page_title: 9th Division (Australia)
section_title: Borneo
hierarchical_section_title: 9th Division (Australia) / History / South West Pacific / Borneo
caption_attribution_description: English: A soldier from the Australian 2/43rd Battalion armed with an Owen Gun in a bomber dispersal bay at Labuan airstrip on the day of the Australian landing there
context_page_description: The 9th Division was a division of the Australian Army that served during World War II. It was the fourth division raised for the Second Australian Imperial Force. The distinctions of the division include it being:
  in front line combat longer, cumulatively, than any other Australian division;
  one of the Australian military's most decorated formations;
  the only 2nd AIF division formed in the United Kingdom, from infantry brigades and support units formed in Australia;
  praised by both Allied and Axis generals, including Bernard Montgomery and Erwin Rommel, as well as non-Australian military historians, and;
  like the 6th and 7th Divisions, being one of only a few Allied army units to serve in both the Mediterranean and Pacific theatres.
  During 1940, the component units of the 9th Division were sent to the UK to defend it against a possible German invasion. After serving during 1941–1942 in the North African campaign, at the Siege of Tobruk and both the First and Second Battles of El Alamein, the 9th Division returned to Australia. In 1943–1944, it served in the New Guinea campaign and, during 1945, in the Borneo campaign. It was disbanded, following the end of the war, in early 1946.
context_section_description: In January 1944 the 9th Division was relieved by the 5th Division around Sio and progressively over the following two months they were brought back to Australia. After a period of leave the division once again re-formed on the Atherton Tablelands. Due to high personnel turnover in this period as personnel were discharged or transferred to other units, many of the division's units had to be virtually rebuilt from scratch. Indeed, in order to bring the division's infantry units up to strength an entire Militia battalion, consisting of nearly 400 personnel from the 62nd Battalion, was broken up to provide reinforcements.
  Due to rapid developments in the war and strategic uncertainty over the role of Australian forces in the Pacific, the 9th Division remained in Australia for over a year before seeing action once more. While the Australian I Corps (of which the 9th Division was part) had originally been intended to participate in the liberation of the Philippines, these plans were dropped, and the Corps was instead tasked with the liberation of Borneo. This would be the division's final involvement in the war and its participation in the campaign was broken up into two primary operations: a landing on Tarakan and another on Brunei and Labuan.
  Tarakan
  The 26th Brigade group was assigned the task of capturing Tarakan Island and destroying the Japanese garrison. Japanese forces on the island were estimated at around 2,000 personnel along with around 250 civilians working in the oil plants. On 30 April 1945 a small force of commandos from the 2/4th Commando Squadron landed along with battery of 25-pounder field guns from the 2/7th Field Regiment was landed on Sadau Island off the coast of Tarakan, from where they would provide indirect fire support during the landing. The following day, 1 May, at 0640 the battery on Sadau opened the preliminary bombardment along with two cruisers and six destroyers stationed offshore. At 0656 hours the main assault began as the LCIs carrying the two battalions that would lead the attack—the 2/23rd and 2/48th—crossed the line of departure and headed towards the landing beach at Lingkas.
  Although initially Japanese opposition to the landing was light, as the Australians advanced inland from the landing beach, the resistance grew in its intensity and it was mid June by the time that the main Japanese force was broken up and mopping up operations began. These operations continued throughout July until starvation forced the majority of those remaining to surrender. The Australians lost 250 killed and 670 wounded in this operation, while the Japanese lost around 1,500 personnel killed and another 250 captured trying to defend the island.
  Brunei and Labuan
  The remainder of the 9th Division landed in the Labuan and Brunei area on 10 June 1945. Tasked with securing Brunei Bay in order to establish a naval base and secure vital oil and rubber production facilities, 14,079 personnel from the division took part, just under half of a total of 30,000 that were assigned to the operation. Following a preliminary naval and aerial bombardment, the 24th Brigade landed at the southern end of Labuan island, which situated as it was at the entrance of Brunei Bay, commanded the approach to northern Borneo. At the same time, the 20th Brigade landed near Brooketon, on a small peninsula in the southern end of the bay. A third, albeit smaller, landing was made by one of the 20th Brigade's battalions—the 2/15th—on the small island of Muara. The island had not been garrisoned by the Japanese and all the Australian landings went in unopposed.
  The 20th Brigade rapidly secured Brunei town against relatively light opposition, suffering only 40 casualties in this campaign. The 24th Brigade, however, encountered greater opposition in taking the island of Labuan, where the defenders withdrew to an inland stronghold where they held out along dense jungle covered ridges and muddy swamps. In order to subdue the Japanese resistance an intense naval and artillery bombardment was laid down over the course of a week before an assault was
caption: An infantryman from the Australian 2/43rd Battalion in a bomber dispersal bay at Labuan airstrip on 10 June 1945
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