Sparrow Force

Sparrow Force Casualties
Location	Far East
Casualties and losses
Total Casualties; Australian Army; British Army; ; Killed in action; Missing presumed dead; Wounded; Executed; Service related accidents; Illness; Burma-Siam; Japan; Malaya/Singapore; Java, Sumatra; Australia; Hellship Drowning	415; 368; 47; ; 63; 29; 21; 16; 12; 128 (Total); 72; 33; 5; 14; 4; 120

Sparrow Force
Sparrow Force
	Sparrow Force cap badges and unit patches
Active	1942
Disbanded	1946
Country	Netherlands; Australia; United Kingdom
Allegiance	Allies
Branch	Royal Netherlands East Indies Army; Australian Army; British Army
Type	Ad hoc, Guerrilla
Role	Frustrate enemy advance
Size	Total – 1852; West Timor; 2/40 Inf. Bn. AIF – 944; 2/1st Heavy Battery – 132; 79 LAA Bty RA – 189; Attached units – 305; ; East Timor; 2/2nd Ind. Co. – 282; (+ 152 joined from West Timor)
Garrison/HQ	Force Hill, West Timor
Motto(s)	"They Alone Did Not Surrender"; – Winston Churchill
Anniversaries	23 February
Engagements	Second World War Battle of Timor;
Battle honours	Koepang, Timor
Commanders
Notable; commanders	Nico Leonard Willem van Straten; William Leggatt; W. C. D. Veale; Alexander Spence

Sparrow Force was a detachment based on the 2/40th Australian Infantry Battalion and other Dutch, British, US and Australian 8th Division units during World War II. The force was formed to defend the island of Timor from invasion by the Empire of Japan. It formed the main part of the Allied units in the Battle of Timor.

The force began deploying in late 1941, and following Japan's entry into the war, it was drawn into the fighting in response to the Japanese invasion of Portuguese and Dutch Timor in February 1942. After heavy fighting around Irekum, the main element of the force – the 2/40th – were forced to surrender on 23 February 1942; however, elements of the force, specifically commandos from the 2/2nd Independent Company, supported by the local population, continued a guerilla campaign and inflicted heavy casualties on the Japanese until August, when the Japanese launched a counter-offensive. Despite reinforcements from the 2/4th Independent Company arriving in September 1942, the Japanese offensive eventually resulted in the withdrawal of Allied troops over the period December 1942 to January 1943, with the commandos being withdrawn by sea. Sparrow Force personnel who were captured during the fighting were sent to Japanese labour camps across Southeast Asia, and between 1942 and 1945, many died in captivity.

^ According to reports by W.W. Leggatt, F. East (Intelligence Officer), and Veale on Sparrow Force, written in 1945, and contained in the Australian War Memorial's archive. The original objective of Sparrow Force was the defence of strategic airfields but once invasion became inevitable, the reinforcement convoy from Darwin was attacked and aircraft were withdrawn from Timor, the objective was changed to frustrating Japan's advance.

[1] According to reports by W.W. Leggatt, F. East (Intelligence Officer), and Veale on Sparrow Force, written in 1945, and contained in the Australian War Memorial's archive. The original objective of Sparrow Force was the defence of strategic airfields but once invasion became inevitable, the reinforcement convoy from Darwin was attacked and aircraft were withdrawn from Timor, the objective was changed to frustrating Japan's advance.

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