To the invaders from Japan, and the occupiers from Australia and the United States, however, New Guineans appeared as colonial subjects at best, and as slaves at worst. The operation consisted of two landings, one at Tanahmerah Bay and the other at Humboldt Bay, near Hollandia. Subsequently, Supplements No. [17] The Allied Translation and Interpreter Section (ATIS) estimated the average size of a captured document at 12 pages. On 17 September, the Japanese had reached the village of Ioribaiwa, just 30 kilometres (20mi) from the Allied airdrome at Port Moresby. [6], The struggle for New Guinea began with the capture by the Japanese of the city of Rabaul at the northeastern tip of New Britain Island in January 1942 (the Allies responded with multiple bombing raids, of which the action off Bougainville was one). Having been organized along lines completely unorthodox, these were invaluable documents to the G-2 Section, especially as this Force was a major enemy unit on the left flank near La Union, Luzon, at that time. U.S. Military forces began capturing records almost as soon as the war began and started exploiting them immediately. [15] The only Allied response was a bombing raid of Lae and Salamaua by aircraft flying over the Owen Stanley Range from the carriers USSLexington and USSYorktown, leading the Japanese to reinforce these sites. When Japanese Americans on the West Coast were moved into internment camps in the late spring of 1942, the school moved to temporary quarters at Camp Savage, Minnesota. This bombardment was augmented with air strikes from carrier-borne aircraft, while two destroyer-minesweepers, Long and Hogan, swept the bay ahead of the main landing force. Before the operation against the Japanese at Hollandia, Dutch New Guinea, 41st CIC Detachment Special Agent in Charge Duval Edwards at Finschhaven during March and April 1944 gave many lectures on the great importance of soldiers turning in any captured documents. The Joint Intelligence Center, Pacific Ocean Areas (JICPOA), had its origins in the Intelligence Center, Pacific Ocean Areas (ICPOA) which had been established on July 14, 1942 in Hawaii as Admiral Chester W. Nimitz intelligence center. Over the course of an hour, this feature, dubbed Pancake Hill, was captured with only minimal opposition. Report No. Current Translations were publications containing complete translations of documents classified A, B, C, or D in ATIS Bulletins. per cubic foot, this works out to 1,350 cubic feet of records. The Allied reduction of Rabaul was only made possible by relentless air strikes that took place day after day, but Yamamoto thought the damage inflicted by a few attacks of large formations would derail Allied plans long enough for Japan to prepare a defense in depth. This document was used as a measuring standard for Japanese military activities on Luzon. 102103, The Japanese drive to conquer all of New Guinea had been decisively stopped. This airfield was of great value to the Australians during the fighting for northeast Papua. Their noses had been refitted with eight 50-caliber machine guns for strafing slow-moving ships on the high seas. At 177 planes, this was the largest Japanese air attack since Pearl Harbor. The Japanese entered Lae and Salamaua, two locations on Huon Gulf, on 8 March 1942 unopposed. No. Publication No. By the end of the day on 23 April the 186th Infantry were about halfway to Lake Sentani, while those from the 162nd had secured Hollandia and were securing the high ground around their objective, winkling out isolated pockets of resistance with aerial support. 5, Bibliographic Subject Index for Enemy Publications 1-200 (November 30, 1944), with a supplementary index from 201-300 (March 1945); No. ATIS received and translated in April 1944 the diary of prisoner of war Hiroshi Horikoshi, a civilian employee (interpreter) with the Japanese 14th Army, who was captured at the same time. Miscellaneous identifications taken from documents captured in early November in the Pinamopoan Area, Leyte, gave the first indication of the Japanese 1st Divisions presence in this area. In the first months of 1942, the Japanese launched further attacks against British Burma, Australian-administered New Guinea and Papua, and the islands of the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). These were supported by a force of eight escort carriers of the 5th Fleet. Also captured on January 19th was a radio chart that was used by I Corps Signal officers to gain highly satisfactory results in the monitoring of Japanese radio communications. 