Defending Australia 1942 - Episode 1: Lark Force 

The Aussies have constantly proven to be a remarkably strong-willed people. As an American I find it unfortunate how often they're overlooked, such as their incredible performance at Kapyong in the Korean War (together with the Canadians and New Zealander artillery force). Good to see Dr. Felton and others sharing these stories.

Had the infinite pleasure of knowing one of the survivors of the Japanese detailed in this video. His name was Harold Martin, and after capture, was imprisoned in Changi, then survived 2 years on the Burma railway, then 4 days adrift after their prison ship was torpedoed by a US submarine as mentioned also. Harold was a quiet, kind and gentle man, and died last year at 103 years of age.

As an Australian who currently lives in the UK, I salute Dr Felton for describing this much over - looked tragedy of WW2.

My father was part of gull force as capt. He escaped with 17 others and island hopped to Thursday island using only a compass and world atlas. It took Three months and dad arrived back in Australia weighing 5stone and covered in tropical ulcers. He relived this three months in his dream every year until his death in 2007. I attended the 70th anniversary dawn service and walked through the war cemetery

My late father, his 2 brothers fought in the 2nd AIF against the Japanese from 1942 in New Guinea after being called back from the Middle East. His eldest brother was in Darwin & was bombed numerous times! Dad told me some horrific stories which you’ve now highlighted Mark! Dad passed away in 2010 & still had nightmares up until his passing aged 86. Although dad moved on with his life, he could NEVER forgive the Japanese for the atrocities committed against his countrymen & allies. Lest We Forget…

Many history professors leave out the Japanese brutality in WW2. They usually focus on Germany and concentration camps.

When I was 6-9 rs old I lived at RAF Changi in Singapore. My dad flew Argosy type aircraft at the time. From our back garden we could see the notorious Changi prison. I learned about the atrocities there against Japanese prisoners and the bravery of Australian commandos who would smuggle medical supplies onto the beaches at night. An old woman who sold fruit and hid these supplies and her adventures are worthy of a Dr Felton story. I have made it my mission in life to defend the courage and contribution of the Australian and New Zealand people in all of the wars. Please do not think that the world has forgotten you. Many many Poms still remember your part with respect and gratitude. We will remember them.

Utterly terrorizing, I still can't believe that one Australian survived being bayonetted over 6 times even one to the face. I still can't believe they were sent to fight being woefully outnumbered and out gunned. Happy to see they are not forgotten. As a US Marine listening about the horrors of war, this is at the top.

This IS history that should never be forgotten; to my Australian and New Zealand brothers and sisters in-arms, I salute you.

A lot of the 2/22nd Battalion were recruited from the Western district of Victoria. My small hometown lost 4 men on Rabual. One escape back to Australia only to be KIA in Wau in 1945. Another ended up as a POW only to be torpedoed and plucked out of the water by a USN submarine. My grandmother lost her boyfriend and 2 school friends. Rabaul had a terrible impact on our area.

Merry Christmas ⛄🎄⛄🎄 to all. Aussies have been over looked by most. Excellent determination, and collectively very good fighters. Thank God for the Australian people. 🇨🇦🇦🇺

Why are the Aussies so overlooked in war histories? What great, brave, hard-fighting soldiers they have always been, and their contributions are almost never even mentioned, much less highlighted. Thank you, sir, for putting this video together. I look for history books that are about Australia‘s fighters. They finished WWI. They were a major force in Korea. One unit, left with no help nearby, was so heroic in Vietnam (there is a great movie on those few guys against thousands of Vietcong). Yet they get skipped over by so many books and documentaries. History; you’ve got to really dig to try and make sure get it all or you’ll miss quite a lot. Helmets and hats off to the Aussies from this thankful American. 🇦🇺 🇺🇸 Thank you to your fathers, grandfathers, brothers, uncles, cousins - all. They gave at home, too.

I am an Aussie, living in Japan, and I had a martial arts master who fought Aussies in PNG. We had some interesting chats about it.

The unconscionability of Japan denying these acts ever took place to this very day is not lost on anyone.

