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Australian War Memorial
#014368
In 1941, Wau (146.718E 7.346S) was a gold mining
center in the northern foothills of the Owen Stanley Range of New Guinea.
Located deep in the jungle, it
could be reached overland only over primitive trails (such as the Black
Cat Trail from Salamaua), so
supplies were
flown in
and gold was flown out. The airfield
was a terror, with a 10%
grade and a steep
mountain face at one end. This made for heavy operational
losses.
When war broke out, the only organized Allied
military force in northwest New Guinea was Kanga Force,
consisting of a few hundred New Guinea Volunteer Rifles at Wau. This
force attempted unsuccessfully to drive the Japanese out of Lae as a diversion from the Milne Bay landings in June 1942.
Wau was strategically placed, providing a potential staging base for fighters from Madang and Wewak to reach Port Moresby and for land forces to cross the Owen Stanleys and renew the assault against the port. 102 Regiment
arrived at Lae in early January 1943 after losing a quarter of its
manpower and half its supplies to an air attack that sank two transports in its convoy. Okabe Toru, infantry group commander of 51 Division, was nevertheless ordered to lead the weakened regiment against Wau by way of the Black Cat Trail.
Elements of Australian 17 Brigade,
3 Division, began arriving at Wau on 8 January 1943 to make it an advanced base for further
operations once the Buna area was
cleared. The timing suggests that the Allies had signals intelligence
regarding Japanese intentions, but none are mentioned in Prados (1995)
or other studies. The Japanese reached Wau on 28 January and promptly
attacked. The remainder of 17 Brigade was hurredly flown in to
the airfield, which at one point was under small-arms and mortar
fire. The troops
would disembark and walk a couple of hundred yards to the front line to
join battle. Some 194 plane loads, or about 500 tons, were brought in
in this manner. Two days later, the Japanese acknowledged defeat and withdrew, pursued by 17 Brigade nearly to Salamaua.
3 Australian Division took over the defense in April 1943 and Kanga Force itself was dissolved.
References
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