37, No. New Guinean porters carry a load through the jungle. The whole northern coast of the island was now in Allied hands and airfields from which bombers could strike the southern Philippines were soon in operation. [20], Since Port Moresby was the only port supporting operations in Papua, its defence was critical to the campaign. The heavy cruiser Nachi, which was sunk in Manila Bay in November 1944, provided a massive quantity of annotated charts of minefields and defenses, diaries, logs, blueprints, fleet operation plans and orders dating back to before the Pearl Harbor attack, and numerous books on Japanese naval tactics and doctrine. This involved air attacks and naval bombardments on the Wewak area, and faked landings of reconnaissance patrols. [11] For the same reasons, General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander Allied Forces South West Pacific Area was determined to hold it. See Appendix I for information about the ATIS publication program. 67 (Japanese Warships and Merchant Vessels Sunk, Damaged or not Previously Listed); No. (Map 2) Invasion of Dutch New Guinea. 255) Procedure in interrogating and handling [Allied] prisoners of war. Over 420 of these were published. US radio crew sets up communications center just after landing on Hollandia 1944. 10, Restoration of Captured Documents (June 28, 1945). It contained details of the proposed landing of Tama Group (full strength of one division) at Ormoc, Leyte, on November 1st. Twelve of these were scheduled to be produced, beginning in March 1943. In February 1943, the first contingent of twenty graduates from the Navys Japanese Language School at Boulder, Colorado arrived at ICPOA and began interrogating prisoners of war and translating captured documents. MacArthur was now determined to liberate the island as a stepping-stone to the reconquest of the Philippines. During mid-May American forces intercepted a Japanese landing craft near Arare that carried material for reinforcing the Japanese-held islands offshore of New Guinea that were to be attacked as part of the Wakde-Sarmi Bay Operation. The westernmost island of this group, Goodenough, had been occupied in August 1942 by 353 stranded troops from bombed Japanese landing craft. 16 dealt with interrogation of captured American B-24 air crews; No. Late the next month at Biak, an island in Geelvink Bay, New Guinea, CIC agents seized the records of the finance office, post office, bank, and Japanese headquarters. According to Morison, "the Japanese retreat down the Kokoda Trail had turned into a rout. [citation needed]. 3, Glossary of military terms encountered in Japanese documents; No. 92). Intelligence gained from breaking the codes protecting Imperial Japanese Army radio messages led the Allies to learn that the Hollandia area was only lightly defended, with Japanese forces being concentrated in the Madang-Wewak region. All of these factors had to be taken into account in determining the lines of advance in 1944. [41] Through the afternoon of 1 March, the overcast weather held at which point everything began to go wrong for the Japanese. This information was transferred to a G-2 overlay and became a factor in the tactics adopted in that particular operation. He did successfully conduct the Western New Guinea campaign in 1944 which liberated much of Dutch New Guinea. Tweet. The naval command in the Southwest Pacific remained unchanged. In the final days of March, the Fast Carrier Force (Task Force 58) attacked Japanese airbases on Palau and islands in the Carolines. American military leaders knew that while the number of prisoners (and thus information) taken in the Pacific would be relatively small, compared to the war in Europe, Japanese records would become all that more important as an intelligence source. This procedure called for all documents to be briefly examined, and those of operational value segregated from those having probable or general value and those having no apparent military value, and provisions were made for the translation on a priority bases of those sections of documents containing information of operational value. They immediately sent back to Australia approximately 3,500 pounds of records, letters, and other documentary material. [30], The D'Entrecasteaux Islands lie directly off the northeast coast of the lower portion of the Papuan peninsula. [10] After the chief of staff of the Second Area Army travelled to Wewak to deliver Adachi orders in person, he directed that the 66th Infantry Regiment begin moving from Wewak to Hollandia on 18 April; it was expected that this unit would arrive there in mid-June. The Kokoda Trail [was] suitable for splay-toed Papuan aborigines but a torture to modern soldiers carrying heavy equipment", Samuel Eliot Morison, Breaking