I. Condition Red

When the time came for the division's moves into action in Japanese held islands in the Solomons, representative ordnance units acted as the shock troops of supply and maintenance, and proceeded to forward areas with the fighting troops. At Vella Lavella the corps was organised as follows: A DADOS detachment under Lieutenant-Colonel Myers; Captain Sandelin, ordnance mechanical engineer; Warrant-Officer Walkley, 14th Brigade ordance supply officer; a forward ordnance depot detachment (including an ammunition section) under Lieutenants Lonergan and Buckley; the 20th and 37th Light Aid Detachments under Lieutenants Keenan and Calder respectively; a small detachment of the 29th Light Anti-aircraft workshops; and the No. 2 recovery section with armament section attached under Lieutenants Holebrook and Gable. Attached to infantry battalions, brigade headquarters and other units were armourers of the ordnance corps, who took care of first line weapon casualties.

During the assault on the Treasury Group the following were the representatives of the ordnance corps: Captain Tilley, ordnance mechanical engineer; Warrant-Officer Bristow, 8th Brigade ordnance supply officer, with a small detachment from the advanced ordnance depot; 64th Light Aid Detachment under Lieutenant Buckley; No. 1 recovery section with Lieutenant Beauchamp, and an armament section commanded by Captain Costelloe; and, lastly, a detachment of the 29th Light Anti-page break

Major H. McK. Reid, assistant to DADOS, who served for a long period with the division
Major J. W. Evers, senior ordnance mechanical engineer. He was a specialist in armaments
Captain H. N. McCarthy, who was chief ordnance officer, forward area

page break

Lieutenant G. R. Gable, MBE, right, with Captain W. M. Rowell when they were both warrant officers in Fiji

Armour-Sergeant W. J. Pearson, who was killed in action on Mono Island. Mentioned in dispatches

Warrant-Officer J. Roughan who was mentioned in despatches for his services

Sergeant R. J. Keeble, who was accidentally killed on 8 Nov. 1943

page 209aircraft workshops under Lieutenant H. Hayman. Early in December, due to retirements under age groups, and also to new appointments in the senior ordnance mechanical engineers' branches, many ordnance mechanical units were reorganised under new commanders as follows:—Ordnance mechanical engineers, 8th and 14th Brigades, Captains Keenan and Calder; 20th, 37th, 64th and 65th Light Aid Detachments were now commanded by Second-Lieutenants C. P. A. Burt, G. A. P. Skinner, J. D. Keeling and J. R. Buckley.

The ordnance detachment, during the attack on Nissan Island, comprised five officers and 103 other ranks who were subsequently formed into a forward maintenance group known as 'Square Peg' workshops (taken from the code name of the operation). The units on Nissan were the 20th and 65th Light Aid Detachments under Second-Lieutenants G. C. Sherson and C. D. McRae, a detachment of the 29th Light Anti-aircraft workshops with Warrant-Officer Ivan Vause; a tank workshops section commanded by Second-Lieutenant J. E. Amoore, and the No. 2 recovery section with armament section attached under Lieutenants Holebrook and Gable. The remainder of the tank workshops continued to operate under Lieutenant G. S. Collins near Lunga, at Guadalcanal. The 14th Brigade and artillery ordnance supply officers for the Nissan force were Warrant-Officers Walkley and Smith. Lieutenant R. H. Clark, as radio maintenance officer, and Sergeant J, E. Warren, radio mechanic, formed the radar maintenance section which joined the corps at Nissan, after coming from New Zealand.

