THE LOST BATTALION: SECOND BATTALION THESIS - UNT Digital Library

THE LOST BATTALION: SECOND BATTALION 131ST FIELD ARTILLERY, 1940-1945

THESIS

Presented to the Graduate Council of the North Texas State University in Partial

Fulfillment of the Requirements

For the Degree of

MASTER OF ARTS

By

Elmer Ray Milner, B. A. Denton, Texas August, 1975

A'siO

Milner, Elmer Ray, The Lost Battalion: Second Battalion, 131st Field Artillery, 1940-1945. Master of Arts (History), August, 1975, 106 pp., bibliography, 53 titles.

As a part of the Texas National Guard, the Second Battalion of the 131st Field Artillery went on active duty as World War Two errupted and eventually became trapped in Java by Japanese forces. It became known as the Lost Battalion after its surrender because it lost all communication with the Allies for over three years. The Japanese forced these Americans to work in Burma on a railroad construction project connecting Burma to Thailand. After the railroad's completion in 1944, the Lost Battalion remained in various prisoner-of-war camps until liberation came in August, 1945.

Research sources consulted include the prisoner-of-war project of the North Texas State University Oral History Collection, published memoirs of former captives, pertinent United States government documents, and contemporary newspapers. Secondary materials investigated embrace books and periodicals.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. . . . . . . . . .. Chapter

0. . . . .

.

Page iv

I. INTRODUCTION. . . . . . . . .

. .. .

1

.

.

II. FEDERALIZATION OF THE TEXAS THIRTY-SIXTH DIVISION . . .

.. ..

4

.

.

III. ASSIGNMENT OF THE SECOND BATTALION

TO THE SOUTH PACIFIC. . . . . . .

.. ..

15

.

.

IV. UNITED STATES-NETHERLANDS EAST

INDIES RELATIONS. . . . . . .

. .. .

34

.

.

V. SURRENDER AND EARLY CONFINEMENT . . . . . .

67

.

.

VI. LATER CONFINEMENT . . . . . . .

. .. .

77

.

.

VII. LIBERATION. . . . . . . . . . .

. .. .

94

.

.

VIII. ANALYSIS OF MOBILIZATION AND CAPTURE

OF THE SECOND BATTALION . . .

. .. .

99

.

.

BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . 102

.

iii

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Figure

Page

1. Sea Voyages of The Lost Battalion. . . . . . . . 33

2. The Lost Battalion's arrival and departure and Japanese Amphibious Attack. . . . . . . . 66

0...0. 3. Railroad Constructed by Allied Prisoners

of. War . . . . . . . . .

...

. . .0 . 091

iv

CHAPTER I

IN TRODUCT ION

In the summer of 1940, world conditions were extremely unstable, Japanese forces occupied much of China's territory, and wishing to insure the complete isolation of the Chinese people, Japan insisted that the British close the Burma Road.1 In Europe, Germany overwhelmed the French defenses and forced France's surrender. Great Britain waited across the English Channel for the expected German invasion and prepared for the Battle of Britain. The Italian Army finalized plans to invade Egypt.2

In the United States, the citizens carefully watched world events as the American Congress debated the proposed Selective Service bill. The proposal, also known as the Burke-Wadsworth bill, was discussed throughout the summer, and if it became law would introduce the first peacetime military draft and mobilization in the nation's history.

1The Japanese blockaded all of China's coast, and the only Chinese access to the sea was over the Burma Road that ran from Lashio, Burma, to Kunming, China. F. F. Lilu, A Military History of Modern China: 1924-1949 (Princeton: Princeton University~Press, 1956), p. 207.

2Winston S. Churchill, Their Finest Hour, The Second World War, 6 vols. (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Co., 1948), 2:224, 256, 319, 469.

1

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