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'The Battle of Milne Bay' was a battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II. Japanese marines attacked the Australian base at Milne Bay on the eastern tip of New Guinea on August 25, 1942, and fighting continued until the Japanese retreated on September 5, 1942. The battle was the first in the Pacific campaign in which Allied troops defeated Japanese land forces and, significantly, forced them to withdraw.

Contents

Forces

Battle

Aftermath

Notes

References

External links

Forces

The British Field Marshal Sir William Slim, who had no part in the battle, said:
:''Australian troops had, at Milne Bay, inflicted on the Japanese their first undoubted defeat on land. Some of us may forget that, of all the allies, it was the Australians who first broke the invincibility of the Japanese army.''
In fact it was elite Japanese marines, known as ''Kaigun Rikusentai'' (Special Naval Landing Forces), rather than the Imperial Japanese Army who attacked the Allied forces at Milne Bay. The Japanese high command committed approximately 2400 marines from the 5th Kure Special Naval Landing Force (SNLF), the 5th Sasebo SNLF and (non-combat) personnel from the 16th Naval Construction Unit. The Japanese force was led initially by Commander Shojiro Hayashi.
The Allies, commanded by the Australian Major General Cyril Clowes, were defending three strategically-important airstrips. The soldiers were mainly made up of two Australian Army brigades, the 18th Infantry Brigade from the Australian 7th Division and the 7th Australian Infantry Brigade Group, a Militia formation. In addition, a portion of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 46th (General Service) Engineers Regiment, was deployed for the purpose of airfield construction.
Although the Allied forces numbered 8824, only about 4500 were infantry. The Japanese enjoyed a significant advantage in the form of light tanks, which the Allies had not deployed. The Japanese also had complete control of the sea during the night, allowing reinforcement and evacuation. However, the RAAF's No. 75 and 76 Squadrons, flying P-40 Kittyhawk aircraft, which played a critical role in the fierce fighting, were largely uncontested during the day.

Battle

The Japanese initially landed 1150 troops with tanks.^[1] The tanks, at first, inflicted severe casualties on the Australian 2/10th Infantry Battalion, which was deployed six kilometres (4 mi) forward of the main base, and forced it to retreat. However, the Japanese infantry and landing craft were hit hard by the Kittyhawks and were forced to land further from their main objective, the Milne Bay airbase. On 29 August, Japanese reinforcements were landed: 768 men from the 3rd Kure SNLF and 5th Yokosuka SNLF, with Commander Minoru Yano, who took over from Hayashi.
The RAAF Kittyhawks were very close to the action, with aircraft strafing Japanese positions very shortly after taking off. RAAF ground staff, including some from other squadrons, became actively involved in the fighting, as did the 46th Engineer Regiment.
On 4 September the advance of a section from the Australian 2/9th Battalion was held up by fire from three Japanese machine gun positions. Corporal John French ordered the other members of the section to take cover before he attacked and destroyed two of the machine guns with grenades. French then attacked the third position with his submachine gun. The Japanese ceased fire and the Australian section advanced to find that the machine gunners had been killed and that French had died in front of the third position. He was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions at Milne Bay.

Aftermath

On 5 September the Japanese high command ordered a withdrawal.
According to official figures 311 Japanese personnel were killed with about 700 missing in action. The Japanese navy evacuated 1318 personnel. Of the 534 Australian casualties 161 were killed or missing in action. The U.S. forces had several personnel killed or wounded.
The Japanese committed war crimes at Milne Bay, namely the killing of surrendered prisoners of war and civilians. None of the 39 Australian troops captured by the Japanese survived. All were killed and some were mutilated as well. In addition at least 59 civilians were murdered. These events were documented by the Webb Royal Commission in Australia after the war.

The effect on the morale of all Allied servicemen in Asia and the Pacific was profound but especially other Australians fighting a rearguard action on the Kokoda Track, U.S. Marines simultaneously fighting the Battle of Guadalcanal and Slim's troops in the 14th Army who had been retreating in Burma.

Notes

1. Lundstrom, ''Guadalcanal Campaign'', p. 168.

References

★ First Team And the Guadalcanal Campaign: Naval Fighter Combat from August to November 1942, , John B., Lundstrom, Naval Institute Press, 2005 (New edition), ISBN 1-59114-472-8

External links

★ A presentation at the Australian War Memorial

★ diggerhistory.info website