8th Division ( Australia ) The 8th Division of the Australian Army was formed to serve in World War II , as part of the Second Australian Imperial Force , who were in turn , part of the Allies of World War II . The 8th Division was raised from regular army units and new , all - volunteer infantry brigades , from July 1940 onwards . As war with Japan loomed in 1941 , the division was divided into four separate forces , which were deployed in different parts of the Asia - Pacific region . All of these formations were destroyed as fighting forces by the end of February 1942 . Most members of the division became prisoners of war , and a large number died in captivity . History . The 8th Division was raised to fight Nazi Germany , and was trained for the conditions of the Middle East . In December 1940 , the 24th Brigade was sent to North Africa , and became part of the 9th Division . It was replaced in the 8th Division by the 27th Brigade . However , as the possibility of war with Japan loomed , the 22nd Brigade was sent instead to Malaya on 2 February 1941 . The 23rd Brigade moved to Darwin in April . The 2 / 22nd Battalion was detached from it and deployed to Rabaul , New Britain in April . The 27th Brigade joined the 22nd Brigade in Malaya , in August . The remainder of the 23rd Brigade was split into another two detachments : the 2 / 40th Battalion left for Timor , on 12 December and ; the 2 / 21st Battalion went to Ambon in the Dutch East Indies on 17 December . The 23rd Brigade headquarters remained in Darwin . Malaya . As war broke out Japanese forces based in Vichy French - controlled Indochina quickly overran Thailand and invaded Malaya . The demoralising loss of two British capital ships , HMS " Repulse " and HMS " Prince of Wales " , off Malaya on 10 December 1941 , neutralised Allied naval superiority , allowing the Japanese to perform amphibious assault s on the Malayan coast with much less resistance . Japanese forces met stiff resistance from III Corps of the Indian Army and British units in northern Malaya , but Japan ' s superiority in air power , tank s and infantry tactics forced the Allied units , who had very few tanks and remained vulnerable to isolation and encirclement , back . On 14 January , parts of the division went into action south of Kuala Lumpur , at Gemas and Muar . The 2 / 30th Battalion had some early success at the Gemencheh River Bridge , destroying a Japanese battalion . However , other Allied units were already severely depleted and demoralised , and Japanese flanking operations began to take their toll , whose tactics of isolation and encirclement often forced mass surrenders of other Allied units . The 2 / 29th and the 2 / 19th Battalions were detached as reinforcements for the Indian 45th Brigade , which was in danger of being overrun near the Muar River . By 22 January , a mixed force from the two battalions , with some Indian troops , had been isolated and overrun . Members of the Japanese Imperial Guards Division massacred about 150 Allied prisoners at Parit Sulong , following the fighting . Lieutenant - Colonel Charles Anderson , acting commander of the 2 / 19th , was taken prisoner and was later awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions . The remainder of the 27th Brigade was waging a rearguard action , while the rest of the 22nd Brigade had been sent back to guard the north end of the Johor - Singapore Causeway which linked the Malayan Peninisula to Singapore , as Allied forces retreated . Singapore . As Allied forces in Malaya retreated towards Singapore , a 2 , 000 - strong detachment of 8th Division reinforcements arrived in Singapore , including the 2 / 4th Machine Gun Battalion . By 31 January , the last Allied forces had left Malaya , and Allied engineers blew a hole wide in the causeway . The Allied commander , Lieutenant General Arthur Percival , gave Major General Gordon Bennett ' s 8th Division the task of defending the prime invasion points on the north side of the island , in a terrain dominated by mangrove swamps and forest . The 22nd Brigade was assigned a daunting wide sector in the west of the island , and the 27th Brigade a zone in the north west , near the causeway . From vantage points across the straits , including the Sultan of Johore ' s palace , as well as aerial reconnaissance and infiltrators , the Japanese commander , General Tomoyuki Yamashita and his staff gained an excellent knowledge of the Allied positions . From 3 February , the Australian positions were shelled by Japanese artillery . Shelling and air attacks intensified over the next five days , destroying communications between Allied units and their commanders . In addition , internal miscommunication and poor last - minute brigade and artillery command changes weakened the effectiveness of both Brigades facing the Japanese on the northwest shore of Singapore Island . At 8 . 