Inane info on the fighting in New Guinea

[Noddy]

Background to the Buna, Gona and Sanananda Battles
In the second half of 1942, the Australian forces in New Guinea had stopped the Japanese advance on Port Moresby, and had pushed them back over the Kokoda Track. This had been a brutal and difficult fight, with men and supplies having to be brought over the single jungle track in mountainous terrain. Sickness, disease and malnutrition had effect on both sides. In September, the Japanese landings at Milne Bay had been decisively defeated.

The Japanese had fallen back to the northern area around Cape Endaiadere, Buna, Gona and Sanananda. Here, substantial defence works were undertaken, with bunkers dug in at ground level, swamps and dense jungle providing impassable areas for assault troops, and aerial observation being virtually impossible due to the tree canopy.

In September 1942, it was decided that tanks were needed in New Guinea, and the 1st Australian Armoured Division, which had just completed a series of exercises in the north west of New South Wales, was tasked to provide that support. The original choice was the 2/5th Australian Armoured Regiment, but they were equipped with M3 Medium Tanks. These AFVs were to heavy for any transport then available in New Guinea, so the choice fell on the 2/6th Australian Armoured Regiment, who were fully equipped with M3 Light Tanks. Initially A Squadron was deployed to New Guinea, and arrived in Port Moresby on 25th September 1942, where they were given three tasks:

Airfield Defence

Mobile Reserve

Defence of Bootless Bay and Borio Areas against enemy landings



Shortly after, the remainder of the regiment moved to New Guinea. The regimental headquarters and C Squadron moved to Port Moresby, and B Squadron moved direct to Milne Bay.


The threat to Port Moresby had lessened by this time and the Regiment trained for operations as well as having troops employed as stretcher bearers unloading wounded men from aircraft, working as despatchers in air resupply aircraft and labouring on the wharves or making roads.


Actions at Buna and Sanananda
Attempts to dislodge the Japanese at Buna defied the efforts of Australian and US troops, and following a debacle where infantry machine gun carriers were used as tanks and were shot to pieces, it was decided that the tanks would get their chance to be used. Four tanks of C Squadron had already been shipped to Oro Bay, and were offloaded onto lighters which were then towed by launch to Hariko. This was done at night as the Japanese still had air parity at least. The tanks landed at Hariko and were moved along the beach at low tide, with low flying aircraft drowning the noise and the incoming tides removing traces of their tracks. Four tanks from B Squadron were also moved up from Milne Bay, and these eight tanks constituted a composite X Squadron under the command of Captain Norm Whitehead.

The attack on 18th December 1942 would be led by the 2/9th Australian Infantry Battalion supported by 7 tanks. The US 128th Regiment, the 2/10th Australian Infantry Battalion with one tank would comprise the reserve. The 2/9th battalion would attack with three companies forward. Three B Squadron tanks commanded by Lieutenant McCrohon, Sergeant Jack Lattimore and Corporal Evan Barnett would support the right flank company. The centre company had three tanks commanded by Lieutenant Curtiss, Sergeant John Church and Corporal Cambridge. The seventh tank was commanded by Corporal Tom Byrnes and had Captain Whitehead on board. This tank was to the rear of the two troops of forward tanks and was to act as the control tank.

After crossing the start line at 0700 hours, the tanks moved at an infantry pace, with the infantry moving beside or close behind. This work was not what the Stuarts were designed for and continuous slipping of clutches and low engine revs caused the drivers much trouble. Where the tanks encountered Japanese bunkers, these were attacked by the tanks at point blank range and finished off by the infantry throwing in grenades. The left flank company, having no supporting armour, faired badly and suffered many casualties. As Captain Whitehead had left his troop leaders to run their own battle, he was at a loose end until the request for tank support came from the left flank company. Turning west, he came up against three strongpoints. The southern bunker was despatched with five rounds and turning to take on the next, the gunner‘s sights fogged over. Whitehead had his face pressed against one of the turret vision slits when a Japanese soldier leaped onto the tank and fired his rifle against the slit. Severely wounded by shrapnel from the armour and the bullet, Whitehead fell into the tank. As the tank turned to evacuate him, the gunner fired a 37mm round at another Japanese firing from behind a tree.



The Regiment’s Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Hodgson, took over the tank after Whitehead was removed. Returning to the battle, he was true to his teaching during training, and had his head out of the commander’s cupola to better see the battlefield. In any case the vision slits had been earlier damaged and were useless. Unfortunately, a machine gun burst on the vehicle wounded him, and so by 1000 hours both the Regimental and Squadron commanders were casualties.

Back on the right flank, Lattimore’s tank had bellied on a coconut log. Responding to a call, Corporal Barnett moved to Lattimore’s position but had run out of ammunition. Moving quickly to the rear (only a matter of 500 yards) and Barnett replenished and returned. The Japanese started to light fires under Lattimore’s tank, and so Barnett’s gunner machine gunned them off. The crew were saved. In the centre, Lieutenant Curtiss’s tank bellied on a stump and again the Japanese tried to burn them alive. Under cover of infantry small arms fire, Curtiss and his crew escaped, but the tank burned out. Corporal Byrnes’s tank was hit by a magnetic mine and destroyed.



