_This 1 August 1943 bombing attack struck Marine positions on Rendova,
only wounding one Marine, but destroying a height finder with flying
coral._]
The Japanese air effort slackened considerably in October, and came
to an abrupt halt in November 1943. While at Munda Airfield, the 9th
Defense Battalion accounted for eight more enemy planes. Numerous
alerts, conditions red, and general quarters stand-tos that began an
hour before dawn and an hour after sunset, had occurred daily for all
gun crews. In early November, Battery A moved to Nusalavata Island and
Battery B to Roviana Island where the 155mm guns covered Munda Bar
and the eastern approach to Blanche Channel respectively. Lieutenant
Colonel Scheyer remained in command of the 9th until 3 November, when
he was assigned to I Marine Amphibious Corps and the command was turned
over to Lieutenant Colonel Archie E. O’Neil.
On 22 November, the 9th Defense Battalion was attached to VI Corps
Island Command for occupation duties. On 31 December, the battalion,
with the exception of one radar crew and two searchlight sections, was
relieved of the Munda Airfield defenses by the Army 77th AAA Group.
The 9th Defense Battalion spent several weeks in camp in the Munda
area waiting for transportation. These weeks were not idle as central
camps for the several groups had to be set up and improved. Training
schedules, begun in the later stages of the campaign, were carried out.
Transport ships were available for the trip to the Russell Islands
beginning on 13 January 1944 and continued until the entire battalion
move was completed on 25 February.
The fighting by the 9th Defense Battalion contributed considerably to
the victory of the land forces on New Georgia, and demonstrated the
value of advance base defense. The 9th was in action against Japanese
aircraft on 59 different days, for a total of 159 fire missions and 249
alerts, with 46 enemy planes downed. Not counted in these statistics
were aircraft damaged or diverted from their intended targets and
forced to undertake less accurate nighttime bombing missions. The
fire of 155mm guns destroyed a number of enemy artillery positions
and troops on Munda, Baanga, and Kolombangara. Numerous pillboxes and
machine gun positions were destroyed and enemy troops killed by the
tank platoon on New Georgia Island. Although the firing batteries
and tanks were the most active elements of the battalion, other
components of the battalion were deeply involved in the fighting also.
The battalion also destroyed a machine gun position and killed three
Japanese on Rendova and killed another 22 enemy and captured two
prisoners at Zanana.
Battalion losses throughout the campaign were remarkably few: 13
dead, 1 missing, over 50 wounded in action, and other non-battle
casualties. Malaria caused a number of the Marines to be evacuated.
General Griswold summarized the battalion’s performance by concluding
that every “officer and man of the organization has reason to feel
proud of its accomplishment.” The I Marine Amphibious Corps commander,
Lieutenant General Alexander A. Vandegrift, said “how proud I am to
belong to the same outfit as they do.”
[Sidebar (page 12): The ‘Green Dragon’ Landing Ship, Tank
[Illustration:
Drawing by Kerr Eby, U.S. Navy Combat Art Collection
]
Amphibious warfare in the Pacific required ships with ocean-going
capabilities that could also be “beached” in the course of landing
operations. This requirement was met with the design and production
of the Landing Ship, Tank (LST) that was used in combat for the first
time in the Central Solomons, where it earned its nickname because of
a camouflage paint scheme. There were 1,052 LSTs built during World
War II for the U.S. Navy, with minor differences between the various
classes. The LSTs had elevators and deck ramps to connect the main deck
and tank deck, providing for smaller landing craft to be transported
on the main deck, and a conning tower added over the pilot house. They
were armed with 40mm and 20mm antiaircraft guns in twin and single
mounts. The LSTs displaced 1,653 tons, with a length of 328 feet, a
beam of 50 feet, and were driven by General Motor diesels.
