New Britain.

By July 1944 parties of Allied Intelligence Bureau, using natives, had
cleared the Japanese from the north coast to Ulamona and from the south
coast to the western shores of Wide Bay. 


In the first week of the New Year the Australians' first offensive
operation instruction was issued. Up to that period Australian forces
had been limited to patrols and, because of numerical inferiority, had
instructions to avoid heavy clashes. The new instruction allowed for
concentration of the 14th/32nd Battalion and a troop of artillery at
Sampun in the Wide Bay area, and for patrols to contact the Japanese. On
the north coast the 36th Battalion was to move to Nantambu, with orders
to contact the Japanese by patrolling. By the end of January 1945
movement of the whole of the Fifth Division to New Britain was
practically complete. The 6th Brigade was at Cutarp, the 13th
Brigade,commanded by Brigadier E G H McKenzie) was settled in at
Jacquinot, and advanced elements of 4th Brigade,commanded by Brigadier C
R V Edgar) had arrived from Australia after a spell following its part
in the 1944 New Guinea campaigns.


The Australians pushed forward on both sides of the island The 14th/32nd
Battalion had moved from Sampun to Kiep, and the 19th Battalion was
preparing to leave Cutarp to take over the small base which had been
established at Sampun. Patrols from the 14th/32nd reached Ip River in
Wide Bay and on the north coast a company of the 36th Battalion went on
from Nantambu to Baia, on the shores of Open Bay.


The first notable clash occurred on 3 February when a platoon from "D"
Company of the 1st New Guinea Infantry Battalion was moving along the
north coast towards Mavelo plantation, about a mile south of Watu Point,
was attacked by 200 to 300 Japanese troops. They came in behind a screen
of rebel natives, yelling and shouting in an attempt to demoralise the
natives of the New Guinea Infantry Battalion platoon. But their noise
had no effect. The platoon killed twenty of the Japanese before it
withdrew without a casualty.

On 9 February a platoon from "C" Company of the 36th Battalion and a
platoon from "D" Company of the 1st New Guinea Infantry Battalion were
attacked by about eighty Japanese. The ensuing battle lasted for half an
hour until the Australians withdrew to avoid being encircled. On the
morning of 15 February RAAF Beauforts, led in by a Boomerang, bombed and
strafed Japanese positions on the north edge of Kalai plantation. They
attacked for half an hour and, as they pulled out and headed home across
the bay, Australian artillery opened up for the first time in the
campaign. The 2/14th Field Regiment pumped a thousand rounds into the
plantation and, when the 14th/32nd Battalion moved into occupy, the
Japanese had withdrawn. From Kalai the battalion moved on and
consolidated positions around Kamandram, a peace-time trading station
with a fairly good anchorage. They stayed there only two days and then
moved inland along the Japanese tracks. On the 17 February, "B" Company
of the 1st New Guinea Infantry Battalion, moving along one of these
tracks, clashed with an Japanese party sixty strong. A running fight
developed; two NGIB soldiers were lost but the battalion accounted for
twenty-five Japanese.

On 18 February the 14th/32nd Battalion, which had been forward battalion
since the landing in November, was relieved by the 19th. On the same day
the 6th Brigade headquarters were set up in Kamandram. On the north
coast Australian troops were exploring and patrolling the hundreds of
tracks which branched and disappeared in all directions from the main
paths. "A" Company of the 36th Battalion had moved forward to the Sai
River on the east side of Open Bay and on 18 February repulsed three
attacks by a strong Japanese party. The rest of the battalion group had
moved up from Baia and was concentrating at Watu Point.

The stiffening Japanese resistance gave an indication of the
determination to defend the narrow neck between Open and Wide Bays to
prevent penetration into Gazelle Peninsula. In view of the comparatively
low strength of Australian forces in the area, it became necessary to
define the limit to which the advance would proceed. In the Wide Bay
area this was fixed as the mouth of Bulus River. It involved first the
seizure of Japanese positions in the Waitavalo-Tol plantation area.

Waitavalo.

On 5 March, the Australians attacked the Waitavalo defences. The
Japanese positions were on a long low narrow mountain ridge running as a
natural fortress wall around the area. At 9 am "A" Company of the 19th
Battalion made two attempts to cross the Henry Reid River near the
mouth. Sustained fire drove them back Moving upriver about 300 yards,
the crossing was made unopposed. The company then moved downstream in an
attempt to outflank the Japanese, but they had withdrawn.

In the afternoon the Japanese began to use heavy mortars to effect. The
Australians, who had discarded entrenching tools to lighten their loads
for the attack, had to dig fox-holes with their hands and bayonets.
There was a lull during the night, but at first light on 6 March the
Australian gunners opened up again and the infantry followed for the
attack proper. "A" Company of the 19th Battalion passed through "C"
Company and, meeting only slight opposition, advanced towards the first
objective, a feature known as Cake Hill. At 11 am the company met its
first serious opposition. From positions on a companion feature in the
south known as Lone Tree Hill the Japanese pinned the company down with
machine-gun and rifle fire. The advance was halted for an hour there;
then the troops began moving forward again. The Japanese had evidently
fallen back to further prepared defences and "A" Company occupied Cake
Hill. "C" Company of the 19th then came up and consolidated the area
while "A" Company moved into a less exposed position. Throughout the day
the Japanese had concentrated on battalion headquarters with mortars,
and Australian guns were still trying to silence them.

