{{Infobox military unit | unit_name = Lark Force | dates = March 1941 - January 1942 | country = {{flagicon|Australia}} Australia | branch = Australian Army | type = Composite force | role = Garrison | garrison = Rabaul<br />Kavieng | battles = Battle of Rabaul (1942) | notable_commanders = John J. Scanlan }} {{Short description|Second World War Australian Army formation}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}} '''Lark Force''' was an Australian Army formation established in March 1941 during World War II for service in New Britain and New Ireland. Under the command of Lieutenant Colonel John Scanlan,{{sfn|Keogh|1965|p=101}} it was raised in Australia and deployed to Rabaul and Kavieng, aboard SS ''Katoomba'', MV ''Neptuna'' and HMAT ''Zealandia'',{{Cn|date=October 2017}} to defend their strategically important harbours and airfields.{{sfn|Keogh|1965|p=100}}
The objective of the force, was to maintain a forward air observation line as long as possible and to make the enemy fight for this line rather than abandon it at the first threat as the force was considered too small to withstand any invasion.{{sfn|Keogh|1965|p=101}}
Most of Lark Force was captured by the Imperial Japanese Army after Rabaul and Kavieng were captured in January 1942. The officers of Lark Force were taken to Japan, but while the NCOs and men were being transported to the Chinese island of Hainan aboard the ''Montevideo Maru'', the ship was torpedoed and sunk by the ''USS'' Sturgeon.{{sfn|Wigmore|1957|p=674}} Only a handful of the Japanese crew were rescued but none of the between 1,050 and 1,053 prisoners survived, because they were still locked below deck.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/U56065|title= 2/22nd Australian Infantry Battalion|publisher=Australian War Memorial|access-date=27 April 2019}}</ref>
==Units== The Allied garrison consisted of the following units:{{sfn|Keogh|1965|p=101}} *2/22nd Battalion *17th Antitank Battery *a detachment of Royal Australian Artillery *a company of Royal Australian Engineers *an anti-aircraft battery *supply, signals and medical detachments *80 militiamen of the New Guinea Volunteer Rifles *1st Independent Company (Kavieng, New Ireland) *2/10th Field Ambulance, Australian Army Medical Corps
==See also== *''Sisters of War''
==Notes== {{reflist}}
==References== *{{cite book | last = Keogh | first = Eustace |authorlink = Eustace Graham Keogh| title = South West Pacific 1941–45 | year = 1965 | publisher = Grayflower Publications | location = Melbourne | oclc = 7185705 }} *{{cite book| last = Wigmore| first = Lionel |year = 1957| title = The Japanese Thrust|volume= IV |series = Australia in the War of 1939–1945| edition=1st | location = Canberra| publisher = Australian War Memorial| url=https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1417309 |oclc=3134219 }}
==Further reading== *Gamble, Bruce (2006), ''Darkest Hour: The True Story of Lark Force at Rabaul – Australia's Worst Military Disaster of World War II'', Zenith Press, St. Paul MN. {{ISBN|0-7603-2349-6}}
Lark Force Category:Papua New Guinea in World War II Category:Military units and formations of Australia in World War II Category:Ad hoc units and formations of Australia Category:Military units and formations established in 1941 Category:Military units and formations disestablished in 1942 Category:Military units and formations of the Pacific theatre of World War II
{{WWII-stub}} {{Australia-mil-stub}}