# Bastard Behind the Lines

Canonical: https://www.bookquiver.com/tom-gilling/bastard-behind-the-lines

![Bastard Behind the Lines](https://quivercdn.com/covers/allen-unwin/tom-gilling/bastard-behind-the-lines_978-17-6087-587-9.jpg?v=2026-05-23%2001%3A05%3A52)

- Authors: [Tom Gilling](https://www.bookquiver.com/tom-gilling)
- Language: en_GB
- Published: 2021-11-04

## Description

‘The way I look at it is this…When you’re behind the line and get yourself into trouble, you’ve got to get your bloody self out irrespective of anybody else. That’s why I like it.’ Scottish-born but a Queenslander to the bone, Jock McLaren was a true Australian hero. As a prisoner he escaped twice, first from Changi and later from the infamous Sandakan POW camp in Borneo. After paddling a dugout canoe across open sea, he fought for two years with American-led Filipino guerrillas, his exploits so audacious the Japanese put a price on his head. At the helm of his 26-foot whaleboat, the Bastard , McLaren sailed brazenly into enemy-held harbours, wreaking havoc with his mortar and machine guns before heading back out to sea. In early 1945 he joined Australia’s secretive Z Special Unit, parachuting into Borneo to carry out reconnaissance and organise anti-Japanese resistance ahead of Allied landings. He cheated death on numerous occasions and saved his own life by removing his appendix without anaesthetic, using ‘two large dessert spoons’ and a razor blade. Drawing on Allied and Japanese wartime documents, Bastard Behind the Lines brings the story of a courageous digger vividly to life and throws light on a rarely explored aspect of Australia’s Pacific war.

## Editions

### Bastard Behind the Lines

- Publisher: allen_unwin
- ISBN: 978-17-6087-587-9
- Pages: 1
- Published: 2021-11-04
- Language: en_GB