Battle of Rabaul (1942)
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| Fall of Rabaul | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of World War II, Pacific War | |||||||
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| Combatants | |||||||
| Australia | Japan | ||||||
| Commanders | |||||||
| J. J. Scanlan | Shigeyoshi Inoue | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 1,400 | 20,000 | ||||||
| Casualties | |||||||
| About 200 killed | Unknown | ||||||
| Pacific campaigns 1941-42 |
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| Pearl Harbor – Thailand – Malaya – Pacific Islands – Hong Kong – Philippines – Netherlands East Indies – New Guinea – Singapore – Australia – Indian Ocean – Doolittle Raid – Solomons – Coral Sea – Midway |
| New Guinea campaign |
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| 1st Rabaul – Coral Sea – Kokoda Track – Milne Bay – Buna-Gona – Bismarck Sea – Cartwheel – Lae-Salamaua – Finschhafen – Mainland New Guinea – 2nd Rabaul – Cape Gloucester – New Britain – Bougainville |
The Battle of Rabaul, around the main town of Rabaul on the island of New Britain, in early February 1942, represented a strategically-significant defeat of Allied forces by Japan, in the Pacific campaign of World War II. Following the capture of Rabaul, Japanese forces turned it into a major base and proceeded to land on mainland New Guinea, advancing towards Port Moresby and Australia.
New Britain, which was part of what was then the Australian territory of New Guinea, was important because of its proximity to the Japanese territory of the Caroline Islands, including a major Imperial Japanese Navy base, on Truk Island.
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[edit] The defences
The 1,400-strong Australian Army garrison in New Britain, known as Lark Force, was commanded by Lt Col. J. J. Scanlan. It included 716 frontline soldiers, in the shape of the 2/22nd Battalion, deployed from March 1941 as fears of war with Japan increased. The force also included personnel from a local militia unit, the New Guinea Volunteer Rifles, a coastal defence battery, an anti-aircraft battery, an anti-tank battery and a detachment of the 2/10th Field Ambulance. The 2/22nd Battalion Band, which was also included in Lark Force, is perhaps the only military unit ever to have been entirely recruited from the ranks of the Salvation Army.
The main tasks of the garrison were protection of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) airfield and flying boat anchorage, which were important in the surveillance of Japanese movements in the region. However, the RAAF contingent had little offensive capability at Rabaul, being comprised of 10 lightly-armed CAC Wirraway training aircraft and four Lockheed Hudson light bombers from No. 24 Squadron.
A commando unit, the 130-strong 2/1st Independent Company was detached to garrison the nearby island of New Ireland.
[edit] Attack
In January 1942, Lark Force came under heavy attack by Japanese aircraft, which neutralised coastal artillery. In the early hours of January 23, 1942, the 20,000 Japanese marines of the South Seas Force, under Maj. Gen Tomitaro Horii, began to land. Some faced fierce resistance, but because of the enormous imbalance in forces, many Japanese troops were able to land unopposed, in unguarded locations. Within hours, Scanlan ordered: "every man for himself" and Australian soldiers and civilians split into small groups and retreated through the jungle. Only the RAAF had made evacuation plans and its personnel were removed by flying boat. The army had made no preparations for guerrilla warfare on New Britain, and most soldiers surrendered during the following weeks.
[edit] Tol Plantation massacre
Of the 1,049 Australians taken prisoner, at least 158 personnel were massacred on or about February 4, 1942. Six men survived these killings and later described what had happened. The Australian government concluded that personnel were marched into the jungle near Tol Plantation in small groups and were bayoneted by Japanese soldiers. At the nearby Waitavalo Plantation, 35 Australians who had also been taken POW were shot. The officer with the main responsibility for these war crimes was Colonel Masao Kusunose, who later committed suicide.
[edit] New Ireland
On New Ireland, the 2/1st Independent Company became victims of a policy which scattered them in small groups around the island, to such an extent that their ability to wage any kind of co-ordinated raiding or guerrilla campaign became impossible. The Australian commandos, along with some civilians who fought, in most cases were quickly overcome and killed, or taken prisoner. Japanese forces also committed atrocities against POWs on New Ireland.
[edit] Aftermath
From mainland New Guinea, some civilians and individual officers organised unofficial rescue missions to New Britain and—between March and May—about 450 troops and civilians who had managed to evade the Japanese were evacuated by sea.
At least 800 soldiers and civilian prisoners of war lost their lives on July 1, 1942, when the ship on which they were sent from Rabaul to Japan, the Montevideo Maru, was sunk off the north coast of Luzon by the US submarine Sturgeon (SS-187).
A handful of Lark Force members remained at large on New Britain and—often in conjunction with indigenous people—conducted guerilla operations against the Japanese. Rabaul became the biggest Japanese base in New Guinea. Allied forces landed in western New Britain in December 1943 and gradually restricted the Japanese force to Rabaul. This Japanese force remained in Rabaul until the Japanese surrender in August 1945.
- See also: New Britain Campaign
[edit] External links
- Moremon, John (2003). Rabaul, 1942. Campaign history. Australian War Memorial. Retrieved on November 2, 2006.
- Wigmore, Lionel (1957). Volume IV – The Japanese Thrust: Chapter 18 – Rabaul and the Forward Observation Line. Official Histories – Second World War. Australian War Memorial. Retrieved on November 2, 2006.
