Aitape - Wewak Campaign New Guinea - Pacific

**spidge** · 05-22-2009, 01:20 AM

Aitape - Wewak Campaign was mounted by the Australian 6th division from December 1944 until August 1945.

Many have used the words "Mopping up" however this and many other battles fought by Australian soldiers were some of the fiercest fighting in the most inhospitable and disease ridden places on earth.

My fathers 6th division and his 2/8th lost many men in this so called mopping up operation. (Thank God my dad was hit at Tobruk or I might not be placing this thread.

Some quotes and photos from this site:
Australian War Memorial - AJRP Essays

Photos about half way down the site page.

AWM OG3366Wewak area, New Guinea, 20 January 1945: Beaufort bombers of 100 Squadron RAAF heading for Wewak to attack Japanese fuel and ammunition dumps.
.

AWM 092600Wewak area, New Guinea, 23 May 1945: Indian soldiers who have escaped from the Japanese line up at an Australian army cookhouse. Many Indian soldiers from the British Indian Army fell into Japanese hands at the fall of Singapore in February 1942. After the surrender at Singapore in February 1942 British Indian Army POWs were brought to New Guinea and the adjacent islands as labourers by the Japanese. The Indians in this photograph would have been liberated by the 6th Division, 2nd AIF, as it fought its way along the northern New Guinea coast from Aitape to Wewak between December 1944 and August 1945. Thousands of Indian soldiers died as a result of their treatment in New Guinea. Of 3,000 brought by the Japanese to Wewak in May 1943 only 210 survived the war. One of those rescued by the 6th Division wrote: We were suffering from terrible diseases and there was no hope of life; at this hour of our calamity the Division worked as
an Angel for us.

AWM 093237Wewak area, New Guinea, 17 June 1945: Australians of the 2/4th Infantry Battalion inspecting some of the 4,000 funerary urns found in a Japanese shrine on the Koigin Track. These urns were made of sandalwood and each one contained the ashes of a Japanese soldier. It was also inscribed with his name, military number, rank, unit and date of death.

AWM 093459Wewak area, New Guinea, 27 June 1945: Private A. W. Bishop, 2/8th Australian Infantry Battalion, using a flame thrower to spray burning oil on Japanese bunkers during his unit’s advance up the slopes of Mount Shibarangu. An Australian soldier wrote of the Japanese resistance even at this late stage of the war: The artillery fired 2,000 shells in twenty minutes on the Jap positions. How in the hell anyone lived through it beats me. But as soon as the barrage lifted and the boys attacked he was full of fight. It is amazing how he survives and just shows what we
have to fight.

AWM 093448Wewak area, New Guinea, 27 June 1945: Private V. Riley, 2/8th Australian Infantry Battalion, being evacuated to an Advanced Dressing Station during his unit’s attack on Japanese positions on Mount Shibarangu. Between December 1944 and 15 August 1945 the 6th Australian Division, 2nd AIF, fought a campaign against the Japanese 18th Army along the coast and immediate hinterland of the north coast of New Guinea between Aitape and Wewak. During the campaign, fought in the last months of the war, this Division, which had been raised in 1939 and had fought in the Middle East, Greece, Crete and Papua, lost 440 men killed and 1,141 wounded. A further 145 died of disease and there were well over 16,000 admissions to hospital with tropical diseases

**Golden Wattle** · 05-22-2009, 02:38 AM

Spidge,
It must have been frustrating for the "boys" of the 6th Div.
The 9th and even the "Silent 7th" seem to have had more publicity than the
6th or the devastated 8th.
Have you spoken to the Vets?
How do they feel?
Do they think they have been ignored?

As for "mopping up"...what a load of rubbish.
If you are going into battle against a determined enemy, than there is no such thing as "Mopping Up or a "Milk Run".

Cheers
GW

**spidge** · 05-22-2009, 05:55 AM

Originally Posted by Golden Wattle

Spidge,
It must have been frustrating for the "boys" of the 6th Div.
The 9th and even the "Silent 7th" seem to have had more publicity than the
6th or the devastated 8th.
Have you spoken to the Vets?
How do they feel?
Do they think they have been ignored?

As for "mopping up"...what a load of rubbish.
If you are going into battle against a determined enemy, than there is no such thing as "Mopping Up or a "Milk Run".

Cheers
GW

Hi GW,

A couple of Dad's friends were from the 6th while many were from the 9th. Dad was in El Kantara hospital for many months after he was knocked when the 6th was taking Tobruk so may have made friends with some of those from the 9th after Rommel attacked Tobruk in April.

He went to many Rats of Tobruk dances with Mum in Melbourne and many 9th lads lived near us in Ivanhoe. Dad was not a "Mick" but most of the 9th guys were.

