target. The 2/40th and most Sparrow Force units were based at Penfui Airfield, outside the capital of Netherlands Timor, Kupang. The 2/2nd Independent Company was based across the border, at Dili in Portuguese Timor. Sparrow Force units The following units formed Sparrow Force: HQ Sparrow Force – 20 troops. 2/40th Infantry Battalion – 944 troops. 2/2nd Independent Company – 282 commandos (joined by 152 from West Timor.) 2/1st Heavy Battery RAA – 132 gunners. A & C Troops, 79th Light Anti-Aircraft Battery, (British Royal Artillery) – 189 gunners. 75th Light Aid Detachment – 14 troops. 2/1st Fortress Engineers – 56 sappers. 2/1st Fortress Signals – 39 signallers. B Troop, 18th Anti-Tank Battery RAA – 27 gunners. No.2 Section, 2/11th Field Company RAE – 66 sappers. 23rd Brigade Signals RASC – 8 signallers. 2/12th Field Ambulance RAAMC – 50 medics. 22nd Dental Unit RAAMC – 5 medics. Australian Army Service Corps – 20 servicemen. Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL) units The following KNIL units were assigned: Timor and Dependencies Garrison Battalion 3rd Company, VIII Infantry Battalion Reservekorps (RK) Infantry Company Machine-Gun Platoon, XIII Infantry Battalion Artillery battery (4 × 75 mm guns) Engineer platoon Engineer platoon Mobile auxiliary first aid platoon Battle Japanese invasion of Portuguese Timor, 19–20 February 1942 On the night of 19/20 February 1942, a force of 1,518 troops from the Imperial Japanese Army's 228th Regimental Group, which formed part of the 38th Division, XVI Army, under the command of Colonel Sadashichi Doi, began landing in Dili. Initially, the Japanese ships were mistaken for vessels carrying Portuguese reinforcements, and the Allies were caught by surprise. Nevertheless, they were well-prepared, and the garrison began an orderly withdrawal, covered by the 18-strong Australian commando No. 2 Section stationed at the airfield. According to Australian accounts of the resistance to the Japanese landings at Dili, the commandos killed an estimated 200 Japanese in the first hours of the battle, although the Japanese army recorded its casualties as including only seven men. Native accounts of the landings support the Australian claims, however. Another group of Australian commandos, No. 7 Section, was less fortunate, driving into a Japanese roadblock by chance. According to Brad Manera of the Australian War Memorial, despite surrendering, all but one of their number were executed by the Japanese. Colin Doig provides different figures, though, stating that of the 14 men on the truck, 13 were shot, with