department of defense photo (usmc) 60616 · craft guns opened fire and a few ... camouflaged...

the Allied combat air patrol over-head and penetrated the area on thesame course followed before. Zekefighters roared in at tree-top levelstrafing defenses. As the enemyplanes came in, several light antiair-craft guns opened fire and a fewseconds later Captain Tracy's E Bat-tery on Kokorana Island began fir-ing. Tracy recalled "bursts wereright on target, requiring no correc-

tion . . . the flight entered a largecloud. Pieces of planes were notedfalling out of the cloud." This firecaught the enemy by surprise andof the 16 bombers only four gottheir bombs away. Battery E had ex-pended 88 rounds of ammunitionand a world's record was estab-lished. Twelve bombers and afighter were destroyed by the 9th'sfire, the bombers and the Zeke

chalked up to Battery E and SpecialWeapons Group respectively. Thatday cheers were heard all over Ren-dova "like a Babe Ruth homer inYankee Stadium." Credit was giventhe operators of the range section,though Frank LaMountain said if hehad not kept the generator goingthis would not have been the case.The battalion had one officer killedand three enlisted Marines wounded;a heavy machine gun and the re-mote control system of one 40mmgun were destroyed.

On 5 July, a detachment of 52men with four 40mm guns and four.50-caliber machine guns under thecommand of First Lieutenant JohnR. Wismer moved to Zanana Beachon New Georgia to provide antiair-craft and beach defense protectionfor the 43d Infantry Division whichhad landed in that area.

Major naval surface actions oc-curred on 12 July as the U.S. Navyintercepted Japanese destroyers andcruisers attempting to resupplyforces on Vila and Munda. Theships' gunfire, sounding like mas-sive thunder and looking like alightning storm, permitting littlesound sleep, was observed from

Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 60616

While Marine antiaircraft artillery dealt with air raids, 155mm round-the-clock, in all weather, taking a toll of the defenders.Long Toms were fired at targets some eight miles or more away

A fire direction center processed target information from observation posts and air spotters,which group commander LtCol Archie E. O'Neil and executive officer Maj Robert C. Hiatttranslated into firing data on Rendova.


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Rendova. The next day, a 90mmbattery, three searchlights, and alight antiaircraft detachment ar-rived from the 11th Defense Battal-ion. The 90mm battery was stagedon Kokorana until the 9th DefenseBattalion displaced to New Georgia,then it went into firing positions.Light antiaircraft guns were posi-tioned on both Kokorana and Ren-dova. Marines from the 11th De-fense Battalion assisted the 9th inmanning the radars and the lith'ssound locator supported Battery E.

At 0800, 13 July, U.S. Army in-fantry units landed at Laiana Beach,about 2½ miles east of Munda air-field, and continued the drive to-wards Munda Point. A detachmentof 22 men with one 40mm gun, onetwin 20mm gun, and two .50-calibermachine guns from the 9th DefenseBattalion under First LieutenantCohn J. Reeves, went to Laiana

Marine Corps Historical Collection

The Northern Landing Group, built around the 1st Marine Raider Regiment, landed at RiceAnchorage on 5 July and proceeded cross-country to take Enogai on Dragons Peninsula.The Marine third from the left hefts a Boys rifle used by the raiders as an antitank weapon.

Camouflaged Japanese 140mm naval guns with their ammunition intact were found and put out of action at Enogai by the raiders' landward attack.

Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 127G59009A

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Field Medicine

M edical care of Marine units in the CentralSolomons was provided by U.S. Navy medical officers and corpsman assigned to these

units. Combat casualties were not the only medicalconcern because of the primitive conditions that existed during the campaign. The 9th Defense Battalionlost an average of 2.42 men a day, or 65.17 a month, tocauses other than combat injuries. The 1st MarineRaider Regiment found itself on 11 August 1943, with436 men of its 956 Marines fit for duty. Other thanthose wounded in action, it became necessary to evacuate malaria cases also. Getting casualties to the beachor airfield through the jungle or over the muddy roadsand trails was extremely difficult. After the landingson New Georgia, only the most serious malarial caseswere evacuated. Much of the recurring malaria was

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undoubtedly brought on by the combination of hardwork under combat conditions, lack of sleep, andinadequate diet. Besides malaria, there was a considerable amount of dysentery, diarrhea, minor fevers,fungus infections, and boils. There were even a fewcases of psychoneurosis or "combat fatigue."