Although I was the youngest in the family and was there when they were having a drink and talking, they did not speak of the war very much at all. This may have occurred at the dances however dad spoke very sparingly of the war. I would ask a question, he would answer then change the subject.

My dad was my best mate yet no still meant no.

Dad was wounded very early (January 21st 1941) however those AIF divisions had a very continuous war right up to August 1945.

I suppose to quote an Aussie from the 9th when being interviewed for a documentary when asked about fighting the Japanese..................

And I quote:

Well, we beat the Iti's, the Germans and the frogs so we thought we may as well have a go at the Japs!

**Golden Wattle** · 05-22-2009, 06:21 AM

Well, we beat the Iti's, the Germans and the frogs so we thought we may as well have a go at the Japs!

Brilliant!

**Nostalgair** · 05-22-2009, 07:42 AM

Hi All,

My father served in this campaign with the 2/10 Cavalry Commando Squadron and I have communicated with a number of his comrades in recent times. It was somewhat of a forgotten campaign, though still costly.

Regards,

Owen

**Golden Wattle** · 05-22-2009, 08:18 AM

Nostalgair:
In my humble opinion: Unfortunately after both "Great Wars" & other conflicts "Our" governments & media weren't interested in the troops efforts,
they were lazy & cheap.

Whereas the Americans & British went out of their way to "Lionise/Promote" their own troops efforts, no problems there.

My generation of Aussies grew up finding very little information re: the Soldiers/Sailors/Airmen efforts. In the last few years Aussie books are coming out of the woodwork....Fantastic. But of course it's too late for most of the blokes to add their pieces of information.

After WW1 the units "log books" were published & you can still find some of them in RSL's. I have only seen a couple of WW2 logbooks & they don't seem to have the detail of the previous generation.

I feel that the future generations are missing out on what really happened to the Aussies, particularly in PNG and the Islands.

Just a rant.
Cheers
GW

**Cobber** · 05-23-2009, 01:16 AM

Many say that many of the final battles were pointless and a waste of lives, well it was attack them, or just let them have most of the islands to our North as they had army's with heaps of support in these islands in 1944/45 so we could not accept this and unfortuantly we were the only troops available to fight in these islands. Sure there was little or no glory but it had to be done and the Americans had so many troops they didn't need others taking part in their great advance untill Japan itself was attacked.
The 6th was a quality unit with troops from the battles of Lybia 1940/41, Greece, Crete, Syria, Sri Lanka, PNG.
The 7th and 9th in 1945 took the Island of Borneo and Brunei something like a week or more of naval bombardment. They had been Rats Of Tobruk, Syria, El Alamien, Kokoda Trail, Mine Bay,Beach head battles etc.
The other Btns from a mixture of divisions most militia though by now trained and well equipped as well as Veterans of the fighting. Fighting on Bouganville New Ireland PNG, etc the 4th,, 5th, 2nd, and Ist Armoured along with so many others

**Nostalgair** · 05-23-2009, 05:57 PM

Hi again,

A worthwhile book on this time of the war is titled, "The Unneccessary War" by Peter Charlton.

Cheers

Owen

**Daeyel** · 04-11-2010, 03:03 AM

My grandfather, Cecil Herbert Hutchinson joined the 2/6 after his original battalion, the bloodied but unbowed 39th, was disbanded. He fought in the Aitape - Wewak campaign, where he was injured shortly before the war ended. As he noted in the small family history we have based upon a single interview, he had a feeling to dig a trench around his tent that night. the Japanese crept up and threw several grenades into their perimeter (as described in the war diary). One grenade rolled into the trench, and he felt it saved his life. As it was, he had shrapnel in his lower leg the rest of his life.
We feel very very fortunate that there exists in the War memorial a photo of him in action, machine gunning the enemy with a Vickers.
I can imagine that so very few soldiers are pictured at all, let alone in the heat of battle. I feel so very fortunate that he was so honored.

Description
ULUNKOHOITU, YAMIL AREA, NEW GUINEA, 1945-07-18. PTE J.L. BEARD (1) AND CPL C.H. HUTCHINSON (2), MEMBERS OF 8 PLATOON, A COMPANY, 2/6 INFANTRY BATTALION, REPLYING WITH RAPID FIRE ON THEIR VICKERS MEDIUM MACHINE-GUN. JAPANESE OCCUPY THE HIGHER SLOPES AND LAY HARRASSING FIRE FROM TIME TO TIME.

Picture and caption from Australian War Memorial

**spidge** · 04-11-2010, 03:44 AM

Welcome to the forum Daeyel.

I have a photo of my father in El Kantara Hospital from WW2 and a photo of the ward after he was critically wounded taking Tobruk in January 1941. He was very lucky to survive.