RABAUL MASSACRE

Greymouth Evening Star, 23 May 1942, Page 6

RABAUL MASSACRE

SURVIVOR TELLS STORY. SYDNEY, April 17. At least 125 Australian solaiers were shot or stabbed to death with bayonets during the shocking massacre of prisoners of war which occurred at Tot plantation, north-east of Gasmata, New Britain, after the fall of Rabaul last February. This statement was made in Sydney by Driver Wilkie Desmond Collins, aged 23. of the Second 10th Field Ambulance, who survived the massacre after he had been shot three times by a Japanese ollicer. Bullets penetrated his left shoulder, left wrist, and liglu hand, and the Japanese left him lor dead. When lie was interviewed by a “Sydney Morning Herald” reporter at the home of bis parents in Sans Souci his lelt arm was in a sling.

Speaking calmly and unemotionally he said:— “I and my mate were alone when wC were taken prisoner by the Japanese after the capture of Rabaul. At first we were treated with the greatest courtesy. W*e were taken on board a barge and given biscuits and cigarettes. Our captors were all smiles and politeness. Many of them spoke English, and seemed greatly interested in the pay we received as members of the Australian Imperial Force. They called us mercenaries.

“We were captured at 4 p.m. one afternoon. At midnight that night we were escorted to some huts at Tol, where we found 125 other Australian soldiers, also prisoners. Just after dawn we were taken out and tied in a line, each man’s hands being bound. Our pay books, identity discs, and photographs were then taken from us, :m ominous sign, and we were led into the jungle by guards armed with rifles and bayonets.

••What happened then is difficult to tell, as it was all too horrible. We were split up into parties of 10 and taken into the bush. A Japanese officer would then cut a man loose from ..he line with his great curved sword, ind motion him into the forest with a soldier carrying a rifle with fixed bayonet. First you would hear screams, then moans. Then the Japanese soldier would return. SAW FIVE KILLED. “1 saw at least live mon killed, three >f them with the bayonet. One man, who was near me, tried to escape. He ran only a few yards when an officer vho had been watching the butchery, leaning on his two-handed sword, ran alter him and cut him down, finishing him off with a rifle bullet. I was the last of all. Several bodies were lying beside me. Japanese soldiers were going into thc jungle to finish off the wounded with rifle fire. I could hear the shots all round me. “I thought I had no chance of escape, and I. had quite prepared my mind for death. The soldiers had moved off, and only a Japanese officer remained. He was ■he fellow who had slashed the man vying to escape. I still had my hands tied.

“Ho told me to walk forward, and ns 1 did so, 1 saw him pick up a rifle. 1 had only walked about six feet when Re fired behind me. The bullet struck my shoulder and I fell. He fired a second and a third time, while I was on the ground. One bullet entered my arm; the other passed through my hand and into my back. If it had not struck my hand first, I am sure it would have broken my spine. I lay perfectly still, half hidden in the long grass. In any case, I could not have moved if I had tried, as I was suffering badly from shock. After a time I got up and staggered into the bush. Che string which had tied my wrists had been cut through by one of the bullets. “I was seven days in the bush before I crawled down to a beach and found some civilians. During all that lime my wounds pained me dreadfully and I had no food. The only water I drank was some rain-water which I collected from the jungle leaves."