_A 40mm gun and crew look skyward for Japanese aircraft as the XIV
Corps landing continues. Landing Craft Infantry (LCIs) are run up on
the beach in the background, as working parties unload them by hand._]
Lieutenant Colonel Scheyer said on leaving Guadalcanal that the
Japanese “have a mistaken notion that they must die for their Emperor
and our job is to help them do that just as fast as we possibly can.”
At 1600 on 29 June, the 9th’s first echelon, 28 officers and 641
enlisted Marines, combat loaded on board the USS _Libra_ (AK-53) and
USS _Algorab_ (AK-25), the vessels assigned to transport the battalion,
and sailed from Guadalcanal. At Munda, a Japanese defender observed
that a “blue signal flare from Rendova Point went up. I saw four enemy
warships ... this morning, rain clouds hovered over us. At Rendova,
four cruisers, three destroyers, eight transports and countless numbers
of boats appeared.”
At 0635 the morning of 30 June, the first units of the XIV Corps’
assault wave began landing on Kokorana Island and East Beach of
Rendova. They were met by Coastwatcher Flight Lieutenant D. C. Horton
and guides from the amphibious reconnaissance patrols.
Both on Kokorana and on Rendova, lead elements of the 9th found
themselves landing ahead of the assault forces, meeting only light
resistance. The battalion band soon took out an enemy machine gun
position. Major Robert C. Hiatt’s reconnaissance party from the
artillery group killed another enemy soldier, who was said to have been
stripped of souvenirs before hitting the ground. The defenders withdrew
inland to harass the Americans from the hills and swamps.
Throughout the day, enemy air attacks were turned back by friendly
fighters. Allied fighters over the area on 30 June reportedly
destroyed over 100 enemy aircraft. One attack by Japanese float planes
got through to strike at the naval task force and damaged Admiral
Turner’s flagship, USS _McCawley_ (AP 10), so heavily that it had to
be sunk that night by a PT boat. At 1600, a lone Mitsubishi A6M Zeke
fighter strafed the beach without causing any damage and was driven
off by defense battalion machine gun fire, without causing damage.
Both the _Algorab_ and _Libra_ were unloaded with the assistance of
the 24th Naval Construction Battalion. The 24th, and other Seabee
units, supported the 9th in unloading cargo and moving equipment and
contributed materially to the general success of the battalion on those
first days and the battalion was “in their debt.” On the first day of
landing, Battery E of the Antiaircraft Group set up on Kokorana and was
prepared to fire by 1645; all Special Weapons Group light antiaircraft
guns landed and were emplaced along the coast to protect the XIV
Corps’ beachhead; sites were located for the 155mm and the remaining
90mm batteries. Battery demolition crews ventured near and into enemy
territory to blast out fields of fire for the gun positions.
Weather and terrain made unloading and emplacement extremely difficult
for XIV Corps, the 43d Infantry Division, and the 9th Defense
Battalion. Torrential rains began on 30 June and continued almost
without cessation, rendering what passed for roads impassable and
causing great congestion on the beaches as men and supplies came
ashore. Areas believed suitable for occupation proved to be swampy.
Steel matting and corduroy roads constructed with coconut logs were
utilized, but even these were ineffective. Tanks, guns, and vehicles
of all types mired down in the incredible mud and only the sturdiest
tractors or manpower extricated them. The congestion of supplies on
the beachhead rendered them and the troops moving themselves and the
supplies inland vulnerable to enemy air attack.
In many cases, 9th Defense Battalion equipment had to be dismantled and
carried to assigned areas. The 9th’s motor transport section performed
as best it could with the resources available and until the majority
of its vehicles burned out from the strain of operating in the Rendova
muck. Their task was made easier by the amphibious tractors, which
were the only sure means of transportation and these had troubles of
their own as they threw off their tracks on uneven terrain. “Frances,”
“Tootsie,” and “Gladys” were three amphibious tractors in the beach
area manned by nine 3d Division Marines who operated continuously
keeping supplies moving from position to position. All tractors were
damaged eventually in the Japanese air attacks that followed.
The 9th Defense Battalion’s second echelon arrived on LSTs (Landing
Ships Tank) 395 and 354 and disembarked at Rendova on 1 July as Allied
fighter cover continued to turn back enemy air attacks. Joseph J. Pratl
with Battery A, which came in on LST 354, wrote the ship was “big and
slow moving, loaded with ammunition of every description.... Unloading
was done quickly, 155mm guns and their tractors soon made mud and made
a slime which made walking around difficult to say the least.” By the
end of the day, Captain Henry H. Reichner’s Battery A was in firing
position. A third battalion echelon arrived in LSTs 342 and 398 and
disembarked on 2 July. That morning Captain Walter C. Well’s Battery B
was emplaced and Battery A commenced shelling enemy positions in the
Munda area. On 3 July, both batteries of “Long Toms” fired for effect
on the Munda airfield and enemy artillery positions on Baanga Island.
At Munda; a defender wrote, “They must be firing like the dickens.
Sometimes they all come at once. I don’t exactly appreciate this
shelling.”
[Illustration: