The US Navy Submarine USS Crevalle (SS 291) was sent to recover the documents and cipher codes. 6, The Exploitation of Japanese Documents (December 14, 1944); No. The weather changed direction and Kimura's slow-moving task force was spotted by an Allied scout plane. In the Southwest Pacific Area, aside from the creation of the Far Eastern Air Force, there were few changes. [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. Only 30 percent of the captured documents needed no treatment; the rest needed cleaning, drying, and/or other conservation treatment. [27] As the Japanese ground forces pressed toward Port Moresby, the Allied Air Forces struck supply points along the Kokoda Track. [8] At the start of 1943, ICPOA was basically dealing with intercepted messages because not that many prisoners of war or documents had been captured. Simultaneous operations from these two locations, one amphibious and one overland, would converge on the target city. [37], The Allies conducted a deception operation to ensure that the Japanese continued to believe that they would land at Hansa Bay rather than Hollandia. While it was beyond MacArthur's capabilities to deny Buna to the Japanese, the same could not be said of Milne Bay, which was easily accessible by Allied naval forces. American infantry march out of camp to board their transports for the amphibious invasion of Hollandia, Dutch New Guinea, 16 April 1944. 67 (Japanese Warships and Merchant Vessels Sunk, Damaged or not Previously Listed); No. Instructions were issued to the assaulting forces personnel not to pocket captured documents as souvenirs but to turn them over to JICPOA personnel.[10]. The landings at Hollandia and Aitape were followed just four weeks later by landings at Wakde, Sarmi and Toem, to the west. [13] See Seventy Years Ago: Colonel Sidney F. Mashbir and the Allied Translator and Interpreter Section (ATIS), September-October 1942.. The Japanese occupied the village with an initial force of 1,500 on 21 July and by 22 August had 11,430 men under arms at Buna. They were special works, compiled for general reference purposes. In February 1944, marines and soldiers from the 27th Infantry Division captured important documents at Engebi Island. [2] SEATIC was part of the South East Asia Command, established at New Delhi, India in November 1943 and moved to Kandy, Ceylon, on April 15, 1944. In March 1943, a document was captured showing the submarine schedule between Lae, New Guinea, and New Britain. However, this is contradictory to the total number of Japanese combat deaths calculated across most individual battles in the campaign. [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. Between November 1943 and March 1944 18 Squadron was ordered to prevent Japanese reinforcements reaching the north-east part of Papua and New Guinea. 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. SEATIC and SINTIC operating in Southeast Asia and China received and translated relatively large quantities of captured documents during the war. The battle took place between 22 April and 6 June 1944 and formed part of the New Guinea campaign. 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. The Japanese defended Biak valiantly, even managing at one point to bring in 1,100 reinforcements, but they were finally overcome in early August. They included plans, charts, air defense details on all Japanese-held Pacific islands, and battle orders. [14] By 1944 there were over 200 translators serving with JICPOA. This resulted in considerable fatigue for the air crews. New Guinean porters carry a load through the jungle. [30], The D'Entrecasteaux Islands lie directly off the northeast coast of the lower portion of the Papuan peninsula. [11] This document was quickly translated and published as ATIS Publication No. German New Guinea Stamps, Dutch Dutch & Colonies Cover Stamps, Dutch Stamps, In May 1945 ADVATIS followed the advance of General Headquarters into Manila. 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. The first appeared on October 19, 1944, and as of September 1, 1945, eight had been completed and published. By 22 August, about 8,500 Australians and 1,300 Americans were on site. [35], Once the Japanese had decided to give up on Guadalcanal, the capture of Port Moresby loomed even larger in their strategic thinking. 9, Japanese-English Medical Dictionary; No. During July and August 1944 the Japanese 18th Army, based on Wewak, mounted an attack on Aitape, employing more than 20,000 troops in the forward area. [41] Through the afternoon of 1 March, the overcast weather held at which point everything began to go wrong for the Japanese. 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. [41] After rehearsals and loading, on 16 to 18 April the amphibious forces sailed from their bases at Finschafen and Goodenough Island; they joined up with other ships carrying troops bound for Aitape from Seeadler Harbour and then rendezvoused with the escort aircraft carriers providing air cover off Manus Island early on 20 April. On April 29, 1944, ATIS Research Report No. 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. Found on the vessel were Japanese documents, including field orders and prisoner interrogation reports that indicated the Japanese knew when and where the American operation was to take place. Publication No. 72 (formerly ATIS Information Bulletin No. [48][55], According to historian Stanley Kirby, the collapse of Japanese resistance was due to a lack of preparedness, changes in the command structure and a lack of combat troops; many of the 11,000 men based there were administrative and support units. The students were mostly second-generation Japanese-Americans (Nisei) from the West Coast. While military planners argued the merits of one approach over another, two main lines of attack were actually followed during 1944: (1) MacArthurs ground forces (including Army, Marine, and Navy elements) strengthened their hold in New Guinea and eventually invaded the Philippines; (2) Nimitzs naval forces drove across the central Pacific from the Gilberts to the Marianas and then covered the landing in the Philippines. [11] For the same reasons, General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander Allied Forces South West Pacific Area was determined to hold it. The umbrella term for the series of strategic actions taken by the Allies to reduce and capture the vast Japanese naval and air facilities at Rabaul was Operation Cartwheel. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress. 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. [9] See Seventy Years Ago: The Makin Island Raid, August 1942., [10] The Armys Counter Intelligence Corps faced similar problems with souvenir hunters. [43] The facilities in the area were designated Base G. Several higher headquarters were moved to the area, including those of the Sixth Army, Eighth Army, Fifth Air Force, and Seventh Fleet. A Japanese carrier pigeon landed on a US transport on the way to Kwajalen Atoll in the Marianas. Limited Distribution Reports were special reports, highly classified, consisting of translations of documents possessing information of the highest intelligence value or of immediate importance, issued from time to time as directed. 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. His contemplated offensive against Wau died a-borning. 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. He was thrown into his own jail.[15]. Others included information about the Psychology in the Japanese Armed Forces (No. In the second half of 1943 the main Allied concern in the south Pacific was the major Japanese base at . At midnight on 19-20 December 1941 the Japanese attacked the island of Timor. The destroyer Yayoi, sent to recover these men, was itself bombed and sunk on 11 September. ATIS was established on September 19, 1942, and was headquartered in a suburb of Brisbane, Australia. Background. 5, Bibliographic Subject Index for Enemy Publications 1-200 (November 30, 1944), with a supplementary index from 201-300 (March 1945); No. [34], Wau is a village in the interior of the Papuan peninsula, approximately 50 kilometres (30mi) southwest of Salamaua. [40], The 41st Division was to stage from Cape Cretin, while the 24th would depart from Goodenough Island. 117, Infringement of the Laws of War and Ethics by the Japanese Medical Corps, contains information on violations of the Geneva Convention on the rules of warfare and points out how, time and again, medical personnel put to death their own patients. U.S. Military forces began capturing records almost as soon as the war began and started exploiting them immediately. Operations focused on attacking positions and seaborne traffic around Timor, Ambon, and the Kai and Aroe Islands. [57] Stephen R. Taaffe reached a similar conclusion. The landings took place at dawn on 22 April after a supporting naval bombardment at each site. [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. Base ATIS was closed at Brisbane on June 4, 1945, and established several weeks later in Manila. [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. [6] See The Sinking of the Japanese Submarine I-1 off of Guadalcanal and the Recovery of its Secret Documents., [7] See A Letter from Somewhere in Burma, June 1944. All elements, with the exception of the twenty-man garrison had returned to Bantam Bay by 3 April. The most important find was a set of plans and specifications for some of the defenses encountered on the island. Over 120 of these Research Reports were published. They subsequently neutralized the Japanese positions, as well as interdicted a portion of the Japanese movements, and anticipated Japanese defensive position and strengths. 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. [18]. The Battle of Hollandia (code-named Operation Reckless) was an engagement between Allies of World War II and Japanese forces during World War II. Two months after JICPOA was formed US forces invaded the Gilbert Islands. The Japanese had already captured Rabaul, the capital of the Australian-controlled territory of New Guinea, on 23 January 1942, and early in February Australian and Dutch forces surrendered the island of Ambon in the Netherlands East Indies (modern Indonesia). [17] These troops were positioned along the Depapre Lake Sentani trail. In January 1943 the Allied and the Japanese forces facing each other on New Guinea were like two battered heavyweights. Captured and sunken Japanese ships and boats also provided large quantities of documents, many of immediate value. Pre-War New Guinea The Japanese Invasion The Turning Point The Long Allied Advance 1943 1944 The New Guinea campaign (January 1942-September 1945) was one of the longest campaigns of the Second World War. [28][29] Secondary landings would take place Aitape, 125 miles to the east, at the same time as those around Hollandia. [16] See The National Archives Arthur Evarts Kimberly and the Allied Translator and Interpreter Sections Document Restoration Sub-Section, 1944-1945.. Combined Fleet, Third Fleet and Southeast Area Commanders. Copies of the documents were made in Brisbane and the original documents were returned to the aircraft crash site by another submarine. 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.. [citation needed]. Reports were issued when sufficient information on any subject had been collated to warrant publication. Task Force 74, under British Rear Admiral Victor Crutchley, consisted of the cruisers HMAS Australia and Shropshire plus several destroyers, while Task Force 75 was made up of three U.S. cruisers, Phoenix, Nashville and Boise under Rear Admiral Russell Berkey. [17], After this failure, the Japanese decided on a longer term, two-pronged assault for their next attempt on Port Moresby. [16] That summer a Document Restoration Sub-Section, staffed by six WACs (Womens Army Corps), including one officer, was established. At the same time, two sketches were captured at Tacloban, Leyte, which showed the disposition of the Japanese 16th Division. 