Review
Of
http://www.zenithpress.com/Store/ProductDetails_35894.ncm
Darkest Hour
The True Story of Lark Force at Rabaul
Australia’s Worst Military Disaster of
World War II
Gamble, Bruce. St Paul, MN: Zenith Press,
2006
ISBN: 0-7603-2349-6
Pages: 304
"The correctful thing in all literary
books is to remember that the truth may need suppressing if it appears out of
tangent with the common man’s notion of reality." - Trader Horn
Any author who tries to tackle the difficult subject
of wartime Rabaul and keep the tragedy of what happened in the forefront of
Australians' consciousness is to be commended. However, for me, Darkest
Hour offers little I didn't already know. With little new
information, it seems to be a well-woven compilation of accounts that have
already been published in other books and information from diaries and
unpublished manuscripts in the AWM. It would be hoped that any author of
secondary histories would accept the serious responsibility to sift what has
been written before and leave things clearer than they found them! This
is particularly the case where so much inaccurate surmise has already been
written about Rabaul.
General Comments:
Like the first book published on the 2/22nd
Battalion and the loss of Rabaul (Rabaul 1942), Darkest Hour (DH) could
have done with a good fold-out map, so the reader isn't constantly flipping
back to the small maps trying to work out where all the various groups were.
Also, as there were so many groups of escaping soldiers of the Battalion
heading in so many different directions, it is difficult to keep the timeframe
in context. I found the non-super scripting of page references very
annoying. There is still a lot of information the author didn't find,
didn't mention or perhaps didn't reference.
There is some new information.
Interestingly Gamble states that Captain Shojiro Mizusaki, Commanding Officer
of the 81st Naval Garrison
[p. 224] was the officer overseeing the movement of the nurses from
Vunapope to the Naruto Maru
for transportation to Japan [p. 244]. This means he was also in charge of the
inspection of the nurses that took place on the preceding day when he told the
nurses he would be inspecting them once a month.
The author references this statement to Not Now Tomorrow [p.88] but NNT
states that the officer was from the house of Mitsubishi:
This
day which, oddly enough, ended in optimism was the 22nd of June 1942.
Exactly twelve days after that disturbingly memorable date hordes of Japanese
again invaded our sanctuary. We had just come in from a walk to the
Mission cemetery when Sugai the Interpreter arrived with several
Naval officers, one of whom stood out noticeably from his companions. He was
tall and looked more southern European than Oriental.
With much over emphasised bowing, Sugai introduced him. ‘This gentleman is from the House of Mitsubishi. You must
obey him,’ said Sugai totally ignoring the other officers. As none of us, at
this stage, had heard of the House of Mitsubishi this honour was completely
lost on us.
Before Sugai could give us any instruction this important person addressed us
in a well educated English voice. ‘Please, just call me Michael’.
Speechless gasps greeted this invitation - we were all too astonished to call
him anything, much less Michael!
If this new information is correct [and to
me it makes sense that it would be Mizusaki, as the Rabaul nurses were special
prisoners to the Japanese at that time], historians should be raising the
question of why an officer of such senior rank would be involved with moving 18
lowly POW nurses to Japan. But unfortunately, as other historians have in the
past, the author has missed the significance of this encounter and didn't ask
any questions.
Comments About Specific Claims in Darkest Hour
Page 11,
last paragraph. “Salvation Army realized that conscription might come at any
time”. Prior to Japan's entry in the war, there had been little discussion
of conscription. This had been a huge issue during WWI causing a split in the
Labor Party and their loss of Government. The government had actually suspended
enlistment to the 2nd AIF in July 1940. Some members of the Salvation Army may
have used the prospect of conscription to justify their service enlistment
after the war, to pacifists within their own community, but it was not an issue
during 1940 and early 41. Although conscription was subsequently introduced in
at end first quarter 42, after the fall of Singapore and Japanese successes
through modern Indonesia, this was under manpower regulations with personnel
directed to the AMF not the AIF.
Page 13,
3rd paragraph, discussion of the relationship with the CMF to the Australian
Army and comparison to the US National Guard movement.
