
60 YEARS AGO, AUSTRALIAN TROOPS LANDED AT BRUNEI BAY, BORNEO, TO BEGIN ONE OF THE MOST COMPLEX CAMPAIGNS INVOLVING AUSTRALIAN LAND, AIR AND SEA FORCES. ON THE MORNING OF JUNE 10, 1945, THE NINTH DIVISION WAITED IN THEIR LANDING CRAFT. THEY KNEW OF THE TOUGH RESISTANCE ELSEWHERE IN BRUNEI. THEY KNEW THEIR ACTIONS THAT DAY WOULD NOT MAKE THE WAR END SOONER, BUT THEY DID THEIR JOB NONETHELESS. JUNE 10, 1945 was the day the 9th Division, minus the 26th Brigade, which had been fighting at Tarakan, landed at Brunei Bay. Preparation for this operation had been hampered by the shortage of shipping and the late arrival of units and equipment. The 9th Division was commanded by one of the great characters of the Second Australian Imperial Force, Major-General George Wootten. A former regular officer, Wootten had left the army after World War I and qualified as a solicitor. At the outbreak of World War II, he took over command of the 2/2nd Battalion as a lieutenant-colonel, and then commanded the 18th Brigade between 1941 and 1943 and the 9th Division from 1943. He was regarded as a superb trainer of troops. The 9th Division's preparation for the Brunei Bay landings was detailed, with rehearsals at Morotai, about 1700km to the east. From there they travelled to Brunei Bay in uncomfortable landing craft. The commanding officer of one of Wootten's battalions, Lieut-Col Colin Boyd of the 2/28th, wrote: "In almost 6 years of war, this writer has never seen troops subjected to more <b>...</b>
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