Battle of Wau The Battle of Wau , 29 – 31 January 1943 , was a battle in the New Guinea campaign of World War II . Forces of the Empire of Japan sailed from Rabaul and crossed the Solomon Sea and , despite Allied air attacks , successfully reached Lae , where they disembarked . Japanese troops then advanced overland on Wau , an Australian base that potentially threatened the Japanese positions at Salamaua and Lae . A race developed between the Japanese moving overland , hampered by the terrain , and the Australians , moving by air , hampered by the weather . By the time the Japanese reached the Wau area after a trek over the mountains , the Australian defenders had been greatly reinforced by air . In the battle that followed , despite achieving tactical surprise by approaching from an unexpected direction , the Japanese attackers were unable to capture Wau . Background . Geography . Wau is a town in New Guinea , in the province of Morobe situated at one end of the Wau - Bulolo Valley . It was the site of a gold rush during the 1920s and 1930s . Gold prospectors arrived at the coast at Salamaua and struggled inland along the Black Cat Track . The miners partially cleared the area and built houses and workshops , and established a water supply and an electricity grid . They constructed the aerodrome s at Wau and Bulolo which were the primary means of reaching the Wau - Bulolo Valley . Wau aerodrome was a rough Kunai grass airstrip in length with a 10 per cent slope heading directly for Mount Kaindi . Aircraft could approach from the north east only , landing uphill and taking off downhill . The mountain at the end of the runway prevented second attempts at landing and precluded extension of the strip . Pilots had to manoeuvre Dakotas under clouds and through dangerous passes , " dodging a peak here and cloud there " , landing at high speeds . This required good visibility , but the weather over Owen Stanley Range was characterised by frequent storms , vertical draft s , and mists which rose from the jungle floor . The first landing at Wau was made by Ernest Mustard in his De Havilland DH . 37 on 19 April 1927 . Osmar White , who reached Wau in June 1942 , wrote : Kanga Force . After the war with Japan began , Wau became an evacuation centre , receiving refugees from Lae and Salamaua . Non - native women and children were evacuated while men of military age were called up for service in the New Guinea Volunteer Rifles , the local militia unit . Initially , civilians were evacuated by civilian aircraft but as the Japanese drew closer — bombing Wau on 23 January 1942 — it became too dangerous to fly without fighter escort , which was unavailable . This left some 250 European and Asian men stranded . These refugees made a hazardous journey over the Owen Stanley Range on foot by way of Kudjeru and Tekadu to Bulldog , a disused mining settlement where there was an aerodrome , and thence down the Lakekamu River to the sea . With the feasibility of the route thus demonstrated , New Guinea Force decided to establish a line of communications to Wau via Bulldog . A platoon of the 1st Independent Company left Port Moresby in the schooner " Royal Endeavour " and traversed the route , joining the men of the New Guinea Volunteer Rifles holding the Wau area . This was the beginning of what became Kanga Force on 23 April 1942 . On 22 May , the 21st Troop Carrier Squadron USAAF flew in commandos of the 2 / 5th Independent Company to join Kanga Force . The 2 / 7th Independent Company followed in October 1942 . Supplies could be flown into Wau if fighter cover was available . On 5 September , 12 planeloads of supplies were dropped at Kudjeru . To economise on scarce transport aircraft , air transport was supplemented by an overland route . Supplies were shipped to the mouth of the Lakekamu in luggers , transported up the river to Bulldog in launches or powered dugout canoes , and then carried over the Bulldog Track by native carriers . Strategy . Kanga Force achieved one notable success , in a raid on Salamaua in June 1942 , but " apart from that they had done little to harass the Japanese at their Salamaua and Lae bases . " They had however managed to threaten the Japanese without provoking them into an offensive against Wau at a time when the Allies did not have the resources to reinforce Kanga Force , and they had provided valuable information . Wau occupied an important place in the strategy of the Commander , Allied Land Forces , South West Pacific Area , General Sir Thomas Blamey , who was concurrently commanding New Guinea Force from Port Moresby . At the