.G. carriers.  They claimed next day to have, shot one of the raiding party.

With his leg wound still unhealed Ryan was moved south to Asaper Bessar camp from where, after a spell of hard work, he was sent to Batavia, still having to spend periods in hospital for treatment of his leg and shoulder.  Here a number of Australians worked in the gardens and found the food situation greatly improved, but when there came another shift to Singapore the food was scarce and unsuitable, consisting almost exclusively of rice.  They crossed to Singapore in a ship carrying 2000 prisoners who were so jammed they had to remain seated for the three-day voyage.

TORTURE

While working in the Singapore docks area they had a grandstand view of an Allied air raid which burned out the installations.  Fires burned for four days.  The Japs persistently tried to draw out Ryan regarding our guerrilla operations and were particularly inquisitive to find out why our men persisted in fighting in the interior.  Once he was examined along these' lines by a Jap admiral and three generals.  They usually had some fiendish torture to accompany these interrogations.  Considering the great hardships and suffering he was forced to endure Ryan has made a remarkable recovery. [8]

Merv Ryan was in fact much closer to the raiding party than they realised.  Here is his account of the raid as experienced as a Jap prisoner:

May 15, 1942 - was being held a prisoner of war by the Japanese at Dili.  About midnight Peter Alexander and I were asleep in a house with about 30 soldiers of different nationalities, when all of a sudden hell broke loose.  We had a window open to let some air into the room.  I dived over and closed it so no silly bugger would throw a grenade in.  The bullets were really flying around the place.  303s and Tommy guns could well be heard.  After about a quarter of an hour the world around us became quite calm until the Nips started to have their say.  They sure gave us a headache that night.  Peter and I were repeatedly woken up to make sure we had not gone A.W.L.  They came and checked us every hour.  (Do you think I hated the army then?)

The raid certainly worried the little ape men.  They raced through the town like mad, bringing anything that would roll on wheels for we could count the carriers and trucks going up and down the road all night long.  For a long time after they would patrol at night, so the raid gave them a lot of sleepless nights.

May 16, 1942, 5.30 a.m. - We were all made to stand under a big tree and were told by Gorilla Pete that the Australians who made the raid were all wiped out.  They produced one hat and one rifle, but we had found out that it was a Jap body, so we all started to laugh.  The Japs didn't appreciate our mirth, so they made us face each other and told us to slap each our mate's face.  (That Alexander sure can throw a good right).  After the show had quietened down I went out the front of the house to have a look.  Was I pleased to be behind a 12 inch stone wall in that raid for the verandah was just riddled with bullet holes.  I spent a whole day digging out .303 bullets and Tommy gun rounds. [9]

Merv Ryan’s parents were unaware of his fate after the report they had received in March 1943, so it was a great relief for them when a photo of him appeared in a newspaper report about released Australian prisoners of war in Singapore at the end of the war:

Pte M.P. Ryan pictured in the group published in yesterday's issue of ‘The West Australian’.

The first indication that her son, a prisoner of war in Japanese hands since his capture on Timor, was alive and well was when Mrs W. Ryan of 39 Evans Street, Shenton Park, saw his photograph in a group published in yesterday's issue of ‘The West Australian’ under the caption ‘The Australians Enjoy the Situation’.  She recognised her son and hurried into this office to see the original print – ‘just to make sure’ she said.

He is WX13624 Pte Mervyn Peter Ryan, who was one of the famed Timor guerrillas and a member of the Second Independent Company (commandos).  Pte Ryan was wounded at Dilli aerodrome on February 19, 1942 and captured by the Japanese.  He was immediately dispatched to a Japanese [Portuguese] hospital where he remained for about five weeks.  This information was relayed to his unit by a native messenger who was subsequently shot by the Japanese as a ‘spy’.  The next indication of his whereabouts was about five months later when he was located in Java X camp - the news also being received by a native messenger.

During his internment his mother received no mail from him.  On Monday, however, she was informed by a telegram from the Minister for the Army that Pte Ryan had been reported alive at Tangong Pagar, Singapore, on September 4.  However, it was not divulged whether he was in good health.

Mrs Ryan saw his likeness for the first time for nearly four years when the photograph was published in ‘The West Australian’.  That morning she received a letter from him stating that he would be home in about a fortnight.  ‘It is the greatest day in my life’, she said, ‘and I have never felt so excited.  I did not know whether he was alive or dead and the photo in the paper dispelled any doubts I had.  It was marvellous’.  Pte Ryan is 23 years of age and was educated at the Leederville State school.  He was born at Goomalling. [10]

Merv Ryan’s travails and adventures weren’t concluded at the end of the war as related by Col Doig in this ‘friendly fire’ anecdote about the aftermath of the Association 1947 reunion dinner:

Perhaps the highlight of this function was the aftermath.  Jack Denman had his car and when the show was over got a few passengers to be delivered in all directions.  Merv Ryan was precariously perched on the running board (yes, cars had running boards in 1947) and in swerving to avoid another vehicle coming onto the Causeway, sideswiped Merv on to a light pole, leaving him grounded, slightly bruised only (who ever heard of a drunk getting hurt in a minor accident) and proceeded over the Causeway unaware that one of his precious cargo was adrift on the roadside. [11]

Merv Ryan passed away in 1986 aged 64 years:

VALE - MERV RYAN

With a great depth of sadness we report the passing of a man who put up a grand fight against tremendous odds and finally, after courageously attending the Canberra Safari, succumbed to the almost unbeatable scourge.

