Landing at Nadzab
Encyclopedia
The Landing at Nadzab was an airborne landing
on 5 September 1943 during the New Guinea campaign
of World War II
that began with a parachute drop at Nadzab
in conjunction with the Landing at Lae
.
The parachute drop was carried out by the US Army's 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment and elements of the Australian Army
's 2/4th Field Regiment
into Nadzab
, New Guinea
in the Markham Valley
, observed by General
Douglas MacArthur
, circling overhead in a B-17. The Australian 2/2nd Pioneer Battalion, 2/6th Field Company, and B Company, Papuan Infantry Battalion
reached Nadzab after an overland and river trek that same day and began preparing the airfield. The first transport aircraft landed the next morning but bad weather delayed the Allied build up. Over the next days, the 25th Infantry Brigade of the Australian 7th Division gradually arrived. A terrible air crash at Jackson's Field
ultimately caused half the Allied casualties of the battle.
Once assembled at Nadzab, the 25th Infantry Brigade commenced its advance on Lae. On 11 September, it engaged the Japanese soldiers at Jensen's Plantation. After defeating them, it engaged and defeated a larger Japanese force at Heath's Plantation. During this skirmish, Private Richard Kelliher
won the Victoria Cross
, Australia's highest award for gallantry. The Japanese Army elected not to fight for Lae, preferring instead to withdraw over the Saruwaged Range
. This proved to be a gruelling test of endurance for the Japanese soldiers who had to struggle over the rugged mountains; in the end the Japanese Army managed to withdraw its forces from Salamaua
and Lae
. Troops of the 25th Infantry Brigade reached Lae shortly before those of the 9th Division that had been advancing on Lae from the opposite direction.
The development of Nadzab was delayed by the need to upgrade the Markham Valley Road. After strenuous efforts in the face of wet weather, the road was opened on 15 December. Nadzab then became the major Allied air base in New Guinea.
In July 1942, the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff
approved a series of operations against the Japanese bastion at Rabaul
, which blocked any Allied advance along the northern coast of New Guinea
towards the Philippines
or northward towards the main Japanese naval base at Truk. In keeping with the overall Allied grand strategy
of defeating Nazi Germany
first, the immediate aim of these operations was not the defeat of Japan but merely the reduction of the threat posed by Japanese aircraft and warships based at Rabaul to air and sea communications between the United States
and Australia
.
By agreement among the Allied nations, in March 1942 the Pacific theatre
was divided into two separate commands, each with its own commander in chief. The South West Pacific Area, which included Australia
, Indonesia
, and the Philippines
came under General
Douglas MacArthur
as Supreme Commander
. Most of the remainder, known as the Pacific Ocean Areas, came under Admiral
Chester W. Nimitz. There was no overall commander, and no authority capable of resolving competing claims for resources, setting priorities, or shifting resources from one command to the other. Such decisions had to be made of the basis of compromise, cooperation and consensus.
Rabaul fell within MacArthur's area but the initial operations in the southern Solomon Islands
came under Nimitz. The Japanese reaction to Task One, the seizure of the southern part of the Solomon Islands
, was more violent than anticipated and some months passed before the Guadalcanal Campaign
was brought to a successful conclusion. Meanwhile, General MacArthur's forces fought off a series of Japanese offensives in Papua in the Kokoda Track Campaign
, Battle of Milne Bay
, Battle of Buna-Gona
, the Battle of Wau
and the Battle of the Bismarck Sea
.
Following these victories, the initiative in the South West Pacific
passed to the Allies and General
Douglas MacArthur
pressed ahead with his plans for Task Two. At the Pacific Military Conference in Washington, DC in March 1943, the plans were reviewed by the Joint Chiefs of Staff
. The chiefs were unable to supply all the requested resources, so the plans had to be scaled back, with the capture of Rabaul postponed to 1944. On 6 May 1943, MacArthur's General Headquarters (GHQ) in Brisbane
issued Warning Instruction No. 2, officially informing subordinate commands of the plan, which divided the Task Two operations on the New Guinea
axis into three parts:
The second part was assigned to General
Sir Thomas Blamey
's New Guinea Force
. As a result, "it became obvious that that any military offensive in 1943 would have to be carried out mainly by the Australian Army
, just as during the bitter campaigns of 1942."
, commanded by Vice Admiral
Jinichi Kusaka
. Army forces came under General Hitoshi Imamura
's Eighth Area Army, consisting of the Seventeenth Army in the Solomon Islands, Lieutenant General
Hatazō Adachi
's Eighteenth Army in New Guinea, and the 6th Air Division
, based at Rabaul. As a result of the Battle of the Bismarck Sea
, the Japanese decided not send any more convoys to Lae, but to land troops at Hansa Bay
and Wewak
and move them forward to Lae by barge
or submarine
. In the long run they hoped to complete a road over the Finisterre Range
and thence to Lae through the Ramu and Markham Valley
s.
Imamura ordered Adachi to capture the Allied bases at Wau, Bena Bena and Mount Hagen
. To support these operations, Imperial General Headquarters
transferred the 7th Air Division
to New Guinea. On 27 July 1943, Lieutenant General
Kumaichi Teramoto's Fourth Air Army was assigned to Imamura's command to control the 6th and 7th Air Divisions, the 14th Air Brigade and some miscellaneous squadrons. By June, Adachi had three divisions in New Guinea; the 41st Division
at Wewak
and the 20th Division
around Madang
, both recently arrived from Palau
, and the 51st Division
in the Salamaua area, a total of about 80,000 men. Of these only the 51st Division was in contact with the enemy. Like Blamey, Adachi faced formidable difficulties of transportation and supply just to bring his troops into battle.
originates in the Finisterre Range
and flows for 180 kilometres (111.8 mi), emptying into the Huon Gulf
near Lae
. The Markham Valley
, which rises to an elevation of 370 metres (1,213.9 ft), runs between the Finisterre Range to the north and the Bismarck Range
to the south and varies from 10 to 19 km (6.2 to 11.8 mi) wide. The valley floor is largely composed of gravel and is generally infertile. Half of its area was covered by dense kangaroo grass
1.2 to 1.5 m (3.9 to 4.9 ft) high but in parts where there had been a build up of silt
, Kunai grass grew from 1.8 to 2.5 m (5.9 to 8.2 ft) high. Rainfall was around 1000 millimetres (39.4 in) per annum. The Markham Valley was traversable by motor vehicles in the dry season, which ran from December to April, and therefore formed part of a natural highway between the Japanese bases at Lae and Madang
.
the Deputy Chief of the General Staff, Major General
Frank Berryman, headed the planning process. A model of the Lae-Salamaua area was constructed in a secure room at St Lucia, the windows were boarded up and two guards were posted on the door round the clock. On 16 May, Blamey held a conference with Berryman and Lieutenant General
Sir Edmund Herring
, the commander of I Corps, around the model at which the details of the operation were discussed. Blamey's operational concept was for a double envelopment of Lae, using "two of the finest divisions on the Allied side". Major General George Wootten
's 9th Division would land east of Lae in a shore-to-shore operation and advance on Lae. Meanwhile Major General George Alan Vasey's 7th Division, in a reprise of the Battle of Buna-Gona
in 1942 would advance on Lae from the west by an overland route. Its primary role was to prevent reinforcement of the Japanese garrison at Lae by establishing itself in a blocking position across the Markham Valley. Its secondary task was to assist the 9th Division in the capture of Lae. The plan was generally known as Operation POSTERN, although this was actually the GHQ code name for Lae itself.
Meanwhile, Major General Stanley Savige
's 3rd Division in the Wau area and Major General
Horace Fuller's US 41st Infantry Division around Morobe
were ordered to advance on Salamaua
so as to threaten it and draw Japanese forces away from Lae. The result was the arduous Salamaua Campaign
, which was fought between June and September, and which at times looked like succeeding all too well, capturing Salamaua and forcing the Japanese back to Lae, thereby throwing Blamey's whole strategy into disarray.
The POSTERN plan called for the 7th Division to move in transports to Port Moresby and in coastal shipping to the mouth of the Lakekamu River. It would travel up the river in barges to Bulldog, and in trucks over the Bulldog Road to Wau and Bulolo. From there it would march overload via the Watut and Wampit Valleys to the Markham River, cross the Markham River with the aid of paratroops, and secure an airfield site. There were a number of suitable airfield sites in the Markham Valley; Blamey selected Nadzab
as the most promising.
Vasey pronounced the plan "a dog's breakfast". There were a number of serious problems. It relied on the Bulldog Road being completed, which it was not, due to the rugged nature of the country to be traversed and shortages of equipment. Even if it was, the 7th Division would have been unlikely to make the operation target date. It had taken heavy casualties in the Battle of Buna-Gona
and was seriously under-strength, with many men on leave or suffering from malaria
. It would take time to concentrate it at its camp at Ravenshoe, Queensland
on the Atherton Tableland
. To bring it up to strength, the 1st Motor Brigade was disbanded in July to provide reinforcements. Reinforcements passed through the Jungle Warfare Training Centre at Canungra, Queensland
, where they spent a month training under conditions closely resembling those in New Guinea.
The delays in getting the overland supply route organised and the 7th Division itself ready meant that, in the initial stages of the operation at least, the 7th Division would have to be maintained by air. Vasey further proposed that the bulk of his forces avoid a tiring overland march by moving directly to Nadzab by air, which increased the importance of capturing Nadzab early. MacArthur agreed to make the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment based at nearby Gordonvale, Queensland
, available to New Guinea Force to capture Nadzab. He further authorised the regiment to conduct training with the 7th Division and a number of exercises were conducted. Colonel Kenneth H. Kinsler, the commander of the 503rd, eager to discuss the Battle of Crete
with the 21st Infantry Brigade's Brigadier
Ivan Dougherty
, took the unusual step of parachuting in to Ravenshoe. On 31 July, Vasey raised the prospect of utilising the entire regiment with Kinsler. Blamey took up the matter with MacArthur, who authorised it on 8 August. Blamey made the Australian Army transport Duntroon available to ship the regiment from Cairns to Port Moresby, except for the 2nd Battalion and advance party, which moved by air as originally planned.
The 7th Division was treated to a training film, "Loading the Douglas C-47", and the commander of the Advanced Echelon of Lieutenant General
George Kenney
's Fifth Air Force
, Major General
Ennis Whitehead
, made five C-47 Dakota
transports available to the 7th Division each day so they could practice loading and unloading. Whitehead also made a B-17 Flying Fortress available so Vasey could fly low over the target area on 7 August. Meanwhile the 2/2nd Pioneer Battalion and 2/6th Field Company practiced crossing the Laloki River with folding boat
s. They flew to Tsili Tsili Airfield
on 23 and 24 August.
To give the paratroops some artillery support, Lieutenant Colonel Alan Blyth of the 2/4th Field Regiment proposed dropping some of its eight short 25-pounders
by parachute. A call went out for volunteers and four officers and 30 other ranks were selected. On 30 August, Vasey watched them carry out a practice jump at Rogers Airfield
. This turned out to be the easy part. Brand new guns were received from the 10th Advanced Ordnance Depot at Port Moresby on 23 August. Two were handed over for training while, as a precaution, the remaining six were sent the 2/117th Field Workshops for inspection and checking. All six were condemned owing to a number of serious defects in assembly and manufacture. On 30 August the gunners received orders to move out the next day, so the 2/51st Light Aid Detachment cannibalised six guns to produce two working guns, which were proofed by firing 20 rounds per gun. Only one was ready in time to leave with the gunners so the other followed on a special flight. Eight of the 2/4th Field Regiment’s Mark II 25-pounders were also condemned owing to the presence of filings in the buffer system. Vasey was less than impressed.
Vasey was concerned about the Japanese strength in the Lae area, which his staff estimated at 6,400, in addition to the 7,000 that Herring's I Corps staff estimated were in the Salamaua area. But the more immediate danger was posed by the Japanese Fourth Air Army at Wewak. Photographs taken by Allied reconnaissance planes showed 199 Japanese aircraft on the four fields there on 13 August. On 17 August, Whitehead's heavy and medium bombers and fighters, escorted by fighters, bombed Wewak
. Taking the Japanese by surprise, they destroyed around 100 Japanese aircraft on the ground. In September, the Japanese Army air forces had at their disposal only 60 or 70 operational aircraft to oppose the Allied air forces in New Guinea, although both the 6th and 7th Air Divisions were in the area.
