Exhibition Theme - Casualties

Japanese dead from suicide raid, Labuan

These Japanese soldiers died in a suicide raid on the Australian base on Labuan Island. In Friend's notes about the incident he describes in detail the Japanese arriving in canoes from Borneo. The locals, ordered by the Japanese to prepare food for them, betrayed their presence to the Australians, who "surprised them at their meal and obliterated them".

Oil, pen and ink on canvas 76.4 x 101.8 cm
Painted in Sydney, 1945
Acquired under official war art scheme in 1946
Australian War Memorial
ART22857

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