[3] Of these, only one was considered to be complete. Seven LSTs were also assigned. Achieving complete surprise, they were able to destroy 340 aircraft on the ground and 60 more aircraft in the air, leaving the 6th Air Division unable to resist the planned invasion. By 1944 there were over 200 translators serving with JICPOA. This diary along with other documents relating to atrocities was used in the trials of Japanese war criminals. A unified American-British-Dutch-Australian Command, ABDACOM, under Wavell, responsible for holding Malaya, Sumatra, Java, . Report No. [58], Japanese casualties amounted to 3,300 killed and 600 wounded in combat;[59] a further 1,146 were killed or died in the area up to 27 September 1944. U.S. Army Air Forces, Pacific Ocean Area (except the B-29s) were placed under Lieut. This resulted in considerable fatigue for the air crews. MacArthur was further determined to conquer all of New Guinea in his progress toward the eventual recapture of the Philippines. Also produced were ATIS Publications. A map, also captured on March 21st, and quickly translated, proved to be more accurate than maps possessed by the attacking forces. Late in the summer, Lieut. Actual Allied losses amounted to one destroyer, one oiler, one corvette, two cargo ships and approximately 25 aircraft. Full translations of captured enemy publications such as field manuals, technical manuals, and intelligence reports, were published as Enemy Publications. [11] For the same reasons, General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander Allied Forces South West Pacific Area was determined to hold it. The landings at Hollandia and Aitape were followed just four weeks later by landings at Wakde, Sarmi and Toem, to the west. [56] On the other hand, the Allied operation had been over-insured; concerns over the strength of the Japanese garrison had left the Allies with a four to one advantage in the event. [15] Under a memorandum of August 27, 1945, CIC was ordered to cease its investigation of wartime collaborators in the Philippines on September 2nd and turn over all records, together with over 5,000 interned Filipinos charged with treason, collaboration and subversive activities, to the Department of Justice of the Philippine Commonwealth Government. In early 1943, it became apparent, as the Allies assumed the offensive, that the volume of documents captured would far exceed the capacity of personnel available to translate each and every document in full. [28], "Thenceforth, the Battle of Milne Bay became an infantry struggle in the sopping jungle carried on mostly at night under pouring rain. Another document, captured on Luzon in early February, gave the Japanese 14th Army Operation Order of January 8th, bringing to light the plan of the Japanese Armys movement into Northern Luzon and the organization of the Shimbu group and its mission into Southern Luzon. The Battle for Milne Bay was a small one as World War II engagements went, but very important. The Dutch East Indies fell into Japan's sphere. MacArthur was now determined to liberate the island as a stepping-stone to the reconquest of the Philippines. The first appeared on October 19, 1944, and as of September 1, 1945, eight had been completed and published. This information was given to the 163rd Infantry Regiment of the 41st Infantry Division who used it in subsequent offensive operations. The plan called for the establishment of a two-battalion front, with troops landed in seven waves at two beaches: Red 1 around the Depapre Inlet and Red 2 on the eastern side of the bay. [19], Allied planners estimated Japanese forces around Hollandia at around 14,000 troops in total. [citation needed], Three factors conspired to create disaster for the Japanese. The Japanese entered Lae and Salamaua, two locations on Huon Gulf, on 8 March 1942 unopposed. Copies of the documents were made in Brisbane and the original documents were returned to the aircraft crash site by another submarine. It was a new kind of combined operations warfare in which the Allies consistently outclassed their Japanese opponents. The campaign was long and arduous, but by the end of 1944 the Japanese threat was contained in New Guinea. 7 was cancelled and no record is held that No. This contest produced a number of valuable documents and propaganda leaflets. [36], The Australians decisively turned back the Japanese assault in the ensuing 2931 January 1943 Battle of Wau. To assist researchers interested in World War II-era research regarding the Pacific and Far East, I prepared a 1,700-page finding aid entitled Japanese War Crimes and Related Records: A Guide to Records in the National Archives,which is searchable and available online. Pre-landing reconnaissance efforts were hampered by the destruction of the Australian scouting party that was landed in the area by submarine in late March, and the reality of the terrain was only discovered through aerial intelligence that arrived too late. A Japanese carrier pigeon landed on a US transport on the way to Kwajalen Atoll in the Marianas. [27] As the Japanese ground forces pressed toward Port Moresby, the Allied Air Forces struck supply points along the Kokoda Track. Gona fell to the Australians on 9 December 1942, Buna to the US 32nd on 2 January 1943, and Sanananda, located between the two larger villages, fell to the Australians on 22 January. The students were mostly second-generation Japanese-Americans (Nisei) from the West Coast. [9] See Seventy Years Ago: The Makin Island Raid, August 1942., [10] The Armys Counter Intelligence Corps faced similar problems with souvenir hunters. [65][18] In mid-July, the Japanese launched their counterattack with around 20,000 troops, resulting in heavy fighting further inland during the Battle of Driniumor River. According to Morison, the Japanese "never again risked a transport larger than a small coaster or barge in waters shadowed by American planes. [17] It proved difficult to accurately estimate the size and composition of the Japanese defenses, as attempts to infiltrate reconnaissance parties in the area failed. [14], Operation Mo was the designation given by the Japanese to their initial plan to take possession of Port Moresby. 