The Landing at Nadzab was an airborne landing on 5 September 1943 during the New Guinea campaign of World War II in conjunction with the landing at Lae. The Nadzab action began with a parachute drop at Lae Nadzab Airport, combined with an overland force.
The parachute drop was carried out by the US Army's 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment and elements of the Australian Army's 2/4th Field Regiment into Nadzab, New Guinea in the Markham Valley, observed by General Douglas MacArthur, circling overhead in a B-17. The Australian 2/2nd Pioneer Battalion, 2/6th Field Company, and B Company, Papuan Infantry Battalion reached Nadzab after an overland and river trek that same day and began preparing the airfield. The first transport aircraft landed the next morning, but bad weather delayed the Allied build up. Over the next days, the 25th Infantry Brigade of the Australian 7th Division gradually arrived. An air crash at Jackson's Field ultimately caused half the Allied casualties of the battle.
Once assembled at Nadzab, the 25th Infantry Brigade commenced its advance on Lae. On 11 September, it engaged the Japanese soldiers at Jensen's Plantation. After defeating them, it engaged and defeated a larger Japanese force at Heath's Plantation. During this skirmish, Private Richard Kelliher won the Victoria Cross, Australia's highest award for gallantry. Instead of fighting for Lae, the Japanese Army withdrew over the Saruwaged Range. This proved to be a gruelling test of endurance for the Japanese soldiers who had to struggle over the rugged mountains; in the end, the Japanese Army managed to withdraw its forces from Salamaua and Lae, though with extensive losses from exposure and starvation during the retreat. Troops of the 25th Infantry Brigade reached Lae shortly before those of the 9th Division that had been advancing on Lae from the opposite direction.
The development of Nadzab was delayed by the need to upgrade the Markham Valley Road. After strenuous efforts in the face of wet weather, the road was opened on 15 December 1943. Nadzab then became the major Allied air base in New Guinea.
Background
Strategy
Allied
In July 1942, the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff approved a series of operations against the Japanese bastion at Rabaul, which blocked any Allied advance along the northern coast of New Guinea toward the Philippines or north toward the main Japanese naval base at Truk. In keeping with the overall Allied grand strategy of defeating Nazi Germany first, the immediate aim of these operations was not the defeat of Japan but merely the reduction of the threat posed by Japanese aircraft and warships based at Rabaul to air and sea communications between the United States and Australia.
By agreement among the Allied nations, in March 1942 the Pacific theatre was divided into two separate commands, each with its own commander-in-chief. The South West Pacific Area, which included Australia, Indonesia, and the Philippines came under General Douglas MacArthur as supreme commander. Most of the remainder, known as the Pacific Ocean Areas, came under Admiral Chester W. Nimitz. There was no overall commander, and no authority capable of resolving competing claims for resources, setting priorities, or shifting resources from one command to the other. Such decisions had to be made on the basis of compromise, cooperation and consensus.
Rabaul fell within MacArthur's area, but the initial operations in the southern Solomon Islands came under Nimitz. The Japanese reaction to Task One, the seizure of the southern part of the Solomon Islands, was more violent than anticipated and some months passed before the Guadalcanal Campaign was brought to a successful conclusion. Meanwhile, General MacArthur's forces fought off a series of Japanese offensives in Papua in the Kokoda Track campaign, Battle of Milne Bay, Battle of Buna–Gona, the Battle of Wau and the Battle of the Bismarck Sea.
Following these victories, the initiative in the South West Pacific passed to the Allies and General Douglas MacArthur pressed ahead with his plans for Task Two. At the Pacific Military Conference in Washington, D.C. in March 1943, the plans were reviewed by the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The chiefs were unable to supply all the requested resources, so the plans had to be scaled back, with the capture of Rabaul postponed to 1944. On 6 May 1943, MacArthur's General Headquarters (GHQ) in Brisbane issued Warning Instruction No. 2, officially informing subordinate commands of the plan, which divided the Task Two operations on the New Guinea axis into three parts:
- Occupy Kiriwina and Woodlark Islands and establish air forces thereon.
