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The lost battalions : a battle that could not be won. An island that could not be defended. An ally that could not be trusted / by Tom Gilling.

The lost battalions : a battle that could not be won. An island that could not be defended. An ally that could not be trusted / by Tom Gilling.
lost battalions :
A little known story of two Australian battalions abandoned in Java during World War II and the heroes who kept them alive in the worst of Japan's prisoner of war camps. They were thrown into a hopeless fight against an overwhelming enemy. Later, hundreds died as prisoners of war on the Thai-Burma Railway and in the freezing coal mines of Taiwan and Japan. Through it all, wrote Weary Dunlop, they showed fortitude beyond anything I could have believed possible. Until now, the story of the 2000 diggers marooned on Java in February 1942 has been a footnote to the fall of Singapore and the bloody campaign in New Guinea. Led by an Adelaide lawyer, Brigadier Arthur Blackburn VC, and fighting with scrounged weapons, two Australian battalions - plus an assortment of cooks, laundrymen and deserters from Singapore - held up the might of the Imperial Japanese Army until ordered by their Dutch allies to surrender. Drawing on personal diaries, official records and interviews with two of the last living survivors, this book tells the extraordinary story of the lads from Java, who laid down their weapons, but refused to give in.

Item Information
Shelf Location Collection Volume Ref. Branch Status Due Date
940.54259/GIL
Adult Non-Fiction   Port Macquarie . Available .  
W/GIL
Adult Non-Fiction   Kempsey . Available .  
. Catalogue Record 604493 ItemInfo Beginning of record . Catalogue Record 604493 ItemInfo Top of page .
Catalogue Information
Field name Details
Record Number 604493
ISBN 9781760632342
1760632341
Author Gilling, Tom
Title The lost battalions : a battle that could not be won. An island that could not be defended. An ally that could not be trusted / by Tom Gilling.
Publication details Sydney, NSW : Allen & Unwin, 2018.
Pagination etc. ix, 257 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, portraits ; 24 cm.
Summary Note A little known story of two Australian battalions abandoned in Java during World War II and the heroes who kept them alive in the worst of Japan's prisoner of war camps. They were thrown into a hopeless fight against an overwhelming enemy. Later, hundreds died as prisoners of war on the Thai-Burma Railway and in the freezing coal mines of Taiwan and Japan. Through it all, wrote Weary Dunlop, they showed fortitude beyond anything I could have believed possible. Until now, the story of the 2000 diggers marooned on Java in February 1942 has been a footnote to the fall of Singapore and the bloody campaign in New Guinea. Led by an Adelaide lawyer, Brigadier Arthur Blackburn VC, and fighting with scrounged weapons, two Australian battalions - plus an assortment of cooks, laundrymen and deserters from Singapore - held up the might of the Imperial Japanese Army until ordered by their Dutch allies to surrender. Drawing on personal diaries, official records and interviews with two of the last living survivors, this book tells the extraordinary story of the lads from Java, who laid down their weapons, but refused to give in.
Subject World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Australian.
World War, 1939-1945 -- Pacific Area
Prisoners of war -- Abuse of -- Japan
World War, 1939-1945 -- Campaigns -- Indonesia -- Java
World War, 1939-1945 -- Prisoners and prisons, Japanese
World War, 1939-1945 -- Indonesia -- Prisoners and prisons
World War, 1939-1945 -- Australia
Prisoner of war camps -- Japan
Prisoners of war -- Australia
Java (Indonesia) -- History, Military -- 20th century
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Catalogue Information 604493 Beginning of record . Catalogue Information 604493 Top of page .