the Turkish border throughout the remainder of 1941. They endured a bitter cold and snowy winter at Fih near Tripoli, which was punctuated by leave drafts to Tel Aviv. By this time, Blackburn had returned to the battalion after a stint as president of a court-martial and another inquiry, where his legal skills were put to good use. At Christmas, Blackburn's son, Richard, visited him, on leave from the 9th Division Cavalry Regiment, which was in Palestine. Java On 14 January 1942, following Japan's entry into the war, the 2/3rd left Fih and travelled south into Palestine. On 1 February, the battalion, less one company and with no machine guns or vehicles, left the Middle East on . Also on Orcades were the 2/2nd Pioneer Battalion, engineers of the 2/6th Field Company, elements of the 2/2nd Anti-Aircraft Regiment and 2/1st Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, the 105th General Transport Company, 2/2nd Casualty Clearing Station, and sundry others. The ship, rated for 2,000 passengers, was loaded with 3,400. Blackburn, as senior officer on board, was appointed as the commander of the embarked troops, and ensured that the soldiers were kept busy with air raid and lifeboat drills, physical training and lectures. On 10 February, the ship departed Colombo, escorted by British, and later, Australian warships. Blackburn received orders to put 2,000 of his men ashore at Oosthaven on Sumatra in the Dutch East Indies to help defend an airfield near Palembang, about north of the port. These men were to be known as "Boostforce". This was in accordance with a plan that involved the 6th and 7th Divisions defending Java and Sumatra respectively. Due to a lack of small arms, some of the troops were equipped with weapons from Orcades armoury, including outdated and unfamiliar Springfield, Ross and Martini Henry rifles. Some soldiers did not have a firearm at all, and the 2/3rd not only lacked its Vickers guns, it also did not have any Bren light machine guns either. Blackburn was to lead "Boostforce", the objective of which he labelled a "suicide mission", especially given the Japanese had landed paratroops on Sumatra on 14 February. Orcades dropped anchor about offshore. Despite receiving a report that the Japanese were already at Palembang, Blackburn was ordered to disembark his force, and they were ferried ashore by a small Dutch tanker around dusk on 15 February. They were only just disembarking when orders were received