]
[Sidebar (page 16): The ‘Long Tom’ 155mm M1A1 Gun
The first defense battalions were equipped with naval ordnance designed
for shipboard mounting and modified for use ashore, often requiring
extensive engineering and manhandling to emplace in static positions.
The war soon required the ordnance to be mobile, which was accomplished
by adapting Army ordnance material. Obtained first were the standard
M1918 GPF 155mm guns. These were followed by the M1A1 155mm gun
employed by defense and corps artillery battalions throughout the war.
This piece weighed 30,600 pounds, had a split trail and eight pneumatic
tires, was moved by a tractor, and was served by a combined crew of 15
men. It could be pedestal mounted on the so-called “Panama Mount” for
its coast-defense mission. It remained in the Marine Corps inventory
long after World War II.
[Illustration:
Drawing by Kerr Eby, U.S. Navy Combat Art Collection
]
]
[Sidebar (page 19): Field Medicine
[Illustration:
Drawing by Kerr Eby, U.S. Navy Combat Art Collection
]
Medical care of Marine units in the Central Solomons was provided by
U.S. Navy medical officers and corpsman assigned to these units. Combat
casualties were not the only medical concern because of the primitive
conditions that existed during the campaign. The 9th Defense Battalion
lost an average of 2.42 men a day, or 65.17 a month, to causes other
than combat injuries. The 1st Marine Raider Regiment found itself on 11
August 1943, with 436 men of its 956 Marines fit for duty. Other than
those wounded in action, it became necessary to evacuate malaria cases
also. Getting casualties to the beach or airfield through the jungle
or over the muddy roads and trails was extremely difficult. After the
landings on New Georgia, only the most serious malarial cases were
evacuated. Much of the recurring malaria was undoubtedly brought on by
the combination of hard work under combat conditions, lack of sleep,
and inadequate diet. Besides malaria, there was a considerable amount
of dysentery, diarrhea, minor fevers, fungus infections, and boils.
There were even a few cases of psychoneurosis or “combat fatigue.”
* * * * *
Note: The Kerr Eby charcoal drawings in this pamphlet are from the U.S.
Navy Combat Art Collection. Kerr Eby studied at the Art Students League
in New York and the Pratt Institute. He served as a sergeant in the
U.S. Army in World War I and was accredited as an artist-correspondent
for Abbot Laboratories in World War II. In 1943 through 1944, he went
to the Solomons and the Gilberts and produced these and many other
drawings, since reproduced widely in this country and abroad.
]
[Sidebar (page 29): Flight Clothing and Equipment
[Illustration: Drawing by Kerr Eby, U.S. Navy Combat Art Collection]
Flight clothing was considered naval aviation equipment rather than
a purely Marine Corps uniform and was strictly functional. Basic
items included leather boots, leather gloves, goggles, a cloth helmet
that contained headphones, and a one-piece cotton khaki flying suit.
Captain John M. Foster, flying from Munda, stated he wore a flying suit
and then slung a “leather shoulder holster containing my 45-caliber
automatic over my neck and buckled the belt, strung with my hunting
knife, first-aid kit, extra cartridges and canteen, around my waist.”
He also wore a baseball cap and carried his flying helmet, goggles, and
gloves. In addition, the pilots carried 65 pounds of parachute, rubber
raft, and “jungle pack.”
]
_Milk Runs and Black Sheep_
The first Marines to fight at New Georgia were the aircrews who were
sent to blunt Japanese efforts to establish an airfield at Munda Point
in December 1942. Thus began a routine air and sea pounding of the
Munda Airfield until ground forces could capture it for Allied use.
For Marine flyers, these missions evoked “a parade of impressions--long
over-water flights; jungle hills slipping by below; the sight of the
target--airfield, ship, or town, sometimes all three; the attack and
the violent defense; and then the seemingly longer, weary return....”
