Everything about Battle Of Milne Bay totally explained
The Battle of Milne Bay (
Operation RE) 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
August 25,
1942, and fighting continued until the Japanese retreated on
5 September,
1942, however armed resistance ended on
7 September 1942. The battle was the first in the Pacific campaign in which
Allied troops defeated Japanese land forces and, significantly, forced them to withdraw. The assault was the southern most point of the Japanese advance on land in World War II.
The Japanese hoped to secure a air and naval base to to provide air and naval support to the Japanese
Kokoda Track campaign to take
Port Moresby, New Guinea by capturing the newly constructed airfields at Milne Bay.
The British
Field Marshal Sir
William Slim, who had no part in the battle, said:
» "Australian troops had, at Milne Bay, inflicted on the Japanese their first undoubted defeat on land. Some of us may forget that, of all the allies, it was the Australians who first broke the invincibility of the Japanese army."
Forces
In fact it was elite Japanese
marines, known as
Kaigun Rikusentai (Special Naval Landing Forces), rather than the
Imperial Japanese Army who attacked the Allied forces at Milne Bay. The Japanese high command committed approximately 850 marines from the 5th Kure Special Naval Landing Force (SNLF) led by
Commander Shojiro Hayashi, a company of the 5th Sasebo SNLF, led by
Lieutenant Fujikawa, 10th Naval Landing Force and 2nd Air Advance Party with 350 (non-combat) personnel from the 16th Naval Construction Unit. The Japanese force was led initially by Commander Shojiro Hayashi.
The Allies, commanded by the Australian
Major General Cyril Clowes, were defending three strategically-important airstrips. The soldiers were made up of the
18th Infantry Brigade of the
Australian 7th Division, the
7th Brigade, a
Militia formation, Companies A, C and a section of E Company of the
14th Brigade of the
55th Battalion, 9th Battery of
2/3rd Light Anti Aircraft Regiment, US
709th Anti Aircraft Battery and the 9th Battery of
2/5th Field Regiment. In addition, a portion of the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,
46th (General Service) Engineers Regiment, was deployed for the purpose of airfield construction.
Although the Allied forces numbered 8,824, only about 4,500 were infantry. The Japanese enjoyed a significant advantage in the form of
light tanks, which the Allies hadn't deployed. The Japanese also had complete control of the sea during the night, allowing reinforcement and evacuation. However, the
Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF)
No. 75 and
76 Squadrons, flying
P-40 Kittyhawk aircraft together with
No. 6's
Hudsons from
No. 1 Strip at Milne Bay, which played a critical role in the fierce fighting, were largely uncontested during the day.
Battle
From
4 August 1942, Japanese aircraft began to bomb Milne Bay in preparation for the landing.
The main Japanese invasion force left
Rabaul on
24 August. The fleet comprised
Light cruisers,
Tenryū and
Tatsuta,
destroyers,
Urakaze,
Tanikaze and
Hamakaze, transports,
Nankai Maru and
Kinai Maru and two
Submarine chasers under the command of
Rear Admiral Mitsaharu Matsuyama.
On the
25 August, Milne Bay GHQ was alerted by a RAAF Hudson bomber near
Kitava Island, of the
Trobriand Islands and
Coastwatchers that a Japanese convoy of six escorts and three transports was approaching the Milne Bay area.
HMAS Arunta and transport
SS Tasman, left the Milne Bay area sailed for Port Moresby after learning of the invasion force. RAAF aircraft scrambled from No. 1 Strip and 12 RAAF P-40's and a Hudson strafed the convoy and attempted to bomb the transports, with 250lb bombs near Rabi Island. The attack had a limited effect. Only limited damage was caused to the convoy and no ships were sunk. With night approaching the RAAF returned to base.
The second convoy of invasion troops, from
Buna, consisting of 350 marines of 5th Sasebo SNLF, led by Commander
Tsukioka, were stranded on
Goodenough Island, after resting on the island when their barges were destroyed by No. 75 Squadron RAAF P-40's. It was intended that the second convoy land at
Taupota and cross the
Stirling Range and attack the rear flank of the Milne Bay defenders.
Due to the attack on the main convoy, the Japanese were forced to land further from their main objective at Rabi, near the Milne Bay airbases. At 11.30pm on 25 August, the Japanese landed 1150 troops and two
Type 95 Ha-Go tanks , at
Ahioma on the northern shore of Milne Bay, eleven kilometres east of their intended landing area.
D Company, of 61st Battalion was caught near the landing site at Ahioma, attempting to fall back to
KB Mission and a small skirmish occurred. The D Company requisitioned luggers
Bronzewing and
Elevala were disabled, however the motor launch
Dadosee escaped.
