Japanese expansion in East Asia began in 1931 with the invasion of Manchuria and continued in 1937 with a brutal attack on China. 5 captured many military documents. When Germany and Italy declared war on the United States days later, America found itself in a global war. 37, No. It contained details of the proposed landing of Tama Group (full strength of one division) at Ormoc, Leyte, on November 1st. Todays post is by Dr. Greg Bradsher, Senior Archivist at the National Archives at College Park, Maryland. [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. This bombing operation was also the moment in the New Guinea campaign when Japanese air power no longer threatened the Allies. On September 27, 1940, Japan signed the Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy, thus entering the military alliance known as the "Axis."Seeking to curb Japanese aggression and force a withdrawal of Japanese forces from Manchuria and China, the United States . The plan called for the establishment of a two-battalion front, with troops landed in seven waves at two beaches: Red 1 around the Depapre Inlet and Red 2 on the eastern side of the bay. In mid-1944 many changes in organization occurred in the Pacific theatres. [42], " 'The Boeing [B-25] is most terrifying,' wrote one survivor in his diary. U.S. Army Air Forces, Pacific Ocean Area (except the B-29s) were placed under Lieut. [17] It proved difficult to accurately estimate the size and composition of the Japanese defenses, as attempts to infiltrate reconnaissance parties in the area failed. Report No. Also captured on January 19th was a radio chart that was used by I Corps Signal officers to gain highly satisfactory results in the monitoring of Japanese radio communications. The campaign between Allied and Japanese forces commenced with the Japanese assault on Rabaul on 23 January 1942. It was recognized that before an invasion of the Japanese home islands became possible it would be necessary to undertake extensive aerial bombardment of the islands and cut Japans lines of communications to the Dutch East Indies and Malaya. The most important find was a set of plans and specifications for some of the defenses encountered on the island. The War Department Intelligence Service established a secret school at the Presidio of San Francisco to teach individuals to be Japanese-language interpreters and translators. Most important of all, the bombers of MacArthur's air forces, under the command of Lieutenant General George C. Kenney, had been modified to enable new offensive tactics. 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. Often, they consisted of combined translations of several documents relating to the same subject, such as (No. This information was put to immediate tactical use and resulted in the capture of the position by the US 7th Cavalry Squadron. ", Samuel Eliot Morison, Breaking the Bismarcks Barrier, p. 38. In mid-July 1944, near Moemi, soldiers recovered three cases of buried records, including seven important documents that a Japanese deserter had led them to. A Japanese carrier pigeon landed on a US transport on the way to Kwajalen Atoll in the Marianas. 5, Bibliographic Subject Index for Enemy Publications 1-200 (November 30, 1944), with a supplementary index from 201-300 (March 1945); No. Only 30 percent of the captured documents needed no treatment; the rest needed cleaning, drying, and/or other conservation treatment. It was not just ATIS that was engaged in captured Japanese records operations. Intelligence gained from breaking the codes protecting Imperial Japanese Army radio messages led the Allies to learn that the Hollandia area was only lightly defended, with Japanese forces being concentrated in the Madang-Wewak region. Three weeks later, on March 21, 1944, a captured field order disclosed the Japanese strength at Rossum, New Britain. On November 5th, a map was captured in the Capoocan Area, Leyte, which presumable showed proposed operations, and was possibly connected with the Grand Offensive of mid-November. [21], Although RAAF PBY Catalinas and Lockheed Hudsons were based at Port Moresby, because of the Japanese air attacks, long-range bombers like B-17s, B-25s, and B-26s could not be safely based there and were instead staged through from bases in Australia. They included: No. [46], On landing, the U.S. troops came under sporadic small arms and machine gun fire, but this was quickly suppressed. There was also a small airstrip.To the west, the Cyclops Mountains rise to over 7000 feet (2100 m). However, using 27 tons, at 40 lbs. [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. By the end of the day on 23 April the 186th Infantry were about halfway to Lake Sentani, while those from the 162nd had secured Hollandia and were securing the high ground around their objective, winkling out isolated pockets of resistance with aerial support. It is important to note that all ATIS units maintained close relations with the CIC units and Australian Army Field Security Service, since these units were largely responsible for the collection and dispatch of captured documents in forward areas to the language personnel stationed with tactical units. The Allies proceeded to turn the island into an air base. [28], "Thenceforth, the Battle of Milne Bay became an infantry struggle in the sopping jungle carried on