William Ellis Newton, VC was an Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest decoration for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to a member of the British and Commonwealth armed forces. He was honoured for his actions as a bomber pilot in Papua New Guinea during March 1943 when, despite intense anti-aircraft fire, he pressed home a series of attacks on the Salamaua Isthmus, the last of which saw him forced to ditch his aircraft in the sea. Newton was still officially posted as missing when the award was made in October 1943. It later emerged that he had been taken captive by the Japanese, and executed by beheading on 29 March.
Aitape is a small town of about 18,000 people on the north coast of Papua New Guinea in the Sandaun Province. It is a coastal settlement that is almost equidistant from the provincial capitals of Wewak and Vanimo, and marks the midpoint of the highway between these two capitals. Aitape has 240 V power, telephone, a bank, a post-office, a courthouse and a police station, a supermarket and many tradestores, a petrol station, two airstrips, two secondary schools, a mission office and a hospital.
No. 15 Squadron was a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) light bomber and maritime patrol squadron of World War II. The squadron was formed in January 1944 and initially flew anti-submarine patrols off the east coast of Australia. From September that year elements of the squadron took part in the New Guinea Campaign, and the main body of the squadron moved to New Guinea in March 1945. Its duties in New Guinea included anti-submarine and anti-barge patrols as well as attacking Japanese positions. No. 15 Squadron was demobilised after the end of the war, and was formally disbanded in March 1946.
The Battle of Driniumor River, also known as the Battle of Aitape, 10 July – 25 August 1944, was part of the Western New Guinea campaign of World War II. During the fighting, Japanese forces launched several attacks on United States forces on the Driniumor River, near Aitape in New Guinea, over the course of several weeks with the intention of retaking Aitape. After making some initial gains, the Japanese attack was contained and eventually turned back having suffered heavy casualties. The battle should not be confused with Operation Persecution, which included amphibious landings near Aitape in April 1944, or the Aitape–Wewak campaign, which began in November that year.
M Special Unit, was a joint Allied special reconnaissance unit, part of the Services Reconnaissance Department (SRD), in the South West Pacific theatre of the Second World War. A joint Australian, New Zealand, Dutch and British military intelligence unit, it saw action in New Guinea and the Solomon Islands between 1943–1945, against the Empire of Japan.
The Western New Guinea campaign was a series of actions in the New Guinea campaign of World War II. Dutch East Indies KNIL, United States and Australian forces assaulted Japanese bases and positions in the northwest coastal areas of Netherlands New Guinea and adjoining parts of the Australian Territory of New Guinea. The campaign began with Operations Reckless and Persecution, which were amphibious landings by the U.S. I Corps at Hollandia and Aitape on 22 April 1944. Fighting in western New Guinea continued until the end of the war.
The Battle of Hollandia was an engagement between Allies of World War II and Japanese forces during World War II. The majority of the Allied force was provided by the United States, with the bulk of two United States Army infantry divisions being committed on the ground. Air and naval support consisted largely of U.S. assets, although Australia also provided air support during preliminary operations and a naval bombardment force.
The Landing at Aitape was a battle of the Western New Guinea campaign of World War II. American and Allied forces undertook an amphibious landing on 22 April 1944 at Aitape on northern coast of Papua New Guinea. The amphibious landing was undertaken simultaneously with the landings at Humboldt and Tanahmerah Bays to secure Hollandia to isolate the Japanese 18th Army at Wewak. Operations in the area to consolidate the landing continued until 4 May, although US and Japanese forces fought further actions in western New Guinea following a Japanese counter-offensive that lasted until early August 1944. Aitape was subsequently developed into an Allied base of operations and was used by Australian forces throughout late 1944 and into 1945 during the Aitape–Wewak campaign.
The Aitape–Wewak campaign was one of the final campaigns of the Pacific Theatre of World War II. Between November 1944 and the end of the war in August 1945, the Australian 6th Division, with air and naval support, fought the Imperial Japanese 18th Army in northern New Guinea. Considered a "mopping up" operation by the Australians, and although ultimately successful for them with the Japanese forces cleared from the coastal areas and driven inland, amidst difficult jungle conditions, casualties from combat and disease were high. With Japan on the verge of defeat, such casualties later led to the strategic necessity of the campaign being called into question.
The Japanese 18th Army was a field army of the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II.
No2 Australian Independent Company later renamed the 2/2nd Commando Squadron was one of 12 independent companies or commando squadrons raised by the Australian Army for service during World War IINo 2 Independent Company served in Timor and later as 2/2nd Commando Company served in New Guinea and New Britain during World War II, taking part in the Battle of Timor in June 1942 as part of Sparrow Force. Following the capture of the island, the company was withdrawn in December 1942 and returned to Australia, later taking part in operations in New Guinea in 1943–1944 and then on New Britain in 1945.
