The Battle of Goodenough Island (22–27 October 1942), also known as Operation Drake, was a battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II. The Allies landed on Goodenough Island, Papua, and clashed with a Japanese Kaigun Rikusentai (Special Naval Landing Force). The Japanese troops had been stranded on the island during the Battle of Milne Bay in late August 1942. "Drake Force", consisting of the Australian 2/12th Battalion and attachments, landed on the southern tip of Goodenough Island at Mud Bay and Taleba Bay on 22 October, tasked with denying the Japanese use of the island prior to the Buna campaign. Following a short but intense fight, the Japanese forces withdrew to Fergusson Island on 27 October. After the battle, Goodenough Island was developed into a major Allied base for operations later in the war.
Background
Goodenough Island is the northernmost of the D'Entrecasteaux Islands to the north-east of Papua, separated by the 30-kilometre (19 mi) wide Ward Hunt Strait. The island is 170 kilometres (110 mi) by sea from Milne Bay and 680 kilometres (420 mi) from Port Moresby. Its position along the sea route between Buna and Milne Bay made it strategically important during late 1942. The island is roughly oval shaped, measuring 21 mi (34 km) long and 13 mi (21 km) across. The coastal belt is up to 5 mi (8 km) wide, covered in grasslands and dissected by streams and coastal swamps. The island rises sharply to the central summit of Mount Vineuo, 2,536 metres (8,320 ft) above sea level.
While the western side of the island was covered in rain forest and jungle, there were grassy plains on the north-eastern side covered in kunai and kangaroo grass. These were suitable sites for airfield development, but the best anchorages were at Mud Bay on the south-eastern side, Taleba Bay on the south-western, and Beli Beli Bay on the eastern side. Other sites were obstructed by coral reefs or exposed to the weather, or could only accommodate shallow-draught vessels drawing 12 feet (3.7 m) or less, making them unsuitable for development. The island had no roads, and there was no motor or animal transport. Neither the interior of the island nor the surrounding waters were adequately charted in 1942. Important features were often missing from maps, and the spellings of the names of some features differed from one map to another.
Aircraft and ships travelling between Milne Bay and Buna had to pass close to Goodenough Island. An Allied presence on the island could provide warning of Japanese operations while denying the Japanese the opportunity to conduct operations or surveillance. Goodenough Island also had flat areas suitable for the construction of emergency airstrips.
Prelude
In early August 1942, a small detachment of an American fighter control squadron had been stationed on Goodenough Island to provide advance warning to the Australian fighters based at Milne Bay. On 7 August, five Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) P-40 Kittyhawks of No. 76 Squadron made forced landings on the grassy plains. One crashed on landing and had to be written off, but after makeshift airstrips were cut through the grass, the remaining four were able to fly out again.
On 24 August, seven landing craft carrying 353 Japanese Special Naval Landing Forces troops of Commander Torashige Tsukioka's 5th Sasebo Special Naval Landing Force, supplemented by a few engineers of the 14th and 15th Pioneer Units (Setsueitai), set out from Cape Nelson in the dark to participate in the attack on the Allied forces at Milne Bay. Upon reaching Goodenough Island they were unable to locate a suitable hiding place during the day for their landing craft, which had to be left on the beach, where the Allies discovered them. A coastwatcher at Cape Nelson reported the Japanese movements, and Milne Bay received a report around midday on 25 August that Japanese were on the west coast of Goodenough Island. Nine Kittyhawks from No. 75 Squadron RAAF were despatched to investigate. They located the landing craft and destroyed all seven, along with the Japanese force's radio and most of its stores. The air raid killed eight Japanese; the survivors, lacking transport, were stranded. Meanwhile, the American detachment on Goodenough Island destroyed its own radios and withdrew from the island.
News of what had occurred on Goodenough Island reached the Japanese command on 9 September via an orderly who had made his way back to Buna in a canoe. The destroyers Yayoi and Isokaze set out from Rabaul to rescue the men on 10 September. Allied aircraft sighted them the next day. The destroyers USS Selfridge, Bagley, Henley and Helm, under Captain Cornelius W. Flynn, USN, were detached from Task Force 44 to intercept. They did not locate the Japanese destroyers, but five Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses did. Isokaze escaped, despite a near-miss, but Yayoi sank after taking a direct hit on the stern that set her on fire. Her survivors reached Normanby Island, where they found themselves in a similar predicament to their compatriots on Goodenough Island. After the attack, Isokaze returned to the area where Yayoi had gone down, finding an oil slick, but no survivors. On 22 September, Isokaze returned again, this time with the destroyer Mochizuki, and together they found ten survivors in a launch. The two destroyers then searched the coast of Normanby Island without success. The next day a patrol plane spotted another ten survivors, who were rescued on 26 September.
The presence of shipwrecked Japanese sailors on Normanby Island presented no military threat to the Allied forces at Milne Bay, who had repulsed the Japanese landing there earlier, but Captain A. T. Timperley, the Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit (ANGAU) officer responsible for the D'Entrecasteaux and Trobriand Islands, argued that they posed a threat to the indigenous population and Australia's reputation as its protector. C Company, 2/10th Infantry Battalion, under the command of Captain J. Brocksopp, was ordered to land on Normanby Island. Leaving Gili Gili on the destroyer HMAS Stuart on 21 September, Brocksopp's company landed at Nadi Nadi on 22 September, and experienced no opposition. It took eight Japanese as prisoners before returning to Milne Bay on Stuart on 23 September.
