Battle of Milne Bay

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Battle of Milne Bay
Part of World War II, Pacific War
Australian troops at Milne Bay in 1942, shortly after the battle
Date August 25, 1942 – September 5, 1942 Location Milne Bay, New Guinea Result Allied victory
Combatants
Australia, United States	Japan
Commanders
Cyril Clowes	Nishizo Tsukahara Shojiro Hayashi Minoru Yano
Strength
9,000 (half non-combat personnel)	3,200
Casualties
about 550 dead	1,000 dead

New Guinea campaign
1st Rabaul – Mo – Coral Sea – Kokoda Track – Milne Bay – Buna-Gona – Wau – Bismarck Sea – Salamaua-Lae – Cartwheel – Wewak raid – Finisterres – Huon Peninsula – Bougainville – Rabaul carrier raid – New Britain – Admiralties – Western New Guinea

Battle for Australia
Air raids – Darwin – Broome – Coral Sea – Naval attacks – Sydney & Newcastle – Kokoda – Milne Bay

The Battle of Milne Bay was a battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II. Japanese marines attacked the Australian base at Milne Bay on the eastern tip of New Guinea on August 25, 1942 and fighting continued until the Japanese retreated on September 5, 1942. The battle was the first in the Pacific campaign in which Allied troops defeated Japanese land forces and, significantly, forced them to withdraw.

Contents 1 Forces 2 The action 3 Significance 4 References 4.1 Notes 4.2 Books 4.3 Web

[edit] Forces

The British Field Marshal Sir William Slim, who had no part in the battle, said:

Australian troops had, at Milne Bay, inflicted on the Japanese their first undoubted defeat on land. Some of us may forget that, of all the allies, it was the Australians who first broke the invincibility of the Japanese army.

In fact, it was Japanese marines, known as Special Naval Landing Forces, who attacked the Allied forces at Milne Bay. The Japanese high command committed approximately 2,400 marines, from the 5th Kure Special Naval Landing Force (SNLF) and the 5th Sasebo SNLF and (non-combat) personnel from the 16th Naval Construction Unit. The Japanese force was led initially by Commander Shojiro Hayashi.

The Allies, commanded by the Australian Major General Cyril Clowes, were defending 3 strategically-important airstrips. These were to be used by Allied forces in a proposed attack on Rabaul. The soldiers were mainly made up of two Australian Army brigades: the 18th Infantry Brigade from the Australian 7th Division and the 7th Australian Infantry Brigade Group, a Militia formation. In addition, a portion of the US Army Corps of Engineers 46th (General Service) Engineers Regiment was deployed for the purpose of airfield construction.

Although the Allied forces numbered 8824 only about 4500 were infantry. The Japanese enjoyed a significant advantage, in the form of light tanks, which the Allies had not deployed. The Japanese also has complete control of the sea during the night, allowing reinforcement and evacuation. However, the RAAF's No. 75 and 76 Squadrons, flying P-40 Kittyhawk aircraft, which played a critical role in the fierce fighting, were largely uncontested during the day.

[edit] The action

The Japanese initially landed 1,150 troops with tanks.^[1] The tanks at first inflicted severe casualties on the Australian 2/10th Infantry Battalion, which was deployed 6 km forward of the main base, and forced it to retreat. However, the Japanese infantry and landing craft were hit hard by the Kittyhawks and were forced to land further and further from their main objective, the Milne Bay airbase. On August 29, Japanese reinforcements were landed: 768 men from the 3rd Kure SNLF and 5th Yokosuka SNLF, with Commander Minoru Yano, who took over from Hayashi.

The RAAF Kittyhawks were very close to the action, with aircraft strafing Japanese positions very shortly after taking off. RAAF ground staff, including some from other squadrons, became actively involved in the fighting, as did the US Army Corps of Engineers' 46th Engineer Regiment, which was expanding the airbase.

On September 4, the advance of a section from the Australian 2/9th Battalion was held up by fire from three Japanese machine gun positions. Corporal John French ordered the other members of the section to take cover, before he attacked and destroyed two of the machine guns with grenades. French then attacked the third position with his submachinegun. The Japanese ceased fire and the Australian section advanced to find that the machine gunners had been killed and that French had died in front of the third position. He was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions at Milne Bay.

The following day, September 5, the Japanese high command ordered a withdrawal: according to official figures, 311 Japanese personnel were killed, with about 700 missing in action. The Japanese Navy evacuated 1,318 personnel. Of the 534 Australian casualties, 161 were killed or missing in action. The US forces had several personnel killed or wounded. The Japanese committed major atrocities with the execution of prisoners of war, as well as the murders of at least 59 civilians. None of the 39 Australian troops captured in the fighting survived, all were killed and some mutilated. These were documented in the Webb Royal Commission in Australia after the war.

[edit] Significance

The effect on the morale of all Allied servicemen in Asia and the Pacific was profound, but especially other Australians fighting a rearguard action on the Kokoda Track, U.S. Marines simultaneously fighting the Battle of Guadalcanal, and Slim's troops in the 14th Army who had been retreating in Burma.

[edit] References

[edit] Notes

[edit] Books

• Lundstrom, John B. (2005 (New edition)). First Team And the Guadalcanal Campaign: Naval Fighter Combat from August to November 1942. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-59114-472-8. 

[edit] Web

• A presentation at the Australian War Memorial
• Another source is the diggerhistory.info website