by Kumis Kumis
1941
December 7th – Japan
Attack on Pearl Harbor (Sunday Morning, 7.48 a.m.)
December 8th – Japan Attack Philippines (9 hours after the
attack on Pearl Harbour)
December 8th – Japan declare war on Britain and United
States
December 10th – Sinking of HMS Prince of Wales and HMS
Repulse in the South China Sea off the east coast of the British Colony Malaya
December 16th – Japanese landed at Miri and Lutong, Sarawak,
and Kuala Belait and Seria, Brunei, Borneo
December 18th – Bombing and strafing of Kuching. 83 locals
killed.
December 24th – Japanese assault Kuching
December 30th – Brunei captured by Japanese
1942
January 1st – Japanese landed at Labuan. British North
Borneo falls to the Japanese
January 2nd – Japanese land in BNB and capture Weston
January 3rd – Japanese captured Mempakul and Beaufort
January 9th – Japanese captured Jesselton
January 11th – Japanese invaded Tarakan, Dutch Borneo
January 13th – Tarakan surrenders
January 19th – Sandakan captured. All European Officials
immediately arrested and interned with certain exception.
January 23rd – Battle of Rabaul, New Guinea
January 24th – Tawau captured
January 24th – Japanese invaded Balikpapan, Dutch Borneo
January 25th – Japanese secured Balikpapan, Dutch Borneo
January 26th – Lahad Datu captured
February 1st – Kudat Captured. BNB occupied by Japanese.
February 8th – Battle for Singapore Island begins
February 10th – Japanese land at Bandjermasin, the
administrative capital of Dutch Borneo
February 14th – Battle of Palembang, Sumatra
February 15th – Singapore Falls. Australian 8th Division
surrenders with British Forces in Malaya
March 1st – Japanese invaded Java
March – First POWs arrive at Batu Lintang Camp, Kuching,
Sarawak
April 9th – American and Filipino forces led by Major
General Edward P. King surrender at Bataan, Philippines
May – Japanese Garrison Army (South) Balikpapan and Tarakan,
(North) HQ located at Miri, then Kuching under command Lt General Marquis Meada
Toshinari
May 6th – General Lt General Jonathan M Wainwright
surrenders at Corregidor, Philippines
May 16th - The Europeans officials West Coast Residency
arrested and interned
June 4th – Battle of Midway (June 4th to June 7th)
July 7th – 1500 Australian POWs sent to Sandakan, North
Borneo
July 18th – Australian POWs arrived Sandakan to construct an
Airfield
August – Sandakan POW camp underground established by
Captain Lionel Matthews
August 15th – Hoshijima officially appointed camp commandant
August 25th – 2 escapees recaptured
September 5th – All male internees held in Jesselton
transferred to Batu Lintang Camp, Kuching
September 9th – Male Internees held in Jesselton arrive at
Batu Lintang Camp, Kuching
September 20th – All female internees and children held in
Jesselton transferred to Batu Lintang Camp, Kuching
September 25th - All female internees and children held in
Jesselton arrive at Batu Lintang Camp, Kuching
November – POWs in Sandakan Camp established intelligence
group liaison with local police to assist Allied invasion
1943
January 11th – Berhala Internees (women and children) leave
for Batu Lintang Camp, Kuching
January 20th - Berhala Internees (women and children) arrive
at Batu Lintang Camp, Kuching
March 4th - Berhala Male Internees leave for Batu Lintang
Camp, Kuching
March 13th - Berhala Male Internees arrive at Batu Lintang
Camp, Kuching
April 8th – 200 British POWs from Java arrived at Sandakan
April 18th – 576 British POWs from Java arrived at Sandakan
April –500 Australian POWs from Singapore arrive in Sandakan
and are kept in separate compound
April 30th – Wallace, Harvey and Mac Kay Escapes
May 11th – Harvey and Mac Kay recaptured and shot dead
May 30th – Wallace hides on Berhala
June – Eight Australian escape from Berhala Island in
Sandakan (Lt Charles Wagner, Sgt Rex Butler, Captain Raymond Steele, Lt Rex
Blow, Lt Leslie Gillion, Sapper Jim Kennedy, Private Robert Mc Laren and Sgt
Walter)
July 17th – Sandakan Underground betrayed
July 22nd - Captain Lionel Matthews and many POWs and
natives arrested. intelligence organisation collapses
July 24th – Wells arrested
August 16th – 31 British officers transferred to Batu
Lintang, Kuching with 9 remaining
August 18th – British POWs moved to Sandakan No. 2 Camp
October 6th – Australian commando party under Gort Chester,
codenamed “PHYTON” land within 160 km of Sandakan POWs camp. Establish
Observation Station overlooking Sibutu Channel and Radio Contact with Australia
October 9th – Start of Double 10 Uprising in Jesselton
October 16th – All Australian Officers, less 8, transferred
to Batu Lintang Camp, Kuching
October 25th – Captain Lionel Matthews and those arrested in
the Sandakan Incident transferred to Kuching.