time , the Japanese held air superiority over the Solomon Sea , precluding airborne or seaborne operations against the Japanese base at Lae . Blamey therefore decided that he would have to capture Lae with a land campaign . The Bulldog Track would be upgraded to a highway capable of carrying trucks and tanks that could support a division that would advance overland on Lae . Lieutenant General Hitoshi Imamura , the commander of the Japanese Eighth Area Army at Rabaul , correctly deduced his opponent ' s intentions and the strength of Kanga Force and resolved to head off the danger to Lae . He ordered Lieutenant General Hatazō Adachi ' s Eighteenth Army to secure " important areas to the west of Lae and Salamaua " . On 29 December 1942 , Adachi ordered the 102nd Infantry Regiment and other units under the command of Major General Toru Okabe , the commander of the infantry group of the 51st Division , to move from Rabaul to Lae and then immediately advance inland to capture Wau . Okabe ' s force was known as the Okabe Detachment . Imamura was up against a resourceful , resolute and aggressive opponent , who also had access to good intelligence . Allied Ultra codebreakers were reading the Japanese shipping codes , and , by 3 January 1943 , Allied commanders knew in advance about the force that Adachi was planning to send from Rabaul to Lae , although they did not know the force ' s ultimate destination . Blamey chose not to wait for this to become clear , but immediately ordered the 17th Infantry Brigade to move from Milne Bay to Wau on 4 January 1943 . Its commander — Brigadier Murray Moten — was ordered to assume command of Kanga Force and defend Wau . Prelude . The Commander , Allied Air Forces , South West Pacific Area , Lieutenant General George Kenney , ordered his bomber commander , Brigadier General Kenneth Walker , to carry out a full - scale dawn bombing attack on the shipping in Rabaul Harbour before it could depart . Walker demurred ; his bombers would have difficulty making their rendezvous if they had to leave Port Moresby at night . He recommended a noon attack instead . Kenney acknowledged Walker ' s concerns but was insistent ; he preferred bombers out of formation to bombers shot down by the enemy fighters that were sure to intercept a daylight attack . Inclement weather precluded participation by bombers from Australia , so all that was available were the aircraft on hand in Papua : six B - 17 s and six B - 24 s . In spite of Kenney ' s orders , Walker attacked Rabaul Harbour at noon on 5 January , and encountered heavy flak and continuous fighter attacks . Forty and 24 bombs were dropped from . The formation claimed hits on nine ships , totalling 50 , 000 tons . Two B - 17s were shot down , including the one carrying Walker , who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor . After the war , JANAC confirmed the sinking of only one Japanese merchant ship , the 5 , 833 - ton " Keifuku Maru " . Two other ships were damaged , as was the destroyer . On 6 January , the Japanese convoy carrying Okabe ' s force set out for Lae from Rabaul . Forewarned by Ultra , USAAF and RAAF aircraft spotted , shadowed and attacked the convoy , which was shielded by low clouds and Japanese fighters . The Allies claimed to have shot down 69 Japanese aircraft for the loss of 10 of their own . A P - 38 pilot , First Lieutenant Richard Bong claimed three , becoming an ace . A RAAF Catalina of No . 11 Squadron RAAF under the command of Flight Lieutenant David Vernon made a night bombing attack on the convoy which sank the transport " Nichiryu Maru " . Destroyers rescued 739 of the 1 , 100 troops on board , but the ship took with it all of Okabe ' s medical supplies . Another transport , " Myoko Maru " , was so badly damaged at Lae by USAAF B - 25 s that it had to be beached . Nonetheless , the convoy succeeded in reaching Lae on 7 January and landing about 4 , 000 troops . In all , the Allied Air Forces flew 416 sorties . Between 10 and 16 January , the Okabe Detachment moved down the coast in barges to Salamaua , where it assembled and completed its preparations for the attack on Wau . On 16 January , the Japanese encountered a platoon of the 2 / 7th Independent Company under Captain Geoffrey Bowen . A brief action followed in which Bowen was killed , and the Australians retreated back to Skindewai . However , instead of pursuing them , Okabe chose to advance on Wau down an old and seldom used track running through difficult country parallel to the Black Cat Track , and the two sides lost contact . Okabe thereby disguised the strength and