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BRIG. BLACKBURN, V.C.,
IN PERTH
Brief Parafield Stop
Today
STORY OF JAVA
HEROISM
PERTH, September 13
Brig. A. S. Blackburn, VC, of Adelaide, GOC of
the AIF in Java, arrived here by air today from
Colombo, after having spent three and a half
years as a prisoner of war in Japanese hands.
Brig. Blackburn, who was released recently from a prison
camp at Mukden in Manchuria, will leave for Melbourne
tomorrow with a number of important records and re-
ports for the military authorities. He will be at Parafield
for a brief stop about 6 p.m. tomorrow.
High praise of the Australians and other troops that he com-
manded in the hopeless fight to defend Java was ex-
pressed by Brig. Blackburn, who told, for the first time,
the story of that gallant campaign against overwhelming
Japanese forces
Brig. Blackburn commanded a composite brigade, consist
ing of the 2/2nd Pioneer Battalion, the 2/3rd Machine
Gun Battalion, a transport company, about 500 mixed in-
fantry reinforcements from various sources, and other
divisional troops, all of whom were Australians, and por-
tion of an American artillery battalion, National Guard
men from Texas, and a detachment of light tanks from
the King's Own Hussars.
Composite Brigade
"The small composite brigade
that I had was given the task of
holding up the advance of the
Japanese who were trying to cut
off Batavia," said Brig. Blackburn.
"We were attacked continuously
for 72 hours by a whole Japanese
division, fully equipped, which was
endeavoring to smash through to
cut off the railway from Java to
the interior
"The Japanese general and also
the head of their intelligence ser-
vice, subsequently admitted to me
that they suffered over 500 dead,
apart from other casualties, in try-
ing to break through our line
"At the end of 72 hours we were
ordered by the C-in-C, Allied
Forces in Java (Gen. Terpoorten)
to withdraw, and at that time the
Japanese had not penetrated one
yard past the defensive position
which we had decided to hold
Men Outnumbered
"My men were outnumbered at
least four or five to one, but by
sheer fighting ability and bravery
they held up the whole of this
Japanese division
The Japanese commander sub-
sequently refused to believe either
myself or Maj-Gen Sitwell, Com-
mander of the British forces, or
Gen. Schilling, Commander of the
Dutch forces in western Java, when
we told him that there had been
only a brigade opposing his forces.
He said that nothing less than a
division could possibly have held
up his men as effectively as we did
"We withdrew from the defensive
positions we were occupying at
about 3 o'clock on the afternoon of
February 5, and at 7 o'clock that
night the advance Japanese ele-
ments entered the outskirts of a
town some miles behind a position
which we had been covering. About
an hour later they started very
cautiously to enter the town A
very small detachment of Dutch
cavalry rode into the opposite out-
skirts of the town on a reconnais-
sance, and the Japanese, as we
were subsequently told, fearing
that they were walking into a trap,
retired right out of the town for
over a mile, and would not again
venture into it for four and a half
hours
Into Mountains
"On March 8 Gen. Terpoorten
found that further resistance
against the Japanese in Java was
useless, and surrendered I took
my brigade up into the mountains
at the back of Bandoeng when I
heard that the surrender was
imminent, in the hope that
the brigade might manage
to make its way through
the jungle to the other coast, and
there be taken off by naval ships
for transport to Australia
"I and my men were confident
that we could resist the Japanese
for some considerable time. I then
found, however, that all communi-
cation with Australia was cut off,
and that a wireless transmitting
set previously in use by the British
headquarters had been destroyed
There was no set capable of reach-
ing Australia, and our medical sup-
plies were inadequate for the wet
season, which was then on
Surrender Decision
"In the jungle country where
there was no shelter for the men, I
decided that to continue in the
mountains, with no prospect of be-
ing got out, could only result in
heavy loss of life among my men
from sickness, as the doctors had
warned me that malaria, pneumo-
nia, and so on would be very pre-
valent among them I therefore
surrendered on March 12
"I was kepi in Batavia until De-
cember, 1942 and during this time
had most of my own men with me,
until they were gradually shifted
up to Burma and Siam I was
then moved, with the other senior
officers, by way of Japan to For-
mosa, and was kept in various
camps in Formosa until October,
1944 Then I was suddenly flown
across to Japan and from there
taken by steamer across to south-
ern Korea, and then by rail to
a place about 200 miles north of
Mukden, in Manchuria where we
spent the winter
"In May of this year other senior
officers and myself were brought
down to the main camp in Muk-
den, and remained there until
Japan surrendered "
Brig Blackburn said that the
prisoners at the camp north of
Mukden included the Governor-
General of the Netherlands East
Indies, (Jonkheer Dr. A. W. L. ||
|| BRONSON'S, where even a
leopard can change his spots. ** ||
Tjarda van Starkenberg-Stachou-
wer) the Governor of Sumatra
(Mr. A. I. Spits), the Governor of
North Borneo (Mr. C E Smith)
the Governor of Hongkong (Sir
Mark Young), the Governor of the
Malay States (Sir Shenton
Thomas), the Chief Justice of the
Federated Malay States (Sir Percy
McIlraine) the Chief Justice of
Singapore (Sir Harry Trusted)
Gen. Percival, Commander of the
British forces in Malaya, Gen.
