IV The Later Echelons

After Loganforce had left Guadalcanal, as can be imagined, life for the remainder of the company was very unsettled. The meagre factual daily bulletins reporting progress on the Treasuries were avidly devoured once they had been posted on the notice-board and they supplied a fertile topic of conversation for those engaged in the boring duties of loading the transports which were to carry the second wave north. Because the majority of the battalions had left with the first wave, a greater strain was being placed on the company's strength by the demand for working parties which at this time were nearly all of 24 hours' duration.

Finally, on 30 October, No. 1 platoon together with five members of company headquarters under Captain Timms and Lieutenant Sherwin left Guadalcanal for the Treasuries. Travelling on one of two LSTs which were fitted with barrage balloons in imitation of British practice, they had an uneventful trip north except for the spectacle of a large convoy of transports and naval vessels which passed low down on the horizon on their way to Empress Augusta Bay and Bougainville. Compared with the small convoy heading for Mono the 30 or 40 large ships gave an indication of the weight of the blow which the Japs were to be dealt there. The troops spent rather an unpleasant night, as the stovelike condition of the steel deck was cooled down by a really tropical shower which drove all hands below decks to the sticky heat which prevailed there. When dawn came the destination soon appeared and it was with mixed feelings that the new arrivals began to help unload the landing craft. The stories of the now-page 90veteran troops of the first wave had come immediately after the ack-ack gunners on Stirling Island had exuberantly fired a few bursts at the strange barrage balloons to break the monotony. The voyagers, who spent the day unloading at Falamai, left at 4 o'clock for Malsi where they were to spend the night in company with B company of the 29th Battalion. Due to their late arrival, no time was available for digging fox-holes and accordingly they slept in pup-tents in the centre of the perimeter and most of them slept quite soundly. If only they had known what was happening only two miles away at Soanotalu it is possible that the tired travellers would have spent a slightly more restless night. In the morning, before any news of the attack on Soanotalu was received, B company departed on a 3-day patrol leaving Malsi in the hands of the 39 machine-gunners. After paying a short visit to Malsi, the GOC and the Brigadier went by barge to Soanotalu. but they were back very soon with news of the night's activities. Thirty-nine anxious faces were turned towards Luana all day until, just before dusk, the promised reinforcements arrived. When the MGs had been scattered among the seasoned troops on

Loganforce landed at Soanatalu while the main attack was at Falamai. MMG headquarters were set up at Malsi.

page 91the perimeter, everyone settled down for a more or less quiet night, although the weird jungle noises which later became so familiar, provided a very unsettling influence. Dawn, however, came none too soon.

With the progress of the day came a report from Soanotalu that the latest attack had been less severe than the previous night and seemed to lack any organising influence. During the day the defence of Malsi was readjusted and although the vickers guns were left in position where they had only a minute field of fire the perimeter as a whole was made virtually inpenetrable. Lieutenant-Colonel Eyre, of the 34th Battalion, was in command and in addition to the vickers platoon he had at his disposal headquarters company of his own battalion and A company, 36th Battalion. After a few days a small detachment of the 54th Antitank Battery arrived. Two prisoners were brought in by the natives, one before lunch and one after, both having been caught along the coast towards Loganforce. They were evidently wise remnants of the group which had been banging their Oriental skulls against the perimeter at Soanotalu.

By this time the American forces had formed their perimeter on Bougainville, but unfortunately nobody had told the Japanese wanderers on Mono about it, and they were still holding out, buoyed up with wishful visions of reinforcements and rescue. On the evening of 3 November the inhabitants of Malsi went to earth at the usual retiring hour with a prayer for an early dawn and the hope that Malsi's own roosters would not start serenading at 3 am. The night did not turn out to be very enjoyable as four grenade explosions, perfectly spaced so that they ruined any hope of sleep, were strewn through the night. Two of these proved to be booby-traps while the other two were thrown from the perimeter. Together with the mystery of the Marie Celeste, the probable cause of the explosion of the booby-traps will go down to posterity as an unsolved riddle. The report from Soanotalu was again of half-hearted attacks showing less intensity and no organising plan but this time the sad news of Jim Jack's death and Merv Aitken's wound slightly dampened the spirits.

