2 / 40th Battalion ( Australia ) The 2 / 40th Battalion was an infantry battalion of the Australian Army . Formed in mid - 1940 from personnel recruited from Tasmania , the battalion took part in the fighting against the Japan ese on Timor in 1942 . Outnumbered and lacking supplies , the majority of the 2 / 40th ' s personnel were captured and spent the rest of the war as prisoners of war . History . Raised for service during the Second World War as part of the Second Australian Imperial Force ( 2nd AIF ) , the 2 / 40th Battalion formed part of the 23rd Brigade attached to the 8th Division ; the majority of its personnel were drawn from the state of Tasmania . Under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Geoffrey Youl , in July 1940 they began training at Brighton , Tasmania , before moving to Bonegilla , Victoria , to join the rest of the 23rd Brigade in January 1941 . In late March they moved north to the Katherine , in the Northern Territory , with the last elements of the battalion arriving on 25 April 1941 . There they undertook further training as the battalion received further drafts of men , before moving to Darwin over the course of a month between June and July . In Darwin they undertook defensive duties as part of the town ' s defensive garrison , with companies detached to defend various locations around Noonamah and Adelaide River . Throughout October plans were put in place for the battalion ' s deployment to Timor , with a reconnaissance party being dispatched to the island between 6 – 12 October . Upon return , the battalion ' s commanding officer , Youl , was replaced by Lieutenant Colonel William Leggatt in " controversial circumstances " on 5 November 1941 . The following month , shortly after the Japan ese entered the war in the Pacific , the 2 / 40th Battalion embarked upon the transports " Zealandia " and " Westralia " on 8 December , and were deployed to Timor . Arriving there on 12 December 1941 , they formed part of Sparrow Force which was tasked with defending the island against invasion by the Japanese . After Japanese air strikes began in January 1942 , the invasion came the following month on 20 February 1942 , with Japanese soldiers carrying out airborne and amphibious landings around the island . Outnumbered and with limited supplies , after the initial contact the battalion destroyed the airfield and moved inland , reducing a number of Japanese positions as they went , including an attack upon ridge where the Japanese 228th Infantry Regiment suffered at least 123 casualties on 22 February . By the morning of 23 February the situation was desperate and the battalion all but surrounded around Champlong . Lacking air cover and faced with an ultimatum to capitulate or be subjected to an intense aerial bombardment that would likely have wiped out the battalion , Leggatt was forced to surrender his command and as a result most of the 2 / 40th was captured . Some managed to escape , however , while others who had been detached elsewhere evaded capture and took part in the guerrilla campaign that followed before being evacuated back to Australia in December 1942 . These personnel were dispersed to other units and the battalion was never reformed . The men who were taken as prisoners spent the rest of the war in captivity in camps throughout Southeast Asia including Java , Burma , Thailand , Japan , Singapore and Sumatra and did not return to Australia until September 1945 . The battalion had 271 men killed in action or died while prisoners of war , while a further 79 were wounded . For their involvement in the fighting on Timor members of the battalion received the following decorations : one Distinguished Service Order , one Military Medal and seven Mention in Despatches . Battle honours . The battalion was awarded two battle honours for its service : " South - West Pacific 1942 " and " Koepang " . Koepang is unique to the 2 / 40th , with no other unit in the Australian Army holding this battle honour . Today these honours are maintained by 12th / 40th Battalion , Royal Tasmania Regiment .