Salamaua 1943 by Phillip Bradley

Author:Phillip Bradley [Bradley, Phillip]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Non-Fiction, History, Military History, War, World War II, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Japan, Illustrated
Publisher: Big Sky Publishing
Published: 2021-05-05T00:00:00+00:00

Map 16: Oba Raiding Unit, August 1943

In the end only two of Oba’s three raiding parties managed to attack a gun position. Captain Wilton Stewart’s company from the 47th Battalion, deployed to protect US artillery positions north of Lake Salus, was attacked three times in the early morning hours of 16 August but each attack was only minor and soon repulsed. Just after midday some Papuan Infantry Battalion soldiers ambushed part of this gun-raiding party, killing three soldiers and a native guide.

At the 2/6th Field Regiment battery position at Cochran Beach, around three kilometres north-west of Lake Salus, Lieutenant Ian Gamble’s troop of 25-pounders had received warning of the possibility of an attack and 20 men from Lieutenant Lee Grove’s platoon of the 47th Battalion had been allocated to help defend the guns. In the pre-dawn darkness of 16 August, the raiding party attacked through the swamp from the west. Grove’s men took the brunt of the attack as most of Gamble’s gunners were busy moving ammunition that had been landed on the beach that night. The main assault was accompanied by a second attack on the lightly defended rear area covered by an enemy machine-gun on the beach which prevented the unloading party getting back to the guns. Lieutenant Grove and gunners Frank George and Harry Johnson were killed as they tried to reach the gun position. Another two men, Gordon Gates and Tom Howells, were wounded and had to dive into the ocean for some cover.

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