World War II Database

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

As the Australian troops fled toward Three Ways to rendezvous, Colonel Masao Kusunose's 2nd Battalion, understrength by two companies, marched into Rabaul unopposed and took control of the Government House at 0500 in the morning of 23 Jan 1942. By mid-day that day, all organized resistance ceased. An unnamed Japanese 3rd Battalion officer observed that "places on the road where the enemy had abandoned vehicles, where ammunition was scattered about, and where due to the pursuit attacks of our high-speed butai [there] were pitiful traces of the confused flight and defeat of the enemy."

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

It was only matter of time when groups of Australians were captured, or in some cases given themselves up, and atrocities ensued. As early as 23 Jan, the Japanese were committing them. On that day, Tolai natives witnessed an incident where already-killed Australians were dismembered with axes and bayonets. It only got worse after that. Ambulance driver Bill Collins witnessed his comrades being executed one by one by bayonet. When fellow medical personnel Private Thomas B. Clissold protested while pointing to his Red Cross brassard, the Japanese removed the brassard from him and then shot them with a pistol. Glenn Garrard recalled being forced to dig his own grave before being clubbed and stabbed with a bayonet before being left for dead, barely alive when he was discovered and brought back to life. By early Feb, the Japanese had massacred approximately 160 Australians, most against the laws of the Geneva Convention. Those who were spared were rounded up in barracks, working as forced laborers unloading supply ships that would subsequently arrive at the harbor throughout the Pacific War. The garrison that was originally deployed at Rabaul suffered a 96% casualty rate, far greater than any casualty rate any Australian unit suffered in all of WW2.

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

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

The nearby island of New Ireland was garrisoned by 130 Australian commandos. The landing on New Ireland also took place on 22 Jan 1942, and the capital of Kavieng was taken without opposition. Many of the defenders captured on New Ireland were transported to Rabaul.

Photographs

Share this article with your friends:

Delicious   Digg   Facebook

Reddit   StumbleUpon   Twitter

Stay updated with WW2DB:

Subscribe to RSS Feeds

Advertise on ww2db.com

Visitor Submitted Comments

1. Anonymous says:
   2 Sep 2010 09:48:23 PM
   
   I am looking for a japanese prisioner of war by the name of H.Taniura who i believe was in rabaul in 1946. he was an artist who painted a portrait of my father who was one of the guards of the prison camp 1946

Posting Your Comments on this Topic

Your Name
Your Email
	Your email will not be published
Your Comments
Security Code

Note: Please refrain from using strong language. HTML tags are not allowed. Your IP address will be tracked even if you remain anonymous. WW2DB site administrators reserve the right to moderate, censor, and/or remove any comment.