Battle for Biak

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Battle for Biak
Map of the island of Biak with allied troop movements
Map of the island of Biak with allied troop movements
date May 27 to August 20, 1944
place Biak
output Allied occupation of the island
Parties to the conflict

United States 48United States United States

Japanese EmpireJapanese Empire Japan

Commander

United States 48United States Horace H. Fuller Robert L. Eichelberger William Fechteler
United States 48United States
United States 48United States

JapanJapan (war flag) Kuzume NaoyukiTakazo Numata Sadatoshi Senda
JapanJapan (war flag)
JapanJapan (naval war flag)

Troop strength
more than 12,000 soldiers
2 heavy cruisers
3 light cruisers
21 destroyers
11,400 soldiers
1,200 reinforcement troops
losses

474 dead
2,428 wounded

4,700 dead (during the battle)
about 12,000 dead (total)
434 prisoners

The Battle of Biak was a landing operation of Allied troops on the of Japanese defending units island Biak in Netherlands New Guinea during the Pacific War in World War II . The battle took place from May 27, 1944 to July 25, 1944, and cost the Allied troops about 500 dead and several thousand wounded. The isolated fighting Japanese troops, however, lost almost the entire island garrison of around 12,000 men.

prehistory

The Japanese Empire had occupied Biak militarily as part of the invasion of Southeast Asia in 1942 and defeated the Dutch defenders stationed there with relatively slight losses. After the American victory in the Solomon Islands and especially after the devastating loss of the island of Guadalcanal to the Allies, Japanese troops began to develop Biak into an important air force base in order to maintain air superiority over northern New Guinea and the islands in southern Borneo. As early as 1942, Australian and American units under the command of General Douglas MacArthur had landed in southern New Guinea and had driven the Japanese units from several strategic locations, such as Buna and Lae, in the course of the following year . The Japanese troops were decisively defeated during the march against the large port city of Port Moresby in 1942 and began to withdraw from this point in time. Biak was heavily fortified during the first two years of the war as part of the Imperial Defense Plan for Northern New Guinea. In 1944 there were three airfields on the south coast of the island, from which Japanese planes could dominate the sea route north of New Guinea. In addition, attacks against American bases in the Solomon Islands could be flown from these air bases, and air force reinforcement units were able to reach the attacked Japanese stronghold of Rabaul in New Britain from Biak . In addition, the airfields in southern Biak were particularly important for air transport to neighboring New Guinea; in the event of isolation of the garrison on the island, supplies could be brought to Biak directly from the northern coast of New Guinea by air or small boats.

In 1944, Allied forces marched into New Guinea against the still fighting Japanese forces on the Doberai Peninsula , and American and Australian units became involved in heavy fighting. The desperate fighting Japanese were supplied and supported from the air by Biak-assisted machines. The conquest of the island could have cut off the Doberai Peninsula and made the advance of Allied troops against their positions much easier. General MacArthur, Commander-in-Chief of the Southwest Pacific Area (SWPA), had also promised the Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Ocean Areas (CINCPOA), Admiral Chester W. Nimitz , that Biak's land-based aircraft would be used for long-range bombing and reconnaissance missions in preparation for Operation Forager would be available conquering the important Japanese bases of the Mariana Islands . The operation Forager whose opening action, the landing operation against Saipan would be was scheduled for 15 June. In April the final capture of Biak was finally decided by MacArthur's operations staff, and the American planning staff prepared for the next two weeks to take the island with their, it was estimated, 4,000 defenders and the subsequent repair of the airfields.

Troop strength

Japan

Taisa Naoyuki Kuzume was given command of the island's defense. Was it directly subordinate to the 222nd  infantry regiment of the army , consisting of about 3,400 soldiers, mostly well-trained and armed veterans who previously as part of the 36th Infantry Division in China had fought. There was also a company of light Type 95 Ha-Go tanks and various anti-aircraft and artillery units . Soldiers from various construction units, including Korean forced laborers , were also grouped into smaller combat groups, but were poorly equipped and trained for combat missions. Kaigun-Shōshō Sadatoshi Senda was the highest ranking Japanese officer on the island, but he and his marines were under the military command of Colonel Kuzume. Rear Admiral Senda commanded the 28th Naval Base Division , which consisted of 1,500 men, mostly technical personnel from the airfields, pilots, mechanics, engineers and soldiers from other support units. Only 125 marines had combat training, but were poorly armed and equipped. The total of the Japanese units on Biak was around 11,400 men, but only around 4,000 were trained and could be considered effective combat troops.