This is entirely wrong. The CMF was the Australian Army. From federation, the
structure of the Australian Army was as the part-time CMF with a small number
of full-time personnel, the latter limited to coastal artillery, engineers,
service corps (logistic transport support) ordinance corps (logistic support)
and the instructional corps. It had been a point of conflict that an officer
wanting a regular army career in the combatant arms had to be attached to the
instructional corps and had a much slower rate of progress than a part-time
officer and also had a lower priority for attachment to the Indian Army for
critical training courses required for progress past the rank of Captain. The
1st & 2nd AIF were entirely recruited "for the duration" of the
war and disbanded at the end of their respective wars. The regular peacetime
army was not founded until after WW2.
Page 19,
2nd paragraph "focus their attention on Europe”... “bled white
under a prolonged siege at Tobruk."
This paragraph is superficial and not accurate. When England declared war on
Nazi Germany in September 1939, Australia also declared war. The phoney
war period was used to form, arm and train the 2nd AIF. The collapse of
France and the Low Countries was sudden and spectacular.
The North African campaigns became the main land warfare theater for British
troops. The 2nd AIF was heavily committed to the disastrous Greek
campaign, where heavy losses occurred. Also, only three Divisions
were committed to the North African campaigns (6, 7 & 9th.). The 8th
remained in Australia and was subsequently split up with the bulk as a garrison
to Singapore and the remainder as Lark, Sparrow & Gull Forces. The 8th was
always short of artillery, transport and other equipment. This had been
part of the reason for its retention in Australia.
Page 19,
last paragraph discussing AIF recruitment.
See previous comments. To get a better understanding, supported by
statistics, see Jeffrey Grey "A military history of Australia". This
is generally regarded as an excellent introduction and overview of Australian
military history.
Page 20,
1st paragraph. States Australian attitude was that the US & Macarthur provided
a shield in the Philippines.
This is not true. Official policy and strategy was based on Fortress Singapore.
The USA was isolationist and regarded as unreliable. Until Pearl Harbour,
the USA was not an ally.
There is some evidence that the Americans were strategically interested in
Rabaul and that they were covertly involved in the building of the Vunakanau
aerodrome. [See unpublished manuscript “Memories of New Guinea Rabaul 1937
-1942” by Harry Morris p.25]
Page 20, 3rd
paragraph. Discussion of Mandated Territory of New Guinea.
The Author is generally confused. As an Australian Territory, the white
Australians were not "Expatriates". With independence in
1975 and the renaming of the country as Papua New Guinea (the "and"
is removed!) and the way PNG has enacted its citizenship regulations, the
non-indigenous community are now known as the "Expatriates" even if
they are long term residents planning to live their entire lives in the
country. So "expat" as a term was not in use in the
period of the book.
Page 22,
1st paragraph. Under the League of Nations Charter for mandated territories,
the construction of fortifications was expressly prohibited. This leads
back to the question of what was the role of Lark Force, as a buffer garrison
against Japanese expansionism or a garrison to protect the harbour from Nazi
German merchant raiders like the Kormoran. As the latter, their
role was legitimate within the Charter; however as the former the legality of
their role was very questionable. In particular the construction of the 6 inch
gun emplacements was a questionable activity.
Page 38,
Albert Hahl. The main problem with Kokopo is the shallow depth of its
harbour. Large ships can't dock there. Rabaul, although threatened by the
volcano, made a more viable location because of its deep water harbour.
Page 52,
last paragraph. General description of small arms. The rifle in use was
the SMLE No 1 Mk III*. These were newly-made for the 2nd AIF, being the model
adopted in 1915 and very similar to the Mk111 adopted in 1907. They fired
the Mk7 .303 cartridge which had been adopted during WWI. Rebuilt WWI
rifles were retained in Australia for use by AMF troops.
Page 58, “Not
all women were able to leave”.
The six civilian/government nurses were offered evacuation but they volunteered
as a group to stay. There was no intervention by H Page and no elderly
Government nurse sailed to Australia. Reference to the Government nurses
volunteering to stay can be found in the Court of Enquiry into the fall of
Rabaul that was conducted by the Australian Government in early 1942.
[See Lost Women of Rabaul page 203, Not Now Tomorrow page
17.]
It should be noted that the AANS nurses were never offered evacuation as it was
deemed their duty to stay with the men. Gamble may be referring to the fact
that Joyce Oldroyd–Harris was flown in as relief matron for Namanula hospital
on 22 December 1941 as Matron Alice Thorburn was taking her leave on the 29
December?
[See That They Might Live by Ellen Kettle (ISBN 0 908203 02 0) page
75.]