The role of land-based aviation in the Central Solomons Campaign was
critical, because the Japanese air effort had to be neutralized before
Allied air and ground forces could climb up the Solomons ladder towards
Rabaul. Unless the Allies could capture suitable airfields closer to
the Japanese base areas at Rabaul and Bougainville, the air war would
be limited in range and effect. The Guadalcanal airfields were 650
miles from Rabaul, Munda Point was a somewhat-closer 440 miles. For
Marines aviators, Munda was a rung on the ladder that ended at Rabaul.
The air war for the Central Solomons was a series of sorties--fighter
sweeps and bombing runs. For aviation units, the operating area was
divided into the combat area, the forward area, and the rear area.
These zones shifted as the campaigns moved north towards the Rabaul
area. While the 1st and 2d Marine Aircraft Wings were present in the
Southern Pacific, Marines flew under a joint air command, Commander
Aircraft Solomons (ComAirSols). Rear Admiral Marc A. Mitscher’s
ComAirSols was comprised of three subordinate segments: Bomber,
Fighter, and Strike Commands. Strike Command was led by Colonel
Christian F. Schilt, who had been awarded a Medal of Honor for heroism
in Nicaragua in 1928, and Fighter Command was under Colonel Edward L.
Pugh; both veteran Marine aviators in a structure where experience,
“not rank, seniority, or service,” was paramount. The Marine squadrons
flew Grumman F4F Wildcats, Grumman F6F Hellcats, and Chance-Vought
F4U Corsairs in Fighter Command; and Grumman or General Motors TBF
Avenger torpedo bombers and Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bombers in
Strike Command. Also operating in the theater was Marine Aircraft
Group 25, the South Pacific Combat Air Transport Command (SCAT),
which flew unarmed transport planes, Douglas R4D Skytrains, bringing
in supplies and replacements and evacuating wounded without fighter
escorts such as the bombing missions had. Some 40 other squadrons were
in rearward bases, making a total of 669 aircraft available for the
Central Solomons campaign. They were opposed in the air by the Japanese
_Eleventh Air Fleet_ and Japanese Army air units defending New Guinea.
The Corsair, known as the “Whistling Death” to the Japanese and the
“Bent Wing Widow Maker” to the Marines, was delivered in March 1943
in time to have eight Marine squadrons available for the New Georgia
campaign. The Corsair, along with the new F6F Hellcat fighter,
dominated the air-to-air battle to sweep the skies of the Japanese.
This superiority was enhanced by Army Air Corps aircraft, the Lockheed
P-38 Lightning, for example. Once introduced, each new aircraft version
could do a little more than the basic models; it could fly higher, fly
longer, and carry more armament than its predecessor. Advances in radio
detection and ranging (radar) and communications continued as well to
ensure the control systems kept pace with the aircraft.
One Marine with Fighter Command, Major John P. Condon, recalled that
ComAirSols routinely struck the airfields of southern Bougainville
“with escorted bombers, night attacks by Navy and Marine Corps TBFs,
and some mining at night of the harbors.” He went on to observe that
the shorter-range SBDs were “invariably escorted in their routine
reduction efforts against the fields in New Georgia.” Routine did
not mean safe, as the Japanese just as routinely made their fighter
presence known. Naval officer and novelist James A. Michener heard a
pilot observe that he was “damned glad to be the guy that draws the
milk runs.” But, “if you get bumped off on one of them, why you’re just
as dead as if you were over Tokyo in a kite.”
One incident occurred that symbolized the joint nature of the
air effort, the destruction of the aircraft transporting Admiral
Isoroku Yamamoto, who had planned the attack on Pearl Harbor. Allied
intelligence agencies learned that the admiral and his staff would fly
to Kahili on 18 April 1943. Admiral Mitscher ordered Fighter Command
to intercept Yamamoto’s aircraft. Planning for this mission fell to
the Fighter Command’s deputy, Lieutenant Colonel Luther S. Moore, who
scheduled Army long-range P-38 Lightnings fitted with Navy navigational
equipment for the task. The flight plan was prepared by the command
operations officer, Major Condon. Yamamoto’s plane was intercepted and
shot down, ending the life of one of Japan’s major combat leaders.