November – the eight Australian who escaped from Sandakan
reach Mindanao
December 19th – Albert Kwok, Leader of the Double Tenth
Uprising surrenders
December – the Australian Blow, Gillon, Steele and Mc Laren
join Colonel Wendell Fertig’s guerrilla organisation – Lt Wagner killed in action
1944
January – PYTHON reinforced by Phase 2
January 21st – Albert Kwok and 175 of his followers executed
at Petagas, A further 131 followers sent to Labuan.
February 9th – Sgt Brandis, AGAS, captured by Japanese
February 16th – Japanese discovered and begin search of
“PYTHON”; Captain Steele received order to be evacuated from Mindanao by
submarine to Australia
February 29th - Sandakan Incident conspirators tried and
sentenced in Kuching
March – Major Jinkins evacuated by USS Narwhal
March 2nd – Captain Matthews and 8 locals short by firing
squad in Kuching
March - Captain Ray Steele, one of the escapees from Berhala
island off Sandakan reaches Australia
March 24th - Japanese capture Lt Rudwick and Sgt Mc Kenzie,
PYTHON party
April – Japanese react to presence of Australians close to
POW Camp ordering rice ration to be reduced
May 5th – 96 locals tortured and executed at Batu Tiga Gaol,
Jesselton
June 8th – Last of PYTHON evacuated by USS HARDER. Sandakan
POWs now on starvation ration
June – 100 British POWs transferred from Sandakan to Labuan
July – Last Japanese Ship into Sandakan
July 5th – Gort Chester submit plans to SRD for rescue of
the Sandakan POWs
August 1st – Plan for Op AGAS and rescue submitted
August 15th – 200 British POWs from Kuching arrive at
Labuan.
August 18th – AGAS training begins
August 22nd – AGAS plans returned to SRD
September – Allied invasion forces take Morotai 1000 km from
Sandakan. Lt Rudwick, Sgts. Brandis and Mc Kenzie taken from Sandakan to
Jesselton for trial
September – Air raids begin on Sandakan town, aerodrome and surrounding
area
October 20th – US forces land on Leyte in the Philippines.
November - Allied planes over Sandakan almost daily. Complex
rescue plans drawn up.
December - B24s blast Sandakan Christmas day
December 15th – Sandakan rescue plans approved by General Mc
Arthur
December 30th – Australian commandos Lt Rudwick, Sgt Mc
Kenzie and Sgt Brandis sentenced to death.
1945
January - General Baba takes command of Japanese 37 Army in
Borneo. POWs cease work on airfield
January 10th – Global orders from Tokyo that all POWs to be
eliminated by whatever means.
January 16th – AGAS party deploy to BNB
January 28th - First death march of 455 POWs (335 Australian
and 120 British) left Sandakan for 164-mile march to Ranau, in 9 groups
escorted by Yamamoto’s Unit
February – only 160 men reach Ranau. after a month these
number had been reduced to 60 of whom only 30 were fit enough to carry rice
February – Japanese long march from Tawau to Jesselton
March 1st – Crease and Cleary escape from Ranau
March 3rd – AGAS land on BNB
March 12th - Cleary Recaptured
March 13th - Crease recaptured
March 14th – Crease shot dead at Ranau
March 17th – Hoshijima in Sandakan receives order that all
POWs to be eliminated
March 20th – Cleary dies at Ranau
March – of the about 1245 POWs who were left behind at
Sandakan 317 had died
March 25th – SEMUT 1 parachute in near Bario. Commanded by
Major Tom Harrison
Original OBOE 1, 1st April 1945
April 16th – Movement of POWs confirmed and rescue mission
abandoned
April 16th – SEMUT 2 and SEMUT 3 parachute in near Bario.
Commanded by Major Toby Carter and Captain Bill Sochon
April – SEMUT 4 commanded by Major Jinkins
Troop Concentration
OBOE 1, 2 and 6
May 1st – OBOE 1 amphibious landing at Tarakan (Battle of
Tarakan May 1st to June 21st)
May – when Captain Takakuwa relieved captain Hoshijima as
commandant of the mile 8 camp, there were less than 900 POWs alive, about 400
of whom were bedridden
May 27th – Combined air and sea attack on Sandakan Town.
