Battle of Wau

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Wau
partof=World War II, Pacific War


caption=Australian soldiers unloading transport planes at an airfield near Wau in mid-1943.
date=29 January-31 January 1943
place=New Guinea
result=Decisive Allied victory
combatant1=flag|Australia
flag|United States|1912
combatant2=flagicon|Japan|alt Empire of Japan
commander1=flagicon|Australia Thomas Blamey
flagicon|Australia Murray Moten
commander2=flagicon|Japan|alt Hitoshi Imamura
flagicon|Japan|alt Tooru Okabe
flagicon|Japan|alt Kohei Maruoka
strength1=3,000
strength2=4,000
casualties1=349 killed, wounded or missing
casualties2=1,200 killed (estimate)

The Battle of Wau, 29 January-31 January 1943, was a battle in the New Guinea campaign of World War II. Australian forces at Wau were attacked by Japan.

Background

Geography

Wau is a town in New Guinea, in the province of Morobe situated in a valley at an altitude of around 1,300 metres (4,260 ft). It was the site of a gold rush during the 1920s and 1930s when gold prospectors arrived at the coast at Salamaua and struggled inland along the Black Cat Track. The miners partially cleared the area and built houses, workshops and aerodromes and established a water supply and an electricity grid. They also constructed aerodromes at Wau and Bulolo which were the primary means of reaching the Wau-Bulolo Valley.

Wau aerodrome was a rough Kunai grass airstrip 1,100 metres (3,600 ft) in length with a 1 in 12 slope heading directly for Mount Kaindi. Aircraft could approach from the northeast only, landing uphill and taking off downhill. This also precluded extension of the strip. [Wau Air Field Data Sheet, 1 October 1943, NAA (ACT): A9716/1 1453.]

The ceiling of a fully laden Dakota transport was around 3,000 metres (9,800 ft), but the mountains of the Owen Stanley Range are up to 4,000 metres (13,000 ft) high so aircraft had to fly between the mountains rather than over them. This required good visibility, but cumulus clouds built up over the ranges in the mornings followed by showers in the afternoon. On most days, operations over Wau were possible for no more than four or five hours.

Kanga Force

After the war with Japan began, non-native women and children were evacuated while men of military age were called up for service in the New Guinea Volunteer Rifles, the local militia unit.

Initially civilians were evacuated from Wau by air but as the Japanese drew closer – bombing Wau on 23 January 1942 – it became too dangerous to fly without fighter escort, which was unavailable. This left some 250 European and Asian men stranded. These refugees made a hazardous journey over the Owen Stanley Range on foot by way of Kudjeru and Tekadu to Bulldog, a disused mining settlement where there was an aerodrome, and thence down the Lakekamu River to the sea. [Cite book |last=White |first=Osmar |title=Green Armour (Australian War Classics series) |publisher=Penguin |year=1945 |isbn= 0140147063 |pages=p. 106 ]

With the feasibility of the route thus demonstrated, New Guinea Force decided to establish a line of communications to Wau via Bulldog. A platoon of the 1st Independent Company left Port Moresby in a schooner and traversed the route, joining the men of the New Guinea Volunteer Rifles holding the Wau area. ["New Guinea Force Operation Instruction No. 5", 28 March 1942, AWM54 578/6/1.] This was the beginning of what became Kanga Force on 23 April 1942. ["New Guinea Force Operation Instruction No. 7", 23 April 1942, AWM54 578/6/1.]

On 22 May 1942, the U.S. 21st Troop Carrier Squadron USAAF flew in Commandos of the 2/5th Independent Company to join Kanga Force. The 2/7th Independent Company followed in October 1942. [Cite book |first=Richard L. |last=Watson |editor=Wesley Frank Craven and James Lea Cate |series=The Army Air Forces in World War II |title=Plans and Early Operations (January 1939 to August 1942) Vol. I |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=1958 |isbn= |pages=pp. 477–478 ]

Supplies were either flown in or shipped to the mouth of the Lakekamu River in luggers, transported up the river to Bulldog in canoes and then carried over the Bulldog Track by porters.

trategy

Apart from a raid on Salamaua in June 1942, Kanga Force accomplished very little. However, Wau soon occupied an important place in the strategy of General Sir Thomas Blamey, the Commander Allied land Forces, South West Pacific Area, who was concurrently commanding New Guinea Force.

At the time, the Japanese held air superiority over the Solomon Sea, precluding airborne or seaborne operations against the Japanese base at Lae. General Blamey therefore decided that he would have to capture Lae with a land campaign. The Bulldog Track would be upgraded to a highway capable of carrying trucks, and tanks - capable of supporting a division that would advance overland on Lae.