At the end of April 1943, the Japanese _Eleventh Air Fleet_ launched a
series of determined, but unsuccessful, attacks to disrupt the Allied
buildup on Guadalcanal and in the Russell Islands. These continued
through the month, and on 16 June, ComAirSols planes intercepted and
virtually destroyed 100 Japanese aircraft before they reached their
target, the New Georgia invasion fleet. By the end of the month, the
Allied forces were landing on New Georgia and the Japanese lost the
battle to disrupt the offensive. The Japanese responded with repeated
raids against shipping and landing areas, but the balance of air power
was decidedly with Commander Aircraft Solomons. A Marine airman wrote
that the Japanese were creating an ever-growing number of Marine, Army,
and Navy fighter aces in the process.
[Illustration: _The first Marines to fight in the Central Solomons
campaign were the airmen based on Guadalcanal and the Russell Islands.
They flew the Douglas SBD Dauntless dive-bombers that struck at Munda
and elsewhere on New Georgia prior to the landings. In 1943, the planes
were painted, from top to bottom, sea blue, intermediate blue, and
semi-gloss sea blue, with insignia white undersurface._
Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 81420
]
By June, Marine Aircraft Group (MAG) 21 was pounding away at Munda,
but not without losses. Flying from Guadalcanal and Russell Islands,
ComAirSols fighter and strike aircraft covered the Toenails landings
and subsequent operations ashore. From 30 June 1943 through July, there
were only two days that did not have “Condition Red” and dogfights
with Japanese aircraft over the objective area by Allied combat air
patrols. At the same time, Japanese naval forces were located and
attacked, thus forcing the Japanese to move at night by circuitous
routes with landing barges alone. Bomber and Strike Command aircraft
ranged as far north as Ballale, Buin, Kahili, and the Shortlands in
concert with Fifth Air Force strikes at the same locations.
Despite this pressure, the Japanese continued to attack Allied forces
from the air. ComAirSols planes were not able to operate effectively at
night within range of Allied antiaircraft artillery that could not tell
friendly from enemy aircraft. Another obstacle to total Allied success
was the dense jungle-covered terrain that hindered identification
targets and accurate assessment of the results of air strikes.
For efficient air control for the New Georgia operation, Admiral
Mitscher set up a new command, Commander Aircraft New Georgia (ComAir
New Georgia), as part of the landing force and under Marine Brigadier
General Francis P. Mulcahy, who commanded the 2d Marine Aircraft
Wing. ComAir New Georgia had no aircraft of his own, but controlled
everything in the air above or launched from a New Georgia airfield.
Mulcahy and his staff ensured command, control, and coordination of
direct support air for the New Georgia Occupation Force after it had
landed.
ComAir New Georgia established its command on Rendova after the
assault waves landed on D-Day, 30 June 1943. From Rendova, he began
to integrate the air defense and support system to provide XIV Corps
with direct air support. On 11 July, Commander Aircraft Segi under
Lieutenant Colonel Perry O. Parmelee was established under Mulcahy’s
direct command. The ground forces were ashore on New Georgia and
pushed ahead at Zanana and Laiana and were poised at the edge of Munda
Airfield at the end of July. Mulcahy provided air support to the
infantry advance at Munda Point and against other Japanese-held areas
on New Georgia. By the end of the campaign, Mulcahy had ordered over
1,800 preplanned sorties mainly flown by SBDs and TBFs against targets
at Viru, Wickham, Munda, Enogai, and Bairoko.
[Illustration: _The Vought F4U Corsair, such as these on the Russell
Islands, provided much of the air support in the New Georgia campaign.
Here they taxi out from revetments onto the air strip to meet Japanese
planes coming down The Slot from Bougainville and Rabaul._
Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 61335B
]
[Illustration: