[16] That summer a Document Restoration Sub-Section, staffed by six WACs (Womens Army Corps), including one officer, was established. On September 6, 1943, ICPOA was designated a joint Army-Navy-Marine organization by a CINCPAC directive and was given the name Joint Intelligence Center, Pacific Ocean Areas (JICPOA). In November 1944 the 6th Australian Division relieved the last U.S. Army units in the Aitape area and launched a drive down the coast toward Wewak, finally taking it on May 10, 1945. In January 1944, during the New Britain-New Guinea operations, captured Japanese code books enabled radio intelligence staff to determine the intentions of Lt. Gen. Hatazo Adachi, commander of the Japanese 18th Army. Instances were noted of officers completely out of their depth, of men eating meals when they should have been on the firing line, even of cowardice. Today known as Jayapura, in 1941 Hollandia (140.707E 2.543S) was the largest settlement in the Dutch half of New Guinea.It was located on the only really first-class natural harbor on the north coast of Dutch New Guinea, Humboldt Bay, though it had only primitive port facilities. This diary along with other documents relating to atrocities was used in the trials of Japanese war criminals. Red 2 beach was found to be highly unsuitable and the promised roads were non-existent. Found on the vessel were Japanese documents, including field orders and prisoner interrogation reports that indicated the Japanese knew when and where the American operation was to take place. Garrisons were effectively besieged and denied shipments of food and medical supplies, and as a result, some claim that 97% of Japanese deaths in this campaign were from non-combat causes. MacArthur was now determined to liberate the island as a stepping-stone to the reconquest of the Philippines. 3, Glossary of military terms encountered in Japanese documents; No. Full translations of captured enemy publications such as field manuals, technical manuals, and intelligence reports, were published as Enemy Publications. the strategic base on New Britain (now part of Papua New Guinea), on January 23, 1942. Joseph J. Rochefort (of the Battle of Midway code-breaking fame). The story of the capture and return of the Z documents is detailed in Appendix II. [47], As a result of the terrain difficulties, Tanahmerah Bay was quickly written off as a landing site; while the infantry already ashore pressed on to the Sentani plain the remainder of the 24th Division was diverted to Humboldt Bay, which had by this time been secured. [citation needed], Three factors conspired to create disaster for the Japanese. ATIS also published a how-to handbook on conservation treatment of captured records and produced a Document Restoration Kit for units in the field. [11] For the same reasons, General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander Allied Forces South West Pacific Area was determined to hold it. In the first months of 1942, the Japanese launched further attacks against British Burma, Australian-administered New Guinea and Papua, and the islands of the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). The Allies made good use of the information in the naval campaigns that followed. Fukudome was still carrying the Z Plan and the cipher codes. Although one line of attack was carried out primarily by ground forces and the other by naval forces, the main feature of both undertakings was the close coordination of land, sea, and air power. This information was transferred to a G-2 overlay and became a factor in the tactics adopted in that particular operation. The plane in which Fukudome was flying also crashed into the sea, near the island of Cebu. Furthermore, the Milne Bay affair demonstrated once again that an amphibious assault without air protection, and with an assault force inferior to that of the defenders, could not succeed. [7], MacArthur met with the commander of the Pacific Fleet, Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, at Brisbane between 25 and 27 March to discuss the role of the Navy in the operation. [54] There was little resistance initially, but further inland there was some opposition as elements of the 186th Infantry reached the lake by 24 April. All of these factors had to be taken into account in determining the lines of advance in 1944. The Japanese had already captured Rabaul, the capital of the Australian-controlled territory of New Guinea, on 23 January 1942, and early in February Australian and Dutch forces surrendered the island of Ambon in the Netherlands East Indies (modern