Battle of Christmas Island
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Japanese forces occupied Christmas Island, on March 31, 1942, during World War II. Because of a mutiny by Indian soldiers against their British officers, Japanese troops were able to occupy Christmas Island without any resistance. However, the United States Navy submarine Seawolf caused severe damage to the Japanese cruiser Naka.
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[edit] Background
Christmas Island at the time was a British possession under administrative control of the Straits Settlement, situated 300 kilometers south of Java. It was important for two reasons: it was a perfect control post for the east Indian Ocean area; and it was an important source of phosphates, which were needed by Japanese industry.
After the occupation of Java Japanese Imperial General Headquarters issued orders for "Operation X" (The Invasion and Occupation of Christmas Island) on 14 March 1942, .
Rear Admiral Shoji Nishimura was assigned to command the Second Southern Expeditionary Fleet's Occupation Force, with the light cruiser Naka as his flagship. The fleet also consisted of the light cruisers Nagara and Natori, and destroyers Minegumo, Natsugumo, Amatsukaze, Hatsukaze, Satsuki, Minatsuki, Fumitsuki and Nagatsuki, oiler Akebono Maru and transports Kimishima Maru and Kumagawa Maru, with 850 men of the 21st, 24th Special Base Forces and the 102nd Construction Unit. [1]
Opposing this invasion force was an old 6-inch gun brought down from Singapore after World War I, and possibly up to three anti-aircraft guns. The British garrison, a detachment of the Hong Kong and Singapore Royal Artillery, numbered 32 men, mostly Indian troops led by a British officer and four NCOs.
Indian troops, apparently believing Japanese propaganda concerning the liberation of India from British rule, mutinied and killed their sleeping British superiors on 10 March 1942, then locked up the District Officer and the few other European inhabitants of the island pending an execution that apparently was thwarted by the Japanese occupation.[2]
[edit] The occupation
At dawn on 31 March 1942, a dozen Japanese bombers launched the attack, destroying the radio station, which stood roughly where the post office is today. Fragments of bombs dropped were still being found into the 1980s in the Post Office Padang. Because of the mutiny, the Japanese expeditionary corps was able to disembark at Flying Fish Cove without opposition.
At 0949 the same morning, the USN submarine Seawolf fired four torpedoes at the Naka, but all missed. Seawolf attacked again at 0650 the following morning, firing three torpedoes at Natori, missing again. That evening, with its final two torpedoes, Seawolf managed to hit Naka on its starboard side, near her No.1 boiler. The damage was severe enough that Naka had to be towed back Singapore by Natori, and eventually was forced to return to Japan for repairs. [3]
From Christmas Island, and other bases in the East Timor and New Guinea area, Imperial Japanese Army Mitsubishi Ki-46 "Dinah" aircraft performed reconnaissance missions over northern Australia.
Natori returned to Christmas Island and withdrew all elements of the occupation force with the exception of a twenty-man garrison detachment to Banten Bay on 3 April 1942. All that the Japanese had gained was the phosphate rock which was loaded on the transport ships. After the end of the occupation, liberating troops destroyed a Shinto shrine at which the Japanese had reportedly forced many local Muslims to worship. The Indian mutineers were prosecuted by a Military Court in Singapore and five were sentenced to death in 1947. The sentences commuted to life imprisonment after the governments of India and Pakistan protested.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] Books
- Gill, G. Hermon (1968). Volume II – Royal Australian Navy, 1942–1945, Australia in the War of 1939–1945. Canberra: Australian War Memorial. Retrieved on 2006-11-20. "On 31st March an enemy force comprising three light cruisers, four destroyers and two transports mad e
an unopposed landing at Flying Fish Cove, Christmas Island.)"
- Woodmore, F.P. (1996). Christmas Island Explorer's Guide. Christmas Island: Lone Island Publications. ISBN 0-646-249988-3.- See pp. 28-29, and 111. A traveler's guide to the island, with notes about the island's history (and directions to the old 6" gun position where a memorial to the slain soldiers exists).
- Hara, Tameichi (1961). Japanese Destroyer Captain. New York & Toronto: Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-27894-1.- Brief, first-hand account of the battle by the captain of the Japanese destroyer Amatsukaze. He personally witnessed the torpedo hit the Naka.
[edit] External links
[edit] Notes
- ^ Parshall, [http://www.combinedfleet.com/naka_t.htm
- ^ Woodmore, Christmas Island Explorer's Guide
- ^ Hara, Japanese Destroyer Captain