CHAPTER 20 SECURING BRITISH BORNE O Y 16th June Brunei and Labuan Island, except for the Pocket, had B been won and two subsidiary operations had been ordered . One, as mentioned earlier, was the landing of a reinforced battalion about Miri . The other was the seizure of Weston, on the mainland east of Labuan . This task was given to the 2/32nd Battalion, part of the divisional reserve; it had landed on Labuan on the 12th. The 2/32nd and troops attache d to it were now to land and take Weston and thence reconnoitre across country and by river to- wards Beaufort with a view to the eventual capture of that town by the 24th Brigade. The principal remaining element of the divisional reserve—the 2/ 12th Com- mando Squadron — was given the task of making sure that the outlying parts of Labuan Island were cleared of Japanese, while the 2/28th Battalion, with air and artillery support , reduced the Pocket. The squadron had embarked under the command of th e 2/32nd Battalion, and ha d now been on Labuan Island for nine days . The island was divided into -- troop areas and patrolling 3°° 400 began. In the next eleven 14th-21st June days patrols took one prisoner and killed 27 Japanese, most of them after an enemy raid on th e B .B.C.A.U. area on 24th June. On the 26th Lieutenant Johnstone's1 section found a party of Japanese, evidently those who had made the raid , and killed 14 in a swift skirmish in which two Australians were wounded . Meanwhile the pressure against the Pocket had continued . On the after- noon of 14th June a company of the 2/28th had attacked the Pocket after the artillery had fired 250 rounds . The company met heavy fire fro m mortars and machine-guns, a flanking attack failed, and it withdrew . On Lt W. P. Johnstone, VX100050 ; 2/12 Cdo Sqn. Clerk ; of Colac, Vic ; b . Colac, 8 Aug 1921 . 14-18 June BOMBARDING THE POCKET 473 the 15th the 2/12th Field Regiment continued bombarding the Pocke t and in the next five days and nights hurled 140 tons of shells into it . Within the Pocket were three main areas of high ground : Eastman Spur overlooking the northern approaches, particularly Lyon Ridge which le d in from the north ; Lushington Ridge which dominated the easter n approach; Norman Ridge overlooking the whole area from the west . There were only two feasible approaches : a heavily-mined track on Lyo n Ridge along which it would be possible for tanks to move, and a trac k through swamp to the razor-backed Lushington Ridge and along it to Norman Ridge. On 15th June the 2/11th Commando Squadron had probed from th e north and reported that the track on Lyon Ridge was suitable for tanks provided a large bomb crater was filled. So, on the morning of the 16th , Major Lyon's company of the 2/28th with a troop of tanks (Lieutenan t Ha112 ) attacked this side of the Pocket. The advance began at 8 .45. One platoon moved forward and protected a bulldozer while it filled in th e crater. Then the advance was continued, and by 10 .20 the first ridge had been taken, but heavy fire from the next one pinned the infantry down and damaged a tank. Lieutenant Sweet's3 section of the 2/11th Com- mando which was protecting Colonel Norman ' s tactical headquarters wa s sent forward on the left of Lyon's company . It came under sharp fire , the two leading men were killed and Sweet wounded . Corporal Carland 4 took command, coolly reorganised the men, and put them in a defensiv e position. At midday Lieutenant Avern's troop of tanks relieved Hall's whos e tanks remained with a fresh company (Captain Eastman) which was dig- ging in on the ground that had been taken . The tanks pushed 150 yard s ahead of the infantry and killed 8 or 10 Japanese . One tank was hit with a bomb, which jammed the turret and wounded the driver; another was bogged 50 yards ahead of the infantry . In the day the six tanks fired 268 shells and 16,000 rounds of machine-gun ammunition . In the fight, which went on all day, Lyon and Padre W . E. Holt who was helping the wounded were hit, Holt mortally . Padre Ballard,5 who was with the 2/11th Commando, also went forward with stretcher bearers and organised the rescue of wounded. By 6.15 p.m. Eastman's company had relieved the leading company, now under Lieutenant Graffin° ; it had lost 5 killed and 23 wounded. It was decided to continue bombarding the area unti l it could be taken with fewer casualties. The field guns bombarded the Pocket heavily for two days ; and on the 18th the cruiser Shropshire also shelled it with its 8-inch guns, a spotter 2 Lt J . S . Hall, NX122887 ; 2/9 Armd Regt . Insurance clerk; of Roseville, NSW; b. Bondi, NSW, 3 Nov 1922 . a Lt J . Sweet, WX28581 ; 2/11 Cdo Sqn . Clerk ; of Maylands, WA ; b. Dwellingup, WA, 2 1 Dec 1919 . Cpl J . G . V . Carland, MM, VX33023 . 