Lieutenant General Hitoshi Imamura, the commander of the Japanese Eighth Area Army, correctly deduced his opponent's intentions and the strength of Kanga Force and resolved to head off the danger to Lae by capturing Wau. On 29 December 1942, he ordered the 102nd Infantry Regiment and other units under the command to Major General Tooru Okabe to move from Rabaul to Lae and then move inland to capture Wau.

Adachi was up against a resourceful, resolute and aggressive opponent, who also had access to good intelligence. Allied Ultra codebreakers were reading the Japanese shipping codes, and Blamey knew in advance about the force that Adachi was planning to send from Rabaul to Lae, although not its ultimate destination. [Cite book |last=Drea |first=Edward J. |title=MacArthur's ULTRA: Codebreaking and the War Against Japan, 1942-1945 |publisher=University Press of Kansas |year=1992 |isbn=0700605045 |pages=pp. 63-66 ] Rather than wait and see how events developed, he immediately ordered the 17th Infantry Brigade to move from Milne Bay to Wau on 4 January 1943. Its commander, Brigadier Murray Moten was ordered to assume command of Kanga Force and defend Wau.

Prelude to the battle

On 6 January 1943, the Japanese convoy carrying Okabe's force set out for Lae from Rabaul. Forewarned by Ultra, USAAF and RAAF aircraft spotted, shadowed and attacked the convoy, which was shielded by low cloud and Japanese fighters. The Allies claimed to have shot down 69 Japanese aircraft for the loss of ten of their own. First Lieutenant Richard Bong, a P-38 Lightning pilot claimed three, becoming an ace.Cite book |first=Richard L. |last=Watson |editor=Wesley Frank Craven and James Lea Cate |series=The Army Air Forces in World War II |title=The Pacific — Guadalcanal to Saipan (August 1942 to July 1944) Vol. IV |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=1950 |isbn= |pages=p. 136 ] A RAAF PBY Catalina of No. 11 Squadron RAAF under the command of Flight Lieutenant David Vernon made a night bombing attack on the convoy which sank the transport "Nichiryu Maru". [Cite web |last=Gillison |first=Douglas |url=http://www.awm.gov.au/histories/chapter.asp?volume=26 |title=Volume I – Royal Australian Air Force, 1939–1942 |work=Australia in the War of 1939-1945 |year=1962 |pages=pp. 674-675 ] Destroyers rescued 739 of the 1,100 troops on board, but the ship took with it all of Okabe's medical supplies. Another transport, the "Myoko Maru" was so badly damaged at Lae by USAAF B-25 Mitchell bombers that it had to be beached. Nonetheless, the convoy succeeded in reaching Lae on 7 January and landing about 4,000 troops. Between 10 January and 16 January, they moved down the coast to Salamaua in barges. cite web |last = U.S. Army Center of Military History | url = http://www.army.mil/cmh/books/wwii/MacArthur%20Reports/MacArthur%20V2%20P1/macarthurv2.htm#contents | title = Japanese Operations in the Southwest Pacific Area, Volume II - Part I | work = Reports of General MacArthur | pages = p. 190 ]

Meanwhile, the first group of the 17th Infantry Brigade, the 2/6th Infantry Battalion, embarked for Port Moresby on 9 January 1943. The rest of the battalion followed over the next two nights. The 2/7th Infantry Battalion embarked on the Army transport "Taroona" on 13 January and the 2/5th on "Duntroon" the next day. [ [http://www.awm.gov.au/diaries/ww2/folder.asp?folder=438 War Diary, 17th Infantry Brigade, 4–12 January 1943, AWM52 8/2/17] .] The prospects of beating the Japanese to Wau did not look good. Only 28 Dakotas of the U.S. 374th Troop Carrier Group were available in New Guinea, and these had to be shared with the Buna front. Between 10 and 19 January, the 2/6th Infantry Battalion was flown in from Port Moresby to reinforce Kanga Force. In the process, there were three crashes. Poor flying weather forced many aircraft to return without landing. Brigadier Moten was twice forced to return to Port Moresby before reaching Wau on the third attempt. Bad weather continued over the following week, limiting air operations and sometimes precluding them entirely. Part of the 2/5th Infantry Battalion arrived on 27 January.Cite web |last=McCarthy |first=Dudley |url=http://www.awm.gov.au/histories/chapter.asp?volume=21 |title=South-West Pacific Area — First Year |work=Australia in the War of 1939-1945 |year=1959 |pages=pp. 545–558]

The Japanese encountered a platoon of the 2/7th Independent Company under Captain Geoffrey Bowen. A brief action followed in which Bowen was killed, and the Australians retreated back to Skindewai. However, instead of pursuing them, Okabe chose to advance on Wau down an old and seldom used track running parallel to the Black Cat Track through difficult country and the two sides lost contact. Okabe thereby disguised the strength and objective of his force, and took the Australians by surprise. By 27 January, he was in sight of Wau. However, the rugged march took longer than he had anticipated, and his rations had begun to run short.

