Operation Cartwheel

Action in the Admiralties

Lorengau

by James Miller, jr.

Plans and Preparations

General Swift had assigned responsibility for capturing Manus to the 2d Cavalry Brigade.

General Mudge accordingly had his plans ready the day after his brigade landed at Salami Plantation. (2d Cav Brigade FO 2, to Mar 44, in Hist of Hq Troop, 2d Cav Brigade, Admiralty Islands Campaign, 9 Mar 18 May 44 (actually the 2d Brigade's report); 8th Cav FO 2, 13 Mar 44, in 8th Cav Hist Rpt, Admiralty Campaign, 6 Mar-20 May 44, Sec 11.)

Not much was known about Japanese strength on Manus, but reconnaissance had shown that Lorengau airdrome and Lorengau village east of it were fortified. As Lugos Mission was practically undefended, Mudge decided to land there--about 3,000 yards west of the airdrome. (Map 21) The beaches selected, Yellow 1and Yellow 2, lay west and east of the Liei River. Yellow 1, of coral sand, was 700 yards long, 14 to 26 yards wide, with swamps immediately behind it. Yellow 2, 100 yards long, gave access to Number 3 Road which led along the coast to Lorengau.

Mudge assigned the assault to the 8th Cavalry, commanded by Col. William J. Bradley. It was to land in column of squadrons, the 1st Squadron in the lead. Troop A was to land in LVT's on Yellow 2 east of the Liei, C Troop from LCV's on Yellow 1 to the west. The 7th Cavalry, less the 2d Squadron, would follow the 8th ashore. The 2d Squadron, 7th, would constitute the brigade reserve. C Troop, 8th Engineer Squadron, was to land on Yellow 1, improve the beaches, and bridge the Liel to connect the beaches. Once ashore the 8th Cavalry was to send the 1st Squadron east along Number 3 Road against Lorengau airfield while the other moved inland to Number 1 Road, and then moved east against Lorengau village to keep the Japanese from escaping inland to the jungled mountains where they would have a great defensive advantage. (The landing force consisted of: the 2d Cavalry Brigade; C Troop, 8th Engineer Squadron; a detachment of the Shore Battalion, 592d Engineer Boat and Shore Regiment; detachments of the 1st Medical Squadron and the 1st Signal Troop; two medium and three light tanks.)

The cavalry generals arranged with naval officers and with Capt. George F. Frederick of the i2th Air Liaison Party for ample air and fleet support of the landing, in addition to support by field artillery. The islets north of Los Negros would provide positions from which field artillery could support the 2d Brigade's advance east by firing across its front at right angles to the axis of advance, as had been done in New Georgia during the advance on Munda airfield. Therefore plans were prepared for sending patrols to Hauwei, the Butjo Luo group, and Bear Point on Manus, just west of Loniu Passage, to determine enemy strength and look for artillery positions. D Day for Manus was first set for 13 March.

The island patrols, consisting of detachments from the 302d Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop plus artillery officers, left Salami on 11 March. Bear Point, though not occupied by the enemy, had so poor a beach that artillery could not be landed. Butjo Mokau, the most northern of the Butjo Luo group, offered good artillery positions and bore no signs of enemy occupation. In late afternoon F Troop, 7th Cavalry, occupied both islands of the group.

The Hauwei patrol, a platoon strong, left Salami aboard an LCV and a PT boat and landed on the western part of Hauwei. (Motor Torpedo Boat Squadrons 18 and 21 had arrived in Seeadler Harbour with their tender Oyster Bay. They served as a "sneak and peak" and general utility organization. Morison, Breaking the Bismarcks Barrier, P. 446.)

After the patrol had moved a short distance inland, machine gun, mortar, and rifle fire struck it from the front and both sides. The patrol made a fighting withdrawal to the beach, supported by fire from the PT boat and the LCV. But by the time the cavalrymen made the beach, the PT, whose skipper had been wounded, had returned to its tender. Five men boarded the LCV, but the remainder were still embroiled with the enemy. Mortar shells and machine gun bullets wounded most of the men aboard the LCV, which struck a submerged coral reef two hundred yards from shore and sank, leaving the survivors floating in the water.

When about six Japanese started to set up a machine gun on the beach, the cavalrymen still on shore shot them with submachine guns, then took to the water and joined the survivors from the LCV. After three hours in the water, the eighteen men, suffering from exposure to the sun and water, were picked up by a PT boat while a destroyer shelled Hauwei. An LCM later picked up one more man.

Six men of the reconnaissance troop and two artillerymen had been killed, three were missing, and every survivor was wounded as well as burned. (Maj. B. C. Wright, The 1st Cavalry Division in World War II (Tokyo: Toppan Printing Company, 1947), P. 27.)

A larger force was obviously needed for Hauwei, and the landing on Manus would have to be delayed if the artillery was to get into position in time to support the landing. Further, naval officers had already counseled delay in order to provide more time to clear the sea lanes to Lugos Mission.

