Operation oboe
Japanese units in Borneo (April 1945)
| date | May 1, 1945 to August 15, 1945 |
|---|---|
| place |
Borneo , Tarakan / oboe 1 North Borneo / oboe 2 Balikpapan / oboe 6 |
| output | Allied victory |
| consequences | Reconquest of Borneo |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| approx. 35,000 soldiers | approx.15,000 soldiers |
| losses | |
|
approx. 8,000 |
about 10,000 |
1. Borneo - Manado - Tarakan - Balikpapan - Ambon - Makassar - Sumatra - Palembang - Badung - Timor - USS Langley - 1. Java Sea - Sunda Strait - Java - 2. Java Sea - U 168 - U 537 - U 183 - Ashigara - 2. Borneo
The operation Oboe was a complex undertaking of Allies of the United States , Australia and the United Kingdom during the Pacific War in World War II . The goal was the liberation of Japanese- occupied Borneo . It included the use of air, land and sea-based units and began with the retaking of Tarakan on May 1, 1945.
prehistory
Japanese troops landed on Borneo from December 16, 1941 (→ Japanese invasion of Borneo ) and occupied large parts of the island in the following year. Borneo at that time was part of the Dutch East Indies and the northern part was British territory. Many of the soldiers stationed there at the time were taken prisoner by Japan and taken to camps on the island. Australian special forces from the Services Reconnaissance Department , known as the Z-Force , were sent to Borneo to train locals to be guerrilla fighters against the Japanese occupiers. Around 2,000 Japanese people died in these battles.
Allied planning
The plan to retake Borneo was primarily a political decision. In 1945 considerations to intervene in the Japanese-occupied territories of the Dutch East Indies played a subordinate role. Priority was the tactic of Iceland hopping to Rabaul to get around and get hold as close to the Japanese mainland. Australian troops were not involved in the operations in the Philippines and there was an unsatisfied mood, above all the inactivity of the experienced Australian soldiers of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF). The Dutch were particularly upset that their affected areas were not included in the existing plans.
General Douglas MacArthur , then Supreme Allied Commander of the South-West Pacific Area , planned a series of operations under the collective code name OBOE towards the end of 1944 . In detail, these were operations on Tarakan ( OBOE 1 ), Balikpapan ( OBOE 2 ), Banjarmasin ( OBOE 3 ), Surabaya ( OBOE 4 ), East NEI ( OBOE 5 ) and North Borneo ( OBOE 6 ). The 7th and 9th divisions of the AIF were intended for this purpose.
Japanese occupiers
In northwest Borneo, the 37th Army was under the command of Lieutenant General Baba Masao . The southern and eastern parts of the island were under Vice Admiral Michiaki Kamada , who commanded both the maritime and army units on land.
Right from the start, the occupiers fought against local guerrilla groups, including the so-called Kinabalu guerrillas , which were led by Tun Mustapha in the north and Albert Kwok in the west . Their resistance only ended with a bloodbath of the guerrillas in Petagas on January 21, 1944.
The importance of Borneo, especially Tarakan, as a crude oil supplier for the Japanese decreased significantly in the course of 1944, as the Allies continued to block the supply lines to the Japanese main islands in their further advance. The last oil tanker left Tarakan in July 1944. After that, heavy bombardments paralyzed oil production and the sea routes to Tarakan were sealed off with sea mines .
In the wake of the insignificance, the Japanese units were significantly reduced there in the spring of 1945. One of the two battalions stationed there was dispatched to Balikpapan.
The battles
The island of Morotai served the Allies as a base for collecting their units, which were also being prepared there for the upcoming landings.
Tarakan
On April 27, 1945, three allied cruisers and six destroyers under the command of Rear Admiral Berkey began to bombard the southern part of the island of Tarakan, which was intended as a landing area, with their ship artillery. The bombardment continued for three days. After the island of Sadan was taken by a battalion on April 30, the landings of the main units with 18,000 soldiers under Brigade Commander Whitehead began on May 1 on Tarakan.
Although the coastal bombardment had destroyed or seriously damaged many Japanese positions, pioneers were sent to secure the main landing units to cut aisles through the coastal fortifications. The landing units consisted of the 26th Infantry Brigade of the 9th Division, which was accompanied by around 140 KNIL soldiers who served as scouts and translators. Some NEFIS employees also went ashore. The fighting that followed to conquer Tarakan lasted another six weeks. More than 200 Australian soldiers fell by the time the island was captured on June 20.