It’s a huge disgrace that so few japanese war criminals have been brought to trial My grandfather was a corporal in the dutch indies army and captured somewhere around februari 1942 Leaving behind his pregnant wife (carrying my mother) and being send to slave work at the Birma-Siam railway By a miracle he survived this hell on earth after the japanese surrender on the 15th of august 1945, just a few days after the beautiful second atomic bomb on Nagasaki was dropped It was in the weeks following when he saw my mother for the first time, already at the age of almost 3 (oktober 1942) My mother and her little brother had been wandering around all places on java..the so called “buitenkampers”, meaning they were not locked up in a japanese concentration camp because of their mixed origin, my grandmother being a native from indie An older (18) half brother went searching for them along with some english military he had succesfully pleaded to come and help searching Grandmother just left the children behind on their own and left.. My mother bears a scar on her knee…scrapnel from an exploding granate.l, together witje a burned foot and an everlasting war trauma They returned to the netherlands by ship, only to return a few years later because of the so called politionele acties ( colonial indepence war) and somewhat later to finally return to the netherlands A huge disgrace from the dutch government was the refusal to pay the salary my grandfather owned, for the years he had been slave working for the japanes at the Birma-Siam railway, saying he was not serving…….it’s mind boggling After the war the people returning from the dutch indies fellt nobody cared about what they had gone threw…nobody was interested…they thought that only they themselves had sufferd from the germans in the netherlands ..and those from the dutch indies..what did they know/have been gone threw Only for the last few years now there is some media and governmental attention to those who suffered severly from the saddistic japanese occupation

Aussie here - Thanks for covering this topic Mark. You're a legend. These campaigns were huge factors in contributing to Australian national identity and spirit of the Australian Army. It's probably why even though we're an island, we have such a disproportionately large soft spot for the Army.

This is one story I've been waiting to hear. Australia hasn't been heard enough.

A workmate's father was at 16 the youngest Australian POW held by the Japanese at Changi, working on the rail line. He had the nickname "the pup". He survived the war and went on to be part of the Commonwealth occupational forces in Japan.

As a "Canzak" (a Canadian serving in the NZ Army in the 70's) my most memorable ANZAC day was the dawn service at the Changi War Memeorial in in Singapore. It somehow made the suffering and sacrifice more tangible and real.

As an Australian, I never knew about this. Thank you for your video Dr Felton and for all your work. Happy holidays.

God bless those brave Australians. Merry Christmas to everyone, from America. 🎄🇺🇸

Japan got off very light for its war crimes. They managed to weasel themselves out of making reparations, unlike Germany and to this officially there has never been an official apology. Maybe too late, because of course the sins of the father should not befall the son, and current generations should not be made to pay or apologize for the crimes of their forefathers.

My grandad and his brother fought here as past of the New Guinea volunteer rifles. His brother was was captured and went down on the Montevideo Maru. The crap thing was the Australian government didn't recognize their servive until after their death. RIP Norm & Garth.

Painful to imagine what our Uncle Harold Collins went through. But thanks for re-telling this sad story.

amazing how lightly punished the japanese armed forces where, even their reputation is less known rthan any random nazi or even german soldier

Not about WW2 but Vietnam: My dad was a liaison officer who worked directly with and alongside some Australian soldiers in Vietnam, according to dad, those Aussies where real badass's and more so than our own American soldiers, I wasn't there, and can only go on the stories dad told us, but the respect and love for the Aussies he had was astonishing

Dr. Felton has been revealing such vivid illustrations for these chapters of ww2. Its truly intetested. Thanks a lot Dr. Felton

This audio is another classic! I never read much about this particular theatre even in the Staff Colleges. Now I'm better informed. Thanks to you Doc.

My grandfather knew all about how the Japanese treated their POW while somehow surviving 2.5 years on the Burma Railway. RIP these brave Australians

I'm a young Australian and it never ceases to amaze me how my fellow young and old Australians alike, forget how barbaric the Japenese were and how close we were to being conquered. The Japanese got away with their atrocities and yet many Japanese and people like to make out that the Japanese were victims because of the two Atomic bombings. The bombings were awful but if you understand the history prior and what the Japenese did to Asia, you can not help but have very little pitty for them, a cruel symptom of a cruel war. I , like many, love the modern day Japanese now ofcourse, but it still doesn't sit right with me. Atleast now we are strong allies against the new tyranny that is hanging over Asia, Communist China. It is sad to see that the coming conflict with China will likely follow a similar path as the Imperial Japanese conquest did and that it's likely, once again, our little continent shall again be plunged into a desperate war of defence. Love from Australia to all Mark felton viewers and ofcourse to Dr Felton himself. Merry Christmas and holiday.

Cheers Mark, now the weekend can truly begin. I salute you Sir and the content you provide us with. So cheers, from Speybay Scotland.

Much respect 🙏 From the UK 🇬🇧

As an Australian, I'd like to thank you for taking the time in putting this documentary together. Happy new year to all, and Long Live Western Culture.