On the south bank of the Markham River lay Markham Point, where the Japanese maintained a force of about 200 men on commanding ground. Part of the 24th Infantry Battalion was ordered to capture the position. The attack on the morning of 4 September went wrong from the start, with two scouts being wounded by a land mine
. The force fought its way into the Japanese position but took heavy casualties and was forced to withdraw. Twelve Australians were killed and six were wounded in the attack. It was then decided to merely contain the Japanese force at Markham Point, which was subjected to mortar
fire and an airstrike
.
Paul H. Prentiss, with his headquarters at Port Moresby. He had two groups under his command: the 374th Troop Carrier Group
at Ward's Field
and the 375th Troop Carrier Group
at Dobodura
, plus the 65th
and 66th Troop Carrier Squadron
s of the 403rd Troop Carrier Group
at Jackson's Field
. In addition, Prentiss could draw on the 317th Troop Carrier Group
at Archerfield Airport
and RAAF Base Townsville
, although it was not under his command. Postponing the operation from August to September 1943 allowed for the arrival of the 433rd Troop Carrier Group
from the United States. Each squadron was equipped with 13 C-47 aircraft, and each group consisted of four squadrons, for a total of 52 aircraft per group.
The actual date was chosen by General Kenney based on the advice of his two weather forecasting teams, one Australian and one American. Ideally, Z-Day would be clear from Port Moresby to Nadzab but foggy over New Britain, thereby preventing the Japanese air forces at Rabaul from intervening. Forecasting the weather days in advance with such precision was difficult enough in peacetime, but more so in wartime, when many of the areas from which the weather patterns developed were occupied by the enemy and data from them was consequently denied to the forecasters. When the two teams differed over the best possible date, Kenney "split the difference between the two forecasts and told General MacArthur we would be ready to go on the morning of the 4th for the amphibious movement of the 9th Division to Hopoi Beach and about nine o’clock on the morning of the 5th we would be ready to fly the 503rd Parachute Regiment to Nadzab."
Z-Day, 5 September 1943, dawned with inauspiciously bad weather. Fog and rain shrouded both the departure airfields, Jackson's and Ward's but, as the forecasters had predicted, by 0730 the fog began to dissipate. The first C-47 took off at 0820. The formation of 79 C-47s, each carrying 19 or 20 paratroops, was divided into three flights. The first, consisting of 24 C-47s from the 403rd Troop Carrier Group from Jackson's, carried 1st Battalion, 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment. The second, of 31 C-47s from the 375th Troop Carrier Group from Ward's, carried the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment. The third, consisting of 24 C-47s of 317th Troop Carrier Group, from Jackson's, carried the 3rd Battalion, 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment. Each battalion had its own drop zone. The transports were escorted by 48 P-38 Lightning
fighters from the 35th
and 475th Fighter Group
s, 12 P-39 Airacobras from the 36th Fighter Squadron
, 8th Fighter Group
and 48 P-47 Thunderbolt
s from the 348th Fighter Group
.
When Kenney informed MacArthur that he planned to observe the operation from a B-17, MacArthur reminded Kenney of his orders to keep out of combat, orders that Brigadier General
Kenneth Walker
had disobeyed at the cost of his life. Kenney went over the reasons why he thought he should go, ending with "they were my kids and I was going to see them do their stuff." MacArthur replied "You’re right, George, we’ll both go. They’re my kids, too."
Three hundred and two aircraft from eight different airfields in the Moresby and Dobodura areas, made a rendezvous over Tsili Tsili at 1007, flying through clouds, passes in the mountains, and over the top. "Not a single squadron," wrote General Kenney, "did any circling or stalling around but all slid into place like clockwork and proceeded on the final flight down the Watut Valley, turned to the right down the Markham, and went directly to the target." Leading the formation were 48 B-25s from the 38th
and 345th Bombardment Groups whose job was to "sanitise" the drop zones by dropping their loads of sixty 20 pounds (9.1 kg) fragmentation
bombs and strafing with the eight .50-caliber machine guns mounted in their noses. They were followed by seven A-20s of the 3rd Bombardment Group (Light)
. Each carried four M10 smoke tank
s mounted under the wings. The smoke tanks were each filled with 19 gallons (71.9 l) of the smoke agent FS. In two groups of two and one of three flying at 250 feet (76.2 m) at 225 mph (362.1 km/h), they laid three smoke curtains adjacent to the three drop zones. The lead aircraft discharged two tanks, waited four seconds, then discharged the other two. The following aircraft went through the same procedure, creating a slight overlap to insure a continuous screen. Conditions were favourable, while the 85% humidity
kept the screens effective for five minutes and stopped their dispersal for ten.
Next came the C-47s, flying at 400 to 500 ft (121.9 to 152.4 m) at 100 to 105 mph (160.9 to 169 km/h). Dropping commenced at 1022. Each aircraft dropped all its men in ten seconds and the whole regiment was unloaded in four and a half minutes. Following the transports came five B-17s with their racks loaded with 300 lb (136.1 kg) packages with parachutes, to be dropped to the paratroopers on call by panel signals as they needed them. This mobile supply unit stayed for much of the day, eventually dropping fifteen tons of supplies. A group of twenty-four B-24s and four B-17s, which left the column just before the junction of the Watut and the Markham attacked the Japanese defensive position at Heath's Plantation, about halfway between Nadzab and Lae. Five B-25 weather aircraft were used along the route and over the passes, to keep the units informed on weather to be encountered during their flights to the rendezvous. Generals MacArthur, Kenney, and Vasey observed the operation, from separate B-17s. Later MacArthur received the Air Medal
for having "personally led the American paratroopers" and "skillfully directed this historic operation". During the operation, including the bombing of Heath’s, a total of 92 short tons (83.5 t) of high-explosive bombs was dropped, 32 short tons (29 t) of fragmentation bombs were dropped and 42,580 rounds of .50 caliber
and 5,180 rounds of .30 caliber
ammunition were expended.
No air opposition was encountered, and only one C-47 failed to make the drop. Its cargo door blew off during the flight, damaging its elevator. It safely returned to base. Three paratroopers were killed in the drop; two fell to their deaths when their parachutes malfunctioned while another landed in a tree and then fell some 20 metres (65.6 ft) to the ground. There were 33 minor injuries caused by rough landings. The three battalions met no opposition on the ground and formed up in their assembly areas. This took some time due to the tropical heat and the high grass.
Five C-47s of the 375th Troop Carrier Group carrying the gunners of the 2/4th Field Regiment took off from Ward's Airfield after the main force and landed at Tsili Tsili. After an hour on the ground, they set out for Nadzab. Most jumped from the first two aircraft. The next three aircraft dropped equipment, including the dismantled guns. The "pushers out" followed when the aircraft made a second pass over the drop. One Australian injured his shoulder in the drop. The gunners then had to locate and assemble their guns in the tall grass. Enough parts were found to assemble one gun and have it ready for firing within two and a half hours of dropping, although to maintain surprise they did not carry out registration fire until morning. It took three days to find the missing parts and assemble the other gun. At 1515, two B-17s dropped 192 rounds of ammunition. Their dropping was accurate, but some boxes of ammunition tore away from their parachutes.
Meanwhile, a force under Lieutenant Colonel J. T. Lang, consisting of the 2/2nd Pioneer Battalion, 2/6th Field Company, and detachments from the 7th Division Signals, 2/5th Field Ambulance and ANGAU, with 760 native carriers, set out from Tsili Tsili on 2 September. Most of the force moved overland, reaching Kirkland's Crossing on 4 September, where it rendezvoused with B Company, Papuan Infantry Battalion
. That night a party of engineers and pioneers set out from Tsili Tsili in 20 small craft and sailed down the Watut and Markham Rivers to join Lang's force at Kirkland's Crossing. The small river-borne task force included 10 British 5 ton folding assault boats and Australian built folding kayaks (folboats) which met up with 2/6 Independent Commandos who had reconnoitered the proposed crossing area with 8 folboats the day before. While neither river was deep, both were fast flowing, with shoal
s and hidden snag
s. Three boats were lost with their equipment and one man drowned. On the morning of 5 September, Lang's force was treated to the sight of the air force passing overhead. At this point, the Markham River formed three arms, separated by broad sand bars
. Two were fordable but the other was deep and flowing at 5 knots (9.8 km/h). Using the folding boats and local timber, they constructed a pontoon bridge
, allowing the whole force to cross the river safely with all their equipment. That evening, they reached the Americans' position.
The next day they went to work on the airstrip with hand tools. Trees were felled, potholes
filled in and a windsock
erected. Fourteen glider
s were supposed to fly in three light tractor
s, three mower
s, a wheeled rake
and other engineering equipment from Dobodura. Because the lack of opposition made immediate resupply non-urgent, and because he had doubts about the proficiency of the glider pilots, whom he knew had undergone only minimal training, General Blamey decided that the glider operation was not worth the risk to the glider pilots or their passengers and cancelled it, substituting instead the afternoon supply run by specially modified B-17s. Lacking mowers, the Kunai grass was cut by hand by the pioneers, sappers, paratroops and native civilians and burned, causing the destruction of some stores and equipment that had been lost in the long grass and "a swirl of black dust". By 1100 on 6 September the 1500 feet (457.2 m) strip — which had not been used for over a year — had been extended to 3300 feet (1,005.8 m).
The first plane to land was an L-4 Piper Cub
at 0940 6 September, bringing with it Colonel Murray C. Woodbury, the commander of the U.S. Army's 871st Airborne Engineer Aviation Battalion. Three transports followed, nearly running down some of the throng working on the strip. Another forty aircraft followed in the afternoon, many containing American and Australian engineers. The 871st followed the next day with its small air-portable bulldozer
s and grader
s. They located a site for a new airstrip, which became known as No. 1, the existing one becoming No. 2. The site proved to be an excellent one; an old, dry riverbed with soil largely composed of gravel
. A gravel base and steel plank
was laid to accommodate the fighters based at Tsili Tsili that were in danger of bogging down when the weather deteriorated. By the end of October there were four airstrips at Nadzab, one of which was 6000 feet (1,828.8 m) metres long and sealed with bitumen.
While engineers and anti-aircraft gunners arrived from Tsili Tsili, no infantry arrived from Port Moresby on 6 September because of bad flying weather over the Owen Stanley Range
, although the 2/25th Infantry Battalion was flown to Tsili Tsili. On 7 September, reveille
was sounded for the 2/33rd Infantry Battalion at 0330 and the unit boarded trucks of the 158th General Transport Company that took it to marshalling areas near the airfields in preparation for the movement to Nadzab. At 0420, B-24 Liberator
42-40682 "Pride of the Cornhuskers" of the 43rd Bombardment Group
piloted by 2nd Lieutenant Howard Wood set out from Jackson's Airfield on a reconnaissance sortie to Rabaul, with a full load of 2800 gallons (12,729.1 l) of fuel and four 500 lb (226.8 kg) bombs. It clipped a tree at the end of the runway, crashed into two other trees and exploded, killing all eleven crewmen on board instantly and spraying burning fuel over a large area. Five of the 158th General Transport Company's trucks containing men of the 2/33rd Infantry Battalion were hit and burst into flames. Every man in those trucks was killed or injured; 15 were killed outright, 44 died of their wounds and 92 were injured but survived. Despite the disaster, the 2/33rd Infantry Battalion flew out to Tsili Tsili as scheduled.
Due to the unpredictable weather, aircraft continued to arrive at Nadzab sporadically. Only the 2/25th Infantry Battalion and part of the 2/33rd had reached Nadzab by the morning of 8 September when Vasey ordered the commander of the 25th Infantry Brigade, Brigadier
Ken Eather, to initiate the advance on Lae. That day there were 112 landings at Nadzab. On 9 September, as the advance began, the rest of the 2/33rd Infantry Battalion reached Nadzab from Tsili Tsili, but while there were 116 landings at Nadzab, bad weather prevented the 2/31st Infantry Battalion from leaving Port Moresby. Finally, on 12 September, after three non-flying days, the 2/31st Infantry Battalion reached Nadzab on some of the 130 landings on the two strips at Nadzab that day.
