This battalion formed part of Lark Force, which eventually numbered 1,400 men and was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel John Scanlan.

The capture of New Britain offered them a deep water harbour and airfields to provide protection to Truk and also to interdict Allied lines of communication between the United States and Australia.

[14] In December 1941, shortly before Japanese air raids began, most civilian men were forced to stay in Rabaul, but women who were not necessary to the defence of the base were evacuated.

After the odds facing the Australians mounted significantly, Lerew signalled RAAF headquarters in Melbourne with the Latin phrase "Nos Morituri Te Salutamus" ("we who are about to die salute you"),[15] supposedly uttered by gladiators in ancient Rome before entering combat.

[10] As the Australian ground troops took up positions along the western shore of Blanche Bay where they prepared to meet the landing,[3][19] the remaining RAAF elements, consisting of two Wirraways and one Hudson, were withdrawn to Lae.

[20] The bombing continued around Rabaul on 22 January, and early that morning a Japanese force of between 3,000 and 4,000 troops landed just off New Ireland and waded ashore in deep water filled with dangerous mud pools.

The 2/1st Independent Company had been dispersed around the island, and the Japanese took the main town of Kavieng without opposition; after a sharp fight around the airfield the commandos fell back towards the Sook River.

[3][10] A series of desperate actions followed near the beaches around Simpson Harbour, Keravia Bay and Raluana Point as the Australians attempted to turn back the attack.

[9] Assessing the situation as hopeless, Scanlan ordered "every man for himself", and Australian soldiers and civilians split into small groups, up to company size, and retreated through the jungle, moving along the north and south coasts.

Although initially ordered to turn his ground staff into infantrymen in a last-ditch effort to defend the island, Lerew insisted that they be evacuated and organised for them to be flown out by flying boat and his one remaining Hudson.

Leaflets posted by Japanese patrols or dropped from planes stated in English, "you can find neither food nor way of escape in this island and you will only die of hunger unless you surrender.

"[10][26] The Japanese commander, Horii, tasked the 3rd Battalion, 144th Infantry Regiment with searching the southern part of the Gazelle Peninsula and securing the remaining Australians.

The Australian government concluded the prisoners were marched into the jungle near Tol Plantation in small groups and were then bayoneted by Japanese soldiers.

[30][31] The Allies later placed responsibility for the incident on Masao Kusunose, the commanding officer of the 144th Infantry Regiment, but in late 1946 he starved himself to death before he could stand trial.

[32][9] At least 800 soldiers and 200 civilian prisoners of war—most of them Australian—lost their lives on 1 July 1942, when the ship on which they were being transported from Rabaul to Japan, the Montevideo Maru, was sunk off the north coast of Luzon by the U.S. submarine USS Sturgeon.

[39] By mid-1943, the tide turned in favour of the Allies, who began an offensive in the Pacific aimed at advancing north through New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.

"[40] Allied planners had considered capturing Rabaul, but they eventually settled on isolating it and bypassing it as part of Operation Cartwheel.

[42][43] Large quantities of equipment were subsequently abandoned around Rabaul after the war, and it took over two years for the Allies to repatriate the Japanese garrison that was captured after Japan surrendered.