Page 94
and 116 Have Selby spelt "Shelby".
Page
120, "they squabbled like children
about food"
This statement is not referenced, but Gordon Thomas wrote of this:
Hunger over-rode any scruples we might
have had regarding the manner in which it was served. Europeans, Asiatics and
natives all joined in the general scramble for food. [Rabaul 1942-1945 by Gordon Thomas. Unpublished p.24]
To my mind scrambling and squabbling are
two different things...
Page 146,
"they were bitterly disappointed that on had come for them" -
missing words.
Page 187
has Colin Dowse dying just before the arrival of the Laurabada. Page
193 has him dying after arriving back in Australia on the Lakatoi?
Page 202, “only
comprehensive narrative among the prisoners from Lark Force”. This is
a big call. Gamble hasn't read any of the Rabaul nurses' diaries and
although not a member of Lark Force, Gordon Thomas wrote a book entitled Rabaul
1942-1945 which was never published. Bishop Scharmach also wrote "This
Crowd beats us all". Gamble makes reference to neither.
Page 210,
3rd paragraph, “The most reverend Leo Scharmach and his staff were Germans;
they were treated with the same contempt as the Australians”. This
is incorrect. Bishop Leo Scharmach was Polish but had served in the
German army as a stretcher bearer in WW1. He had a German Iron Cross
medal which he used to great effect in influencing the Japanese. There
are plenty of examples of the Bishop not giving in to Japanese pressure.
[See p27 This Crowd Beats Us All – Disastrous Order from Tokyo]
Page 211. The comment that Bishop Leo Scharmach resembled Groucho
Marx is unnecessary and possibly gives the reader the wrong impression.
The author goes on to state that he could do little about the Japanese sexual
advances and the guards punishing the nuns at Vunapope. Nuns were
punished as the author states, but they were the little native nuns at the top
of the Ramale Valley who were out side the Bishop's sphere of influence.
[See “This Crowd Beats Us All” page 247 - Native Sisters Tortured.]
It is true that the Bishop trod a very
fine line with the Japanese, but he managed to survive the war and saved the
missionaries under his care.
Page 212. The author references the death of Gray to Not Now Tomorrow.
None of the seven Rabaul nurses' diaries (that I have copies of) make any
mention of the death of Gray, some did however name him as being executed on
war crimes affidavits in Manila in 1945. The original story was written
in “This Crowd Beats Us All” page 21.
From Darkest Hour
At Rabaul, captured soldiers and airmen
were subjected to some of the worst atrocities. John Gray, the engineering
officer captured at Tol, was the victim of a particularly heinous crime
committed by members of the 3rd Battalion. Taken to Vunapope rather than
imprisoned at the Malaguna Road stockade, he was tied to a palm tree outside
Lieutenant Colonel Kuwada’s residence and questioned for hours in the blazing
sun. Periodically the Japanese slapped him with a length of rope, beat him with
planking, or sprinkled biting ants on his body. [?] When they grew tired of the interrogation, they took Gray to a
distant hill [?]
where missionary students witnessed his execution. First, a doctor named
Chikumi, whose reputation for malevolence had earned him the ironic nickname
“Sunshine Sam,” [The way I understand it he was given this
name sarcastically as he was a little ray of sunshine] administered an injection that rendered Gray semi-conscious. [Why has this been added?] Next,
Chikumi performed a vivisection and removed Gray’s still-beating heart, for no
better reason than “to study his reactions.”
Reference
given by Gamble: Page 281 Torture and
execution of Capt. Gray including “in order to study” Reference Bowman P.70 Not
Now Tomorrow
What was written on page 70 Not Now
Tomorrow:
Much in evidence these days was a nasty
little Japanese doctor called Chikami - and referred to by our men as Sunshine
Sam. Just how diabolical and cold-blooded he was we were to learn. He was
responsible for an atrocity, in face of all others, hard to believe. Captain
Gray of Engineer Services had been captured by the Japs soon after the fall of
Rabaul. He refused to give information about the Australian Army and was tied
to a tree near the Bishop’s residence, a residence which was now occupied by
the Japanese Army officer in charge of the Japs at Vunapope, Lieutenant Colonel
Kuata. After brutal interrogation Captain Gray was repeatedly beaten, but his
courage was entwined in the fibres of his heart and his torturers could gain no
information from him. He was taken to a nearby coconut plantation where
missionaries were forced to witness his macabre execution. Doctor Chikami
cut out this brave man’s heart while he was still alive “in order to study his
reactions”
The original story from This Crowd
Beats us All:
Again there was the case of Captain Gray
of the 2/22 Battalion who was taken prisoner on the way to freedom. We do not
know all the details of what happened. However, some of our seminarians, who
were not confined to their house but who were forced to do all kinds of small
jobs for the Japanese soldiers and were thus able to move about more freely,
reported to us that they witnessed the following incidents.
