7. Operations on the island of Biak
Located in the sea east of the Totori Peninsula in Western New Guinea, Biak Island is called Biak on its main island and Subelly in the northwest across a river. Bijak Island, along with Nornfort Island to the west and Yapen Island to the south, formed the gateway from the open sea into the Gulf of Galvingk, and its geographical location was so important that it became the focus of japanese defense and the next target of the Us army after the start of Operation Shami.
Once captured on Arjak Island, the U.S. military could control the waters of Gelvink Bay and attack the Birdhead Peninsula from both the north and the east; if the U.S. military could not capture the island, it would not be able to seek a springboard for short-range amphibious operations on the Birdhead Peninsula, and long-distance amphibious operations, and attacks limited to the north of the peninsula were more easily suppressed.
Because of the geographical distance between The Island of Biak, 180 nautical miles west of the port of Shami, the interaction between the two operations of Biak and Shami was small.
1. The situation faced by the Japanese army
The Japanese 2nd Front and the Confederate Army have always attached great importance to the military position of Beak Island. On January 8, 1919, the Third Point of the Second Part of the Outline of Operational Readiness for Western New Guinea formulated by the Japanese 2nd Army explicitly listed The Island of Biak as a large support point on the same level as Shami; at the same time, it was planned to be used as a key air base to build an airfield group equivalent to the size of a flying regiment: from March to October, five airfields were built in three phases (6 were planned for the Shami area in the same period), three fighters, one light bomber, and one heavy bomber.
The third point of the third part of the compendium mentions the troops on the island of Biak:
Area of Biak Island: 222nd Infantry Wing, Field Flying Field 17th and 107th Set Teams, 2nd Field Base Team
Yapen area: To be determined
Nornfort area: Field Field Formation 102nd Team, Temporary Field Formation Team 1 and 3rd Formation
In addition, the seventh part of the outline also mentions the fortification plan, which plans that the 3rd Brigade of the 222nd Infantry Regiment is responsible for the main position structure; the 2nd Brigade is responsible for the expansion part.
The 222nd Infantry Regiment (hereinafter referred to as the Katsume Wing) began construction of the airfield on 3 January. By the end of the month, Omori and Minami teams had successfully advanced the construction of the airport on the southern coast of Biak Island. After several months of construction work, only three airports west of Mokemel were completed (known as Solid Airports 1, 2 and 3 respectively), and the fourth was abandoned during the construction process, and the fifth was not started.
At that time, the Biak-Supirri garrison was as follows:
a) Bíak
army
222nd Infantry Regiment: Naoyuki Katsume Daisa
3rd Squadron, 49th Field Anti-Aircraft Artillery Brigade: Takehiko Hasegawa
Field Flying Field 17th Set Team
Field Flight Field 107th Set Team
Field Flight Field 108th Set Team
The 2nd Nanyang Pioneering Service Team
Number of people: 10,400 people
b) Supierry
2nd Brigade, 219th Infantry Regiment
2nd Brigade, 221st Infantry Regiment
navy
28th Special Base Team: Major General Sadatoshi Senda
19th Garrison
33rd Air Defense Squadron
105th Air Defense Squadron
The 202nd battalion was formed
Number of people: 1947 people
However, even if the Japanese army wanted to build a strong defense there, it could not compete with the actual environmental factors. Under increasing pressure from the U.S. army, and the sea transportation from the south to the north of Haobei was also very tense in early Showa 19, the base camp was forced to cancel most of the transportation to Haobei in the spring of that year; on May 2, the decision of the base camp to withdraw the transportation line to the south-west sea was even worse.
In addition, the 2nd Front could use less and less aviation power. After the 2nd Front was incorporated into the Confederate Combat Sequence on 5 April, the Confederate Army also moved the 4th Air Force from the 2nd Front's Combat Sequence to the Headquarters Sequence:
Hui Fang as The Order A No. 60
Order of the Second Front (5 days 2330 power generation)
1. The Second Front Army will be incorporated into the Confederate Combat Sequence, and the Fourth Air Force will be removed from the Second Front's Combat Sequence and incorporated into the Confederate Army Sequence
After the Fourth Aviation Army was included in the order of the Confederate Army, the matters relating to its combat from 1 April onwards were subject to the Southern Military District Division
3. The transfer time of affiliation is scheduled for 00:00 on April 15
In addition, since the U.S. landings in Dia and Aitape in the Netherlands at the end of April, the situation of the 4th Air Force is not optimistic: the 6th Flying Division has been hit by a systematic blow, and the remnants of the incapacitated forces have been transferred to the Shami side; the main force of the Flying 7th Division has long been withdrawn to the East Indies, and the supply situation is not enough to support the New Guinean aviation operation. The 2nd Front could no longer expect any air support from this aviation unit, which was not part of the order of its own unit, and the use of the airfield on the island of Biak was affected thereafter.
2. Preparations for the United States and Japan
On the U.S. side, the 163rd Infantry Regiment of the U.S. 41st Infantry Division has been under order to operate on Biak Island since may 17 after the start of operations in a straight line. While several days of airstrikes were carried out on the area, on May 25, the U.S. 163rd Infantry Regiment, together with the 162nd and 186th Infantry Regiments of the original persecution operation, carried by the TF77 commanded by Fletcher, left Humboldt Bay and headed for Biak Island. During this operation, the TF74, commanded by Rear Admiral Victor Kruchley, was incorporated into the TF77 formation and carried out as TG77.2. At this time, the strength of the US army is as follows:
Operation Hollik Troops
41st Infantry Division: Major General Horace Fuller
162nd Infantry Regiment
163rd Infantry Regiment
186th Infantry Regiment
Number of people: 12,000 people
The U.S. army estimated that there were 2,000-4,000 Japanese troops on the island, so it sent 3 infantry regiments of the 41st Infantry Division with a total of 12,000 troops to land on the beaches of Persnek and Palay, and divided The Beach of Persnek into green beaches 1, 2, 3, and 4.
The reason why these two sites were chosen as landing beaches is also very simple: Pale Beach is close to the Japanese Solid airfield group, while the area around The Green Beach of Persnek has no shore cliffs and swamps, which facilitates the landing of American troops and will not be suddenly attacked by the Japanese.
On May 25, 2000, the same day that U.S. troops began to depart for Biak Island, the Japanese 2nd Front Chief of Staff, Tatsuya Numata, arrived at the headquarters of The Kidak Chitama, and the next day met with Naoyuki Katsume in Persiank to discuss issues related to defensive operations, and informed him that he would send Miro Tamada's 2nd Marine Mobile Brigade to Biak, hoping to boost the morale of the garrison and strengthen Katsume's determination to fight.
In response to the U.S. landings, Naoyuki Katsume and Sadatoshi Senda deployed defensive forces on the southern shore of The Island of Biak in May.
Unlike the U.S. military, which underestimated the number of Japanese troops, Katsume estimated that the U.S. army would send 25,000 men to land, with a particular focus on Persnek. So he deployed 4 brigades and 1 naval garrison in Obeareve-Solid, and drew troops from the 1st and 2nd brigades to take charge of the fortifications of the Postnek-Solid Airport Group; at the same time, he sent 3 squadrons and a small team to guard the area between Kolim Bay and Solid, 1-2 brigades to defend the Gulf of Kolim; the chariot squadron was stationed in Saba in the middle of the eastern part of the island, and if necessary, to support Bosanek.
Senda, on the other hand, concentrated all of his troops' artillery to complement the Army's operations:
Corim Bay - Saba - Poshnek: 3 doors
Mokmell-Pale: 5 doors
Solied: 4 doors
At the same time, Senda also deployed air defense units in the Mokmel-Solid area to "assist friendly forces with air defense positions as the main position" in order to defend the airfield group.
The U.S. fleet arrived off The Island of Biak at dawn on 27 May and launched a pre-landing bombardment on it, kicking off Operation Hollik.