On 13 September, a platoon of the 2/25th Infantry Battalion came under very heavy fire from a concealed Japanese machine gun near Heath's Plantation that wounded a number of Australians, including Corporal W. H. (Billy) Richards, and halted the platoon's advance. Private
Richard Kelliher
suddenly, on his own initiative, dashed towards the post and hurled two grenades at it, which killed some of the Japanese defenders but not all. He returned to his section, seized a Bren
gun, dashed back to the enemy post and silenced it. He then asked permission to go out again to rescue the wounded Richards, which he accomplished successfully under heavy fire from another enemy position. Kelliher was awarded the Victoria Cross
.
North of the main advance, a patrol from Lieutenant Colonel John J. Tolson's 3rd Battalion, 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment, encountered a force of 200 Japanese crossing the Bumbu River on 15 September. The Americans engaged the Japanese force and reported inflicting heavy losses. The arrival of that day of the first units of Brigadier Ivan Dougherty
's 21st Infantry Brigade at Nadzab at last allowed the paratroopers to be relieved.
By this time, the 9th Division was about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) East of Lae, while the 7th Division was 7 miles (11.3 km) away and "it appeared an odds-on bet that the 9th would reach Lae first". The 7th Division resumed its advance at dawn on 16 September. The last ten Japanese troops facing the 2/33rd Infantry Battalion were killed and the 2/25th Infantry Battalion passed through its position and headed for Lae. As they moved down the Markham Valley Road they occasionally encountered sick Japanese soldiers who held the column momentarily. Brigadier Eather came up in his jeep
and started urging the diggers
to hurry up. They were unimpressed. Eather, armed with a pistol, then acted as leading scout, with his troops following in a column of route behind him. The column entered Lae unopposed by the Japanese but aircraft of the Fifth Air Force strafed the 2/33rd Infantry Battalion and dropped parachute fragmentation bombs, wounding two men. Whitehead soon received a message sent in the clear from Vasey that read: "Only the Fifth Air Force bombers are preventing me from entering Lae." By early afternoon the 2/31st Infantry Battalion reached the Lae airfield where it killed 15 Japanese soldiers and captured one. The 25th Infantry Brigade then came under fire from the 9th Division's 25-pounders, wounding one soldier. Vasey and Eather tried every available means to inform Wootten of the situation. A message eventually reached him through RAAF channels at 1425 and the artillery was silenced.
in Tokyo
, Imamura and Adachi called off their plans to capture Bena Bena and Mount Hagen
and Nakano and Shoge to move overland to the north coast of the Huon Peninsula while the 20th Division
moved from Madang to Finschhafen, sending one regiment down the Ramu valley to assist the 51st Division. The Salamaua garrison assembled at Lae on 14 September and the Japanese evacuated the town over the next few days. It was a retreating band that contacted the 3rd Battalion, 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment. The Japanese hurriedly altered their route before the Australians could intercept them.
Crossing the Saruwaged Range
proved to be a gruelling test of endurance for the Japanese soldiers. They started out with ten days' rations but this was exhausted by the time they reached Mount Salawaket. The 51st Division had already abandoned most of its heavy equipment. Now many soldiers threw away their rifles. "The Sarawaged crossing," wrote Lieutenant General Kane Yoshihara, "took far longer than had been expected, and its difficulties were beyond discussion. Near the mountain summits the cold was intense and sleep was quite impossible all the cold night; they could only doze beside the fire. Squalls came, the ice spread and they advanced through snow under this tropical sky. Gradually the road they were climbing became a descending slope, but the inclination was so steep that if they missed their footing they would fall thousands and thousands of feet — and how many men lost their lives like that!"
In the end, the Japanese Army could take pride in conducting a creditable defence in the face of an impossible tactical situation. "Fortune and Nature, however, favoured a valiant defender despite the equally valiant striving of the attackers."
The airbase would eventually consist of four all-weather airfields. No 1 had a 6000 feet (1,828.8 m) by 100 feet (30.5 m) runway surfaced with Marsden Matting
and a 7000 feet (2,133.6 m) by 100 feet (30.5 m) runway surfaced with bitumen. No. 2 had a 4000 feet (1,219.2 m) by 100 feet (30.5 m) runway partially surfaced with bitumen. No. 3 had a 7000 feet (2,133.6 m) by 100 feet (30.5 m) runway surfaced with bitumen in the centre with 1000 feet (304.8 m) of Marsden mat at either end. No. 4, an RAAF airfield named Newton after Flight Lieutenant
William Ellis Newton
, had two parallel 6000 feet (1,828.8 m) by 100 feet (30.5 m) runways surfaced with bitumen. Nadzab became the Allied Air Forces' main base in New Guinea.
, Nadzab influenced thinking about the value of airborne operations.
However, the impact was far greater than anyone on the Allied side realised, and the ramifications went far beyond New Guinea. Imperial General Headquarters had regarded the defeats in the Guadalcanal Campaign
and Battle of Buna-Gona
as setbacks only, and had continued to plan offensives in the South West Pacific. Now it concluded that the Japanese position was over-extended. A new defensive line was drawn running through Western New Guinea
, the Caroline Islands
and the Mariana Islands
. Henceforth, positions beyond that line would be held as an outpost line. General Imamura was now charged not with winning a decisive victory, but only with holding on as long as possible so as to delay the Allied advance.
Airborne forces
Airborne forces are military units, usually light infantry, set up to be moved by aircraft and 'dropped' into battle. Thus they can be placed behind enemy lines, and have an ability to deploy almost anywhere with little warning...
on 5 September 1943 during the New Guinea campaign
New Guinea campaign
The New Guinea campaign was one of the major military campaigns of World War II.Before the war, the island of New Guinea was split between:...
of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
that began with a parachute drop at Nadzab
Lae Nadzab Airport
Lae Nadzab Airport is a regional airport located in Lae, Papua New Guinea. It is served by regional aircraft with domestic flight.-Airlines and destinations:-History:...
in conjunction with the Landing at Lae
Landing at Lae
The Landing at Lae was an amphibous landing, as part of ', to the east of Lae in the Salamaua-Lae campaign of World War II between 4–6 September 1943....
.
The parachute drop was carried out by the US Army's 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment and elements of the Australian Army
Australian Army
The Australian Army is Australia's military land force. It is part of the Australian Defence Force along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. While the Chief of Defence commands the Australian Defence Force , the Army is commanded by the Chief of Army...
's 2/4th Field Regiment
2/4th Field Regiment (Australia)
The 2/4th Field Regiment was an Australian Army artillery regiment formed on 2 May 1940, as part of the 7th Division in 1940 during World War II. The regiment was part of the North African Campaign, Syria-Lebanon Campaign, Salamaua-Lae campaign, Finisterre Range campaign and the Borneo campaign...
into Nadzab
Nadzab
-History:A Lutheran mission station was established at Nadzab around 1910. Nadzab was the site of the only Allied paratrooper assault in New Guinea on 5 September 1943.The Lae Nadzab Airport is a regional airport served by regional aircraft with domestic flights....
, New Guinea
Territory of New Guinea
The Territory of New Guinea was the Australia-controlled, League of Nations-mandated territory in the north eastern part of the island of New Guinea, and surrounding islands, between 1920 and 1949...
in the Markham Valley
Markham Valley
Markham Valley is a geographical area in New Guinea. It is described as "Flatter than a pancake for miles and miles in all directions, until it runs into the mountains that surround it on three sides" and "Always hot, and usually bone dry." The Highlands Highway runs through the valley. The Markham...
, observed by General
General (United States)
In the United States Army, United States Air Force, and United States Marine Corps, general is a four-star general officer rank, with the pay grade of O-10. General ranks above lieutenant general and below General of the Army or General of the Air Force; the Marine Corps does not have an...
Douglas MacArthur
Douglas MacArthur
General of the Army Douglas MacArthur was an American general and field marshal of the Philippine Army. He was a Chief of Staff of the United States Army during the 1930s and played a prominent role in the Pacific theater during World War II. He received the Medal of Honor for his service in the...
, circling overhead in a B-17. The Australian 2/2nd Pioneer Battalion, 2/6th Field Company, and B Company, Papuan Infantry Battalion
Papuan Infantry Battalion
The Papuan Infantry Battalion was an infantry battalion of the Australian Army formed on 27 May 1940 in the territory of Papua, during World War II, in order to fight the Japanese. The unit was slow in forming, with its first members posted in March 1941. By 1942 it consisted of only three...
reached Nadzab after an overland and river trek that same day and began preparing the airfield. The first transport aircraft landed the next morning but bad weather delayed the Allied build up. Over the next days, the 25th Infantry Brigade of the Australian 7th Division gradually arrived. A terrible air crash at Jackson's Field
Jacksons International Airport
Jacksons International Airport , also known as Port Moresby Airport, is located 5 miles outside Port Moresby, in Papua New Guinea...
ultimately caused half the Allied casualties of the battle.
Once assembled at Nadzab, the 25th Infantry Brigade commenced its advance on Lae. On 11 September, it engaged the Japanese soldiers at Jensen's Plantation. After defeating them, it engaged and defeated a larger Japanese force at Heath's Plantation. During this skirmish, Private Richard Kelliher
Richard Kelliher
Richard Kelliher VC was an Irish-born Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry that can be awarded to Commonwealth forces...
won the Victoria Cross
Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....
, Australia's highest award for gallantry. The Japanese Army elected not to fight for Lae, preferring instead to withdraw over the Saruwaged Range
Saruwaged Range
The Saruwaged Range is a mountain range on the Huon Peninsula in Morobe Province, north-eastern Papua New Guinea...
. This proved to be a gruelling test of endurance for the Japanese soldiers who had to struggle over the rugged mountains; in the end the Japanese Army managed to withdraw its forces from Salamaua
Salamaua
Salamaua was a small town situated on the north-eastern coastline of Papua New Guinea part of Morobe province. The settlement was built on a minor isthmus between the coast with mountains on the inland side and a headland...
and Lae
Lae
Lae, the capital of Morobe Province, is the second-largest city in Papua New Guinea. It is located at the start of the Highlands Highway which is the main land transport corridor from the Highlands region to the coast...
. Troops of the 25th Infantry Brigade reached Lae shortly before those of the 9th Division that had been advancing on Lae from the opposite direction.
The development of Nadzab was delayed by the need to upgrade the Markham Valley Road. After strenuous efforts in the face of wet weather, the road was opened on 15 December. Nadzab then became the major Allied air base in New Guinea.
Allied
Joint Chiefs of Staff
The Joint Chiefs of Staff is a body of senior uniformed leaders in the United States Department of Defense who advise the Secretary of Defense, the Homeland Security Council, the National Security Council and the President on military matters...
approved a series of operations against the Japanese bastion at Rabaul
Rabaul
Rabaul is a township in East New Britain province, Papua New Guinea. The town was the provincial capital and most important settlement in the province until it was destroyed in 1994 by falling ash of a volcanic eruption. During the eruption, ash was sent thousands of metres into the air and the...
, which blocked any Allied advance along the northern coast of New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
towards the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
or northward towards the main Japanese naval base at Truk. In keeping with the overall Allied grand strategy
Grand strategy
Grand strategy comprises the "purposeful employment of all instruments of power available to a security community". Military historian B. H. Liddell Hart says about grand strategy:...
of defeating Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
first, the immediate aim of these operations was not the defeat of Japan but merely the reduction of the threat posed by Japanese aircraft and warships based at Rabaul to air and sea communications between the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
By agreement among the Allied nations, in March 1942 the Pacific theatre
Pacific Theater of Operations
The Pacific Theater of Operations was the World War II area of military activity in the Pacific Ocean and the countries bordering it, a geographic scope that reflected the operational and administrative command structures of the American forces during that period...
was divided into two separate commands, each with its own commander in chief. The South West Pacific Area, which included Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
, and the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
came under General
General (United States)
In the United States Army, United States Air Force, and United States Marine Corps, general is a four-star general officer rank, with the pay grade of O-10. General ranks above lieutenant general and below General of the Army or General of the Air Force; the Marine Corps does not have an...
Douglas MacArthur
Douglas MacArthur
General of the Army Douglas MacArthur was an American general and field marshal of the Philippine Army. He was a Chief of Staff of the United States Army during the 1930s and played a prominent role in the Pacific theater during World War II. He received the Medal of Honor for his service in the...
as Supreme Commander
Supreme Commander
Supreme Commander may refer to:* Commander-in-chief, a military rank**Supreme Allied Commander, title held by the most senior commander within certain multinational military alliances...
. Most of the remainder, known as the Pacific Ocean Areas, came under Admiral
Admiral (United States)
In the United States Navy, the United States Coast Guard and the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, admiral is a four-star flag officer rank, with the pay grade of O-10. Admiral ranks above vice admiral and below Fleet Admiral in the Navy; the Coast Guard and the Public Health...
Chester W. Nimitz. There was no overall commander, and no authority capable of resolving competing claims for resources, setting priorities, or shifting resources from one command to the other. Such decisions had to be made of the basis of compromise, cooperation and consensus.
Rabaul fell within MacArthur's area but the initial operations in the southern Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...
came under Nimitz. The Japanese reaction to Task One, the seizure of the southern part of the Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...
, was more violent than anticipated and some months passed before the Guadalcanal Campaign
Guadalcanal campaign
The Guadalcanal Campaign, also known as the Battle of Guadalcanal and codenamed Operation Watchtower by Allied forces, was a military campaign fought between August 7, 1942 and February 9, 1943 on and around the island of Guadalcanal in the Pacific theatre of World War II...
was brought to a successful conclusion. Meanwhile, General MacArthur's forces fought off a series of Japanese offensives in Papua in the Kokoda Track Campaign
Kokoda Track campaign
The Kokoda Track campaign or Kokoda Trail campaign was part of the Pacific War of World War II. The campaign consisted of a series of battles fought between July and November 1942 between Japanese and Allied—primarily Australian—forces in what was then the Australian territory of Papua...
, Battle of Milne Bay
Battle of Milne Bay
The Battle of Milne Bay, also known as Operation RE by the Japanese, was a battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II. Japanese marines attacked the Australian base at Milne Bay on the eastern tip of New Guinea on 25 August 1942, and fighting continued until the Japanese retreated on 5...
, Battle of Buna-Gona
Battle of Buna-Gona
The Battle of Buna–Gona was a battle in the New Guinea campaign, a major part of the Pacific campaign of World War II. On 16 November 1942, Australian and United States forces attacked the main Japanese beachheads in New Guinea, at Buna, Sanananda and Gona. Both forces were riddled by disease and...
, the Battle of Wau
Battle of Wau
The Battle of Wau, 29–31 January 1943, was a battle in the New Guinea campaign of World War II. Forces of the Empire of Japan sailed from Rabaul and crossed the Solomon Sea and, despite Allied air attacks, successfully reached Lae, where they disembarked...
and the Battle of the Bismarck Sea
Battle of the Bismarck Sea
The Battle of the Bismarck Sea took place in the South West Pacific Area during World War II. During the course of the battle, aircraft of the U.S. 5th Air Force and the Royal Australian Air Force attacked a Japanese convoy that was carrying troops to Lae, New Guinea...
.
Following these victories, the initiative in the South West Pacific
South West Pacific theatre of World War II
The South West Pacific Theatre, technically the South West Pacific Area, between 1942 and 1945, was one of two designated area commands and war theatres enumerated by the Combined Chiefs of Staff of World War II in the Pacific region....
passed to the Allies and General
General (United States)
In the United States Army, United States Air Force, and United States Marine Corps, general is a four-star general officer rank, with the pay grade of O-10. General ranks above lieutenant general and below General of the Army or General of the Air Force; the Marine Corps does not have an...
Douglas MacArthur
Douglas MacArthur
General of the Army Douglas MacArthur was an American general and field marshal of the Philippine Army. He was a Chief of Staff of the United States Army during the 1930s and played a prominent role in the Pacific theater during World War II. He received the Medal of Honor for his service in the...
pressed ahead with his plans for Task Two. At the Pacific Military Conference in Washington, DC in March 1943, the plans were reviewed by the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Joint Chiefs of Staff
The Joint Chiefs of Staff is a body of senior uniformed leaders in the United States Department of Defense who advise the Secretary of Defense, the Homeland Security Council, the National Security Council and the President on military matters...
. The chiefs were unable to supply all the requested resources, so the plans had to be scaled back, with the capture of Rabaul postponed to 1944. On 6 May 1943, MacArthur's General Headquarters (GHQ) in Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
issued Warning Instruction No. 2, officially informing subordinate commands of the plan, which divided the Task Two operations on the New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
axis into three parts:
- Occupy KiriwinaKiriwinaKiriwina is the largest of the Trobriand Islands, with an area of 290.5 km². It is part of the Milne Bay Province of Papua New Guinea. Most of the 12,000 people who live in the Trobriands live on Kiriwina. The Kilivila language, also known as Kiriwina, is spoken on the island...
and Woodlark IslandWoodlark IslandWoodlark Island, known to its inhabitants simply as Woodlark or Muyua, is an island in Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea. It is called Murua by the inhabitants of some other islands in the province...
s and establish air forces thereon. - Seize the LaeLaeLae, the capital of Morobe Province, is the second-largest city in Papua New Guinea. It is located at the start of the Highlands Highway which is the main land transport corridor from the Highlands region to the coast...
-SalamauaSalamauaSalamaua was a small town situated on the north-eastern coastline of Papua New Guinea part of Morobe province. The settlement was built on a minor isthmus between the coast with mountains on the inland side and a headland...
-Finschafen-MadangMadangMadang is the capital of Madang Province and is a town with a population of 27,420 on the north coast of Papua New Guinea. It was first settled by the Germans in the 19th century....
area and establish air forces therein. - Occupy western New BritainNew BritainNew Britain, or Niu Briten, is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from the island of New Guinea by the Dampier and Vitiaz Straits and from New Ireland by St. George's Channel...
, establishing air forces at Cape Gloucester, Arawe and Gasmata. Occupy or neutralise Talasea.
The second part was assigned to General
General (Australia)
General is the second highest rank, and the highest active rank, of the Australian Army and was created as a direct equivalent of the British military rank of General; it is also considered a four-star rank....
Sir Thomas Blamey
Thomas Blamey
Field Marshal Sir Thomas Albert Blamey GBE, KCB, CMG, DSO, ED was an Australian general of the First and Second World Wars, and the only Australian to date to attain the rank of field marshal....
's New Guinea Force
New Guinea Force
New Guinea Force was a military command unit for Australian, territory of Papua and territory of New Guinea troops serving in the New Guinea campaign during World War II. Formed in April 1942 it was responsible for planning and directing all operations within the territory up until October 1944,...
. As a result, "it became obvious that that any military offensive in 1943 would have to be carried out mainly by the Australian Army
Australian Army
The Australian Army is Australia's military land force. It is part of the Australian Defence Force along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. While the Chief of Defence commands the Australian Defence Force , the Army is commanded by the Chief of Army...
, just as during the bitter campaigns of 1942."
Japanese
The Japanese maintained separate Army and Navy headquarters at Rabaul who cooperated with each other but were responsible to different higher authorities. Naval forces came under the Southeast Area FleetSoutheast Area Fleet
The was a fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy established during World War II.-History:The Southeast Area Fleet was an operational command of the Imperial Japanese Navy combining the remaining surface elements of the IJN 8th Fleet with the IJN 11th Air Fleet, the No.5 Special Base Unit...
, commanded by Vice Admiral
Vice Admiral
Vice admiral is a senior naval rank of a three-star flag officer, which is equivalent to lieutenant general in the other uniformed services. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral...
Jinichi Kusaka
Jinichi Kusaka
, was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. Fellow Admiral Ryūnosuke Kusaka was his cousin.-Biography:A native of Ishikawa Prefecture, Kusaka graduated from the 37th class of the Imperial Japanese Navy Academy, ranked 21st in a class of 179 cadets...
. Army forces came under General Hitoshi Imamura
Hitoshi Imamura
-External links:...
's Eighth Area Army, consisting of the Seventeenth Army in the Solomon Islands, Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages where the title of Lieutenant General was held by the second in command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a Captain General....
Hatazō Adachi
Hatazo Adachi
was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II.-Early career:Adachi was born into an impoverished samurai family in Ishikawa Prefecture in 1890...
's Eighteenth Army in New Guinea, and the 6th Air Division
6th Air Division (Japan)
The 6th Air Division was a land-based aviation force of the Imperial Japanese Army. It was formed on 25 November 1942, as part of the Eighth Area Army. It was incorporated into the Fourth Air Army based at Rabaul in June 1943....
, based at Rabaul. As a result of the Battle of the Bismarck Sea
Battle of the Bismarck Sea
The Battle of the Bismarck Sea took place in the South West Pacific Area during World War II. During the course of the battle, aircraft of the U.S. 5th Air Force and the Royal Australian Air Force attacked a Japanese convoy that was carrying troops to Lae, New Guinea...
, the Japanese decided not send any more convoys to Lae, but to land troops at Hansa Bay
Hansa Bay
Hansa Bay is a bay located on the north coast of Papua New Guinea, in Madang Province, between Madang and Wewak, north east of Bogia.- World War II history :...
and Wewak
Wewak
Wewak is the capital of the East Sepik province of Papua New Guinea. It is located on the northern coast of the island of New Guinea. It is the largest town between Madang and Jayapura. It is the see city of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wewak....
and move them forward to Lae by barge
Barge
A barge is a flat-bottomed boat, built mainly for river and canal transport of heavy goods. Some barges are not self-propelled and need to be towed by tugboats or pushed by towboats...
or submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
. In the long run they hoped to complete a road over the Finisterre Range
Finisterre Range
Finisterre Range is a mountain range in north-eastern Papua New Guinea, at . The unnamed highest point of the range , which is ranked 45th in the world by prominence, is usually quoted at 4,175 m, but SRTM data suggests that it is nearer to 4,120 m...
and thence to Lae through the Ramu and Markham Valley
Markham Valley
Markham Valley is a geographical area in New Guinea. It is described as "Flatter than a pancake for miles and miles in all directions, until it runs into the mountains that surround it on three sides" and "Always hot, and usually bone dry." The Highlands Highway runs through the valley. The Markham...
s.
Imamura ordered Adachi to capture the Allied bases at Wau, Bena Bena and Mount Hagen
Mount Hagen
Mount Hagen is third largest city in Papua New Guinea. It is the capital of the Western Highlands Province and is located in the large fertile Wahgi Valley in central mainland Papua New Guinea, at an elevation of ....
. To support these operations, Imperial General Headquarters
Imperial General Headquarters
The as part of the Supreme War Council was established in 1893 to coordinate efforts between the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy during wartime...
transferred the 7th Air Division
7th Air Division (Japan)
The 7th Air Division was a land-based aviation force of the Imperial Japanese Army. The division was formed on 29 January 1943 in the Netherlands East Indies as part of the Eighth Area Army. It was incorporated into the Fourth Air Army based at Rabaul on 28 July 1943.The division moved its...
to New Guinea. On 27 July 1943, Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages where the title of Lieutenant General was held by the second in command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a Captain General....