Allies

The name of the amphibious battle group that Biak was supposed to capture was Hurricane Task Force . Its core was the 41st Infantry Division of the American Army, plus three battalions of aeronautical personnel who were to put the airfields into operation after they had been conquered. The higher command authority of the Hurricane Task Force was the 6th Army , which operated under the code name Alamo Force , and was subordinate to Lieutenant General Walter Krueger . Krueger provided the 128th and 158th Regimental Combat Groups as non-operational reserves. The Hurricane Task Force were assigned directly as a reserve battalion of the 186th Infantry Regiment and a reconnaissance company of the Rangers . Rear Admiral William M. Fechteler took command of the amphibious landing forces and the supporting warships. He was responsible for Task Force 74 and Task Force 75 , which consisted of several heavy and some light cruisers . The Australia , Shropshire , Phoenix , Nashville , Boise and 21 destroyers were made ready for the operation against Biak . Discontinuation of the soldiers and for transporting the material war five were APD eight -Hochgeschwindigkeitstransporter, LST's , eight lighter LCTs and 15 LCI - landing craft provided. Numerous smaller landing vehicles , including Amtracs and amphibious tanks , were also carried on the APDs and LSTs.

preparation

Japan

Forewarned by the Allied landings at Hollandia (→ Operation Reckless ) and Aitape (→ Operation Persecution ) on April 22, the Japanese troops had set up several defense positions on Biak on the island, but were unable to complete them due to a lack of cement and other materials and then occupy it with troops. Colonel Kuzume had therefore decided not to oppose a landing directly on the beach with the bulk of his soldiers in order to involve the Allies in combat with Gyokusai attacks. He had therefore only set up a weak delay line made up of small bunkers and machine-gun nests with no deep graduation on some sections of the beach. This line was only thinly manned and was intended to give most of the Japanese troops the opportunity to prepare for longer resistance in the interior of the island. Under the guidance of marine engineers, the Japanese soldiers built a large number of small one- and two-man bunkers from blasted coral rock . They also used the particularly hard material to build blockades, erect anti-tank barriers, and narrow or close cave entrances. Crucial for the survival of the imperial units in the humid and warm climate of the island, however, were the few sources of drinking water , around which Kuzume's soldiers settled and set up most of the defenses.

The strategic disposition of Japanese troops in the New Guinea region. Biak is in the area of ​​the 2nd Army in the center of the picture.

In the southeast part of the 2nd Battalion of the 222nd Infantry Regiment were in the interior of the island and had taken up position in a cave system around 2.7  kilometers northwest of the island's capital Bosnek . The section east of Bosnek to the neighboring village of Opiaref was defended by soldiers from Rear Admiral Senda's naval troops. More troops had withdrawn to two cave systems near the Mokmer airfield, 6.5 kilometers west of Bosnek, and were preparing their defense there. These caves represented the core of the Japanese defense, as their possession prevented the safe use of the airfield by the Allies. From these two cave systems, even if the defenders were isolated from the rest of the Japanese soldiers, interference attacks and small guerrilla actions could be carried out. In the western system, the 3rd Battalion of the 222nd Infantry Regiment, the Rear Admiral Sendas staff department and other marines were holed up. In the east, on the other hand, parts of the 2nd Battalion and various air defense units had been concentrated. The coastal road in the direction of the airfields was closed at the important intersection of the village of Sorido by a platoon of the 10th Company.