Note: The Kerr Eby charcoal drawings in this pamphletare from the U.S. Navy Combat Art Collection. Kerr Ebystudied at the Art Students League in New York and thePratt Institute. He served as a sergeant in the U.S. Army inWorld War I and was accredited as an artist-correspondentfor Abbot Laboratories in World War II. In 1943 through1944, he went to the Solomons and the Gilberts and produced these and many other drawings, since reproducedwidely in this country and abroad.


With Wismer's detachment were Cpl MaierJ. Rothschild, at left, and Pvt John Wan-tuck, at right. Both earned the Navy Crossduring the fighting at Zanana in defense ofthe beachhead. Wantuck died there.

Beach on New Georgia to defendthe landing site.

Captain Robert W. Blake's pla-toon of light tanks now played animportant part in the assault andcapture of Munda Airfield. The air-field was defended by various avia-tion personnel, antiaircraft units,and the 229th Infantry Regiment.During the next five days, 9thDefense Battalion tanks spear-headed the advance, knocking outenemy log bunkers, piliboxes, andother strong points. On a number ofoccasions during the assault on theenemy's final defense positionsnorth of Ilanana, the tank platoonoperated in the densely woodedand irregular terrain, under condi-

tions believed highly unsuitablefor tank employment. For the firsttime, the Japanese attacked thetanks with magnetic mines andMolotov cocktails, bottles of gaso-line with lit wicks. On the morningof 15 July, the tanks broke throughthe enemy's strong positions afterArmy infantry had repeatedly beenthrown back. The XIV Corps attackon Munda was stalled by both thedogged resistance of the defendersand the rugged terrain.

The "Murderers Row" of 155mmguns continued shelling the MundaAirfield, Baanga Island, and otheroutlying islands throughout thisphase. The primary targets were

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antiaircraft and field artillery po-sitions, and ammunition dumps.Directed by both ground and airobservers, this firing proved veryeffective. "The artillery shelling'saccuracy has become a real thing.We can never tell when we are todie," wrote a Munda defender. On15 July, landing craft carried BatteryA to Tambusolo Island where it wasassigned the mission of coveringthe western approach to BlancheChannel with 155s against the in-cursion of still dangerous Japaneseships. On the night of 17 July atZanana, 9th Defense BattalionMarines were involved in somememorable fighting. A few daysearlier, Lieutenant Wismer led a pa-trol which killed four members ofan enemy patrol and captured afifth, from whom they learned thata Japanese force of 150 men was inthe vicinity. A rear command postof the 43d Infantry Division withapproximately 125 troops, nearly allspecialists commanded by a legalofficer, was in the beachhead area.The Marines under Wismer de-

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ployed for ground defense and Pri-vate John Wantuck and CorporalMaier J. Rothschild manned twosalvaged Army .30-caliber light ma-chine guns covering trails leadingto the perimeter of the Zanana area.Colonel Satoshi Tomonari's 13th In-fantry Regiment attacked with sev-eral groups during the night, forc-ing Lieutenant Wismer's defendersback to their gun pits, while Wan-tuck and Rothschild remained for-ward of the lines engaging theJapanese with machine-gun fire on

each assault. The Marines were at-tacked by a regiment that had "thedetermination of a suicide squadand under the command of the Reg-imental Commander they are deter-mined to fight to the last man."

The following morning, Wantuckwas found dead from gunshot andsword wounds. Rothschild waswounded in a hand-to-hand en-counter with an enemy officer,whom he killed. Wantuck andRothschild killed 18, wounded 12to 15 others, and put a 90mm mor-

tar crew out of action. The seniorArmy officer present, MajorCharles C. Cox, credited these twoMarines and timely artillery firewith saving the division rear andbeachhead area. Rothschild andWantuck each received a NavyCross for their action. In all, Wis-mer's detachment had repulsedfour different columns, killing 18,wounding others, and capturing aprisoner. Over 100 Japanese bodieswere found later on the field byArmy units.

