Australian CMP Derrick at Balikpapan

[Larry Hayward]

In late 1945 my Dad who was in the RAF in Australia, was posted to Balikpapan, SE Borneo with about thirty other men to look after the airfield which was being used as a staging post for transports flying to and from Indonesia and Australia. When he arrived he was amazed to find the whole area littered with vehicles that had been abandoned following the US & Australian landing of 1st July 1945. While most of the men soon had a personal Jeep for themselves my dad saw a CMP 3 ton derrick equipped truck - either a Chevrolet C60S 4x4 134 inch wb Derrick or the Ford F60S equivalent- and he claimed it as its own! It was lying on its side for some reason but once righted it was fine and was put to use changing engines on C-47s and on construction projects using surrendered Japanese Naval personnel. I can't imagine it was used by the US Army so I presume that it was used by the 7th Australian Division- but does anyone know which unit within the 7th would have used such a vehicle? Would this CMP be an Australian version of the C60S Derrick used by the British & Canadian Armies in NW Europe? My Dad also suggested that some engine parts from Japanese trucks that they found, could also be used on his CMP. Was there anything that would match a Chevrolet C60S say from a Toyota KB? There were also Japanese tanks of the Ha-Go variety abandoned at Balikpapan but my Dad was warned that there could be booby-traps in them so he left them alone. Finally does anyone know which Japanese units resisted the Allied landing as I have not been able to find any references to these units or their equipment?