By Peter Tilley (Nephew)
In February 1939 Alex enlisted into the 46th Militia Battalion (Brighton Rifles) and met Quentin Tilley. Quentin was engaged to Thelma Bennett and one evening brought Alex home to meet Thelma and there he also met her sister Norma.
Lieutenant A.R. Tolmer enlisted into the newly formed 2/22nd Battalion in July 1940 and after training the 2/22nd was shipped to Rabaul, New Britain in March 1941. Two months prior to that event Alex had married Norma. The 2/22nd, an RAAF Squadron and other elements formed Lark Force, comprising some 1400 personnel. When the Pacific War started in December 1940 the War Cabinet decided to not reinforce Lark force, nor to put at risk any large ships to assist and that Lark Force should hold out as long as possible. The Cabinet advised Washington “it is considered better to maintain Rabaul as an advanced air operational base, the present small garrison being regarded as “hostages to fortune.” Weeks before the first shot was fired Canberra had essentially washed its hands of Lark Force and they were trapped on the island. To compound matters there was no contingency planning by the senior officers – no escape routes, no food dumps, no weapons, no plans at all.
The Japanese invaded Rabaul on the 23rd of January 1942 with a massive air, sea and troop force as they really wanted Rabaul as a major base on their way to Australia. Late on the first day the position was hopeless and a withdrawal was ordered on the basis of ‘every man for himself’. Over the next 2 months, 2/22nd parties, ranging from company-strength down to pairs and individuals, sought escape along New Britain’s north and south coasts. Some found small boats and got away under their own auspices; others were picked up by larger vessels operating from New Guinea. Alex, after a harrowing time, and suffering from malaria finally made it to Cairns in an overcrowded rickety old boat. Of the 1400 personnel only 400 made it back home.
Alex’s next posting was with the 49th Battalion who were brought in to assist in the campaign to destroy the Japanese bases at Buna, Gona and Sananda on the north New Guinea coast after the Kokoda Track campaign. The battle on the track to Sananda was horrific. On the first day of attack the 49th was nearly wiped out. The jungle was so dense that the only way forward was along or aside the track. The Japanese had a plan, were well armed and in strategic camouflaged positions.
On 8 December 1942 in the Company that Alex was in, all of the officers except Alex were killed. “Handicapped by a shortage of NCO’s he reorganised the company under heavy fire and pushed onto his company objectives”. He got one platoon of 40 men some 700 or 800 yards forward until they linked up with Lieutenant Moore’s men of the 2/2nd who had been forming the right forward extremity of the Allied line. The pack had been shot off his back and there were bullet holes in his trousers. Wounded by mortar bomb fragments Alex was relieved for hospitalisation the next day and promoted to Captain two days later, but had to be air lifted to a casualty station in Australia.
Between January 1943 and July 1943 Alex was given various assignments involved with 30 Brigade HQ. He suffered recurring malaria in February and August to October, and had some leave in that period. From 8 November until 20 July 1944 Alex was assigned as an instructor at the jungle warfare training centre at Canungra on the Gold Coast known as the East Australian Training Centre.
On 28 October Alex was transferred to the 2/4th Battalion for the Aitpae – Wewak campaign. This action was primarily the defence of the base at Aitpae with small scale Company sized attacks towards the coast which was occupied in March. Meantime Alex was posted to his last war command.
On 3 March 1945 Alex was promoted to Major and transferred as 2IC to the 1st New Guinea Battalion in New Britain as part of the 5th Division whose job it was to contain some 80,000 Japanese to Rabaul and the Gazelle Peninsular by patrolling a stretch of ‘no man’s land’ between Wide Bay and Open Bay. The role of the mostly native Battalion was to conduct guerrilla warfare against Japanese patrols earning a reputation of being able move silently through the bush and locate Japanese patrols and ambushes. For their battle activities in Papua and New Guinea they were given the name “Green Shadows”. The Japanese respected them for their ability to fade into and then appear from the jungle as if they were shadows. By July the Japanese were losing on all fronts and it seemed pointless to continue the advance when the war was so close to ending. “We were ordered to form a string of perimeters across the island and to remain where we were. During the following months the Japs made several attacks but were easily repulsed.”
The war ended after the US dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima on 6 August 1945 and Japan surrendered. The bravest bluff the Australians ever pulled off was the campaign in New Britain where a force of 8,000 ‘contained’ 80,000 Japanese within narrow defences in which the enemy held three years supply of food and equipment.
On 6 September aboard the aircraft carrier HMS Glory off Rabaul Japanese General Imamura handed over his sword and signed the surrender document. The next day Alex emplaned Lae for Australia. His war was over.
After the war Alex was an active member of the Lark Force Association and supported the fundraising carried out by the Association. There were many informal reunions held at Alex’s business offices at Toltoys in South Melbourne and informal family barbecue gatherings
Alex also was an active member of the Beaumaris RSL. He proudly marched behind the Lark Force battalion banner in the Anzac Day marches in Melbourne. When he moved to the Gold Coast he continued to march at Southport until ill health made this too difficult for him.
His son David attended a Lark Force Service in 2013 and made a donation to the Association and the President, Norm Furness, wrote back and in the letter he wrote “ I recall the part your father played (in the escape of Rabaul) he was a good officer and I am proud to have had his guidance, as no doubt you are.”
Further Articles expanding on A R Tolmer’s WWII experiences.