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BACKGROUND ON NEW GUINEA
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Note: The APO number on Chuck's mail from New Guinea was for the port of "Finschhafen." This port is on the northeastern side of the island, in what was known then as the Australian Territories.
Background -- New Guinea
New Guinea, located just north of Australia, is the world's second largest island, having become separated from the Australian mainland when the area now known as the Torres Strait flooded after the last glacial period. The name Papua has long been associated with the island. The western half of the island contains the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua, while the eastern half forms the mainland of the independent country of Papua New Guinea.
Netherlands New Guinea was the official name of Western New Guinea while it was a colonial possession of the Netherlands. It was commonly known as Dutch New Guinea. It is currently Indonesia's two easternmost provinces, Papua and West Irian Jaya (administered as one single unit prior to 2003 under the name Irian Jaya)
.Netherlands New Guinea and the Australian territories were invaded in 1942 by the Japanese. The Australian territories were put under military administration and were known simply as New Guinea. The highlands, northern and eastern parts of the island became key battlefields in the South West Pacific Theatre of World War II. Papuans often gave vital assistance to the Allies, fighting alongside Australian troops, and carrying equipment and injured men across New Guinea. Following the return to civil administration, the Australian section was known as the Territory of Papua- New Guinea (1945-49) and then as Papua and New Guinea. Although the rest of the Dutch East Indies achieved independence as Indonesia on December 27, 1949, the Netherlands regained control of western New Guinea.
The New Guinea Campaign in World War II (From the "World War II Multimedia Database")
When MacArthur arrived in Australia after evacuating Bataan in the Philippines, he was a General in search of an offensive army. The Americans did not yet have a fighting force in the Pacific, and the Australians were committed in North Africa, enroute to Pacific stations, or in training or garrison in Australia. At one point in early 1942, there were four operational P-40 fighter planes and one B-17 bomber. The only combat-worthy division was Australian, and it was needed to defend Australia, not for offensive operations.
MacArthur was not going to wait for the Japanese to attack Australia. He wanted to use Port Moresby as a base of operations to move up through New Guinea and advance to the Philippines. His problem, besides the Japanese, would be supply. He had to prove that the New Guinea campaign would be the definitive campaign to get back to the Philippines and win the war.
While MacArthur and his staff wanted to return to Manila, not all of the Allies were so inclined. Nimitz favored advancing through the central Pacific, and the British and her Dominions thought Java should be the primary focus. Thus began the Allied interservice rivalry between the Army and the Navy.
MacArthur, for his part, wanted to advance with American forces as soon as he could. In November 1942 he marched unprepared and undersupplied American troops on Buna. They were driven back to the beach, barely holding on to their landing zone. MacArthur’s staff sent glowing communiqués claiming advance, and declared Buna secure. While the American public was happy with victory, the Australians were landed to actually take the objective. Buna was declared secure, but fighting continued. The Australian government was privately unhappy with the casualties and with the credit going to the Americans, who would not have succeeded without the Australians. Plus, the Australian public felt the primary goal should be developing a deense in case the Japanese invade Australia.
The Australians marched over the Owen Stanley mountain range to take Kokoda. MacArthur began landing forces in a series of protracted engagements that were slow progress up the back of New Guinea. While he was making progress, he wasn’t advancing according to timetable and more and more of his supplies were going to Guadalcanal, where the War Department was realizing the major fight was.
New Guinea, for the Japanese, was their Vietnam. Entire units disappeared into the jungle, never to be heard from again. The Australians on the Owen Stanleys found cannibalism among the dead and dying Japanese they encountered. Imperial Army Air Forces were suffering huge casualties.
By 1944, MacArthur was landing with little opposition in the Morotai Islands. The American industrial might was beginning to tell, and he planned to use the Morotais to jump off into the Philippines.
New Guinea was some of the most difficult terrain in the South Pacific. Its size and lack of cartography made it a difficult campaign for both sides.
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A slightly different version of the battles in New Guinea from the official homepage of the U.S. Army:
"One Green Hell"
Oct 25, 2009
By Robert Mages , U.S. Army Military History Institute
From Valley Forge to Takur Gahr, U.S. Army Soldiers have fought and won in some of the most forbidding and hostile places imaginable. Many feats of endurance performed by America's fighting men have passed unnoticed and uncelebrated. The men of the 126th Infantry endured one of the most grueling tests of courage and fortitude faced by Soldiers of the U.S. Army during World War Two.
The United States and their Australian allies were fighting desperately to seize the strategic initiative from the Japanese in the Southwest Pacific during the early fall of 1942. The Japanese Army had landed on the north coast of the island of New Guinea, seizing airfields and establishing bases that threatened Australia’s supply lines. Not content to control half the island, battle-hardened Japanese troops marched south along the infamous Kokoda Track and over the rugged spine of the Owen Stanley Mountains in an attempt to overrun the remaining Allied bases on New Guinea, placing Japan in a perfect position to isolate and perhaps invade Australia.
After bitter fighting Australian troops successfully blocked the Japanese assault just short of the key Allied base of Port Moresby and repulsed an amphibious landing at Milne Bay. Allied Supreme Commander General Douglas MacArthur was determined to drive the Japanese from their advanced bases and lift the threat to Australia. Shipping and transport aircraft were in short supply, and no landing craft were available. MacArthur’s men would have to move overland across New Guinea, through the jungles of the Owen Stanley Mountains. Allied troops were neither trained nor equipped to fight in the rugged jungles of New Guinea, and some people doubted their ability to effectively challenge the Japanese, who had mastered the difficult environment. Nevertheless, the Soldiers resolved to press the attack.
MacArthur planned to move north along two main axes of advance. The Australians would push the Japanese back along the Kokoda Track while the U.S. 32nd Division would march up the less developed Kapa Kapa Track to the east. Reconnaissance patrols reported that while the trail was primitive and rugged, it was possible to traverse it through the jungle and over the mountains. The 32nd Division commander selected elements of the 126th Infantry to lead the way. Local tribesmen were recruited as guides and carriers. On October 6, the advanced scouts of the American column headed north along the trail.
The going was tough as the soldiers climbed up “razorback” ridges and marched through steady driving rains, along crude and muddy trails, crossing raging and rain swollen streams. Assaulted by disease-carrying insects, chilled by incessant rain, exhausted by continual climbing and being poorly fed, the Soldiers began to break down. Along the line, leaders and medics tended to their needs and encouraged them onwards. Reaching the Owen Stanley divide at Mount Suwemalla, the native carriers deserted the column, leaving the Soldiers to carry dwindling supplies and sick comrades. After nearly three weeks of “plunging through gorges, wading neck-deep streams, scaling cliffs, and slogging over muddy trails,” the advanced scouts reached the trailend at the village of Jaure on October 25. The men stumbled out of the jungle exhausted, starved, and tattered in both their equipment and uniforms, but they had conquered the Kapa Kapa Track and linked up with the Australians. First Sergeant Paul Lutjens said of the march, “It was one green hell.”
The 126th Infantry was the only American unit to march over the Owen Stanleys. Establishing their presence north of this formidable obstacle permitted the construction of airfields and crude port facilities which allowed their comrades to bypass the mountains by air and sea.
The Soldiers of the 126th Infantry executed one of the most harrowing marches in American military history. Their sacrifice blunted the Japanese threat to Australia and ensured the success of the New Guinea Campaign. The march to Jaure and the brutal combat at Buna taught the Army valuable lessons that were applied throughout the Pacific Theater and demonstrated the toughness and resilience of the American Soldier.
Pg. 19
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