''Men of Timor'' is a 1943 short documentary propaganda film about the

guerrilla warfare Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military, such as rebels, partisans, paramilitary personnel or armed civilians, which may include recruited children, use ambushes, sabotage, terrori ...

activities of

Sparrow Force Sparrow Force was a detachment based on the 2/40th Battalion (Australia), 2/40th Australian Infantry Battalion and other Dutch, British, US and 8th Division (Australia), Australian 8th Division units during World War II. The force was formed to ...

Timor Island Timor (, , ) is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, in the north of the Timor Sea. The island is Indonesia–Timor-Leste border, divided between the sovereign states of Timor-Leste in the eastern part and Indonesia in the ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Plot

The film opens with a map of the

Timor Sea The Timor Sea (, , or ) is a relatively shallow sea in the Indian Ocean bounded to the north by the island of Timor with Timor-Leste to the north, Indonesia to the northwest, Arafura Sea to the east, and to the south by Australia. The Sunda Tr ...

area, showing Timor Island, then Japanese occupied Dutch Timor and

Portuguese Timor Portuguese Timor () was a Portuguese colony on the territory of present-day East Timor from 1702 until 1975. During most of this period, Portugal shared the island of Timor with the Dutch East Indies. The first Europeans to arrive in the regio ...

(

East Timor Timor-Leste, also known as East Timor, officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is a country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the coastal exclave of Oecusse in the island's northwest, and ...

), in relation to the coast of the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

in northern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. It briefly explains the circumstances of the Australian troops left behind, who did not surrender but carried on a guerrilla war against the Japanese. After some very difficult forays behind enemy lines to capture equipment for radio, they manage to contact the Australian military in the city of Darwin across the Timor Sea. Wary of a possible Japanese trick, the military asked the Sparrow Force men what the first name of a wife of a particular sergeant was. When the correct answer, Joan, was returned, the Australian military starts to airlift supplies to the Allied guerrillas and their Timorese allies.

Production

Damien Parer Damien Peter Parer (1 August 1912 – 17 September 1944) was an Australian war photographer. He became famous for his war photography of the Second World War, and was killed by Japanese machine-gun fire at Peleliu, Palau. He was cinematographer ...

, British journalist Dixon-Brown and ABC war correspondent Bill Marien travelled to Timor in November 1942 to report on the conflict. The Australian soldiers delayed an attack until Parer's arrival so he could film it. Embarked from Darwin in HMAS Castlemaine, a corvette for Betano on 5 November 1942 and returned embarking at Belano in Timor for Darwin, Australia on 16 November 1942.

Reception

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuous ...

'' called the movie "memorable":

It epitomises the almost unbelievable adventure, as well as the daring, initiative, and courage, of some of the men fighting in this war... Character and fighting spirit, resourcefulness and grim determination, often lurking behind a grin, have been captured in some superbly photographed close-ups of these now famed Australian guerillas, These studies are the highlights of a documentary picture that will definitely help to immortalise a military venture linked with the destiny of Australia.

References

External links

* *
Australian War Memorial.gov: ''Men of Timor''22 Australian War Memorial.gov: video of several minutes of Parer's original footage on Timor

British Pathe.com: ''Men of Timor''

''Men of Timor''
at Oz Movies Australian World War II propaganda films 1943 films Black-and-white documentary films Australian black-and-white films 1943 short documentary films Australian short documentary films Pacific War films Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies 1940s in Portuguese Timor History of Timor Timor Sea 1940s English-language films 1940s Australian films English-language short documentary films English-language war films {{WWII-documentary-film-stub

Plot

Production

Reception

See also

References

External links