Liberation of Tawau from the Japanese (Part 1 of 5)
We’re pretty sure that most of us are watching HBO channel’s The Pacific. It was said that the story in this TV series is not historically accurate but it does give us a glimpse of how terrible and atrocious the war was.
The Japanese took over Sabah in a mere 3 weeks. Tawau was occupied on 24th January 1942. This post is not about Japanese occupation in Tawau but more about the liberation of Tawau after she was under the Empire of Japan for more than 3 years.
The photos you are about to see below were contributed by Sgt. F. A. C. Burke via the Australian War Museum. As far as we know, we have never seen these photos anywhere; not even in our history textbook.
They are now featured here exclusively on DiscoverTawau.com. We hope that these priceless photos will give you the chance to learn and appreciate Tawau’s untold history. This is the first of 5-part series.
Please remember to leave your comments and feedback! We love to hear from you.
The first 2 photos show Spitfire and Kittyhawk fighter aircrafts in Tarakan, Indonesia getting ready for bombing and attack mission against the Japanese in Tawau.
Tarakan Island, 10 July 1945. A Spitfire aircraft of no. 452 Squadron RAAF, taking off from Croyden airstrip with two 250 pound bombs for a raid on Japanese installations at Tawao, East Borneo.
Tarakan Island, 10 July 1945. One of a group of Kittyhawk aircraft of 75 Squadron, RAAF, taking off from croyden airstrip with two 500 pound bombs for a raid on Japanese installations at Tawao, East Borneo.
Tawao, 1945-10-20. A small party, including a corporal from 23 Australian war graves service unit, and a sergeant from an RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force) bomb disposal unit, went out to an area where an RAAF pilot crashed his Spitfire approximately 10 miles from Tawao. The plane was found and the pilot's body was about 10 yards away. Apparently no attempt had been made by the Japanese to bury him. (photographer Sgt F. A. C. Burke)
About one mile from the wrecked Spitfire was the remains of another RAAF plane and this grave marked Albert Jam was found later to contain the ashes of the RAAF pilot who parachuted from the plane. He had been cremated after his death about one week after he landed. (photographer Sgt F. A. C. Burke)
A barge carrying a landing party leaves *LST 324 and heads for shore.
*LST is Tank Landing Ship – more details can be found here.
On 1945-10-17 four Royal Navy landing ships, left Labuan island with men of the North East Borneo force and arrived at Tawao on 1945-10-20. They were to move all Japanese troops and civilians in the area to Jesselton and to collect all enemy arms and equipment for dumping at sea or return to Labuan. Major Sugasaki, Japanese commander in the area, salutes Lieutenant Colonel J. A. England, commanding officer of North East Borneo Force, as the landing party arrives at a jetty.
Surrendered Japanese weapons and equipment on a jetty with a white surrender flag flying overhead.
Lieutenant Colonel J. A. England, commanding North East Borneo Force, and his party confers with Japanese representatives at the end of a jetty.
The jetty loaded with Japanese weapons and equipment is in the middle distance while two of the LSTs can be seen in the left background.
LST 324 pulling into wharf to unload stores for the landing party and load selected Japanese weapons and equipment.
This is the end of Part I of an impressive pictorial journey of Tawau’s liberation. If you enjoyed this please let us know by leaving your comments below or share this with your friends. Come back soon for Part 2 of this exciting series which will feature more rare photos and untold history about Tawau!
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very informative, i have not know about this if not because of the article though am a local Tawau here……..
Thank you and well done for your effort on this article. I've heard the story about the Japanese army during their invasion those dark year from my late mother. I was terribly horrified with their inhuman manner. By watching this visual from this site, at least I could get some clear picture of what was happened back to 1940's and I can feel the atmosphere. TQ again sir.
I like this site …we know all about Tawau …the place that i live already for 30 year now!!!! TQ u….
Thank you ….rich & daniel
nice picture ! where did u find all these pics?
Wow! Great pictures! Hopefully one day they can be seen by most Tawaurian. Sadly these military operations were quite pointless as there were nothing of military value in Tawau to contribute to the final victory of the Allies. The morale of the Australian, especially the RAAF was so low that a 'mutiny' actually happened (Check Wiki), and their bitterness towards MacArthur was quite justifiable. These pilots who have fought the Germans now had to attack pointless and risky targets with great but unsuitable Spitfires (Mk VIII). On another note.. are the wreckages and graves still around? Thanks again!
@May: As mentioned in the post, we got these from the Australian War Memorial. More to come…
@George: Thanks for your insights. Unfortunately, the wreckages and graves are not around anymore. Nobody really knows where the exact location is.
@Rozlee: Would you like to share the stories from your late mother here?
I have heard stories of plane wreckages from HHH running in the outskirts of Tawau some years ago. Most probably it is still out there(safe to assume they are not in oil palm plantations I think.) Now that will be an interesting find. My mum's recall of the Japanese occupation is families 'being required' to stand in a row when the Japanese march pass their house. Those too young to stand sat on chairs. My grandfather endure beatings due to the fact that he belonged to one of the Chinese associations that sent money home to fight the Japanese.
Very informative…though I knew the liberation of Borneo from my late parents, I hope this site will help our younger generation and generation to come to know the real facts about our history.
Great job bro…
Haven't read or told before about hidden history of Tawau..
Waiting for more stories from you..
P/S: Richard from KEBAL SMK Kuhara 97???
@George: Wow… that's one interesting story… would love to hear more stories like this to be shared on this website
@Frank: That's right, we're trying to consolidate all historical facts and stories here. It would be great if you can share some of yours.
@Syed: Yes, we used to be classmates
There will be more stories… watch this space!
Thank you for the all the wonderful comments and support. We truly appreciate them. Please help to spread the word out to others about this web.
OMG its very good to find about untold Tawau history with that old pictures. Im excited and thanks to share this.
LONG LIVE TAWAO !!
Great to see the photos of Dad at the landing. Hope to get there someday to take in the atmosphere of rememberence.Thanks
@Garth: Wow… we're astonished that the person in those photos is your father! Would you mind sharing some of his stories here? Perhaps some photos as well? Thank you.
This is the first time i heard tawau story..especially during WW2.
thanks sir.hope to hear more about tawau.
we will definitely do our best to publish more stories about Tawau
every body talking about the japanese invasion but don’t you guys think what the jap’s soldier actually doing into our motherland??? I guest a lot of you out there know or notice this….GOLD!!!! Yes.. they digging out all our gold but don’t have much time to carried out that consignment when Hiroshima and Nagasaki was bombed by US. So what happen next is more interesting… they buried it in our mainland and hopping someday they can take out the gold and bring it back to japan. But keep it in your mind that all the buried gold were pack with trap!!!
I think a lot of people know where the “treasures” are buried
Such treasure may true. But We knew that late President Marcos had been claimed to find japanese gold which later make him rich. However, Is there any physical or archeological evidence to verify the existence of the treasure?. Some of treasure hunters have claimed that most of treasure or suitably call as “Yamashita’s Gold” had been hidden somewhere in Philipines.
@Zul: Not sure if you know but a few years ago treasure hunters found a secret tunnel somewhere in Tawau but they died in the tunnel due to lack of oxygen… the tunnel had been sealed.
Thanks for great information sharing, even though i’m from Malaysia but have never ever come across of this information until today. Btw, i believe Tawau is an interesting place for visit, side seeing and photo shooting!
@CK: if you’ve never come to this side of Malaysia before, you should and it will give you a different view of real Malaysia
This will be a great web page, could you be interested in doing an interview regarding how you created it? If so e-mail me!
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