Battle of Arawe

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Battle of Arawe
Part of World War II, Pacific War
U.S. Army soldiers land at Arawe
Date 15 December 1943-16 January 1944 Location Arawe, New Britain, Territory of New Guinea Result Allied victory
Combatants
United States; Australia	Japan
Commanders
Brig. Gen. Jullian W. Cunningham	Major Masamitsu Komori
Strength
Approx. 5000	Approx. 634
Casualties
118 KIA, 352 WIA, 4 MIA	310 KIA, WIA & MIA[1]

The Battle of Arawe was a battle during the New Britain Campaign of World War II. This campaign formed part of Operation Cartwheel and had the objective of isolating the key Japanese base at Rabaul. Arawe was attacked on 15 December 1943 by the United States to secure an advanced base on the southern coast of New Britain and was secured after a month of fighting.

Contents 1 Background 2 Prelude 3 The landings 4 Japanese counter attacks 5 Aftermath 6 Notes 7 References

[edit] Background

The goal of the landing at Arawe was to secure a site for a radar station and an advanced base for PT boats. This base would have the role of preventing the Japanese from sending reinforcements to Cape Gloucester by sea along the southern coast of New Britain.^[2]

[edit] Prelude

The forces for Operation Director were gathered at Goodenough Island.

The DIRECTOR Task Force consisted of:^[3]

• 112th Cavalry Regiment
• 148th Field Artillery Battalion (105mm howitzers)
• 59th Engineer Company
• 236th Antiaircraft Artillery (Searchlight) Battalion (-)
• 470th Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion
• A Company, 1st Amphibian Tractor Battalion (USMC)
• 2nd Battalion, 158th Infantry Regiment (in reserve)

The Japanese forces at Arawe on 15 December were:^[4]

• 1st Battalion, 81st Infantry Regiment (-)
• Company, 54th Infantry Regiment
• Engineers and other detachments

[edit] The landings

The Allied plan specified that the 112th Cavalry Regiment would stage three almost simultaneous landings on the Arawe Peninsula and an island off the coast of the peninsular. One hour before the main body of the 112th landed on the tip of the peninsular, A Troop of the Regiment’s 1st Squadron was to land near the small village of Umtingalu at the base of the Peninsular and B Troop was to land on Pilelo Island.

In an attempt to achieve surprise A Troop was landed in rubber rafts. As the boats neared the shore they were spotted, however, and came under fire from the Japanese forces defending Umtingalu. This fire sank all but three of the rubber boats and killed 16 Cavalrymen and wounded another 17. While the destroyer USS Shaw silenced the Japanese positions, the landing was abandoned and small boats rescued the surviving members of A Troop.^[5]

B Troop’s landing on Pilelo Island was more successful. While the Troop had planned to land on the Island’s east coast, it was diverted to the west coast once A Troop came under attack. The Troop quickly cleared the island of its small number of Japanese defenders at a cost of one dead.^[6]

The main landing on the tip of the Peninsular, which was mounted by the 2nd Squadron of the 112th Regiment, was successful. While confusion among the landing craft delayed the landing by half an hour, the assault wave successfully landed and only met light opposition. After reorganising, the 2nd Squadron quickly secured the Arawe Peninsular, with the Japanese defenders retreating eastward.^[7]

The Allied landing at Arawe was promptly detected by a Japanese patrol aircraft, and a force of 33 aircraft attacked the landing area at 9am. While these attacks continued through D-Day they did not cause significant disruption to the Allies.^[8]

[edit] Japanese counter attacks

Over the next few days the DIRECTOR task force was built up to its full strength. While there was no contact with Japanese ground forces, the beachhead came under heavy and sustained air attack.^[9] These attacks were focused on the ships carrying supplies and reinforcements and sank United States Navy patrol boat APc-21 and damaged a further patrol boat (APc-15), minesweeper YMS-50 and four LCTs.^[10] Due to the heavy losses the Japanese suffered these attacks ended in late December.^[11]

The Japanese Army also mounted attacks on the Arawe beachhead. The 1st Battalion, 141st Infantry Regiment was ordered to Arawe and arrived there via boat in late December. Japanese attacks forced the 112th Regiment to withdraw from all its observation posts east of Arawe by Christmas Day.^[12] In response to this, the DIRECTOR Taskforce was reinforced by a company from the US 158th Infantry Regiment.

The Japanese mounted a series of attacks on U.S. perimeter, with the 1st Battalion, 81st Regiment suffering heavy casualties during a daylight attack on 29 December. While the Japanese conducted further probing attacks during early January 1944 these were beaten off, and the Japanese force instead began digging in to protect the nearby airfield (which was not an Allied objective).^[13]

In early January General Cunningham decided to attack the Japanese forces along his perimeter. Ahead of this attack his forces were reinforced by an additional company from the U.S. 158th Infantry Regiment and B Company, USMC 1st Tank Battalion. The U.S. attack was launched on the morning of 16 January and was successful, with the force advancing 1500 yards. Following this attack Arawe was quiet as the Japanese force remained concentrated around the airfield until they were withdrawn to Rabaul in February.^[14]

[edit] Aftermath

Ironically, Arawe was never developed as a PT boat base and no attempts were made to build an airstrip.^[15] As a result, the U.S. attack on Arawe was only successful in diverting Japanese attention away from the larger landing at Cape Gloucester.^[16]

The 112th Cavalry Regiment remained at Arawe until late April 1944 when it was replaced by a reinforced battalion from the U.S. 40th Infantry Division.^[17] This battalion was in turn replaced by an Australian Army unit in November that year.

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Hough, Frank O., and John A. Crown (1952). The Campaign on New Britain. USMC Historical Monograph. Historical Division, Division of Public Information, Headquarters U.S. Marine Corps. Retrieved on 2006-12-04.
• Morison, Samuel Eliot (1958). Breaking the Bismarcks Barrier, vol. 6 of History of United States Naval Operations in World War II. Castle Books. 0785813071.
• Miller, John, Jr. (1959). CARTWHEEL: The Reduction of Rabaul (English). United States Army in World War II: The War in the Pacific. Office of the Chief of Military History, U.S. Department of the Army. Retrieved on Oct 20, 2006.
• Shaw, Henry I.; Douglas T. Kane (1963). Volume II: Isolation of Rabaul. History of U.S. Marine Corps Operations in World War II. Retrieved on 2006-10-18.
• Craven, Wesley Frank; James Lea Cate. Vol. IV, The Pacific: Guadalcanal to Saipan, August 1942 to July 1944. The Army Air Forces in World War II. U.S. Office of Air Force History. Retrieved on Oct 20, 2006.

• G. Herman Gill (1968), Official History of Australia in the War of 1939–1945. Series 2 – Navy. Volume II – Royal Australian Navy, 1942–1945. Australian War Memorial, Canberra.