Gen. Robert C. Richardson became commanding general of U.S. Army Forces, Pacific Ocean Area, in which capacity he remained subordinate to Nimitzs operational control. Researchers should, of course, use the National Archives Catalog. Three weeks later, on March 21, 1944, a captured field order disclosed the Japanese strength at Rossum, New Britain. 39 with Navy Operations, Plans and Orders (1941-1944). 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. By 1944 the school had outgrown these facilities and moved to nearby Fort Snelling. An A B and C priority system was established; with A being documents of operational value; B being documents of probable or general value; and, C being documents containing information of no apparent value. Once the war ended, Southeast Asia Command Field Security Sections were assigned to seize records that, among other things, could be used for the prosecution of war criminals. 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. This procedure called for all documents to be briefly examined, and those of operational value segregated from those having probable or general value and those having no apparent military value, and provisions were made for the translation on a priority bases of those sections of documents containing information of operational value. The defeat of the Japanese invasion of Milne Bay by 5 September 1942 was the first Allied land victory over the Japanese. [60] A total of 7,200 Japanese troops assembled at Genjem and then attempted to withdraw overland to Sarmi; only around 1,000 reached their destination. During the Lae-Salamaua Operation in the summer of 1943 the Allies relied heavily on captured documents for intelligence information and planning. In addition, ATIS officers collaborated in the accumulation of evidence from prisoners and testified before the Board. The National Archives at College Park as well as other United States and foreign archival institutions hold copies of these publications. Origins. [46], On landing, the U.S. troops came under sporadic small arms and machine gun fire, but this was quickly suppressed. It was not just on the islands that important information was captured. [29] The Japanese arrived and the 25 August 7 September Battle of Milne Bay was underway. During the first week of March 1945, I Corps ATIS Advanced Echelon on Luzon translated four top secret Japanese operational orders made between February 26th-March 2nd. Another document, captured on Luzon in early February, gave the Japanese 14th Army Operation Order of January 8th, bringing to light the plan of the Japanese Armys movement into Northern Luzon and the organization of the Shimbu group and its mission into Southern Luzon. After the Japanese invasion of New Guinea the Americans, aided by Australian troops, organized a series of landings and other offensive actions against the Japanese in New Guinea. 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 information and the examination of shattered emplacements by engineers enabled marine and navy experts to construct in Hawaii exact copies of the Japanese pillboxes on Tarawa and then find the best way to destroy them. Earlier, during the Leyte campaign, important documents and diaries were captured by CIC detachments indicating the collaboration of a prominent police officer. Fortunately, one American officer wrote in 1944, the enemy as a nation is addicted to keeping diaries, and converting everything into writing.. Background. MacArthur's rollback began with the 16 November 1942 22 January 1943 Battle of Buna-Gona. [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. The stores situation in the forward area grew more urgent as the supply line up the single road broke down. 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. 255) Procedure in interrogating and handling [Allied] prisoners of war. Over 420 of these were published. The experience of the green US 32nd Infantry Division, just out of training camp and utterly unschooled in jungle warfare, was nearly disastrous. Most regrettable!!' They were prepared and distributed as a result of a specific need, and represented a form of publication for matters outside the usual range of translations and reports. This involved air attacks and naval bombardments on the Wewak area, and faked landings of reconnaissance patrols. [20], Since Port Moresby was the only port supporting operations in Papua, its defence was critical to the campaign. "[19] Thus was the overland threat to Port Moresby permanently removed. When Hollandia, Dutch New Guinea, was captured in late April one of the first places CIC agents seized was the post office. [6] The Joint Chiefs of Staff also directed the United States Pacific Fleet to assign aircraft carriers to provide air support for the landings. Through this, a complete picture of the organization, strength and disposition of this force was gleaned. 