Wainwright, Commander of the US
forces on Bataan Maj-Gen. C A
Callaghan who commanded the
8th Division in succession to Lt-
Gen. Gordon Bennett, Air Vice-
Marshal P. C. Maltby, Com-
manding the RAF in Malaya,
Lt-Gen. L. Heath, Comman-
der of the Indian Army
Corps in Malaya, Maj-Gen. N
Maltby, Commander-in-Chief
Hongkong; Commodore C Collin-
son, Commodore of Hongkong;
Maj-Gen. H. W. Sitwell, GOC Bri-
tish Forces in Java; Gen. W. Key,
Commander of the 11th Indian
Division in Malaya; Maj-Gen.
Keith Simmons (who passed
through Perth today on his way by
Flying Fortress from India to the
eastern States) and nine Dutch
generals
Swift Flight
A week ago today I was in a
prison camp in Mukden," said Brig
Blackburn. "Since then I have
flown right across China over the
Himalayas, down the whole length
of India to Colombo, and from Co-
lombo to Australia. It has rather
taken my breath away as to what
modern transport is like. It was a
remarkable thing to be flying in a
large American plane over central
China, and to sit listening to music
broadcast from New York "
Brig. Blackburn said that tomor-
row he would leave for Melbourne
with a number of very important
records and reports, which he was
anxious to furnish to the authori-
ties as early as possible It was
for that purpose that he was
flown out of Mukden
"Conditions were extremely
bad," said Brig Blackburn when
speaking of the Japanese prison
camps for senior officers. "The
treatment was degrading ex-
tremely humiliating, and, in many
cases, brutal, but there were not
in these camps the atrocities that
we know characterised many of
the camps where senior officers
were not imprisoned
"In our camps we were for prac-
tically the whole time underfed
We all lost weight to a very large
extent. Beating up of Governors,
generals and everyone else was an
almost everyday occurrence After
we were moved to Manchuria the
beatings up so far as the senior
officers were concerned, practically
ceased Little, if any, respect was
paid to the rank and dignity of the
senior officers who were prisoners
of the Japanese The principle, in
general, seemed to be to do all in
their power to belittle and humi-
liate anyone holding senior rank
No Humility
"Every person in the camp, how-
ever senior his rank, had to salute
or bow to the meanest Japanese
private and was punished for
failure to do so
Senior officers as a body stead
fastly declined to show any signs
of humility to the Japanese, while
in no way being arrogant to them
but the mere fact that they
refused to acknowledge that they
were inferior persons to the Japa-
nese was one reason why the Japa-
nese persisted in their brutality
"One Japanese officer on one
occasion admitted that the fact
that British officers and men main-
tained their courage and indepen-
dence despite the treatment they
had received was infuriating to the
Japanese
I should use to express the
gratitude of all of us for the dig
nified and courageous attitude
taken right through the whole
imprisonment by Gen Percival
who never ceased at whatever
cost to himself to protest against
the treatment meted out to British
prisoners of war both officers and
other ranks as well as to the
officers and other ranks of other
Allied nations "
Brig Blackburn hopes soon to
rejoin his wife and two daughters
in Adelaide Two of his sons are
serving with the AIF in Borneo
One, Capt R A Blackburn who is
now with the headquarters of the
9th Division, was the South Aus-
tralian Rhodes Scholar for 1940 but
the war has so far prevented him
from proceeding to England to con-
tinue his studies. The other son is
Capt. R. S. Blackburn.
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