Oboe Six Opens
CHAPTER 1 9 OBOE SIX OPEN S HILE the Japanese were launching their final, hopeless counter- W attack against the 26th Brigade in the hills above Tarakan town th e remainder of the 9th Division was landing in north Borneo . Its tasks were "to secure the Brunei Bay area of north Borneo, to permit establishmen t of an advanced fleet base, and to protect oil and rubber resources therein" . Brunei Bay is the best harbour on the north-wes t coast of Borneo . It is about 30 miles by 30 and pro- tected by a group of islands across the northern entrance, the largest being Labuan, a triangular piece of land with sides 8 to 1 2 miles long. Labuan town had a population, before the war, of 8,500 and possessed some port facili- ties ; the Japanese had made two airfields on the island. Except for about 1,500 yards of beach in Victoria Harbour (named Brown Beach for staff purposes) and a few small beaches MILES 100 1°0 MILE S elsewhere, the island was surrounded by reefs . On the mainland about 25 miles east of Labuan wa s the town of Weston from which a light railway ran north-east throug h Beaufort to Jesselton, 55 miles away, and at this time the site of th e headquarters of the XXXVII Japanese Army. The main network of com- munication was formed, however, not by the roads and railway but b y the rivers: the Papar, Klias, Padas, Trusan, Pandaruan, Limbang, Belait and Baram. At the southern tip of Brunei Bay was Muara Island, low-lying an d scrub-covered.
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