Remembering the war in New Guinea
Japanese occupation of New Guinea (Overview text)
Module name: Campaign history (Japanese perspective)
This page was contributed by Dr Arakawa Ken'ichi (National Institute of Defense Studies)
Japanese forces conducted a campaign in 1942 to occupy Papua and New Guinea. The Imperial Navy took the leading role in this campaign with the co-operation of the Imperial Army. The first stage in this strategy was the occupation of Rabaul in January. Expansion of the occupied territories began in earnest with the offensive operations against Port Moresby, and the occupation in September of Ioribaiwa on the southern slopes of the Owen Stanley Range. In the Solomons, an establishment unit had landed on Guadalcanal in July to construct an airfield. An 800 metre landing strip was completed by 5 August.
In New Guinea, the Japanese had planned to land the main Port Moresby invasion force at Buna on 7 August. However, the Japanese did not anticipate the subsequent offensive landings by American marines at Tulagi and Guadalcanal. Such Allied counter-offensives had not been expected until at least halfway through 1943.
Consequently, the overland offensive of the Japanese Army towards Port Moresby and the American Naval counter-offensive against Guadalcanal developed simultaneously. Initially, sufficient importance was not placed on these American attacks against Guadalcanal. The strength of the Ichiki Force (comprising one infantry battalion of approximately 1,000 men strengthened with light armour) was considered sufficient to retake the island. However, even though the Force landed safely, it completely failed in its objectives and was totally wiped out.
The Guadalcanal battles had a significant effect on the Port Moresby campaign. The main force dispatched to capture Port Moresby, the South Seas Force (comprising one strengthened infantry regiment of approximately 5,000 men), landed at Buna on 17–18 August. Australian resistance on the precipitous slopes of the Owen Stanley Range had been swept away after only a month, when the Japanese had advanced as far as Ioribaiwa. Japanese troops could see the Gulf of Papua and the lights of Port Moresby. At that time, the replacements for the Ichiki Force, the Kawaguchi Force (comprising one strengthened infantry regiment of approximately 5,000 men), also failed in its efforts to retake the island. The Headquarters of the Japanese 17th Army was prosecuting the campaigns on both these fronts. Consequently, it ordered the Port Moresby invasion force to cease its advance and to adopt a defensive stance. The failure of the Kawaguchi Force resulted from heavy losses suffered from Allied carrier-based air attacks while it was en route to Guadalcanal. It could not therefore mount a sufficiently strong landing when it finally reached the island.
The Guadalcanal campaign became the focal point in the Papua and New Guinea theatre from then until the end of the year. The campaign to occupy Port Moresby stagnated and developed into a defensive withdrawal to Buna. The Buna Garrison suffered a glorious sacrifice in December 1942, while a decision had been made to cease operations in Guadalcanal and withdraw. This took place in January 1943, and the Japanese forces at Buna retreated to Lae and Salamaua in early February. This heralded the end of the 1942 Japanese campaigns to occupy Papua and New Guinea, and the end of Japanese offensive operations in the region.