As the Third Division became part of the island front, at a critical time when American forces were being built up for further strikes against enemy strongholds in the northern Solomons, the importance of its role of keeping the Japanese 'on the run' by dislodging them from the central Solomons, became clearer to the troops with each new move. At Guadalcanal the men gained their first conception of the desperate need for more room in which to assemble both troops and the vast amount of allied equipment necessary for land, sea and air operations in the highly mobile and fluid nature of island warfare. On every level piece of land that could be found along the coast of Guadalcanal were acres of allied stores, fighting equipment, vehicles including tanks and amphibious 'ducks' parked wheel page 210to wheel, and enormous ammunition dumps. Before large allied forces which were to use this equipment could be deployed in Bougainville and farther north, it was evident that not only-had the Japanese to be prevented from consolidating in the central Solomons, but also that the islands there—even some of the smallest of them—and some farther to the north, were essential as sites for bomber strips and naval bases in support of future allied operations in the north. How speedily the islands of Vella Lavella, the Treasuries and Nissan were put to these uses, just as soon as the division had performed its part of wresting them from the enemy in grim jungle fighting, was all the proof the men needed to appreciate the importance of the actions in which the division was engaged; clearly, the gain to the allied plans for future attacks was immeasurably greater than the mere territorial acquisition of such little known but hard won island groups might indicate.

Many of those of the Ordnance Corps who proceeded to Vella Lavella.. the Treasuries and Nissan Island landed with the fighting echelons—often with the first wave assault troops—as part of brigades or with divisional headquarters troops. In this warfare with few fixed lines and against an enemy which employed infiltration tactics at night with a fanatic's greed for death, many ordnance units shared experiences of action with fighting units to which they were attached. It is doubtful whether any word picture will ever be written that can convey a full and true impression of the peculiar sensations and experiences of the men who saw service in jungle combat areas. These men were moving into battle country where one of their enemies was the jungle itself. Perhaps no conception of the invisible dangers of the jungle is possible without some mention of what these were. Here are a few recorded selections from the instructions all men received before taking part in the Solomons campaign: 'To stop germs, insects and fungi from killing or crippling you, you must learn to protect yourself from their unseen attacks. The wet, warm air of the tropics helps germs to multiply and survive. But the smart soldier can lick dangerous germs in spite of being splashed with mud, soaked with sweat, and soiled with plant juices. Every drop of water you put in your mouth must be boiled or chlorinated. Remember that even the smallest amount of dirty food can give you a debilitating disease such as page 211tropical dysentery, that eats out the linings of your intestines and makes you bleed internally. Keep flies and all other insects off your food and utensils. Don't eat with your hands. Peel all fruits and keep your fingers off the parts you put in your mouth. Wash your socks and clothes every day. Putting on wet clothes in the morning will not hurt you, but wearing dirty clothes will give you real trouble within a few days, Mosquitoes and malaria are your worst enemies. Jungle pests will make your life unbearable if you do not learn to defeat their surprise attacks, Hookworms are widespread tropical parasites. Ants and termites swarm on the ground and in certain trees. Scorpions and centipedes often crawl into shoes, socks, and clothing. Even sleeping in the jungle is an art.' Beneath each of the above remarks, in an instruction issued to all troops, was advice on the best way to combat the difficulty, and the information covered 17 printed pages. Every word of this advice proved grimly true. The bite of the centipede—a species about nine inches in length and half an inch in width—was not only poisonous, but also agonisingly painful. On Stirling Island, in the Treasury Group, ectoparasites, known as chiggers, caused mysterious weeping skin eruptions which spread right up the legs from the shins. Scores of men were infected, and the condition was traced to a microscopic insect, scarlet in colour, which came from the ground, burrowed into the skin and hatched its young, which then spread further. Although men tried, as a rule, to avoid contact between bare feet and the ground, some contracted hookworm, an infection which enters the blood-stream. Even the prediction about ants proved correct, and at Nissan a large brown species with a vicious bite appeared in huge colonies near the ordnance workshops camp. When disturbance of the ground revealed millions of these pests, tents had often to be moved. In several ordnance locations the temperatures that were noted are also interesting. At Guadalcanal 130 degrees was quite common, while at Stirling, in the Treasuries, a temperature of 145 degrees was registered for several days in succession during January 1944. The proofing of even the finest quality tarpaulins melted on the fabric, and could be collected by the spoonful from along the lower edges. Humidity must also have been extreme, as a heavy green and white hair-like fungus, with a 'staple' about an inch in length, grew on the inner canvases of tents, all along beneath the ridge- page 212poles and elsewhere, and contributed to the speedy rotting of all tentage. As men worked at their ordnance duties their clothes clung to them as if fresh from immersion in water—but the water was sweat wrung from bodies that lost up to SO and 60 pounds weight, leaving a feeling of perpetual weariness. Often this was followed by an unhealthy blood condition, so that every minor scratch turned septic. These living conditions were but the womb which gave birth to the new fears and pangs of battle.

