Five Little Known Facts About The Cowra Breakout - Mat McLachlan, Breakout Historian

On 5 August 1944, over 1000 Japanese Prisoners of War broke out from the Cowra Prisoner of War Camp. Five Australians lost their lives during the battle that took place. Historian Mat McLachlan, author of The Cowra Breakout (published by Hachette in 2022) is participating in the Bathurst Writers Festival with an author talk discussing this significant event in Australia’s history. Here, Mat reveals five little-known facts about the Cowra Breakout:

1. The Cowra Breakout was the largest prison breakout of WW2. Over 1,100 Japanese prisoners of war broke out from the Cowra camp, 14 times the number of prisoners (76 Allied airmen) than during the famous ‘Great Escape’ from the Nazi-Germany Stalag Luft III camp. The Cowra Breakout continues to be one of the largest prison breakouts ever in world history.

2. Two Australian guards, Privates Benjamin Gower Hardy and Ralph Jones, were posthumously awarded the George Cross – equivalent to the Victoria Cross – for their actions during the Cowra Breakout. The award of their George Crosses was announced in September 1950, and their citations read: On the night of the 4th-5th August, 1944, [Private Benjamin Gower HARDY / Private Ralph JONES] was on duty at the No. 12 Prisoner-of-War Camp, Cowra, as a member of a Vickers M.G. [Machine Gun] Crew, guarding the Compound in which were interned the Japanese Prisoners-of-War.

There were over 1,100 Japanese prisoners in the Compound at the time, and they staged a mass outbreak never before witnessed in the history of the British Empire.

Private [HARDY / JONES] displayed outstanding gallantry and devotion to duty in his fight to death against an overwhelming onslaught of fanatical Japanese who stormed out over the perimeter armed with knives, baseball clubs and other weapons and bore down on the M.G. crew. Private [HARDY /JONES] stood his ground and continued to work his gun until bashed to death by the Japanese who were worked up to a state of frenzy with the objective of either wiping out the Garrison or getting wiped out themselves.

This soldier met his death in the true British spirit of sacrifice for his country.’

3. The Cowra connection to the bombing of Darwin and Pearl Harbour - Japanese fighter pilot, Hajime Toyoshima, was involved in all three. Flying his Mitsubishi Zero fighter plane, Toyoshima was part of the attack on Pearl Harbour on 7 December 1941, as well as in the first air-raid on Darwin on 19 February 1942. During the Bombing of Darwin, Toyoshima’s plan was shot down and he was the first Japanese prisoner of war captured, and was imprisoned in Cowra. Toyoshima played a key role in the Cowra Breakout, sounding the bugle at 2am which started the battle.

4. The Cowra Prisoner of War camp was one of more than 20 POW camps in Australia during WW2. At the peak of the war, Australia held more than 12,000 people in internment camps, including captured enemy soldiers as well as Australian residents of ethnic origin from enemy nations. from https://www.naa.gov.au/explore-collection/immigration-and-citizenship/wartime-internment-camps-australia

5. The only land battle to take place on Australian soil during WW2. While the Cowra Breakout is often referred to as an attempted breakout of the Prisoners of War to escape, it was not a bid for freedom, but rather an attempt of the Japanese soldiers to continue to fight for their country. Japanese soldiers would rather fight and die honourably than bring shame to themselves and their family through being taken prisoner.

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