Battle of Tarakan (1945)

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Battle of Tarakan (1945)
Part of World War II
Battle of Tarakan
Australian infantry advancing through wrecked oil storage tanks at Tank Hill, Tarakan.
Date May 1-June 19, 1945
Location Tarakan Island, Netherlands East Indies
Result Allied victory
Combatants
Australia, United States, Netherlands Japan
Commanders
Brigadier David Whitehead Major Tadai Tokoi
Strength
15,532 2,200
Casualties
Over 251 dead, over 669 wounded 1,540 dead, 252 captured prior to 15 August 1945
Borneo campaign (1945)
Tarakan – Oboe Six – North Borneo – Balikpapan
Order of battle

The Battle of Tarakan was the first stage in the Borneo campaign of 1945. It began with an amphibious landing by Australian forces on May 1, code-named Operation Oboe One . While the battle ended with success for the Allied forces over the Japanese defenders, delays with bringing the island's airfield into service rendered this a largely pyrrhic victory.

Contents

[edit] Background

[edit] Tarakan under Japanese occupation

The Japanese invaded Tarakan on January 11, 1942 and defeated the island's Dutch garrison in the brief, but fierce, Battle of Tarakan (1942). While Tarakan's oilfields were successfully sabotaged by the Dutch before their surrender, the Japanese were able to restore them to full production with 350,000 barrels per month being extracted by early 1944.[1] Tarakan's value to the Japanese did not, however, spare the island's 5,000 inhabitants from the brutality of Japanese occupation policies. Those who suffered most cruelly were an estimated 600 labourers and 300 comfort women, whom the Japanese conscripted in Java — the women were enticed to travel to Tarakan with the promise of clerical and clothes-making jobs.[2]

Tarakan's value to the Japanese evaporated with the rapid advance of Allied forces into the area. The last Japanese oil tanker left Tarakan in July 1944 and heavy Allied air raids later in the year destroyed the island's oil production and storage facilities.[3] In line with its declining importance, the Japanese garrison on Tarakan was reduced in early 1945 with one of the two infantry battalions stationed on the island being withdrawn to Balikpapan (where it was destroyed by the Australian 7th Division in the Battle of Balikpapan).[4]

[edit] Allied plans

The primary objective for the Allied attack on Tarakan (code-named "Oboe One") was the securing and development the island's airstrip in order to provide air cover for subsequent landings in Brunei, Labuan and Balikpapan. The secondary objective for the operation was to secure Tarakan's oilfields and bring them into operation as a source of oil for the Allied forces in the theatre.[5]

[edit] The battle

A map showing the progress of the Battle of Tarakan
A map showing the progress of the Battle of Tarakan

[edit] Preparatory operations

Prior to the arrival of the invasion force the Japanese garrison on Tarakan was subjected to intensive air and naval attacks from April 12 to April 29.[6] The first elements of the invasion fleet arrived off the island on April 27 and commenced minesweeping operations. On April 30, the 2/4th Commando Squadron and 57 Battery of the 2/7th Field Regiment were landed on the nearby Sadau Island in order to support the 2/13th Field Company which was tasked with clearing the obstacles off the invasion beaches.[7]

The second wave of the 2/48th Infantry Battalion leaving HMAS Manoora
The second wave of the 2/48th Infantry Battalion leaving HMAS Manoora

[edit] The landing

The main invasion force — centred on the 26th Brigade Group — arrived by sea off Tarakan in the early hours of May 1. Supported by a heavy air and naval bombardment, the 2/23rd Battalion and the 2/48th Battalion made an amphibious landing at about 8am and cleared out the Japanese coastal defences with relatively light casualties. Most of the brigade's remaining combat units (including the tanks) were landed later on May 1.[8]

After securing the beachhead, the 26th Brigade Group advanced east into Tarakan Town and north towards the airstrip. After overcoming stiff Japanese resistance the airstrip was captured on May 5 and the town was largely secured by May 6. While the capture of the airfield achieved the 26th Brigade Group's main task, the Japanese still held Tarakan's rugged interior.[9]

In order to secure the island and protect the airstrip from attack, the 26th Brigade Group was forced to clear the Japanese out of well prepared positions in Tarakan's heavily forested hills. While this necessarily entailed costly infantry fighting, the Australian troops made heavy use of their available artillery and air support.[10] The Japanese garrison was gradually destroyed, with the few survivors abandoning the remaining positions in the hills and withdrawing to the north of the island on June 14 where they attempted to escape to the mainland of Borneo. The last organised Japanese resistance was encountered on June 19, though mopping-up operations continued until the end of the war.[11]

[edit] Construction problems

Tarakan Airstrip two weeks after its capture. Note extensive cratering.
Tarakan Airstrip two weeks after its capture. Note extensive cratering.

While the infantry of 26 Brigade Group fought the Japanese in the hills, the RAAF engineers of 61 Airfield Construction Wing were engaged in a desperate effort to bring Tarakan's airstrip into operation. As a result of being heavily damaged by pre-invasion bombing and lying in marshy terrain the airstrip proved far more difficult to repair than had been expected[12] and it took eight weeks (rather than the expected one) to restore the strip to a usable state. Extensive use was made of interlocking steel plates laid down like matting. Remnants of the plates still exist in the car park at Tarakan airport.

