The 1400 soldiers of “Lark Force” were ordered by the Australian High Command to hold a distant tropical harbour, though untrained for jungle warfare and unaware that they would be outnumbered five to one. Lacking naval support, modern fighter planes and artillery, Lark Force was ‘too small to fight & too big to hide’!

Their Commander had rejected plans for a fighting withdrawal and ordered “there will be no surrender”. But when the Japanese struck, the Commander’s orders changed to “every man for himself” and the soldiers found they’d become ‘hostages to fortune’.

160 were murdered at Tol Plantation; some 1000 soldiers and Territorians later died as POW’s when the “Montevideo Maru” was torpedoed. That 400 escaped from New Britain was due to the courage and endurance of individuals, the leaders of small parties, RAAF flying boat crews and the skill of Australian “kiaps” from the ‘mainland’ who rescued so many in government launches.

To read the full notes from Reg Yates' expedition to Rabaul in August 2011 click the following link: Rabaul notes