Battle of Biak
Encyclopedia
The Battle of Biak was part of the New Guinea campaign
New Guinea campaign
The New Guinea campaign was one of the major military campaigns of World War II.Before the war, the island of New Guinea was split between:...

 of World War II. It was fought between the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

 and the Japanese Army
Imperial Japanese Army
-Foundation:During the Meiji Restoration, the military forces loyal to the Emperor were samurai drawn primarily from the loyalist feudal domains of Satsuma and Chōshū...

 from May 27 to June 22, 1944. It was the first major tactical use of an ambush
Ambush
An ambush is a long-established military tactic, in which the aggressors take advantage of concealment and the element of surprise to attack an unsuspecting enemy from concealed positions, such as among dense underbrush or behind hilltops...

 by the Japanese during the war.

Background

The island of Biak
Biak
Biak features a tropical rainforest climate with nearly identical temperatures throughout the course of the year. The average annual temperature in the city is 27 degrees celsius, which is also generally the average temperature of each day in Biak...

 dominates the entrance to Geelvink Bay, near the western end of New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...

. The island was held by 11,000 Japanese troops under the command of Colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...

 Kuzume Naoyuki. Disdainful of the doctrine of destruction at the water's edge, he decided instead to allow the Americans to come ashore unopposed so that they would stroll unwarily into the trap he had prepared for them. This would turn the area around the vital airfield there into a martial honeycomb
Honeycomb
A honeycomb is a mass of hexagonal waxcells built by honey bees in their nests to contain their larvae and stores of honey and pollen.Beekeepers may remove the entire honeycomb to harvest honey...

 of caves and pillboxes filled with riflemen, automatic weapons, artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...

, batteries
Artillery battery
In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit of guns, mortars, rockets or missiles so grouped in order to facilitate better battlefield communication and command and control, as well as to provide dispersion for its constituent gunnery crews and their systems...

 of mortar
Mortar (weapon)
A mortar is an indirect fire weapon that fires explosive projectiles known as bombs at low velocities, short ranges, and high-arcing ballistic trajectories. It is typically muzzle-loading and has a barrel length less than 15 times its caliber....

s, and Type 95 Ha-Go
Type 95 Ha-Go
The was a light tank used by the Imperial Japanese Army in combat operations of the Second Sino-Japanese War, at Nomonhan against the Soviet Union, and in the Second World War. It proved sufficient against infantry, however, like the American M3 Stuart, it was not designed to fight other tanks...

 light tanks. Kuzume also stockpiled these positions with enough ammunition
Ammunition
Ammunition is a generic term derived from the French language la munition which embraced all material used for war , but which in time came to refer specifically to gunpowder and artillery. The collective term for all types of ammunition is munitions...

, food and water to sustain his defense for months. Water was less than abundant on Biak, where heat and humidity would take a toll equal to enemy gunfire.

It was known from an intercepted message dated May 5, 1944 that the IJA 2nd Area intelligence thought that next allied landing would probably be on Biak, and a preliminary landing was made on May 17 at Wakde on the way to Biak. There a smaller airfield was available, which could be used as an advanced base until the Biak strips were ready. While initial G2 estimates of enemy troops was approximately 5000, an intercepted message at the end of April gave the ration strength as 10,800, though it was thought this was a figure based upon projected, rather than, current strength.

Battle

The 162nd Infantry Regiment
162nd Infantry Regiment (United States)
The 162nd Infantry Regiment is a regiment of the Oregon Army National Guard with headquarters in Springfield, Oregon. In January, 2006 as part of the Army's transformation towards a modular force, the 1st Battalion, 162nd Infantry Regiment was inactivated...

 of the 41st Division of the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

 landed on Biak on May 27, 1944, and by 5:15 in the afternoon had landed 12,000 troops, with 12 Sherman tanks, 29 field gun
Field gun
A field gun is an artillery piece. Originally the term referred to smaller guns that could accompany a field army on the march and when in combat could be moved about the battlefield in response to changing circumstances, as to opposed guns installed in a fort, or to siege cannon or mortars which...

s, 500 vehicles and 2400 tons of supplies. The supplies included ice cream, which was served on the first day. The island was of solid coral, which required dynamiting before even bulldozers could make an impression
They moved confidently inland expecting little opposition, until they reached the vital airfield. Then, from the low-lying terrain around them and the ridges above, there fell a terrible storm of shot and shell
Shell (projectile)
A shell is a payload-carrying projectile, which, as opposed to shot, contains an explosive or other filling, though modern usage sometimes includes large solid projectiles properly termed shot . Solid shot may contain a pyrotechnic compound if a tracer or spotting charge is used...

 that pinned them to the ground. It was not until dark that the amphibious tractors
Landing Vehicle Tracked
The Landing Vehicle Tracked was a class of amphibious vehicles introduced by the United States Navy, Marine Corps and Army during World War II. Originally intended solely as cargo carriers for ship to shore operations, they rapidly evolved into assault troop and fire support vehicles as well...

 were able to extricate them from the trap. The next day they reached the end of Mokmer airstrip, Sorido airstrip was the objective. The Japanese held firm, delaying the capture of Mokmer airstrip for ten days.