On the morning of a bright sunny day,
Captain Gray was seen tied to a coconut tree some 50 yards from the Bishop’s
House. He was ordered to disclose military information on the whereabouts of
the Australian Army. He refused and was beaten. He was then left alone until
the officers returned, repeated their questions, “beat him up” again, and for a
second time tied to that tree in the blazing tropical sun. That procedure was
repeated periodically till 4 p.m. Captain Gray remained adamant. They had a
last request: that he should admit that Japanese officers were gentlemen. He
refused, and probably gave them a very frank opinion as to what they actually
were.
At 4 p.m. he was marched several hundred
yards into the adjoining coconut plantation. Several soldiers with spades, some officers and Dr. Chikami escorted
him. At the selected spot the callous doctor got busy. He cut out Captain
Gray’s heart, ALIVE . . . in order to study the reactions!
With the Bishop stating “We do not know
all the details of what happened,” it is at best hearsay evidence.
Update 7 February 2009 - I have located a
copy of a post war interview with Brother J Mahrhofer who saw Captain Gray
passing through the mission.
You
may have to be logged onto the Australian Natioanl Archives site as a guest to
view this page.
http://naa12.naa.gov.au/scripts/imagine.asp?B=189429&I=1&SE=1
Then go to Page 49
Page 213. Definition
of “soon" - in a prompt manner. Singapore fell 15th February 1942.
Indians arrived five months later, after the sailing of the other
POWs?
Page 217. Lex
Frazer couldn't speak fluent Japanese. He could speak enough Japanese to
survive and could make himself understood. He was liaison officer for the
Rabaul camp. I spoke to Lex 30/1/2007. He also stated that the
officers and nurses sang the song "Auld Lang Syne" in the hold
of the Naruto Maru on their way to Japan and that the Japanese had their
own version of the song.
Page 237. Gamble is
unfamiliar with "great circle" navigation over the curved surface of
the Earth. The route to Hainan to the north of the Philippines is in fact the
shortest in track distance. Also the average speed of the Montevideo Maru was a
few knots lower (and much more economical for fuel consumption) than the one
that he has calculated.
Page 238. There was in
fact no system of special POW markings. Allied ships also carried POWs without
notice - leading to the famous case of the "Laconia Incident" (http://www.uboat.net/ops/laconia.htm)
Anyway, 15 out of 19 Japanese marked Hospital Ships were sunk during the war
(http://www.combinedfleet.com/Byoinsen.htm), as was the treaty-protected POW
relief ship Awa Maru (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Awa_Maru), so markings were
of little use in the Pacific.
Page 245,
4th paragraph. Thomas and the other men with him were never housed in the
camp. They were housed at the Rabaul ice works. The question Gamble has failed
to ask is why weren't they going with the other men on the Montevideo Maru?
By that time they weren’t essential to the daily running of Rabaul. Why
did the three from the Rabaul ice house survive when the other civilian
men left behind didn’t? There was a reason...
[See Lost Women of Rabaul page 34.]
Page 247 The one-week delay in
notification of the whereabouts of the Montevideo Maru crew on the shore of
Luzon all points to the lifeboats going only to the shore, and no-one being
picked up by a ship within the week. Also, analysis of the movement of Japanese
warships at that time shows none in the area of the Montevideo Maru sinking.
Page 248,
they had little food on the Naruto Maru.
The men had brought a few tins of Bully beef and they had hard dog biscuits
before boarding.
No reference?
Lorna Whyte's diary states:
Small tin water every other day to wash. Meals mostly rice. Our
trip made
very comfortable by our soldier companions who had some extra food
[Lost Women of Rabaul p. 49 ]
Page 257. It wasn't a Red Cross Representative that visited the nurses at
Totsuka, it was a delegate of the Swiss Legation, Erwin Ruch. The nurses
were never misplaced; they were for want of a better term, political prisoners.
