Eilanden River, Dutch New Guinea. November 1944. At Post 6, Lance Corporal (L/Cpl) F. Errol ...

Eilanden River, Dutch New Guinea. November 1944. At Post 6, Lance Corporal (L/Cpl) F. Errol Smith, Field Security Section (FFS) of the Australian Intelligence Corps who was later captured and executed by Japanese near Japiro. L/Cpl Smith is standing on the edge of the very wide Eilanden River with Kaja Kaja interpreters, Sarah, and her daughter Susie and a native boy, Pedrovitj, who is holding a very thin paddle that the natives used for paddling their narrow canoes. The interpreters translated from the local Kaja Kaja dialect into Malay. The FSS of the Australian Intelligence Corps stationed at Merauke, Dutch New Guinea (DNG), seconded members, usually one or two, to the Army units in forward areas on intelligence duties. Post 6 was an Army outpost on the Eilanden River, DNG, equipped with Bofors guns for river defence and the defence of a radar station manned by RAAF personnel. FSS members attached to the Army unit, interrogated itinerant natives about Japanese activities as well as conducting patrols by small boat, using the river systems and/or the open sea, to visit native villages close to the Japanese military establishments at Japiro, gathering intelligence about the enemy's movements. Usually three men made up the patrols which could last from seven to ten days.(Donor G. Phillips)