The Loss of Lark Force

At its closest point, New Guinea is 160 km from the Australian mainland. During the Second World War, it was of strategic importance to Australian security. Australian forces had seized German New Guinea during the First World War, and in 1920 it became the Territory of New Guinea, administered by Australia under a League of Nations mandate. Netherlands New Guinea (the western half of New Guinea) and the Australian territories (the eastern half) were invaded in 1942 by the Japanese, who were particularly interested in Rabaul.

Situated in the north-east region of the island of New Britain, Rabaul was in the vicinity of the Caroline Islands and the major Japanese navy base at Truk Lagoon in Micronesia.

Lark Force, stationed on New Britain, was the largest Australian force in the region. It had been established in 1941. It consisted of roughly 1,400 personnel, including approximately 950 soldiers from the 2/22nd Australian Infantry Battalion and support units, including a detachment of the New Guinea Volunteer Rifles, a coastal defence battery, an anti-aircraft battery, and elements of the 2/10th Field Ambulance and 17th Anti-tank Battery. No. 24 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force, was added a few months later. The force served as a garrison, providing early warning of Japanese movements through the islands north of Australia, and protecting the airfields at Lakunai and Vunakanau, and the seaplane base at Rabaul.

In January 1942, Lark Force received information that the Japanese fleet was approaching Rabaul. Inadequately supported and without an extraction plan, when the Japanese landed on 23 January 1942, Lark Force was overrun by some 5,000 Japanese troops and more than 100 aircraft.

Of No. 24 Squadron’s nine aircraft, three Wirraways were shot down, two crash-landed, and another was damaged, leaving two Wirraways and a Hudson intact.

On the ground, troops were forced into an uncoordinated withdrawal. Lark Force’s commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel John Scanlan, issued the order: “Every man for himself”. Many of Lark Force’s personnel discarded their arms as they had little to no ammunition and were unnecessary burdens. Some became so lost that after a few days they found themselves at their starting point. Around 400 members of Lark Force found small boats and escaped to Australia or were picked up by larger vessels operating from New Guinea and returned to Australia.

In a few weeks, roughly 160 Lark Force soldiers arrived at Tol Plantation, Wide Bay, in the hopes of finding provisions. The next morning they were discovered by the Japanese. Lark Force soldiers waved white flags of surrender and were taken as prisoners. On 4 February 1942, the captured prisoners were taken away from the plantation, marched into the jungle and bayonetted, shot or burned alive.

Six men survived the Tol Plantation massacre with the aid of locals. They made contact with a group of 156 soldiers, sailors and civilians who had gathered at Palmalmal Plantation and evacuated from New Britain on 12 April 1942 on HMAS Laurabada, previously the yacht of the administrator of Papua. The survivors of the Tol Plantation massacre bore witness to their harrowing experiences during the inquiries of Sir William Webb, the Chief Justice of Queensland, who was appointed from 1943 to 1946 to investigate and report on possible atrocities or breaches of the rules of warfare by Japanese armed forces.

Elsewhere on the island, other survivors of the battle of Rabaul were captured and taken as prisoners of war by the Japanese.

In July 1942, an estimated 845 prisoners of war, including members of Lark Force and 209 civilians, were evacuated from New Britain aboard the Japanese passenger ship Montevideo Maru, which sailed unescorted for Hainan Island, keeping to the east of the Philippines in an effort to avoid Allied submarines.

Eight days into the voyage, Montevideo Maru was spotted by the American submarine USS Sturgeon, which fired its four stern torpedoes, sinking the Japanese vessel. Montevideo Maru sank by the stern in as little as 11 minutes. Although the Japanese crew were ordered to abandon ship, it does not appear they made any attempt to assist the prisoners to do likewise. The ship’s lifeboats were launched but all capsized and one suffered severe damage. Of the 88 Japanese guards and crew, only 17 survived the sinking and subsequent march through the Philippine jungle. The prisoners of war aboard Montevideo Maru were all killed.

The Australian prisoners of war remaining on New Britain, which included 60 officers, six army nurses and 13 civilians, were transported to Japan on Natuno Maru. They remained with other prisoners of war until Japan surrendered; the survivors were liberated in September 1945.

The 2/22 Australian Infantry Battalion was not re-raised.

The loss of Rabaul was a heavy blow to the interests of the Allied forces in the Pacific. Although Rabaul would be retaken, and the Japanese defeated, the wartime experiences of members of Lark Force are as sad as they were 70 years ago.

The unit war diaries for 2/22nd Australian Infantry Battalion during the operation of Lark Force have been digitised and are available to view here.