The Battle of Hollandia (code-named Operation Reckless) was an engagement between Allies of World War II and Japanese forces during World War II. 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. Cushing, realizing the possible significance of the documents, notified his superiors who in turn notified the Allied Intelligence Bureau in Brisbane. The Z Plan would fall into the hands of the Allies and be translated by ATIS during the early summer of 1944 and immediately be returned to the Japanese. 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! Furthermore, the Milne Bay affair demonstrated once again that an amphibious assault without air protection, and with an assault force inferior to that of the defenders, could not succeed. These provided the first clues to breaking the Japanese Navys operational codes. Combat boundaries were listed. Documents captured during the Philippine operations also proved useful. In addition, at the request of the Assistant Chief of Staff, G-2 [Intelligence], USAFFE (US Army Forces in the Far East), an ATIS officer periodically delivered lectures on the importance and classification of Japanese documents to Army Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC) classes. 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. 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. 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]. [18]. It made the term amphibious a household word throughout the English-speaking world. 76, Part 4, Prominent Factors in Japanese Military Psychology.. Publication No. 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. They were special works, compiled for general reference purposes. [12], As an attack on Hollandia was not expected, no plans were prepared to defend the area prior to the Allied landing. 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. Consequently, Japanese efforts to develop the area were delayed throughout 1943 and 1944. At wars end it moved to Tokyo. [45], "At 1400 the Russell Island radar screen became milky with traces of bogeys and Guadalcanal broadcast "Condition Red," followed shortly by an unprecedented "Condition Very Red. [citation needed], Three factors conspired to create disaster for the Japanese. 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. The three supporting U.S. cruisers and destroyers began their bombardment around 06:00, concentrating on targets around the entrance to Jautefa Bay and Hollandia. For example, in the fall of 1944, Task Force Galahad, commanded by Brig. Fortunately, one American officer wrote in 1944, the enemy as a nation is addicted to keeping diaries, and converting everything into writing.. Interestingly, one of the Japanese operational orders provided the instructions Utmost precautions will be taken to conceal the plan., In mid-March agents of the 40th CIC Detachment captured on Panay Island and Negros Island incriminating documents of Panays puppet governor. "[19] Thus was the overland threat to Port Moresby permanently removed. West Papua: Forgotten War, Unwanted People. Thousands perished from starvation and disease; the commanding general, Horii, was drowned. [27], The ground forces would be supported by two naval bombardment forces. In 1944, a CIC officer was detailed for liaison with ATIS for eventual duty as an instructor for CIC units. Japanese forces began to land on the island of Luzon in the Philippines on December 10. . Forward positions would first be established at Milne Bay, located in the forked eastern end of the Papuan peninsula, and at Buna, a village on the northeast coast of Papua about halfway between Huon Gulf and Milne Bay. Landings were made at two points in the Hollandia area on April 22, 1944, with the U.S. 24th Infantry Division moving ashore at Tanahmerah Bay and the 41st Infantry Division pushing inland at Humboldt Bay, 25 miles (40 km) to the east. [3] Of these, only one was considered to be complete. 5, Bibliographic Subject Index for Enemy Publications 1-200 (November 30, 1944), with a supplementary index from 201-300 (March 1945); No. graduate Hollandia. He had planned to move first to Hansa Bay, but with airfields operational in the Admiralty Islands, the Hansa Bay assault was deemed unnecessary. 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. The translation of documents captured in the Southwest Pacific Area began with those taken in the Milne Bay operation in August 1942. Fukudome was still carrying the Z Plan and the cipher codes. the strategic base on New Britain (now part of Papua New Guinea), on January 23, 1942. Between November 1943 and March 1944 18 Squadron was ordered to prevent Japanese reinforcements reaching the north-east part of Papua and New Guinea. The battle of Hollandia (22-27 April 1944) was part of Operation Reckless and saw the Americans leapfrog past a series of Japanese bases to capture a key position on the northern coast of New Guinea, catching the Japanese almost entirely by surprise and winning an unexpectedly easy victory.. In February 1944, the Japanese devised a plan known as Z Plan to counter the American naval offensive and destroy the U.S. Pacific fleet. [21], Although RAAF PBY Catalinas and Lockheed Hudsons were based at Port Moresby, because of the Japanese air attacks, long-range bombers like B-17s, B-25s, and B-26s could not be safely based there and were instead staged through from bases in Australia. On November 4th, a Japanese 16th Division Operations Order, dated October 31st, was captured. Seven LSTs were also assigned. All elements, with the exception of the twenty-man garrison had returned to Bantam Bay by 3 April. These totaled 11,000 men under the command of General Masazumi Inada, Major General Toyozo Kitazono and Rear Admiral Yoshikazu Endo (Ninth Fleet). In addition, about 5,400 survivors of the Japanese defeat at Buna-Gona were moved into the Lae-Salamaua area. In response, on 8 March General Douglas MacArthur sought approval from the Joint Chiefs of Staff to bring forward the previously planned landings at Hollandia to 15 April. 