In the southwest, however, the Japanese troops set up a defensive position at Wardo, a place directly on the western coast, from which the intersection between the coastal road and one of the few north-south connections could be controlled. In the northeast, on both sides of Korim Bay , a dominant incision on the north side of the center of the island, positioning systems were prepared, from where the coastal road could also be effectively blocked. The 1st Battalion of the 222nd Infantry Regiment defended this section and had been reinforced by several grenade launchers and some artillery pieces.

In the western part of Biak there were no defensive positions, as all three airfields were in the south and the roads from west to south were unusable for an attacker. Soepiori , the small neighboring island of Biak, which is annexed directly to the northwest, had no significant military importance and was therefore defended by very few soldiers.

United States

The planned landing section on Biak of the American troops, on the left the Mokmer airfield

The Allied staff department planned the landing of the American troops on four different beach sections on the south side of the island, east of the island's capital Bosnek. The large LST dropships that had been pulled together for the landing operation were supposed to approach the coral reef surrounding the island and then drop the lighter LVT and DUKW amphibious vehicles to take the troops to the beach. The landing should have been done by battalions and machines from northern New Guinea and Port Moresby should have supported the Allied soldiers in the first operation with air strikes and requested Combat Air Support .

In the absence of reliable data on ebb and flow, and the exact flow conditions in the vicinity of Biak, the planners treated the exact time of the landing flexibly and adapted it to the needs of the air force, which was to prepare the landing with a heavy bombardment. Ultimately, the naval, army and air force commanders agreed to start the landing operation at 7.15 a.m., 20 minutes after sunrise. After the bombing, the cruisers and destroyers of the Hurricane Task Force were supposed to shut down the defensive lines near the beach with barrage from all guns in order to confuse and demoralize the defenders.

invasion

The positions of Japanese troops on Biak and the course of the front in the first week of the invasion

landing

Allied preparatory air raid on Mokmer airfield, May 1944

On Z-Day , May 27, 1944, at 6:30 a.m., the cruisers and destroyers of Rear Admiral Fechteler's support fleet began bombarding the airfields with their onboard artillery in preparation for landing. The Fifth Air Fleet also sent 52 B-24 bombers, which bombed the area immediately behind the landing sections with high-explosive bombs shortly after sunrise . Tactical bombers circled the island all day long to support the ground attack with Combat Air Support if necessary . From 11:30 a.m., various fighter planes were also available to intercept enemy aircraft over Biak. Due to the jungle zones burning under thick smoke and the dust raised by the bombing raids, the landing sections of the coast could no longer be seen from the sea. The Japanese lost some artillery pieces in the preparatory fire, including a 152 mm gun from a battery on the beach near Bosnek.

The lack of information about the flow conditions turned out to be particularly detrimental to the landing operation; the transport ships were driven almost 3,000 meters further west than previously estimated and many units were dropped far from the planned landing point. The 186th Infantry Regiment, part of the 41st Infantry Division, landed the first battalions on Biak; However, the units had arrived widely scattered and some of the battalions had completely missed the drop zone and landed in a mangrove swamp . It took until 9:30 a.m. for the 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the 186th Regiment to gather in their staging areas and secure a bridgehead. Light artillery pieces from the 121st and 947th Field Artillery Battalions, supported by mortar companies , also landed at Bosnek. Further delays in the landing plan occurred in the late morning when the second wave, consisting of the 162nd Infantry Regiment, began to land. Because of the unloading operations, the marching columns obstructed each other and the bridgehead perimeter could only be extended very slowly.

For the Allied troops, it turned out to be a stroke of luck that no Japanese units worth mentioning defended the beach near Bosnek, so that the chaotic landing went almost without resistance. A single platoon of the Japanese 2nd Company lay on the hills behind Bosnek, but its troop positions were badly hit by the preparatory artillery fire and the bombing raids. Many soldiers committed suicide and the few survivors fled to the interior of the island. Individual defenders were killed by American patrols ; larger troops were dispersed by further air raids and later shot down by Allied units. In the landing section of the 162nd Infantry Regiment, Japanese troops had withdrawn to the ridge to the northwest, so that they could block the coastal road in the direction of the airfields from there. Their positions were shot down by M4 Sherman tanks that had meanwhile landed and rocket launchers mounted on landing craft . American troops killed individual survivors and fought small skirmishes with dispersed Japanese units. However, the enemy resistance near the coastal road could be broken within a few hours; The first scouting units examined the coastal road and pushed further inland.