Accordingly the 2d Squadron (less F Troop), 7th Cavalry, was selected to seize Hauwei. Supporting its attack would be destroyers, rockets, 105-mm. fire from the 61st Field Artillery Battalion at Mokerang Plantation north of Salami, and P-40's of NO- 77 Fighter Squadron, RAAF, which had reached Momote on 9 March. The squadron boarded LCM's at noon, 12 March, set out for Hauwei, and landed under cover of the supporting bombardment at 1400The squadron later reported that "the covering fire was not accurate and most missiles fell short in the sea." (7th Cav, Hist Rpt 7th Cav, 2 Mar-18 May 44, Pt. B, p 5.)

E Troop landed on the west shore under small arms fire while G Troop, debarking on the south, met machine gun fire. The Japanese had rigged trip wires to activate mines, but the soldiers detected and avoided them. Kirk's squadron then drove inland against rifle fire and by 15oo held a north-south line across Hauwei about three hundred yards from the western tip and one thousand yards from the eastern end.

By now the whole squadron was ashore, and H Troop's 81-mm. mortars were ready to fire. E Troop continued its advance but G stayed in place. As contact broke between the two troops, Colonel Kirk pulled E Troop back and dug in for the night.

General Mudge arrived at 1600 and after receiving Kirk's report ordered C Troop from Salami to Hauwei, and alertcd one medium tank to move to Hauwei next day. C Troop arrived by LCM at 1800 and took up a support position. During the night Japanese on Pityilu fired 20- MM. guns at the 2d Squadron but hit no one. The 61st Field Artillery Battalion put one thousand rounds of harassing fire on the enemy's section of Hauwei.

Next morning, at 0900, the tank arrived and Kirk assigned his reconnaissance platoon as close support. The attack began at 1000 with C, E, and G Troops abreast from left (north) to right. On the right a bunker, manned by eight Japanese with two 7.7-mm. machine guns, grenade discharges, and rifles, withstood four direct mortar bursts and four 75-mm. shells before it crumbled. In the center E Troop enveloped a short trench equipped with machine guns, grenade dischargers, and rifles. With these positions reduced the troops moved rapidly. By noon the 2d Squadron had covered the whole island. Eight Americans had been killed, forty-six were wounded. Forty-three dead Japanese, all sailors, were counted. Captured booty included two 5-inch naval guns and a range-finder. One gun had been hit by the earlier bombardments; the other was in firing condition.

That afternoon the 61st Field Artillery Battalion unloaded its 105-mmhowitzers from LCM's and next day set them up on the southwest side while the 271st Field Artillery Battalion emplaced its 105-mm. howitzers on the west. The 99th Field Artillery Battalion, meanwhile, had emplaced twelve 75mm. pack howitzers and six 37-mm. antitank guns on Butjo Mokau on 13 March.

The Landing at Lugos

With the artillery now in position, embarkation of the 2d Cavalry Brigade aboard twelve LCM's, seven LCV's, and one LST began shortly after 0400 on 15 March. The LST and the smaller craft proceeded separately to the rendezvous area off Lugos Mission and assembled about 0800.

Jumbo Map: Lugos Mission to Lorengau (very slow: 182K)

The three supporting artillery battalions had begun firing intermittently at Lorengau village at 2 100 the previous evening, and at 0830 they shifted their fire to Lugos Mission. Four destroyers lying offshore fired at the shore line between the Tingau River, west of Lugos, and Lorengau until 0900. At 0900 eighteen B-25's from Nadzab arrived overhead and from 0907 to 0925 Put eighty-one 500-pound bombs and fired more than 44,000 machine gun bullets on the beaches. At 0925, when the bombers cleared the area, three engineer rocket boats covered the first wave's landing.

The LST had previously disgorged seven LVT's, and six of them (the seventh was a rocket boat) bore A Troop toward Beach Yellow 2 while LCV's carried C Troop toward Yellow 1. When the craft were close to shore, a machine gun east of the beaches opened fire. LVT's, and engineer support craft, and two PT boats replied and the gun fell silent. LVT's and LCV's landed their troops without casualties, and almost exactly on schedule. (General Swift, who observed the landing from the deck of a PT boat, is reported to have noted that timing was off by one and one-half minutes because a heavy sea slowed the landing craft. Wright, The 1st Cavalry Division in World War II, P. 28.)

The soldiers of A Troop left the LVT's and drove through Lugos Mission toward Number 3 Road. The few Japanese in the area, mostly sailors, did not offer determined resistance and were killed by A Troop and by later mop-up squads. C Troop, to the west, met no opposition as it advanced to a ridge some eight hundred yards inland where it established defenses to cover the landing of the 2d Brigade.

MEN OF THE 8TH CAVALRY moving a 37-mm. antitank gun to a firing position near Lorengau Village, 18 March 1944.

Colonel Bradley had ordered the bulk of the 8th Cavalry to land at Yellow 2 if it proved suitable for LCM's and LST's, and succeeding waves landed so quickly that Yellow 2 quickly became congested. The LST, which carried troops, weapons, and vehicles but no bulk cargo, was unloaded in forty-five minutes. It retracted to return to Salami for the 7th Cavalry. (8th Cav Hist Rpt, Admiralty Campaign, Narrative of Events, p. 6.)

This regiment, commanded by Col. Glenn S. Finley, landed from the LST and LCM's in the afternoon and took over defense of the beachhead.

Meanwhile the 8th Cavalry had begun its two-squadron advance against Lorengau airdrome and Lorengau village over roads 1 and 3.

More Action in the Admiralties

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