99-108 (Japanese Place Names-Philippines). 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. [22] The cost to the Allied fighters was high. When Hollandia, Dutch New Guinea, was captured in late April one of the first places CIC agents seized was the post office. In February 1944, marines and soldiers from the 27th Infantry Division captured important documents at Engebi Island. [17] These troops were positioned along the Depapre Lake Sentani trail. On March 1, 1944, soldiers found on the body of the commander of Baba Battalion a copy of a field order issued by him in which he ordered an attack on American positions for that same afternoon. The timely publication of 18 of these reports afforded a wealth of information preparatory to the invasion. [6] The Joint Chiefs of Staff also directed the United States Pacific Fleet to assign aircraft carriers to provide air support for the landings. "[43], Marshal Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto promised the emperor that he would pay back the Allies for the disaster at the Bismarck Sea with a series of massive air strikes. 8, Kanji Abbreviations, Variants, and Equivalents; No. [52], Seven LSTs and the Australian transport Westralia were unloaded over the shore at White 1, landing 4,200 tonnes of combat supplies and over 300 vehicles on the first day. Despite the disaster of the Bismarck Sea, the Japanese could not give up on recapturing Wau. 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. region: "", They totaled 104 in number. Meanwhile, on 30 March and continuing to 3 April these air forces attacked Hollandia itself and the airfields on the Sentani plain. [14], Operation Mo was the designation given by the Japanese to their initial plan to take possession of Port Moresby. [41] Through the afternoon of 1 March, the overcast weather held at which point everything began to go wrong for the Japanese. 37, No. Background. He told soldiers that ATIS personnel had told him that they had seen Japanese documents held as souvenirs of earlier battles in New Guinea, which contained information of tactical value which if had been turned in at the time, would have saved lives and shortened battles. [57] Stephen R. Taaffe reached a similar conclusion. Historians acknowledge that the deciphering of the Z Plan was one of the greatest single intelligence feats of the war in the South West Pacific Area. A unified American-British-Dutch-Australian Command, ABDACOM, under Wavell, responsible for holding Malaya, Sumatra, Java, . [27] As the Japanese ground forces pressed toward Port Moresby, the Allied Air Forces struck supply points along the Kokoda Track. The operation consisted of two landings, one at Tanahmerah Bay and the other at Humboldt Bay, near Hollandia. Simultaneous operations from these two locations, one amphibious and one overland, would converge on the target city. 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. Nowhere in the modern world has an armed liberation struggle persisted for so long - nearly 30 years - and with such secrecy, as the West Papuan war of resistance against the military government of Indonesia. Report No. By 1944 the school had outgrown these facilities and moved to nearby Fort Snelling. In New Guinea, U.S. and Australian infantry were moving along the northern coast, pushing the Japanese before them. Exact tracings and translations were supplied to XXIV Corps prior to attack on these positions. Hollandia was a port on the north coast of New Guinea, part of the Dutch East Indies, and was the only anchorage between Wewak to the east, and Geelvink Bay to the west. Although one line of attack was carried out primarily by ground forces and the other by naval forces, the main feature of both undertakings was the close coordination of land, sea, and air power. [9] Few combat units were stationed at Hollandia in early 1944. MacArthur's plan was bold, as it involved making a large amphibious landing deep behind the front lines in New Guinea. 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. They were numerical inventories under 17 principal categories of documents considered to be of probable or general value. Excerpts from the citation indicate that he, with great risk to his life made reconnaissance in a number of caves which had been occupied by Japanese, approaching dangerously close to enemy fire and recovered more than 11 cases of enemy documents vitally needed for the successful conclusion of the operation.. The Dutch surrendered on 8 March. 6, The Exploitation of Japanese Documents (December 14, 1944); No. One of the Japanese to their initial plan to take possession of Moresby... 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