Battle of Milne Bay Pt 2

Time for a little more about the battle of Milne Bay in 1942 between the Japanese and the Aussie’s and Yank’s.

At his GHQ in Brisbane General MacArthur who expected a quick victory in the Papuan Campaign and who was never fully aware of the difficult conditions in the war zone, was putting pressure on Clowes for a greater effort.

The Aussie’s thought MacArthur’s demands as unreasonable and that GHQ was like a bloody barometer up and down every two minutes.

It seems that Curtin the Prime Minister of Australia was able to stand up to Churchill demanding Aussie troops return to Australia to fight in the South West Pacific but wasn’t able to do the same with MacArthur. This may have been because he was aware of Australia’s dependence on the USA for equipment it didn’t have. So, he didn’t really support his Australian commanders against MacArthur’s many unreasonable demands. As MacArthur didn’t visit Papua till October 1942 his demands were based who knows what.

The Aussie Coastwatchers continued to be important as they were scattered around islands in the South Est Pacific and radioed vital information to the Allies. Their work would later be praised by Admiral Nimitz, US Navy Supreme Commander of the Pacific Ocean Area.

Some say the Coastwatchers saved Guadalcanal and Guadalcanal saved the pacific.

On 24 August RAAF pilots and Coastwatchers reported seven barges approaching Goodenough Island about 100k’s north of Milne Bay. After the Japanese had disembarked the RAAF destroyed the barges, thus marooning about 350 Japanese away from the main invasion force.

The Japanese landed early on the 26 August and encountered fierce opposition from the RAAF squadrons and land artillery. However, many landed with supplies and heavy equipment such as tanks. This surprised the Aussie’s who thought the swampy terrain would make use of the tanks impossible.

The Aussie’s lacked sufficient armoured vehicles and on the 27 August, this caused them to withdraw after heavy losses defending the village of Gili Gili.

However, due to the continued torrential rain the Japanese tanks became a liability.

As well as the usual artillery and mortar fire the Aussie’s had to contend with jungle snipers. By the end of the month there was a decisive battle around one of the airstrips resulting in heavy loses by the Japanese. Aussie artillery and mortar fire played a large part in turning things into the Allies favour.

The Aussie’s suffered 373 casualties, 161 were listed as either killed or missing. The US forces serving at Milne Bay lost one killed in ground battles and several more killed or wounded in air raids.

On the 3 September the Japanese started to withdraw and the first land victory in the Pacific War was won by Allied Forces, the majority of whom were Australians.