With the cessation of the assaults on Logan force and the withdrawal of the remnants of the attackers to the caves between Malsi and Soanotalu, the war ceased to be of major importance to anybody but the infantry patrols who were continuously scouring the page 92jungle. In two successive days, separate patrols in skirmishes among the rocky coast north of Malsi killed 12 Japs each with only a few wounded on the debit side of the ledger. From now it seemed that the enemy was intent on self preservation rather than destruction. Some even shamed the Emperor and their ancestors by surrendering, thus bringing the total number of prisoners brought into Malsi to over a dozen. The desire to commit hara-kiri still existed among the more fanatical, either because of pride or of fear of what would happen after capture. By 9 November the tactical position had so improved that the defence was justified in doing a smart about-turn and facing the sea instead of the romantic jungle, with invasion as the object of interest. As the perimeter had to be extended to cover the whole beach, the platoon was even more widely spread than before, with one section at each end of the beach, No. 1 section being over the river in the area which after became the camp site for company headquarters. At this stage pup-tents were erected to dispel the feeling that comfort and semi-civilisation were things of the past.

No. 3 platoon had arrived on Sterling on 6 November while the remainder of No. 2 reached the Treasuries on the 11th after an uneventful trip. No. 3 platoon spent its first few nights on Sterling and on the morning of the 8th universal packing was the order of the day. After the complete gear of everybody had been whisked away the platoon, with the exception of No. 2 section, left for Soanotalu. This section, which had been left at brigade headquarters had to do without pup-tents, valises or mossie-nets. They spent a good night, as with uncalled-for thoroughness they were provided with a slight earthquake, and a Jap bomber put paid to the account of a nearby LCT. When morning came the orphans left for Soanotalu and hewed a home and gun-pits out of the solid coral but, as might be expected, they were moved the next day to Luana to support B company of the 34th Battalion. The remainder of the platoon stayed with C company at Soanotalu. Although the fourth echelon to leave Guadalcanal, the residue of No. 2 platoon were the only ones to be honoured with any interference from their Nipponese friends. At about 0130 hours on 11 November they were spotted by a plane, evidently sent to bomb the New Georgia group and either from a desire to help their comrades on Mono, or because of a distaste for airfield defences, the Jap crew elected to drop their bombs on the convoy. page 93In this instance we could say that our ships were not damaged and Radio Tokio could gleefully announce that all planes returned safely. On arrival, these men of No. 2 platoon were taken to Falamai, where they immediately took up positions to assist the 29th Battalion's defence of the beach. Only seven members of the unit now remained on the 'Canal and these, who were mainly drivers, arrived a week later.

By the middle of November the company had been allotted its various defence tasks and the platoons were settled in their widespread camps. Company headquarters was established at Malsi beside the British district officer's residence, with platoon headquarters of No. 1 platoon in attendance. The rest of this platoon was split Avith No. 1 section by the native village half a mile on the Luana side of Malsi and No. 2 section just to the north of D company, 34th Battalion, on the other wing of the bay. While No. 2 platoon was concentrated in one camp on the end of Falamai Beach, nearer to Stirling, No. 3 had its platoon headquarters and No. 1 section at Soanotalu with C company 34th Battalion (on opposite sides of the river-bed) and No. 2 section assisting B company, 34th Battalion, at Luana. No description of events on Mono would be complete without a valedictory reference to the work of the natives under the command of Captain Bentley, Sergeant-Major Wickham and Sergeant Ilala. It was lucky for our soldiers that they were on our side and not against us, as with their expert knowledge to assist them, the Japs would have taken months to track down.