further compounded by the disappearance of the submarine AE1 during a patrol off Rabaul on 14 September, with all 35 men aboard. After their defeat, the remaining German forces and the civil administration withdrew inland to Toma, believing they would have time to regroup before the Australians arrived. The German governor—Eduard Haber—continued to hold out for several days, hoping that the German East Asiatic Squadron would arrive to relieve them. Unknown to the Germans, however, an Australian advanced party consisting of a half-battalion of 200 men and a 12-pounder naval field-gun had followed them, moving along the Toma road. The Australians surrounded the town and proceeded to bombard it; meanwhile arrived on station and fired several shells at a ridge nearby. This show of firepower scattered the Melanesian police and was sufficient to start negotiations, with Toma subsequently occupied. Haber visited Holmes in Herbertshöhe on 15 September, signing terms two days later. All military resistance subsequently ceased and the remaining 40 German soldiers and 110 Melanesians surrendered on 21 September, leaving no effective opposition to the Australian occupation of the territory. Capture of German New Guinea The German colony at Madang on Kaiser-Wilhelmsland (the New Guinea mainland) was occupied on 24 September, although the German armed merchant raider SMS Cormoran—which was lurking nearby—escaped undetected. Over the next two months the remaining outposts were also occupied. Meanwhile, the German East Asiatic Squadron steamed across the Pacific before surprising and sinking a British force off Coronel on 1 November. After rounding Cape Horn into the Atlantic and attempting a raid on the Stanley naval station, the squadron was itself destroyed by a more powerful British force during the Battle of the Falkland Islands on 8 December 1914. Later it was alleged that widespread looting and destruction of civilian property by Australian troops occurred during this period. Indeed, ill-discipline among the Australian force appears to have been an issue—perhaps due to the haste with which the AN&MEF had been raised and the poor character of some of those that were enlisted. Claims in the Australian media of criminal behaviour caused considerable controversy at the time, and later led to a parliamentary enquiry. In the end a number of soldiers were court martialled and imprisoned for looting and theft, although more serious allegations, including rape, also arose. Following the capture of the remaining German possessions in the region, the AN&MEF provided occupation forces for