 The 24th Brigade 's goal for 11 June was to secure the airfield area . The 2 / 43rd Battalion patrolled to the north and west of the airfield during the day , meeting only light opposition . In contrast , the 2 / 28th Battalion ( which was tasked with advancing into Labuan 's interior ) encountered entrenched Japanese forces , and it became clear that it was facing the main body of the island 's garrison . Norman manoeuvred his companies to push the Japanese back , but the rate of advance was slow . The airfield engineers of No. 62 Wing RAAF were also landed during 11 June to begin work on returning No. 1 Strip to service ; reconstruction of the airfield began the next day . 