During the next three days the Australians continued to attack but they
met only slight opposition. They were, however, suffering casualties
from Japanese mortars and their artillery was constantly engaged in
harassing tasks. On the north coast the lull was broken early on the
morning of the 8 March, when a party of seventy Japanese attacked a
platoon of "C" Company of the 36th Battalion on Mavelo River. The attack
was repulsed and the Japanese dug in fifty yards outside the Australian
perimeter. Shortly after 7 am they attacked again, this time supported
by a 70-mm. gun. When they withdrew they left fifteen dead.

On the south coast, moving on from Lone Tree Hill Australian troops
occupied a higher feature above the Waitavalo ridge known as Moose Hill.
There they came under harassing fire from Japanese mortars, and suffered
casualties. Rain now set in. On the north coast operations were at a
standstill, and in the Wide Bay area there was a lull while the troops
were regrouped and supply lines were organised. This was no easy task.
Heavy rain had made the steep tracks to the tops of ridges as
treacherous as ice, and the tracks themselves were subject to mortar
fire. On the flat jeep tracks were mud streams, and the bridge over
Mavelo River had been washed away. During this period the 19th Battalion
was relieved by the 14th/32nd Battalion.

On the morning of the 16 March the Australians attacked again. RAAF
Beauforts went in on low-level bombing runs and as they drew out,
artillery began shelling the Japanese positions. As the artillery closed
down "B" Company of the 14th/32nd Battalion, which had relieved a
forward company of the 19th Battalion, advanced northwards to the high
ground of Bacon's Hill. Two platoons were held up by machine-gun and
mortar fire, so a third platoon moved around the left flank and took up
a position only fifty yards from the Japanese perimeter. The Japanese
were well dug in, and his cross-fire was well planned. Next day the
attack was renewed. During the night, however, the Japanese had moved
out, though his mortars still plugged away, this time from new
positions. It was during this attack only that made use of planes
against Australian ground troops. Two came in over the bridge crossing
the Walnut River, dropped two heavy bombs and a number of anti-personnel
bombs. They caused a few casualties. From then on the Japanese began to
withdraw and Waitavalo was occupied without further opposition.

The first task had been completed. The Australians were firmly planted
on each side of the island, straddling the completed neck of the
peninsula, and patrols were going inland from both coasts trying to find
a potential track across the neck.

On the 4 April, Major-General H C H Robertson took over command of the
Fifth Division from Major-General Ramsay who transferred to the Eleventh
Division.

The situation was generally quiet throughout June. The battalions
established their perimeters at Wide and Open Bays, and engineers
widened and surfaced the roads around Tol and Waitavalo. The relief of
36th Battalion from Open Bay, which had been going on since 10 May, was
completed on the 6 June after the 37th/52nd Battalion had marched across
Gazelle Peninsula. The 36th had been at Open Bay for eight and a half
months.

On 5 June, the 2/2nd Commando Squadron arrived at Wide Bay and
established headquarters at Lamarien near Henry Reid River. This
squadron had previously fought in Timor and the Ramu Valley. By this
time a section of the RNZAF was established at Jacquinot Bay. It
consisted of two squadrons of Corsairs and one of Ventures. The main
advance party of headquarters of the Eleventh Division, which was to
relieve the Fifth of command in New Britain, arrived by flying boat from
Cairns on the 23 June. The following day the plane returned to Australia
with the advance party of the Fifth, which was to establish a camp on
the Atherton Tableland. In the last week of June, the monsoon rains
began. During the last two days of the month about twenty inches of rain
fell. The sea was too rough for barge traffic and planes could not find
their way in or out of the bay. Despite the weather, forward battalions
continued patrolling, although most of their work was reconnaissance. On
the Open Bay side of the island the 1st New Guinea Infantry Battalion
patrolled forward to the north-east side of Cooper's Clearing.

The RNZAF was most active. On every fine day the New Zealanders bombed
and strafed Japanese positions on each coast. Towards the end of the
month land patrols became more active, but there was still no attempt to
contact the Japanese in strength. Australian forces were pinning the
Japanese down and that was the task which they had been allotted.
Refugee natives, coming in from the top of the island, moved into Wide
and Open Bays where they were recruited into ANGAU camps for work.

On the l0 July the Japanese made a half-hearted harassing attack for the first time in the month. They were forced to withdraw when Australian
artillery pin-pointed them on the Moondei River. Back at Jacquinot Bay Major-General K. W. Eather, promoted from the command of 2sth Brigade, 7th Division) had arrived to take over the division from Major-General
H. C. H. Robertson who had been given command of the 6th Division on the New Guinea mainland. Another important administrative change was also in
progress--the change-over of the headquarters staff from Fifth Division to Eleventh Division. The greater part of the Eleventh's staff had
arrived from Australia on the 11 August, a few days before the Japanese surrendered.