II. Vella Lavella

When, on 18 September, ordnance troops landed from the convoy bringing the first New Zealand troops to Vella Lavella they were greeted with a heavy attack by enemy bombers and fighter planes. At 10 am on 1 October, when a further ordnance party arrived on the island, some of them were about to disembark when a Japanese air attack was launched. Here is an account of the landing by one of the ordnance party: 'Fortunately we had received the warning just in time to get off the ship, and we rushed into the bush. Several of us found ourselves in the middle of a petrol dump as the strafing came through the trees. We made for a safer position, and luckily stumbled along with some 20 others into a fox-hole intended for about eight. Along the coast a short distance away another LST of our convoy received a well-placed direct hit almost amidships, causing many casualties to both New Zealand troops and the United States crew. Some of the New Zealand gunners were blown into the sea, but those not seriously injured went back to their gun posts immediately. In the afternoon a full-scale Japanese air attack was made on the convoy which was just moving off at the time; this gave us our first sight of the New Zealand air force in action, as the latter went in to attack the enemy. The Japanese persisted in trying to press home the assault on our shipping, but lost heavily in the process, several of their aircraft being brought down within our view by New Zealand planes and by anti-aircraft fire.' The incident described was typical of the operations associated with most of the island landings, but to ordnance men who lived through many such raids the following pilot's-eye view of the same operation should page 213prove interesting. It is the official report of Squadron-Leader M. J. Herrick, DFC: '1 October. No. 15 F. Squadron on station over Vella Lavella—1430-1500 hours. Instructions to remain over shipping. I looked west and saw Zeros dog-fighting at considerable altitude up-sun, about 1430. We went in to attack about six Vals (plus) … we dived to meet them and they pulled out of their dive at about 2,000 feet. I then attacked one, firing a medium burst from above and astern at about 300 yards. Smoke started to come from his engine; another New Zealand P 40 came in and finished it off. I then saw it hit the water. I also saw P 40s everywhere, attacking Vals, and several Vals crashing into the sea. I saw one Val heading up the "slot" at low level on the water and pursued him and saw smoke. He returned my fire. Ammunition short, so broke off attack, and was, followed by another Zero for about 10 or 15 miles at full bore 200 feet above the water, making quarter attacks on me, but through violent skidding and jinking he did not hit me. I consider that the Zero that attacked me must be a new type with a new motor, because it had plenty of speed.' Other members of the air patrol reported seeing Japanese planes hit the water, and in one case, as a Japanese plane cart-wheeled when its wing-tip hit the sea, after being shot down, a Japanese rear gunner was seen flung 50 feet into the air. The official report closed with the following summary: Aircraft detailed, 8. Seven Vals destroyed and two damaged. (Vals were Japanese dive-bombers.)

On Vella Lavella forward ordnance depot men, including Warrant-Officer J. Badham and Sergeant Harrison, worked in a sea of liquid mud, which never dried out because the heavy jungle trees, keeping all sunlight out, had to be left as natural camouflage against the constant air attacks. Ordnance supplies were spread over an unloading area of about three acres of jungle, from which they had to be transported eight miles to a number of tarpaulin shelters where the stocks were sorted ready for issue to units. Trucks, fitted with four-wheel drive, were frequently bogged down to the running boards as they tried to get through the roadless jungle, crashing a track between the closely packed growth and trees. As one truck managed to extricate itself and assist another by towing it, the vehicle in front would become stuck in the deep mud, and would itself have to be assisted. For mile after mile the trucks were inched along the page 214route, and the difficult task of landing and distributing supplies under such appalling conditions brought the men close to exhaustion.

