SUDDEN DEATH

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 164, 13 July 1945, Page 4

SUDDEN DEATH

JAPANESE PATROL

THIRTEEN WAS UNLUCKY LABUAX, July 6. For the second time since the Brunei Bay campaign opened, the Biooketon-Brunei road one morning was the scene of a Japanese blunder into a situation which spelt certain cieath. Unconsciously dramatising a popular superstitution, the partv of 13 chose the 13th dav of the month to stage the final act of their little plav.

The incident took place on the Me'abau airstrip at a point where the road, after skirting the strip for distance, veers away toward Brunei township. On the" previous day. the battalion in this sector had advanced beyond this point, company headquarters and one of the platoons being on the east of the road, while another platoon was on the other side of the strip. Into this set-up came what was evidently a fighting patrol sent out by the enemy. Dawn was just beginning to dispel the blackness of the night, and the troops performing their customary "stand-to." when the company-sergeant-major detected a dimly-seen group of figures movirv along the road from the north. Challenged, the group scattered and a : corporal opened up with his Owen gun.

The platoon on a nearbv knoll promptly yvent into action, and the strength of the marauding partv was quickly reduced. Bewildered" and panic-stricken, the survivors sought escape, but their position was hopeess. Some ran toward the company headquarters area, and were mown down as they ran. Others fled across tne strip, only to encounter the fire of tne platoon on the other side The final bag was one officer and eleven other ranks. The 13th man managed to escape into the iungle but not for long—badly wounded he was found a short time later ,hlV vas a J°>" ous few minutes for the boys—with one exception Thi<= man, caught in the open near a jeep when the melee started, took cover under the vehicle, and found himself in the unenviable position of being surrounded by Japanese with his mates sending bullets all around. The .jeep was hit several times, but the soldier escaped unhurt.