Pound'n the Japanese at The Battle of the Bismarck Sea

[Shay]

History lesson time:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVLV67xILI4

The Japanese high command decided to transfer about 105,000 troops from China and Japan to Lae in New Guinea to reinforce their forces there. The convoy, moving at a top speed of seven knots, was not detected for several days because of two tropical storms which struck the Solomon and Bismarck Seas between February 27 and March 1. However, at about 15:00 on March 1 the crew of a patrolling B-24 Liberator bomber spotted the convoy north of Cape Hollman. U.S. heavy bombers were sent to the location but failed to locate the convoy.

At about 10:00 on March 2, another Liberator found the convoy, and clear skies allowed several flights of U.S. B-17 Flying Fortress bombers to attack and sink up to three merchant ships, including the Kyokusei Maru. A B-17 was seriously damaged by a New Britain-based Mitsubishi Zero fighter, and the crew was forced to take to their parachutes. The Japanese pilot machine-gunned some of the B-17 crew members as they descended and attacked others in the water after they landed.


Out of 1,500 troops being transported by the Kyokusei Maru, 800 were rescued from the water by the destroyers Yukikaze and Asagumo. These two destroyers, being faster than the convoy since its speed was dictated by the slower transports, broke away from the group to disembark the survivors at Lae. The destroyers resumed their escort duties the next day. The convoy, without the troop transport and two destroyers, was attacked again on the evening of March 2, with one transport sustaining minor damage.

PBY Catalina flying boats from No. 11 Squadron RAAF continued to trail and occasionally bomb the convoy over the night of March 2, and at about 03:25 on March 3, when the convoy was within range of the air base at Milne Bay, Bristol Beaufort torpedo bombers from No. 100 Squadron RAAF took off. However, because of bad weather only two Beauforts found the convoy, and neither scored any hits.

The convoy was rounding the Huon Peninsula, bringing it into clearer conditions. A force of 90 Allied aircraft took off from Port Moresby and headed for Cape Ward Hunt; simultaneously 22 RAAF Douglas Bostons set off to attack the Japanese fighter base at Lae, reducing the convoy's air cover. Attacks on the base continued throughout the day.

At 10:00, 13 B-17s reached the convoy and bombed from medium altitude, causing the ships to disperse and prolonging the journey.

Then 13 Bristol Beaufighters from No. 30 Squadron RAAF approached at low level, to give the impression they were Beauforts making another torpedo attack. The ships turned to face them, and the Beaufighters were then able to inflict maximum damage on the ships' anti-aircraft guns, bridges and crews, during strafing runs with their four 20 mm (0.787 in) nose cannons and six wing-mounted .303 in (7.7 mm) machine guns.

Immediately afterwards, 13 USAAF Mitchells bombed from about 750 meters (2,500 ft). Then 12 Mitchells made a "skip bombing" attack, reportedly claiming 17 hits. By this time half of the transport ships were sunk or sinking. As the Beaufighters and Mitchells expended their munitions, some USAAF A-20s joined the attack. Another five hits were claimed by B-17s from higher altitudes.

While the attack on the ships proceeded, 28 U.S. P-38 Lightnings provided top cover, and 20 Japanese fighters were shot down for the loss of three Lightnings. Two were from the 39th Fighter Squadron: the aces Bob Faurot and Hoyt Eason were both killed in action. During the afternoon, further attacks from Mitchells and RAAF Bostons followed.

All seven of the remaining transports were sunk about 100 kilometres (60 mi) southeast of Finschhafen, along with the destroyers Shirayuki, Arashio, and Tokitsukaze. Four of the destroyers picked up as many survivors as possible and then retired to Rabaul. The fifth destroyer, Asagumo, was sunk in a subsequent strike as it was picking up survivors from the Arashio.

Following orders from Kenney, reportedly in retaliation for the shot-down bomber crew being machine-gunned as they descended, from the evening of March 3 until March 5, Allied patrol boats and planes attacked Japanese rescue vessels, as well as survivors from the sunken vessels on life rafts and swimming or floating in the sea.


Aftermath
The battle was a disaster for the Japanese. Out of 6,900 troops who were badly needed in New Guinea, only about 800 made it to Lae. The Australian War Memorial states that 2,890 Japanese soldiers and sailors were killed.

"A merciful providence guarded us in this great victory," said Douglas MacArthur in one of his communiqués. He used the victory to request five additional U.S. divisions and 1,800 aircraft in preparation for his landings in northern New Guinea.

Are the cockpit scenes from a Beaufighter or Boston /Havoc?


Shay
____________
Semper Fortis

[Mudge]

I'd be willing to bet the cockpit scenes were Beaufighter.

Mudge the semi-positive

It was taken by an Australian Damien Parer:


www.defence.gov.au/raaf/raafmuseum/rese ... s2/A19.htm

In March 1943, the aircraft achieved world-wide fame when Damien Parer filmed the Battle of the Bismarck Sea over the shoulder of pilot Flight Lieutenant 'Torchy' Uren.


www.awm.gov.au/people/78005.asp

Damien Peter Parer

Date of birth: 01 August 1912
Place of birth: Malvern, VIC

Date of death: 17 September 1944
Place of death: Peleliu, Palau, New Guinea

Even sixty years after his death Damien Parer remains one of Australia's most well-known combat cameramen. He was born on 1 August 1912 at Malvern in Melbourne but was educated largely in Bathurst, at Saint Stanislaus School. Parer joined the school's camera club and decided early on that he wanted to be a photographer. Having left school and failing to find photographic work in Melbourne, he resumed his education before finding an apprenticeship. Also interested in motion pictures, Parer, having completed his apprenticeship, moved to Sydney to work with the director, Charles Chauvel.