Jungle conditions forced most of the transport at Vella Lavella to keep close to the shores of the island, and to cross many salt-water fords, which played havoc with the vehicles. Dampness and mould appeared on accumulators. Rubber insulation disintegrated. Slip-rings in the electrical equipment of bofors guns rotted almost completely away, giving off an offensive, acrid, sulphurous odour. Axles and rear assemblies of trucks were fractured when tyre-chains, after churning through the mud top-soil, caught suddenly on hard coral outcrops beneath the surface soil. Despite these difficulties the importance of maintaining all vehicles and equipment at the peak of efficiency was very apparent, with the evidence of battle operations constantly at hand. Jeeps were continually bringing in the wounded, jolting them over impossible looking tracks. Antiaircraft guns were in action week after week, and all types of arms had to be maintained for the force that made its way into misty hills and steaming valleys, where there was intensely personal and gruelling fighting between the New Zealand troops and the enemy. Men of the 20th and 37th Light Aid Detachments, the No. 2 recovery and armament section and the 29th Light Anti-aircraft workshops could usually be seen lying on their backs in the mud, in a bath of grease and sweat, working at vitally needed vehicles, or toiling beneath canvas shelters repairing fighting equipment damaged in battle or affected by tropical conditions. When these units were required to move their camp and equipment, they had often to winch their heavy equipment trucks along by means of trees, so difficult were travelling conditions and the mud.

III. The Treasury Group

In the meantime, after last minute exercises at Guadalcanal in landing-manceuvres, which were a dress rehearsal so that nothing would be left to chance in the assault on the Treasury Islands, the 8th Brigade and the ordnance units already enumerated earlier in this chapter were preparing to move into the next attack on the Japanese in the Solomons. On 26 October page 215a column of green camouflaged destroyers and landing craft made its way north. Some of the ordnance personnel were on board several of the ships, many of them cramped in small compartments, one of which was alongside a steel door, below decks, which was marked 'Danger. Magazine.' The ship, like many of the box-like landing craft, appeared thin and extremely vulnerable, apart from its obvious speed, upon which it apparently relied chiefly for its protection, and those in these particular sleeping quarters looked at the magazine door and imagined the result of a possible direct hit from Japanese shore batteries as the convoy approached the islands. Just before dawn on 27 October there was no moon, no ship showed the faintest glimmer of light; even the troops on board seemed hushed in silence before the attack, as the long line of ships crept nearer the Japanese-held islands, hoping to effect a complete surprise against the enemy. At the exact prearranged hour shell-fire arched its way from the destroyers to the Japanese shore positions. The small Higgins boats were already making their way inshore, loaded with troops who, hours before dawn, had been busy smearing their faces with green dyes, one of them having grotesquely applied an imaginative swirl of green across his face, leaving an evil-looking eye and half a mouth. As the Japanese returned the fire from their guns on Mono Island, directing them against the slower moving LSTs (sometimes called Large Slow Targets) the smaller landing craft nosed their way in towards the shore. This was no ordinary day in the lives of these men: in a few moments, through the acrid cordite fumes that hung about the shore, they would land on the beach. They gripped their rifles with sweaty hands. A gunboat was firing at close range into the jungle along the foreshore. Destroyers kept up an off-shore barrage. There was a clanking at the nose of each landing craft, and across the ribbed planking the men leapt ashore. As infantry battalions deployed, scrambling through the jungle in pursuit of their various pre-arranged objectives to establish their first perimeter on Mono Island, other troops, including some of the ordnance units, were also landing on Stirling Island, a short distance across Blanche Harbour. As the day progressed heavy mortar-fire could be heard coming from strong Japanese positions on the hill-slopes, and as men worked at stores and ammunition dumps on the beach near Falamai, on page 216Mono Island, the shelling from mountain-guns and the mortar fire grew more intense. During these operations, when stores were set on fire, and some of our ammunition was blown up, Sergeant W. J. Pearson, an. armourer of the Ordnance Corps attached to the 29th Battalion, was killed by mortar-fire while assisting in the landing and sorting of the battalion's supplies. In the battalion and throughout the corps Sergeant Pearson's death was sad news for his numerous friends who had always known him for his many sterling qualities and unselfish disposition. In the same operation at Falamai Beach Privates Pethig and McKay, of the 29th Light Anti-aircraft workshops, who were both wounded, were further ordnance casualties.