Kumaichi Teramoto's Fourth Air Army was assigned to Imamura's command to control the 6th and 7th Air Divisions, the 14th Air Brigade and some miscellaneous squadrons. By June, Adachi had three divisions in New Guinea; the 41st Division
41st Division (Imperial Japanese Army)
The 41st Division was an infantry division of the Imperial Japanese Army. It was formed on 2 October 1939, under the command of Lieutenant General Moritake Tanabe...
at Wewak
Wewak
Wewak is the capital of the East Sepik province of Papua New Guinea. It is located on the northern coast of the island of New Guinea. It is the largest town between Madang and Jayapura. It is the see city of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wewak....
and the 20th Division
20th Division (Imperial Japanese Army)
was an infantry division in the Imperial Japanese Army. Its call sign was the .-History:The 20th Division and the 19th Division were raised on 24 December 1915 as a garrison force for Korea. After Japan's victory in the Russo-Japanese War, and subsequent occupation, and then annexation of Korea,...
around Madang
Madang
Madang is the capital of Madang Province and is a town with a population of 27,420 on the north coast of Papua New Guinea. It was first settled by the Germans in the 19th century....
, both recently arrived from Palau
Palau
Palau , officially the Republic of Palau , is an island nation in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Philippines and south of Tokyo. In 1978, after three decades as being part of the United Nations trusteeship, Palau chose independence instead of becoming part of the Federated States of Micronesia, a...
, and the 51st Division
51st Division (Imperial Japanese Army)
The 51st Division was an infantry division of the Imperial Japanese Army. It was formed on 10 July 1940 at Utsunomiya, Tochigi, and was assigned to the Eastern District Army. Under the command of Lieutenant General Kenichiro Ueno, upon formation the division's infantry group consisted of three...
in the Salamaua area, a total of about 80,000 men. Of these only the 51st Division was in contact with the enemy. Like Blamey, Adachi faced formidable difficulties of transportation and supply just to bring his troops into battle.
Geography
The Markham RiverMarkham River
The Markham River is a river in eastern Papua New Guinea. It originates in the Finisterre Range and flows for to empty into the Huon Gulf at Lae....
originates in the Finisterre Range
Finisterre Range
Finisterre Range is a mountain range in north-eastern Papua New Guinea, at . The unnamed highest point of the range , which is ranked 45th in the world by prominence, is usually quoted at 4,175 m, but SRTM data suggests that it is nearer to 4,120 m...
and flows for 180 kilometres (111.8 mi), emptying into the Huon Gulf
Huon Gulf
Huon Gulf is a large gulf in eastern Papua New Guinea, at . It is bordered by Huon Peninsula in the north. Both are named after French explorer Jean-Michel Huon de Kermadec. Huon Gulf is a part of the Solomon Sea. Lae, capital of the Morobe Province is located on the northern coast of the...
near Lae
Lae
Lae, the capital of Morobe Province, is the second-largest city in Papua New Guinea. It is located at the start of the Highlands Highway which is the main land transport corridor from the Highlands region to the coast...
. The Markham Valley
Markham Valley
Markham Valley is a geographical area in New Guinea. It is described as "Flatter than a pancake for miles and miles in all directions, until it runs into the mountains that surround it on three sides" and "Always hot, and usually bone dry." The Highlands Highway runs through the valley. The Markham...
, which rises to an elevation of 370 metres (1,213.9 ft), runs between the Finisterre Range to the north and the Bismarck Range
Bismarck Range
The Bismarck Range is a mountain range in the central highlands of Papua New Guinea. The range is named after the German Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck. From the 1880s to 1914 this part of the island was a German colony....
to the south and varies from 10 to 19 km (6.2 to 11.8 mi) wide. The valley floor is largely composed of gravel and is generally infertile. Half of its area was covered by dense kangaroo grass
Themeda triandra
Themeda triandra is a perennial grass widespread in Africa, Australia, Asia and the Pacific. In Australia it is commonly known as kangaroo grass, in East and South Africa it is known as "red oat grass" or red grass, in Afrikaans, rooigras.The species has a tuffted habit and can reach up to 1.5 m...
1.2 to 1.5 m (3.9 to 4.9 ft) high but in parts where there had been a build up of silt
Silt
Silt is granular material of a size somewhere between sand and clay whose mineral origin is quartz and feldspar. Silt may occur as a soil or as suspended sediment in a surface water body...
, Kunai grass grew from 1.8 to 2.5 m (5.9 to 8.2 ft) high. Rainfall was around 1000 millimetres (39.4 in) per annum. The Markham Valley was traversable by motor vehicles in the dry season, which ran from December to April, and therefore formed part of a natural highway between the Japanese bases at Lae and Madang
Madang
Madang is the capital of Madang Province and is a town with a population of 27,420 on the north coast of Papua New Guinea. It was first settled by the Germans in the 19th century....
.
Planning and preparation
At Blamey's Advanced Allied Land Forces Headquarters (Adv LHQ) in St Lucia, QueenslandSt Lucia, Queensland
St Lucia is an inner suburb of Brisbane, Australia located 4 km south-west of the Brisbane CBD. The suburb is bordered on three sides by the Brisbane River and is dominated by the main campus of the University of Queensland.-History:...
the Deputy Chief of the General Staff, Major General
Major General (Australia)
Major General is a senior rank of the Australian Army, and was created as a direct equivalent of the British military rank of Major General. It is the third-highest active rank of the Australian Army, and is considered to be equivalent to a two-star rank...
Frank Berryman, headed the planning process. A model of the Lae-Salamaua area was constructed in a secure room at St Lucia, the windows were boarded up and two guards were posted on the door round the clock. On 16 May, Blamey held a conference with Berryman and Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General (Australia)
Lieutenant general is the second-highest active rank of the Australian Army and was created as a direct equivalent of the British military rank of lieutenant general. It is also considered a three-star rank....
Sir Edmund Herring
Edmund Herring
Lieutenant General Sir Edmund Francis Herring, KCMG, KBE, DSO, MC, KStJ, ED, QC was an Australian Army officer during the Second World War, Lieutenant Governor of Victoria, and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria.A Rhodes scholar, Herring was at New College, Oxford, when the First World...
, the commander of I Corps, around the model at which the details of the operation were discussed. Blamey's operational concept was for a double envelopment of Lae, using "two of the finest divisions on the Allied side". Major General George Wootten
George Wootten
Major General Sir George Frederick Wootten KBE, CB, DSO & Bar, ED , was an Australian soldier, public servant, right wing political activist and solicitor. He rose to the rank of temporary Major General during World War II....
's 9th Division would land east of Lae in a shore-to-shore operation and advance on Lae. Meanwhile Major General George Alan Vasey's 7th Division, in a reprise of the Battle of Buna-Gona
Battle of Buna-Gona
The Battle of Buna–Gona was a battle in the New Guinea campaign, a major part of the Pacific campaign of World War II. On 16 November 1942, Australian and United States forces attacked the main Japanese beachheads in New Guinea, at Buna, Sanananda and Gona. Both forces were riddled by disease and...
in 1942 would advance on Lae from the west by an overland route. Its primary role was to prevent reinforcement of the Japanese garrison at Lae by establishing itself in a blocking position across the Markham Valley. Its secondary task was to assist the 9th Division in the capture of Lae. The plan was generally known as Operation POSTERN, although this was actually the GHQ code name for Lae itself.
Stanley Savige
Lieutenant General Sir Stanley George Savige, KBE, CB, DSO, MC, ED , was an Australian Army soldier and officer who served in World War I and World War II, rising to the rank of lieutenant general....
's 3rd Division in the Wau area and Major General
Major general (United States)
In the United States Army, United States Marine Corps, and United States Air Force, major general is a two-star general-officer rank, with the pay grade of O-8. Major general ranks above brigadier general and below lieutenant general...
Horace Fuller's US 41st Infantry Division around Morobe
Morobe
Morobe may refer to several places in Papua New Guinea:*Morobe Province*Morobe, Papua New Guinea*Morobe Goldfield *Morobe Bay...
were ordered to advance on Salamaua
Salamaua
Salamaua was a small town situated on the north-eastern coastline of Papua New Guinea part of Morobe province. The settlement was built on a minor isthmus between the coast with mountains on the inland side and a headland...
so as to threaten it and draw Japanese forces away from Lae. The result was the arduous Salamaua Campaign
Salamaua-Lae campaign
The Salamaua–Lae campaign was a series of actions in the New Guinea campaign of World War II. Australian and United States forces sought to capture two major Japanese bases, one in the town of Lae, and another one at Salamaua. The campaign to take the Salamaua and Lae area began with the Australian...
, which was fought between June and September, and which at times looked like succeeding all too well, capturing Salamaua and forcing the Japanese back to Lae, thereby throwing Blamey's whole strategy into disarray.
The POSTERN plan called for the 7th Division to move in transports to Port Moresby and in coastal shipping to the mouth of the Lakekamu River. It would travel up the river in barges to Bulldog, and in trucks over the Bulldog Road to Wau and Bulolo. From there it would march overload via the Watut and Wampit Valleys to the Markham River, cross the Markham River with the aid of paratroops, and secure an airfield site. There were a number of suitable airfield sites in the Markham Valley; Blamey selected Nadzab
Nadzab
-History:A Lutheran mission station was established at Nadzab around 1910. Nadzab was the site of the only Allied paratrooper assault in New Guinea on 5 September 1943.The Lae Nadzab Airport is a regional airport served by regional aircraft with domestic flights....
as the most promising.
Vasey pronounced the plan "a dog's breakfast". There were a number of serious problems. It relied on the Bulldog Road being completed, which it was not, due to the rugged nature of the country to be traversed and shortages of equipment. Even if it was, the 7th Division would have been unlikely to make the operation target date. It had taken heavy casualties in the Battle of Buna-Gona
Battle of Buna-Gona
The Battle of Buna–Gona was a battle in the New Guinea campaign, a major part of the Pacific campaign of World War II. On 16 November 1942, Australian and United States forces attacked the main Japanese beachheads in New Guinea, at Buna, Sanananda and Gona. Both forces were riddled by disease and...
and was seriously under-strength, with many men on leave or suffering from malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
. It would take time to concentrate it at its camp at Ravenshoe, Queensland
Ravenshoe, Queensland
Ravenshoe is a town on the Atherton Tableland in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is located south west of the regional centre, Cairns. At the 2006 census, Ravenshoe had a population of 910....
on the Atherton Tableland
Atherton Tableland
The Atherton Tableland is a fertile plateau which is part of the Great Dividing Range in Queensland, Australia. It is located west to south-south-west inland from Cairns, well into the tropics, but its elevated position provides a climate suitable for dairy farming. It has an area of around...
. To bring it up to strength, the 1st Motor Brigade was disbanded in July to provide reinforcements. Reinforcements passed through the Jungle Warfare Training Centre at Canungra, Queensland
Canungra, Queensland
Canungra is a small picturesque rural township in South East Queensland, Australia. Its economy depends on tourism, being a popular destination for short drives from the Gold Coast and Brisbane. Canungra, also called the "Valley of the Owls", is situated in the Gold Coast Hinterland, west of the...
, where they spent a month training under conditions closely resembling those in New Guinea.
The delays in getting the overland supply route organised and the 7th Division itself ready meant that, in the initial stages of the operation at least, the 7th Division would have to be maintained by air. Vasey further proposed that the bulk of his forces avoid a tiring overland march by moving directly to Nadzab by air, which increased the importance of capturing Nadzab early. MacArthur agreed to make the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment based at nearby Gordonvale, Queensland
Gordonvale, Queensland
Gordonvale is a small sugar-growing suburb situated in the southern end of Cairns on the Mulgrave River. At the 2006 census, Gordonvale had a population of 4,420....
, available to New Guinea Force to capture Nadzab. He further authorised the regiment to conduct training with the 7th Division and a number of exercises were conducted. Colonel Kenneth H. Kinsler, the commander of the 503rd, eager to discuss the Battle of Crete
Battle of Crete
The Battle of Crete was a battle during World War II on the Greek island of Crete. It began on the morning of 20 May 1941, when Nazi Germany launched an airborne invasion of Crete under the code-name Unternehmen Merkur...
with the 21st Infantry Brigade's Brigadier
Brigadier
Brigadier is a senior military rank, the meaning of which is somewhat different in different military services. The brigadier rank is generally superior to the rank of colonel, and subordinate to major general....
Ivan Dougherty
Ivan Dougherty
Major General Sir Ivan Noel Dougherty CBE, DSO & Bar, ED was an Australian Army officer during World War II.-Education and early life:...
