CHAPTER 5 THE BOUGAINVILLE CAMPAIGN TAKES SHAP E N the forthcoming operations in New Guinea the First Army woul d I have more widespread responsibilities than its predecessor, New Guine a Force. From his headquarters at Lae Lieut-General Sturdee controlled four forces deployed in an area that was about 1,000 miles from east t o west. Sturdee had not previously held a command in the field in this war. In 1940 he had been appointed to command the 8th Division but afte r a few weeks had become Chief of the General Staff, an appointment he filled with distinction during the anxious months that followed the entr y of the Japanese into the war . In September 1942 he became head of the Australian Military Mission in Washington . His senior staff officer on Firs t Army was Brigadier E. L. Sheehan, who had come to that appointment i n 1943 after service on the staff of New Guinea Force and I Corps; his chief administrative officer was Brigadier R. Bierwirth who had held similar appointments on the staff of the 6th Division, Northern Territory Force , and I Corps .l The big base at Lae was well situated to be the headquarters of a n army controlling operations throughout the New Guinea territories . It was about 600 miles from Torokina on Bougainville, 450 from Aitape, an d 400 from Jacquinot Bay on New Britain and from Emirau Island, it s northernmost area of responsibility . From Lae Sturdee and his staff con- trolled and maintained not only the four main field formations but a total of 134 formations, units, and detachments, including Angau region s and districts, three Area Commands—Madang, Finschhafen and Wau , seven base sub-areas—at Aitape, Torokina, Madang, Lae, Buna, Port Moresby and Milne Bay, fixed defence units at Moresby and Lae, a multi- tude of engineer and signals units, and many others . The Army headquarters was much concerned with shipping (the shortage of which was a con- tinual anxiety), liaison with the air force (carried out by fourteen air liaison sections) and movement control. Lae had now grown into a fairly comfortable town of considerable size. Along wide heavily-metalled roads were lines of buildings with concrete or timber floors, walls only half-height to allow the air t o circulate, and ceilings of hessian or tar board . Neatly-painted road signs —Wau Avenue, Finschhafen Avenue and so on—guided the traveller. It was long since enemy aircraft had disturbed Lae's tranquillity. Twice a week there was an open-air picture show, and often films not yet see n on the mainland were shown . Here as elsewhere, if a tropical storm brok e r The senior officers on the staff of the First Army in October 1944 were : Comd Lt-Gen V . A . H . Sturdee; BGS Brig E . L . Sheehan ; GSOI (Ops) Lt-Col J . W . Fletcher ; GSOI (SD & Trg) Lt-Col F . W . Speed ; GSOI (Air) Lt-Col J . A . Y . Denniston ; GSOI (In() Lt-Col L . K . Shave ; DA&QMG Brig R . Bierwirth ; DDS&T Brig P . S. McGrath ; BRA Brig L . E. S. Barker ; CE Bri g A . G . Torr; CSO Col A . D . Molloy ; DDOS Col J. T . Simpson ; DDME Col C . A . Jillett ; DMS Brig J . Steigrad . There was a total of 183 officers on the staff, though a number of appointments had no t been filled . 90 BOUGAINVILLE CAMPAIGN TAKES SHAPE 1942-45 during the show the audience put on gas capes and went on watching the screen through pouring rain. Five miles away on the banks of th e Busu was an officers' club with room for about 200 to dine, served by well-drilled native waiters, and with a fine floor on which officers dance d with nurses to music played by a four-man band . Sturdee's principal opponent was General Hitoshi Imamura of th e Eighth Area Army whose headquarters were at Rabaul. On New Britain and New Ireland Imamura had the 17th and 38th Divisions and also enough independent brigades and regiments to form two more divisions . The XVII Army on Bougainville, also under Imamura's command, include d the 6th Division, an independent brigade and other units . On Bougainville and New Britain there were also large bodies of naval troops—far large r than the Australian staffs yet knew . On the mainland of Australian New Guinea, deployed from west o f Wewak to the Sepik, was the XVIII Army. Originally it had been par t of the Eighth Area Army and later of the Second Area Army, but now was directly under the command of Field Marshal Count Terauchi of th e Southern Army, the headquarters which throughout most of the war con - trolled the Area Armies and Armies employed in the conquest and defenc e of Japan's new empire south of China . The largest formation under Sturdee's command was II Corps o n Bougainville, led by Lieut-General Savige, who, as mentioned, had bee n Sturdee's predecessor at the headquarters at Lae until the New Guine a Force staff was renamed II Corps and the First Army assumed contro l of the whole of Australian New Guinea . Bougainville is the largest of the Solomon Islands, the chain that form s the north-eastern boundary of the Coral Sea, and, administratively, wa s part of Australian New Guinea . American troops, having retaken Guadal- canal in 1942, advanced northward along this chain in the next year and on 1st November 1943 their I Marine Corps seized Torokina in Empres s Augusta Bay on the western shores of Bougainville . On 15th November the Marines were relieved by the XIV American Corps (Americal an d 37th Divisions), which was deployed along an arc about fourteen mile s long protecting the airfields at Torokina, with outposts astride the mai n tracks. The Japanese slowly reorganised and in March 1944 launche d a full-scale offensive . It failed, causing them a loss of perhaps 5,000 killed ; a total of between 7,000 and 8,000 Japanese were killed and perhaps 16,000 died of sickness during the American occupation . In late 1944 the Allied base at Torokina was one of several air an d naval stations from which intermittent attacks were launched against th e isolated Japanese bases in the eastern islands of the New Guinea mandate , principally Buin on Bougainville itself and Rabaul on New Britain . There were also Allied stations at Munda in New Georgia, on the Treasury Islands close to Buin, on the Green Islands north of Bougain- ville, and on remote Emirau Island north-west of New Ireland . These outer islands had been occupied by New Zealand, American or 92 BOUGAINVILLE CAMPAIGN TAKES SHAPE 1943-44 Fijian troops and were now garrisoned by the 93rd American Division , a Negro formation . The bases at Manus in the Admiralties and in western New Britain completed the encirclement of Rabaul . Japanese sea and air power in the area was now practically non-existent . The last Japanese air attack on Torokina had been made in March by two aircraft, and n o Japanese merchant ship had been seen off the island since January . A post-war Japanese report states that the last transport vessel arrived a t Buka from Rabaul on 24th November 1943 . Bougainville Island is about 120 miles in length and about 40 mile s in width at the widest part . The mountain chain which forms its backbon e rises to a height of 8,500 feet at Mount Balbi, an active volcano . The main wide areas of flat country are in the south-west and the east, and it was there that most of the natives lived and most of the plantations ha d been established—chiefly round Buin and Kieta . On the western side short, fast-flowing streams, fed by a rainfall that averaged 100 inches a year, drained the mountain chain . These streams were from 10 to 80 yards wide , and subject to floods that rose and fell rapidly . The silt which they washed down, plus the sea sand, formed bars across the mouths and these often made it possible to ford otherwise deep rivers . The bars also caused swamp s inland from the river mouths. The Torokina plain, however, had th e advantage of being formed of a porous mixture of sand and volcanic as h which quickly absorbed the rain . High forest, with dense undergrowth , covered the island to about the 5,000-feet contour where scantier mos s forest began . The temperature on the lowlands was generally hot an d humid, although the beaches were pleasantly cool at night . Off the southern end of Bougainville lie three large islands, Shortland , Fauro and Mono, in the Treasury group, and many smaller ones. At the northern end, separated by a narrow passage, lies Buka, and farther nort h the Green Islands, a circle of land almost completely enclosing a vas t lagoon. Except for the Treasury and Green Islands and the area roun d Torokina on Bougainville, Bougainville and its neighbouring islands wer e still in the hands of the Japanese . As mentioned earlier, the XIV American Corps was to be relieved o n Bougainville by II Australian Corps whose main components were the 3r d Division (7th, 15th and 29th Brigades) and the 11th and 23rd Brigades . Major-General W. Bridgeford (3rd Division), Brigadier J . Field (7th Brigade) and staff officers flew to Torokina on 4th September for a recon- naissance and for consultations with the commanders and staff of th e XIV American Corps and 37th and Americal Divisions .