The Treasuries were practically 'under the nose' of large Japanese air bases, and also land forces, in southern Bougainville and Shortland Island. The enemy airfields had been subjected to heavy and continued attacks from New Zealand and American aircraft for some time before the Treasury landing, but nevertheless the Japanese apparently planned to make a large scale attempt to bomb the New Zealand forces, as New Zealand air patrols covering the brigade's operations on the day of the landing sighted and helped to disperse more than 70 Zeros. This large concentration of enemy aircraft was officially described as being sighted at about 4.15 pm milling round and apparently rallying between Kara and Kahili, just north of the Treasuries. On the same day four Zekes were brought down over the Treasury Group.

In view of the likelihood that shipping would be irregular in the first two or three months after the landing at Treasury, the brigade carried a limited stock of the more important ordnance items for immediate distribution, as required. Warrant-Officer Bristow was assisted in this work by Corporal C. Fitzgerald and Private A. Ferrier, from the advanced ordnance depot. Working from tarpaulin-covered stacks under numerous difficulties and frequent bombing attacks, this small section handled for some months, most of the requirements of the brigade. When attacking the airstrip that was built nearby, Japanese bombers developed the habit of dropping their first stick of bombs in each raid uncomfortably close to the small camp, and it was on one of these nocturnal visits that Corporal Fitzgerald was wounded when an anti-personnel bomb fell in the camp, and also damaged page 217the store, tents and stocks. The staff was small, and the work of supplying the brigade went on for many months without relief or recreation. Two men who bore the brunt of handling the reserve ammunition of the brigade were Privates J. Mcllwee and K. Marshall. Due to the way in which dunnage sinks into the mud in the islands, and because of the need for speedy unloading of ships, a lack of suitable stacking areas, and the constant replacements of ammunition used almost nightly for months by anti-aircraft batteries, these two men coped with an enormous and thankless task; they battled with huge tonnages of ammunition as if they were working anywhere except eight degrees from the Equator. It was not until January that they were assisted by Sergeant Gordon, who then arrived with; two extra men to share the work.

The No. 1 recovery section and armament detachment 64th Light Aid Detachment, and a section of the 29th Light Antiaircraft workshops took to the Treasuries equipment and tradesmen to handle all types of mechanical work. For some time men of these units and most of the vehicles and equipment that came into their workshops seemed to be covered in black mud, until, later, bulldozers improved roads and camp sites. Their work ranged from the salvage of guns, jeeps and trucks damaged and burnt out in action, to delicate instrument work which included the re-cementing of lenses, and the improvisation of eyepieces made from ivory-nuts found on the island. Bombs fell very close to their camping areas while they were on Stirling Island, and one uprooted a giant mahogany tree which fortunately just missed the camp of the recovery section. American navy construction units and anti-aircraft units were assisted by these mechanical ordnance sections in the repair of 5 inch and 90 millimetre guns.