Merv was an original in our formative days at Foster and was a member of 2 Section, 'A' Platoon, under Gerry McKenzie, his platoon commander, Rolf (Baldy) Baldwin.  From the word go Merv made his mark in a very competitive section, the earmarks of a fine soldier apparent from very early days, so it turned out to be.

He was tall, athletic, tough, full of humour, very much a man's man who acquitted himself in every possible situation with distinction.  He was well liked by every member of the Unit and that continued into post war years.

Merv's war years were destined to be served under the yoke of the Japanese for on the night of the 19th February 1942, when 2 Section took the brunt of the Japanese landing, he was badly wounded in close contact with the enemy and that was the last we saw of him until the war ended.

The years under the Japanese were torrid indeed, that is putting it mildly, but Merv made of the right stuff, terrible injuries and all, was still in there punching, making his presence felt, as Nippon would well know.  For a short while he had Peter Alexander from 7 Section as a mate but that was only temporary.  Merv's injuries could not see him moved from Singapore and Peter was sent up to the ‘Railway’.

August 1945 saw the Japanese surrender and in its wake came the emotional reunion of families long parted.  So it was with Merv who settled back into civilian life easily for he had a tremendous partner in Dulcie, raised a family, worked hard on the wharves at Fremantle and threw in his lot with our 2/2nd Commando Association and he was an invaluable member.

He showed the same fortitude post war as he did when a P.O.W., for life was not easy.  The injuries received on that fateful night in February 1942 caused untold problems and pain, but he dismissed them all with the well-known Ryan grin.

Over all the years Dulcie was a tower of strength to Merv, a wonderful wife and mother, a lovely person.  We send our heartfelt sympathy to Dulcie and her family and trust time will in some way heal the great void left by Merv's passing.  May God give you and yours strength to face the years ahead with peace of heart and mind being yours in abundance.

We will miss Merv so very much, a well-loved mate and comrade.  To all with whom he had contact his memory will make these words live for they are indelibly imprinted in our hearts.

'LEST WE FORGET' [12]

REFERENCES

[1] Cyril Ayris. - All the Bull's men : No. 2 Australian Independent Company (2/2nd Commando Squadron) / Cyril Ayris. - [Perth, W.A.] : 2/2nd Commando Association, 2006: 109.

[2] [Newspaper article - Source unknown]

[3] ‘Statement by Mervyn Peter Ryan’ in National Archives of Australia: MP742/1, War crimes - Timor Asia (general) : TIMOR 4 - War crimes - Timor Asia (general) [component 1 of 7] 336/1/1724 PART 1.

[4] Archie Campbell. - The Double Reds of Timor. - Swanbourne, W.A.: John Burridge Military Antiques, c1995: 33.

[5] ‘Affidavit of Dr Mario Borges Olivera, Physician, Dili Hospital (Lahane), Dili, Portuguese Timor, 25th June,1946’ in National Archives of Australia: MP742/1, War crimes - Timor Asia (general) : TIMOR 4 - War crimes - Timor Asia (general) [component 1 of 7] 336/1/1724 PART 1.

[6] Source: 2/2 Commando Association of Australia photo archive.

[7] ‘Japs thwart escape plan’ Daily News (Perth, WA : 1882 - 1950), Friday 19 March 1943: 7.  (http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page7966930)

[8] ‘Wounded man shot when craved water’ Daily News (Perth, WA : 1882 - 1950), Saturday 20 October 1945: 15.  (https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/rendition/nla.news-article78481096.txt)

[9] A history of the 2nd Independent Company and 2/2 Commando Squadron / compiled by C.D. Doig. - Carlisle, W.A. : Hesperian Press, 2009. [First published: 1986]: 115-116.

[10] ‘Son recognised in Singapore picture: WA mother's "greatest day”’ West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), Thursday 20 September 1945: 4.  (http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article51769482)

[11] A great fraternity: the story of [the] 2/2nd Commando Association, 1946-1992 / compiled by C.D. Doig. -  [Perth, W.A.: C.D. Doig], 1993: 28.

[12] ‘Vale - Merv Ryan’ 2/2 Commando Courier vol. 62, August 1986: 7-8.

 

Prepared by Ed Willis

29 June 2021

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the end of WWII, ex No. 2 Independent Company soldier George Milsom (TX4141) was promoted to Sergeant and became a member of a three-man team Military History Team that was sent to both Dutch and Portuguese Timor to record significant campaign sites. [1] George was the guide of this team; Lieutenant Charles Bush was the official war artist and sometimes used George as a model and Sergeant Keith Davis the photographer. [2] In Dili they received help from two new criados Fernando and Akiu.

George Milsom was an avid letter writer and his parents kept all of his letters.  This post features a letter dated 14 January 1946 that he wrote after the Military History Team had completed its patrol to campaign sites at the eastern end of Portuguese Timor.

The twelve day patrol travelled through the following locations: Dili, Manatuto, Vemasse, Baucau, Lautem, Lore, Fuiloro and Ossu then back to Dili.  Milsom’s narrative of the patrol is complemented by photographer Keith Davis’s photographs of some of the locations visited by the Team.  The adventures and social activities of the men and their reliance on the hard working jeep as their mode of transport makes for interesting and entertaining reading.

Map 1: Route followed by the Military History Section Team

 

Dear Ken:

See the Doublereds entry for your uncle linked below that includes details of the medals he was entitled to - let me know if you need any additional information.

Harvey's service record can also be downloaded from: https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/DetailsReports/ItemDetail.aspx?Barcode=6468894&isAv=N

Regards

Ed Willis

President, 2/2 Commando Association of Australia