Another excellent episode. Thankyou from Australia. Gee war is hell. When are we ever going to learn.

Great work as always Mark. As an Australian I found this an excellent account. The history of the Australian army in WW2 is quite unusual. These events certainly doesn't get much coverage here. Naturally the performance of the Australian divisions in the 8th army in North Africa or the militiamen in New Guinea much preferred as topics to talk about. The terrible negligence of the Australian govt and high command in all of this is another reason it gets little attention. Then of course there is the scandal of the use of the Australian army in 1944 mopping up Japanese forces left starving after the American advance across the pacific had cut them off. Rather than leave them to wither the Australian army thought it a good idea to waste lives reducing these pockets. The futility of it all was obvious to the troops who in some cases mutinied for being sent out to die for absolutely no reason. So unlike the Navy or Airforce the history of the Australian army in ww2 is quite chequered.

‘The Knights of Bushido: A Short History of Japanese War Crimes During World War II’ by Lord Russell of Liverpool A good read. Rather difficult, but for the WWII reader it’s a necessity - and a start.

We actually had no trained, experienced troops in Australia to oppose these invasions. Similarly for the Air Force. All our best divisions were either in North Africa or already captured in Singapore. It took until September 1942 for some to return, to be committed in Papua. Even then, Churchill had tried to keep them in Ceylon for the defence of India.

Mark. Thanks for providing my Saturday Night Entertainment!

Thank you Mark Felton for your, matter of fact, reporting of these events. Two uncles were PoW , held by the Japanese during WW2. One was executed at Sandakan, too unwell to commence a march. The other survived forced labour on Blakan Mati but was traumatised by his experiences and even in old age, the scars of his beatings from the Japanese were clear to be seen. The facts of those times need to be preserved to aid remembrance and hopefully, in some way, prevent re-occurrence

It's always a pleasure listenning to you Mark!

Very good series that you plan to cover. So much of the battle in the Pacific remains almost unspoken about. We mainly here tales of large battles like Iwo Jima, Okinawa, or the Philippines. There is so much history to be learned about the battles and even the suffering of soldiers in the Southern Pacific, especially early in the war. Looking forward to more in this series. Thank you Dr. Felton for your always interesting and informative content.

Thank you Dr. Felton for giving us an honest blunt version of these events.

My Father, Jack Barnes, QX53779, fought in Papua, New Guinea, Morotai and New Britain. His war ended in 1947 when he came home after servong with the Commonwealth Occupation Forces. Thank you Mark for telling this story. Lest we forget.

Growing up in Perth in the 90s and early 2000's we never learned this in school. Thanks Mark

You’re the absolute best historical channel out there. They need too give you your own series and big budget. I thought I knew a lot about world war 2 but you never cease too surprise me with new and interesting things.

Thanks Dr Mark Felton as an Australian I never knew this story my grandfather was involved in Tobruk Crete and Papua NG … he told me the Nazis were brutal but the Japanese far worse so thank you for everything you are doing God Bless 🙏❤️

The two six inch guns in Rabaul were re-located there from Fort Wallace in Newcastle when it was re-armed with 9.2 inch guns. The range finder cams on them are labelled "Fort Stockton" which was Wallace's name before being re-named Fort Wallace.

I spent a month in Rabaul earlier this year for work. Being an avid WWII history buff, it was overwhelming to be surrounded by so many reminders of that conflict. Talking to older locals who were handed down stories of the war by family members was a very sobering experience when it comes to the scale of the destruction to Rabaul and the brutality of the Japanese. Standing on a high ridge overlooking Simpson Harbor and imagining B-25s swooping in to strafe dozens of ships with flak exploding everywhere was a sight to behold.

Thanks for this video Mark! Wish you an early Merry Christmas with your family and friends!

Watching Mark Felton's youtube channels is better than anything the History Channel puts out. He has researched diligently to find these small stories to bring to us that a multi million dollar TV channel won't spend the time to research as hard to find. All the History Channel can cover is the big events of wars over and over. Mr. Mark Felton is a treasure to the curious interested in the history of wars.

I can't get enough of your videos. Your truly the best history based person on RU-vid. I was actually looking to get one of your books. Any recommendations on what to read first?

