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The Tanks: An Unofficial History of the Activities of the Third New Zealand Division Tank Squadron in the Pacific

III. Soanotalu

III. Soanotalu

At 0815 hours on 26 October the members of Loganforce embarked on the APD McKean which was later lost during the landing at Empress Augusta Bay, Bougainville, as the beginning of their invasion of the Treasuries. With No. 2 section of No. 2 platoon under Sergeant Phipps and Major Logan and his staff of three, Sergeant Benton, Privates Taylor and Demmocks, all safely on board, the convoy left Guadalcanal at noon to overtake en route the remainder of the landing force on the slower LCIs and LSTs which had left the previous night. For the journey up through the presumably romantic islands which make up the Northern Solomons nature provided a spell of perfect weather and a sea as smooth as a mirror. The only irritating feature which caused most of the troops to spend a rather restless night was the necessity of sleeping on a deck the steel construction of which provided too much heat for perfect comfort.

Reveille was at 0400 hours. Light rain and the intense darkness made the early mess and the bustle of standing to the barges page 86hardly as pleasant as it might have been. As the convoy drew close enough for Mono Island to be a hazy outline, the supporting warships began the softening-up process and simultaneously the McKean swung away from the remainder of the convoy and, leaving Falamai to them, headed for Soanotalu. At this stage the menacing shapes of Bougainville and Shortland Islands shaped themselves on the horizon to remind the Kiwis that Tojo's men were all around, but, however, a compulsory switch was necessary because almost immediately barges were loaded and the zero hour had arrived. Once on the beach, which provided barely enough space for four barges to be parked, the members of Loganforce, who as yet had seen no opposition, had to climb the steep, meandering track up to the points marked on their maps to form the initial perimeter. Although the thick jungle prevented any observation of the aerial dogfights which could be heard overhead everyone was soon heartened to see a Zero crash in flames out to sea. While the gun teams were engaged in cutting fire lanes to extend their field of vision to 40 yards, an infantry platoon drew first blood when it killed a Japanese, evidently engaged in scouting. He was a big fellow, estimated to weigh 14 or IS stone, even without the 300 rounds of ammunition he was carrying about his person. A little later the natives brought in a happy but very emaciated New Zealand airman who had been hiding with them for some weeks.

The first serious contact with the enemy was made before dusk but although shots were fired by both sides nothing came of the incident, and this slight skirmish supplied the final spice upon which to muse when, at 1830 hours, everybody retired to their fox-holes to enjoy their first taste of such a pleasant boudoir. A pitch black night and the usual, but uncanny, nocturnal jungle noises made up a recipe for a restless night, and although only one of the three in each fox-hole had to be on the alert, usually the complete group was wide awake. After the spasmodic sounds of planes and machine-gun fire had been heard all night from the direction of Falamai, in the early morning the enemy made a fruitless attempt to gain possession of the native canoes on the beach. Although in their retreat the Japs passed quite close to No. 2 gun, the intensity of the night prevented any observation by either side.

During the 28th a report was received that a barge believed to page 87be Japanese had pulled into the coast just before dusk, but this was never confirmed, even by circumstantial evidence. It is evident now, both from personal reports and the diary later captured from the body of a dead Japanese petty officer, that enemy activity had been confined to patrol work. The holocaust was not many days away. The next night was quiet but during the day a party of Japs was reported to be moving towards Soanotalu, having been ejected from the Falamai area by the onslaught of the 29th and 36th Battalions. About 1530 hours heavy firing near No. 2 gun was heard and after a mortar barrage a patrol moved out and liquidated a party of five of the enemy who were attempting to infiltrate behind the New Zealand positions. A night whose quiet was broken only by an artillery barrage every 40 minutes gave way to an uneventful day during which the perimeter was shortened to lessen the possibility of penetration and to gain solidarity.

The last day of the month, Sunday, followed another peaceful night and on the arrival of reinforcements the perimeter was once again strengthened. Another quiet night followed. This was destined to be the last for some days, although a pathetic attempt at treachery had been made. A wireless message was received that an American naval barge would call at night, but Major Logan replied that any such nocturnal visitor would receive a warm welcome. No barge arrived and this message is thought to have been of Japanese origin, as none of the efforts to trace its source were successful. Heavy rain fell during the night and at 0300 hours, after the air had been filled for some hours by a medley of jabbering, intended to unsettle the defenders, the attack began. The plan was for a three-pronged jab, with one prong on each of the eastern and western ridges and the strongest down the river-bed in the centre, the basic intention evidently being to gain possession of the LCM which was innocently riding the swell just off the beach. To achieve this, diversionary attacks were made along the ridges while the main force advanced down the river-bed to silence the machine-gun emplacement on the beach. The gallant defence by the occupants of this pit, comprising the barge crew and elements of headquarters of D company, 34th Battalion, under Captain Kirk, was the direct cause of only one Japanese reaching the barge. His stay was cut short by the accurate flight of a grenade. Just as he was mortally wounded, Cap-page 88tain Kirk gave the order to cease fire as the flash from the machine-gun taken from the barge was providing a perfect beacon for the infiltrating Japs. Morning brought no respite, as those of the enemy who had survived the night still carried on sniping activities. An incomplete count of the bodies which were strewn around the beach and perimeter area raised the total of enemy dead past 50 and during the morning these were rather unceremoniously disposed of by dumping them at sea from the very barge which they had valued so highly. The defender's casualties were low but of the dozen who had commenced the night in the gun-pit on the beach only two greeted the dawn alive and un-wounded. One of these, Private J. Smith, of the 34th Battalion, was later awarded the Military Medal for his bravery, despite the fact that, to his own disgust, he had failed in his duty as cook by not having breakfast ready at the usual hour.

Throughout the day sniping activity continued. With night came another period of nervous tension as it was some hours before any serious attempt was made to breach the perimeter. In contrast to the pandemonium of the previous night, it was soon evident that the enemy was weaker and lacked the slightest semblance of leadership or organisation. It seems that the Japanese petty officer, from whose body the diary which gave valuable information had been obtained, was the only one capable of leadership and planning in the attacking force. However, during the night the company experienced the only fatality they were to suffer when Private J. Jack gave his life. Although the third night proved to be a slightly less intense repetition of the second, the Japanese had still quite substantial supplies of ammunition, as was shown by the liberal use they made of knee-mortars and grenades, but all their activities were lacking in direction and cohesion, giving very poor results for the energy and ammunition expended. By the next day the defenders had buried almost exactly 100 of the Nipponese attackers at the phenomenally low cost of half a dozen New Zealand lives. Actually, the enemy practice of removing his dead and wounded makes any accurate estimate of his losses impossible, but it must have easily exceeded the century mark. The extermination of the Japs now became more of a task for the infantry patrols than for Logan force as they had withdrawn to the caves between Soanotalu and Malsi in an attempt to reach the tantali singly close Short land Islands.

page 89

On 7 November the tactical situation had so improved that it was possible to erect pup-tents, and what remained of Logan force at Soanotalu found it possible to have the first unbroken night's sleep they had been able to enjoy since 26 October, nearly two weeks previously. D company of the 34th had been relieved two days before and had gone to headquarters for a rest, which was nothing if not well deserved. On the 8th No. 3 platoon arrived to relieve Sergeant Phipp's section which was sent to Falamai on 11 November to catch up on some sleep which had fallen slightly in arrears since the section landed on Mono.