The 2/7th Commando Company was one of 12 independent companies or commando squadrons raised by the Australian Army during the Second World War. Raised in May 1942, as the 2/7th Independent Company, the 2/7th served in New Guinea in 1943 during the Salamaua–Lae campaign before being redesignated as the 2/7th Commando Squadron when it was amalgamated with two other commando squadrons to become part of the 2/6th Cavalry (Commando) Regiment. Later at the end of 1944, it was sent to New Guinea again, where it took part in the Aitape–Wewak campaign. Following the end of the war, the squadron was returned to Australia and disbanded early in 1946.
The 2/9th Commando Squadron was a commando unit raised by the Australian Army for service in World War II. Raised in 1944, the unit saw action late in the war against the Japanese during the Aitape–Wewak campaign taking part in number of long range patrol operations across the Torricelli Range in New Guinea before being used in an amphibious landing near Wewak in May 1945. After the war the unit was disbanded.
Leonard George Siffleet was an Australian commando of World War II. Born in Gunnedah, New South Wales, he joined the Second Australian Imperial Force in 1941, and by 1943 had reached the rank of sergeant. Posted to M Special Unit of the Services Reconnaissance Department, Siffleet was on a mission in Papua New Guinea when he and two Ambonese companions were captured by partisan tribesmen and handed over to the Japanese. All three men were interrogated, tortured and later beheaded. A photograph of Siffleet's impending execution became an enduring image of the war, and his identity was often confused with that of other servicemen who suffered a similar fate, in particular Flight Lieutenant Bill Newton.
Bena Force was an ad hoc Australian Army formation that existed during World War II. Established in early 1943 to defend the Bena Bena–Mount Hagen plateau south of the Ramu River in New Guinea and to prevent it from being occupied by the Imperial Japanese. The force undertook defensive tasks and maintenance of the airfields, tracks and roads in the area, and undertook reconnaissance and long range patrols.
No. 79 Wing was a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) wing of World War II. It was formed in December 1943 at Batchelor, Northern Territory, as part of North-Western Area Command. Led by Group Captain Charles Eaton, the wing comprised four squadrons on its establishment, flying Beaufort and B-25 Mitchell bombers and Beaufighter heavy fighters. No. 79 Wing took part in the New Guinea and North-Western Area Campaigns during 1944–45, eventually transferring to Balikpapan in the Dutch East Indies as the Allies advanced northward. By the end of the Pacific War, the wing was attached to the Australian First Tactical Air Force and was made up of Nos. 2 and 18 Squadrons, both flying Mitchells. The latter transferred to the Netherlands Air Force in late 1945, while the former returned to Australia where it disbanded the following year. No. 79 Headquarters itself disbanded in October 1945, soon after the end of hostilities.
The Fourth Air Army was a land-based aviation force of the Imperial Japanese Army. Formed in Rabaul in June 1943, consisting of the 6th and 7th Air Divisions. The air army was responsible for covering the Solomon Islands, Dutch New Guinea and the Territories of Papua and New Guinea areas of operations. The headquarters was at Rabaul. Disestablished in January 1945.
The New Guinea Air Warning Wireless, also known as the "New Guinea Air Warning Wireless Company", "NGAWW", or "The Spotters", was a unique signals unit of the Australian Army formed in January 1942 in Port Moresby, Territory of Papua, during World War II, to provide early warning of Japanese air attack, and subsequently providing surveillance of shipping and ground-based troops. During the first month of operations 16 stations were established, with positions set up along the Papuan coast as well as in the mountains near Port Moresby. They often operated behind Japanese lines and were at risk of being captured by the Japanese due to the nature of their operations, while a number of outstations were over-run and the men manning them killed. By the end of 1942 the company was maintaining 61 operational stations and had a strength of 180 men.
Operation Locust was an operation by M Special Unit in New Guinea during World War II. It was held in conjunction with the better known Operation Whiting.
US Naval Base New Guinea was number of United States Navy bases on the Island of New Guinea during World War II. Australia entered World War II on 3 September 1939, being a self-governing nation within the British Empire. The United States formally entered the war on 7 December 1941, following the Empire of Japan bombing of Pearl Harbor. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor Japan quickly took over much of the South Pacific. The United States lost key Naval Bases in the South Pacific including: Naval Base Manila and Naval Base Subic Bay lost in the 1941 invasion of the Philippines. Also lost was Naval Base Guam and Wake Atoll. As such the United States Armed Forces needed new bases in the South West Pacific for staging attacks on Japan's southern empire, the United States built bases first in Australia, then in New Guinea.
