Darkest Hour. The True Story of Lark Force at Rabaul: Australia’s Worst Military Disaster of World War II

At 2.30 am on January 23, 1942, the little-known tropical island of New Britain was the site of the Australian Army’s darkest hour. Lark Force, 1,400 men and six nurses, the bulk of them from 2/22nd Infantry Battalion, had been deployed to fortify and defend Rabaul, the capital of Australia’s mandated territories. The Japanese had other plans. Outmanned, outgunned, and a long way from home, the heroic defence of Rabaul by the Australians of Lark Force is here grippingly told.
304 p., [8] p. of plates : ill., maps, ports. ; 24 cm. #151221 First Edition.
Australia. Army. Australian Imperial Force (1940-1947). Infantry Battalion, 2/22nd — History — World War, 1939-1945. | Montevideo Maru (Ship) | World War, 1939-1945 — Regimental histories — Australia. | World War, 1939-1945 — Campaigns — Papua New Guinea — Rabaul. | World War, 1939-1945 — Prisoners and prisons, Japanese. | Prisoners of war — Australia. | World War, 1939-1945 — Atrocities — Papua New Guinea — Rabaul.