Operation Cartwheel

Toenails: The Landings
in New Georgia

Move to Zanama and Rice Anchorage

by James Miller, jr.

The Move to Zanana

After the occupation of Rendova, the next tasks facing the invaders were the movement to the New Georgia mainland and the assault against Munda airfield. On 2 July Admiral Halsey, doubtless encouraged by the lack of effective Japanese opposition, directed Turner to proceed with plans for the move against Munda.

To carry out these plans, Turner on 28 June had reorganized the Western Force into five units: the transport unit consisting of destroyer-transports and high-speed minesweepers; a destroyer screen; a fire support group, eventually consisting of three light cruisers and four destroyers; two tugs; and the Munda-Bairoko Occupation Force under General Hester.

The Munda-Balroko Occupation Force was further divided into five components. The Northern Landing Group, under Colonel Liversedge, was to operate against Bairoko. The Southern Landing Group (the 43d Division less the 1st Battalion of the 103d Infantry, the 116th Field Artillery Battalion, the 9th Marine Defense Battalion less elements, and the South Pacific Scouts) under Brig. Gen. Leonard F. Wing, assistant commander of the 43d Division, was to attack Munda.

The New Georgia Air Force, the Assault Flotillas (twelve LCI's, four LCT's, and native canoes), and a naval base group comprised the remainIng three components. The Southern Landing Group was to land at Zanana Beach about five air-line miles east of Munda and attack westward to capture Munda while the Northern Group landed at Rice Anchorage in the Kula Gulf and advanced southward to capture or destroy the enemy in the Bairoko-Enogai area, block all trails from there to Munda, and cut off the Japanese route of reinforcement, supply, and escape. (Rice Anchorage lies about fifteen statute miles north by cast of Munda Point. The other beach near Munda, Laiana Beach, lay within range of the Japanese artillery at Munda and would have been a risky place to land.)

Less Than Complete Success

The troops on Rendova had been making ready since 30 June, but some of their efforts were marked by less than complete success. Hester had ordered aggressive reconnaissance of the entire area east and north of Munda. Starting on the night of 30 June-1 July, patrols from the 172d Infantry were to pass through Onaiavisi Entrance and Roviana Lagoon, land at Zanana, and begin reconnoitering, while Marine patrols pushed south from Rice Anchorage. The 43d Division patrols Were to operate from a base camp West of Zanana established on the afternoon of 30 June by Capt. E. C. D. Sherrer, assistant intelligence officer of the New Georgia Occupation Force.

At 2330, 30 June, despite a false rumor that Onalavisi Entrance was impassable for small boats, patrols left Rendova on the eight-mile run to the mainland. The next morning regimental headquarters discovered that the patrols, unable to find the entrance in the dark, had landed on one of the barrier islands. The next evening the 1st Battalion, accompanied by Colonel Ross, shoved off for the mainland but could not find its way. Thus it was concluded that the move should be made in daylight. Accordingly A Company, 16gth Infantry, and the ist Battalion, 172d Infantry, moved out for Zanana on the afternoon Of 2 July. Native guides in canoes marked the channel.

Everything went well except that about 150 men returned to Rendova at 2330. Questioned about their startling reversal of course, they are reported to have stated that the coxswain of the leading craft had received a note dropped by a B-24 which ordered them to turn back. (There seem to be no further available data regarding this interesting but absurd excuse.)

By the next morning, however, the entire ist Battalion was on the mainland.

The build-up of supplies on Rendova continued to be difficult; the rain and mud partially thwarted the efforts of the 118th Engineer and the 24th Naval Construction Battalions to drain the flat areas. East Beach was finally abandoned. The Occupation Force supply officers, after examining the solid coral subsurfaces under the sandy loam of the barrier islands, began using the islands as stagino, points for supplies eventually intended for the mainland.

On the other hand, the artillery picture was bright. General Barker, the artillery commander, had never planned to make extensive use of Rendova for artillery positions, as the range from Rendova to Munda was too great for all weapons except 155-mm. guns.

TRUCK TOWING A 155-mm. HOWITZER OVER MUDDY TRAIL, Rendova, 7 July 1943

Such barrier islands as Bau, Kokorana, Sasavele, and Baraulu could well support artillery, and these islands, open on their north shores, possessed natural fields of fire. The field artillery could cover the entire area from Zanana to Munda, and initially would be firing at right'angles to the axis of infantry advance and parallel to the infantry front. This would enable the artillery to deliver extremely accurate supporting fire, since the dispersion in artillery fire is greater in range than in deflection.

On the other hand, it would increase the difficulty of co-ordination between artillery and infantry, for each artillery unit would require exact information regarding not only the front line of the unit it was supporting, but also the front line of the unit's neighbors. Three battalions of artillery were in place in time to cover the move of the 1st Battalion, 172d Infantry, to Zanana, and by 6 July two battalions of 105-mm. howitzers (the 103d and 169th),. two battalions of 155-mm. howitzers (the 136th and 192d), and two batteries of 155-mm guns (9th Marine Defense Battalion) were in place, registered, and ready to fire in support of the infantry.

Antiaircraft managed to make a tremendous improvement over its performance of 2 July, and celebrated Independence Day in signal fashion when a close formation of sixteen unescorted enemy bombers flew over Rendova. This time radars were working, the warning had been given, and fire control men and gunners of the 9th Marine Defense Battalion's 90-mm. and 40-mm. batteries were ready. The Japanese flew into a concentration of fire from these weapons, and twelve immediately plunged earthward in return for the expenditure of eighty-eight rounds. The fighter cover from the Russells knocked down the remaining four.

