



New Guinea-Papua Campaign, Phase 1, Bismarck Islands

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseOn 4 Jan 1942, Japanese naval aircraft began attacking the port of Rabaul on New Britain of the Bismarck Islands, which was a part of the Australian Territory of New Guinea. Sixteen Navy G3M Type 96 bombers of the Chitose Air Group scored three hits on the runways of the airfield, while the other 17 bombs landed on the Rapindik Native Hospital and the labor compound, killing 15 civilians and horrifically wounding 15 others with the shrapnel. Australian military reports noted that there were no casualties. "Evidently, thirty dead or wounded natives didn't count", observed author Bruce Gamble.

ww2dbaseThe Australians had little defense against attacks by modern aircraft. Anti-aircraft guns did not arrive until mid-Aug 1941, and even then, the weapons were WW1-vintage and were manned by militiamen; to make matters worse, they were not allowed to practice with live fire for that the ammunition supply was rather small. When aircraft finally arrived in early Dec 1941, they did not help much either, as they were not capable of intercepting Japanese aircraft. The few Hudson bombers that arrived did make some attempt at pre-emptively attacking Japanese facilities at Kapingamarangi northeast of Rabaul, but they never caused much damage. From a defensive standpoint, Australian aircraft was not even able to intercept Japanese reconnaissance flights.

ww2dbaseAt 1330 hours on 14 Jan, the South Seas Force Transport Fleet departed Apra Harbor, Guam, Mariana Islands with 5,300 men for Rabaul. Two powerful task forces led by Rear Admiral Kiyohide Shima and Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo joined the transports days later as escorts. Army Private Akiyoshi Hisaeda noted that the transport he was assigned to, Venice Maru, was "very cramped and uncomfortable". Newspaper correspondent Toshio Miyake who was embedded with the troops aboard Yokohama Maru also noted that "[t]he decks seemed to be scorched and the cabins felt like steam baths. Sweat ran down our bodies like so many tiny waterfalls." But the Japanese soldiers were conditioned to accept it as a part of life, and the spirits held high despite of the cramped quarters and the tropical heat.

ww2dbaseOn 20 Jan, aircraft from the carriers attached to the invasion fleet began attacking the island. The Japanese targeted airfields and ships, aiming to disable Rabaul's defenses. In the harbor, the freighter Herstein could have evacuated countless Australians and made a speedy withdraw from Rabaul before the Japanese struck, but instead it stuck to its mission of loading copra. When the Japanese aircraft arrived, she sat helpless as bombs fell all around her. The fact was that there were no plans to evacuate anybody from Rabaul despite the Japanese expansion into the South Pacific began weeks before the invasion fleet arrived. Sydney had time to react, but instead it chose to do nothing. As a result, the 1,400-strong Australian garrison, along with all the civilians living in Rabaul, had already been written off as a loss even before the Japanese troops boarded their transports.

ww2dbaseAs the Japanese ships arrived outside the harbor, Australian defenders were ordered by the commanding officer Colonel John J. Scanlan to don their helmets and pick up their equipment for a field exercise. The reason why they were not told the truth was not clear, but it was to have severe consequences as none of the troops brought adequate food and other supplies that would last more than a few days.

ww2dbaseOn 22 Jan, Australians began to sabotage their own airfields to prevent Japanese use. Major William T. Owen buried dozens of bombs in the runways of Lakunai airdrome while Captain Ernest S. Appel made preparations to sack their own machine gun nests and other military buildings. The bombs were set off some time that afternoon. Haste and misjudgment led to miscommunications, resulting in the failure to remove precious radio equipment from the immediate area before setting off the explosives. A few natives, unwarned, were killed by the explosions as they ventured too close to Lakunai.

ww2dbaseOn the same day, 22 Jan 1942, 50 aircraft from carriers Akagi and Kaga struck Rabaul, dropping 180 bombs on defensive positions while opposed mostly by small arms fire only. The Australians' only two large anti-aircraft guns were destroyed during this air strike. The Japanese aircraft, with bombs expended, strafed at anything that moved for the next 45 minutes before returning to their mother ships. From his flagship minelayer Okinoshima, Shima was concerned with the unknown. As he noted in his diary later, "[a]s we gradually drew closer to the coastline, we were very much worried about being caught unawares by the enemy; and indeed, it was truly by the aid of the gods that we were not troubled by them." Shima was being too careful, as they had no cause for real concern. The Australian defenses had already started to crumble in disarray even before the first landing craft were launched at 2235 that night.

ww2dbaseUnder the cover of bad weather, the landings were carried out smoothly. The first group to land was Lieutenant Colonel Hatsuo Tsukamoto's 144th Infantry Regiment, which took control of Lakunai airdrome quickly, which was one of two primary objectives set by Major General Tomitaro Horii. The other objective was to locate the up to ten coastal and anti-aircraft guns found in the surrounding hill, and the units dispatched for this task search frantically without realizing for some time that the only two guns were already destroyed, while the other eight were results of over-estimation by Japanese intelligence.

ww2dbaseThe landing near Vunakanau airdrome by Lieutenant Colonel Ishiro Kuwada's three companies of the 3rd Battalion faced some opposition dug in behind coconut log fortifications. The Japanese invaders were initially driven back, but, outnumbered and outgunned, their positions were eventually overrun.

ww2dbaseAt Raluana Point south of the bay, Captain David M. Selby's men waited for the impending landing at their sector. Gunner David Gloomfield recalled:

ww2dbaseAn enemy bugler started to blow a call, which ended abruptly, followed by a short period of silence. Then all hell broke loose. Naval guns flashed, followed by shells bursting overhead and behind us. Star shells again lit the area and we could see landing craft approaching. They were going to land at Raluana. ww2dbaseAs they came within range our mortar crews went into action and as soon as the landing craft scraped on the sand and lowered their front platforms, the order 'open fire, open fire' was being shouted and every gun on Raluana opened up.