The following document is from the Federal Archives, Berne, Switzerland
[translated from French] and is an example of type of information coming out of
Japan about the Rabaul nurses in 1944 [See “Lost Women of Rabaul"
p.95:]:
The Swiss minister in Tokyo, M. Camille
Gorge who had been in charge of American interests in Japan since 9 December
1942, sent a telegram in December 1944 stating:
Australian Interests - The 18 Internees
previously at Yokohama Yacht Club should now be at Totsuka near Yokohama.
They appear to be Australian Nurses. Since March 1943 I have applied
eight times in writing and numerous times orally to visit the Australian
nurses, but the Gaimusho has never responded. It would perhaps be advisable
that Australian Government request me to protest. [Copyright
Rod Miller 2007]
The problem for the Australian authorities
would have been the fact that they didn’t know officially that the Rabaul
nurses were in Japan but they did know unofficially. See Lost Women of
Rabaul p.144. Gamble is probably quoting the Red Cross from Not Now
Tomorrow. Some of the statements made in this book are not supported by the
survivors or their diaries.
This leaves the Epilogue.
Gamble is far too strident and sure of his
points, when he should realise that he's skating on thin ice... - Maybe a
lesson there for us all!
I agree with his point about
escorts not being with the Montevideo Maru and being unlikely
to proceed to Japan. However he didn't read (the surviving Japanese
seaman) Mr Yamaji's account closely enough to see that the line about picking
up Australian survivors had come from the OSK office in 1942, not Mr
Yamaji. Although I agree it was essentially "face-saving"
concerning the abandonment of the POWs. The author mentions the OSK
office on p267, he then, on p268 writes,
"...there is no evidence to
corroborate Yamaji's claim that POWs were rescued and taken to Japan".
Possibly Gamble should have written,
"There is no evidence to corroborate the OSK Official's claim that POWs
were rescued and taken to Japan". The way it's written, he paints Mr
Yamaji as a liar; whereas it’s possible that the aging Mr Yamaji, talking about
events from so long ago and speculating off the cuff in response to leading
questions, should have considered his answer more carefully.
Page 267, “if
indeed a member.” It is difficult to understand why the author doubts
Mr Yamaji's authenticity as the sole surviving member of the Montevideo Maru
crew. He was invited to tell his story by Australian television after
discovery of his survival through Mr Hisashi Noma's
book "JAPANESE MERCHANT SHIPS AT WAR".
The section on "bunker oil" is
completely over-the-top, particularly since the Montevideo Maru was a motor
ship, and the fuel was light diesel, not the heavy oil of a steamer.
His vehement rejection of the possibility
of any singing in the water is wrong. I don't find it strange that people sang
in adversity - it was a very "British" thing to do. Remember
the band on the Titanic! A little Googling gives plenty of other
examples...
1) USS President Lincoln (WW1) http://freepages.military.rootsweb.com/~cacunithistories/USS_President_Lincoln.html
Fourteen of the sixteen boats were
successfully launched, two being blown up in the explosion of the torpedoes,
one aft and one forward. The men left on the ship after the life boats had
pulled away, immediately began cutting the lashings of the life rafts and
launching them, sliding down life lines onto them, singing and paddling away
with whatever wreckage they could pick up for a paddle. It reminded one more of
a Sunday school picnic than a race with death, to see them racing one another
and singing.
2) HMS Courageous 1939
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,761974,00.html
Rescue ships, including a U. S. freighter
and a Dutch vessel, picked up perhaps half of the Courageous' company who were
found singing and cheering in the water.
Etc. etc. etc. (All singing away in pretty
harrowing circumstances...!)
The author's understanding of the Japanese Prisoner of War Information Bureau
[PWIB] is very sparse.
Page 269.
– The battle of Midway would have made no
difference to the PWIB - there were no POWs involved, and the loss at Midway
was a secret in Japan anyway.
- The PWIB would not have been paid, or received rations for the dead POWs
on the books! - The delay in the Navy providing the Roll to the PWIB could also
reflect the time taken to re-compile the list in a form suitable for
transmission from Rabaul.