Pharmacist's Mate First ClassFrancis C. Peters was with theZanana detachment. While with theunit, he performed as a one-manclearing station for evacuating thewounded, mainly Army personnel,who were taken from the beach byboat. He remembered the attack of17 July because the Japanese "pene-trated as close as 25 yards and Icould see them shooting at our menon the AA guns." After the attack,his work really began, tending tothe wounded, including a couple ofJapanese soldiers.

While the fighting for New Geor-gia was ongoing, there were severalchanges in the command structure ofthe campaign. Major General OscarW. Griswold relieved General Hesteras commander of XIV Corps, andRear Admiral Theodore S. Wilkinsonrelieved Admiral Turner as comman-der of Task Force 31. The buildup offorces on New Georgia continuedwith the arrival of elements of MajorGeneral J. Lawton Collins' 25th In-fantry Division on 21 July and the ar-rival the next day of the remainder ofthe 37th Infantry Division. What onedivision failed to accomplish wouldnow be attempted by two, the 43dand the 37th.

After their initial daytime airlosses, the Japanese relied on air at-tacks at night with only infrequentdaylight bombings. One wasmounted against the Rendova areaon 20 July by 6 planes, one on 1 Au-gust by another 6 planes, and an-


Other defense battalion Marines skillfully employed their 90mm gun batteries andtheir radar-operated fire control systems to keep enemy aircraft high and away fromtheir ground targets. Gun positions were built above the water table as seen here.

To keep the pressure on Munda and to prevent Japanese reinforcement from Bairoko,plans were made for the Northern Landing Group to attack on 20 July 1943. The com-manders involved review the plan: left to right, Maj Charles L. Banks, LtCol Samuel B.Griffith II, LtCol Michael S. Currin, LtCol George G. Freer, and LtCol Delbert E.Shultz, the last two both U.S. Army.

U.S. Army. Marine Corps Historical Collection

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other on 7 August by a formation of15 aircraft. Nightly harassing raidswere made over the area by differ-ent planes and pilots all dubbed"Washing Machine Charlie." Severallarger flights were turned back by90mm fire. Marines of Battery F, thesearchlight battery remained at theirposts despite Japanese strafing, andradar men at their exposed, aboveground posts remained at their sta-tions throughout the raids, also. Atdawn, after one all-night raid, a Bat-tery C Marine was at the fuze potstark naked, "he hadn't had time todress." A total of 26 enemy planeswere downed by battalion antiair-craft fire over Rendova.

On 26 July 1943, the 9th's tanks,reinforced by six others from the10th Defense Battalion, led the as-sault on enemy positions near Lam-betti Plantation. Tank operationswere conducted over difficult ter-rain consisting of steep slopes,heavy underbrush, and closelyspaced trees. The Japanese were in astrongly fortified defensive position,which consisted of a number ofheavy bunkers and piliboxes in aclearing. In this action, which lastedapproximately five hours, one of thetanks was disabled by a magneticmine, and two men were killed andfour wounded. A second assault on

The 9th Defense Battalion's 90mm Group had four gun batteries,each with its own range-finder, computer, and radar. This weapons


system continued in use through the war and into the 1950s. Notethe "kill" flags stencilled on the barrel.

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- Marine Corps Historical Collection

The 9th Defense Battalion's tank platoon lead by Capt Robert W Blake supported the in-fantry attack. This vehicle is shown knocked out on top of a position at the Laiana waterpoint. The Japanese bunker is all but indistinguishable from the debris that covered it.

A tank crewman examines the damage to his vehicle which put it out of commission. TheJapanese employed a mix of antitank weapons and individual close-in tactics to counter thelight tanks. Because of the loss of 9th Battalion tanks in the drive on Munda, tanks of the10th and 11th Defense Battalions' armored platoons were fed in as replacements.