ww2dbaseThe Japanese invaders of Raluana Point were startled a bit, but it only took them a few minutes to reorganize. Lacking heavy weapons and ammunition, officers quickly shouted "fall back" as they realized the waves of Japanese coming were more than what they could handle. The Australians began fleeing in disarray, dashing maddeningly through bushes to their trucks, then speeding recklessly away with one truck overturning on a sharp curve in the road.

ww2dbaseAs the Australian troops fled toward Three Ways to rendezvous, Colonel Masao Kusunose's 2nd Battalion, understrength by two companies, marched into Rabaul unopposed and took control of the Government House at 0500 hours in the morning of 23 Jan 1942. Fliers urging cooperation were dropped by aircraft to ensure a smooth start to the occupation; one such flyer noted:

To the Officers and Soldiers of this Island!

SURRENDER AT ONCE!

And we will guarantee your life, treating you as war prisoners. Those who RESIST US WILL BE KILLED ONE AND ALL. Consider seriously, you can find neither food nor way of escape in this island and you will only die of hunger unless you surrender.

January 23rd, 1942

Japanese Commander in Chief

ww2dbaseBut as the Japanese had observed, the leaflets were generally ignored by the Australians; very few Australian troops voluntarily surrendered. While this angered Horii, for the moment he chose to be patient with the Australians. By mid-day on 23 Jan 1942, all organized resistance at Rabaul ceased. An unnamed Japanese 3rd Battalion officer observed that "places on the road where the enemy had abandoned vehicles, where ammunition was scattered about, and where due to the pursuit attacks of our high-speed butai [there] were pitiful traces of the confused flight and defeat of the enemy."

ww2dbaseOver the subsequent days, Australian troops fled into the jungles and attempted to move in various direction where they thought they would find rescue aircraft or ships waiting for them. As they looked back at the direction of Blanche Bay, "[g]reat quantities of enemy troops were ashore with trucks and armored fighting vehicles, and consolidation of the area they had so recently gained was well under way." The disease-ridden jungle not only made the experience extremely difficult, but it also provided inadequate food for them. To their relief, the terrain gave the pursuing Japanese equal trouble. By 27 Jan, the pursuing Japanese troops were slowed to a standstill as the mud, fallen bamboo, and rotted trees made movement of any mechanized unit impossible; all they could do was to patrol the coastlines with destroyers and bombard the suspected hiding locations of Australian troops or landing at locations where the Japanese believe would intercept them. As time went on, the Australians grew more and more desperate. Selby later recalled

Each day we felt ourselves growing weaker from lack of food and the strain of climbing those towering mountains and cross the racing rivers. Time after time we would miss our footing and fall, or a vine by which we were pulling ourselves up would give way, and we lay on the ground too weak to haul ourselves to our feet without the assistance of another member of the party. Our hands, never dry, were now cut and torn--it was painful even to close them to grip the rough vines--and our bodies were bruised and stiff from our innumerable falls. Our clothes, too, were never dry, for during the brief spells when we were not soaked to the skin by rain or river crossings we would be dripping with sweat.

ww2dbaseAlthough Horii had, via leaflets, guaranteed those who had surrendered with decent treatment, some of his troops were eliminating prisoners of war regardless of whether they had surrendered without resistance. As early as 23 Jan, the date of the capture of Rabaul, Japanese troops were committing war crimes. On that day, Tolai natives witnessed an incident where already-killed Australians were dismembered with axes and bayonets. Elsewhere, ambulance driver Bill Collins witnessed his comrades being executed one by one by bayonet; when fellow medical personnel Private Thomas B. Clissold protested while pointing to his Red Cross brassard, the Japanese removed the brassard from him and then shot him with a pistol. Glenn Garrard recalled being forced to dig his own grave before being clubbed and stabbed with a bayonet before being left for dead, barely alive when he was discovered and brought back to life. By early Feb, the Japanese had massacred approximately 160 Australians, most of which against the laws of the Geneva Convention. Those who were spared were rounded up in barracks, working as forced laborers unloading supply ships that would subsequently arrive at the harbor throughout the Pacific War. The garrison that was originally deployed at Rabaul suffered a 96% casualty rate, far greater than any casualty rate any Australian unit suffered in all of WW2.

ww2dbaseIn Australia, the government allowed the newspapers to wildly speculate that the garrison was holding out in Rabaul, valiantly fighting against the invading Japanese. It was all propaganda in the end, and it did not take long before finger-pointing began. It was all in vain, however, as the Australian government had long ago given up on the troops deployed to Rabaul.

ww2dbaseThe Japanese built up Rabaul as one of their fortresses in the South Pacific. At the time of the invasion, 330 buildings stood in the harbor town. The Japanese would eventually build three-times that figure, along with 29 sawmills and other facilities to support further build-up. Some of the construction were done using forced Australian labor.

ww2dbaseThe nearby island of New Ireland was garrisoned by 130 Australian commandos. The capital, Kavieng, was attacked by Japanese aircraft on 21 Jan 1942, a day prior to troop landings. Australian troops were evacuated, and Kavieng was occupied without opposition by the end of 22 Jan. New Ireland was secured by Japanese troops by 24 Jan. Some of the Australian troops captured during the New Ireland invasion were later transported to Rabaul.

ww2dbaseSources:

Bruce Gamble, Darkest Hour

Bruce Gamble, Fortress Rabaul

Wikipedia



Last Major Update: Feb 2007

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