Battle

Standing in the way was A Company of the 2/6th Infantry Battalion under Captain W. H. Sherlock. Okabe ordered an all-out attack on Sherlock's position on 28 January. Sherlock was forced from his position and retreated onto a nearby spur. For much of the afternoon, frontal Japanese attacks were repelled by Australian mortar and machine gun fire, and efforts to infiltrate Sherlock's positions were defeated by a bayonet attack led by Sherlock in person. By 18:00, Sherlock was still holding on, but his mortar ammunition had run out and his small arms ammunition was running short, and his position was being plastered with mortar rounds and swept by machine gun fire. Sherlock held on through the night and was killed the next day trying to break through the Japanese lines. [Cite book |title=Jungle Victory: An Official Story of the Australian Soldier in the Wau-Salamaua Campaign January 1943 – September 1943 |publisher=Australian Army |year=1943 |pages=pp. 18–23 ]

A Company's sacrifice was not in vain. On 28 January, the weather cleared and a record 60 planeloads arrived at Wau, bringing in 814 men before air operations were suspended in the early afternoon. The fighting at Buna had ended on 23 January, freeing up aircraft to support Wau, and 52 brand-new Dakotas of U.S. 317th Troop Carrier Group had arrived in Australia, their movement from the United States having been expedited in response to urgent requests from General Douglas MacArthur arising from the Buna fighting. After a quick maintenance check, they were flown up to Port Moresby to help the U.S. 374th Troop Carrier Group fly the 17th Infantry Brigade in to Wau. This meant that up to 40 aircraft were now available daily.

On 29 January, 57 planeloads arrived, bringing most of the 2/7th Infantry Battalion and the remainder of the 2/5th. Although subjected to small arms fire as they came in and unloaded, 40 aircraft made 66 trips that day. Their cargo included two dismantled 25 pounders of the 2/1st Field Regiment with 688 rounds of ammunition. These were landed in the morning and in action in the early afternoon, engaging a concentration of 300 enemy troops between the villages of Wandumi and Kaisenik. The Japanese were also engaged by Beaufighters of No. 30 Squadron RAAF flying close air support. On 31 January, 35 aircraft made 71 trips and on 1 February 40 aircraft made 53 trips, bringing reinforcements including the 2/3rd Independent Company that brought the strength of Kanga Force to over 3,000 men. Three Dakotas were lost over the three days. For its part in the battle, the 374th Troop Carrier Group was awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation. [Cite book |title=374th Troop Carrier Group 1942–1945 |publisher=Kljuc AO |editor= Herbert P. Banks |year=1998 |pages=p. 21 ]

Japanese attacks on 30 January succeeded in reaching the corner of the airstrip but were forced to fall back under enormous pressure. By 4 February, Okabe was threatened with encirclement and was forced to order a withdrawal. In an attempt to shut down the transports on 6 February, ten Japanese fighters attacked a flight of Dakotas escorted by eight P-39s. One Dakota was shot down. Meanwhile about nine bombers and 20 fighters struck Wau, damaging the strip and destroying a CAC Wirraway. With all hope of capturing Wau gone, Okabe was ordered to abandon the attempt and withdrew to Mubo.

Aftermath

From its creation in May 1942 until 15 February 1943, Kanga Force lost 30 officers and 319 men, including 4 officers and 48 men of the 2/6th Infantry Battalion. The Australians counted 753 Japanese dead. Adding 361 lost on the "Nichiryu Maru" and a few airmen puts the number of Japanese deaths at around 1,200.

While New Guinea Force wished to pursue the Japanese, logistical difficulties precluded this. The Battle of the Bismarck Sea in March 1943 finally ended Japanese hopes of capturing Wau. In April, Australian forces from Wau began the Salamaua-Lae campaign which drove the Japanese from Salamaua. Troops staged at Wau before moving to Bougainville in 1945. The Japanese attempt to capture Wau would be the final attempt by Imperial Japan to add new territory to Emperor Hirohito's empire in the Pacific. After Wau, the Japanese military in the Pacific went on the strategic defensive and no longer attempted to acquire more territory in that region.

Notes

References

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