TOP SECRET/PURPLE FROM: LT COL OLSEN, OSS/DET66 DATE: 1 January 1943 The New Guinea campaign appears to be a turning point. Our Australian allies, with some help from General MacArthur, now have an airstrip and staging base at Buna on the north coast, at a cost of 8,500 lives. Shortages of medical supplies have made malaria endemic among our troops and caused another 27,000 casualties so far. We know from decrypted cables that the Japs have fared far worse, but they are preparing a counter-offensive in the region. On 9 November of last year, Eighth Area Army, commanded by Lt. Gen. Hitoshi Imamura, commenced operations on Rabaul, New Britain. Eighteenth Army, commanded by Lt. Gen. Hatazo Adachi, was organized the same day and subordinated to Eighth Area Army. Adachi took charge of operations on New Guinea. Despite their defeat at Buna and the heavy losses in the continuing struggle for Guadalcanal, as of today Japan still holds the preponderant air, naval, and ground strength in the Southwest Pacific and retains the strategic initiative in New Guinea. We believe they intend to strike again for Port Moresby. Japanese construction battalions have transformed the prewar airfield and harbor at Lae, North East New Guinea, into a major air base and anchorage on the Huon Gulf. Japanese infantrymen could land at the stronghold and then sortie under air cover to seize a forward air base at Wau, located in the malarious Bulolo Valley about 150 miles west-northwest of Buna. With Wau in hand, the Japanese could lunge forward again toward Moresby protected by an aerial umbrella. Isolated and weakly defended, the Australian airstrip at Wau is ripe for Eighteenth Army's picking. Efforts are underway to reinforce Wau, but DET-66 will not be directly involved with that effort. We have other fish to fry elsewhere in a supporting role. Umboi is a 30-mile-long island in the strait between Papua and Jap-held New Britain. There is a single town, Siassi, in the interior. On 27 November 1942, the merchant vessel SS Lydia M. Childs, bound for Port Morseby, ran aground on the western shore of Umboi. She was a total loss, and her crew were picked up after three days by an Australian patrol boat. Her master reported seeing the freshly-beached hull of the IJN Batavia Maru merchantman less than a mile from his own resting place, and aerial reconnaissance indicates an unknown enemy submarine, possibly IJN-171, has run aground in the same location within the last seven days. This is more than coincidence, and DET-66 SWPA has been tasked with investigating and, if necessary, removing whatever hazard to navigation might exist on Umboi. Regards, LT COL James Olsen OSS/DET66 |