When the Second World War began, Parer had become experienced in stills photography and motion picture work, and was appointed as official movie photographer to the AIF. He sailed for the Middle East in January 1940 where he filmed on board HMAS Sydney after it had sunk the Italian cruiser, Bartolomeo Colleoni. Parer was on board another ship, HMAS Ladybird when she bombarded Bardia and he advanced with the infantry at Derna, his first experience of close action. At Derna he decided that he needed to film from as close to the action as possible, sometimes even in advance of the troops. Acquaintances later recalled that from the moment Parer made this decision he was doomed to die on the battlefield.

Parer filmed in Greece and in Syria, covering the action from aircraft, the deck of a ship and on the ground with the infantry. After Syria he travelled to Tobruk in August 1941 before covering the fighting in the Western desert. By mid-1942 Parer was in New Guinea ready to cover the fighting against the Japanese. During this phase of the war, he filmed some of his most famous sequences, some at Salamaua and, most notably, those used in Kokoda front line. This documentary won its producer, Ken Hall, an Oscar for documentary film-making. Behind the footage lay Parer's deeply held desire to draw to public attention, the conditions under which the Australians were fighting in New Guinea.

In late 1942 Parer travelled to Timor to film Australians of the 2/2nd Independent Company who were fighting a guerrilla campaign on the island, the result of which was his documentary, Men of Timor. He then returned to New Guinea where he flew on a series of hair-raising Beaufighter operations against Japanese shipping in the Bismarck Sea. After that he moved to the Salamaua area where he filmed, among other actions, the well-known assault on Timbered Knoll.

In August 1943, after more than 12 months of rancour and disagreement, Parer left the Department of Information's employ to work for the United States company, Paramount News. His early assignments involved filming further air raids over New Guinea. On 23 March 1944 during a period of leave, Parer, a deeply religious man, married Marie Cotter in Sydney. Their union was a brief one. Parer returned to action, leaving the war in New Guinea behind to accompany the United States Marines. He filmed them first on Guam and then covered the Peleliu operation.

On 17 September 1944, keen to get shots of the faces of advancing soldiers, Parer was walking backwards behind a tank, filming a group of marines advancing under fire. He was killed by a burst of Japanese machine gun fire.

[Shay]

Thanks for the background info, really interesting

Even looking at the footage from 2007 it was still impressive to see.

Shay
____________
Semper Fortis

[tom d. friedman]

I'd be willing to bet the cockpit scenes were Beaufighter.

Mudge the semi-positive

you win mudge!!! now try a lottery ticket!!! those beau pics were most refreshing!!!

[Jollygreenslugg]

Beau alright.

It used to be great fun sitting behind the cockpit in the Moorabbin Air Museum's Beau when we used to run it up in the late 80s. People would come from everywhere to witness the spectacle. Ah, memories!

In relation to the Battle of the Bismark Sea, I'm looking for information on an Australian pilot who was attached to the USAAF flying Mitchells in this battle. Maurice Carse was his name, he died five years ago, but I knew him as a gentle, kindly and humble man.

He didn't talk much about his experiences, but I knew he was in this battle. Later, he flew Bostons with the RAAF and finished the war near Darwin on Liberators (IIRC). He told some of his experiences with skip-bombing, and tests with the oil systems of Boomerangs. He thought the P40 was better to fly than pretty much anything else and he only flew a Mustang once.

After the war, he got a job with QANTAS flying Lancastrians, then moved to the Department of Civil Aviation. In 1948, he gave it all away to become a Catholic priest. He told me that it took two years of not looking up when he heard an aero engine before he got it out of his system. He was a beautiful and humble man, very gentle and considerate.

I subsequently read that he'd received a US DFC for his actions in the Battle of the Bismark Sea but looking through the Australian War Memorial archives has turned up little other than a few photos.

Cheers,
Matt

I found this, might be the same bloke:


CARSE, MAURICE JAMES

Service Royal Australian Air Force

Service Number 412874

Date of Birth 12 Dec 1918

Place of Birth AVENEL, VIC

Date of Enlistment 15 Aug 1941

Locality on Enlistment Unknown

Place of Enlistment MELBOURNE, VIC

Next of Kin CARSE, HERBERT

Date of Discharge 1 May 1946

Rank Flight Lieutenant

Posting at Discharge 1 AIRCRAFT DEPOT

WW2 Honours and Gallantry None for display

Prisoner of War No

[Walrus 7]

JollyGreen,

As Mr Carse is no longer alive, anyone can request a copy of his service record from the National Archives. At this stage, the record of his RAAF career is "not yet examined" and therefore closed to the public. This is routine and means that no-one has requested the record be examined for restricted material yet. If you send a note to ref@naa.gov.au they will have it examined and digitised for you. That takes about six weeks and will cost you $16 or thereabouts.

I note with interest the record for VX24261 Maurice James Carse who has the same birthdate and next of kin. It would appear that your man had an AIF career before transferring to the RAAF.

Walrus

[Elwyn]

I could swear I saw a couple of Wellingtons in the mix.

[Walrus 7]

Elwyn,

Wellingtons? It does look like them doesn't it. The RAAF didn't have Wellingtons on strength, so it certainly ain't them! Possible answers:

1. They are in fact B-18 Bolos.
2. They are Wellingtons from somewhere in Europe. The newsreel companies in Australia were notorious for splicing in footage from elsewhere to make things more exciting. Parer himself fell foul of this when footage from Salamaua was edited into the film Kokoda Front Line. As a result, some of Parer's most famous film is often mistaken for being Kokoda (still!). This contributed to his decision to head for Paramount.

I suspect the latter.

Walrus