mostly at night under pouring rain. [29] The Japanese arrived and the 25 August 7 September Battle of Milne Bay was underway. [25] But fighters did provide cover for the transports, and for bombers when their targets were within range. The plane in which Koga was flying crashed at sea, with no survivors. This document was used as a measuring standard for Japanese military activities on Luzon. The admirals preferred to bypass the Philippines and take Formosa, which was much closer to Japan. [43], The remaining destroyers with about 2,700 surviving troops limped back to Rabaul. After four days under these conditions the two units had reached the western airfield and on 26 April it was secured. An airfield had been built there during an area gold rush in the 1920s and 1930s. During the early days of the war the Japanese forces were advancing. He told soldiers that ATIS personnel had told him that they had seen Japanese documents held as souvenirs of earlier battles in New Guinea, which contained information of tactical value which if had been turned in at the time, would have saved lives and shortened battles. The Allied victories in 1943 set the stage for the strategic advances of 1944, but they did not determine the exact lines of attack. The U.S. 24th Division's 19th and 21st Regimental Combat Teams (RCTs) were to land at Tanahmerah Bay. In the Southwest Pacific Area, aside from the creation of the Far Eastern Air Force, there were few changes. Instructions were issued to the assaulting forces personnel not to pocket captured documents as souvenirs but to turn them over to JICPOA personnel.[10]. Combat boundaries were listed. Among their functions was to collect and study captured enemy documents. Before June, between 20 and 25 P-39s had been lost in air combat, while three more had been destroyed on the ground and eight had been destroyed in landings by accident. In early January 1943, Japanese documents taken from the body of a sniper killed near Soputa, New Guinea, revealed the entire standing operating procedure of the Japanese in that area. They subsequently neutralized the Japanese positions, as well as interdicted a portion of the Japanese movements, and anticipated Japanese defensive position and strengths. Two months after JICPOA was formed US forces invaded the Gilbert Islands. 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. At the Kempei Tai (Japanese Military Police) headquarters they found numerous lists of names and evidence of collaboration and disloyalty to the Philippines and the United States. West Papua is the western half of the island of New Guinea, formerly known as Dutch New Guinea. At Anguar Island in the Western Carolinas in early September 1944, agents from the 81st CIC Detachment, with the 81st Infantry Division, captured a large volume of records, including blueprints, books, miscellaneous documents, files, 40 pounds of mail, and Japanese currency and coins. Interestingly enough, among these records was a complete listing of the Japanese Imperial Army Ordnance Inventory. 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. The Dutch East Indies fell into Japan's sphere. Report No. This translation aided materially in speeding up the execution of the subsequent attack on Saipan and other Japanese bases in the Pacific, which occurred shortly thereafter. For this, he ordered the air arm of Vice Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa's Third Fleet carriers to reinforce the Eleventh Air Fleet at Rabaul. Blog of the Textual Records Division at the National Archives. It made the term amphibious a household word throughout the English-speaking world. A force of 800 Australian troops landed on 22 October on either side of the Japanese position. The majority of the Allied force was provided by the United States, with the bulk of two United States Army infantry divisions being committed on the ground. region: "", In addition, ATIS officers collaborated in the accumulation of evidence from prisoners and testified before the Board. At the same time, two sketches were captured at Tacloban, Leyte, which showed the disposition of the Japanese 16th Division. 2 in May 1943. Also produced were ATIS Publications. target: "#hbspt-form-1677759698000-1549361125", 8, Kanji Abbreviations, Variants, and Equivalents; No. In early June, US Army engineers, Australian infantry and an anti-aircraft battery were landed near the Lever Brothers coconut plantation at Gili Gili, and work was begun on an airfield. In the spring of 1944, ATIS received a document which, after being translated, proved to be of exceptional value and probably considerably shortened the war. [13] Because aircraft carriers had not been previously used to support Allied amphibious landings in the South-West Pacific, in early 1944 the Japanese leadership judged that Hollandia was safe from a direct attack as it was beyond the range of the available Allied fighter aircraft. During the second phase, lasting from late 1942 until the Japanese surrender, the Alliesconsisting primarily of Australian forcescleared the Japanese first from Papua, then the Mandate and finally from the Dutch colony. [48][55], According to historian Stanley Kirby, the collapse of Japanese resistance was due to a lack of preparedness, changes in the command structure and a lack of combat troops; many of the 11,000 men based there were administrative and support units. In New Guinea, U.S. and Australian infantry were moving along the northern coast, pushing the Japanese before them. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. 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. In March 1943, a document was captured showing the submarine schedule between Lae, New Guinea, and New Britain. ATIS received and translated in April 1944 the diary of prisoner of war Hiroshi Horikoshi, a civilian employee (interpreter) with the Japanese 14th Army, who was captured at the same time. Japanese plans to occupy Port Moresby were negated by losses during the Battle of the Coral Sea and Battle of Milne Bay. The air defences consisted of P-39 and P-40 fighters. When Hollandia, Dutch New Guinea, was captured in late April one of the first places CIC agents seized was the post office. In addition, their bomb bays were filled with 500-pound bombs to be used in the newly devised practice of skip bombing. Approval was granted four days later. In many instances these organizations were staffed with translators trained in military and naval language schools in the United States. 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. 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. 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. Backed by a swamp just 30 yards from the shoreline, and with just one exit trail unsuitable for vehicles, it quickly became congested. [46] Yamamoto then turned his attention to New Guinea: 94 planes struck Oro Bay on 11 April; 174 planes hit Port Moresby on 12 April; and in the largest raid of all, 188 aircraft struck Milne Bay on 14 April. MacArthur was now determined to liberate the island as a stepping-stone to the reconquest of the Philippines. Adachi ignored this order, and instead decided to concentrate his troops at Hansa Bay and Wewak. 119 deals with the Japanese Military Police Service and Report No. To assist researchers interested in World War II-era research regarding the Pacific and Far East, I prepared a 1,700-page finding aid entitled Japanese War Crimes and Related Records: A Guide to Records in the National Archives,which is searchable and available online. 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. 255) Procedure in interrogating and handling [Allied] prisoners of war. Over 420 of these were published. The Z Plan [issued as Admiral Kogas Combined Fleet Secret Operations Order No. German New Guinea Stamps, Dutch Dutch & Colonies Cover Stamps, Dutch Stamps, The large majority of the defending Japanese troops there had uncharacteristically abandoned their positions and fled inland. [11] Adachi continued to plan to make a last stand at Hollandia if he was defeated at Hansa Bay. The National Archives at College Park as well as other United States and foreign archival institutions hold copies of these publications. [13], Due north of Port Moresby, on the northeast coast of Papua, are the Huon Gulf and the Huon Peninsula. With the occupation of Morotai, the long drive up the New Guinea coast was strategically completed. 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. 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. [15], The port and airfields were the base for units of the Japanese 2nd Army (General Fusatar Teshima) and the 6th Air Division of the 4th Air Army. Documents were first captured from a Japanese plane downed in the Pearl Harbor attack. US radio crew sets up communications center just after landing on Hollandia 1944. 16 dealt with interrogation of captured American B-24 air crews; No. 1, List of Japanese Military Conventional Signs and Abbreviations (March 4, 1943); No. The submarine picked up the documents on May 11th and sailed to Darwin. 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. 17 with Allied and Japanese Operations Among Natives of Dutch New Guinea; No. The US Navy had similar language programs. This material was translated by ATIS in May 1945 and provided Allied naval commanders with immediate intelligence regarding a variety of topics. 117, Infringement of the Laws of War and Ethics by the Japanese Medical Corps, contains information on violations of the Geneva Convention on the rules of warfare and points out how, time and again, medical personnel put to death their own patients. Beleaguered, the survivors of the Japanese garrison were evacuated by submarine on the night of 26 October. Thompson sub machine-guns jammed with the gritty mud and were unreliable in the humid atmosphere ", John Vader, New Guinea: The Tide Is Stemmed, pp. [4][23], The main landings at Hollandia would be made at two locations. [23] The Australian and American anti-aircraft gunners of the Composite Anti-Aircraft Defences played a crucial part. Tweet. This deception effort proved successful. [7] The volume would have been more but members of the 414th CIC unit learned that Chinese soldiers through ignorance destroyed many documents. [17], After this failure, the Japanese decided on a longer term, two-pronged assault for their next attempt on Port Moresby. They arrived off Hollandia during the night of 21/22 April and about 20 miles (32km) offshore, the convoy split again with the Central Attack Group preceding for Humboldt Bay while the Western Attack Group turned towards Tanahmerah Bay. 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