9 Cav Regt and 2/11 Cdo Sqn . Truck driver ; o f Nathalia, Vic ; b . Nathalia, 9 Oct 1916 . a Chaplain Rev H. R. Ballard, MC, SX22714. 2/4 LAA Regt and 2/11 Cdo Sqn . Congregational minister ; of Renmark, SA ; b . Nairne, SA, 23 Sep 1910. a Lt L. R . Grafrm, WX18204; 2/28 Bn . Accountant ; of Darwin ; b. Kalgoorlie, WA, 5 Oct 1916. 474 SECURING BRITISH BORNEO 18-21 June in an Auster aircraft directing the fire ; shell splinters weighing more than a pound fell hundreds of yards from the shell-bursts. On the 19th the infantry continued to probe the area, supported by Avem's tanks, an d killed 10 Japanese, Avern, who was directing fire from the ground b y walkie-talkie, and two others being wounded. On 20th June the bom- bardment was intensified : the 12th Battery fired 1,440 shells into th e Pocket and six bombers struck it . The battery brought its fire to withi n 40 yards of the forward weapon-pits without mishap . It was decided that the Pocket had now been "sufficiently softened up" and would be capture d next day by two companies supported by tanks, including flame-throwers . At 4.30 a.m. next morning troops in and round Labuan town were awakened by the sound of firing close by . For an hour or two there was confused fighting in which the engineers, pioneers and other troops of the Beach Group were involved . It eventually appeared that about 50 Japanese had stealthily moved out from the Pocket through the swamps and raided the base at Labuan. One small group attacked the guard of the prisoner- of-war cage where one Australian and two Japanese, armed with swords , were killed . The detachment of the American Boat and Shore Regimen t was attacked and lost 3 killed and 8 wounded. One group attacked the lines of the 2/ 1st Docks Operating Company. Sergeant Antill7 organised a small party which, armed only with rifles, held the raiders off fo r two hours and then Antill organised a party which mopped up the remain- ing Japanese. This swiftly-arranged defence by a few men of a non - combatant unit probably saved heavy losses among large numbers of men sleeping in the area . Altogether 32 Japanese were killed round Labuan . The 2/7th Field Company withstood attack by a subsidiary raiding party equipped with aerial bombs which thrust at the northern end of th e airstrip, evidently with the object of destroying the Spitfires there . The engineers killed 11 and had one man killed and 4 wounded by Japanes e bayonets. At 9 a.m. Colonel Norman sent a platoon into the town in trucks to help in the mopping up, but by that time they were not needed . Meanwhile the 2/28th had opened its two-company attack on th e Pocket, whose garrison had now been much reduced by the loss of th e raiding parties . The artillery again bombarded the small area and at 10 a.m. on the 21st Captain Lushington's company with a troop of tank s thrust westward along the track on Lushington Ridge while Major Lyon's company with one troop of tanks and two flame-throwing Frogs thrus t into the Pocket from Eastman Spur . In an hour and a half Lushington' s company was half way through the Pocket and under rifle fire . They were then halted by Norman lest they come under fire from Lyon moving down from the north, and now half way into the Pocket . The Frogs then overcame all opposition. The enemy offered little resistance and appeared completely dazed as a result o f the "softening up" process . Any offensive spirit which he had left was quickly 4 Sgt E . J . Antill, MM, NX88163 ; 2/1 Docks Operating Coy. Haulage contractor ; of Wagga Wagga, NSW; b . Adelong, NSW, 13 Jan 1910. June1945 ALONG THE RAILWAY 475 lost when the Frogs commenced projecting streams of flame at medium machine-gu n positions. During the day 60 Japanese were killed and a considerable quantity o f equipment of all types was captured .8 Later in the afternoon bulldozers were burying the Japanese dea d of whom about 100 were counted, about 40 of these evidently having been killed in the earlier fighting and bombardments.