30pm on 8 February , Australian machine gunners opened fire on vessels carrying a first wave of 4 , 000 Japanese troops towards Singapore Island . Confused and desperate fighting raged all day , but eventually the increasing Japanese numbers , poor siting of defensive positions , and lack of effective communications , allowed Japanese forces to exploit gaps in the Australian lines . By midnight the two 8th Division infantry brigades , 22nd and 27th , were separated , isolated , or withdrawing in haphazard , sometimes unauthorised fashion towards the last line of defence on the island , the Krangi - Jurong Line . At 1 am , further Japanese troops were landed in the west of the island and the last Australian reserves , mainly support troops , went into position . Towards dawn on 9 February , elements of the 22nd Brigade were being overrun and it was decided to form a secondary defensive line . The 2 / 18th Battalion had lost more than 50 % of its personnel . During the course of the day , the 22nd and other Allied units in the east were forced to retreat further south . The 27th Brigade had not yet faced an attack . However , the next day , the Japanese Imperial Guard made a botched landing in the northwest , suffering severe casualties from drowning and burning oil in the water , as well as Australian mortars and machine guns . In spite of the 27th Brigade ' s success , as a result of a misunderstanding , they began to withdraw from Kranji in the north . That same day , further misunderstandings , increasing numbers of desertions and the arrival of Japanese tanks caused the Allies to lose control of the crucial Kranji - Jurong ridge through the western side of the island . On 11 February , knowing that his own supplies were running low , Yamashita called on Percival to " give up this meaningless and desperate resistance " . The next day the Allied lines attempted to stabilise along the Krangi - Jurong line on west side of the island . However , the Allies steadily lost more ground , with Japanese penetrating to within five miles of Singapore urban centre , by 10 February capturing Bukit Timah . On 13 February , Bennett and other senior Australian officers advised Percival to surrender , in the interests of minimising civilian casualties . Percival refused but unsuccessfully sought authority to surrender from his superiors . The following day the remaining Allied units battled on ; civilian casualties mounted as civilians crowded into the area now held by the Allies and bombing and artillery attacks intensified . Civilian authorities began to fear that the water supply would soon give out . Japanese troops killed 200 staff and patients after they captured Alexandra Barracks Hospital . By the morning of 15 February , the Japanese had broken through the last line of defence in the north and food and some kinds of ammunition had begun to run out . After meeting his unit commanders , Percival contacted the Japanese and formally surrendered the Allied forces to Yamashita , shortly after 5 . 15 pm . Bennett created an enduring controversy when he handed over the 8th Division to the divisional artillery commander , Brigadier Cecil Callaghan , commandeered a boat and managed to escape captivity . His lack of inspired leadership was exemplified by one of his last orders : because of lack of ammunition he issued orders that Australian gunners were only to offer artillery support in their own sector . He did not inform Percival of this order . The 8th Division was criticised for its role in the defence of Singapore as mostly green , defeatist and ill - disciplined . Most of this was hushed up in the aftermath of the fall of Singapore . Bennett described his own troops as " woobly " and Brigadier Harold Taylor , commander of the 22nd Brigade , told his men they were a " disgrace to Australia and the AIF . " In the closing stages of the battle Australian " fugitives " — up to a third of all Australian troops — were often heading away from battle leaderless , impossible to control and engaging in crimes of looting and rape of civilians . In many instances they commandeered ships evacuating civilians and wounded at gunpoint . Colonel Kappe , Bennett ' s Chief Signals Officer , related that " one party of 50 under an officer , after being steadied and persuaded to occupy a locality , soon afterwards vacated it without order . " General Bennett himself told another Australian commander , shortly before leaving his command , " I don ' t think the men want to fight . " In contrast , however , the British commander of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders singled out the relatively green Australian 2 / 29th as fighting with " great coolness " and worthy of entering battle with them . Almost 15 , 000 Australians became prisoners of war at Singapore , an absolute majority of all Australian prisoners of the Japanese in World War II . During the Malaya - Singapore campaign as a whole , the 8th Division suffered 73 % of Allied deaths in battle , even though they comprised only 14 % of the Allied forces . Due to Japanese mistreatment and neglect , many died in the prisoner of war camps , and over 2 , 400 Australian prisoners died in the Sandakan Death Marches . A very few were able to escape POW camps and continue fighting , either as members of guerrilla units or after making their way back to Australia . Rabaul . The 2 / 22nd Battalion — composed of 716 men — made up the majority of the