While the airstrip was finally opened on June 28,[13] this was too late for it to play any role in supporting the landings in Brunei or Labuan (June 10), or the landings at Balikpapan.[14] However No. 78 Wing RAAF was based on Tarakan from June 28 and flew in support of the Balikpapan operation until the end of the war.[15] The invasion of Tarakan also liberated the civilian population from a brutal occupying army.

[edit] Aftermath

The 26th Brigade Group remained on Tarakan as an occuption force until December 27, 1945, though most of its units were disbanded in October. The Brigade's headquarters returned to Australia in early 1945 and was formally disbanded at Brisbane in January 1946.[16]

As with the rest of the Borneo campaign (1945), the Australian operations on Tarakan remain controversial. Debate continues over whether the campaign was a meaningless "sideshow", or whether it was justified in the context of the planned operations to both invade Japan and liberate the rest of the Netherlands East Indies, which were both scheduled to begin in 1946.

[edit] Order of battle

[edit] Allied units ("Oboe One Force")

[edit] Ground forces

Infantry from the 2/48th Battalion move forward past a Matilda II tank
Infantry from the 2/48th Battalion move forward past a Matilda II tank
  • 2 Beach Group
    • 2/2nd Pioneer Battalion
    • Other units:
      • 2/11th Field Company
      • 2 Beach Workshop
      • B Royal Australian Navy Commando
      • 2nd Australian Army Medical Corps Company

Royal Netherlands East Indies Army

  • 1st Netherlands East Indies Infantry Company

United States Army

  • Composite Company, 727th Amphibian Tractor Battalion
  • Company, 593rd Engineer Boat and Shore Battalion

[edit] Air units

RAAF B-24 bombers over Tarakan
RAAF B-24 bombers over Tarakan
  • 18th Fighter Group USAAF (Mindoro Is., Zamboanga from 4 May)
    • 12th Fighter Squadron (P-38)
    • 44th Fighter Squadron (P-38)
    • 70th Fighter Squadron (P-38)
  • 347th Fighter Group USAAF (Palawan Is.)
    • 67th Fighter Squadron (P-38)
    • 68th Fighter Squadron (P-38)
    • 339th Fighter Squadron (P-38)
  • 42nd (Medium) Bombardment Group USAAF (Palawan Is.)
    • 69th Bombardment Group (B-25)
    • 70th Bombardment Group (B-25)
    • 75th Bombardment Group (B-25)
    • 100th Bombardment Group (B-25)
    • 390th Bombardment Group (B-25)
  • 5th (Heavy) Bombardment Group USAAF (Samar Is.)
    • 23d Bombardment Group (B-24)
    • 31st Bombardment Group (B-24)
    • 72d Bombardment Group (B-24)
    • 394th Bombardment Group (B-24)
  • 307th (Heavy) Bombardment Group USAAF (Morotai Is.)
    • 370th Bombardment Group (B-24)
    • 371st Bombardment Group (B-24)
    • 372nd Bombardment Group (B-24)
    • 424th Bombardment Group (B-24)
  • 868th Squadron USAAF (LAB-24)
  • Fleet Air Wing 17 US Navy (Palawan Is.)
    • Patrol Bombing Squadron 128 (VPB-128) (PV-1 Ventura)
    • Patrol Bombing Squadron 106 (VPB-106) (PB4Y-2 Privateer) (from 3 May)
    • Patrol Bombing Squadron 111 (VPB-111) (PB4Y-2 Privateer)
    • Patrol Bombing Squadron 109 (VPB-109) (PB4Y-2 Privateer with Bat Bombs) (till 6 May)

[edit] Naval units

Allied shipping off Tarakan
Allied shipping off Tarakan

[edit] Japanese units

  • Army-Navy Headquarters
    • 455th Independent Infantry Battalion
      • 1 Company
      • 2 Company
      • 3 Company
      • 4 Company
      • Machine Gun Company
    • 2nd Naval Guard Force
      • 1 Company
      • 2 Company
      • Air Defence Unit

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Stanley (1997). Page 9.
  2. ^ Stanley (1997). Page 8.
  3. ^ Stanley (1997). Page 9.
  4. ^ Long (1963). Page 503.
  5. ^ Long (1963). Page 406.
  6. ^ Long (1963). Page 412.
  7. ^ Long (1963). Page 412.
  8. ^ Long (1963). Page 417.
  9. ^ Long (1963). Page 426.
  10. ^ Odgers (1968). Page 461.
  11. ^ Stanley (1997). Page 168.
  12. ^ Odgers (1968). Pages 458-459.
  13. ^ Stanley (1997). Page 175.
  14. ^ Long (1963). Pages 451-452.
  15. ^ Odgers (1968). Page 483.
  16. ^ Stanley (1997). Pages 194-197
  17. ^ Stanley (1997). Pages 213-218.

[edit] References

  • ‘Japanese Monograph Number 26: Borneo Operations. 1941-1945’ in War in Asia and the Pacific. Volume 6. The Southern Area (Part I).
  • Wesley Craven and James Cate (1953), The Army Air Forces in World War Two. Volume V: Matterhorn to Nagasaki. Government Printing Office, Washington D.C.
  • Samuel Eliot Morison (1989), The Liberation of the Philippines: Luzon, Mindanao, the Visayas 1944-1945. Little, Brown and Company, Boston.
  • Royal Navy (1959), Naval Staff History Second World War: War with Japan, Volume VI; The Advance to Japan. British Admiralty, London.
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