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. Due to USAAF doctrine and a lack of long-range escorts, long-range bomber raids on targets like Rabaul went in unescorted and suffered heavy losses, prompting severe criticism of Lieutenant General George Brett by war correspondents for misusing his forces. Office of Strategic Services (OSS) Counter Intelligence (X-2) personnel at Rangoon Burma seized, in the former Japanese Embassy, a mass of documentation on the Kempei Tai (Japanese Military Police), Japanese political intelligence organizations, spy schools, and other political and intelligence organizations. After four days under these conditions the two units had reached the western airfield and on 26 April it was secured. The Pacific Strategy, 1941-1944. [12] General Headquarters South West Pacific Area Operational Instruction No.7 of 25 May 1942, issued by Commander-Allied-Forces, General Douglas MacArthur, placed all Australian and US Army, Air Force and Navy Forces in the Port Moresby Area under the control of New Guinea Force. graduate Hollandia. The Japanese invasion of the Dutch East Indies began on 10 January 1942, and the Imperial Japanese Army overran the entire colony in less than three months. The unit was in effect a miniature ATIS, with various sections, coordinating the production of translation and interrogation reports of immediate operation value. 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). A force of 800 Australian troops landed on 22 October on either side of the Japanese position. During the first week of March 1945, I Corps ATIS Advanced Echelon on Luzon translated four top secret Japanese operational orders made between February 26th-March 2nd. 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. [21] Japanese bombers were often escorted by fighters which came in at 30,000ft (9,100m)too high to be intercepted by the P-39s and P-40sgiving the Japanese an altitude advantage in air combat. 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. On 10 January 1942, during the Dutch East Indies Campaign, Japanese forces invaded the Dutch East Indies as part of the Pacific War. Found on the vessel were Japanese documents, including field orders and prisoner interrogation reports that indicated the Japanese knew when and where the American operation was to take place. During the landing, the first JICPOA team accompanied the invasion forces. On November 4th, a Japanese 16th Division Operations Order, dated October 31st, was captured. Others included information about the Psychology in the Japanese Armed Forces (No. The National Archives at College Park as well as other United States and foreign archival institutions hold copies of these publications. As in most Pacific War campaigns, disease and starvation claimed more Japanese lives than enemy action. They arrived off Hollandia during the night of 21/22 April and about 20 miles (32km) offshore, the convoy split again with the Central Attack Group preceding for Humboldt Bay while the Western Attack Group turned towards Tanahmerah Bay. 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. 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. [43], The remaining destroyers with about 2,700 surviving troops limped back to Rabaul. formId: "13b57390-1d3c-43b8-b8c2-4570bb51abe4", In many instances these organizations were staffed with translators trained in military and naval language schools in the United States. Possibly the most important translations published by the 6th Army ATIS Advanced Echelon in February 1945, were files of orders of the Japanese 58th Independent Mixed Brigade. On 17 September, the Japanese had reached the village of Ioribaiwa, just 30 kilometres (20mi) from the Allied airdrome at Port Moresby. This information was put to immediate tactical use and resulted in the capture of the position by the US 7th Cavalry Squadron. 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. The fires around White 1 continued until 27 April when the engineers were released to return to the beach. [1] Among them were the Southeast Asia Translation and Interrogation Center (SEATIC)[2]; the Sino Translation and Interrogation Center (SINTIC)[3]; and, the Joint Intelligence Center, Pacific Ocean Areas (JICPOA). [39] This operation had no effect on the Japanese, as the air units were being held in reserve for a planned major attack on American naval forces in the Central Pacific. [53], Meanwhile, the infantry continued their advance inland. 6, The Exploitation of Japanese Documents, dated December 14, 1944. 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. Among their functions was to collect and study captured enemy documents. While captured records were quickly evaluated in the field, almost all were eventually sent back to Hawaii, and some of those on to the Washington Document Center in Washington, D.C.[12] Although JICPOA was a major player in the captured documents intelligence business, it was ATIS, however, during the war years that handled the most documents. 