, took the unusual step of parachuting in to Ravenshoe. On 31 July, Vasey raised the prospect of utilising the entire regiment with Kinsler. Blamey took up the matter with MacArthur, who authorised it on 8 August. Blamey made the Australian Army transport Duntroon available to ship the regiment from Cairns to Port Moresby, except for the 2nd Battalion and advance party, which moved by air as originally planned.
The 7th Division was treated to a training film, "Loading the Douglas C-47", and the commander of the Advanced Echelon of Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General (United States)
In the United States Army, the United States Air Force and the United States Marine Corps, lieutenant general is a three-star general officer rank, with the pay grade of O-9. Lieutenant general ranks above major general and below general...
George Kenney
George Kenney
George Churchill Kenney was a United States Army Air Forces general during World War II. He was commander of the Allied air forces in the Southwest Pacific Area from August 1942 until 1945.-Early life:...
's Fifth Air Force
Fifth Air Force
The Fifth Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Pacific Air Forces . It is headquartered at Yokota Air Base, Japan....
, Major General
Major general (United States)
In the United States Army, United States Marine Corps, and United States Air Force, major general is a two-star general-officer rank, with the pay grade of O-8. Major general ranks above brigadier general and below lieutenant general...
Ennis Whitehead
Ennis Whitehead
Ennis Clement Whitehead was an early United States Army aviator and a United States Army Air Forces general during World War II. Whitehead joined the U. S. Army after the United States entered World War I in 1917...
, made five C-47 Dakota
C-47 Skytrain
The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota is a military transport aircraft that was developed from the Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II and remained in front line operations through the 1950s with a few remaining in operation to this day.-Design and...
transports available to the 7th Division each day so they could practice loading and unloading. Whitehead also made a B-17 Flying Fortress available so Vasey could fly low over the target area on 7 August. Meanwhile the 2/2nd Pioneer Battalion and 2/6th Field Company practiced crossing the Laloki River with folding boat
Folding boat
A folding boat is usually a smaller boat, typically ranging between 6 to . This style of boat must also allow for easy lifting which requires a light weight. Some folding boats are made from light weight materials such as marine plywood, aluminium or more exotic man-made materials lighter and...
s. They flew to Tsili Tsili Airfield
Tsili Tsili Airfield
Tsili Tsili Airfield is a former World War II airfield in Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. The airfield was abandoned after the war and today has almost totally returned to its natural state.-History:...
on 23 and 24 August.
Ordnance QF 25-pounder Short
The Ordnance QF 25-pounder Short was an Australian variant of the British Ordnance QF 25-pounder field gun/howitzer. The gun was developed by modifying the 25-pounder's design to improve its mobility during jungle warfare. Development began in 1942, and the weapon first entered service with the...
by parachute. A call went out for volunteers and four officers and 30 other ranks were selected. On 30 August, Vasey watched them carry out a practice jump at Rogers Airfield
Rogers Airfield
Rogers Airfield is a former World War II airfield near Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. It was part of a multiple-airfield complex in the Port Moresby area, located north-west of Port Moresby by air, near Rorona .On November 15, 1942, the airfield was named in honor of Major Floyd "Buck" W. Rogers...
. This turned out to be the easy part. Brand new guns were received from the 10th Advanced Ordnance Depot at Port Moresby on 23 August. Two were handed over for training while, as a precaution, the remaining six were sent the 2/117th Field Workshops for inspection and checking. All six were condemned owing to a number of serious defects in assembly and manufacture. On 30 August the gunners received orders to move out the next day, so the 2/51st Light Aid Detachment cannibalised six guns to produce two working guns, which were proofed by firing 20 rounds per gun. Only one was ready in time to leave with the gunners so the other followed on a special flight. Eight of the 2/4th Field Regiment’s Mark II 25-pounders were also condemned owing to the presence of filings in the buffer system. Vasey was less than impressed.
Vasey was concerned about the Japanese strength in the Lae area, which his staff estimated at 6,400, in addition to the 7,000 that Herring's I Corps staff estimated were in the Salamaua area. But the more immediate danger was posed by the Japanese Fourth Air Army at Wewak. Photographs taken by Allied reconnaissance planes showed 199 Japanese aircraft on the four fields there on 13 August. On 17 August, Whitehead's heavy and medium bombers and fighters, escorted by fighters, bombed Wewak
Bombing of Wewak
The Bombing of Wewak was a series of air raids by the USAAF Fifth Air Force, on 17–21 August 1943, against the major air base of the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force on the mainland of New Guinea, at Wewak...
. Taking the Japanese by surprise, they destroyed around 100 Japanese aircraft on the ground. In September, the Japanese Army air forces had at their disposal only 60 or 70 operational aircraft to oppose the Allied air forces in New Guinea, although both the 6th and 7th Air Divisions were in the area.
On the south bank of the Markham River lay Markham Point, where the Japanese maintained a force of about 200 men on commanding ground. Part of the 24th Infantry Battalion was ordered to capture the position. The attack on the morning of 4 September went wrong from the start, with two scouts being wounded by a land mine
Land mine
A land mine is usually a weight-triggered explosive device which is intended to damage a target—either human or inanimate—by means of a blast and/or fragment impact....
. The force fought its way into the Japanese position but took heavy casualties and was forced to withdraw. Twelve Australians were killed and six were wounded in the attack. It was then decided to merely contain the Japanese force at Markham Point, which was subjected to mortar
Mortar (weapon)
A mortar is an indirect fire weapon that fires explosive projectiles known as bombs at low velocities, short ranges, and high-arcing ballistic trajectories. It is typically muzzle-loading and has a barrel length less than 15 times its caliber....
fire and an airstrike
Airstrike
An air strike is an attack on a specific objective by military aircraft during an offensive mission. Air strikes are commonly delivered from aircraft such as fighters, bombers, ground attack aircraft, attack helicopters, and others...
.
Assault
Transport aircraft were controlled by the 54th Troop Carrier Wing, which was commanded by ColonelColonel (United States)
In the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, colonel is a senior field grade military officer rank just above the rank of lieutenant colonel and just below the rank of brigadier general...
Paul H. Prentiss, with his headquarters at Port Moresby. He had two groups under his command: the 374th Troop Carrier Group
374th Airlift Wing
The 374th Airlift Wing is a unit of the United States Air Force assigned to Fifth Air Force. It is stationed at Yokota Air Base, Japan. It is part of Pacific Air Forces ....
at Ward's Field
Wards Airfield
Wards Airfield is a former World War II airfield near Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. The airfield was abandoned after the war and was developed into the Waigani area of Port Moresby....
and the 375th Troop Carrier Group
375th Airlift Wing
The 375th Air Mobility Wing is a unit of the United States Air Force assigned to Eighteenth Air Force. It is stationed at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois. It is part of Air Mobility Command ....
at Dobodura
Girua Airport
-History:Girua Airport is located near Dobodura, to the north-east of the Embi Lakes, north-east of Inonda. To the south is Mt. Lamington, a volcano that dominates the skyline. The airport was built during World War II as part of the Dobodura Airfield Complex during late 1942 and early 1943. ...
, plus the 65th
65th Airlift Squadron
The 65th Airlift Squadron is part of the 15th Airlift Wing at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii. It operates C-37 and C-40 Clipper aircraft providing executive airlfit in the Pacific theater.-History:...
and 66th Troop Carrier Squadron
66th Troop Carrier Squadron
The 66th Troop Carrier Squadron is an inactive unit of the United States Air Force. Its last assignment was with the 403d Troop Carrier Group, stationed at Portland Municipal Airport, Oregon...
s of the 403rd Troop Carrier Group
403d Wing
403d Wing is a unit of the United States Air Force assigned to the Air Force Reserve Command. It is located at Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi, and employs a military manning authorization of more than 1,400 reservists, including some 250 full-time air reserve technicians.403d Wing performs...
at Jackson's Field
Jacksons International Airport
Jacksons International Airport , also known as Port Moresby Airport, is located 5 miles outside Port Moresby, in Papua New Guinea...
. In addition, Prentiss could draw on the 317th Troop Carrier Group
317th Airlift Group
The 317th Airlift Group is a United States Air Force unit, stationed at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas. Assigned to Air Mobility Command Eighteenth Air Force, the 317 AG operates as a tenant unit to the 7th Bomb Wing, Air Combat Command ....
at Archerfield Airport
Archerfield Airport
Archerfield Airport is a small airport located 7 1/2 miles at Archerfield in the south west of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. For some time it was the primary airport in Brisbane. During World War II it was used as a Royal Australian Air Force station. Airport traffic peaked in the 1980s...
and RAAF Base Townsville
RAAF Base Townsville
RAAF Base Townsville is, along with RAAF Base Tindal and RAAF Base Darwin, one of northern Australia's primary defence installations. It is also Headquarters for No...
, although it was not under his command. Postponing the operation from August to September 1943 allowed for the arrival of the 433rd Troop Carrier Group
433d Airlift Wing
The 433d Airlift Wing is a unit of the United States Air Force Reserve assigned to Fourth Air Force. It is stationed at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas...
from the United States. Each squadron was equipped with 13 C-47 aircraft, and each group consisted of four squadrons, for a total of 52 aircraft per group.
Z-Day, 5 September 1943, dawned with inauspiciously bad weather. Fog and rain shrouded both the departure airfields, Jackson's and Ward's but, as the forecasters had predicted, by 0730 the fog began to dissipate. The first C-47 took off at 0820. The formation of 79 C-47s, each carrying 19 or 20 paratroops, was divided into three flights. The first, consisting of 24 C-47s from the 403rd Troop Carrier Group from Jackson's, carried 1st Battalion, 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment. The second, of 31 C-47s from the 375th Troop Carrier Group from Ward's, carried the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment. The third, consisting of 24 C-47s of 317th Troop Carrier Group, from Jackson's, carried the 3rd Battalion, 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment. Each battalion had its own drop zone. The transports were escorted by 48 P-38 Lightning
P-38 Lightning
The Lockheed P-38 Lightning was a World War II American fighter aircraft built by Lockheed. Developed to a United States Army Air Corps requirement, the P-38 had distinctive twin booms and a single, central nacelle containing the cockpit and armament...
fighters from the 35th
35th Fighter Wing
The 35th Fighter Wing is an air combat unit of the United States Air Force and the host unit at Misawa Air Base, Japan. The 35 FW is part of Pacific Air Forces Fifth Air Force.-Mission:...
and 475th Fighter Group
475th Air Base Wing
The 475th Air Base Wing is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last duty station was at Yokota Air Base, Japan, where it was inactivated on 1 April 1992....
s, 12 P-39 Airacobras from the 36th Fighter Squadron
36th Fighter Squadron
The 36th Fighter Squadron is part of the 51st Fighter Wing at Osan Air Base, South Korea. It operates the F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft conducting air superiority missions.-Mission:...
, 8th Fighter Group
8th Fighter Wing
The United States Air Force 8th Fighter Wing is the host unit at Kunsan Air Base, Republic of Korea and is assigned to Seventh Air Force...
and 48 P-47 Thunderbolt
P-47 Thunderbolt
Republic Aviation's P-47 Thunderbolt, also known as the "Jug", was the largest, heaviest, and most expensive fighter aircraft in history to be powered by a single reciprocating engine. It was heavily armed with eight .50-caliber machine guns, four per wing. When fully loaded, the P-47 weighed up to...
s from the 348th Fighter Group
108th Air Refueling Wing
The 108th Air Refueling Wing is a unit of the New Jersey Air National Guard tasked with aerial refueling and other air mobility missions. It is based at McGuire Air Force Base and operationally gained by the Air Mobility Command . The current Commander of the 108th is...
.
When Kenney informed MacArthur that he planned to observe the operation from a B-17, MacArthur reminded Kenney of his orders to keep out of combat, orders that Brigadier General
Brigadier general (United States)
A brigadier general in the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, is a one-star general officer, with the pay grade of O-7. Brigadier general ranks above a colonel and below major general. Brigadier general is equivalent to the rank of rear admiral in the other uniformed...
