Hell's Battlefield: The Australians in New Guinea in World War II by Phillip Bradley

Author:Phillip Bradley
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: WWII, PTO, eBook, Australian Army, Papua New Guinea
ISBN: 9781743430644
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Published: 2012-09-01T07:00:00+00:00

Old Vickers: 28 July 1943

As the bombardment finished, the Australians were cresting the slope up to Old Vickers. When the Japanese machine guns opened up, the Australians were already among them, and the sound of exploding grenades crashed out. ‘I don’t blame Nippon for keeping his head down,’ Proby later wrote.46 In Hammond’s platoon, Dave Taylor led his section in across the intervening gully. ‘As soon as the bombardment finished we went straight down . . . it was straight down and up.’ Hearing a rustle nearby, Taylor turned to see Damien Parer beside him. Taylor held his fire, but didn’t hold back on telling Parer to stay put. Cresting the ridge, Taylor’s section found no defenders there: the artillery barrage had done the trick. ‘The first bloke I shot was playing doggo,’ Taylor later said. ‘My mate had jumped over the trench and I saw him move and I fired from the hip. I can still see it . . . a little brown spot like a cigarette burn on his shirt.’47

On the left, Evans’ platoon had run into trouble as soon as they crested the ridge. Bill Lawry’s section led in, followed by Bert Ashton’s, which was hardest hit, with three of the five men in the section killed, including Ashton. Then Jack Evans too was killed as he went back to get more magazines for the lead section’s Bren. Butch Proby’s platoon had been allocated the direct approach, across the gully at its steepest point and then up a steep and narrow spur with room for only one man at a time. Proby later wrote: ‘What a high climb we have . . . on the way up the ridge, it is obvious that our request for lots of smoke has borne results . . . by pressing on we were able to reach the crest quickly . . . the smoke was so thick we had the chance to organise near the top of our spur and extend for our final charge . . . we surprised Nips coming up from underground positions tossing grenades to which we retaliated with the same medicine—ours was the best obviously.’48 The blast from one grenade caught Proby, wounding him in the hand, arm and head. As Jack Shewan passed him, Proby said, ‘Keep going, Jack—get the bastards.’49

The Australians chased the rest of the defenders off Old Vickers. The Japanese left behind four bunkers, fifty-seven covered weapon pits, the 70-mm mountain gun and seventeen dead.50 Even Hammer was impressed with the 58/59th’s performance, and he applauded the ‘determination and vigour’ of the men in following the artillery barrage.51 But he also worried ‘that the weary 58/59 may not stand up to a series of determined counterattacks,’ so he had a company from the 2/7th Battalion take over on Old Vickers.52 Japanese counterattacks cut off the position, but the 2/7th held on until contact was restored, appropriately by two platoons from the 58/59th.

The war artist Ivor Hele had been with Parer watching the 28 July attack on Old Vickers.

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