objective of his force , and took the Australians by surprise . It was necessary to cross Komiatum Hill , advance to Mubo , and then take the track westward . This route was chosen so as to avoid observation from Allied aircraft in the daytime as they cut their way into the jungle . The mountain range east of Wau was about high and not particularly difficult to cross , but in parts there were no tracks . These had to be prepared without being spotted by the Allied aircraft . As the troops had to carry their food , ammunition and equipment on their backs , the advance was difficult and took longer than anticipated . Eventually they reached a peak from which they were able to look down on the Wau - Bulolo Valley . By this time , food was running short . The commander of the Okabe Detachment , pointing at the Wau village , gave the order to attack : " We are short of food — let us quickly capture Wau and get food from the enemy ! " However , the movement through such dense jungle caused his units to lose touch with each other . The resulting attack was delivered piecemeal , without sufficient preparation . Meanwhile , the first group of the 17th Infantry Brigade — the 2 / 6th Infantry Battalion — had embarked for Port Moresby on 9 January 1943 . The rest of the battalion followed over the next two nights . The 2 / 7th Infantry Battalion departed Milne Bay on the Army transport on 13 January and the 2 / 5th on the next day . The prospects of beating the Japanese to Wau did not look good . At this time , there were only 28 Dakota s in New Guinea , in three understrength squadrons , the 6th , 21st and 33rd Troop Carrier Squadron s of the US 374th Troop Carrier Group . These had to be shared with the Buna - Gona front , so each combat area had 14 planes allocated to it , which worked out to 10 aircraft available per day for each . A Dakota could carry 27 passengers or of freight . Moving an infantry battalion required 60 plane loads ; moving a brigade group required 361 plane loads . Between 10 and 19 January , the 2 / 6th Infantry Battalion was flown in from Port Moresby to reinforce Kanga Force . In the process , there were three crashes . Poor flying weather forced many aircraft to return without landing . Brigadier Moten was twice forced to return to Port Moresby before reaching Wau on the third attempt . Bad weather continued over the following week , limiting air operations and sometimes precluding them entirely . Part of the 2 / 5th Infantry Battalion arrived on 27 January . Battle . Standing in the way of Okabe ' s advance was A Company of the 2 / 6th Infantry Battalion under Captain W . H . Sherlock . Okabe ordered an all - out attack on Sherlock ' s position on 28 January . Sherlock was forced from his position and retreated onto a nearby spur . For much of the afternoon , frontal Japanese attacks were repelled by Australian mortar and machine gun fire , and efforts to infiltrate Sherlock ' s positions were defeated by a bayonet attack led by Sherlock in person . By 18 : 00 , Sherlock ' s mortar ammunition had run out and his small arms ammunition was running short , while his position was being plastered with mortar rounds and swept by machine gun fire . Sherlock held on through the night and was killed the next day trying to break through the Japanese lines . For his actions , Sherlock was posthumously mentioned in despatches . The fighting at Buna ended on 23 January , freeing up aircraft to support Wau , and 52 brand - new Dakotas of the US 317th Troop Carrier Group had arrived in Australia , their movement from the United States having been expedited in response to urgent requests from General Douglas MacArthur arising from the Buna fighting . After a quick maintenance check , they were flown up to Port Moresby to help the 374th Troop Carrier Group fly the 17th Infantry Brigade into Wau . This meant that up to 40 aircraft were now available daily . On 29 January , 57 planeloads arrived , bringing most of the 2 / 7th Infantry Battalion and the remainder of the 2 / 5th . Although subjected to small arms fire as they came in and unloaded , 40 aircraft made 66 trips the next day . Their cargo included two dismantled 25 pounder guns of the 2 / 1st Field Regiment with 688 rounds of ammunition , under the command of Captain R . J . Wise . These were landed in the morning and in action before noon , shelling a concentration of 300 enemy troops between the villages of Wandumi and Kaisenik . The Japanese were also engaged by Beaufighters of No . 