On the afternoon of May 27, Japanese Mitsubishi G4M bombers attacked the Allied beachhead; they had the strategic advantage that their base was west of Biak. In order to be able to land in daylight, this allowed them to stay 30 minutes longer over Biak than American interceptors who had to fly back to the east, where it used to be dark. However, the Japanese air strike was unsuccessful as the bombs dropped were all duds .

At 5:15 p.m. on the same day, the Allies had dropped 12,000 soldiers as well as 12 Sherman tanks, 29 guns and 500 vehicles. In addition, around 3000 tons of supplies and ammunition could be unloaded by the LSTs. American Seabees , together with army pioneer units, took over the landing beach and began building various landing ramps to overcome the coral reef edge there. These ramps made it easier for amphibious tanks, artillery pieces and other heavy vehicles to be dropped off and driven ashore, which were brought by 3 LSTs to just before the drop-off zones. Transportable landing ramps were also used and bulldozers leveled the coral reef edge on the landing beach.

Counterattack

Allied amphibious vehicles are unloaded on the island's landing beach

Chūjō Takazo Numata, Chief of Staff of the 2nd Army , was on an inspection trip to Biak at the time of landing. He immediately took over command of the island's defense and decided to concentrate the Japanese troops on the cave systems and to reinforce these positions as best as possible under the circumstances.

On the night of May 28, a scattered Japanese patrol from the 3rd Battalion, 222nd Infantry Regiment, attacked the troops that had landed. The Japanese units concentrated their attack on the recognized American batteries of the 146th Field Artillery Battalion, which had taken up position near the village of Ibdi. In the brief skirmish, five American artillerymen were killed and nine wounded, while the Japanese lost 15 soldiers.

A destroyed Japanese Type 95 tank on Biak

On the 28th, American troops from 3rd Battalion, 162nd Infantry Regiment, advanced to the Mokmer airfield, west of the landing zone. They were stopped by machine gun fire, artillery fire and mortar fire, and finally pushed back around noon by a mass attack by Japanese infantry. Only with their own artillery, tank support and targeted barrage from the sea could the American units ultimately stop the Japanese attack, which was also joined by Type 95 tanks. However, after the signal officer of the 3rd Battalion had been killed, who passed the target data of enemy gun positions on to the ships so that they could fire at their positions, the position could no longer be held by the American troops. Since they were still under heavy Japanese fire and there was no support fire from the sea, the 3rd Battalion had to retreat to its starting positions.

On the 29th the Japanese succeeded in pulling together two complete battalions for a general attack near the Eastern Caves. They began their attack on the American positions of the 162nd Regiment at dawn, but were stopped by heavy artillery and machine gun fire; However, an hour later they attacked again with tank support from a coconut plantation . However, the Japanese tanks were no match for the American Sherman tanks, and all seven Ha-Go tanks were shot down without their 37mm cannons causing any significant damage to the American tanks. The main cannons of the American tanks, on the other hand, even penetrated the weak front armor of the Japanese vehicles with 75-mm HE shells , which were actually useless for fighting tanks. The Japanese units were pushed back a little later and suffered 500 deaths in the attack. On the American side, however, only 16 men fell and around 100 were wounded.

The enemy mortar and artillery fire, however, wore down the advanced American units, and so the commander of the 162nd Infantry Regiment decided to withdraw his soldiers anyway. Major General Fuller limited himself to expanding the bridgehead at Bosnek and holding the position at Ibdi. He sent out scouting patrols to explore the area of ​​which he had no usable maps . He also requested military support from Lieutenant General Walter Krueger , Commander-in-Chief of the Alamo Force , in order to be able to conquer the strategically important cave systems and ridges near Mokmer. Krueger promised Fuller the reinforcements, but instructed him to look for an alternative airfield and capture it in order to be able to station at least a few supporting fighters on Biak. An explored position north of Bosnek turned out to be unsuitable for such a project.