Meanwhile, at Zanana, the 1st Battalion, 172d Infantry, established a perimeter Of 400 yards' radius, wired in and protected by machine guns, 37-mm. antitank guns, and antiaircraft guns. Here General Wing set up the 43d Division command post, and to this perimeter came the remaining troops of the 172d and 169th Infantry Regiments in echelons until 6 July when both regiments had been completely assembled. Ground reconnaissance by 43d Division soldiers, marines, and coastwatchers, aided after 3 July by the ist Company, South Pacific Scouts, under Capt. Charles W. H. Tripp of the New Zealand Army, was still being carried on. The advance westward was ready to begin.

Rice Anchorage

While 43d Division troops were establishing themselves at Zanana, Colonel Liversedge's Northern Landing Group was boarding ships at Guadalcanal and making ready to cut the Japanese communications north of Munda. The Northern Landing Group was originally to have landed on 4 July, but the delays in getting a foothold at Zanana forced Turner to postpone the landing, and all other operations, for twenty-four hours.

Because the Bairoko-Enogai area, the New Georgia terminus of the Japanese seaborne line of communications, was strongly held, and because preinvasion patrols had reported the Wharton River to be unfordable from the coast to a point about six thousand yards inland, Turner and Liversedge had decided to land at Rice Anchorage on the south bank of the river about six hundred yards inland. (The patrols had left Segi on 14 June by boat. Turner had also considered landing the force at Roviana Lagoon and having it march overland to Bairoko but decided against it because the terrain was too rugged.)

Supervised by Capt. Clay A. Boyd, USMC, and Flight Officer J. A. Corrigan of the RAAF and the coastwatchers, native New Georgians cleared the landing beach and bivouac areas inland, and began hacking two trails from Rice Anchorage to Enogal to supplement the one track already in existence.

The organization of Liversedge's Northern Landing Group was somewhat odd; the group consisted of three battalions from three different regiments. The 3d Battalions of the 145th and 148th Infantry. Regiments of the 37th Division and the 1st Raider Battalion, 1st Marine Raider Regiment, made up the force. (Turner had originally planned to use the 4th Raider Battalion but when it was delayed at Viru Harbor the 3d Battalion, 145th, was substituted.)

And the force was lightly equipped. In order to permit rapid movement through the thick jungles and swamps of the area north of Munda, the troops took no artillery of any kind. Machine guns and mortars were their heaviest organic supporting weapons.

The battalions boarded the APD's, destroyers, and minesweepers at Guadalcanal on the afternoon Of 4 July. The troops carried one unit of fire and rations for three days; five days' rations and one unit of fire were stowed as cargo. Escorted by Rear Adm. Walden L. Ainsworth's three light cruisers and nine destroyers, the speedy convoy started up the Slot at dusk. Shortly before midnight of a dark, rainy night, the ships rounded Visuvisu Point and entered Kula Gulf. Ainsworth bombarded Vila and then Bairoko Harbour with 6-inch and 5-inch shells, while the transport group headed for Rice Anchorage.

Japanese Destroyers

As the cruisers and destroyers were concluding their bombardment, the destroyer Ralph Talbot's radar picked up two surface targets as they were leaving the gulf. These were two of three Japanese destroyers which had brought the first echelon of four thousand Japanese Army reinforcements down from the Shortland Islands. (see below)

The Japanese ships had entered Kula at the same time as Ainsworth; warned by his bombardment, they were clearing out, but fired torpedoes at long range. One scored a fatal hit on the destroyer Strong. As two other destroyers were taking off her crew, four 140mm. Japanese seacoast guns at Enogai opened fire, joined soon by the Bairoko batteries, but did no damage. (Ainsworth had first wanted to bombard Enogai but did not because air reconnaissance showed no evidence of shore batteries there.)

Liversedge's landing started about 0130, just after Ainsworth's bombardment ceased. The APD's unloaded first, then destroyers, finally minesweepers. Each LCP(R) towed one ten-man rubber boat to shore. The way was marked by native canoes and shore beacons. The Japanese batteries harassed the troops but did not hit anything. There were no Japanese on the landing beach.

Nonetheless the landing was attended by troubles. A shallow bar obstructed the month of the Wharton River so effectively that many boats were grounded and later craft got over the bar only by coming in with lighter loads. The landing beach was too small to accommodate date more than four boats at once, and the river mouth was thus continually jammed with loaded boats waiting their turns at the beach. Also, about two hundred men of the 3d Battalion, 148th Infantry, were landed at Kobukobu Inlet, several hundred yards north of Rice Anchorage, a mishap which may have occurred because of the darkness of the night. Some days elapsed before the two hundred men made their way through the jungle to catch up with their battalion.

As dawn of 5 July was breaking, the volume of fire from the Enogai batteries against the ships was increasing, and it seemed unwise to risk this fire in daylight as well as to invite air attack. All but seventy-two troops and 2 percent of the cargo had been put ashore. Therefore, the convoy commander withdrew. Liversedge, with nearly all his three battalions ashore and under his control, made ready to move south.

Toenails Over

Thus by 5 July TOENAILS was over. Throughout the complicated series of operations certain characteristics stood out. The weather had been consistently foul. The Japanese had not been able to resist effectively. The American performance, in spite of several instances of confusion, was very good, in that six landings in all had been carried out according to a complicated schedule that called for the most careful co-ordination of all forces. Clearly, Admiral Turner's reputation as an amphibious commander was well founded.

The Americans had now established themselves in New Georgia. Viru Harbor and Wickham Anchorage were secure points on the line of communications. The airfield at Segi Point was nearing completion. And at Rice Anchorage and Zanana General Hester's Munda-Bairoko Occupation Force was making ready to strike against Munda airfield.

More Toenails: The Landings in New Georgia

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