page_title: North Borneo
section_title: World War II and decline
hierarchical_section_title: North Borneo / History / World War II and decline
caption_attribution_description: English: JAPANESE TROOPS OF COLONEL IEMURA'S FORCE WERE DISARMED, SEARCHED MEDICALLY EXAMINED AND MARCHED INTO THE PRISONER OF WAR COMPOUND UNDER GUARDS OF THE 2/32ND BATTALION. THESE PRISONERS, ALL FIT, WERE USED TO BUILD FURTHER COMPOUNDS FOR OTHER JAPANESE PERSONNEL IN THE JESSELTON AREA. A LINE OF PRISONERS MARCHES INTO THE COMPOUND CARRYING THEIR PERSONNEL BELONGINGS.
context_page_description: North Borneo was a British protectorate located in the northern part of the island of Borneo. The territory of North Borneo was originally established by concessions of the Sultanates of Brunei and Sulu in 1877 and 1878 to a German-born representative of Austria-Hungary, a businessman and diplomat, von Overbeck.
  Overbeck had recently purchased a small tract of land in the western coast of Borneo in 1876 from American merchant Joseph William Torrey, who had promoted the territory in Hong Kong since 1866.
  Overbeck then transferred all his rights to Alfred Dent before withdrawing in 1879. In 1881, Dent established the North Borneo Provisional Association Ltd to manage the territory, which was granted a royal charter in the same year. The following year, the Provisional Association was replaced by the North Borneo Chartered Company. The granting of a royal charter worried both the neighbouring Spanish and Dutch authorities; as a result, the Spanish began to stake their claim of northern Borneo.
context_section_description: In World War II, the Japanese invasion of the island of Borneo started with the unopposed landing of the Japanese forces at Miri and Seria on 16 December 1941 with the objective of securing oil supplies. On 1 January 1942, the Japanese navy landed unopposed in Labuan. The next day, 2 January 1942, the Japanese landed at Mempakul on North Borneo territory. After negotiations as to the surrender of Jesselton with the Officers-in-charge of Jesselton and waiting for troop reinforcements, Jesselton was occupied by the Japanese on 8 January. Another strong Japanese army detachment arrived from Mindanao and began to land on Tarakan Island before proceeding to Sandakan on 17 January. The Japanese arrival was met without any strong resistance as the protectorate mainly relied on the British Navy for defence. Although North Borneo has a police force, it never had its own army or navy. By the end of January, North Borneo was completely occupied by the Japanese. It was administered as part of the Empire of Japan, with officers of the chartered company were allowed to continued administration under Japanese supervision.
  The arrival of the Japanese forces to Borneo and the fall of Anglo-Japanese Alliance had already been predicted by revelation through secret telegrams that Japanese ships docked regularly at Jesselton were engaged in espionage. Many of the British and Australian soldiers captured after the fall of Malaya and Singapore were brought to North Borneo and held as a prisoners of war (POWs) in Sandakan camp where they were then forced to march from Sandakan to Ranau. Other POWs were also sent to Batu Lintang camp in neighbouring Sarawak. The occupation drove residents in the coastal areas to the interior in searching for food and escaping the brutality during the war period, which led to the creation of several resistance movements; one of the such movement known as the Kinabalu Guerrillas which led by Albert Kwok and supported by indigenous groups in North Borneo.
  As part of the Allied Campaign to retake their possessions in the East, Allied forces deployed to Borneo under the Borneo Campaign to liberate the island. The Australian Imperial Force (AIF) played a significant part in the mission, with the force being sent to Tarakan and Labuan islands to secure the east and western Borneo. The Allied Z Special Unit provided intelligence gatherings and other information from the Japanese that could facilitated the AIF landings, while US submarines were used to transport Australian commandos to Borneo. Most of the major towns of North Borneo were heavily bombed during these period. The war ended on 15 August 1945 following the Japanese surrender and the administration of North Borneo was undertaken by the British Military Administration (BMA) from September. The company official administration returned to administer the territory but, unable to finance the reconstruction cost after the war, ceded administration of the protectorate to the crown colony government on 15 July 1946.
caption: Disarmed Japanese troops marching towards a prisoner of war (POW) compound in Jesselton after surrendering to the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) on 8 October 1945
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