Sergeant Leonard George Siffleet: A Covert Life

I Was Only Doing My Job: Australia's Military History

24-OCTOBER-1943, while serving with M Special Unit, Special Operations Australia, 2nd Australian Imperial Force, Sergeant Leonard George Siffleet was on a covert mission in Japanese-occupied New Guinea. His team was tasked with setting up a Coastwatch position over the newly captured town of Hollandia. During their operation, they were ambushed and captured by Japanese troops and local New Guineans allied with the Japanese. Despite intense interrogation, Sergeant Siffleet faced execution—a rare instance of a Western soldier’s execution being photographed by the Japanese. Although the war crimes investigations held the surviving Japanese troops accountable, the individual who delivered the fatal blow to Sergeant Siffleet was killed during the latter stages of the New Guinea Campaign. Tragically, Leonard's body was never recovered.

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