With the delay, the 5th Air Force Command at Nadzab arranged the capture of the nearby island of Owi on June 2, and built two 7,000 ft airstrips. An advanced echelon was stationed there with 15,000 troops, a bombardment group, two fighter groups and a Black Widow night fighter group.

From an intercept, 1WU the RAAF intercept unit learned that Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages where the title of Lieutenant General was held by the second in command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a Captain General....

 Takuzo Numata, the Chief of Staff
Chief of Staff
The title, chief of staff, identifies the leader of a complex organization, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a Principal Staff Officer , who is the coordinator of the supporting staff or a primary aide to an important individual, such as a president.In general, a chief of...

 of the 2nd Area Army was on the island on an inspection tour. He outranked Colonel Kuzume, and sent messages pleading for evacuation. He was evacuated by float plane at night from Korin Bay about June 20. Soon after, on June 22, Colonel Kuzume burned his regimental colours and committed hara kiri.

As Admiral
Admiral
Admiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet . It is usually abbreviated to "Adm" or "ADM"...

 Toyoda needed the Biak airstrips for attacks on the US Pacific Fleet, he initiated Operation Kon, the relief of Biak. An attack on 8 June was driven off by American and Australian naval forces. The first attack on June 1 was turned back when a Japanese aircraft mistakenly reported a US aircraft carrier, and a third attack on 13 June was diverted north to the Philippine Sea and the US 5th Fleet carriers; this attack was to include the super-battleships Yamato and Musashi.

The Americans broke through the Japaneses defences on June 22, with a coastal strip from Bosnek to Sorido captured, including the three airfields at Sorido (4500 ft), Borokoe (4500 ft) and Mokmer (8,000 ft). There were about 3,000 Japanese remnants trying to organize a final counter attack up to August 17. Bleakley recalls that a bamboo shack of Japanese recreational equipment in a sort of PX
PX
PX can be the code for:*The stock symbol for Praxair*The IATA code for Air Niugini*Index of the Prague Stock Exchange *Symbol for ParaxylenePX can be an abbreviation for:...

 contained "dozens of pairs of ice skates" – "on a Godforsaken island on the equator!". He kept a pair as a souvenir for a while, and says the Japanese troops were told they were on an island off San Francisco and were soon to invade America. He was with 1WU, the only Australian forces on the island.

Aftermath

The capture of Biak Island cost the Americans 474 killed, and 2,428 wounded. The Japanese lost about 6,100 killed and 450 captured, thus over 4,000 unaccounted for, that is, missing in action and presumed dead. Effectively, they had been annihilated. Thereafter, there was no furious Banzai
Banzai
Banzai may refer to:* A traditional Japanese exclamation meaning "Ten thousand years"** Banzai charge or banzai attack, a last, desperate military charge* Banzai! , a 1991 album by Tigertailz...

 by which the Japanese enemy customarily bled itself to death. Biak was a grinding, shot-for-shot battle. Ambush
Ambush
An ambush is a long-established military tactic, in which the aggressors take advantage of concealment and the element of surprise to attack an unsuspecting enemy from concealed positions, such as among dense underbrush or behind hilltops...

, or delay tactics were repeated at the Battle of Peleliu
Battle of Peleliu
The Battle of Peleliu, codenamed Operation Stalemate II, was fought between the United States and the Empire of Japan in the Pacific Theater of World War II, from September–November 1944 on the island of Peleliu, present-day Palau. U.S...

, Battle of Okinawa
Battle of Okinawa
The Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg, was fought on the Ryukyu Islands of Okinawa and was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific War of World War II. The 82-day-long battle lasted from early April until mid-June 1945...

, and the Battle of Iwo Jima
Battle of Iwo Jima
The Battle of Iwo Jima , or Operation Detachment, was a major battle in which the United States fought for and captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Empire of Japan. The U.S...

, battles the United States Marines and the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

expected to be won within days or weeks but instead lasted for months, with staggering losses not only in valuable time but in still more valuable life and equipment.
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