Milne Bay

[SouthWestPacificVet]

Hello Spidge,

Thank you, but I never had that view of it. I do remember "got a smoke Yank?", they used that like a greeting, and I never met an Aussie that wasn't good at cards.

All the best
Jack

[spidge]

My dad and his mates loved Solo & Euchre.

[Christos]

The sea battles around Guad were at a time when American and Japanese carrier losses (and the aircraft and pilots) were starting to bite....most actions at sea around Guad were very indecisive, in terms of decision battles....what really sank the Japanese effort in the Solomons was the twin directions of the offensive itself...overstretched as they were, the Japanese tried to both cross the Owen-Stanley's AND take Guad....the Morsesby 'push' was defeated because it was , essentially, unsupported. When the units ran short of ammunition and food, they faced a nightmare retreat that finished most of them as fighting units...the stragglers, plus elements landed fresh, retreated to the twin mission stations on the shore, Buna and Gona...where, dug in, they inflicted far more casualties than had been sustained in the advance to contact....McArthur was suitably shocked and vowed "NO MORE BUNAS."

GUAD was held principally for three reasons...
1/...The commander of the first Japanese assault on Henderson, ICHIKI, had counted his chickens before they hatched, ( he was so SURE of victory, that he pre-wrote his diary with the next page saying..."enjoyment of the fruits of victory.") counting on unsupported elements of his unit (which was still filtering in as the battle started)...he counted on the 'elan' of Banzai attacks ( as the Japanese themselves called them),and the sheer ferocity that these these attacks were to be delivered with....
2/ ....but they had not counted on a very able commander for the Marines "RED" MIKE EDSON, they had not counted on his telepathic like placement of his principle units on the ridge that Ickiki planned to take....Red mike shifted his tired troops, telling them it was a "rest area"..)..(one Marine, digging in at the new position was not fooled.."Rest area my ASS!" he said)...Edson is the man that forced this first and most dangerous of all Japanese attacks back into the Jungle, facing the same kind of retreat back to their assembly areas that was going on in the Owen Stanleys.
3/...Japanese soldiers got a rude shock in the Solomons, the first of which was MILNE BAY...and other actions, that showed them that this was an enemy to be respected..and feared...

"The Army had been used to the fighting in China.."



Churchill wrote of Guadacanal...

"Long may the tale be told in the great Republic..."

[spidge]

The US victory at Guadalcanal owed much also to the band of Coastwatchers who passed on vital ship movements to the allied command.

Australian coastwatchers continued to be an important part of the war effort. On islands dotted around the South West Pacific Area they radioed vital information to the Allied command reporting enemy ship movements. Admiral Nimitz, US Navy Supreme Commander, Pacific Ocean Area, later praised their work in relation to the Solomons Campaign. “The Coastwatchers saved Guadalcanal, and Guadalcanal saved the Pacific.”

[spidge]

The rest of the story here: Battle for Australia Council


MILNE BAY

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. (FIELD-MARSHAL SIR WILLIAM SLIM, DEFEAT INTO VICTORY)
Sketch map of Milne BayIn late August, unable to move further down the Kokoda Trail, the Japanese decided to make a second line of attack on Port Moresby. On 25-26 August they landed at Milne Bay on the extreme eastern tip of Papua, about 370 kilometres from Port Moresby. Although under great logistical stress with the fighting on the Kokoda Trail, Allied forces were ready for them. Unlike the protracted Kokoda campaign, the Battle of Milne Bay ended in just over ten days.

[Christos]

Coastwatchers pulled off some great intelligence coups....they even warned the allied fleet just before SAVO ISLAND....but the Navy (both US and Australian) ignored them...

When the Japanese ships barrelled down the 'slot', they were protected by the 'cone' of radar 'blindness' that Savo provided..(land masses in the backgound used to 'fudge' early US radar sets...the Japnese relied on LOOKOUTS using the old reliable 'eyeball MkI')

[Christos]

I believe the fighting around Milne Bay was SAVAGE...Japanese hid in trees, some Australians had a tough time spotting these snipers, and when they did, they showed them no mercy....a lot of the treetop Japanese had fought for many years in China...coming up against a foe that did NOT break and run at the first opportunity was a complete NOVELTY for them....taking NOTHING away from the hard work that Aussie troops put in at Milne....I have no casualty figures, but I do know that, by the standards of the day, Milne was a very hard fight for both sides....and WE BEATEM'! (yay for Oz!)

[spidge]

Originally Posted by Christos

taking NOTHING away from the hard work that Aussie troops put in at Milne....I have no casualty figures, but I do know that, by the standards of the day, Milne was a very hard fight for both sides....and WE BEATEM'! (yay for Oz!)

550 Allied dead - 1,000 Japanese dead

Japanese landed tanks, the allies had none.

From Wiki:Battle of Milne Bay - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Japanese troops were the in fact the 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 2400 marines from the 5th Kure Special Naval Landing Force (SNLF), the 5th Sasebo SNLF and (non-combat) personnel from the 16th Naval Construction Unit. The Japanese force was led initially by Commander Shojiro Hayashi.

[spidge]

Originally Posted by Christos

I believe the fighting around Milne Bay was SAVAGE...Japanese hid in trees, some Australians had a tough time spotting these snipers, and when they did, they showed them no mercy....a lot of the treetop Japanese had fought for many years in China...coming up against a foe that did NOT break and run at the first opportunity was a complete NOVELTY for them....taking NOTHING away from the hard work that Aussie troops put in at Milne....I have no casualty figures, but I do know that, by the standards of the day, Milne was a very hard fight for both sides....and WE BEATEM'! (yay for Oz!)

This one was hiding in a tree.......for a little while.


AWM 013952

AWM 013965

AWM 0139637Buna, Papua, 28 December 1942: These three photographs show an Australian Bren gunner firing at a Japanese sniper position in a palm tree, the palm tree after it had been fired upon, and the body of the Japanese sniper at the base of the palm tree. The Bren gunner’s technique was to fire several bursts at a point six feet from the top of the tree, so weakening its trunk. The weight of the sniper then caused the tree to break and he was killed when he hit the ground 60 feet below.

From: Australia-Japan Research Project

[Owen]

Chritos,
You say you have no battlefields near you in Australia.
What is travel like between Oz & PNG?
Is there much to see up there regards a battlefield tour?
Geoff,
You've been up there haven't you?