Attack on the Mokmer airfield

Map of the military operations to capture the Mokmer airfield
American soldiers, protected by a tank, advance against the Japanese position on Biak.

On June 1, the American troops of the 183rd regiment, reinforced by the requested two battalions and an anti-tank company, attacked the Japanese lines in front of the Mokmer airfield. Their aim was defended by the remnants of the two imperial battalions in the Eastern Caves. This time they proceeded on two different routes in order to attack the Japanese positions near the eastern caves from both sides: the 162nd Infantry Regiment as before on the coastal road, the 186th on the east-west path running in the middle of the island.

To reach the east-west path, the 186th Infantry Regiment first had to march north. On reaching the path, it was attacked by 25 Japanese soldiers who took several hours to give up their positions. A company of the 186th regiment was able to flank them and force them to retreat. At 3:30 am, the 186th Regiment was attacked from several sides by several companies of the 1st Japanese Battalion, but the attack was repulsed with minor American losses; however, the Japanese lost 86 soldiers and their battalion commander. When the 186th Regiment began to suffer from a lack of water in the interior of the island, the advance of the Allied troops to the west halted and each soldier was only served one liter a day. The next water point was not far away, but the path was blocked by enemy units in the mountain ranges north of Ibdi, and an alternative transport route extended the route enormously.

Allied reconnaissance planes warned that Japanese troops were being shipped from New Guinea and Rabaul to reinforce Biak; the news alerted American command and control, and all available sea and air units in the area were concentrated over the island. Several regiments of infantry were withdrawn from the front line in order to ward off possible landings by Japanese troops, and further operations against the Mokmer airfield were delayed. It was not until June 6 that the allied forces were able to swing south inside the island to attack the airfield.

The pressure of the Allied leadership, which absolutely wanted to see the important airfield conquered, led to a hasty advance: therefore the 186th Regiment advanced directly to the runway without solid reconnaissance, exploration of the ridges or artillery support. The Japanese defenders were therefore able to largely cut off the supply route of the now isolated Allied regiment and encircle the American units. Only individual carrier columns could deliver supplies and ammunition to the encircled troops. Various attempts to deliver supplies with smaller cutters on the beach near the airfield were prevented several times by Japanese troops. The use of Japanese grenade launchers and the sustained enemy barrage led to around 100 more casualties among the encircled American infantry soldiers. Although the captured airfield could be held by the 186th regiment, its troops were surrounded and it was impossible to put the runway into operation.

On the night of June 8-9, the Japanese attempted to overrun the positions of the 186th Regiment with Gyokusai attacks, but they were thrown back with 42 dead. The Allies lost 13 soldiers and 38 were wounded. In order to stop American reinforcement troops from the 162nd Regiment, which had advanced on the coastal road, the Japanese troops shortly afterwards organized a series of continuous raids in group strength. 24 Americans were killed. At dawn the Japanese troops withdrew, and the exhausted and starved soldiers of the 186th regiment were relieved and replaced by the 162nd.

Japanese situation

Area of ​​the Japanese defense positions around the Eastern Caves

On the night of the counterattacks around the airfield, a Japanese naval unit made up of destroyers and minesweepers with transport barges in tow managed to approach Biak. Around 2,000 Japanese soldiers, who had been outsourced from various regiments in Sorong and shipped, were preparing for a secret landing on the island. However, the Japanese convoy was spotted by Allied reconnaissance planes, and the destroyers cut the tow lines. The transport cutters were attacked by the American planes. Around 1200 Japanese were nevertheless landed in Korim Bay, where they were incorporated into the defense of the western caves.

