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Bastard behind the lines /

Bastard behind the lines /
Item Information
Barcode Shelf Location Collection Volume Ref. Branch Status Due Date
01181794 940.54 GIL
Biography   Parkes . . Available .  
. Catalogue Record 244133 ItemInfo Beginning of record . Catalogue Record 244133 ItemInfo Top of page .
Catalogue Information
Field name Details
ISBN 9781760875879
Shelf Location 940.54 GIL
Author Gilling, Tom:
Title Bastard behind the lines / Tom Gilling.
Allen & Unwin, 2021.
cartographic image.
text.
still image.
unmediated.
volume.
General Notes the extraordinary story of Jock McLaren's escape from Sandakan and his guerrilla war against the Japanese /
Summary 'The way I look at it is this...When you're behind the line and get yourself into trouble, you've got to get your bloody self out irrespective of anybody else. That's why I like it.' Scottish-born but a Queenslander to the bone, Jock McLaren was a true Australian hero. As a prisoner he escaped twice, first from Changi and later from the infamous Sandakan POW camp in Borneo. After paddling a dugout canoe across open sea, he fought for two years with American-led Filipino guerrillas, his exploits so audacious the Japanese put a price on his head. At the helm of his 26-foot whaleboat, the Bastard, McLaren sailed brazenly into enemy-held harbours, wreaking havoc with his mortar and machine guns before heading back out to sea. In early 1945 he joined Australia's secretive Z Special Unit, parachuting into Borneo to carry out reconnaissance and organise anti-Japanese resistance ahead of Allied landings. He cheated death on numerous occasions and saved his own life by removing his appendix without anaesthetic, using 'two large dessert spoons' and a razor blade. Drawing on Allied and Japanese wartime documents, Bastard Behind the Lines brings the story of a courageous digger vividly to life and throws light on a rarely explored aspect of Australia's Pacific war.
Subject added entry -- Relator term McLaren, Jock
McLaren, Robert Kerr 1902-1956.
Subject added entry Sandakan (Concentration camp)
Australia. -- Royal Australian Navy. -- Inter-Allied Services Dept. -- Z Special Unit
Subject Biographies
Military campaigns
Prisoners of war
Underground movements, War
World War, 1939-1945 -- Pacific Ocean
East Asia
-- Underground movements
-- Campaigns
-- Prisoners and prisons, Japanese
Sandakan (Sabah) -- Biography
Australia
East Asia
Malaysia
Pacific Ocean
Singapore
Catalogue Information 244133 Beginning of record . Catalogue Information 244133 Top of page .
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