Battle of Wau - Prelude

Prelude

The Commander, Allied Air Forces, South West Pacific Area, Lieutenant General George Kenney, ordered his bomber commander, Brigadier General Kenneth Walker, to carry out a full-scale dawn bombing attack on the shipping in Rabaul Harbour before it could depart. Walker demurred; his bombers would have difficulty making their rendezvous if they had to leave Port Moresby at night. He recommended a noon attack instead. Kenney acknowledged Walker's concerns but was insistent; he preferred bombers out of formation to bombers shot down by the enemy fighters that were sure to intercept a daylight attack. Inclement weather precluded participation by bombers from Australia, so all that was available were the aircraft on hand in Papua: six B-17s and six B-24s. In spite of Kenney's orders, Walker attacked Rabaul Harbour at noon on 5 January, and encountered heavy flak and continuous fighter attacks. Forty 500 lb (230 kg) and 24 1,000 lb (450 kg) bombs were dropped from 8,500 ft (2,600 m). The formation claimed hits on nine ships, totalling 50,000 tons. Two B-17s were shot down, including the one carrying Walker, who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. After the war, JANAC confirmed the sinking of only one Japanese merchant ship, the 5,833-ton Keifuku Maru. Two other ships were damaged, as was the destroyer Tachikaze.

On 6 January, the Japanese convoy carrying Okabe's force set out for Lae from Rabaul. Forewarned by Ultra, USAAF and RAAF aircraft spotted, shadowed and attacked the convoy, which was shielded by low clouds and Japanese fighters. The Allies claimed to have shot down 69 Japanese aircraft for the loss of 10 of their own. A P-38 pilot, First Lieutenant Richard Bong claimed three, becoming an ace. A RAAF Catalina of No. 11 Squadron RAAF under the command of Flight Lieutenant David Vernon made a night bombing attack on the convoy which sank the transport Nichiryu Maru. Destroyers rescued 739 of the 1,100 troops on board, but the ship took with it all of Okabe's medical supplies. Another transport, Myoko Maru, was so badly damaged at Lae by USAAF B-25s that it had to be beached. Nonetheless, the convoy succeeded in reaching Lae on 7 January and landing about 4,000 troops. In all, the Allied Air Forces flew 416 sorties.

Between 10 and 16 January, the Okabe Detachment moved down the coast in barges to Salamaua, where it assembled and completed its preparations for the attack on Wau. On 16 January, the Japanese encountered a platoon of the 2/7th Independent Company under Captain Geoffrey Bowen. A brief action followed in which Bowen was killed, and the Australians retreated back to Skindewai. However, instead of pursuing them, Okabe chose to advance on Wau down an old and seldom used track running through difficult country parallel to the Black Cat Track, and the two sides lost contact. Okabe thereby disguised the strength and objective of his force, and took the Australians by surprise. It was necessary to cross Komiatum Hill, advance to Mubo, and then take the track westward. This route was chosen so as to avoid observation from Allied aircraft in the daytime as they cut their way into the jungle. The mountain range east of Wau was about 1,500 ft (460 m) high and not particularly difficult to cross, but in parts there were no tracks. These had to be prepared without being spotted by the Allied aircraft. As the troops had to carry their food, ammunition and equipment on their backs, the advance was ultimately more difficult and took longer than anticipated. Eventually they reached a peak from which they were able to look down on the Wau-Bulolo Valley. By this time, food was running short. The commander of the Okabe Detachment, pointing at the Wau village, gave the order to attack: "We are short of food—let us quickly capture Wau and get food from the enemy!" However, the movement through such dense jungle caused his units to lose touch with each other. The resulting attack was delivered piecemeal, without sufficient preparation.

Meanwhile, the first group of the 17th Infantry Brigade—the 2/6th Infantry Battalion—had embarked for Port Moresby on 9 January 1943. The rest of the battalion followed over the next two nights. The 2/7th Infantry Battalion departed Milne Bay on the Army transport Taroona on 13 January and the 2/5th on Duntroon the next day. The prospects of beating the Japanese to Wau did not look good. At this time, there were only 28 Dakotas in New Guinea, in three understrength squadrons, the 6th, 21st and 33rd Troop Carrier Squadrons of the US 374th Troop Carrier Group. These had to be shared with the Buna-Gona front, so each combat area had 14 planes allocated to it, which worked out to 10 aircraft available per day for each. A Dakota could carry 27 passengers or 10,000 lb (4,500 kg) of freight. Moving an infantry battalion required 60 plane loads; moving a brigade group required 361 plane loads. Between 10 and 19 January, the 2/6th Infantry Battalion was flown in from Port Moresby to reinforce Kanga Force. In the process, there were three crashes. Poor flying weather forced many aircraft to return without landing. Brigadier Moten was twice forced to return to Port Moresby before reaching Wau on the third attempt. Bad weather continued over the following week, limiting air operations and sometimes precluding them entirely. Part of the 2/5th Infantry Battalion arrived on 27 January.