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. Then began the grueling Kokoda Track campaign, a brutal experience for both the Japanese and Australian troops involved. It stated also that the land offensive was scheduled to commence some time in the middle of November. During the war, the Military Intelligence Service Language School (MISLS), as it came to be called, grew dramatically. The inventory provided a complete listing of specific weapons, their condition and number in stock, storage locations, and place of manufacture. They were prepared and distributed as a result of a specific need, and represented a form of publication for matters outside the usual range of translations and reports. [16] In the resulting 48 May 1942 Battle of the Coral Sea, the Allies suffered higher losses in ships, but achieved a crucial strategic victory by turning the Japanese landing force back, thereby removing the threat to Port Moresby, at least for the time being. Key Terms 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. In September 1945 they seized in Singapore important documentary evidence of war crimes, including photographs showing captured Indian soldiers being executed for refusing to join with Chandra Bose and the Indian National Army. Base G played an important role as a staging area for subsequent operations in New Guinea and the Philippines. 1944 battle between American and Japanese forces during World War II, "Securing New Guinea: The U.S. Navy in Operations Reckless and Persecution: 2122 April 1944", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Battle_of_Hollandia&oldid=1132691020, South West Pacific theatre of World War II, Battles and operations of World War II involving Australia, Battles and operations of World War II involving Japan, Battles and operations of World War II involving the United States, Amphibious operations involving the United States, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 10 January 2023, at 02:36. 255) Procedure in interrogating and handling [Allied] prisoners of war. Over 420 of these were published. [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. "[19] Thus was the overland threat to Port Moresby permanently removed. He was succeeded in September 1942, by Capt. 2, Alphabetical List of 40,000 Japanese Army Officer (May 1943); No. 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. I want you to take Buna, or not come back alive. region: "", The remote but crucial airfield lay 25 miles south/southeast of the port town of Salamaua. The westernmost island of this group, Goodenough, had been occupied in August 1942 by 353 stranded troops from bombed Japanese landing craft. This deception effort proved successful. The US Navy had similar language programs. 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. January 23, 1942 - August 1945. author Paul Bocu, 2019. [63][64], Meanwhile, the Allies quickly made the Sentani airfields operational and were able to mount bombing raids on Japanese positions as far west as Biak, making them useless for air operations. It was a new kind of combined operations warfare in which the Allies consistently outclassed their Japanese opponents. [21] Japanese bombers were often escorted by fighters which came in at 30,000ft (9,100m)too high to be intercepted by the P-39s and P-40sgiving the Japanese an altitude advantage in air combat. 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. Rabaul overlooks Simpson Harbor, a considerable natural anchorage, and was ideal for the construction of airfields. This procedure called for all documents to be briefly examined, and those of operational value segregated from those having probable or general value and those having no apparent military value, and provisions were made for the translation on a priority bases of those sections of documents containing information of operational value. Japanese expansion in East Asia began in 1931 with the invasion of Manchuria and continued in 1937 with a brutal attack on China. 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. Possibly the most important translations published by the 6th Army ATIS Advanced Echelon in February 1945, were files of orders of the Japanese 58th Independent Mixed Brigade. In March General Hatazo Adachi, the commander of the Japanese 18th Army, was ordered by the Second Area Army to withdraw his forces west from the Madang-Hansa Bay area to Hollandia, with one division to be dispatched there immediately. Seven LSTs were also assigned. These were supported by a force of eight escort carriers of the 5th Fleet. [27], The ground forces would be supported by two naval bombardment forces. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Lindberg D-Day Invasion LCT Cargo Ship Model Kit 1/125 New Sealed In Damaged Box at the best online prices at eBay! The defeat of the Japanese invasion of Milne Bay by 5 September 1942 was the first Allied land victory over the Japanese. Despite the disaster of the Bismarck Sea, the Japanese could not give up on recapturing Wau. The U.S. built Naval Base Morotai, . Allied troops set up 105mm howitzer in Depapre New Guinea 1944. Coming from battle fields, crashed aircraft, graves, sunken ships and foxholes, many of them torn, defaced, water-soaked, soiled and charred, making them difficult or impossible to read. [47], I-Go demonstrated that the Japanese command was not learning the lessons of air power that the Allies were. JICPOA personnel also served, beginning in January 1945, at the Advance Intelligence Center (AIC), established at the CINCPAC Advance Headquarters at Guam. Philippine Series Bulletins represented special reports of items pertaining to the Philippine Islands. The Japanese at Rabaul and other bases on New Britain would have easily overwhelmed any such effort (by mid-September, MacArthur's entire naval force under Vice Admiral Arthur S. Carpender consisted of 5 cruisers, 8 destroyers, 20 submarines, and 7 small craft). One company landed on White 2 and secured Cape Tjeweri, after which a group of 18 LVTs crossed the sandspit to land two more companies near Pim inside Jautefa Bay. graduate Hollandia. Report No. 