Indonesia). Fortunately, one American officer wrote in 1944, the enemy as a nation is addicted to keeping diaries, and converting everything into writing.. Opposing these forces were the Australian 2/5th, 2/6th and 2/7th Battalions along with Lieutenant Colonel Norman Fleay's Kanga Force. Land-based aircraft of the Allied air forces softened up the Hollandia area, destroying more than 300 enemy aircraft during the weeks preceding the attack. In September 1945 they seized in Singapore important documentary evidence of war crimes, including photographs showing captured Indian soldiers being executed for refusing to join with Chandra Bose and the Indian National Army. Achieving complete surprise, they were able to destroy 340 aircraft on the ground and 60 more aircraft in the air, leaving the 6th Air Division unable to resist the planned invasion. To ease the congestion on White 1, 11 LSTs were landed off White 2, while engineers from the 2nd Engineer Special Brigade worked to clear the beach, shifting stores and equipment into Jautefa Bay. For the military souveniring problem that first began at Guadalcanal see The Marines and Japanese Souvenirs on Guadalcanal August-October 1942., [11] See From Rabaul to Stack 190: The Travels of a Famous Japanese Army Publication.. 87 (Japanese Mines and Minesweeping); and, Nos. ATIS was directed to make available to the board any and all information having to do with the identification of Japanese war criminals. The admirals preferred to bypass the Philippines and take Formosa, which was much closer to Japan. It was occupied by the Japanese during their invasion of the Dutch East Indies in 1942, who planned to use it as a base for their expansion towards the Australian mandated territories of Papua and New Guinea. [47], I-Go demonstrated that the Japanese command was not learning the lessons of air power that the Allies were. The stores situation in the forward area grew more urgent as the supply line up the single road broke down. Origins. It was not just ATIS that was engaged in captured Japanese records operations. [41] After rehearsals and loading, on 16 to 18 April the amphibious forces sailed from their bases at Finschafen and Goodenough Island; they joined up with other ships carrying troops bound for Aitape from Seeadler Harbour and then rendezvoused with the escort aircraft carriers providing air cover off Manus Island early on 20 April. When the Japanese invaded New Guinea in early 1942, they began a struggle for control of the island which would last until the end of the Second World War. SEATIC and SINTIC operating in Southeast Asia and China received and translated relatively large quantities of captured documents during the war. [43] The facilities in the area were designated Base G. Several higher headquarters were moved to the area, including those of the Sixth Army, Eighth Army, Fifth Air Force, and Seventh Fleet. [38], In response to a request from the head of the US Navy, Admiral Ernest King, the Eastern Fleet conducted a raid on Japanese positions on the island of Sabang in the Indian Ocean ahead of the landings at Hollandia and Aitape. [38], General Imamura and his naval counterpart at Rabaul, Admiral Jinichi Kusaka, commander Southeast Area Fleet, resolved to reinforce their ground forces at Lae for one final all-out attempt against Wau. At Sanananda the swamp and jungle were typhus-ridden crawling roots reached out into stagnant pools infested with mosquitoes and numerous crawling insects every foxhole filled with water. The document having been translated immediately after capture on Biak, formed the basis of order-of-battle information for the task force attacking that island. The convoy split around 80 miles (130km) offshore, with the Eastern Attack Group, consisting of troops assigned to Operation Persecution turning away for Aitape. Urgent information was extracted before rushing the documents on to the Advanced Echelon where they were sorted, stamped, examined, and translated as necessary. In early 1943, it became apparent, as the Allies assumed the offensive, that the volume of documents captured would far exceed the capacity of personnel available to translate each and every document in full. During the initial phase in early 1942, the Empire of Japan invaded the Australian -administered Mandated Territory of New Guinea (23 January) and the Australian Territory of Papua (21 July) and overran western New Guinea (beginning 29/30 March), which was a part of the Netherlands East Indies. [58], Japanese casualties amounted to 3,300 killed and 600 wounded in combat;[59] a further 1,146 were killed or died in the area up to 27 September 1944. 