4, Bibliographic Index used for all ATIS publications; No. The terrain, however, proved more problematic. [14] The 18th Army did not plan for the defense of Hollandia, and the Army Air Force and Naval units stationed there had little opportunity to develop plans due to the rapid turnover of their leadership. Two major moves were planned for the end of June: Eventually, the Joint Chiefs of Staff realized that a landing and siege of "Fortress Rabaul" would be far too costly, and that the Allies' ultimate strategic purposes could be achieved by simply neutralizing and bypassing it. Joseph J. Rochefort (of the Battle of Midway code-breaking fame). The New Guinea campaign of the Pacific War lasted from January 1942 until the end of the war in August 1945. Admiral Nimitz exploited the same intelligence advantage when he planned the next stage of the Navys campaign in the central Pacific. "[19] Thus was the overland threat to Port Moresby permanently removed. Japan's threatened military encroachment closer to Australia hinted at some type of potential invasion of the northernmost frontiers. Only 30 percent of the captured documents needed no treatment; the rest needed cleaning, drying, and/or other conservation treatment. Task Force 74, under British Rear Admiral Victor Crutchley, consisted of the cruisers HMAS Australia and Shropshire plus several destroyers, while Task Force 75 was made up of three U.S. cruisers, Phoenix, Nashville and Boise under Rear Admiral Russell Berkey. The timing of the landings at Hollandia were moved back to 22 April at around this time due to logistical problems and the Pacific Fleet's other commitments, and it was decided to conduct the landing at Aitape simultaneously with the main assault. 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. Coming from battle fields, crashed aircraft, graves, sunken ships and foxholes, many of them torn, defaced, water-soaked, soiled and charred, making them difficult or impossible to read. [37], The Allies conducted a deception operation to ensure that the Japanese continued to believe that they would land at Hansa Bay rather than Hollandia. It was occupied by the Japanese during their invasion of the Dutch East Indies in 1942, who planned to use it as a base for their expansion towards the Australian mandated territories of Papua and New Guinea. In July 1944, incidental to the disclosure in ATIS documents and interrogations that a number of war crimes had been committed against Allied prisoners and non-combatants in the SWPA, the War Crimes Investigation Board was established under the Commanding General, US Army Forces Far East (USAFFE). 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. I want you to take Buna, or not come back alive. [12] Initially, the intelligence product of JICPOA received no CINCPAC-CINCPOA authentication. 76) and Japanese efforts to fight Plague and Cholera (No. Gen. Robert C. Richardson became commanding general of U.S. Army Forces, Pacific Ocean Area, in which capacity he remained subordinate to Nimitzs operational control. Before the operation against the Japanese at Hollandia, Dutch New Guinea, 41 st 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. [13] See Seventy Years Ago: Colonel Sidney F. Mashbir and the Allied Translator and Interpreter Section (ATIS), September-October 1942.. The diary covered the period January 1942-January 1944. 2 in May 1943. 1, List of Japanese Military Conventional Signs and Abbreviations (March 4, 1943); No. This bombing operation was also the moment in the New Guinea campaign when Japanese air power no longer threatened the Allies. 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. Advancing on Australia The Japanese effort at the start of World War Two was focused on conquest. The beach quickly became congested, as it had also been the center of a Japanese supply dump prior to the assault, and engineers had to work to clear the area with bulldozers and construct a roadway to the beach's only exit. Capturing it would both neutralize the Allies' principal forward base and serve as a springboard for a possible invasion of Australia. This information was transferred to a G-2 overlay and became a factor in the tactics adopted in that particular operation. Among this cache were code books and a list of Japanese and German agents in the United States. Rabaul became the forward base for the Japanese campaigns in mainland New Guinea, including the pivotal Kokoda Track campaign of July 1942 - January 1943, and the Battle of Buna-Gona. 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. 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. [50], Three transports were assigned to the operation, Westralia, Gunston Hall and Ganymede. At midnight on 19-20 December 1941 the Japanese attacked the island of Timor. In the early months of 1944, both at Bougainville and at Rabaul, large numbers of Japanese troops were effectively put out of action without being confronted in bloody combat. One company landed on White 2 and secured Cape Tjeweri, after which a group of 18 LVTs crossed the sandspit to land two more companies near Pim inside Jautefa Bay. Researchers should, of course, use the National Archives Catalog. 102103, The Japanese drive to conquer all of New Guinea had been decisively stopped. As their number grew, and the volume of available intelligence increased, such a procedure became unnecessary, and also impossible due to the limited number of linguists available. Thousands perished from starvation and disease; the commanding general, Horii, was drowned. 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