- Seize the Lae–Salamaua–Finschhafen–Madang area and establish air forces therein.
- Occupy western New Britain, establishing air forces at Cape Gloucester, Arawe and Gasmata. Occupy or neutralise Talasea.
The second part was assigned to General Sir Thomas Blamey's New Guinea Force. As a result, "It became obvious that any military offensive in 1943 would have to be carried out mainly by the Australian Army, just as during the bitter campaigns of 1942."
Japanese
The Japanese maintained separate army and navy headquarters at Rabaul which cooperated with each other but were responsible to different higher authorities. Naval forces came under the Southeast Area Fleet, commanded by Vice Admiral Jinichi Kusaka. Army forces came under General Hitoshi Imamura's Eighth Area Army, consisting of the Seventeenth Army in the Solomon Islands, Lieutenant General Hatazō Adachi's Eighteenth Army in New Guinea, and the 6th Air Division, based at Rabaul. As a result of the Battle of the Bismarck Sea, the Japanese decided not to send any more convoys to Lae, but to land troops at Hansa Bay and Wewak and move them forward to Lae by barge or submarine. In the long run they hoped to complete a road over the Finisterre Range and thence to Lae through the Ramu and Markham Valleys.
Imamura ordered Adachi to capture the Allied bases at Wau, Bena Bena and Mount Hagen. To support these operations, Imperial General Headquarters transferred the 7th Air Division to New Guinea. On 27 July 1943, Lieutenant General Kumaichi Teramoto's Fourth Air Army was assigned to Imamura's command to control the 6th and 7th Air Divisions, the 14th Air Brigade and some miscellaneous squadrons. By June, Adachi had three divisions in New Guinea; the 41st Division at Wewak and the 20th Division around Madang, both recently arrived from Palau, and the 51st Division in the Salamaua area, a total of about 80,000 men. Of these only the 51st Division was in contact with the enemy. Like Blamey, Adachi faced formidable difficulties of transportation and supply just to bring his troops into battle.
Geography
The Markham River originates in the Finisterre Range and flows for 110 miles (180 km), emptying into the Huon Gulf near Lae. The Markham Valley, which rises to an elevation of 1,210 feet (370 m), runs between the Finisterre Range to the north and the Bismarck Range to the south and varies from 6 to 12 miles (10 to 19 km) wide. The valley floor is largely composed of gravel and is generally infertile. Half of its area was covered by dense kangaroo grass 4–5 feet (1.2–1.5 m) high, but in parts where there had been a build-up of silt, Kunai grass grew from 6 to 8 feet (1.8 to 2.5 m) high. Rainfall is around 39 inches (1,000 mm) per annum. The Markham Valley was traversable by motor vehicles in the dry season, which ran from December to April, and therefore formed part of a natural highway between the Japanese bases at Lae and Madang.
Planning and preparation
At Blamey's Advanced Allied Land Forces Headquarters (Adv LHQ) in St Lucia, Queensland, the Deputy Chief of the General Staff, Major General Frank Berryman, headed the planning process. A model of the Lae-Salamaua area was constructed in a secure room at St Lucia, the windows were boarded up and two guards were posted on the door round the clock. On 16 May, Blamey held a conference with Berryman and Lieutenant General Sir Edmund Herring, the commander of I Corps, around the model at which the details of the operation were discussed. Blamey's operational concept was for a double envelopment of Lae, using "two of the finest divisions on the Allied side". Major General George Wootten's 9th Division would land east of Lae in a shore-to-shore operation and advance on Lae. Meanwhile, Major General George Alan Vasey's 7th Division, in a reprise of the Battle of Buna–Gona in 1942, would advance on Lae from the west by an overland route. Its primary role was to prevent reinforcement of the Japanese garrison at Lae by establishing itself in a blocking position across the Markham Valley. Its secondary task was to assist the 9th Division in the capture of Lae. The plan was generally known as Operation POSTERN, although this was actually the GHQ code name for Lae itself.
