Ending the Myth of Jungle Supermen in .NET framework

Draw QR Code JIS X 0510 in .NET framework Ending the Myth of Jungle Supermen

By May 1942, Japan had overrun Malaya, Burma, the Dutch East Indies, and the Philippines These easy victories seems to have warped the judgement of its rulers, for Japan continued to occupy territories across the South Pacific, ignoring the fact that it could not hope to defend all its gains at once The drawn Battle of the Coral Sea on 7/8 May dented the myth of Japanese naval invincibility and the Battle of Midway on 4/6 June completely shattered it (both battles were fought between the Japanese and American navies) Afterwards, Japan still had some local successes, but its rising sun was now past its zenith Nowhere was this clearer than in Papua and New Guinea (both administered by Australia), where the Japanese, deprived of air superiority and unable to feed from captured supplies, lost their reputation as jungle supermen

The Japanese objective was Port Moresby on the south coast in Papua, from which they could menace northern Australia They wanted to take the port by amphibious landing, but they postponed the operation as a result of the Battle of the Coral Sea Instead, the Japanese decided to capture Port Moresby by converging thrusts from Milne Bay on the eastern tip of the island, and from Buna on the north coast across the Owen Stanley mountain range Two Australian brigades held Milne Bay, with Major General Cyril Clowes in command An American engineer regiment was constructing three airstrips in the area On 25 August, Kittyhawk fighter bombers flying off the airstrips pounced on seven Japanese landing barges off the north coast of New Guinea, driving them ashore on Goodenough Island and setting them ablaze The 350 infantrymen aboard were left stranded However, a much larger Japanese invasion fleet did succeed in landing a regimental-sized group and several light tanks at Ahioma on the eastern shore of the bay during the following night The Japanese began advancing at once, but found that dense jungle restricted their movements to a narrow strip of land between the sea and the mountains They preferred to attack at night, led by tanks that used their headlights and subjected the ground ahead to continuous machine-gun fire The Australians had to give ground because their anti-tank guns could not be manhandled forward through the mud Nevertheless, someone produced a Boys anti-tank rifle, a huge weapon with a kick like a mule The Australians used this to knock out two tanks at point-blank range More tanks became uselessly bogged down On 31 August the Japanese, reinforced with 800 naval infantry, reached the nearest airstrip, which they attempted to capture in a series of charges Clowes s brigade counter-attacked and shot the Japanese to pieces During the next few days the Australians steadily pushed the enemy back On the night of 5/6 September the Japanese left the island

Part VI: The Second World War (and Beyond)

The Allies had won their first clear-cut victory over the Japanese, and killed over 600 of them For the first time, the enemy had had to endure sustained artillery fire supplemented by continuous air attack in daylight hours, and was not able to develop his usual flanking tactics against the Australian positions Australian losses amounted to 161 killed and missing and about the same number wounded In the meantime, the second and more important thrust at Port Moresby had already begun On 21 July a 13,000-strong force known as the South Seas Detachment landed at Buna on the north coast Major General Tomitoro Horii commanded this force, consisting of veterans from China, Malaya, and the Philippines The Australian strategy was to inflict maximum casualties and delay on the enemy On the narrow front both were possible, and air attacks inflicted further casualties on the Japanese The first clash took place on 23 July at Awala, held by units of the Australian 30th Brigade The Australians fell steadily back, being reinforced by the 21st Brigade at the end of August, and then by the 25th