Operation Cartwheel

Crossing the Straits

Battle of Arawe

by James Miller, jr.

Preliminaries

The 112th Cavalry, shipped aboard LST's, reached Goodenough Island from Woodlark on 1 and 2 December. (This section is based on Ltr, Comdr VII Amphib Force to COMINCH, 10 Jan 44, sub: Arawe Opn, and incls, in GHQ SWPA G-3 Jnl, 10 Jan 44; ALAMO Force Rpt, DEXTERITY Opn, and Incl I, Lessons Learned; DIRECTOR TF, Hist Rpt, Arawe [in form of ltr, Gen Cunningham to CG Sixth Army, 6 June 441; 112th Cav, Hist Rpt [Arawe]) (Nov 43-10 Feb 44; 8th Area Army Operations: Japanese Monogr No. 110 (OCMH), pp. 119-22; 17th Division Operations in Western New Britain, Japanese Monogr No. III (OCMH), pp. 8-14; Southeast Area Air Operations, Japanese Monogr NO. 38 (OCMH), pp. 29-30; Memo, Capt Joseph H. Baker for CO 592d Engr Boat and Shore Regt, 18 Dec 43, no sub, in ALAMO Force G-3 jnl DEXTERITY No. 9; ALAMO Fragmentary FO's 1 and 2, 27 Dec 43, in ALAMO Force G-3 Jnl DEXTERITY No. 11; Capt T. H. Baker, USMC, Rpt Amphib Tractor Opn Arawe, 27 Dec 43, in ALAMO Force G-3 Jn1 DEXTERITY No. 12; Ltr, Gen Cunningham to CG ALAMO, 6 Jan 44, sub: Opns DIRECTOR TF, in ALAMO Force G-3 Jnl DEXTERITY No. 15; Ltr, CG 2d ESB to CTF 76, 16 Dec 43, sub: Rpt Arawe Landing, and Log of Events as Seen From SC 742, both in ALAMO Force G-3 Jn1 DEXTERITY No. 8; CTF 76 Opn Plan A3-43, 10 Dec 43, and Memo, JWC [Cunningham] for Gen Krueger, 18 Dec 43, no sub, and 2d ESB FO I, 11 Dec 43, all in ALAMO Force G-3 jnl DEXTERITY NO. 7; G-2 ALAMO Terrain Rpt, Arawe, 26 NOv 43, and Ltr, Hq ALAMO to CG BACKHANDER TF, 30 Nov 43, no sub, and DIRECTOR TF FO 1, 4 Dec 43, and Memo, DAA [Maj D. A. Alberti, ALAMO G-3 Sec] for G-3 ALAMO, 8 Dec 43, sub: Observation DIRECTOR Exercise, all in ALAMO Force G-3 Jnl DEXTERITY No. 5; Off of Chief Engr, GHQ AFPAC, Critique, pp. 109-17; Craven and Cate, The Pacific: Guadalcanal to Saipan, P. 335; Hough and Crown, The Campaign on New Britain, pp. 140-52; Isely and Crowl, The U.S. Marines and Amphibious War, pp. 186-88; Morison, Breaking the Bismarcks Barrier, PP- 373-77.)

There General Cunningham gave Colonel Miller detailed orders for the landing of his regiment at Arawe on 15 December.

Arawe, which before the war had been a regular port of call for vessels of the Burns-Philp South Seas Company, had a harbor suitable for large vessels. There were several beaches that landing craft could use, of which the two best were House Fireman on the west coast of the boot-shaped Arawe peninsula and the village of Umtingalu on the mainland, seventeen hundred yards east of the peninsula's base. The rest of the coast line consisted of stone cliffs about two hundred feet high, interspersed with low ground that was covered by mangrove swamp. Reefs fringed all the beaches, and it was clear that LCVP's could not get to the shore until detailed reconnaissance for passages was made. (Map 17) Therefore General Krueger arranged with Rupertus for one company of the 1st Marine Amphibian Tractor Battalion to be attached to the DIRECTOR Task Force to take the assault waves ashore. Krueger also attached part of the 592d Engineer Boat and Shore Regiment, 2d Engineer Special Brigade, with 17 LCVP's, 9 LCM'S, 2 rocket-firing DUKW's, and 1 repair and salvage boat, to Task Force 76 for the landings. (The rocket DUKW, with 4.5-inch rockets, was an experimental craft that the engineer special brigades of the Southwest Pacific Area had developed in an effort to provide fire support for landings after naval gunfire had ceased or lifted. These DUKW's attempted, without much success, to carry out the function performed by the LCI gunboat in the South Pacific.)