By dawn of
26 August, the Japanese had reached the main position of B Company of the 61st Battalion's around KB Mission. The Japanese suffered a serious setback when their base area was heavily attacked at daylight by RAAF Kittyhawks and a Hudson aircraft, as well as US
5th Air Forces
B-25s,
B-26s and
B-17s, killing a number of enemy troops, destroying supplies and a number of landing barges beached near the KB Mission. The destruction of the landing barges prevented their use to outflank the Australian battalions. The RAAF Kittyhawks were very close to the action, with aircraft strafing Japanese positions very shortly after taking off.
A counter attack by the 61st Battalion drove the Japanese from KB Mission, however after six hours of intense fighting, the 61st Division withdrew to the
Gama River. The 61st Battalion suffered 15 killed, 14 wounded and some missing, and the 25th Battalion, 3 killed and 2 missing.
The Australian 2/10th Infantry Battalion, was ordered to the Gama River, by Major General Cyril Clowes, and went into the offensive, however came upon the Japanese Type 95 Ha-Go light tanks and valiantly tried to disable them with
Sticky bombs, which failed to stick due to the humid conditions of the tropics. The Japanese troops and the supporting tanks, inflicted severe casualties on the 2/10th Infantry Battalion, who suffered 43 killed and 26 wounded. The 2/10th Infantry Battalion was forced to retreat to north of
No. 3 Strip south of
Kilarbo, on
27 August 1942. No. 3 Strip was under construction by the 46th (General Service) Engineers Regiment at the time. The 25th Battalion held the Japanese back and a two day lull followed.
On
29 August, Japanese reinforcements were landed consisting of 768 men from the 3rd Kure SNLF and 5th Yokosuka SNLF, with Commander
Minoru Yano, who took over from Hayashi. The warships of the convoy shelled the allied positions at
Gili Gili while offloading the reinforcements. The Type 95 Ha-Go light tanks were found by a Australian forward patrol on
30 August, near
Rabi bogged in the mud abandoned.
On
31 August at 3:00am, three banzai charges were repelled at No. 3 Strip with withering machine gun and mortar fire from 25th Battalion and 61st Battalion as well as the 46th (General Service) Engineers Regiment and artillery fire from the Australian 2/5th Field Regiment.
The 2/12th Battalion launched a counter offensive at 9.00 am on 31 August and pushed the Japanese along the north coast of Milne Bay and were joined by the 2/9th Battalion on
3 September and faced significant strong resistance on
4 September. The advance of a
section from the Australian 2/9th Battalion was held up by fire from three Japanese machine gun positions. Corporal
John French ordered the other members of the section to take cover before he attacked and destroyed two of the machine guns with
grenades. French then attacked the third position with his submachine gun. The Japanese ceased fire and the Australian section advanced to find that the machine gunners had been killed and that French had died in front of the third position. He was
posthumously awarded the
Victoria Cross for his actions at Milne Bay.
On
5 September, the Japanese high command ordered a withdrawal. On
6 September the offensive reached the main camp of the Japanese landing force. The 2/9th Battalion had lost 30 killed and 90 wounded, the 2/12th Battalion 35 killed and 44 wounded. Three
Beaufighters of
No. 30 Squadron RAAF and six
Beauforts of
No. 100 Squadron RAAF arrived at Milne Bay on 6 September 1942 to provide additional support against any further landings and provide anti-shipping missions. At night of the 6 September, Japanese light cruiser Tatsuta, part of the force assigned to evacuate the surviving troops after their defeat, bombarded the Gili Gili wharves and sunk the
MV Anshun.
On the night of the 7th further Japanese warships bombarded onshore positions. Patrols by Australian troops tracked down and killed Japanese troops who attempted to trek overland to Buna.
Aftermath
According to official figures 311 Japanese personnel were killed with 301 missing in action. The Japanese navy evacuated 1318 personnel. Of the 534 Australian casualties 161 were killed or missing in action. The U.S. forces lost 14 personnel killed and several wounded.
The Japanese committed
war crimes at Milne Bay, namely the killing of surrendered
prisoners of war and civilians. None of the 39 Australian troops captured by the Japanese survived. All were killed and some were mutilated as well. In addition at least 59 civilians were murdered. These events were documented by the
Webb Royal Commission in Australia after the war.
The effect on the morale of all Allied servicemen in Asia and the Pacific was profound, but especially for other Australians fighting a rearguard action on the
Kokoda Track,
U.S. Marines simultaneously fighting the
Battle of Guadalcanal and Slim's troops in the
14th Army who had been retreating in
Burma.
Further Information
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