THE ADMIRALTY ISLANDS

[Music] the Admiralty Islands controlled the Japs supply lines to New Britain new Ireland and New Guinea it was mandatory that the enemy's flow of supplies and men to these bases be cut by securing the Admiralty's diversionary moves would be made a feint at New Britain naval bombardment at kau being an Australian advance toward my dong and to the north bombard minh of troop by the Pacific Fleet under cover of these moves the 1st Cavalry Division would head straight for the Admiralty's with the 6th infantry in reserve pilots flying reconnaissance over the strip on los negros had reported that it looked deserted to verify these reports a team of crack Alamo Scouts was sent to Los Negros the picture of the Admiralty's was now clear ma news strong los negros weak and exposed to attack from the east hence Los Negros became target number one On February 27th 1944 at Cape Sioux desk New Guinea elements of the 6th Army's 1st Cavalry Division readied for the operation originally intended as merely a reconnaissance in force the initial los negros operation was to use only slightly more than 1,000 men 800 of them from the 5th Cavalry 1st Brigade the rest field artillery and aircraft and other attached units from the staging area to the landing beaches moved the men who would make the first move to dislodge the Japanese from their strategic Admiralty outpost [Music] vast destroyer transports were used to move the small mobile but powerfully armed striking force from New Guinea to the Admiralty [Music] [Music] general Kruger and Admiral Kincaid boarded the cruiser Phoenix to confer with General MacArthur morning February 28 the task force headed north through the Bismarck sea [Music] only 24 hours to give equipment the final once-over [Music] troops receive a final briefing our main objectives in the Admiralty's were the two air strips momo taeyeon los negros lauren Gowen Munoz D Day February 29th 1944 shattering the gray dawn naval guns began pulverizing enemy installations on the island [Music] overhead 5th Air Force planes bombed and strafed the beach [Music] Oh 800 the first wave started ashore the assault boats headed for high any harbour on the eastern tip of the island as the boats approached the shore the bombardment lifted the Japanese offered no challenge as our troops landed on the beaches the first enemy fire came from snipers but it was never smart enough to keep our men pinned down for any length of time [Music] the assault forces moved inland through the jungle well ahead of plan [Music] as our men penetrated further into the jungle the enemy began to cover our advance [Music] my H plus two and a half hours we had seized the Mamata airfield but by this time the enemy had been able to organize and by keeping our small force under constant pressure prevented us from exploiting possession of the airstrip for seven days the Japs strengthened by reinforcements from Manus Island tried to push us off the airstrip the situation was critical [Music] reinforcements arrived on March 5th and 6th these additional troops and supplies were sent to bolster our forces at the airstrip more supplies and ammunition were dropped from b-24s more troops moving across Sadler Harbor to secure a beachhead on long drum point [Music] using artillery hurriedly brought up our troops shelled the strong Japanese positions beyond the earth trip [Music] [Music] though crapped by our strengthened defensing infantry the Japanese fought to the death [Music] 1,230 died during the first week of the campaign [Music] each of our wounded had to be carried back through the jungle to rough-hewn clearings where battalion aid stations have been located [Music] here they were given life-saving blood plasma and first aid those in critical condition were operated upon a few hundred yards from the front line [Music] then with minimum delay the wounded were moved to the beaches and out to hospital ships in the harbor [Music] [Music] not until nine days after it was first seized was the pockmarked Mamata airstrip completely secure [Music] general McArthur left his ship to go ashore on Los Negros early in the campaign to survey the situation what began as a reconnaissance in force became a major operation [Music] in a little over a week's time every Japanese defender had been wiped out on March 14 15 days after the first landing another convoy pulled in at los negros the rest of the 1st Cavalry Division arrived for the attack on Manus Island to the west more ammunition more supplies heavier equipment rolled across Los Negros Island for the second phase of the operation while the landing forces readied or artillery bombarded the beaches of Manas across the water [Music] only a narrow channel separated los negros from ma news where our chief objective was Lauren Gao airstrip on the eastern end of the island the day after reinforcements landed on Los Negros our troops waited on to the monos beaches like their forces on los negros the Japanese again abandoned the beaches and fled to the hills by nightfall that day the Lauren Gao airstrip was in our hands [Music] only a few snipers opposed our forces patrols moved in to ferret them out of their holes [Music] the perimeter established general Krueger and Major General Swift 1st Cavalry Division commander came ashore to congratulate the successful forces and plan future moves elements of the 8th Cavalry Regiment advanced meeting only slight enemy opposition organized resistance was over [Music] on native outrigger craft with natives along as guides patrols penetrated the tangled jungle along the rivers others skirted the coastline to land and cut off Japanese stragglers [Music] only 75 Japanese were taken alive during the entire campaign on both Islands the Japanese had lost more than 3,000 dead fugitives and wounded numbered between 950 and 1326 killed and 1819 wounded for missing meanwhile Mamata airstrip on Los Negros was being speedily enlarged and readied for use in record time our engineers worked the rough Japanese strip into a solid smooth runway the objective of yesterday was now the take-off point for our attacking bombers the first of which already were winging their way toward new targets you