Memories of the Treasury operation are full of sharp contrasts. That violence and death should stalk such tranquil and beautiful islands as those at Blanche Harbour was one of the ironies of a global war. As the fighting which lasted into the third week continued, there was at first the sickly smell of death, and then of piles of blood-bespattered web equipment, as it was salvaged from the wounded. The crosses which grew daily more numerous at the new cemetery at Falamai Beach looked peaceful and very small and white against the towering dark green wall page 218of palms and jungle immediately behind the hallowed ground. Swift-flying flocks of blood-red parrots and green and white parakeets flashed their vivid colours across the deep green 'backdrop' of jungle trees. In the foreground the white-fringed sea lapped soundlessly and gently on a narrow beach of yellow sand, as if to complete in one beautiful scene some strange design by nature to restore tranquillity to the place, and to heal the scars of battle. It was not unusual, later, when Mono Island had been declared secure, and the last of the enemy was accounted for, to come across a lone Kiwi, sitting with knees propped up beneath his chin, and wistfully drawing a few thin lines with a stick in the sand. He would probably not notice you walking along the shore, for there was a far-away look in his eyes. Behind him, only about 20 yards away, was the Falamai cemetery. Then, if you looked along the neat rows of mounds and white wooden crosses, you would usually see it—a freshly picked sprig of jungle foliage. It was a straight almost clumsy looking tribute with dark shining tropical leaves, and the lone Kiwi sitting on the beach a few yards away could not have named the tree it came from, but he had no doubt spent some time selecting it carefully before quietly placing it on the grave of his dead comrade.

The Treasury Group will long be remembered for its beautiful harbour studded with small green islets, from which gracefully curved palms, leaning out from the shores, dropped their reflections into water that was calm and clear like blue glass. There was a macabre, almost terrible beauty about Blanche Harbour even at the height of heavy enemy air attacks at night, when men crouched fearfully in stuffy fox-holes, with their field-dressings handy, and did not know what the next moment might bring. The new airstrip was packed with aircraft, and the islands were heavily defended with anti-aircraft guns. As these barked in crepitant defiance from all corners of the group, tracer-fire threw reflections like red streamers across the water of the harbour, shells burst overhead, and searchlights fingering the sky, as if grasping at the killers dropping death into the jungle, silhouetted every graceful palm against an unreal pink sea and a fantastic background of the pyrotechnics 0$ war. It might almost have been the battle of beauty against death, since, in a place of so much beauty, it seemed war did not belong. Later, when all was over, and even air attacks had ceased, mem-page 219bers of the ordnance units at Treasury shared with the rest of the brigade a few brief weeks of rest before returning to New Caledonia. Some of the men built yachts out of scrap materials, and others were content to swim in the warm waters of the harbour. For all, these weeks were a well-earned respite after the battle. As the island group, with its countless green coves and small beaches, was restored to its former peaceful existence after the campaign, it seemed that these lines by John Masefield might almost have been written for the occasion:—

To slaughter like devils and have pity,
Be red with rage and pale with lust,
Make beauty come, make peace, make trust.

Brood upon beauty, till the grace
Of beauty with the holy face
Brings peace into the bitter place.

IV. Nissan

In February 1944 the 14th Brigade and Divisional Headquarters moved north to add to their successes at Vella Lavella the defeat of the Japanese force occupying Nissan Island. The ordnance units, already enumerated as the component sections of the Square Peg workshops, in addition to the ordnance radar maintenance section, an ammunition section, and Warrant-Officers Walkley and Smith as brigade and artillery supply officers, all found Nissan one of the least pleasant of all the islands they had served in. There was no fresh water on the island, and water had to be obtained from sea water! by means of elaborate condensers. The jungle was heavy, and the mud was the worst the men had seen. Furthermore, the island was less than five degrees from the Equator. As the landing ships 'wearing' barrage balloons disgorged their troops like Trojan sea-horses, the men struggled once more with machinery and masses of maintenance equipment, and gradually settled in to their important tasks of handling ammunition, or servicing vehicles and all the mechanical paraphernalia of battle. Carving camps out of solid jungle, more often than not with shovels and page 220axes, as bulldozers were preoccupied elsewhere, was a heartbreaking job. Numerous moves were still more exasperating, as the plans for opening up American construction camps and building large airstrips encroached on areas into which the ordnance men had already put hours of exhausting work.