The 112th Cavalry stayed on Goodenough for ten days. During this period the troops received additional practice and training with all their weapons, including two new ones-the flame thrower and the 2.36-inch rocket launcher (bazooka). Before shoving off all men were informed of the general plan of attack and given aerial photographs and maps to study. The training period was topped by two landings. The first was intended to familiarize the troops with loading and unloading landing craft. The second was conducted under assumed combat conditions and involved the co-ordinated landing of all elements at proper intervals and their tactical deployment ashore. General Cunningham forcefully pointed out several major deficiencies. Units were not always under control of their commanders, intervals between landing waves were too long, and not all junior officers and noncommissioned officers knew their duties.

With Generals MacArthur and Krueger looking on, the DIRECTOR Task Force boarded the LSD Carter Hall, HMAS Westralia, and the APD's Sands and Humphreys on the afternoon of 13 December. (The Westralia is listed variously as an APA and an LSI. TF 76, for Arawe, including supporting echelons, consisted of the ships listed above, ten escort and bombardment destroyers, an escort and mine group of patrol craft and subchasers, several LCT flotillas, and a service group of LST's plus landing craft attached from the 1st Marine Division and the Rd Engineer Special Brigade.)

At midnight the ships departed for Buna, where General Cunningham left the Carter Hall and joined Admiral Barbey aboard the destroyer Conyngham, the flagship. The voyage to the target, which included a feint toward Finschhafen, was uneventful except for seas rough enough to cause the passenger troops some discomfort. Admiral Crutchley's cruisers and destroyers covered the move to the east while PT boats patrolled the straits to the westward.

The Landings

Barbey's convoy sighted the south coast of New Britain shortly after 0300, 15 December, and the troop ships soon hove to in the transport area about five miles east of Arawe. (All times are approximate. All sources employed give differing times for the same events.)

By 0450 the Carter Hall had launched thirty-nine loaded amphibian tractors bearing the assault waves and the two rocket DUKW's out of her well deck.

Dawn was still one hour away when 15o men of A Troop, 112th, who had been aboard the APD Sands, started for the beach at Umtingalu in fifteen rubber boats. They had been ordered to make a surprise landing in darkness at H minus 1 hour and block the coastal trail that was the Japanese escape and reinforcement route to the east. About 0525, when the boats were nearing shore and in the moonlight were probably visible from the shore, they came under fire from machine guns, rifles, and a 25mm. dual purpose gun, which promptly sank all but three of the rubber boats.

The fire continued while the troops floundered in the water divesting themselves of their light combat packs and outer clothing. The destroyer Shaw then opened fire and quickly silenced the enemy. (General Cunningham was wroth at the Shaw's delay in opening fire, but Admiral Barbey and Brig. Gen. William F. Heavey [Commanding General, 2d Engineer Special Brigade], who observed the operation from the deck of SC 742, reported that the Shaw held her fire because she could not immediately locate any targets. The boats and the shore, viewed from the sea, blended into a dark blur. General Cunningham had tried the predawn landing against Admiral Barbey's advice.)

Small boats picked up the survivors of A Troop, who later landed without arms and almost naked at House Fireman Beach. Twelve men were killed, four missing, and seventeen wounded in this repulse.

B Troop fared better. Ordered to land at H minus 1 hour on the islet of Pilelo, across Pilelo passage from the peninsula, its men were to take the Japanese by surprise and silence a radio station that was reported at the village of Paligmete. They left the APD Humphreys on fifteen rubber boats at the same time that A Troop left the Sands.

B Troop had planned to surprise the enemy by landing at Pal Igmete village, but when the Japanese started firing on A Troop it was obvious that surprise was lost. B Troop landed at Wabmete, on the west of Pilelo, instead. Once ashore the cavalrymen started on foot for Winguyu.

The leading platoon reached Winurn at 0615 and met fire from Japanese in two caves on the rising ground south of the village. Leaving one squad to contain these Japanese, B Troop pushed on to Paligmete, found neither Japanese nor radio, and returned to Wingurti to mop up. Bazooka fire closed one cave but the other was faced with logs which proved impervious to rockets and machine guns. Finally a flame thrower team, covered by machine gun fire, edged to within fifteen yards of the cave and let loose a blast of flame. B Troop then moved in, tossed grenades, and the action was over. One American soldier had been killed. Seven dead enemy were found. The action ended about 1130.

ALLIGATOR RETURNING TO BEACH ON ARAWE for more supplies, 18 December 1943.