My late father was in Lark Force. They were told” Every man for themselves” on the fall. He escaped as written up in historical records. The sinking of the Montevideo such a tragedy & the loss of many of his friends & companions. His life, never the same after the war and a long recuperation nor ever the same for my family. Still he lived a long life & was a good & honourable man who never spoke or revealed much of war on many fronts. Lark Force history needs to be remembered on many fronts. So thank you. I still remember contacting the 2/22 Association to advise of his death. Such emotion on the line - as said” not many of us left now- hope we can be remembered” . Well, yes always remembered by me & many. Vale. 😢

Wasn't it Rommel who said, "Give me a division of Australians and I'll give you the world"?

Thank you Mr. Felton. With every video/audio I keep learning new things about WWII even as I was an avid Pacific theater history consumer in my youth.

My grandfather fought with the 🇦🇺 army during WW11. I'd like 👍 to see 👀 more about Australian troops during WW11, as I'm a proud Australian. I think there's a little too much about the German's during WW11. I love ❤ your channel, Mark

I hope Mr Felton will do a short episode about the rape and massacre of Australian nurses at Bangka Island. I have the impression that these events have been ignored in the Australian school system, which annoyed many Australian veterans of WW2.

Merry Christmas Dr Felton! 👍🏾

My great uncle Ray Lees was a private in the 1st independent company as part of Lark force. He came from Warrigal in Gippsland Victoria. 1Ind Comp was assigned to defend the airfield at Rabaul where he was wounded and captured by the Japanese. He ended up as one of the POWs onboard the Montevideo Maru and went down with the ship when the USS Sturgeon torpedoed it. RIP Ray.

It is hard to fathom the brutality of Japanese troops. One of my father's friends, a Singaporean Chinese, witnessed his parents being beheaded by the Japanese who brutalised the Chinese population of occupied Singapore. He never forgave them and refused to do business with the Japanese after the war until the day he died.

Thank you, Mark, for telling this story. It’s wonderful to see your attention turn toward Australian military history, however grim the chapter may be.

Love these audio pieces.

Hello Dr. Felton. Always totally absorbed watching your excellent presentations. My uncle was Captain Ben Hooper Medical. Two times in New Guinea on the front line. Twice returned to recover from malaria. Late 1944 he joined Z Special Force. Unfortunately he drowned on manoeuvres off Perth 9th March 1945. Just asking if you do a story on Z Special Force. Many thanks for what you do. Andy from Rockhampton Queensland Australia. Ta mate.

So little is acknowledged about this period of Australian history. The pathetic government attempts at defence and the Japanese cruelty. Thank you for honouring the sacrifice of those brave men given a hopeless job.

Thank you very much, Dr Felton, for this long - awaited episode. It’s of very direct relevance to Tasmanians such as myself. My grandfather was an AIF member of an Anti-Tank regiment that had fought in Greece, Crete, and Syria, prior to redeployment to New Guinea, to replace the very hard-pressed ( and unfairly maligned ) Militia on Kokoda. My great - uncle was a member of the ‘ stay - behind ‘ Commonwealth troops ( mostly Australian and British ) , on what was then Japanese - occupied Portuguese Timor,..conducting guerrilla activities with strong local support. Unfortunately, he ended up as a POW in Changi, not before being forced to watch Japanese ‘ soldiers ‘ enacting brutal acts of horrific violence upon assembled batches of nuns and nurses on the wharves of Singapore.

Mark thanks for the work and effort here again this year and best wishes to you and your family there 🎄

Thank you for researching this and posting Dr Felton. I visited the former POW camp in Sandakan in Borneo about 10 years ago. It would great if you would be able to cover that story and the sad fate of the Australian 8th Division soldiers who ended up there after the fall of Singapore.

The Japanese soldiers were taught death before dishonor, that the enemy were not humans and that surrender was not to be accepted. It was the Japanese divine right to conquer the world and anyone in their way was to be removed. Even to this day Japan have not acknowledged some* of the horrible war crimes.

Thank you for making this video. We can’t forget.

My pop was a z unit comando, and the stories he use to tell us of the Japanese treatment of soldiers were terrible,he had buttons made of cyanide incase of capture

Dr Felton as you get closer to Kokoda, I would love for you to do something on Brigadier Arnold Potts & perhaps one of the greatest fighting withdrawals of any Australian body of troops. Mind you this is 2 years old ,shame I hadn't seen this sooner. Thankyou.

I always find it very hard when reading or seeing the history of my country men at the hands of the Japanese.

Thanks Dr. Felton for supplying the map. I usually have to go back and forth stopping the video without one.

The Imperial Japanese Military: Where every unit in all branches were Dirlewangers.