One of the main goals in taking the island was to build airfields to support ongoing operations. However, the Japanese had destroyed the airfields or they had been badly damaged during the fighting. The RAAF units flown in for restoration were faced with a very difficult task, as the very boggy soil of the island made it impossible to set up new airfields. At the end of June, some airfields could at least be opened for smaller fighter planes , but they were never used to the extent that was originally intended.
North Borneo
Oboe 6 was performed as a second operation from June 10, 1945. It comprised the landing in the Bay of Brunei in north-west Borneo and the capture of the offshore island of Labuan . The 9th Division provided for this purpose had the task of developing the Bay of Brunei into an advanced allied base and secondarily taking over the oil fields, rubber plantations and the associated production facilities. Shelling from the incoming ships and air strikes supported the landings near Brunei and the island of Muara . On Labuan, hundreds of Japanese occupiers of the 37th Army, who were under the command of Lieutenant General Baba Masao and had withdrawn into a swamp , fought against the advancing Australians. But here too, air strikes and ship artillery put an end to the resistance. Brunei fell to the Australians on June 13, who landed a second wave of landings at Weston on June 16 . Other smaller landings took place on June 19 at Mempakul and on June 23 at Sipitang . After reconnaissance had located Japanese units in Beaufort, the 2 / 32th and 2 / 43th Battalions began attacking the 386th Independent Infantry Battalion under Major Kimura Jiro on June 27 . Downtown Beaufort fell to the Australians at nightfall. The final capture of Beaufort was thanks to the soldier Tom Starcevich , who destroyed four machine gun emplacements with two counter-attacks on the morning of June 28 and was honored with the last Victoria Cross awarded during World War II . The Japanese troops finally withdrew from the Beaufort region on the afternoon of June 29.
Isolated fighting on Labuan and in northwest Borneo lasted until the end of the war. By then, the Australians had more than 100 dead and the Japanese around 1,400 dead.
Balikpapan
The final operation Oboe 2 from July 1, 1945 was the capture of Balikpapan in southeast Borneo. It was the largest amphibious landing operation carried out by Australian land, air and sea units during the Pacific War with a total of more than 30,000 soldiers. As with the previous landings, the Australians carried tanks to combat the Japanese defenses. Pioneers cleared minefields and destroyed booby traps installed by the Japanese . Although the Japanese occasionally attacked Australian positions, the outcome of Operation Oboe 2 was never in danger.
The Japanese resistance during the landing operation was relatively low. The Australians brought 10,500 soldiers, 700 vehicles and around 1,960 tons of material ashore with the first wave. While Japanese defense efforts increased as the Australians advanced further inland, Sepinggang airfield was captured on day two and Balikpapan on day three. The Manggar airfield fell into the hands of the Australians on July 5th. The following advance on Samarinda was made with extreme caution, as the Australian commanders had received orders to keep their losses as low as possible. The area around Samarinda could therefore only be declared enemy-free at the end of the month. The remaining Japanese units had withdrawn in the direction of Banjarmasin and Kuching . In the course of the fighting, the Australians lost 229 and the Japanese about 1,800 soldiers.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Australia’s War 1939–1945 . Retrieved October 20, 2012.
- ^ A b c AWM: Allies in adversity - Australia and the Dutch in the Pacific War - Australia's OBOE operations ; Retrieved October 21, 2012.
- ↑ Jürgen Rohwer , Gerhard Hümmelchen : Chronicle of the Naval War 1939–1945, Württembergische Landesbibliothek - Stuttgart 2007 . Retrieved November 11, 2012.
- ^ Danny Wong Tze Ken: Historical Sabah: The War , Opus Publications Kota Kinabalu, 2010, page 142, ISBN 978-983-3987-37-5
- ↑ Stephen R. Evans: Sabah Under The Rising Sun Government , 77, Malaysia, 1999
- ↑ a b Australia’s War 1939–1945 . Retrieved December 31, 2012
- ^ Australia War Memorial - North Borneo . Retrieved December 31, 2012
- ^ The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia - The Second Battle of Balikpapan . Retrieved December 31, 2012.
