| Notes |
- Newsletter of the Haskell Family Society
Volume 10, No. 1, March 2001
1941- 45 - Serving his Country
by Peter P. Haskell and William J. Haskell
William James (Bill) Haskell, born Freemantle, Western Australia in 1920, was the fourth son of Bernard Charles and Vera Maud (O'Sullivan) Haskell. On 28 May 1940 Bill enlisted as a private in the 2nd/2nd, transferred to 2nd/3rd, Machine Gun Battalion, the Australian Imperial Forces. On completion of training, his Battalion was posted to the 21st Infantry Brigade in Palestine for the Syrian Campaign.
Crossing the border from Palestine into Syria (now Lebanon), the 21st Brigade followed the coastal road to Tyre (now Sur) and Beirut. At first progress was unopposed and the Allied forces took Tyre, Derra, Kuneitra and Merj Ayum. On 14 June 1941, the 21st Australian captured Sidon.
The Vichy French then launched a counter offensive that threatened to regain lost territory. Indeed, the 21st Australian Brigade had to evacuate Merj Ayum but by 24 June was able to expel the Vichy forces.
Meanwhile, on the morning of 21 June the Free French and Indian troops had broken into Damascus from the south and the Australians from the west and north, and Damascus fell to the Allies. The Vichy French commander sought an armistice on 12 July 1941.
The 2nd/3rd Machine Gun Battalion was then moved to the Turkish frontier to build a defence system against a potential German invasion there. Work continued until December 1941, when the Japanese attack on the US Naval base at Pearl Harbour, Hawaii on the 7th and their attack on Malaya and Singapore on the 8th and 9th of December 1941, brought a whole new dimension to the War.
Since it was likely the Japanese would turn to the Dutch East Indies and possibly Australia itself, the 1st Australian Corps was sent to assist defence of the Dutch East Indies. The 2nd/3rd Machine Gun Battalion, 2nd/2nd Pioneers, 2nd/1st Anti-Aircraft Battalion and 26th Field Company Engineers left Suez on board the fast ship, HMT Orcades on 1 February 1942. The heavy equipment: guns, ammunition and transport, was to follow later.
By the beginning of February,the Japanese had occupied strategic points on Borneo and Celebes, and by 12 February had gained control of the Straits of Makassar, where they established airfields within bomber range of Java. They then invaded the southern tip of Sumatra, and on 15 February, just as the Orcades with its Australian troops was off the island, came news of the fall of Singapore.
The troops disembarked at Oesthaven, Sumatra for a desperate stand against the Japanese but soon had to withdraw for lack of ammunition and support weapons. The Orcades proceeded to Java and on 17 February 1942 landed at Tanjongpriok.
Bill's unit, the 2nd/3rd Machine Gunners, now became infantry as part of General Blackburn, VC's Blackforce Brigade and began preparing defensive positions. On 20 February the Japanese occupied Portugese Timor, on 23 February Bali fell, and Java was completely surrounded.
On 27 February a small American and Dutch fleet attacked a heavily escorted convoy of Japanese troop ships in the Java Sea. After a two day running battle, nearly the entire Allied fleet was destroyed. This defeat sealed the doom of Java, and the Japanese troops invaded the island on the night of 28 February 1942.
Blackforce engaged the Japanese from 3rd to 5th of March, but after heavy fighting Batavia fell on 5 March 1942. Two days later Bandoeng (Bandung), the third largest city of Java, likewise fell and, after three days of almost ceaseless fighting, on 10 March Surabaya fell to the Japanese. By this time all resistance in Java had ceased.
The Japanese took 98,000 Allied troops, including 5,000 Australian, British and American troops, prisoner on Java. They captured Bill and his mates at Arinem on 9 March 1942, and three and a half years of "Living Hell" began for him and his comrades.
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1920 - 2011 (90 years)
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