Kempei-tei executed 30 English speaking Chinese in Sandakan
May 28th – 824 POWs were left alive and Takakuwa planned
that 12 parties involving 500 Australian and 100 British be organised into
three groups to make the march to Ranau
May 29th – The hospital patients were left in rows in open
ground and their huts set alight. the Japanese pushed 536 men (439 Australian
and 97 British) outside the camp gates and the second death march began
May – Japanese kill many local, men, women, children in
Sandakan in reprisal for air/sea attack on Sandakan
June 7th – Owen Campbell escapes from Death March
June 8th – Richard Braithwaite escapes from Death March
North Borneo Operations
OBOE 6
June 10th – OBOE 6, 9th Australian Division amphibious
landing Brunei and Labuan (June 10th – June 15th – Battle of North Borneo and
Labuan)
June 15th – Third Death March party left Sandakan numbering
about 75. Within 78 km at Tankual Crossing all were dead
June 17th – 2/32nd Cross Brunei bay in landing craft to
Weston and by end of the day they had reached Lingkungan (the order was to
clear Klias Peninsula and follow the railway from Weston to Papar)
June 18th – 2/32nd reached Maraba from Weston, patrol Padas
River and advanced to Beaufort
June 19th – 2/43rd landed at Menumbok to move to Beaufort
via Klias River and 2/11th Commando Squadron landed at Mempakul
June 28th - 183 POWs (142 Australian and 41 British) arrived
at Ranau. They were met by only 6 survivors from the 1st march, only one of
whom was British. They left behind 353 of their colleagues (295 Australian and
56 British) and two had escaped.
June 29th – Beaufort was captured (Battle of Beaufort - June
27th to June 28th with 800 to 1000 Japanese Soldier)
July 1st – OBOE 2, 7th Australian Division amphibious
landing at Balikpapan, Dutch Borneo (July 1st to July 21st – Battle of
Balikpapan)
July 6th – Keningau 5 executed (Cho Huan Lai, Cyril Drummond
Le Gros Clark, Valentine Stokes, Henry William Webber and Donald Mc Donald)
July 7th – Keith Botteril, Nelson Short, William Moxham
successfully escape Death March
July 10th – 2/32nd moved to Papar by Railway and other
companies made an amphibious landing south of Town.
July 12th – Papar was occupied
July 13th – 100 POWs were still alive
July 18th - 72 POWs were still alive
July 26th – 40 POWs were still alive when Warrant Officer
Bill Sticpewich and Private Algy Reither escaped.
August 1st – only 32 POWs were alive at Ranau when Captain
Takakuwa gave the order for their execution, which was carried out in three
separate batches
August – Execution of 7 priest and 3 altar boys from St
Michael Mission at Tenom, BNB
August 6th – Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima
August 9th – Atomic Bombing of Nagasaki
August 15th – The Surrender of Japan
August 20th – Sandakan Camp abandoned by the Japanese
August 27th – Massacre of last 15 Australian and British
POWs ar Ranau. Japanese abandoned Ranau Camp and move to Jesselton
September 10th – Lt General Baba Masao surrender to Major
General Wooten at Labuan
September 12th – BMA formally took over from Japanese
September 15th - Colonel Imura surrendered to Brigadier
General Porter, Commander of the Australian 24th Brigade at Papar
September 17th - Major General Akashi at Papar surrendered
to Brigadier General Porter at Beaufort
September 28th - Australian forces liberated Jesselton
October 19th - Australian forces liberated Sandakan
October 20th - Australians arrived at Tawau
Lest We Forget
Disclaimer: We are unable to include all that occurred
simultaneously be it local or Global events but we tried our best to include
most of the significant or key events in this simple timeline in order for us
to be able to visualize what transpired during the Second World War 1941-1945
and Japanese Occupation in North Borneo, Sabah.
Source:
1. Christopher Dawson – Lest We Forget 1945-1995
2. William E Thomason – March to Ranau
3. Don Wall - Abandoned
4. John SM Tulloch – The Borneo Graveyard
5. Australia War Memorial
6. Stephen R Evans – Sabah Under the Rising Sun
7. Maxwell Hall – Kinabalu Guerrillas
8. Paul Ham – Sandakan
9. Ross Ibbotson – The Building of The North Borneo Railway
and The Founding of Jesselton
10. Danny Wong Tze Ken – One Crowded Moment of Glory
11. Lynette Ramsay Silver – Sandakan A Conspiracy of Silence
12. Dr Richard Reid, Robert Pounds and Courtney Page –
Laden, Fevered, Starved
13. Walter Wallace – Escape from Hell
14. Christopher Dawson – To Sandakan = The Diaries of
Charlie Johnstone
15. Kevin Smith – Borneo Australia Proud but Tragic Heritage
16. Don Wall – Sandakan The Last March
17. Peter Firkins – From Hell to Eternity
18. Michelle Cunningham – Hell on Earth
19. Ross Ibbotson – The History of Logging in North Borneo
20. Doreen Hurst – Sandakan 1942-1945
21. Richard Wallace Braithwaite – Fighting Monster
22. Peter Firkins – Borneo Surgeon
23. Athol Moffitt -Project Kingfisher
24. Leslie Bunn Glover – The Boy from Bowen
25. Tom Harrison – The World Within
26. Jack Wong Sue – Blood on Borneo
27. Anthony Hill – The Story of Billy Young
28. Yuki Tanaka – Hidden Horrors
29. Jerome T Hagen – War in The Pacific
30. Michele Cunningham – Defying the Odds
31. Arkib Negeri Sabah – World War 2
32. Don Wall - Kill the Prisoners
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