Banka Island massacre
Encyclopedia
The Bangka Island massacre took place on 16 February 1942, when Japan
ese soldiers machine gun
ned 22 Australia
n military nurses. There was only one survivor.
On 12 February 1942, the merchant ship Vyner Brooke
left Singapore
just before the city fell
to the Imperial Japanese Army
. The ship contained many injured service personnel and 64 Australian nurses of the 2/13th Australian General Hospital. The ship was bombed by Japanese aircraft and sank. Two nurses were killed in the bombing, nine were last seen drifting away from the ship on a raft and were never heard from again, and the rest reached shore at Bangka Island
, in the Dutch East Indies
(now Indonesia).
These nurses joined up with a group of men and injured personnel from the ship. Once it was discovered that the island was held by the Japanese, an officer of the Vyner Brooke went to surrender the group to the authorities in Muntok
. A small group of women and children headed off after him. The Australian nurses stayed to care for the wounded. They set up a shelter with a large Red Cross sign on it.
At mid-morning the ship’s officer returned with about twenty Japanese soldiers. They ordered all the wounded men capable of walking to travel around a headland. The nurses heard a quick succession of shots before the Japanese soldiers came back, sat down in front of the women and cleaned their bayonets and rifles. A Japanese officer ordered the remaining twenty two nurses and one civilian woman to walk into the surf. A machine gun was set up on the beach and when the women were waist deep, they were machine-gunned. All but Sister Lt Vivian Bullwinkel
were killed.
Shot in the diaphragm, Bullwinkel was unconscious when she washed up on the beach and was left for dead. She evaded capture for ten days, but was eventually caught and imprisoned. She survived the war and gave evidence of the massacre at a war crimes trial in Tokyo in 1947.
Empire of Japan
The Empire of Japan is the name of the state of Japan that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of...
ese soldiers machine gun
Machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute....
ned 22 Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n military nurses. There was only one survivor.
On 12 February 1942, the merchant ship Vyner Brooke
SS Vyner Brooke
The SS Vyner Brooke was the royal yacht of Sarawak and a merchant ship frequently used between Singapore and Kuching, named after the 3rd Rajah of Sarawak, Sir Charles Vyner Brooke....
left Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
just before the city fell
Battle of Singapore
The Battle of Singapore was fought in the South-East Asian theatre of the Second World War when the Empire of Japan invaded the Allied stronghold of Singapore. Singapore was the major British military base in Southeast Asia and nicknamed the "Gibraltar of the East"...
to the Imperial Japanese Army
Imperial Japanese Army
-Foundation:During the Meiji Restoration, the military forces loyal to the Emperor were samurai drawn primarily from the loyalist feudal domains of Satsuma and Chōshū...
. The ship contained many injured service personnel and 64 Australian nurses of the 2/13th Australian General Hospital. The ship was bombed by Japanese aircraft and sank. Two nurses were killed in the bombing, nine were last seen drifting away from the ship on a raft and were never heard from again, and the rest reached shore at Bangka Island
Bangka Island
Bangka is an island lying east of Sumatra, Indonesia. Population 626,955. Area: c.4,600 sq mi .There is an additional small island named Pulau Bangka in northern Sulawesi, Indonesia.-Geography:...
, in the Dutch East Indies
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Netherlands government in 1800....
(now Indonesia).
These nurses joined up with a group of men and injured personnel from the ship. Once it was discovered that the island was held by the Japanese, an officer of the Vyner Brooke went to surrender the group to the authorities in Muntok
Muntok
Muntok or, more commonly, Mentok is a town in the Indonesian province of Bangka-Belitung, Indonesia. Muntok is the capital of the West Bangka Regency...
. A small group of women and children headed off after him. The Australian nurses stayed to care for the wounded. They set up a shelter with a large Red Cross sign on it.
At mid-morning the ship’s officer returned with about twenty Japanese soldiers. They ordered all the wounded men capable of walking to travel around a headland. The nurses heard a quick succession of shots before the Japanese soldiers came back, sat down in front of the women and cleaned their bayonets and rifles. A Japanese officer ordered the remaining twenty two nurses and one civilian woman to walk into the surf. A machine gun was set up on the beach and when the women were waist deep, they were machine-gunned. All but Sister Lt Vivian Bullwinkel
Vivian Bullwinkel
Vivian Bullwinkel, Mrs. Statham, AO, MBE, ARRC, ED was an Australian Army nurse during the Second World War. She was the sole survivor of the Banka Island Massacre, when the Japanese killed 21 of her fellow nurses on Radji Beach, Bangka Island on 16 February 1942.-Personal life:She was born as...
were killed.
Shot in the diaphragm, Bullwinkel was unconscious when she washed up on the beach and was left for dead. She evaded capture for ten days, but was eventually caught and imprisoned. She survived the war and gave evidence of the massacre at a war crimes trial in Tokyo in 1947.
Further reading
- Lionel Wigmore The Japanese Thrust - Australia in the War of 1939 - 1945, volume 20 (pdf) , Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1957.
- White Coolies, Betty JeffreyBetty JeffreyAgnes Betty Jeffrey, OAM was a nurse in the 2/10th Australian General Hospital during World War II; she was taken captive by the Japanese Imperial Army and interned in the Dutch East Indies...
, Eden Books, Sydney, 1954, ISBN 0-207-16107-0