Lark Force was an Australian army unit formed in March 1941 during World War II for service in New Britain and New Ireland. Under the command of Lieutenant Colonel John Scanlan, it was raised in Australia and deployed to Rabaul and Kavieng, aboard SS Katoomba, MV Neptuna and HMAT Zealandia, to defend their strategically important harbours and airfields.
The objective of the force, was to maintain a forward air observation line as long as possible and to make the enemy fight for this line rather than abandon it at the first threat as the force was considered too small to withstand any invasion.
Most of Lark Force was captured by the Imperial Japanese after Rabaul and Kavieng were captured in January 1942. The officers of Lark Force were transported to Japan, however the NCO's and men were unfortunately torpedoed by the USS Sturgeon while being transported aboard the Montevideo Maru. Only a handful of the Japanese crew were rescued, with none of the between 1,050 and 1,053 prisoners aboard surviving as they were still locked below deck.
Read more about Lark Force: Units
Famous quotes containing the words lark and/or force:
“Hark, hark, the lark at heaven’s gate sings,
And Phoebus’ gins arise,
His steeds to water at those springs
On chaliced flowers that lies;
And winking Mary-buds begin to ope their golden eyes;
With every thing that pretty is, my lady sweet, arise;
Arise, arise!”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas, i.e. the class which is the ruling material force of society, is at the same time its ruling intellectual force.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)