Kenneth Walker
Kenneth Walker
Brigadier General Kenneth Newton Walker was a United States Army aviator and a United States Army Air Forces general who had a significant influence on the development of airpower doctrine. He posthumously received the Medal of Honor in World War II.Walker joined the United States Army in 1917,...
had disobeyed at the cost of his life. Kenney went over the reasons why he thought he should go, ending with "they were my kids and I was going to see them do their stuff." MacArthur replied "You’re right, George, we’ll both go. They’re my kids, too."
Three hundred and two aircraft from eight different airfields in the Moresby and Dobodura areas, made a rendezvous over Tsili Tsili at 1007, flying through clouds, passes in the mountains, and over the top. "Not a single squadron," wrote General Kenney, "did any circling or stalling around but all slid into place like clockwork and proceeded on the final flight down the Watut Valley, turned to the right down the Markham, and went directly to the target." Leading the formation were 48 B-25s from the 38th
38th Combat Support Wing
The 38th Combat Support Wing is an inactive wing of the United States Air Force. Its last assignment was with Third Air Force , being inactivated on 1 May 2007 at Ramstein Air Base, Germany....
and 345th Bombardment Groups whose job was to "sanitise" the drop zones by dropping their loads of sixty 20 pounds (9.1 kg) fragmentation
Fragmentation (weaponry)
Fragmentation is the process by which the casing of an artillery shell, bomb, grenade, etc. is shattered by the detonating high explosive filling. The correct technical terminology for these casing pieces is fragments , although shards or splinters can be used for non-preformed fragments...
bombs and strafing with the eight .50-caliber machine guns mounted in their noses. They were followed by seven A-20s of the 3rd Bombardment Group (Light)
3d Wing
The 3d Wing is a unit of the United States Air Force, assigned to the Pacific Air Forces Eleventh Air Force. It is stationed at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska....
. Each carried four M10 smoke tank
M10 smoke tank
The M10 smoke tank was an aircraft under wing tanks used by the United States Army Air Force to lay smoke screens or dispense chemicals such as tear gas...
s mounted under the wings. The smoke tanks were each filled with 19 gallons (71.9 l) of the smoke agent FS. In two groups of two and one of three flying at 250 feet (76.2 m) at 225 mph (362.1 km/h), they laid three smoke curtains adjacent to the three drop zones. The lead aircraft discharged two tanks, waited four seconds, then discharged the other two. The following aircraft went through the same procedure, creating a slight overlap to insure a continuous screen. Conditions were favourable, while the 85% humidity
Humidity
Humidity is a term for the amount of water vapor in the air, and can refer to any one of several measurements of humidity. Formally, humid air is not "moist air" but a mixture of water vapor and other constituents of air, and humidity is defined in terms of the water content of this mixture,...
kept the screens effective for five minutes and stopped their dispersal for ten.
Air Medal
The Air Medal is a military decoration of the United States. The award was created in 1942, and is awarded for meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight.-Criteria:...
for having "personally led the American paratroopers" and "skillfully directed this historic operation". During the operation, including the bombing of Heath’s, a total of 92 short tons (83.5 t) of high-explosive bombs was dropped, 32 short tons (29 t) of fragmentation bombs were dropped and 42,580 rounds of .50 caliber
12 mm caliber
This article lists firearm cartridges which have a bullet in the to caliber range.*Length refers to the cartridge case length.*OAL refers to the overall length of the cartridge.*Bullet refers to the diameter of the bullet....
and 5,180 rounds of .30 caliber
.30-06 Springfield
The .30-06 Springfield cartridge or 7.62×63mm in metric notation, was introduced to the United States Army in 1906 and standardized, and was in use until the 1960s and early 1970s. It replaced the .30-03, 6 mm Lee Navy, and .30 US Army...
ammunition were expended.
No air opposition was encountered, and only one C-47 failed to make the drop. Its cargo door blew off during the flight, damaging its elevator. It safely returned to base. Three paratroopers were killed in the drop; two fell to their deaths when their parachutes malfunctioned while another landed in a tree and then fell some 20 metres (65.6 ft) to the ground. There were 33 minor injuries caused by rough landings. The three battalions met no opposition on the ground and formed up in their assembly areas. This took some time due to the tropical heat and the high grass.
Five C-47s of the 375th Troop Carrier Group carrying the gunners of the 2/4th Field Regiment took off from Ward's Airfield after the main force and landed at Tsili Tsili. After an hour on the ground, they set out for Nadzab. Most jumped from the first two aircraft. The next three aircraft dropped equipment, including the dismantled guns. The "pushers out" followed when the aircraft made a second pass over the drop. One Australian injured his shoulder in the drop. The gunners then had to locate and assemble their guns in the tall grass. Enough parts were found to assemble one gun and have it ready for firing within two and a half hours of dropping, although to maintain surprise they did not carry out registration fire until morning. It took three days to find the missing parts and assemble the other gun. At 1515, two B-17s dropped 192 rounds of ammunition. Their dropping was accurate, but some boxes of ammunition tore away from their parachutes.
Follow up
Papuan Infantry Battalion
The Papuan Infantry Battalion was an infantry battalion of the Australian Army formed on 27 May 1940 in the territory of Papua, during World War II, in order to fight the Japanese. The unit was slow in forming, with its first members posted in March 1941. By 1942 it consisted of only three...
. That night a party of engineers and pioneers set out from Tsili Tsili in 20 small craft and sailed down the Watut and Markham Rivers to join Lang's force at Kirkland's Crossing. The small river-borne task force included 10 British 5 ton folding assault boats and Australian built folding kayaks (folboats) which met up with 2/6 Independent Commandos who had reconnoitered the proposed crossing area with 8 folboats the day before. While neither river was deep, both were fast flowing, with shoal
Shoal
Shoal, shoals or shoaling may mean:* Shoal, a sandbank or reef creating shallow water, especially where it forms a hazard to shipping* Shoal draught , of a boat with shallow draught which can pass over some shoals: see Draft...
s and hidden snag
Snag
In forest ecology, a snag refers to a standing, partly or completely dead tree, often missing a top or most of the smaller branches. In freshwater ecology it refers to trees, branches, and other pieces of naturally occurring wood found sunken in rivers and streams; it is also known as coarse woody...
s. Three boats were lost with their equipment and one man drowned. On the morning of 5 September, Lang's force was treated to the sight of the air force passing overhead. At this point, the Markham River formed three arms, separated by broad sand bars
Bar (river morphology)
A bar in a river is an elevated region of sediment that has been deposited by the flow. Types of bars include mid-channel bars , point bars , and mouth bars...
. Two were fordable but the other was deep and flowing at 5 knots (9.8 km/h). Using the folding boats and local timber, they constructed a pontoon bridge
Pontoon bridge
A pontoon bridge or floating bridge is a bridge that floats on water and in which barge- or boat-like pontoons support the bridge deck and its dynamic loads. While pontoon bridges are usually temporary structures, some are used for long periods of time...
, allowing the whole force to cross the river safely with all their equipment. That evening, they reached the Americans' position.
The next day they went to work on the airstrip with hand tools. Trees were felled, potholes
filled in and a windsock
Windsock
A windsock is a conical textile tube designed to indicate wind direction and relative wind speed. Windsocks typically are used at airports and at chemical plants where there is risk of gaseous leakage...
erected. Fourteen glider
Military glider
Military gliders have been used by the military of various countries for carrying troops and heavy equipment to a combat zone, mainly during the Second World War. These engineless aircraft were towed into the air and most of the way to their target by military transport planes, e.g...
s were supposed to fly in three light tractor
Tractor
A tractor is a vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery used in agriculture or construction...
s, three mower
Mower
A mower is a machine for cutting grass or other plants that grow on the ground. Usually mowing is distinguished from reaping, which uses similar implements, but is the traditional term for harvesting grain crops, e.g...
s, a wheeled rake
Hay rake
A hay rake is an agricultural rake used to collect cut hay or straw into windrows for later collection . It is also designed to fluff up the hay and turn it over so that it may dry. It is also used in the evening to protect the hay of the dew...
and other engineering equipment from Dobodura. Because the lack of opposition made immediate resupply non-urgent, and because he had doubts about the proficiency of the glider pilots, whom he knew had undergone only minimal training, General Blamey decided that the glider operation was not worth the risk to the glider pilots or their passengers and cancelled it, substituting instead the afternoon supply run by specially modified B-17s. Lacking mowers, the Kunai grass was cut by hand by the pioneers, sappers, paratroops and native civilians and burned, causing the destruction of some stores and equipment that had been lost in the long grass and "a swirl of black dust". By 1100 on 6 September the 1500 feet (457.2 m) strip — which had not been used for over a year — had been extended to 3300 feet (1,005.8 m).
The first plane to land was an L-4 Piper Cub
Piper J-3
The Piper J-3 Cub is a small, simple, light aircraft that was built between 1937 and 1947 by Piper Aircraft. With tandem seating, it was intended for flight training but became one of the most popular and best-known light aircraft of all time...
at 0940 6 September, bringing with it Colonel Murray C. Woodbury, the commander of the U.S. Army's 871st Airborne Engineer Aviation Battalion. Three transports followed, nearly running down some of the throng working on the strip. Another forty aircraft followed in the afternoon, many containing American and Australian engineers. The 871st followed the next day with its small air-portable bulldozer
Bulldozer
A bulldozer is a crawler equipped with a substantial metal plate used to push large quantities of soil, sand, rubble, etc., during construction work and typically equipped at the rear with a claw-like device to loosen densely-compacted materials.Bulldozers can be found on a wide range of sites,...
s and grader
Grader
A grader, also commonly referred to as a road grader, a blade, a maintainer, or a motor grader, is a construction machine with a long blade used to create a flat surface. Typical models have three axles, with the engine and cab situated above the rear axles at one end of the vehicle and a third...
s. They located a site for a new airstrip, which became known as No. 1, the existing one becoming No. 2. The site proved to be an excellent one; an old, dry riverbed with soil largely composed of gravel
Gravel
Gravel is composed of unconsolidated rock fragments that have a general particle size range and include size classes from granule- to boulder-sized fragments. Gravel can be sub-categorized into granule and cobble...
. A gravel base and steel plank
Marsden Matting
Marsden Matting is standardized, perforated steel matting material originally developed by the United States at the Waterways Experiment Station shortly before World War II, primarily for the rapid construction of temporary runways and landing strips...
was laid to accommodate the fighters based at Tsili Tsili that were in danger of bogging down when the weather deteriorated. By the end of October there were four airstrips at Nadzab, one of which was 6000 feet (1,828.8 m) metres long and sealed with bitumen.
Owen Stanley Range
Owen Stanley Range is the south-eastern part of the central mountain-chain in Papua New Guinea. It was seen in 1849 by Captain Owen Stanley while surveying the south coast of Papua and named after him. Strictly, the eastern extremity of the range is Mount Victoria , which was climbed by Sir William...
, although the 2/25th Infantry Battalion was flown to Tsili Tsili. On 7 September, reveille
Reveille
"Reveille" is a bugle call, trumpet call or pipes call most often associated with the military or summer camp; it is chiefly used to wake military personnel at sunrise...
was sounded for the 2/33rd Infantry Battalion at 0330 and the unit boarded trucks of the 158th General Transport Company that took it to marshalling areas near the airfields in preparation for the movement to Nadzab. At 0420, B-24 Liberator
B-24 Liberator
The Consolidated B-24 Liberator was an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and a small number of early models were sold under the name LB-30, for Land Bomber...
42-40682 "Pride of the Cornhuskers" of the 43rd Bombardment Group
43d Operations Group
The 43d Operations Group was the operational flying component of the United States Air Force 43d Airlift Wing. It was stationed at Pope Air Force Base, North Carolina, and is assigned to the Air Mobility Command Eighteenth Air Force.The unit was Air Mobility Command's only active-duty C-130...
piloted by 2nd Lieutenant Howard Wood set out from Jackson's Airfield on a reconnaissance sortie to Rabaul, with a full load of 2800 gallons (12,729.1 l) of fuel and four 500 lb (226.8 kg) bombs. It clipped a tree at the end of the runway, crashed into two other trees and exploded, killing all eleven crewmen on board instantly and spraying burning fuel over a large area. Five of the 158th General Transport Company's trucks containing men of the 2/33rd Infantry Battalion were hit and burst into flames. Every man in those trucks was killed or injured; 15 were killed outright, 44 died of their wounds and 92 were injured but survived. Despite the disaster, the 2/33rd Infantry Battalion flew out to Tsili Tsili as scheduled.