Meanwhile, Major General Stanley Savige's 3rd Division in the Wau area and Major General Horace Fuller's US 41st Infantry Division around Morobe were ordered to advance on Salamaua so as to threaten it and draw Japanese forces away from Lae. The result was the arduous Salamaua Campaign, which was fought between June and September, and which at times looked like succeeding all too well, capturing Salamaua and forcing the Japanese back to Lae, thereby throwing Blamey's whole strategy into disarray.
The POSTERN plan called for the 7th Division to move in transports to Port Moresby and in coastal shipping to the mouth of the Lakekamu River. It would travel up the river in barges to Bulldog, and in trucks over the Bulldog Road to Wau and Bulolo. From there it would march overland via the Watut and Wampit Valleys to the Markham River, cross the Markham River with the aid of paratroops, and secure an airfield site. There were a number of suitable airfield sites in the Markham Valley; Blamey selected Nadzab as the most promising.
Vasey pronounced the plan "a dog's breakfast". There were a number of serious problems. It relied on the Bulldog Road being completed, which it was not, due to the rugged nature of the country to be traversed and shortages of equipment. Even if it was, the 7th Division would have been unlikely to make the operation target date. It had taken heavy casualties in the Battle of Buna–Gona and was seriously under-strength, with many men on leave or suffering from malaria. It would take time to concentrate it at its camp at Ravenshoe, Queensland on the Atherton Tableland. To bring it up to strength, the 1st Motor Brigade was disbanded in July to provide reinforcements. Reinforcements passed through the Jungle Warfare Training Centre at Canungra, Queensland, where they spent a month training under conditions closely resembling those in New Guinea.
The delays in getting the overland supply route organised and the 7th Division itself ready meant that, in the initial stages of the operation at least, the 7th Division would have to be maintained by air. Vasey further proposed that the bulk of his forces avoid a tiring overland march by moving directly to Nadzab by air, which increased the importance of capturing Nadzab early. MacArthur agreed to make the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment based at nearby Gordonvale, Queensland, available to New Guinea Force to capture Nadzab. He further authorised the regiment to conduct training with the 7th Division and a number of exercises were conducted. Colonel Kenneth H. Kinsler, the commander of the 503rd, eager to discuss the Battle of Crete with the 21st Infantry Brigade's Brigadier Ivan Dougherty, took the unusual step of parachuting into Ravenshoe. On 31 July, Vasey raised the prospect of utilising the entire regiment with Kinsler. Blamey took up the matter with MacArthur, who authorised it on 8 August. Blamey made the Australian Army transport MV Duntroon available to ship the regiment from Cairns to Port Moresby, except for the 2nd Battalion and advance party, which moved by air as originally planned.
The 7th Division was treated to a training film, "Loading the Douglas C-47", and the commander of the Advanced Echelon of Lieutenant General George Kenney's Fifth Air Force, Major General Ennis Whitehead, made five C-47 Dakota transports available to the 7th Division each day so they could practise loading and unloading. Whitehead also made a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress available so Vasey could fly low over the target area on 7 August. Meanwhile, the 2/2nd Pioneer Battalion and 2/6th Field Company practiced crossing the Laloki River with folding boats. They flew to Tsili Tsili Airfield on 23 and 24 August.
To give the paratroops some artillery support, Lieutenant Colonel Alan Blyth of the 2/4th Field Regiment proposed dropping some of its eight short 25-pounders by parachute. A call went out for volunteers and four officers and 30 other ranks were selected. On 30 August, Vasey watched them carry out a practice jump at Rogers Airfield. This turned out to be the easy part. Brand new guns were received from the 10th Advanced Ordnance Depot at Port Moresby on 23 August. Two were handed over for training while, as a precaution, the remaining six were sent the 2/117th Field Workshops for inspection and checking. All six were condemned, owing to a number of serious defects in assembly and manufacture. On 30 August, the gunners received orders to move out the next day, so the 2/51st Light Aid Detachment cannibalised six guns to produce two working guns, which were proofed by firing 20 rounds per gun. Only one was ready in time to leave with the gunners so the other followed on a special flight. Eight of the 2/4th Field Regiment's Mark II 25-pounders were also condemned owing to the presence of filings in the buffer system. Vasey was less than impressed.