Strategy
Kanga Force achieved one notable success, in a raid on Salamaua in June 1942, but "apart from that they had done little to harass the Japanese at their Salamaua and Lae bases." They had however managed to threaten the Japanese without provoking them into an offensive against Wau at a time when the Allies did not have the resources to reinforce Kanga Force, and they had provided valuable information. Wau occupied an important place in the strategy of the Commander, Allied Land Forces, South West Pacific Area, General Sir Thomas Blamey, who was concurrently commanding New Guinea Force from Port Moresby. At the time, the Japanese held air superiority over the Solomon Sea, precluding airborne or seaborne operations against the Japanese base at Lae. Blamey therefore decided that he would have to capture Lae with a land campaign. The Bulldog Track would be upgraded to a highway capable of carrying trucks and tanks that could support a division that would advance overland on Lae.
Lieutenant General Hitoshi Imamura, the commander of the Japanese Eighth Area Army at Rabaul, correctly deduced his opponent's intentions and the strength of Kanga Force and resolved to head off the danger to Lae. He ordered Lieutenant General Hatazō Adachi's Eighteenth Army to secure "important areas to the west of Lae and Salamaua". On 29 December 1942, Adachi ordered the 102nd Infantry Regiment and other units under the command of Major General Toru Okabe, the commander of the infantry group of the 51st Division, to move from Rabaul to Lae and then immediately advance inland to capture Wau. Okabe's force was known as the Okabe Detachment.
Imamura was up against a resourceful, resolute and aggressive opponent, who also had access to good intelligence. Allied Ultra codebreakers were reading the Japanese shipping codes, and, by 3 January 1943, Allied commanders knew in advance about the force that Adachi was planning to send from Rabaul to Lae, although they did not know the force's ultimate destination. Blamey chose not to wait for this to become clear, but immediately ordered the 17th Infantry Brigade to move from Milne Bay to Wau on 4 January 1943. Its commander—Brigadier Murray Moten—was ordered to assume command of Kanga Force and defend Wau.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Wau, Background
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