the Bismarcks Barrier, p. 34, Buna was easily taken as the Allies had no military presence there (MacArthur wisely chose not to attempt an occupation by paratroopers since any such force would have been easily wiped out by the Japanese). . Written orders including route, objective of raid, and extent to which enemy intended to rely on these new tactics were also included. Adachi's decision may have been motivated by a belief that Hansa Bay would be the target of the next Allied amphibious landing and that he could reinforce Hollandia at a later date. He told soldiers that ATIS personnel had told him that they had seen Japanese . In addition, ATIS officers collaborated in the accumulation of evidence from prisoners and testified before the Board. If the transports succeeded in staying behind a weather front and were protected the whole way by fighters from the various airfields surrounding the Bismarck Sea, they might make it to Lae with an acceptable level of loss, i.e., at worst half the task force would be sunk en route. From there the documents were immediately sent to Brisbane for translation by ATIS personnel. Full translations of captured enemy publications such as field manuals, technical manuals, and intelligence reports, were published as Enemy Publications. Incidence of malaria was almost one hundred per cent. Combat boundaries were listed. This attack also destroyed 60 percent of all rations and ammunition that had been landed, and resulted in shortages amongst the infantry advancing towards the airfields. [51] Eight waves landed at White 1 after two LCIs fired rockets at the high ground overlooking the beach where several Japanese antiaircraft guns were located. Joining JICPOA once it became an inter-service organization were some 50 US Army Military Intelligence Service (MIS) Nisei linguists. In February 1944, marines and soldiers from the 27th Infantry Division captured important documents at Engebi Island. 4, Bibliographic Index used for all ATIS publications; No. Other organizations were established throughout the Pacific Theater to translate and exploit the records. Hollandia was a port on the north coast of New Guinea, part of the Dutch East Indies, and was the only anchorage between Wewak to the east, and Geelvink Bay to the west. [23] The Australian and American anti-aircraft gunners of the Composite Anti-Aircraft Defences played a crucial part. This diary along with other documents relating to atrocities was used in the trials of Japanese war criminals. On 24 April, the beach became more congested with the arrival of scheduled reinforcements and further equipment, as well as two transports and seven LSTs carrying troops, including the corps commander and his headquarters, which had been diverted from Tanahmerah Bay. The Z Plan [issued as Admiral Kogas Combined Fleet Secret Operations Order No. The fires around White 1 continued until 27 April when the engineers were released to return to the beach. It is important to note that all ATIS units maintained close relations with the CIC units and Australian Army Field Security Service, since these units were largely responsible for the collection and dispatch of captured documents in forward areas to the language personnel stationed with tactical units. Others included information about the Psychology in the Japanese Armed Forces (No. [13], Due north of Port Moresby, on the northeast coast of Papua, are the Huon Gulf and the Huon Peninsula. The battle was an unqualified success for the Allied forces, resulting in a withdrawal by the Japanese to a new strategic defense line in the west of New Guinea and the abandonment of all positions in the east of the island. On 10 January 1942, during the Dutch East Indies Campaign, Japanese forces invaded the Dutch East Indies as part of the Pacific War. On March 1, 1944, soldiers found on the body of the commander of Baba Battalion a copy of a field order issued by him in which he ordered an attack on American positions for that same afternoon. The most important find was a set of plans and specifications for some of the defenses encountered on the island. Horikoshi was in the Philippine Islands from May 1942 to August 1943, and the diary contained a good coverage of that period, depicting atrocities, conditions in Allied prisoner-of-war camps, and conditions in the Philippine Islands in general. Thompson sub machine-guns jammed with the gritty mud and were unreliable in the humid atmosphere ", John Vader, New Guinea: The Tide Is Stemmed, pp. Most regrettable!!' Horikoshi, upon arrival at ATIS, at first denied all knowledge of any atrocities but on being confronted with his diary, admitted that such things