combat personnel in the Lark Force , the name given to the 1 , 400 - strong garrison concentrated in Rabaul , New Britain , from March 1941 . Lark Force also included personnel from the New Guinea Volunteer Rifles , a coastal defence battery , an anti - aircraft battery , an anti - tank battery and a detachment of the 2 / 10th Field Ambulance . The island , part of the Australian territory of New Guinea was important because of its proximity to the Japanese territory of the Caroline Islands , including a major Japanese Navy base on Truk Island . The main tasks of Lark Force were protection of the Royal Australian Air Force ( RAAF ) airfield and flying boat anchorage , which were important in the surveillance of Japanese movements in the region . A 130 - strong detachment from the 2 / 1st Independent Company was detached to the nearby island of New Ireland . In January 1942 , Lark Force came under heavy attack by Japanese aircraft , which neutralised coastal artillery . In the early hours of 23 January 1942 , 20 , 000 Japanese marines began to land . Some faced fierce resistance , but because of the balance of forces , many landed unopposed . Within hours , the Lark Force commander , Lieutenant Colonel John Scanlan , had ordered : " every man for himself " and Australian soldiers and civilians split into small groups and retreated through the jungle . Only the RAAF had made evacuation plans and its personnel were removed by flying boat . The army had made no preparations for guerilla warfare , and most soldiers surrendered during the following weeks . At least 130 Australians , taken prisoner at the Tol Plantation , were massacred on 4 February 1942 . From mainland New Guinea , some civilians and individual officers organised unofficial rescue missions and — between March and May — about 450 troops and civilians who had managed to evade the Japanese , were evacuated by sea . At least 800 soldiers and civilian prisoners of war lost their lives on 1 July 1942 , when the ship on which they were sent from Rabaul to Japan , the Montevideo Maru , was sunk off the north coast of Luzon by the US submarine USS " Sturgeon " . A handful of Lark Force members remained at large on New Britain and — often in conjunction with indigenous people — conducted guerilla operations against the Japanese . Rabaul became the biggest Japanese base in New Guinea . Allied forces landed in December 1944 , although substantial Japanese forces continued to operate on New Britain until Japan surrendered in August 1945 . By the end of the Pacific War , more than 600 members of the 2 / 22nd Battalion were dead . Ambon . The island of Ambon , in the Dutch East Indies , was perceived to be under threat from Japan because of its potential as a major air base . However , by mid - December 1941 , only two flights of RAAF light bomber s were deployed there , along with assorted US Navy and Royal Netherlands Navy aircraft . The 8th Division ' s 1 , 100 - strong Gull Force , commanded by Lieutenant Colonel L . N . Roach , arrived on 17 December . In addition to the 2 / 21st Battalion , it included 8th Division artillery and support units . The existing Royal Netherlands East Indies Army garrison , commanded by Lieutenant Colonel J . R . L . Kapitz , consisted of 2 , 800 Indonesia n colonial troops , with Dutch officers . Kapitz was appointed Allied commander on Ambon . Roach had visited the island before Gull Force ' s deployment and requested that more artillery and machine gun units be sent from Australia . Ambon first came under attack from Japanese aircraft on 6 January . Roach complained about the lack of response to his suggestions and he was replaced by Lieutenant Colonel W . R . J . Scott on 14 January 1942 . A Japanese fleet including two aircraft carriers and about 5 , 300 Japanese marines and soldiers reached Ambon on 30 January 1942 . Although the Japanese ground forces were numerically not much bigger than the Allies , they had overwhelming superiority in air support , naval and field artillery , and tanks . In the belief that the terrain of the southern side of the island was too inhospitable for landings , the Allied troops were concentrated in the north . However , the iniital Japanese landings were in the south . Within a day of the Japanese landing , the Dutch forces had been surrounded and had given up . Gull Force held out until 3 February , when Scott surrendered . According to Australian War Memorial principal historian , Dr . Peter Stanley , several hundred Australians surrendered at Laha Airstrip . At intervals for a fortnight after the surrender , more than 300 prisoners taken at Laha were executed . The government of Australia states that " The Laha massacre was the largest of the atrocities committed against captured Allied troops in 1942 . " Dr . Stanley said of Australian prisoners of war on Ambon : " They suffered an ordeal and a death rate second only to the horrors of Sandakan , first on Ambon and then after many were sent to the island of Hainan late in 1942 . Three - quarters of the Australians captured on Ambon died before the war ' s end . Of the 582 who remained on Ambon 405 died . They died of overwork , malnutrition , disease and one of the most brutal regimes among camps in which bashings were routine . " Only 302 members of Gull Force survived the war . Timor . In 1941 , the island of Timor was divided into two territories under different colonial powers : Portuguese Timor and West Timor part of the Dutch East Indies . The Australian and Dutch governments agreed that , in the event of Japan entering World War II , Australia would provide forces to reinforce West Timor . Consequently a 1 , 400 strong detachment , known as the Sparrow Force , and centred on the 2 / 40th Battalion , arrived at Kupang on 12 December 1941 . The force was initially commanded by Lieutenant Colonel William Leggatt . It also included the Australian commando s of the 2 / 2nd Independent Company . Sparrow Force joined about 650 Dutch East Indies troops and was supported by the 12 Lockheed Hudson light bomber s of No . 2 Squadron , Royal Australian Air Force and a troop from the British Royal Artillery ' s 79th Light Anti - Aircraft Battery . The Allied forces were concentrated around the strategic airfield of Penfui . As the government of Portugal declined to cooperate with the Allies , a force composed of the 2 / 2nd Independent Company and Dutch forces occupied Portuguese Timor , without any resistance being offered by the Portuguese Army or officials ; the civilian population , both Portuguese and Timorese , generally welcomed the Allied soldiers . Additional Australian support staff arrived at Kupang on 12 February , including Brigadier William Veale , who was to be the senior Allied officer on Timor . By this time many of the Australians , unused to tropical conditions , were suffering from malaria and other illnesses . Timor came under attack from Japanese aircraft on 26 January . The bombing — hampered by AA guns and a squadron of US Army Air Forces fighters based in Darwin — intensified during February . Air attacks forced an Allied convoy — escorted by the destroyers HMAS " Swan " and HMAS " Warrego " — to return to Australia . It had included valuable reinforcements , such as a US Army artillery battalion and the remainder of the British AA battery . During the night of 19 / 20 February , the Imperial Japanese Army ' s 228th Regimental Group , under the direct command of Colonel Sadashichi Doi , began landing in Portuguese Timor . The first contact was at Dili , the capital of Portuguese Timor , where the Allies were caught by surprise . Nevertheless , they were well - prepared and the garrison began an orderly retreat towards the mountainous interior and the south coast . On the same night , Allied forces in West Timor were under extremely intense air attacks , which had already caused the RAAF force to be withdrawn to Australia . The bombing was followed up by landings from the 228th Regiment , on the undefended south west side of the island , at the Paha River . Light tanks were landed to support the Japanese infantry , and the force advanced north , cutting off the Dutch positions in the west and attacking the 2 / 40th Battalion positions at Penfui . A parallel Japanese thrust to the north - east , aimed to cut off the Allied retreat , at Usua . Sparrow Force HQ was immediately moved further east , to its supply base at Champlong . Leggatt ordered the destruction of the airfield . The 2 / 40th ' s line of flight towards Champlong had been cut off by the dropping of about 500 Japanese marine paratrooper s , from the 3rd Yokosuka Special Naval Landing Force , near Usua . Sparrow Force HQ moved further eastward and Leggatt ' s men launched a sustained and devastating assault on the paratrooper s . By the morning of 23 February , the Allies had killed all but 78 of the enemy forces in front of them , but had been engaged from the rear by the main Japanese force once again . With his soldiers running low on ammunition , exhausted and carrying 132 men with serious wounds , Leggatt consulted his men and then accepted a Japanese invitation to surrender , at Usua . The 2 / 40th had suffered 84 killed in action . More than twice that number would die as prisoners of war during the next two and a half years . Veale and the Sparrow Force HQ force — including about some members of the 2 / 40th and about 200 Dutch East Indies troops — continued eastward across the border , and eventually joined the 2 / 2 Independent Company . The 2 / 40th effectively ceased to exist , its survivors being absorbed into the 2 / 2nd . Postscript 1942 – 45 . After a journey lasting several weeks , Bennett arrived in Darwin . Prime Minister John Curtin made the unusual gesture of publicly exonerating him . However , the high command effectively sidelined Bennett by appointing him commander of III Corps , a formation responsible for the defence of Western Australia . Following the loss of its original battalions , the headquarters units of the 23rd Brigade acquired Militia battalions and ceased to be a part of the 2nd AIF . The 8th Division had ceased to exist . Commanders . Major General Vernon Sturdee , 1940 < br > Major General Gordon Bennett , 27 September 1940 – 15 February 1942 . Structure . Infantry units ( with state of origin , where applicable )