- The author then gives the Japanese too much leeway when he assumes
that the PWIB was designed to work in the first place. As Major Williams,
who was sent to Japan at the end of the war to investigate the disappearance of
the men from Rabaul reported, the PWIB actually reflected the Japanese desire
not to provide information about the massive losses of POWs under their
administration.
There is more to the story of the Montevideo
Maru, but unfortunately historians always reach the same conclusion, for
they rely heavily on the minimal information in the Australian and Japanese archival
files. But there is evidence for a more plausible explanation of why the
Japanese couldn’t release details of the sinking of the Montevideo Maru
and the other hell ships during the war. It wasn’t only sheer
incompetence on the part of the PWIB, although this is the un-researched excuse
accepted over 60 years ago! In the case of the Montevideo Maru,
the acceptance that the PWIB was incompetent closed the case on Australia’s
worst maritime disaster. The reason it was accepted involves the Japanese
Government at a very high diplomatic level and possibly the Australian
Government who through intelligence sources [FRUMEL, Mis-X] knew that the men
had left Rabaul on a ship. This fact is supported by the same document that
Gamble uses to support his case for the acceptance of the official excuse of
incompetence by the Japanese Prisoner of War Information Bureau:
10.
FATE OF PW AND CIVILIAN NON-COMBATANTS MISSING EX RABAUL
Scraps
of information collected at DPW & I, LHQ, over
a period of several years prior to Japans surrender, pointed to the probability that about 1000 PW, officials and civilians
had been embarked at RABAUL in Jun 42 for a destination unknown. Close
interrogations of recovered Aust .PW passing through MANILA had confirmed this
probability. See AWM 54 779/1/1 page7
This intelligence would have been used by
Williams in Japan to secure information from the Japanese on those lost.
The same document cited by the author to support the case of “bureaucratic
ineptitude” by an agency that was “notoriously inefficient” also
states:
It is however necessary to report that
both the Swiss Legation and the IRC officials have unofficially but in no uncertain terms
stated that in their opinion the information was deliberately withheld. (AWM 54 779/1/1)
see http://www.montevideomaru.info/Montevideo/html/Montevideo%20Maru.htm
The fact that the International Red Cross
and the Swiss Legation knew that information had been deliberately withheld is
repeatedly overlooked by historians, as it does not support the more
politically
favourable official findings accepted by the
Australian Government in 1945. Both the IRC and the Swiss Legation had
people in Japan during the war. Although never officially reported, in
December 1942 an IRC representative did visit the Rabaul nurses, talked to them
at some length and took their details.
This begs the question, “Why didn’t
Williams investigate the claims of the IRC and Swiss Legation further?” Major
Williams arrived in Japan on 27 September 1945, before departing on the 6th
December. In a period of eight weeks he investigated and possibly
closed 14 separate matters. How could he possibly have thoroughly investigated
any of these matters in such a short time frame and why was the Australian
Government so quick to accept his report with out further investigation?
Unfortunately the author of Darkest
Hour has failed to ask any of these questions and has accepted the official
story of the investigation into the Montevideo Maru without questioning
the inconstancies in the report that the conclusion is based on.
Although
a valiant effort, the author of Darkest Hour The True Story of
Lark Force at Rabaul should have presented all the facts not only the
ones that support the official history. He could have questioned some of
the reports that the official history of the Montevideo Maru is based
on, or at least pointed out some of the problems with the officially accepted
history considering it finalizes the death of so many with such little
investigation. It is difficult for any reader to decide what they believe
in the way of any alternative reason for the withholding of the information of
the sinking of the hell ships by the Japanese, other than that supported by the
author, when only the information that supports the status quo is
presented. The author then emotionally suggests in the last paragraph
that:
Ultimately, readers must decide for themselves what
they believe regarding the disaster and the alleged conspiracies. Wherever the
truth lies, the men who were lost must be allowed to rest in peace. Soon
enough, their entire generation will exist only in memory.
Is there a problem here? Surely it is more urgent than ever to research,
scrutinize and question the inconstancies of the official findings whilst the
generations that experienced and suffered are still alive to confirm or deign
what is being written by later day historians.
"There are many great truths which we do not deny, and which nevertheless
we do not fully believe." - Joshua Willis
Alexander
For more information on the IRC and the acceptance of Major Williams report
read Lost Women of Rabaul. See http://www.montevideomaru.info/Montevideo/html/Nurses.htm
Thanks to Ross Torrington and James
Oglethorpe for assistance with this review