had occurred. This translation aided materially in speeding up the execution of the subsequent attack on Saipan and other Japanese bases in the Pacific, which occurred shortly thereafter. Once the war ended, Southeast Asia Command Field Security Sections were assigned to seize records that, among other things, could be used for the prosecution of war criminals. [18] A large number of Japanese aircraft were stationed at airfields near Hollandia in March 1944. The U.S. 24th Division's 19th and 21st Regimental Combat Teams (RCTs) were to land at Tanahmerah Bay. Ultimately, a major air and staging base was developed in the Hollandia area and most of the higher headquarters in the Southwest Pacific area established their command posts there during the summer of 1944. [1][2], Hollandia was situated on the east side of a headland separating Humboldt Bay to the east and Tanahmerah Bay, 25 miles (40km) to the west. First, with completion of the reduction of Rabaul, the South Pacific Area was closed as an active theatre, and Halsey left to take command of the U.S. 3rd Fleet. 9, Japanese-English Medical Dictionary; No. The campaign was long and arduous, but by the end of 1944 the Japanese threat was contained in New Guinea. There were also other ATIS publications, based on captured documents and interrogations, such as Advanced Echelon Reports, Philippine Series Translations, and Interrogation Spot Reports. These documents, contrary to American intelligence, indicated that the Japanese were strongly entrenched on Parry and Eniwetok islands. Japanese plans to occupy Port Moresby were negated by losses during the Battle of the Coral Sea and Battle of Milne Bay. [citation needed], Three factors conspired to create disaster for the Japanese. With the occupation of Morotai, the long drive up the New Guinea coast was strategically completed. On October 22, 1944, X Corps captured four sketches, one of gun positions north of Dulag, Leyte, and three of San Roque, Catmon Hill Area, Leyte, containing gun and coastal defense positions. Pre-War New Guinea The Japanese Invasion The Turning Point The Long Allied Advance 1943 1944 The New Guinea campaign (January 1942-September 1945) was one of the longest campaigns of the Second World War. Some of the research reports dealt with military and naval matters, such as No. By the end of the war, ATIS had processed over 350,000 documents (or 1,680 cubic feet of records).[17]. Researchers should, of course, use the National Archives Catalog. Opposing these forces were the Australian 2/5th, 2/6th and 2/7th Battalions along with Lieutenant Colonel Norman Fleay's Kanga Force. The remote but crucial airfield lay 25 miles south/southeast of the port town of Salamaua. The publication was intended as a manual for the training and indoctrination of intelligence personnel and as a reference book for the exploitation of intelligence documents. The Japanese defended Biak valiantly, even managing at one point to bring in 1,100 reinforcements, but they were finally overcome in early August. During the so-called atoll campaign in the Pacific, US Navy, Marine Corps, and Army personnel captured many valuable documents on various islands. They included: No. It was a grisly task, but a military necessity since Japanese soldiers do not surrender and within swimming distance of shore, they could not be allowed to land and join the Lae garrison. Then began the grueling Kokoda Track campaign, a brutal experience for both the Japanese and Australian troops involved. In May 1943, external requests for information available from ATIS sources led to the development of Information Request Reports published only in answer to specific requests for information. To ease the congestion on White 1, 11 LSTs were landed off White 2, while engineers from the 2nd Engineer Special Brigade worked to clear the beach, shifting stores and equipment into Jautefa Bay. These totaled 11,000 men under the command of General Masazumi Inada, Major General Toyozo Kitazono and Rear Admiral Yoshikazu Endo (Ninth Fleet). As in most Pacific War campaigns, disease and starvation claimed more Japanese lives than enemy action. In March 1944, plans were developed for ATIS to be located in closer proximity to combat operations. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Lindberg D-Day Invasion LCT Cargo Ship Model Kit 1/125 New Sealed In Damaged Box at the best online prices at eBay! This information was given to the 163rd Infantry Regiment of the 41st Infantry Division who used it in subsequent offensive operations. The sinking of over 25,000 tones of Japanese ships earned the unit the nickname . Between November 1943 and March 1944 18 Squadron was ordered to prevent Japanese reinforcements reaching the north-east part of Papua and New Guinea. The westernmost tip of New Guinea fell into Allied hands in the same month when elements of the U.S. 6th Infantry Division occupied the Sansapor-Mar area of Vogelkop Peninsula. Allied troops set up 105mm howitzer in Depapre New Guinea 1944. It made the term amphibious a household word throughout the English-speaking world. For this, he ordered the air arm of Vice Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa's Third Fleet carriers to reinforce the Eleventh Air Fleet at Rabaul. [56] Historian Edward J. Drea attributed the success of the operation largely to MacArthur's bold decision to exploit intelligence gained through code breaking, and judged it was "MacArthur's finest hour in World War II and ULTRA's single greatest contribution to the general's Pacific strategy". Before June, between 20 and 25 P-39s had been lost in air combat, while three more had been destroyed on the ground and eight had been destroyed in landings by accident. Gen. Frank D. Merrill, captured 2 tons of documents at Myitkyina, Burma. [33], Initial operations commenced in the second week of March 1944 with air raids by aircraft of the U.S. 5th Air Force and the Royal Australian Air Force attacked Japanese airfields along the New Guinea coast from Wewak to the Vogelkop and on Biak Island. Interrogation of a prisoner confirmed the fact that supplies were being unloaded at Lae from enemy submarines. [39] It is indicative of the extent to which Japanese ambitions had fallen at this point in the war that a 50% loss of ground troops aboard ship was considered acceptable. Even before the war ended, ATIS was exploiting captured records for war crimes purposes. [5], According to John Laffin, the campaign "was arguably the most arduous fought by any Allied troops during World War II". Fortunately, one American officer wrote in 1944, the enemy as a nation is addicted to keeping diaries, and converting everything into writing.. 1944 battle between American and Japanese forces during World War II, "Securing New Guinea: The U.S. Navy in Operations Reckless and Persecution: 2122 April 1944", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Battle_of_Hollandia&oldid=1132691020, South West Pacific theatre of World War II, Battles and operations of World War II involving Australia, Battles and operations of World War II involving Japan, Battles and operations of World War II involving the United States, Amphibious operations involving the United States, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 10 January 2023, at 02:36. In the Southwest Pacific Area, aside from the creation of the Far Eastern Air Force, there were few changes. Advancing on Australia The Japanese effort at the start of World War Two was focused on conquest. the strategic base on New Britain (now part of Papua New Guinea), on January 23, 1942. January 23, 1942 - August 1945. author Paul Bocu, 2019. [3] Of these, only one was considered to be complete. The submarine picked up the documents on May 11th and sailed to Darwin. [59], Operation Reckless was an unqualified success, as were the landings around Aitape under the guise of Operation Persecution. The National Archives at College Park as well as other United States and foreign archival institutions hold copies of these publications. The weather changed direction and Kimura's slow-moving task force was spotted by an Allied scout plane. This was usually done in the form of listings (usually termed bulletins) that provided a brief description of the records and various types of publications containing full or partial translations of specific documents and publications containing full or partial translations of documents relating to a general or specific topic. An A B and C priority system was established; with A being documents of operational value; B being documents of probable or general value; and, C being documents containing information of no apparent value. None of the senior officers present had been in post more than a few weeks and the senior air officer had been relieved following the destruction of his air forces at the beginning of April. The other landing would be made at Humboldt Bay by two RCTs (the 162nd and 186th) of the 41st Division. On December 7, 1941, Japan staged a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, severely damaging the US Pacific Fleet. The headland was formed by the Cyclops Mountains, a mountain ridge rising steeply to 7,000 feet (2,100m) and was backed by Lake Sentani, extending 15 miles (24km) east to west. The quantity and type of documents captured from the Japanese varied widely.