Who Was The
p. 69 · Read in the full issue
Mystery Man?
Who was the mysterious European who helped the Japanese during the infamous Tol plantation massacre on New Britain in 1942, when more than 150 captured soldiers and civilians were bayonetted or shot?
The Japanese Thrust recalls a statement by one of the survivors of the massacre, Gnr.
M. Hazelgrove, who said he and his mates were taken to a house near the beach, where the party met an interpreter with the Japanese, “dressed in shirt and shorts, who appeared to be English”.
As they arrived, the in terpreter said, “All right boys, you can put your hands down now”.
He spoke like an Australian, said Hazelgrove, later.
There was never any War Crimes trial over the Tol massacre, although two of the suspected principals—a lieu tenant-colonel and a doctor — later committed suicide. No others were identified.