Wrinn - Operation Backhander: 1944 Battle for Cape Gloucester

US B-25 Mitchell Bombers

Then the attention shifted to the assault beaches. Landing craft carrying two battalions of the 7th Marines started toward the shore. An LCI (Landing Craft, Infantry), with multiple rocket launchers, took positions on the flank of the first wave bound for each beach. They unleashed a hellish barrage, keeping the Japanese troops pinned down after the destroyers and cruisers shifted their fire to avoid putting the assault troops in danger.

At 0745, Higgins boats brought the first wave toward Yellow Beach 1. They grounded onto a narrow strip of volcanic sand that measured just under five hundred yards from one end to the other, bringing the 3rd Battalion Marines lead elements. Two minutes later, the 1st Battalion landed on Yellow Beach 2. Separated by a thousand yards of jungle and a seven-hundred-yard shoreline. Neither battalion encountered any organized resistance. The Marines used a smokescreen that drifted across the beaches. This hampered the later waves of landing craft and blinded Japanese observers on Target Hill overlooking the beachhead. No enemy manned the log-and-earth bunkers that might have raked the assault force with deadly fire.

The Yellow Beaches on the north coast of the peninsula pointed west toward Cape Gloucester. Codenamed Operation Backhander, this access point was the primary objective: two airfields at the capes northwestern tip. By capturing the airfields, the 1st Marine Division would allow Allied airmen to step up attacks on the Japanese fortress at Rabaul, three hundred miles away at the northeastern edge of New Britainthe opposite end of the long, crescent-shaped island. The capture of these Yellow Beaches was vital for the New Britain Campaign, but two additional landings also took place. The first occurred on December 15, landing at Cape Merkus on Arawe Bay along the south coast. The second at Green Beach on the northwest coast, also on December 26.

The Cape Merkus landing was across the channel from the islet of Arawe. Its purposes were to disrupt motorized barges and other Japanese small-craft moving men and supplies along the southern coast of New Britain and to divert attention from Cape Gloucester. The Marine amphibian tractor crews used the slower and more vulnerable LVT-1 Alligators and the new armored LVT-2 Water Buffaloes to carry soldiers from the 112th Cavalry to make landings on Orange Beach at the western edge of Cape Merkus.

The destroyer Conyngham provided fire support enhanced by rocket equipped DUKWs (a 2.5-ton, six-wheel, amphibious truck known as duck) and a submarine chaser designated as the control craft. A last-minute bombing silenced the beach defenses and enabled the LVT Water Buffaloes to crush enemy machine guns that survived the opening bombardment.

Two diversionary landings by soldiers paddling ashore in rubber boats were less successful. Savage enemy fire forced one group to turn back just short of its objective on Orange Beach, but the other gained a foothold on Pilelo Island and killed the small group of Japanese defenders. Enemy airmen reported the assault force approaching Cape Merkus. Japanese bombers and fighters from Rabaul attacked within two hours of the landing. The Japanese executed sporadic airstrikes throughout December with diminishing ferocity. They ultimately shifted their troops to meet the threat in the south.

Then there was the secondary landing on December 26. Battalion Landing Team 21 was a 1,500 man assault force, from the 2/1 Marines, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel James Masters. They started toward Green Beach supported by American destroyers Smith and Reid with their 5-inch naval gunfire. LCMs (Landing Craft, Medium) carried amphibian trucks, driven by soldiers, fitted with rocket launchers. They fired from the landing craft as the assault force attacked the beach. The first wave landed at 0750, with two others closely following ashore. The Marines carved out a beachhead 1,200 yards wide and 500 yards inland, encountering no opposition. Their mission was to sever the coastal trail that passed west of Mount Talawe and prevent Japanese from reinforcements reaching the Cape Gloucester airfields.

Following the coastal trail proved more difficult than expected. The local villagers tilled and cleared garden plots, leaving them for the jungle to reclaim. This left a maze of trailssome fresh, some faintbut most led nowhere. The Japanese did not take advantage of the confusion caused by the path tangling until early morning on December 30. They attacked the Green Beach force and took advantage of the heavy rain that muffled sounds and reduced visibility. When the Japanese began their assault, the Marines called down mortar fire within 20 yards of their defensive positions. A battery of the 11th Marines was reorganized as an infantry unit because the cannoneers couldnt find suitable targets for their 75mm howitzers.

Gunnery Sergeant Guiseppe Guilano materialized at critical moments and fired a light machine gun from his hip. His bravery and cool disdain for danger earned him a Navy Cross. While some Japanese troops penetrated the position, a counterattack led by Company G drove them off. This brutal fighting cost the Marines six dead and seventeen wounded. Ninety Japanese soldiers perished, and five surrendered.