This is my first time listening to this. I thought it was a brilliant presentation and very clear. I'll get right into this Mate. Keep up the good work

my grandfather was on the last plane out of Ambon and to his dying day he was 'exceptionally crooked' on the organisation that was non existent at Ambon and other 'defensive positions'. One story is that some prisoners were put into bamboo cages bayoneted and then thrown into the sea at Ambon to be eaten alive by sharks. I don't doubt the truth of this particular story. You should do a story on Vivian Bullwinkle sole survivor of 20 odd shipwreck survivors who where machine gunned in the ocean on I believe Banka Island

Thanks Mark, my dad and uncle fought in Borneo and surroundings Islands against the Japanese. Man that's a bitter pill to swallow.

It would be really hard to show an enemy,in this case the Japanese,any sort of mercy or any "leniency" when they turned it around and it was the Japanese in captivity,I imagine plenty of the allied troops would have been happy to put a bullet between their eyes, but as we know it didn't go down like that

That's insanely dark. Great episode man but damn! Keep em coming

My great grandfather fought in PNG, then joined the special forces as a human guinea pig for testing of chemical warfare. Typical Aussie: “the fun really started”

My great uncle is Lieutenant Ron J Green. Gullforce P.O.W. In Ambon. Went out to work with troops every day but didn’t have to because of rank. Lucky to be one of roughly 300 out of 1100 to survive.

Ah yes Australians, great soldiers repeatedly given undoable jobs to do in countless wars. One of the reasons why many older Australians are still anti Brit, even though our heritage may be from there. Shafted again and again by the motherland. Also some ill feelings to the Japanese from the old timers.

Yay! At last. I've been waiting for the Australian story. Thank you. Excellent programs.

The old guy who lived next door when i was a kid drove landing craft in the pacific. Super nice guy, he didn't hate anything except the Japanese. Even at the end of his life 60 years later. I don't even know if he saw it first hand, but just knowing what they did to others like him stuck with him the rest of his life.

...& some people question why Australians of the WW2 generations were never able to forgive (&/or forget) the Japanese (& the many atrocities they committed in WW2) in the 'Post WW2' era.

Thankyou for this, with the coming anzac day it was great to have some stuff to watch to help me remember. My grampa fought in the battle of darwin.

Australia basically gets no love for our efforts in ww1 and ww2 . Nice to see some coverage.

Nothing like an interesting history lesson from dr. Felton.

*Gets stabbed 11 times by a bayonet Crikey that’s it -Chad Aussie

Thank you Mark for bringing this history to the forefront. All too often the Australian contribution to the war is left aside. I am always interested in their involvement and their sacrifices.

My uncle was beheaded on Ambon he was with the Larhar garrison...he was with GULL FORCE. MacArthur failed to OK the rescue attempts.

What a dire situation, happy to hear that some made it back.

Such brutal people. This was 80 years ago. There is something never talked about in Japanese people where they can act so horrid. And somehow the ability to act like brutal animals just left their souls in just a few years of the wars end. I'm not buying it. I don't know what to think

Mark, perhaps do a video on an extremely saddening event with Aussie soldiers in WW2. In the Australian War Memorial, there is a room devoted entirely to the Borneo Sandakan Death March, where all Aussie/Brit POWs died during march, except for six Aussies who escaped into the jungle, and were able to tell the story. Approx 1,787 Australians and 641 British soldiers died between January and August 1945. A rescue plan was activated but appears not to have been followed through.

as a canadian and human i bow to these aussie heroes defending australia

In the early days of WW2, my father was a boot maker, and the Australian army recruitment people came around to the factory in Sydney asking for volunteers to join up. (That was before conscription was made compulsory). As boot making was a protected war industry no one was obliged to join, but many of the younger workers signed up, my mother wouldn't let my dad join as they were just married and had just had a baby (my eldest brother). Many of those that did join up eventually were sent to Singapore and many ended up as slave labourers on the Burma railway. My dad was a little guy, I doubt he would have survived the atrocities of the railway, and if he had gone I wouldn't be here to type this story... One of my father's brothers fought in New Guinea, and was part of a prisoner guard squad that guarded some of the few Japanese soldiers that were captured alive, years later one of the Japanese soldiers contacted my uncle and came to Australia to visit him, they got on well together, not everyone hated the Japanese.

Salute from 🇺🇸 to 🇦🇺

Thank you for another great video on WWII Dr. Felton

Tough choice.. fight or surrender. Die fighting or die after surrendering. As the war progressed Australians learnt to never surrender.

Can't wait for Episode 2!

I am always amazed by the toughness of the Australians. This should all be remembered, for a similar fate would await them at the hands of the Chinese.