Following a Japanese landing and a general collapse of Dutch KNIL resistance, Australian forces in Java led by Brigadier Arthur Blackburn prepared a defensive line ahead of a destroyed bridge in the village of Leuwiliang.

[1] This particular detachment was assigned the task of advancing rapidly to secure river crossings and capture the city of Buitenzorg (today Bogor) to cut off potential Dutch retreat from Batavia to Bandung.

[4] The Australian military unit (the Blackforce) in Java, led by Brigadier Arthur Blackburn, had set up their headquarters in Buitenzorg on 27 February, and the unit was intended to be a mobile reserve force stationed at Leuwiliang while the Dutch forces (i.e. the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL)) conducted a fighting retreat.

[7] Leuwiliang had been previously designated as a base for offensive and defensive warfare in West Java in Dutch strategy, and the Japanese invaders were aware of this.

[16] In the afternoon of 3 March, the advance armored car units of the 2nd Reconnaissance Regiment arrived in the vicinity of Leuwiliang and found the demolished bridge shortly before the Australian defenders on the opposite bank opened fire with machine guns and antitank rifles, destroying the leading vehicles.

[17][18] The Regimental Commander, Noguchi Kin'ichi, deployed his units—two infantry companies forming the front line and two as reserves, and planned to cross the river south of the demolished bridge before launching a surprise night attack on the Australian positions.

[17] Blackburn anticipated this flanking maneuver and stationed the C company from the Machine Gun battalion south of his positions, supported by one of the American artillery batteries.

[19] Before the execution of Kin'ichi's plan, other elements of the Nasu Detachment (mainly the 16th Infantry Regiment) began arriving in Leuwiliang and reinforcing the Japanese position.

[27] After withdrawing to Buitenzorg, the Blackforce withdrew further to Sukabumi, where they attempted to set up an organized defense but eventually broke and its component units dispersed into hills south of Bandung between 6 and 7 March, where within days the survivors were rounded up by Japanese soldiers.