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. To the invaders from Japan, and the occupiers from Australia and the United States, however, New Guineans appeared as colonial subjects at best, and as slaves at worst. 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.. [12] Initially, the intelligence product of JICPOA received no CINCPAC-CINCPOA authentication. [54] There was little resistance initially, but further inland there was some opposition as elements of the 186th Infantry reached the lake by 24 April. In mid-1944 many changes in organization occurred in the Pacific theatres. MacArthur was further determined to conquer all of New Guinea in his progress toward the eventual recapture of the Philippines. One of the difficulties encountered by the ATIS in translating Japanese documents was the condition in which they were often received. Beleaguered, the survivors of the Japanese garrison were evacuated by submarine on the night of 26 October. 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). [51] Eight waves landed at White 1 after two LCIs fired rockets at the high ground overlooking the beach where several Japanese antiaircraft guns were located. The gunners got a lot of practice; Port Moresby suffered its 78th raid on 17 August 1942. This plan was eventually reversed in favor of a counterattack on U.S. forces around Aitape. Nimitz offered to assign eight small escort carriers to support the landing at Aitape, with these vessels then proceeding to support operations at Hollandia until 11 May. For example, in the fall of 1944, Task Force Galahad, commanded by Brig. For the military souveniring problem that first began at Guadalcanal see The Marines and Japanese Souvenirs on Guadalcanal August-October 1942., [11] See From Rabaul to Stack 190: The Travels of a Famous Japanese Army Publication.. At Anguar Island in the Western Carolinas in early September 1944, agents from the 81st CIC Detachment, with the 81st Infantry Division, captured a large volume of records, including blueprints, books, miscellaneous documents, files, 40 pounds of mail, and Japanese currency and coins. [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. The campaign resulted in a crushing defeat and heavy losses for the Empire of Japan. The quantity and type of documents captured from the Japanese varied widely. [7] The volume would have been more but members of the 414th CIC unit learned that Chinese soldiers through ignorance destroyed many documents. [61] U.S. forces undertook mopping up operations in the area until 6 June. In March 1944, plans were developed for ATIS to be located in closer proximity to combat operations. [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. West Papua: Forgotten War, Unwanted People. Barbey's VII 'Phib carried out two almost simultaneous undertakings. The experience of the green US 32nd Infantry Division, just out of training camp and utterly unschooled in jungle warfare, was nearly disastrous. Translation of the official record by the Japanese Demobilization Bureaux detailing the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy's participation in the Southwest Pacific area of the, This page was last edited on 29 January 2023, at 09:02. This information was put to immediate tactical use and resulted in the capture of the position by the US 7th Cavalry Squadron. The War Department Intelligence Service established a secret school at the Presidio of San Francisco to teach individuals to be Japanese-language interpreters and translators. According to Morison, the Japanese "never again risked a transport larger than a small coaster or barge in waters shadowed by American planes. 119 deals with the Japanese Military Police Service and Report No. 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. hbspt.enqueueForm({ 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. This bombing operation was also the moment in the New Guinea campaign when Japanese air power no longer threatened the Allies. Historian Samuel Eliot Morison summed up the results this way: the enemy had shot his bolt; he never showed up again in these waters. [6] The Joint Chiefs of Staff also directed the United States Pacific Fleet to assign aircraft carriers to provide air support for the landings. 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. Also, Yamamoto accepted at face value his fliers' over-optimistic reports of damage: they reported a score of one cruiser, two destroyers and 25 transports, as well as 175 Allied planes, a figure that should certainly have aroused some skepticism. These documents, contrary to American intelligence, indicated that the Japanese were strongly entrenched on Parry and Eniwetok islands. On November 4th, a Japanese 16th Division Operations Order, dated October 31st, was captured. The following month at least 20 fighters were lost in combat, while eight were destroyed in July. 7 was cancelled and no record is held that No. [34][35] During the same period, American air and naval forces sank many of the Japanese ships which were attempting to transport reinforcements to the Hollandia and Wewak areas; these attacks were guided by intelligence gained from breaking the Japanese codes. Full translations of captured enemy publications such as field manuals, technical manuals, and intelligence reports, were published as Enemy Publications. 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.