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this position on 28 July by a battal-ion of infantry and four Marinetanks, was successful. Approxi-mately 40 heavily fortified bunkersand pillboxes were destroyed and alarge number of Japanese killed orwounded by tank fire.

On 1 August, a Japanese air raidhit the torpedo boat mooring basinat Rendova. Nearby on Tombusolowas Edwin Jakubowski with 9thDefense Battalion Special Weapons,firing at the attacking aircraft. "APT Boat was strafed and blew upnext to my little island. Plywoodflying all over me and one of itstorpedoes went by," he recalled.Captain Theron A. Smith, corn-

manding Battery F, had just in-spected his Number 3 SearchlightSection when the attack occurredand later wrote "some Sunday,alerts and [Condition] Reds all lastnight and most of the day. At-tacked by two dive bombers andZeros (estimated 50) about 1600.Two PTs destroyed, another sunkand beyond salvage." In a footnoteto the campaign, Lieutenant (jg)John F. Kennedy's PT 109 wasrammed and sunk early the nextmorning while operating from theRendova base.

Field artillery firing missionsagainst the New Georgia area con-tinued to be conducted by Battery Buntil 3 August. The tank platoon ofthe 10th Defense Battalion, rein-forced by five tanks from the 11thDefense Battalion and the survivingtank of the 9th Defense Battalion,led the assault on Kokengolo andBilbilo Hills on 4 and 5 August.After two days of heavy fighting,they routed the defending forces.The Marine tanks then cleared theway to the principal objective of theentire New Georgia campaign, theMunda airfield, which was cap-tured and occupied by XIV CorpsArmy troops on 5 August 1943.Regiments of the 25th Infantry Divi-sion pursued the Japanese as they


Another defense battalion detachment went to Laiana, where this emplaced 40mm gun oflstLt Cohn J. Reeves' battery merges with the dense jungle growth backdrop.


The high ground at Munda airfield fell on 5 August 1943. This picture is taken at the siteof the former mission on Kokengolo Hill looking towards Bibolo Hill to the north.

Wreckage and debris were soon pushed aside in the rapid progress to open the field forAmerican use. The captured airfield included aircraft, in this case a Zero fighter in a co-conut and coral enclosure, that could not take off after the American landing.


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withdrew north from Munda Point.On the night of 6 August a navalbattle was fought in Vella Gulf,where Japanese destroyers andbarges bringing in supplies and re-inforcements were turned back.

The battle for Munda airfieldover, the Zanana Beach and LaianaBeach detachments moved on 6 Au-gust to participate in the Munda de-fenses. The detachments destroyed12 enemy planes while at these lo-cations. A day later, the 9th DefenseBattalion began moving to theMunda area. The moves were so or-ganized that there was no morethan a quarter of the battalion'sweapons out of action at any onetime. The battalion was trans-

ported largely by various types oflanding craft, which made the dis-placement a slow, laborious process.Captain Well's Battery B of the155mm Group moved to KinduPoint on New Georgia on 8 Augustand was assigned the mission withits large guns of guarding the west-ern approaches to Blanche Channel.On landing, Battery B and an Armyantitank platoon cleared the area ofremaining Japanese stragglers.

At Munda Airfield, immediatelyafter the area was cleared of Japan-ese, construction units moved in torepair and enlarge the "emergency"field built by the enemy. By theevening of 13 August, this workhad progressed sufficiently to per-mit four Army Curtiss P-40Warhawks to make an unscheduledlanding and to "christen" the fieldwith a brief fly-over. This was soonfollowed by the arrival of Marineair units, including VMF-123 and-124. Other Marine squadrons soonarrived, including the VMF-214"Black Sheep" of Major GregoryBoyington, who became a grudgingadmirer of the 9th's antiaircraftmarksmanship and a source of en-tertainment with his radio transmis-sions while flying over Munda.