It was not long, however, before all sections were operating as one of the finest all-round maintenance centres the division had seen. All gun-fitters and instrument mechanics at Square Peg workshops pooled their operations under Second-Lieutenant Sherson and Warrant-Officer J. E. Piercy, United States heavy armament was serviced by the workshops, and this included both 155. millimetre and 90 millimetre guns and instruments. Here, too, in the depths of the jungle, tanks were serviced by a detachment of the tank workshops. An interesting addition to the division's ordnance units was the ordnance radar maintenance section, which arrived at Nissan from New Zealand after having called at Guadalcanal. While at Lunga, two launches were observed by this unit coming alongside before the ship had dropped anchor. The radar men were considerably impressed with the Royal New Zealand Air Force guard, and the heavily armed Third Division picket in the launches, and took them to be an efficient escort for important equipment that was on board. The radar section was still more impressed, however, to learn that the guard was concerned solely with the preservation of some 4,000 cases of beer the ship was bringing for the Kiwis in the Pacific. At Nissan it was necessary to carry out a major alteration to the highly technical radar equipment to cope with certain local conditions. Lieutenant Clark and Sergeant Warren gave details of the work required to the Square Peg workshops, and Warrant-Officers Brookes and Turner carried out the difficult work successfully. The unit's radio mechanic, less than a month out of New Zealand, discovered an extra hazard to that of shaving when one morning, while he was removing the daily stubble, a sniper's bullet struck a tree about two feet from his razor. A week after the brigade landing at Nissan the radar was bulldozing its way through the jungle to test a new proposed site when some Japanese troops showed their disapproval of the idea, and the ordnance technicians spent the rest of the day stalking the enemy along the cliffs and throwing grenades into caves like so many 'infanteers.'

Nissan Island was, at the time of the New Zealand attack, 100 miles inside a Japanese controlled triangle whose points were the strong base at Rabaul, Buka and Kavieng. As much as possible was done to neutralise these bases by means of allied air attacks. The huge 7,000-foot air base which was carved out by American Seabees in 30 days from a dense jungle of giant mahogany and teak trees at Stirling Island, after the Treasuries had been taken by the 8th Brigade, was immediately used for some of these air attacks which made the Nissan operation possible. For five weeks a shuttle service of Mitchell bombers assisted in the continual bombing of Rabaul and other enemy air bases in support of the projected Nissan operation, while the New Zealand fighter escorts greatly impressed American aircrews by sweeping low over heavily defended Rabaul and shooting up everything in sight. Over 2,000 tons of bombs were dropped on this fortress-base and 790 enemy planes were brought down there in the two months prior to the Nissan landing. No doubt 'honourable breakfast' was somewhat irregular at Rabaul about this time.

Square Peg workshops assisted with some of the packing of captured Japanese equipment for transport to rear areas for examination. In one day—the fifth day after landing—the following were some of the items captured:—100,000 rounds of ammunition, five 20-millimetre anti-tank guns, six machine guns, several mortars, three radio sets, an out-board motor, gas masks, many Japanese packs, split-toed shoes and a quantity of food. The equipment, like that captured at the Treasuries, was up-to-date and of the best workmanship, ordnance experts being particularly impressed by the quality of Japanese periscopic sights and all lenses found throughout the Solomons campaign. Some sake, also captured, was declared not so good, and tasted harsh, like a cheap, unmatured brandy.

For four months Second-Lieutenant Harvey and Sergeant Harrison, with Privates Bowers, Brookes, Webster, Perriam and Gee, had practically to nurse the Nissan Island ammunition stocks. Unless every imaginable precaution against sweating was taken—and this involved much additional work—the ammunition soon became unserviceable. Even their arrival on the island was an inhospitable one. It was the old business again of using the ammunition trucks to smash a way through the jungle at page 222first. Natives were used to help with the handling work, and as they were extremely limited in their linguistic attainments, or, in other words, backward 'scholars' in pidgin-English, 'You carry him bokis. Putem on wheely-wheely; was a very ineffective instruction at first. Towards the end of the section's stay at Nissan termites were found to have affected scores of the reserve ammunition boxes so badly that they would not stand further handling and some had to be dumped.