Meanwhile, messages and food supplies had been air dropped by the Japanese to their troops on Goodenough on 23 September. On 3 October, the submarine I-1 arrived at Goodenough Island, and dropped off rations, ammunition, medical supplies, a radio, and a landing craft. It took 71 sick or wounded men, all it could carry, back to Rabaul, along with the bodies of 13 dead. This left 285 Japanese troops on the island, most of whom were suffering from malaria. I-1 returned on 13 October with more rations and medical supplies and a second landing craft, but an Allied aircraft that dropped a flare drove her off. On 15 October, the Japanese received a radio message warning that the Allies were showing considerable interest in Goodenough Island and were likely to invade.
The Allied Supreme Commander of the South West Pacific Area, General Douglas MacArthur, issued new orders on 1 October:
Our Forces in the Southwest Pacific Area [will] attack with the immediate objective of driving the Japanese to the northward of the Kumusi River line. The New Guinea Force will:
- Advance along the axes Nauro–Kokoda–Wairopi and Rigo–Dorobisolo–Jaure–Wairopi and/or Abau–Namudi–Jaure–Wairopi Trail, both inclusive, with the objective of securing the line of the Kumusi River from Awalama Divide to the crossing of the Kokoda–Buna Trail, both inclusive.
- Occupy and hold Goodenough Island and the north coast of Southeastern New Guinea south of Cape Nelson in such force as to deny these areas to the Japanese forces.
- Upon securing these objectives, all land forces will prepare for further advance to secure the area Buna–Gona upon further orders of this Headquarters.
Battle
As part of an operation codenamed "Drake", the 2/12th Infantry Battalion, a Second Australian Imperial Force unit from the 18th Infantry Brigade, which was composed mainly of men from Queensland and Tasmania, was selected to invade Goodenough Island, having taken part in the fighting around Milne Bay in August and September. Its commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Arnold, as the commander of Drake Force, was ordered to destroy the Japanese force there, re-establish the coastwatching and radar warning posts, and reconnoitre the island for airfield sites. Intelligence reports indicated that there were approximately 300 Japanese troops on the island, mainly concentrated in the Galaiwau Bay–Kilia Mission area in the south-east. The Japanese were believed to be short of food and ammunition, and suffering from malnutrition and disease.
Boarding the destroyers HMAS Stuart and Arunta in Milne Bay on 22 October, the Australian troops were transported to Goodenough Island escorted by Task Force 44. Arriving that night, the battalion disembarked on both sides of the island's southern tip. Arnold planned to trap the Japanese between the main force of 520 men commanded by himself that landed at Mud Bay, and a smaller one of 120 men, mostly from C Company, commanded by Major Keith Gategood, which landed at Taleba Bay, about 6 mi (10 km) away. Australian landing craft were unavailable, but the 2/12th Infantry Battalion had three ketches, the Matoma, Maclaren King and Tieryo, three Japanese landing craft that had been captured in the Battle of Milne Bay, and two powered whaleboats. Seven days' rations were carried on these craft, and another seven days' on the two destroyers. Each man carried three days' rations.
Drake Force had two AWA 3B Wireless Sets for maintaining communication with Milne Force. One was taken to Mud Bay while the other remained on Arunta. Two Army No. 101 Wireless Sets enabled battalion headquarters to communicate with Mud Bay. Each company had an Army No. 108 Wireless Set to talk to battalion headquarters.
The Mud Bay force travelled in Arunta and came ashore at around 23:00 in the Maclaren King, two of the ship's launches, the three Japanese landing craft and the two powered whaleboats. A base was established at Mud Bay, where a dressing station was prepared and heavy equipment, including all but one 2-inch mortar per company, was cached. The Australians then set out on a gruelling march to Kilia, guided by Papuan policemen. As they moved off, a violent thunderstorm broke, and it started to rain heavily. The force pushed on toward Kilia, but made slow progress that night due to the steep terrain and heavy rain. They were still half a mile (0.8 km) from Kilia at 08:30 on 23 October, when they encountered the Japanese.
The Australians were crossing a creek that was in front of a steep hill. The Japanese commander waited until the Australians were almost at his position before opening fire with machine guns and mortars. The troops who had crossed the creek found hand grenades were being rolled down the hill at them; those behind it were pinned down by heavy and accurate fire. Arnold decided to pull back. That night, he formed a defensive position, and beat off a small Japanese attack.
Meanwhile, the Taleba Bay force on Stuart transferred to Tieryo, a ship's launch and a ship's whaleboat, and was ashore by 03:30 on 23 October. They captured a Japanese machine gun position at about 06:00. Two platoons went south where they were engaged by Japanese forces. The Japanese were driven beyond Niubulu Creek, but a heavy Japanese counterattack from the north at 09:00 inflicted casualties on the Australians and forced them to withdraw from the area. Gategood broke radio silence and attempted to contact Arnold on the 108 set, but was unable to reach him. After this, they came under heavy mortar and machine gun fire, which inflicted heavy casualties. Having lost six men killed and ten wounded, with three more posted as missing, the Australians were forced to fall back under pressure from the pursuing Japanese. Lieutenant Clifford Hoskings later received the Military Cross for silencing a Japanese machine gun in the ensuing fighting. Faced with being overrun, Gategood withdrew his force even further, at first back to Taleba Bay, and then to Mud Bay aboard Stuart, arriving on 24 October.