Due to the unpredictable weather, aircraft continued to arrive at Nadzab sporadically. Only the 2/25th Infantry Battalion and part of the 2/33rd had reached Nadzab by the morning of 8 September when Vasey ordered the commander of the 25th Infantry Brigade, Brigadier
Brigadier
Brigadier is a senior military rank, the meaning of which is somewhat different in different military services. The brigadier rank is generally superior to the rank of colonel, and subordinate to major general....
Ken Eather, to initiate the advance on Lae. That day there were 112 landings at Nadzab. On 9 September, as the advance began, the rest of the 2/33rd Infantry Battalion reached Nadzab from Tsili Tsili, but while there were 116 landings at Nadzab, bad weather prevented the 2/31st Infantry Battalion from leaving Port Moresby. Finally, on 12 September, after three non-flying days, the 2/31st Infantry Battalion reached Nadzab on some of the 130 landings on the two strips at Nadzab that day.
On 13 September, a platoon of the 2/25th Infantry Battalion came under very heavy fire from a concealed Japanese machine gun near Heath's Plantation that wounded a number of Australians, including Corporal W. H. (Billy) Richards, and halted the platoon's advance. Private
Private (rank)
A Private is a soldier of the lowest military rank .In modern military parlance, 'Private' is shortened to 'Pte' in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries and to 'Pvt.' in the United States.Notably both Sir Fitzroy MacLean and Enoch Powell are examples of, rare, rapid career...
Richard Kelliher
Richard Kelliher
Richard Kelliher VC was an Irish-born Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry that can be awarded to Commonwealth forces...
suddenly, on his own initiative, dashed towards the post and hurled two grenades at it, which killed some of the Japanese defenders but not all. He returned to his section, seized a Bren
Bren
The Bren, usually called the Bren Gun, was a series of light machine guns adopted by Britain in the 1930s and used in various roles until 1991...
gun, dashed back to the enemy post and silenced it. He then asked permission to go out again to rescue the wounded Richards, which he accomplished successfully under heavy fire from another enemy position. Kelliher was awarded the Victoria Cross
Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....
.
North of the main advance, a patrol from Lieutenant Colonel John J. Tolson's 3rd Battalion, 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment, encountered a force of 200 Japanese crossing the Bumbu River on 15 September. The Americans engaged the Japanese force and reported inflicting heavy losses. The arrival of that day of the first units of Brigadier Ivan Dougherty
Ivan Dougherty
Major General Sir Ivan Noel Dougherty CBE, DSO & Bar, ED was an Australian Army officer during World War II.-Education and early life:...
's 21st Infantry Brigade at Nadzab at last allowed the paratroopers to be relieved.
Jeep
Jeep is an automobile marque of Chrysler . The first Willys Jeeps were produced in 1941 with the first civilian models in 1945, making it the oldest off-road vehicle and sport utility vehicle brand. It inspired a number of other light utility vehicles, such as the Land Rover which is the second...
and started urging the diggers
Digger (soldier)
Digger is an Australian and New Zealand military slang term for soldiers from Australia and New Zealand. It originated during World War I.- Origin :...
to hurry up. They were unimpressed. Eather, armed with a pistol, then acted as leading scout, with his troops following in a column of route behind him. The column entered Lae unopposed by the Japanese but aircraft of the Fifth Air Force strafed the 2/33rd Infantry Battalion and dropped parachute fragmentation bombs, wounding two men. Whitehead soon received a message sent in the clear from Vasey that read: "Only the Fifth Air Force bombers are preventing me from entering Lae." By early afternoon the 2/31st Infantry Battalion reached the Lae airfield where it killed 15 Japanese soldiers and captured one. The 25th Infantry Brigade then came under fire from the 9th Division's 25-pounders, wounding one soldier. Vasey and Eather tried every available means to inform Wootten of the situation. A message eventually reached him through RAAF channels at 1425 and the artillery was silenced.
Japanese withdrawal
On 8 September, Adachi ordered Nakano to abandon Salamaua and fall back on Lae. Nakano had already evacuated his hospital patients and artillery to Lae. On 11 September, his main body began to withdraw. By this time it was clear that Blamey intended to cut off and destroy the 51st Division, After discussing the matter with Imperial General HeadquartersImperial General Headquarters
The as part of the Supreme War Council was established in 1893 to coordinate efforts between the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy during wartime...
in Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
, Imamura and Adachi called off their plans to capture Bena Bena and Mount Hagen
Mount Hagen
Mount Hagen is third largest city in Papua New Guinea. It is the capital of the Western Highlands Province and is located in the large fertile Wahgi Valley in central mainland Papua New Guinea, at an elevation of ....
and Nakano and Shoge to move overland to the north coast of the Huon Peninsula while the 20th Division
20th Division (Imperial Japanese Army)
was an infantry division in the Imperial Japanese Army. Its call sign was the .-History:The 20th Division and the 19th Division were raised on 24 December 1915 as a garrison force for Korea. After Japan's victory in the Russo-Japanese War, and subsequent occupation, and then annexation of Korea,...
moved from Madang to Finschhafen, sending one regiment down the Ramu valley to assist the 51st Division. The Salamaua garrison assembled at Lae on 14 September and the Japanese evacuated the town over the next few days. It was a retreating band that contacted the 3rd Battalion, 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment. The Japanese hurriedly altered their route before the Australians could intercept them.
Crossing the Saruwaged Range
Saruwaged Range
The Saruwaged Range is a mountain range on the Huon Peninsula in Morobe Province, north-eastern Papua New Guinea...
proved to be a gruelling test of endurance for the Japanese soldiers. They started out with ten days' rations but this was exhausted by the time they reached Mount Salawaket. The 51st Division had already abandoned most of its heavy equipment. Now many soldiers threw away their rifles. "The Sarawaged crossing," wrote Lieutenant General Kane Yoshihara, "took far longer than had been expected, and its difficulties were beyond discussion. Near the mountain summits the cold was intense and sleep was quite impossible all the cold night; they could only doze beside the fire. Squalls came, the ice spread and they advanced through snow under this tropical sky. Gradually the road they were climbing became a descending slope, but the inclination was so steep that if they missed their footing they would fall thousands and thousands of feet — and how many men lost their lives like that!"
In the end, the Japanese Army could take pride in conducting a creditable defence in the face of an impossible tactical situation. "Fortune and Nature, however, favoured a valiant defender despite the equally valiant striving of the attackers."
Casualties
The 503rd Parachute Infantry lost 3 men killed and 33 injured in the jump. Another 8 were killed and 12 wounded in action against the Japanese, and 26 were evacuated sick. The 2/5th Field Ambulance treated 55 jump casualties on 7 September. Between 5 and 19 September, the 7th Division reported 38 killed and 104 wounded, while another 138 were evacuated sick. To this must be added the 11 Americans and 59 Australians killed and 92 Australians injured in the air crash at Jackson's Airfield. Thus, 119 Allied servicemen were killed, 241 wounded or injured, and 166 evacuated sick. Japanese casualties were estimated at 2,200 but it is impossible to apportion them between the 7th and 9th Divisions.Base development
The development of Nadzab depended on heavy construction equipment which had be landed at Lae and moved over the Markham Valley Road. The job of improving the road was assigned to the 842nd Engineer Aviation Battalion, which arrived at Lae on 20 September but after a few days' work it was ordered to relieve the 871st Airborne Aviation Battalion at Nadzab. The 842nd reached Nadzab on 4 October but a combination of unseasonable rainfall and heavy military traffic destroyed the road surface and closed the road, forcing Nadzab to be supplied from Lae by air. The 842nd then had to resume work on the road, this time from the Nadzab end. Heavy rain was experienced on 46 of the next 60 days. The road was reopened on 15 December, allowing the 836th, 839th, 868th and 1881st Engineer Aviation Battalions and No. 62 Works Wing RAAF to move to Nadzab to work on the development of the airbase.The airbase would eventually consist of four all-weather airfields. No 1 had a 6000 feet (1,828.8 m) by 100 feet (30.5 m) runway surfaced with Marsden Matting
Marsden Matting
Marsden Matting is standardized, perforated steel matting material originally developed by the United States at the Waterways Experiment Station shortly before World War II, primarily for the rapid construction of temporary runways and landing strips...
and a 7000 feet (2,133.6 m) by 100 feet (30.5 m) runway surfaced with bitumen. No. 2 had a 4000 feet (1,219.2 m) by 100 feet (30.5 m) runway partially surfaced with bitumen. No. 3 had a 7000 feet (2,133.6 m) by 100 feet (30.5 m) runway surfaced with bitumen in the centre with 1000 feet (304.8 m) of Marsden mat at either end. No. 4, an RAAF airfield named Newton after Flight Lieutenant
Flight Lieutenant
Flight lieutenant is a junior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many Commonwealth countries. It ranks above flying officer and immediately below squadron leader. The name of the rank is the complete phrase; it is never shortened to "lieutenant"...
William Ellis Newton
William Ellis Newton
William Ellis Newton VC was an Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest decoration for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to a member of the British and Commonwealth armed forces...
, had two parallel 6000 feet (1,828.8 m) by 100 feet (30.5 m) runways surfaced with bitumen. Nadzab became the Allied Air Forces' main base in New Guinea.
Outcome
General Blamey declared the capture of Lae and Salamaua to be "a signal step on the road to Victory". Lieutenant General John J. Tolson described the 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment's operation at Nadzab as "probably the classic text-book airborne operation of World War II" but the text book had not been written at the time. Coming after the less than impressive performance of the airborne arm in the Allied invasion of SicilyAllied invasion of Sicily
The Allied invasion of Sicily, codenamed Operation Husky, was a major World War II campaign, in which the Allies took Sicily from the Axis . It was a large scale amphibious and airborne operation, followed by six weeks of land combat. It launched the Italian Campaign.Husky began on the night of...
, Nadzab influenced thinking about the value of airborne operations.
However, the impact was far greater than anyone on the Allied side realised, and the ramifications went far beyond New Guinea. Imperial General Headquarters had regarded the defeats in the Guadalcanal Campaign
Guadalcanal campaign
The Guadalcanal Campaign, also known as the Battle of Guadalcanal and codenamed Operation Watchtower by Allied forces, was a military campaign fought between August 7, 1942 and February 9, 1943 on and around the island of Guadalcanal in the Pacific theatre of World War II...
and Battle of Buna-Gona
Battle of Buna-Gona
The Battle of Buna–Gona was a battle in the New Guinea campaign, a major part of the Pacific campaign of World War II. On 16 November 1942, Australian and United States forces attacked the main Japanese beachheads in New Guinea, at Buna, Sanananda and Gona. Both forces were riddled by disease and...
as setbacks only, and had continued to plan offensives in the South West Pacific. Now it concluded that the Japanese position was over-extended. A new defensive line was drawn running through Western New Guinea
Western New Guinea
West Papua informally refers to the Indonesian western half of the island of New Guinea and other smaller islands to its west. The region is officially administered as two provinces: Papua and West Papua. The eastern half of New Guinea is Papua New Guinea.The population of approximately 3 million...
, the Caroline Islands
Caroline Islands
The Caroline Islands are a widely scattered archipelago of tiny islands in the western Pacific Ocean, to the north of New Guinea. Politically they are divided between the Federated States of Micronesia in the eastern part of the group, and Palau at the extreme western end...
and the Mariana Islands
Mariana Islands
The Mariana Islands are an arc-shaped archipelago made up by the summits of 15 volcanic mountains in the north-western Pacific Ocean between the 12th and 21st parallels north and along the 145th meridian east...
. Henceforth, positions beyond that line would be held as an outpost line. General Imamura was now charged not with winning a decisive victory, but only with holding on as long as possible so as to delay the Allied advance.