​​Behind the Fence: Life as a POW in Japan, 1942-1945: The Diaries of Les Chater

by Les Chater

 

Les was captured by the Japanese in 1942, and remained a prisoner until liberation in 1945. During that time he kept a secret diary, recording life in the camps day by day, listing names of prisoners, illnesses, deaths, their daily diet and treatment at the hands of their captors. This secret record survived, written in three palm-sized diaries in an astonishingly microscopic hand. Mr. Chater's diaries were used as evidence at the Tokyo War Crimes trials.

 

 

 

 

You Shook My Hand

by William C. Rose

 

Bill Rose, a sergeant in the Royal Air Force, was taken prisoner in Java in 1942 and transported to the Japanese mainland by ship in a horrific journey lasting 31 days. He worked in 2 camps, Mitsushima, in the central Highlands where he worked on the construction of a dam, and Kanose, where he worked at the carbide furnaces.

 

Bill kept a unique day to day diary of his experiences. He was mentioned in dispatches and awarded The Oak Leaf for his leadership and encouragement whilst a P.O.W.

 

 

 

The Sparrows

by Tony Paley

 

This was the first biography of the 79th Light Anti-Aircraft Battery written by a relative of a veteran.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Doomed Battalion: Mateship and Leadership in War and Captivity

The Australian 2/40 Battalion 1940-45

by Peter Henning

 

The story of the men of the 2/40 Battalion – mainly Tasmanians – and its associated army units, sent to garrison an airfield in Dutch Timor immediately after the Japanese entered the Second World War. Assigned a hopeless military task within a misguided strategy, they were captured a week after the fall of Singapore in February 1942. They were then scattered in prison camps across east Asia, including Java, Sumatra, Singapore, Burma, Thailand, Japan and other places. Their experiences are in general a microcosm of those of Australian prisoners of the Japanese between 1942 and 1945.

 

 

Timor 1942: Australian Commandoes at War with the Japanese

by Christopher Wray

 

After Japan entered the war, the 2/2nd had been sent to Timor and following the Japanese occupation of the island in February, had been conducting a guerrilla war using 'hit and run' tactics. The 2/4th continued this guerrilla war and from September carried out many successful ambushes, blew bridges and roads, and manned two observation posts in the mountains outside Dili where they reported the movements of Japanese ships and aircraft. However, during the last few months of 1942, the Japanese had intensified their efforts to end such resistance and they made the situation untenable for the Australians. In mid-December the 2/2nd was evacuated from Timor to Darwin, as was the 2/4th in January 1943.

 

 

Samurais and Circumcisions

by Leslie Poidevin

 

Leslie was a young doctor of Sparrow Force on Timor and Java, both in combat and as a prisoner of war. Contains many enlightening stories and insights into medical procedures and interractions with captors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Independent Company

by Bernard Callinan

 

An intriguing account of the 2/2 Independent Company's hit-and-run guerrilla campaign against the Japanese on Timor in 1942, written by it's most respected and decorated commander.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Australia in the War of 1939-1945 - Series One - Army - Volume IV

- The Japanese Thrust

by L. Wigmore

 

This volume of the army series of the Australian official war history relates mainly to the operations on Malaya in the first ten weeks of the war against Japan. 

 

A comprehensive account is given of the Japanese plan of conquest and its execution, step by step, over the vast area it covered; also of the reactions of the Allied Governments and the endeavours of each of the forces which sought to stem the onslaught.

 

 

 

Double Reds of Timor

by Archie Campbell

 

A very animated account of the experiences of the commandos of the 2/2 Independent Company, written by a real character and section commander in the unit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A History of the 2nd Independent Company and

2/2 Commando Squadron

by C.H. Doig

 

Doig was a bit of a larrikin in the 2/2 Independent Company, yet he rose to train many of those members of Sparrow Force who escaped from the western end of the island to form what would become D Platoon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Horyo: Memoirs of an American POW

by Richard M. Gordon

 

Horyo was the first book that I found on Mitsushima POW Camp - where my grandfather was a POW. While the lists of POWs at the back were useful for my research, it is sad that Al Gordon's accounts differed greatly with the other dozen veterans that I interviewed for my book. In many instances, Al 'borrowed' stories that he could not have witnessed as the people he describes were at another POW camp.

It is a shame that Al felt that he needed to distort events as the experiences of those in Hiraoka were certainly worthy of their stories being told accurately.

 

 

 

All the Bull's Men

by Cyril Ayris

 

The History of No.2 Australian Independent Company (2/2nd Commando Squadron) in World War 2. Contains Nominal Roll and Decorations. B&W photos throughout.

 

This WW2 history of the No.2 Australian Independent Company (2/2nd Commando Squadron) also includes their service a year later in the jungles of New Guinea and New Britain.

 

 

 

The Men Who Came Out of the Ground: Timor 1942 - Australia's First Commandoes

by Paul Cleary

 

The heroics of a small team of Australian Special Forces commandos in Timor who tied down a far superior Japanese force for most of the critical year of 1942.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Great Pacific War: A History of the American-Japanese Campaign of 1931-33

by Hector C. Bywater

 

This is a gripping account of a war between the US and Japan—a forerunner of actual events. Written 16 years before Pearl Harbor, Bywater, a leading naval authority during the period between the two world wars, prophesied: A Japanese surprise-attack attacks U.S. naval forces in the Pacific while negotiations between the two countries are still in progress. Japanese troops simultaneously invade the Philippines and Guam. Recognizing their limits, the Japanese hold off from any attempt to capture Hawaii. Instead, they retire the main body of their battle fleet and establish a nearly invulnerable web of iron in the Western Pacific!

 

 

 

The Gathering Storm (The Second World War #1)

by Winston S. Churchill

 

Winston Churchill was not only a statesman and leader of historic proportions, he also possessed substantial literary talents. These two factors combine to make The Gathering Storm a unique work. The first volume of Churchill's memoirs, this selection is broken into two parts. The first, "From War to War," consists of Churchill's critical observations on the settlement of World War I and its place in the causes of the Second World War. The second volume contains letters and memoranda from the British government--of which Churchill was part--as the country plunged unprepared into war. This stands as the best of history: written as it was made, by the man who made it. 

 

 

 

 

 

Other links that include information covered in Sparrow include:

• Department of Veterans Affairs profiles on Timor veterans;

• Department of Defence Dare Memorial;

• University of New South Wales Companion to East Timor page;

• ABC interview with Keith Hayes;

• ABC coverage of veterans' return to Timor;

• TEN coverage of veterans' return to Timor;

• ABC television interview with Keith Hayes;

• "Justice reaches dead end" - a Japan Times article by Satoko Kogure; and

• Interview with Al Gordon, an American POW at Mitsushima.