The members of the Australian battalion of Gull Force endured some of the harshest prisoner of war conditions of any Australian during the Second World War.
In February 1942, on the remote island of Ambon in Indonesia, 1150 Australian soldiers were preparing for invasion by Japanese forces. Outnumbered and ill-equipped, theirs was an impossible mission.
After their defeat, over 200 Australians were massacred. The survivors faced three-and-a-half years of harsh work, beatings, disease and starvation on Ambon and the Chinese island of Hainan. Along with the brutal conditions came a crisis of leadership, with Australian officers accused of devising their own systems of punishment. The prisoners of Ambon were tormented by two catastrophic raids by ‘ friendly’ Allied air forces. Over 800 men were captured; only 302 returned home.
Acclaimed historian Joan Beaumont tells the full story of this tragedy and its aftermath. An account of suffering, death, endurance and memory, the story of Gull Force is one that must not be forgotten.