Instead of attacking the mainJapanese force on Kolombangara at

Seabees clear a Japanese tunnel at the base of Kokengolo Hill for use in the face of the still pre-sent Japanese menace. This threat made the discomfort of the cave, filled with refuse andcorpses, seem a small price to pay for the security of overhead cover from artillery and air attack.

Marine corps Historical collection


The engineering effort pushed forward and built upon the Japanese construction that re-mained. The work was completed within 10 days after the airfield was captured.

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Commander Aircraft New Georgia, BGen Francis P. Mulcahy, expanded airfield operationson Munda with the construction of more secure shelters than those the Japanese left be-hind. A heavily sandbagged sickbay is on the left and the personnel office is in the center.The frame of a prefabricated Quonset hut is being assembled to the right rear.

Vila, the American force isolatedthe enemy by landings on nearbyVella Lavella on 15 August. Admi-ral Halsey did not want anotherslugging match like Munda. Alanding force was built around theuncommitted Army 35th Regimen-tal Combat Team, commanded bythe 25th Infantry Division's assis-tant commander, Brigadier GeneralRobert B. McLure, and supportedby the Marine 4th Defense Battal-ion. The Japanese resisted in the airand sea, but enemy ground forceswere too busy withdrawing to putup a determined resistance. The 4thDefense Battalion, led by Lieu-

tenant Colonel Harold S. Fassett,defended the beachhead against 121attacks and downed 42 Japaneseplanes. The Allied occupation ofthese positions and pressure fromArundel and New Georgia put Vilaon Kolombangara in a precariousposition. In many ways, this was aprelude to the Marine Bougainvillecampaign as it brought I MarineAmphibious Corps and new unitsnot involved in the fighting into theNew Georgia area. Americanfighter cover came from the Mundaand Segi Airfields.

By 15 August, the 9th DefenseBattalion was set up and emplacedin new dispersed positions. Threedays later, another major naval sur-face action occurred off VellaLavella as the U.S. Navy combatantsintercepted destroyers and bargesattempting to evacuate Japanesetroops. From 16 through 19 August,Japanese artillery on Baanga Islandshelled Munda Airfield and KinduPoint causing several casualties andsome minor damage. Friendly air-craft and artillery operated againstthese elusive cannon and finally si-lenced them. The battalion sufferedno casualties from this shelling,though one gun crew's tent was de-molished by a direct hit and therewere several hits on other positions.The 9th's antiaircraft guns werenow fully placed to protect the air-

The first fighter plane to land on Munda was a VMF-215 Corsair flown by Ma) Robert G.Owens, Jr., on 14 August 1943. Flight operations began immediately to cover the VellaLavella landings.


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The Munda drive moved into a final phasewith attacks on 4 and 5 August 1943, againusing Marine tanks in the lead. Tank com-mander Capt Robert W. Blake examinessome of the improvised antitank weaponsfaced by his unit—a Molotov cocktail and amagnetic mine.

field. Enemy air attacks on theMunda area, carried out at night orin the early morning, continuedthroughout the rest of the month.Captain Ervin's three Battery C40mm positions seaward of the air-field were straddled by a string ofJapanese bombs that managed tojust miss everyone.

The landing and occupation ofArundel Island, on 27 August, fur-ther tightened the noose aroundKolombangara. Army troops were

An essential element in the defensive air war was the use of radar by the Americans for supported by Captain Blake andsurveillance, target acquisition, and ground-controlled intercepts. This is one of the 9th tanks from the 9th, 10th, and 11thDefense Battalion's SCR268s installed on New Georgia. Defense Battalions. Major General

Collins, commanding the 25th In-fantry Division carrying out thisassignment, commended theMarines "for the whole-hearted co-operation and assistance renderedthis division" during the opera-tions against the Japanese in theArundel Island campaign. Theyperformed all assigned tasks "in asplendid manner in support of the27th Infantry, in its action. ..

Captain Reichner's Battery Amoved to Piru Plantation on 29 Au-gust and two days later beganshelling the Vila area of Kolomban-gara. The move was made by land-ing craft and foot. Recalled Captain

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department of defense photo (usmc) 60616 · craft guns opened fire and a few ... camouflaged...

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