Three weeks later, on March 21, 1944, a captured field order disclosed the Japanese strength at Rossum, New Britain. [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. The Battle of Hollandia (code-named Operation Reckless) was an engagement between Allies of World War II and Japanese forces during World War II. [25] But fighters did provide cover for the transports, and for bombers when their targets were within range. In New Guinea, U.S. and Australian infantry were moving along the northern coast, pushing the Japanese before them. [9] See Seventy Years Ago: The Makin Island Raid, August 1942., [10] The Armys Counter Intelligence Corps faced similar problems with souvenir hunters. At 177 planes, this was the largest Japanese air attack since Pearl Harbor. Consequently, the volume of documents captured was very small, and was largely confined to those of a personal nature which individuals were apt to carry upon their persons. However, this is contradictory to the total number of Japanese combat deaths calculated across most individual battles in the campaign. [9] The documents were quickly brought back to Hawaii. [4][32] The shortage of shipping meant that each ship had to be loaded as efficiently as possible, using a technique known as combat loading to ensure that the most important stores and equipment could be unloaded quickly. [64][66] Both Humboldt and Tanahmerah were developed with naval base, ammunition, repair and fuel facilities. Before the end of May 1944 the 41st Infantry Division moved westward from Hollandia and made a landing on the little island of Biak. target: "#hbspt-form-1677759698000-1549361125", 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. 141, for example, contained random poems of a Prisoner of War. Operation Reckless, the invasion of Hollandia and Aitape of 22-27 April 1944, was one of the most dramatic leapfrogging operations during the New Guinea campaign, and saw American forces bypass the strong Japanese bases at Wewak and Hansa Bay and capture key bases for MacArthur's planned return to the Philippines. For this purpose, liaison was established and during July and August ATIS furnished the Board with approximately 1,200 pages of translations. By December 27, 1942, 1,100 Japanese documents had been received at the Advanced Land Headquarters, Brisbane, from the New Guinea area. [33], Operation Lilliput (18 December 1942 June 1943) was an ongoing resupply operation ferrying troops and supplies from Milne Bay, at the tip of the Papuan Peninsula, to Oro Bay, a little more than halfway between Milne Bay and the BunaGona area. Beleaguered, the survivors of the Japanese garrison were evacuated by submarine on the night of 26 October. Meanwhile, on 30 March and continuing to 3 April these air forces attacked Hollandia itself and the airfields on the Sentani plain. [27] As the Japanese ground forces pressed toward Port Moresby, the Allied Air Forces struck supply points along the Kokoda Track. 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. MacArthur's rollback began with the 16 November 1942 22 January 1943 Battle of Buna-Gona. Round one had gone to the Americans and Australians who had ejected the. During the landing, the first JICPOA team accompanied the invasion forces. This information was put to immediate tactical use and resulted in the capture of the position by the US 7th Cavalry Squadron. 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. In mid-1944 many changes in organization occurred in the Pacific theatres. Twelve of these were scheduled to be produced, beginning in March 1943. This diary along with other documents relating to atrocities was used in the trials of Japanese war criminals. All of these factors had to be taken into account in determining the lines of advance in 1944. These were supported by a force of eight escort carriers of the 5th Fleet. The Netherlands, Britain and the United States tried to defend the colony from the Japanese forces as they moved south in late 1941 in search of Dutch oil. [21][22] Of the total force, 22,500 combat troops were assigned to the landing at Aitape; while the rest (nearly 30,000) were allocated to the Hollandia landings. As the body of available material continued to grow, individual studies based on information available to ATIS were produced as Information Bulletins on subjects of general interest. 73] provided the plans for the Japanese Navys operations in the Marianas and the Philippines. Operations focused on attacking positions and seaborne traffic around Timor, Ambon, and the Kai and Aroe Islands. The quantity and type of documents captured from the Japanese varied widely. 72 (formerly ATIS Information Bulletin No. US troops debark from LST-66 at Tanahmerah Bay Hollandia. He told soldiers that ATIS personnel had told him that they had seen Japanese . In December 1943, an operational order indicating the times and dates at which Japanese submarine were scheduled to appear in designated spots in the Arawe area, New Britain, was translated by ATIS and immediately forwarded to Naval Intelligence where prompt action was taken. portalId: 20973928, 10, Restoration of Captured Documents (June 28, 1945). By 22 August, about 8,500 Australians and 1,300 Americans were on site. [16] See The National Archives Arthur Evarts Kimberly and the Allied Translator and Interpreter Sections Document Restoration Sub-Section, 1944-1945.. To ensure that all involved in captured records activities had an appreciation for records and information, the Allied Translation and Interpreter Section (ATIS) (Southwest Pacific Area [SWPA]) published, at the specific direction of the War Department, Publication No. In February 1944, marines and soldiers from the 27th Infantry Division captured important documents at Engebi Island. Japanese forces began to land on the island of Luzon in the Philippines on December 10. . This discovery resulted in a hurried revision of the assault plans regarding these islands. [43][44] Meanwhile, carrier-borne aircraft attacked targets around Wakde, Sarmi and Hollandia from 21 April, destroying at least 33 Japanese planes in the air and more on the ground. Philippine Series Bulletins represented special reports of items pertaining to the Philippine Islands. After four days under these conditions the two units had reached the western airfield and on 26 April it was secured. 5 captured many military documents. Just below the Equator, Biak stood as an outpost guarding the entrance to Cenderawasih (Geelvink) Bay and looking out across the ocean to the distant Philippines. 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. Current Translation No. 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. After July 1944, however, documents, including published translations, were prepared under the imprint of CINCPAC-CINCPOA, and the title JICPOA was used only for administrative purposes. 76) and Japanese efforts to fight Plague and Cholera (No. Copies of these ATIS publications can be found at the National Archives at College Park, the Australian National Archives, as well as other archival repositories. Today known as Jayapura, in 1941 Hollandia (140.707E 2.543S) was the largest settlement in the Dutch half of New Guinea.It was located on the only really first-class natural harbor on the north coast of Dutch New Guinea, Humboldt Bay, though it had only primitive port facilities. Over 120 of these Research Reports were published. [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. [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. Tweet. It held what turned out to be a gold mine of valuable documents, including battle plans, codes and letters. 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. The Allied victories in 1943 set the stage for the strategic advances of 1944, but they did not determine the exact lines of attack. In January 1943 the Allied and the Japanese forces facing each other on New Guinea were like two battered heavyweights. (Map 2) Invasion of Dutch New Guinea. 1, List of Japanese Military Conventional Signs and Abbreviations (March 4, 1943); No. The landing was supported by carrier-based aircraft of the U.S. 5th Fleet, which had also struck Japanese air installations at Wakde and Sarmi to the northwest. 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. [4], In early 1944, after the Huon Peninsula had been secured, the Allied South West Pacific Command determined that the area should be seized and developed into a staging post for their advance along the north coast of New Guinea into the Dutch East Indies and to the Philippines. 6, The Exploitation of Japanese Documents (December 14, 1944); No. Most important of all, the bombers of MacArthur's air forces, under the command of Lieutenant General George C. Kenney, had been modified to enable new offensive tactics. 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. He did successfully conduct the Western New Guinea campaign in 1944 which liberated much of Dutch New Guinea. Cushing, realizing the possible significance of the documents, notified his superiors who in turn notified the Allied Intelligence Bureau in Brisbane. 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. [5], Allied intelligence successes led to the decision to land at Hollandia. The U.S. 24th Division's 19th and 21st Regimental Combat Teams (RCTs) were to land at Tanahmerah Bay. Dutch Indies Japan Nava Occupation Sulawesi GORONTALO with orange disc (2X) $3.25 . The landings were undertaken simultaneously with the amphibious invasion of Aitape ("Operation Persecution") to the east. The Navy played a crucial role in operations to take Japanese airfields. Gen. Millard F. Harmon, who was also subordinate to Nimitz. 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. [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. Second, the Allies had become convinced that the Japanese were preparing a major seaborne reinforcement and so had stepped up their air searches. The unit was in effect a miniature ATIS, with various sections, coordinating the production of translation and interrogation reports of immediate operation value. [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. Through this, a complete picture of the organization, strength and disposition of this force was gleaned. [38], In response to a request from the head of the US Navy, Admiral Ernest King, the Eastern Fleet conducted a raid on Japanese positions on the island of Sabang in the Indian Ocean ahead of the landings at Hollandia and Aitape. 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. It was captured and was found to be carrying a Japanese message. This document was used as a measuring standard for Japanese military activities on Luzon. Most Japanese troops never even came into contact with Allied forces, and were instead simply cut off and subjected to an effective blockade by Allied naval forces. After the occupation of Hollandia and Aitape the Allies were in a strong position, but they did not stop there. Allied planners believed that the two beaches were connected by a road, and that another road suitable for vehicle traffic ran inland towards Lake Sentani. 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. 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. When the Japanese invaded New Guinea in early 1942, they began a struggle for control of the island which would last until the end of the Second World War. [18], "[T]he Owen Stanley Range is a jagged, precipitous obstacle covered with tropical rainforest up to the pass at 6500-foot elevation, and with moss like a thick wet sponge up to the highest peaks, 13,000 feet above the sea. The information contained in these reports were bibliographically indexed. The westernmost island of this group, Goodenough, had been occupied in August 1942 by 353 stranded troops from bombed Japanese landing craft. Wrecked Japanese planes litter Hollandia field, largely the victims of USAAF attacks earlier in the month (80-G-325109). At Kokoda [between Port Moresby and Buna] 268 documents were captured, at Buna 1,349, at Lae [eastern New Guinea] 1,562, while at Saipan in July 1944 the figure reached at least 27 tons.[14]. The Americans landed at Hollandia and Aitape simultaneously on 22 April with the aim of bypassing the Japanese stronghold at Wewak and thus leaving the Japanese 18th Army isolated and cut off there. [41] Through the afternoon of 1 March, the overcast weather held at which point everything began to go wrong for the Japanese. The landings took place at dawn on 22 April after a supporting naval bombardment at each site. At wars end it moved to Tokyo. JICPOA personnel also served, beginning in January 1945, at the Advance Intelligence Center (AIC), established at the CINCPAC Advance Headquarters at Guam. The other landing would be made at Humboldt Bay by two RCTs (the 162nd and 186th) of the 41st Division. Neither Kitazono nor Endo had been able to prepare a comprehensive defensive plan, and in any event had neither the men nor the resources to carry it out. They were discontinued with the dissolution of the Philippine Island Research Section of ATIS on October 9, 1944. 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. 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. They were carrying Admiral Mineichi Koga, commander in chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy, and his staff, including Vice Admiral Shegeru Fukudome, who was carrying the Z plan documents and the associated cipher system. In the spring of 1944, ATIS received a document which, after being translated, proved to be of exceptional value and probably considerably shortened the war. 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. The experience of the green US 32nd Infantry Division, just out of training camp and utterly unschooled in jungle warfare, was nearly disastrous. [59], Operation Reckless was an unqualified success, as were the landings around Aitape under the guise of Operation Persecution. U.S. Army Air Forces, Pacific Ocean Area (except the B-29s) were placed under Lieut. Allied casualties amounted to 157 killed and 1,057 wounded. The timely publication of 18 of these reports afforded a wealth of information preparatory to the invasion. In the Southwest Pacific Area, aside from the creation of the Far Eastern Air Force, there were few changes. During the period of October 1942-July 1943, the work of indexing, abstracting and collating information from captured documents and prisoners of war, answering internal queries, and providing information to assist translators and examiners, was carried on by a staff consisting of six officers and ten enlisted personnel. He had planned to move first to Hansa Bay, but with airfields operational in the Admiralty Islands, the Hansa Bay assault was deemed unnecessary. 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. [7] The volume would have been more but members of the 414th CIC unit learned that Chinese soldiers through ignorance destroyed many documents. 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. 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. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for My dad's whole collection of old stamps UNTEA Dutch Nw Guinea [ay08] at the best online prices at eBay! 'We are repeating the failure of Guadalcanal. It was not just on the islands that important information was captured. [23] The Australian and American anti-aircraft gunners of the Composite Anti-Aircraft Defences played a crucial part. 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. The attack force comprised 84,000 personnel, including 52,000 combat troops, 23,000 support personnel, and a naval task force of 200 vessels of 7th Fleets Task Force 77 under Rear Admiral Daniel Barbey. In November 1943, during Operation Galvanic, marines of the 2nd Marine Division captured important documents at Tarawa Atoll (Betio). [30][31] The decision to undertake these operations simultaneously stretched Allied shipping and logistics resources, and necessitated reallocating resources from other theaters and roles. For this, he ordered the air arm of Vice Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa's Third Fleet carriers to reinforce the Eleventh Air Fleet at Rabaul. Red 2 beach was found to be highly unsuitable and the promised roads were non-existent. Two months after JICPOA was formed US forces invaded the Gilbert Islands. The weather changed direction and Kimura's slow-moving task force was spotted by an Allied scout plane. [14] Some sources indicate the figure was 50 tons. [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). Urgent information was extracted before rushing the documents on to the Advanced Echelon where they were sorted, stamped, examined, and translated as necessary. According to Morison, the Japanese "never again risked a transport larger than a small coaster or barge in waters shadowed by American planes. [43], The remaining destroyers with about 2,700 surviving troops limped back to Rabaul. graduate Hollandia. Instances were noted of officers completely out of their depth, of men eating meals when they should have been on the firing line, even of cowardice. The beach was narrow, though, and only allowed two LCMs to land at a time, while the even bigger LSTs had to remain offshore where they were cross loaded on to LVTs. This airfield was of great value to the Australians during the fighting for northeast Papua. To alleviate this difficulty, in July 1944, an officer was assigned for duty with ATIS for the purpose of organizing a sub-section to clean and restore documents making them more readily legible. Also that summer, the 441st CIC unit established a clinical laboratory, which, among other things, restored charred documents. This attack, which was designated Operation Cockpit, aimed to prevent the Japanese from transferring air units stationed near Singapore to New Guinea. Blog of the Textual Records Division at the National Archives. [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. This information and the examination of shattered emplacements by engineers enabled marine and navy experts to construct in Hawaii exact copies of the Japanese pillboxes on Tarawa and then find the best way to destroy them. Joseph J. Rochefort (of the Battle of Midway code-breaking fame). January 23, 1942 - August 1945. author Paul Bocu, 2019. 3, Glossary of military terms encountered in Japanese documents; No. In early June, US Army engineers, Australian infantry and an anti-aircraft battery were landed near the Lever Brothers coconut plantation at Gili Gili, and work was begun on an airfield. [7][8] Over the next year, the Japanese built up the area into a major air and naval base. This information was immediately translated, relayed to naval and air units, and, coordinated with the translation of a captured map showing enemy positions, resulted in the repulse of the enemy attack by naval and aerial bombardment. [citation needed], Three factors conspired to create disaster for the Japanese. To help ensure soldiers turned in any souvenirs of intelligence interest, the CIC established a souvenir grab bag. This contained items of no intelligence value, such as Japanese postcards, stationery, pictures, and clothing, and any soldier who handed over a souvenir needed for intelligence analysis was allowed to take an item from the grab bag in exchange. However, using 27 tons, at 40 lbs. The B-29s in the Pacific, forming a part of the U.S. 20th Air Force, were controlled by the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, acting through Gen. Henry (Hap) Arnold, commanding general of the U.S. Army Air Forces. 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. 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. I Corps, became commander of the newly formed U.S. 8th Army. 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. [7] The attack was designated Operation Reckless in recognition of the risks involved in carrying it out. Between the mountain ridge and the lake was a narrow plain where the Japanese had built a number of airfields; three had been constructed by April 1944 and a fourth was under construction. 11, Factors in Japanese Military Psychology was ever completed, although the material intended for this publication could have been used instead for Research Report No. Only 30 percent of the captured documents needed no treatment; the rest needed cleaning, drying, and/or other conservation treatment. On September 6, 1943, ICPOA was designated a joint Army-Navy-Marine organization by a CINCPAC directive and was given the name Joint Intelligence Center, Pacific Ocean Areas (JICPOA). This material was translated by ATIS in May 1945 and provided Allied naval commanders with immediate intelligence regarding a variety of topics. Statistical and Accounting Branch Office of the Adjutant General 1953, p. 94, Craven & Cate 1948, p. 477 & 723 (note 15), Office of the Combined Chiefs of Staff 1943, p. 67, New Guinea: The US Army Campaigns of World War II, "Biography of Lieutenant-General Heisuke Abe () ( ) (18861943), Japan", United States Army Center of Military History, The Conquering Tide: War in the Pacific Islands, 19421944, "Report on Historical Sources on Australia and Japan at war in Papua and New Guinea, 194245", "The Campaigns of MacArthur in the Pacific, Volume I", "Japanese Operations in the Southwest Pacific Area, Volume II Part I", National Archive Video of Hollandia Bay, New Guinea Invasion, Allies Study Post-War Security etc. It was occupied by the invading Japanese during the invasion of the Dutch East Indies in 1942 and became a base for their expansion to the east towards the Australian mandated territories of Papua New Guinea. During the so-called atoll campaign in the Pacific, US Navy, Marine Corps, and Army personnel captured many valuable documents on various islands. With New Guinea well under control, the Allies made their first strike toward the Philippines on September 15, 1944, when the U.S. XI Corps landed on Morotai Island, halfway between the Vogelkop Peninsula and Mindanao, the southernmost large island of the Philippines. 39 with Navy Operations, Plans and Orders (1941-1944). This document was immediately translated and subsequently provided new bombing targets for the B-29s over Japan and during the early occupation provided a means of quickly locating and seizing armaments. per cubic foot, this works out to 1,350 cubic feet of records. It contained details of the proposed landing of Tama Group (full strength of one division) at Ormoc, Leyte, on November 1st. The story of the capture and return of the Z documents is detailed in Appendix II. Air and naval support consisted largely of U.S. assets, although Australia also provided air support during preliminary operations and a naval bombardment force. As in most Pacific War campaigns, disease and starvation claimed more Japanese lives than enemy action. [35], Once the Japanese had decided to give up on Guadalcanal, the capture of Port Moresby loomed even larger in their strategic thinking. [46], On landing, the U.S. troops came under sporadic small arms and machine gun fire, but this was quickly suppressed. 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. [5] The first Nisei linguists were tested when the Marines invaded Guadalcanal on August 7, 1942 and flew prisoners of war and captured Japanese documents were sent a short distance away to New Caledonia for processing by the Nisei language team attached to Task Force 6814. U.S. Military forces began capturing records almost as soon as the war began and started exploiting them immediately. [citation needed]. Japanese plans to occupy Port Moresby were negated by losses during the Battle of the Coral Sea and Battle of Milne Bay. [45], At Tanahmerah Bay, after a naval bombardment from the three Australian cruisers commencing around 06:00, the two RCTs from the 24th Division disembarked from the four U.S. and Australian transports Henry T. Allen, Carter Hall, Kanimbla and Manoora and moved ashore aboard 16 LCIs. As a result, a system of thorough Screening, i.e., the rapid examination of documents and the extraction (partial translations) therefrom of the more important material only, was given added prominence.
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