30 Squadron RAAF flying close air support . Three Dakotas were damaged when one overshot the runway on landing and crashed into two others . One was repaired , but the other two were a total loss . One of the 46th Troop Carrier Squadron ' s pilots , Staff Sergeant William B . Teague was injured , losing a leg . Japanese attacks that day succeeded in reaching the corner of the airstrip but were forced to fall back under enormous pressure . On 31 January , 35 aircraft made 71 trips , and 40 aircraft made 53 trips on 1 February , bringing reinforcements including the 2 / 3rd Independent Company that brought the strength of Kanga Force to over 3 , 000 men . By 4 February , Okabe was threatened with encirclement and was forced to order a withdrawal . With all hope of capturing Wau gone , Okabe was ordered to abandon the attempt . For his " high order of leadership and control " at Wau , Moten was awarded a bar to his Distinguished Service Order . The Japanese attempted to cut off the stream of Allied transports by bombing the Wau airstrip , but it was the rainy season and they were confronted by the same weather conditions which hampered the Allies . Aircraft which did set off from Rabaul were not able to sight the Wau airstrip and returned without accomplishing anything . Not until 6 February was there an aerial engagement . Eight P - 39 s of the 40th Fighter Squadron were patrolling at over Wau , having provided escort for a flight of five Dakotas , when they sighted 24 Japanese planes . Captain Thomas H . Winburn led his P - 39s in an attack , claiming 11 Mitsubishi A6M Zero es and Mitsubishi Ki - 21 " Sallys " shot down . Meanwhile , eight P - 40s of the 7th Fighter Squadron also on an escort mission sighted 12 aircraft bombing the airstrip at Wau . The transports they were escorting turned back while the fighters engaged the Japanese , claiming seven aircraft shot down . At this time , there were four Dakotas on the ground at Wau and another five were circling , waiting to land . One Dakota , commanded by Second Lieutenant Robert M . Schwensen , was shot down . All five crewmen on board were killed . A Dakota on the ground was damaged , and a CAC Wirraway was destroyed by a bomb blast . Its two - man crew had hurriedly left the aircraft seconds before and thrown themselves flat on the ground . The pilot , Flight Sergeant A . Rodburn , was unharmed , but the observer , Sergeant A . E . Cole , was hit in the shoulder by shrapnel . The Air Cooperation Signals hut took a direct hit and three men were killed . Major General Ennis Whitehead ' s Advanced Echelon ( ADVON ) headquarters in Port Moresby ordered three squadrons based there to join the battle . P - 38s of the 39th Fighter Squadron engaged a dozen Japanese fighters over Wau , shooting one down . A few minutes later , the 9th Fighter Squadron — which had only recently converted to the P - 38 — downed another Japanese fighter , while P - 40 s of the 41st Fighter Squadron surprised six Japanese fighters , shooting down three . The airmen claimed to have shot down 23 Japanese fighters and a bomber . Australian gunners of the 156th Light Anti Aircraft Battery claimed another bomber and two fighters . For its part in the battle , the 374th Troop Carrier Group was awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation . Aftermath . From its creation in May 1942 until 15 February 1943 , Kanga Force lost 30 officers and 319 men , including 4 officers and 48 men of the 2 / 6th Infantry Battalion . The Australians counted 753 Japanese dead . Adding 361 lost on " Nichiryu Maru " and numerous airmen puts the number of Japanese deaths at around 1 , 200 . While New Guinea Force wished to pursue the Japanese , logistical difficulties precluded this . The Japanese prepared to make another attempt to capture Wau . This time , the plan was to approach from the north , building a road from Markham Point to the Snake River Valley . From there the advance would have headed down the valley to Wau . The 51st Division was earmarked for the mission , but it suffered heavy losses en route to New Guinea in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea . This impressed the Japanese command with the dangers from Allied air power . A new plan was therefore devised under which a land line of communication was to be established running down the Ramu and Markham Valley s . In June , Adachi was ordered to prepare to capture Wau . Road construction was carried out at great hardship to the troops involved , but the road was still incomplete when the Allied landings at Nadzab and Lae caused work to be suspended . For the Allies , Wau became an important jumping off point for the Salamaua - Lae campaign .