An Afternoon with Roger Maynard at Chatswood Library

This is the story of Major General Henry Gordon Bennett, Commanding Officer of 8th Division, best remembered for his escape by boat from Singapore in the dying days of the Japanese invasion, which led to the imprisonment of 15,000 Australian servicemen. Bennett’s decision to leave his men to their fate is one of the most controversial episodes in the fall of Singapore. 

Though he was exonerated by Prime Minister John Curtin on his return to Australia, Bennett was never forgiven by the military’s top brass for what many viewed as a clear case of desertion.

In his history of the 8th Division, Roger Maynard examines Bennett’s legacy through the prism of today’s military standards to establish whether he was, indeed, a hero or deserter.