Liberation of Batu Lintang Camp

Date: September 11, 1945 • Location: Kuching, Malaysia

The Japanese-run camp at Batu Lintang in Borneo was liberated by the Australian 9th Division, averting the planned massacre of its 2,000-plus Allied POWs and civilian internees by four days.

The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) was the principal ground force of the Empire of Japan from 1871 to 1945. It played a central role in Japan's rapid modernization during the Meiji period. It also fought in numerous conflicts including the First Sino-Japanese War, Russo-Japanese War, World War I, Second Sino-Japanese War, World War II, and became a dominant force in Japanese politics. Initially formed from samurai domain armies that overthrew the Tokugawa Shogunate, it evolved after the Meiji Restoration into a powerful modern military influenced by French and German models, supported by its own air arm, the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service.