Darkest Hour The True Story of Lark Force at Rabaul - Australia's Worst Military Disaster of World War II

January 23, 1942, New Britain. It was 2:30 a.m., the darkest hour of the day and, for the defenders of this Southwest Pacific island, soon to be the wars darkest hour. Fifteen hundred men and six nurses, Lark Force, had been deployed to New Britain to fortify and defend Rabaul, capital of Australias mandated territories. Once theyd completed their work on the strategic port and its two airfields, the groupmostly volunteers from Victoriasettled into the routine of garrison duties, confident of being relieved within a year.

Bruce Gamble, a retired naval flight officer and formerly a historian on the staff of the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation, is the author of two critically acclaimed nonfiction books about the Pacific War: Black Sheep One and The Black Sheep. He lives in Hendersonville, North Carolina.