84 dealt with The Japanese and Bacterial Warfare. [6], The struggle for New Guinea began with the capture by the Japanese of the city of Rabaul at the northeastern tip of New Britain Island in January 1942 (the Allies responded with multiple bombing raids, of which the action off Bougainville was one). [16] See The National Archives Arthur Evarts Kimberly and the Allied Translator and Interpreter Sections Document Restoration Sub-Section, 1944-1945.. [42], " 'The Boeing [B-25] is most terrifying,' wrote one survivor in his diary. Copies of the documents were made in Brisbane and the original documents were returned to the aircraft crash site by another submarine. A complete list of the names of all officers and noncommissioned officers of the Japanese 222nd Infantry Regiment was captured on May 28, 1944. [25] But fighters did provide cover for the transports, and for bombers when their targets were within range. [28][29] Secondary landings would take place Aitape, 125 miles to the east, at the same time as those around Hollandia. First, with completion of the reduction of Rabaul, the South Pacific Area was closed as an active theatre, and Halsey left to take command of the U.S. 3rd Fleet. Bypassing the Japanese base at Halmahera, south of Morotai, the XI Corps quickly established a defensive perimeter behind which airfields were constructed to provide air support for further advances. "Within a few days, the enemy was retreating from the Wau Valley, where he had suffered a serious defeat, harassed all the way back to Mubo"[37] About one week later, the Japanese completed their evacuation of Guadalcanal. per cubic foot, this works out to 1,350 cubic feet of records. ATIS Inventories were also prepared. Having been organized along lines completely unorthodox, these were invaluable documents to the G-2 Section, especially as this Force was a major enemy unit on the left flank near La Union, Luzon, at that time. The Japanese also seized the key oil production zones of Borneo, Central Java, Malang, Cepu, Sumatra, and Dutch New Guinea of the late Dutch East Indies, defeating the Dutch forces. This contest produced a number of valuable documents and propaganda leaflets. Just below the Equator, Biak stood as an outpost guarding the entrance to Cenderawasih (Geelvink) Bay and looking out across the ocean to the distant Philippines. Reports were issued when sufficient information on any subject had been collated to warrant publication. On October 22, 1944, X Corps captured four sketches, one of gun positions north of Dulag, Leyte, and three of San Roque, Catmon Hill Area, Leyte, containing gun and coastal defense positions. A Japanese carrier pigeon landed on a US transport on the way to Kwajalen Atoll in the Marianas. 119 deals with the Japanese Military Police Service and Report No. During July and August 1944 the Japanese 18th Army, based on Wewak, mounted an attack on Aitape, employing more than 20,000 troops in the forward area. The Japanese invaded New Guinea from November 1941 till April 1942 and occupied the Dutch part (except for Merauke) and the northern Australian part (Fakfak fell April 1, Manokwari April 12). The Allied victories in 1943 set the stage for the strategic advances of 1944, but they did not determine the exact lines of attack. 11, Factors in Japanese Military Psychology was ever completed, although the material intended for this publication could have been used instead for Research Report No. Although the quantity of documents captured in South East Asia and China were not as voluminous as those found elsewhere, nevertheless there were major collections captured. This document was immediately translated and subsequently provided new bombing targets for the B-29s over Japan and during the early occupation provided a means of quickly locating and seizing armaments. [40], About 6,900 troops aboard eight transports, escorted by eight destroyers, departed Rabaul at midnight 28 February under the command of Rear Admiral Masatomi Kimura. Pre-War New Guinea The Japanese Invasion The Turning Point The Long Allied Advance 1943 1944 The New Guinea campaign (January 1942-September 1945) was one of the longest campaigns of the Second World War. The town itself was on the shore of Humboldt Bay, with a first-class anchorage. Hollandia was a port on the north coast of New Guinea, part of the Dutch East Indies, and was the only anchorage between Wewak to the east, and Geelvink Bay to the west. The experience of the green US 32nd Infantry Division, just