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In early 1942, the Japanese launched their invasion of the Dutch East Indies (modern-day Indonesia) as part of their southward expansion in the Pacific. Ambon, a strategically important island, was defended by a small garrison of Dutch troops and about 1,100 Australian soldiers from the 2/21st Battalion, known as Gull Force.

They were poorly equipped and significantly outnumbered by the Japanese forces.

On the night of 30/31 January 1942 Japanese forces landed on Ambon. The Japanese were resisted by Australian troops at a number of locations, including Mount Nona, Kudamati, Amahusu and Laha. 

After the Japanese captured Ambon, they focused on Laha Airfield, a strategic point of contention. Following its surrender, Japanese forces accused the prisoners of sabotaging their operations and executed them in a series of massacres. Most of the victims were Australian soldiers and Dutch personnel, with estimates of the dead ranging from over 300 to 400 people. They were bound, blindfolded, and killed by bayonet or decapitation in groups. The killings were systematic, carried out in retaliation for earlier resistance by Allied forces. Prisoners were marched to isolated locations, such as beaches or jungle clearings, and slaughtered en masse. Some survivors from earlier groups were forced to bury the bodies of their comrades before being executed themselves.

Roger Maynard has written of the executions “History would record it as one of the worst massacres of the Second World War”. 

Around 18:00hrs, a group of Australian and Dutch POWs, their arms tied securely behind them, were marched to two large holes in the jungle site.

 
As the first POW was walked to the edge of the hole and forced to kneel, the reality and the horror of the situation began to set in with the other POWs.
 
The large hole was a mass grave for the captives who were being executed, by samurai beheading.
 
 
The same scene was being carried out nearly 5 miles away. At that location, these captives were being decapitated as well. 
 
The executions went on, without pause, for seven and a half hours. During this time, hundreds of Allied PoWs were executed.

 The horrific story of this massacre relates to the men from Gull Force - the 2/21st Batallion formed in central Victoria in 1940. The 2/22nd Batallion, Lark Force,  is mentioned in an article we will feature in the coming days. 

 

Gull Force was sent to Ambon ( part of modern day Indonesia )  to defend the strategic island's harbour and airstrip. When an overwhelmingly larger Japanese force of approximately 20.000, landed on the Island in January 1942 Gull Force numbered 1131 men, most of them Victorians.

After the surrender of the main part of Gull Force on 3 February 1942, the troops were imprisoned in their former barracks on Ambon.  

Those that survived went on to spend three and a half years completely cut off from the rest of the world, and endured starvation, beatings, executions, and acts of brutality, which have been described as being amongst one of the worst chapters of the Pacific War. Only a third of the soldiers lived to return home.

Aerial photograph of P.O.W. Prison Camp taken c. April 1945

Of the original 1131 men of Gull Force, only 363 were to survive the battles and the years of captivity at the hands of the Japanese.

Courtney Harrison, a survivor of the camp recalled his time in captivity in an interview:

" We used to get the rats and we used to get them, down where the kitchen was, they had a few drains coming out of there, covered-in drains, and we’d go down there of a night and pour boiling water down and catch the rats as they come out, we’d bang ‘em, and catch them, and eat them, and we soon got rid of those, there were, didn’t have too many of those; snakes, and that we, big snakes, we waited for three weeks for a snake, about eight foot long come out of a tree! And we got him, and chopped him up for the soup!  Things like that, snails, and all that sort of thing we were eating, anything that’s not poisonous you can eat, you see, it doesn’t matter what it is, as long as it’s not poisonous. " 

This is a full length feature movie nearly two hours long.

Gull Force Statistical Summary

Killed in Action (estimated) ........................ 54

Massacred at Laha ................................... 229

Executed in POW camps ........................... 17

Killed in bombings ................................... 13

Killed in Chinese ambush on Hainan .......... 9

Died as prisoners on Ambon ...................... 378

Died as prisoners on Hainan ..................... 66

Missing on Hainan ................................... 10

Died after liberation ................................. 3

TOTAL DEATHS ...... 779

Repatriated to Australia from Hainan ......... 181

Repatriated to Australia from Ambon .......... 119

Total escapes from Ambon ....................... 52

ORIGINAL STRENGTH OF GULL FORCE ... 1131

 As one person said

" My Dad was a prisoner of war on Ambon for 3 years and 11 months. The Laha executions were beyond comprehension to me when I was first told of it. I cannot imagine how these prisoners survived the cruelty of the Japanese.

To come back home marry and rear a family without talking about the way they were treated for years is mind blowing for me. It is only in his later years He told us.
 
Strong men who suffered unbelievable torture and starvation for years. We will never forget their courage and strength. RIP brave soldiers."
 
A moving and informative documentary from Mark Felton - 27 minutes long. It has some distressing commentary. 
After the war, the Allied War Crimes Tribunal investigated the Laha massacres. Several Japanese officers, including Major General Takeo Ito, were tried and executed for their roles in ordering the killings. These trials highlighted the brutality of Japanese war crimes in the Pacific. 
The massacre left a deep scar on Australia. Gull Force’s sacrifice became a symbol of the immense suffering endured by Australian POWs. It also fueled post-war resentment and determination to bring perpetrators to justice.

 

Australian prisoners of war (POWs) after their release from Ambon following the Japanese surrender, relaxing on deck reading newspapers aboard HMAS Glenelg en route to Morotai. AWM 019307.

Commemoration of Gull Force

Ambon War Cemetery

  • Located on Ambon Island, this cemetery is maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. It holds the graves of hundreds of Australians, including members of Gull Force, and is a solemn reminder of their sacrifice.

The Gull Force Memorial in Australia

  • A prominent memorial in Darwin, Northern Territory honors the men of Gull Force. It serves as a gathering place for annual Anzac Day ceremonies and other commemorative events.
  • The memorial includes plaques with the names of the fallen and a brief history of their service.

Survivors’ Stories in Books

  • Survivors of Gull Force have shared their experiences in memoirs and oral histories. These accounts, such as in books like "Prisoners of the Japanese" by Gavan Daws, bring to life the courage and suffering of the men.

These men - Gull Force - they gave everything. They fought, knowing they were outnumbered, outgunned, and stuck on a lonely island far from home. When it all fell apart, they didn’t just lose a battle; they faced hell. Executed, starved, beaten down. And for what? For a country that should remember them but sometimes doesn’t seem to care enough.

Monuments matter because they’re not just stone or metal. They’re stories, legacies, anchors to the truth. When they’re torn down or left to crumble, it’s like saying, “This doesn’t matter anymore.” But it does. It should. Those blokes didn’t die just to become a forgotten chapter in a history book no one reads.

 

sources for this article include:

http://www.sevensoldiersons.com.au/

https://www.gullforce.org.au/index.html

https://cv.vic.gov.au/stories/a-diverse-state/geelong-voices/ambon-island-of-mist/ 

 

 

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