In a gallant final effort, the infantry formed up at 1400 with several of the tanks and began a final assault. Using very pistols to indicate targets to the tank crews, the infantry moved forward, and the reserve platoon used Bren Guns to sweep the tree tops. The attack succeeded, and the Japanese broke, leaving their bunkers only to be gunned down by the Australians. It took another six days to reach the ultimate objective, Sinemi Creek, which was only 2500 yards from the start line.

On 24th December 1942, a fresh advance started to the west. Four tanks commanded by Lietenant McCrohon were in support. The Japanese had used antaircraft guns against allied aircraft, but these had not been fired recently. The tanks were advised these guns were well to the south. In the first hour, three tanks fell to three Japanese dual-purpose anti-aircraft guns. Lattimore’s tank was hit in the co-driver’s position, killing him and severely wounding Lattimore. The second tank had its tracks blown off and the third, commanded by Corporal Barnett took a round through the turret, killing the gunner and severely wounding Barnett. The fourth tank slipped into a shell crater.

In the meantime, a further 11 tanks of B Squadron left Milne Bay and were moved to the area. An attack on 29 December was ill-conceived and executed, using only four tanks which had only just arrived in the area. A further attack on 1st January 1943 was more successful and six tanks with three in reserve were used. The infantry however were exhausted, and against strong bunkers the attacks slowed. The actions were very fierce, and one tank had its radio put out of action and was set on fire. The crew remained with the tanks, putting out the fire and fought from the stationary vehicle for five hours.

The final chapter for the 2/6th Armoured Regiment came on 10th January 1943, when thre tanks of Lieutenant’s Heaps troop, plus one reserve, supported the attack of the 2/12th Infantry Battalion at Sanananda. The troop had to advance line ahead along a narrow track, and after some 60 yards the troop leader’s tank was hit by four rounds from an unlocated Japanese anti-tank gun. Both the hull hatches were blown open, and one round penetrated the left sponson. Corporal Broughton’s tank moved forward to cover the damaged vehicle, but received twenty rounds of 37mm fire before one round penetrated and wounded the four crew. The driver, although wounded, managed to extricate the tank and move off with the wounded. The third tank, commanded by Sergeant McGregor moved forward to support the troop leader, but his track was cut by a mine. and then set on fire by a Molotov Cocktail. Both the tank and the four crew were lost. Lieutenant Heap and his crew finally managed to exit the tank, which had been rendered unserviceable by the crew, and they withdrew to safety.

This finished the involvement of the 2/6th Australian Armoured Regiment in the jungle battles. They had proven that armour was an essential factor for the fight against the Japanese, and although they were equipped with unsuitable vehicles, had achieved results out of all proportion to their numbers.

The final words for the Regiment were spoken by Major General Ronald Hopkins, the father of the RAAC:

“It must be recognised that the gallantry and devotion of the officers and men of the 2/6th Armoured Regiment remained the vital factor in the success of their operations.”

[Cd.]

My father was in that very place. He was in the 41st Infantry. He had some rather interesting stories.

In the jungle the bodies of the dead would decompose very rapidly so that they were unrecognizable in only a couple of days. The cloaths would rot off of ones backs. There were more casualties from diseases such as malaria and dysintery than anything else. Insect life was rich and varried and included 6" centipedes which could blind a person to huge ants which were called "piss ants" because they smelled like urine when crushed.

The native people were men who wore very little but had well developed physiques. The women wore grass skirts but were bare breated. Sometimes the men would surprise you though. One scantily clad native soldier spoke english very plainly and when asked where he learned his english he replied "I used to drive a taxi cab in Port Morsby."

Soldiers lived and stayed in paramiters. These were lined with wire and cans to detect movement. Once during the night the rattling of cans were heard and suddenly all soldiers were alerted. Then there was a burst of gunfire everywhere. When the smoke cleared it was found that the cause of the commotion was horses. One would not expect horses in the jungle but there they were. These horses were brought by the Japanese. Japanese officers always brought horses with them.

The Japanese snipers were known to tie themselves to trees and stay there without food or water for days. They would then pick a target and shoot. On occasion Japanese were known to eat the internal organs of live prisoners when food was scarse.

My father did survive this battle and returned home shortly afterwards. He was part of a move to send troops from the Pacific theater to europe. Once back in america he was found unfit for combat duty due to his malaria (which 100% of his unit had) and confined to hospital duty for the remainder of the war.

[Noddy]

I have relatives who were there too.

[Cd.]

Originally posted by Noddy
I have relatives who were there too.

This article treats the whole matter as if it were an Austrialian affair. There were US troops there as well. I did see an article on this in WW2 Magazine just recently.

[Noddy]

Well, i am an aussie dude.