out of training camp and utterly unschooled in jungle warfare, was nearly disastrous. The Z Plan [issued as Admiral Kogas Combined Fleet Secret Operations Order No. Meanwhile, on 30 March and continuing to 3 April these air forces attacked Hollandia itself and the airfields on the Sentani plain. The Japanese occupied the village with an initial force of 1,500 on 21 July and by 22 August had 11,430 men under arms at Buna. The air defences consisted of P-39 and P-40 fighters. Interrogation of a prisoner confirmed the fact that supplies were being unloaded at Lae from enemy submarines. In late 1943, the Information Section was given the task of writing Briefs consisting of a summary and highlights of Enemy Publications and Current Translations. Limited Distribution Reports were special reports, highly classified, consisting of translations of documents possessing information of the highest intelligence value or of immediate importance, issued from time to time as directed. Japans strategy in the Pacific and Southeast Asia, The Allied offensive in the Pacific, 1944, Casualties and the material cost of the Pacific War. Seven LSTs were also assigned. The situation was not fully resolved until 3 May when transport aircraft began landing on an airstrip that was hastily built by an engineer aviation battalion at Tami. Adachi's decision may have been motivated by a belief that Hansa Bay would be the target of the next Allied amphibious landing and that he could reinforce Hollandia at a later date. The Pacific Strategy, 1941-1944. In early April 1943, a Japanese map was captured showing hidden positions of 87 barges at Labu, New Guinea. Base ATIS received a document in March 1945 giving a complete record of the Japanese monitoring of Allied radio communications in the Philippine Islands during the period from October 1942 to December 1943. The Japanese also planned to capture other strategic areas where they could establish advance posts and raise an outer barrier against an Allied counteroffensive. Landings were made at two points in the Hollandia area on April 22, 1944, with the U.S. 24th Infantry Division moving ashore at Tanahmerah Bay and the 41st Infantry Division pushing inland at Humboldt Bay, 25 miles (40 km) to the east. To the invaders from Japan, and the occupiers from Australia and the United States, however, New Guineans appeared as colonial subjects at best, and as slaves at worst. Japan's threatened military encroachment closer to Australia hinted at some type of potential invasion of the northernmost frontiers. 7 was cancelled and no record is held that No. With the occupation of Morotai, the long drive up the New Guinea coast was strategically completed. Lieut. To demonstrate the seriousness of the effort to the Supreme War Council, multiple shifts of high-ranking personnel were also effected: Both Yamamoto and Ozawa moved their headquarters to Rabaul; and Eighth Fleet commander Vice Admiral Gunichi Mikawa as well as General Imamura's chief of staff were sent to Tokyo with advice and explanations for the respective General Staffs (Admiral Tomoshige Samejima replaced Mikawa as Eight Fleet commander). On 24 April, the beach became more congested with the arrival of scheduled reinforcements and further equipment, as well as two transports and seven LSTs carrying troops, including the corps commander and his headquarters, which had been diverted from Tanahmerah Bay. Also produced were ATIS Publications. [27] As the Japanese ground forces pressed toward Port Moresby, the Allied Air Forces struck supply points along the Kokoda Track. For this purpose, liaison was established and during July and August ATIS furnished the Board with approximately 1,200 pages of translations. The first major collection of captured Japanese documents in the Pacific Theater was made in August 1942 when the 1st Marine Raider Battalion, under Col. Evans Carlson and Lt. Col. James Roosevelt, made a harassing raid on Makin Island in the Gilberts. [20], Since Port Moresby was the only port supporting operations in Papua, its defence was critical to the campaign. It contained details of the proposed landing of Tama Group (full strength of one division) at Ormoc, Leyte, on November 1st. This involved air attacks and naval bombardments on the Wewak area, and faked landings of reconnaissance patrols. "[43], Marshal Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto promised the emperor that he would pay back the Allies for the disaster at the Bismarck Sea with a series of massive air strikes. 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