Meanwhile the main landing at House Fireman Beach had been accomplished successfully if not flawlessly. The assault waves came from Lt. Col. Clyde E. Grant's 2d Squadron, 112th Cavalry, organized into five landing waves: ten LVT (A) (2)'S (Buffaloes), carrying E and F Troops, in the first; eight LVT (1)'s (Alligators) each in the second, third, and fourth waves; and five Alligators in the fifth. The waves were scheduled to land at five-minute intervals. H Hour was set for 0630, after the conclusion of the air and naval bombardments. One and a half hours were allowed for the amphibian tractors to proceed from the ships to the beach, a move which would take place in poor light. Since dawn came at 0624 and sunrise at 0646, the landing itself would take place in daylight.

But someone along the line had become confused. Once boated, the first wave started directly for the shore in the dark. Brig. Gen. William F. Heavey, commanding the 2d Engineer Special Brigade, who had come along as an observer aboard the landing wave control craft, SC 742, saw the boats dimly about 0500. When radio communication with the flagship unaccountably failed, the subchaser's captain and Heavey headed off the errant amphibian tractors. There was much confusion and milling about in the darkness, and it was 0600 or later before the tractors regained their formation.

Destroyers bombarded House Fireman Beach with 1,800 5-inch rounds from 0610 to 0625, whereupon B-25's took over. Three squadrons had been assigned to air alert over Arawe under control of an air liaison party aboard the Conyngham, and the first of these bombed and strafed the peninsula and the beach. Under ideal conditions the interval between the cessation or lifting of support bombardment and the landing of troops is only long enough to prevent the troops from being hit by their own support fire, but the lead wave of tractors had been slowed by the confusion and by a stiff current in Pilelo passage. It did not land until after 0700

On the way in, the wave met machine gun fire that was quickly silenced by 4.5-inch rockets from the control craft and the two rocket DUKW's on the flanks. Otherwise there was no opposition.

This was fortunate, because the succeeding waves in the Alligators, which were slower craft than the Buffaloes, had not been able to keep up. Twenty-five minutes elapsed before the second wave landed, ample time for a resolute defending force to have inflicted heavy casualties on the first wave. When another fifteen minutes bad passed the last three waves came ashore practically together. (After the event all units and observers reporting on the subject declared it a mistake to use vehicles with differing speeds in the assault waves.)

The 2d Squadron, once landed, reorganized, sent patrols to the toe of the peninsula, and pushed northwestward toward the base against slight opposition from scattered riflemen and rear guards. E Troop located twenty or more Japanese in caves in the cliff on the east side of the peninsula, killed several, and passed on. When others came out of their caves to snipe and harass, the 112th Cavalry Headquarters Troop sent out a patrol which disposed of them.

Only two companies of Japanese soldiers had been in the area, and when the 2d Squadron came ashore they retreated eastward. Major Komori and his force had not yet reached Arawe.

Meanwhile passages through the reefs had been found. The reserve 1st Squadron, under Maj. Harry E. Werner, had debarked from the Westralia while the Carter Hall was launching the tractors. Werner's squadron came ashore about 0800 in the 2d Engineer Special Brigade's 2 LCM's and 17 LCVP's. An hour later Barbey's second echelon, 5 LCT's carrying 150 tons of gear and 50 men per LCT, and 7 LCM's carrying 25 tons of gear per LCM, arrived from Cape Cretin and began unloading.

Operations at the beach were not smooth. The detachments forming the shore party had never worked together before, and although the beach was a good one it soon became congested. There was room for but two LCT's at one time; so unloading of beaching craft continued all day.

For DEXTERITY the admirals had won the air cover argument, and planes were assigned as combat air patrol over the ships instead of standing by on ground alert. The first fighter cover, in the form of 8 P-38's, took station overhead at 0715. This cover was subsequently increased and was maintained all day but it was not able to prevent an air attack at 0900. The 11th Air Fleet at Rabaul had just received more planes and now totaled 50 bombers and 100 fighters. Both Kusaka's fleet and the 6th Air Division sent out planes against Arawe. One flight of these, reported as consisting of 20 or 30 planes, eluded the P-38's and delivered the attack at 0900. The Westralia and Carter Hall, unloaded before dawn, had departed at 0500 to avoid air attack. The rest of Task Force 76, with the exception of craft actually at the beach and the flagship Conyngham, which remained to direct operations, sought the cover of clouds and rain squalls. The Japanese bombed and strafed the beached LCT's, the Conyngham, and the troops for about five minutes, scored no hits, and left with P-38's in pursuit.

By midafternoon the DIRECTOR Task Force controlled the entire peninsula. The 2d Squadron had reached the base, and now began establishing a main line of resistance there. Over sixteen hundred men, five hundred from the attached units and the rest from the two squadrons of the 112th Cavalry, were ashore.

More Crossing the Straits

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