25 with Anti-Japanese activities in Java; and No. Thousands perished from starvation and disease; the commanding general, Horii, was drowned. During the early days of the war the Japanese forces were advancing. Japanese forces to the west were reconfigured to form a defense line through Biak and Manokwari,[62] while the Japanese 18th Army, still in defensive positions around Wewak, to the east, were faced with a long retreat west through the jungle having been ordered to bypass Hollandia and Aitape and reinforce the 2nd Army in western New Guinea. Japanese makeshift bridges were attacked by P-40s with 500lb (230kg) bombs. It was later thought that 3000 troops from the 6th Sea Detachment were in the area, and reinforcements were being rapidly transferred there. In addition, their bomb bays were filled with 500-pound bombs to be used in the newly devised practice of skip bombing. It was a grisly task, but a military necessity since Japanese soldiers do not surrender and within swimming distance of shore, they could not be allowed to land and join the Lae garrison. As in most Pacific War campaigns, disease and starvation claimed more Japanese lives than enemy action. The Japanese entered Lae and Salamaua, two locations on Huon Gulf, on 8 March 1942 unopposed. SEATIC and SINTIC operating in Southeast Asia and China received and translated relatively large quantities of captured documents during the war. No. 87 (Japanese Mines and Minesweeping); and, Nos. 2, Alphabetical List of 40,000 Japanese Army Officer (May 1943); No. Copies of the documents were made in Brisbane and the original documents were returned to the aircraft crash site by another submarine. [4][32] The shortage of shipping meant that each ship had to be loaded as efficiently as possible, using a technique known as combat loading to ensure that the most important stores and equipment could be unloaded quickly. These provided the first clues to breaking the Japanese Navys operational codes. [13] Eventually it would grow to over 2,500 personnel, some of who served with Advanced Echelons and combat units. Operation Reckless, the invasion of Hollandia and Aitape of 22-27 April 1944, was one of the most dramatic leapfrogging operations during the New Guinea campaign, and saw American forces bypass the strong Japanese bases at Wewak and Hansa Bay and capture key bases for MacArthur's planned return to the Philippines. [1][2], Hollandia was situated on the east side of a headland separating Humboldt Bay to the east and Tanahmerah Bay, 25 miles (40km) to the west. ATIS was established on September 19, 1942, and was headquartered in a suburb of Brisbane, Australia. [23] The Australian and American anti-aircraft gunners of the Composite Anti-Aircraft Defences played a crucial part. [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. Japanese forces began to land on the island of Luzon in the Philippines on December 10. . Subsequently, Supplements No. Miscellaneous identifications taken from documents captured in early November in the Pinamopoan Area, Leyte, gave the first indication of the Japanese 1st Divisions presence in this area. [9] See Seventy Years Ago: The Makin Island Raid, August 1942., [10] The Armys Counter Intelligence Corps faced similar problems with souvenir hunters. The Allied victories in 1943 set the stage for the strategic advances of 1944, but they did not determine the exact lines of attack. MacArthur was now determined to liberate the island as a stepping-stone to the reconquest of the Philippines. [17] The Allied Translation and Interpreter Section (ATIS) estimated the average size of a captured document at 12 pages. 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.. It held what turned out to be a gold mine of valuable documents, including battle plans, codes and letters. They were special works, compiled for general reference purposes. Many of the captured documents provided significant intelligence to General Douglas MacArthurs forces in the SWPA. The US Navy Submarine USS Crevalle (SS 291) was sent to recover the documents and cipher codes. [10] After the chief of staff of the Second Area Army travelled to Wewak to deliver Adachi orders in person, he directed that the 66th Infantry Regiment begin moving from Wewak to Hollandia on 18 April; it was expected that this unit would arrive there in mid-June. Some claim that 97% of Japanese deaths were from non-combat causes. The Japanese invasion of the Dutch East Indies began on 10 January 1942, and the Imperial Japanese Army overran the entire colony in less than three months. It showed the units to which they belonged. 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. Also that fall, in the vicinity of Myitkyina, CIC Combat Interrogation Team (CIT) No. The air defences consisted of P-39 and P-40 fighters. 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. 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. Operations focused on attacking positions and seaborne traffic around Timor, Ambon, and the Kai and Aroe Islands. 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. 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