On June 9th, General Numata transferred the command of the island's defense back to Colonel Kuzume, who in the meantime had made his way with his general staff and a personal escort from Bosnek to the Eastern Caves, the new command center of the Japanese defense. The general was picked up by a seaplane in Korim Bay the next day and flown back to the headquarters of the 2nd Army. Colonel Kuzume had only around 1200 soldiers under his command near the airfield, while the 3rd  Battalion was cut off north of Ibdi and stuck in the ridge. He decided to first hold the positions around the airfield against any American attacks in order to prepare the defense of the eastern caves. On June 9 and 10, two Allied attacks north of the airfield were initially repulsed.

On June 10, the High Command of the Imperial Japanese Navy in Rabaul issued a plan of attack that provided for the use of the super battleships Yamato and Musashi against the American transport fleet at Biak. On June 12, however, the personal order of Admiral Toyoda Soemu was issued to the units that were already in readiness at Batjan to withdraw again. The Yamato and the Musashi joined a larger combat fleet that would attack the American fleets around the Mariana Islands in a combined naval operation .

Capture of the airfield and change of command

American soldiers at the entrance to the West Caves

On June 11th, Major General Fuller decided to finally secure the airfield: two regiments attacked the mountain ranges behind with heavy artillery support. The Allied troops did not make any progress, however, and some of them were forced to take cover after just 100 meters by heavy defensive fire. However, the Americans were able to capture several forced laborers who had fled , who had previously been abducted from Java by the Japanese ; however, they reported to Allied troops about the Western Caves, a key Japanese defense position.

The safety of the airfield was delayed constantly despite the massive Allied artillery fire as the Japanese the rugged and sometimes densely of rainforest used overgrown grounds for their defense optimal. Between June 12 and 14, the American troops managed to secure the area between the western caves and the resistance belt near Ibdi to a large extent with heavy losses. The airfield near Mokmer could still be shot at from the western caves, so that no flight operations could take place there. Major General Fuller was replaced on June 14th by Lieutenant General Robert L. Eichelberger , because Fuller had not succeeded in securing the island's airfields quickly, despite the clear superiority of troops and material. The decision was made by Lieutenant General Walter Krueger under pressure from MacArthur, and Eichelberger took command on the same day. Eichelberger initially did not intervene in the planning of his predecessor, but then broke off the fighting on June 18 and reorganized the exhausted troops in the front line.

Conquest of the Western Caves

American soldiers march along the island's coastal road to the West Caves.

After the reorganization by Eichelberger, the American associations should now carry out the assault on the Japanese positions in the defense area of ​​the western caves. The American troops advanced from June 19 to the area between the airfield and Hill 320 ( Hill 320 to secure), a center of the Japanese defense in the area around the caves. Shortly before the attack, the entire section was prepared by artillery fire and the American units, supported by ten tanks, reached the cave complex on June 20th. They were able to take the first positions with little resistance, but continued machine gun fire from Japanese soldiers from the crevices and cave entrances forced the Allied troops to withdraw temporarily. To break the resistance, the American soldiers rolled gasoline barrels into the deep entrances and blew them up.

During the night, the remaining defenders came out of the caves and bombarded the area around the airfield with light artillery, before retreating with their artillery. It was not until the next day, when American pioneers poured tons of gasoline into the caves through cracks in the ceiling and ignited it, that the surviving defenders decided to break out at night. Before dark, the Allies lowered TNT charges into the caves and exploded them, causing parts of the caves to collapse. In the early morning of June 22nd, around 150 Japanese began their escape and attempted to break through the lines of American forces north of the caves. 115 were killed in the process, the rest were able to break through to the north. Seventeen others died in an attempted breakout to the southwest. With this attack, the organized resistance in the western caves ended.

Halted by the resistance of other surviving Japanese, the cave complex could only be secured by the Americans on the 27th. The bodies of at least 125 Japanese soldiers and body parts of many others that could not be precisely identified were found there.

On June 29, the Allied construction crews had also made the airfield at Mokmer fully operational, but " P-40 Warhawk " fighters and B-25 Mitchell bombers were stationed there as early as the 22nd . On June 22, the Americans also succeeded in unloading a large Liberty transport ship directly on the island for the first time, thus ending the laborious reloading process on small transporters off the coast. This improved the supply of supplies considerably.

