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New Britain 1942 |
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New Britain's importance lies in the fact that it was the first Australian territory in which Japanese and Australian troops fought. Lying just off Papua New Guinea, the island of New Britain was part of the mandated territories ceded to Australia after the First World War. It stretched like a net from New Guinea to New Ireland, separating the Bismarck and Solomon Seas. The main town was Rabaul, the centre of administration of the Mandated Territory of New Guinea, and the airfields there were vitally important to the protection of New Guinea and the Solomon Island group. For the Japanese it would provide a further staging post in their drive southward as well as offering one of the best natural harbours in the South Pacific. The Japanese invasion force was despatched from the islands to the north Guam (Marianas)and Truk (Carolines). Rabaul fell even before the NEI line collapsed with the Japanese landing on 23 January. Like Ambon and Timor, Rabaul was defended by a Battalion group, the 2/22nd Infantry from the 8th Division and was dubbed Lark force. The task of the Australians was flawed from the outset. It was to protect the airfields at Lakunai and Vunukanau as well as the seaplane base at Simpson Harbour. Its main assigned strategic task appears to have been to act as an advanced observation line and provide an early warning for any developing Japanese attack. These were tasks that could have been equally achieved with a much smaller force acting as coastal watchers. The Australian General Staff acknowledged that it was unlikely that the place could resist a strong Japanese attack yet despite this it was decided that the Japanese should be made to fight for possession of the Island. Apart from the 2/22nd Battalion the other ground forces consisted of a detachment of the New Guinea Volunteer Rifles, six nurses of the 2/10th Field Ambulance, a coastal defence battery of two 6" guns and an anti-tank battery. These were under the command of the base commander Colonel Scanlan. In December the RAAF deployed 4 Hudsons and 10 Wirraway fighters on Rabaul. Japanese bombing raids commenced on 4 January 1942 and within days the majority of RAAF planes had been destroyed or damaged. With no air support the ships and installations in the harbour made easy pickings for seemingly blasé Japanese pilots. The coastal defence battery was silenced and Australian defensive positions strafed and bombed. The commander of the 2/22nd was Lt-Col. Carr and he had distributed his force to guard the main approaches. When a Japanese brigade group landed, the thinly distributed Australians were in no position to mount a substantial defence. The airfields were mined and cratered to prevent them being used by the Japanese planes, the town evacuated and the Australians ordered to scatter. Landing at 2.45am the Japanese, commanded by Major-General Horii, captured Rabaul within six hours losing only sixteen men killed. The fleeing Australians did so without any pre-planning. No supply dumps had been established to support such a tactic and none of the men had been taught how to survive off the land. Men attempted to make contact with the local natives to survive or escape by sea. Of 1400 men, twenty-eight were killed and 800 became prisoners, some of whom were shipped to Japan. 160 men were massacred on the Tol plantation. Remarkably, 400 men made good their escape while 120 RAAF personnel were evacuated on flying boats on 23/24 January. New Britain was subsequently transformed into a massive sea and air base by the Japanese with 90,000 Japanese soldiers and sailors surrendering at Rabaul at the end of the war. |
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