Conquest of the Eastern Caves

The eastern caves, the surrounding defenses of which had been largely switched off between June 12 and 14, should now also be conquered, as smaller attacks on truck columns between the Mokmer airfield and Bosnek started from there.

After a sustained drumfire preparation from June 7th to 13th by land and ship artillery, supplemented by air strikes against the small area of ​​the caves, the Allied command level around General Eichelberger initially wanted to forego a direct attack. On July 3, however, after isolated shots continued to be fired in the area, American soldiers finally advanced and occupied the caves without encountering strong resistance. The bulk of the defenders had already left the cave system heading north; Colonel Kuzume allegedly committed suicide on June 28 , along with most of his staff, but Japanese reports suggest that he escaped with his subordinates and died in an air raid a few days later. In the conquest of the Eastern Caves, the Americans lost five soldiers from a tank crew whose vehicle was shot down. Six Australian soldiers who were alone there looking for souvenirs of the battle after the fighting ended , were killed by some remaining Japanese soldiers.

End of organized resistance

The last center of Japanese resistance, north of Ibdi, was not captured by a major attack, but by smaller patrols who, after massive artillery preparation, roamed the area, searched it and requested artillery or air force support if necessary. All of the defenders were killed. To destroy any remaining positions, B-24 Liberator bombers dropped an additional sixty-four 500 kg aerial bombs into the area.

154 dead Japanese soldiers were subsequently found in the area of ​​the Ibdi defensive position, but the actual number of defenders who died cannot be determined because the Americans had blown the cave entrances by July 25 and the number of Japanese people buried in this way is unknown. However, it can be assumed that the bulk of the 3rd Battalion of the Japanese 222nd Regiment was killed here, around 1200 men. The remnants of the Japanese troops on Biak, a few thousand dispersed soldiers, still offered isolated, uncoordinated resistance, but were killed in Allied clean-up operations or pushed to unimportant parts of the island in the east, where they ultimately perished of hunger, thirst or beriberi .

Losses and consequences

Two months passed from the landing to the conquest of the last cave bastion by American troops. The USA suffered around 3,000 losses, 474 of them dead. 6,811 soldiers were temporarily sidelined due to illness, including many cases of typhus transmitted by a species of mite . A further 423 American soldiers received hospital treatment for mental illness .

The Japanese lost 12,000 soldiers in combat, through disease, hunger or thirst, many of them only after the official end of the fighting. 434 of their soldiers were captured on the island in total.

The Americans expanded and started operating all three airports. Biak became an important base for attacks against Japanese troops in the Dutch East Indies and a hub for air transport.

Remarks

  1. The Japanese rank Taisa corresponds to the German rank of colonel
  2. The Japanese rank Shōshō corresponds to the German rank of rear admiral . The prefix Kaigun indicates that it is a naval officer.
  3. The Japanese rank Chūjō corresponds to the German rank general

literature

  • Joseph H. Alexander: Storm landings: epic amphibious battles in the Central Pacific , US Naval Institute Press, 1997, ISBN 1557500320
  • William M. Leary: We Shall Return !: MacArthur's Commanders and the Defeat of Japan, 1942-1945 , University Press of Kentucky, 2004, ISBN 081319105X
  • Vincent P. O'Hara: The US Navy against the Axis: surface combat, 1941-1945 , US Naval Institute Press, 2007, ISBN 159114650X
  • Robert Ross Smith: The Approach to the Philippines , University Press of the Pacific, 2005, ISBN 1410225070
  • Tamura Youzi: Biak, the Honorable Defeat (『玉 砕 ビ ア ク 島), 2000, ISBN 476980962X

Web links

Commons : Battle for Biak  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. a b Alexander: Storm landings , p. 110
  2. on ibiblio.org
  3. ^ Leary: We Shall Return , p. 127
  4. ^ Smith: The Approach to the Philippines , p. 340
  5. ^ Smith: The Approach to the Philippines , p. 343
  6. ^ Smith: The Approach to the Philippines , p. 374