Extract from General MacArthur’s book, Reminiscences, 1964

  Coral Sea, Port Moresby and Darwin, June 25th, 1942

  If one thing was sure at the end of June 1942, it was that the Allied position in Australia and the south seas was very precarious. Not many a betting man would have put his chips on our forces to win it all in the end.

  The Imperial Army had just landed in Darwin, and there wasn’t a whole lot we could do about it. Only the great distance of the Oceanic Continent gave us some sense of hope. There were thousands of kilometers between major cities in Australia, and the country's Western Coast was still relatively under-developed. The heart of the country was more on the other side, on the east coast.

  Then there was the Japanese offensive and the heavy Imperial Navy’s presence in the Coral Sea and the New Guinean eastern part. The enemy entertained quantitative superiority many times over what we could field.

  We only stood a chance in the naval category because we were the ones on the defensive in the Port Moresby area. It thus remained to be seen if the Japanese could transport their intended amphibious landings against our 2nd fleet and successfully land it notwithstanding our forces.

  At a meeting in Brisbane between me and Admiral Leahy, our naval commander, it was decided to continue the strategy I had set the month before: risk defending Port Moresby. William agreed that it was the only way to keep the Northern Australian coast safe. Also, a strong presence in Eastern New Guinea meant that the enemy could not have unchallenged control of the Coral Sea and the Solomon Islands (that we would bomb with our aircraft from the Port Moresby base). Furthermore, it put us in a great position to switch to the offensive once we survived the Japanese tide.

  For if there was one unwavering belief in those dark days of 1942, it was in the fact that America and its Allies would rise to the challenge and vanquish its enemies. The Nipponese power was tremendous, and it would take us a lot of blood to destroy it. But America was stronger, and that was, in my mind, unchallengeable. It was good against evil, and we all know how every story ends.

  The 2nd Fleet immediately set upon intercepting the Japanese task force headed for Port Moresby, and we both agreed Leahy and I that nothing would be spared in stopping the damned Japs to land their troops.

  On the ground side of things, I ordered half of the Australian 1st Division back to Port Moresby and told the Aussie commander to put himself on a defensive stance. All the Marines were also brought back to the southern shore to prepare and handle the defenses in case the enemy succeeded in landing its troops. It would be a close thing, but I stayed confident that we would again weather the storm.

  In Darwin, there wasn’t much that could be done since there were no real defenses in the area apart from a regiment-sized unit, so I gave orders to prepare the protection of the western coastal towns of Wyndham(900km), Derby (1200) and the major port city of Broome (1500 km away south). It was almost impossible for the Imperial forces to advance overland toward these cities, so I prepared for more enemy landings along the western coast.

  The Australian Army sent the newly raised 6th Division toward Perth to set up a real town defense in case Yamamoto got too bold. But my primary strategy on the Western Coast was that Japan would face immense logistical difficulties if it chose to advance inland or go a lot further than Darwin. They would simply stay along the coast and try more landings in all strategic likelihood. It gave me time to prepare the counter-attack.

  The Second Battle of the Coral Sea Part 1

  Carrier battle; June 25, 1942

  At 06:25 June 25th, Leahy's Second Fleet was 115 nautical miles northeast of Rosel Island, entering Japan's defensive perimeter. At this time, the Allied admiral sent three cruisers (San Francisco, Chicago, and Canberra), three destroyers, and battleship Iron Duke to the Jomard Passage. He designated the group of ships under the call tag Taskforce 1. It was led by British Iron Duke's captain Arthur Duncan.

  Duncan's mission was to intercept the Japanese surface force and block the waterway, where the Japanese fleet would need to cross to go toward New Guinea's southern coast. The Jomard Channel, also known as the Jomard Entrance or Jomard Passage, was a navigable strait near Milne Bay Province between the Louisiade Archipelago and New Guinea. The channel lay between the Jomard Islands and Duperré Islets/Bramble Haven and connected the Solomon Sea with the Coral Sea.

  Leahy understood that captain Duncan would be operating without air cover since his meager carrier force would certainly have its hands full battling the Japanese aircraft sure to be sent his way during the battle. Detaching Iron Duke and the six other ships reduced the anti-aircraft defenses for his two carriers. Nevertheless, the Allied commander decided the risk was necessary to ensure the Japanese invasion forces could not slip through to Port Moresby while he engaged the carriers. He also could, in this way, force a surface battle with the numerically inferior guns of the Imperial Navy.

  Correctly guessing that Inoue's carrier force was somewhere west of him, in the vicinity of the Louisiade, beginning at 06:19, Leahy directed Ranger to send ten Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bombers as scouts to search that area. By 0903, they’d found the Japanese fleet. The American Admiral thus scrambled all available planes and, by 1002, the planes from Ranger (twenty SBD and ten Grumann Wildcat F4F fighters). He kept the rest of his aircraft close to the task force for what he believed was the unavoidable enemy counter-strike.

  The American planes sped toward the Japanese 2nd fleet and eventually found it, as it was sailing in the Normanby Island vicinity. Inoue’s Zero fighter screen was dense with twenty guarding his ships, so they engaged the small American strike force. A furious dogfight ensued. But for the first time, the Americans didn’t get the short-end stick of the battle. The Japanese flyers, a lot less experienced than their Kido Butai counterparts, did not do as well. In fact, it was the opposite. They performed poorly, like the rookie pilots they were.

  One underlying weakness of the Imperial Navy was that before the war and still in 1942, the navy pilot training program was very elective and, in doing so, produced only a limited number of pilots per year. Once out of the training regimen, they were already the elite of the elite, but the net result for Japan was that they were few and far between. Most of the tops aces thus were assigned to the Combined Fleet's six main carriers (Akagi, Kaga, Zoryu, Hiryu, Shokaku, and Zuikaku), so it didn’t leave much to the newer carriers.

  Unfortunately for Japanese plans that day, the top flyers in the country were very far away in Pearl Harbor, preparing for their attack on Mainland America.

  Losses were thus seven Japanese planes for three Grumann fighters, and most of the Dauntless dive bombers slipped thru unscathed to face the flak gauntlet the Imperial ships fired at them. The sky lit up with red tracers as the anti-aircraft ordinances climbed straight through the air in an effort to shoot down the U.S. torpedo bombers lining up to loosen their weapons at their enemies. Eight of the remaining fifteen SBD were shot down and fell fierily into the sea, but the rest shot their torpedos at the Japanese ships. They, of course, targeted the Japanese carriers. The weapons raced toward their target as the Japanese seamen tried to dodge frantically. A destroyer bravely put itself in one of the American torpedo’s paths and exploded like a bursting egg but saved the carrier Unyo in the process. Two missed entirely, one more didn’t explode, but three connected with Japanese ships. One struck the carrier Taiyo, right amidship and creating significant damage, which towered high in the sky in a catastrophic explosion. Another one hit the cruiser Suzuya right in the bow, almost sinking it outright, creating a severe list forward. The last one sunk the light cruiser Nagara in a hit that exploded right in the middle of the superstructure.

  The ecstatic American flyboys sped back to their carriers, leaving a sea of fire, oily water, and damaged ships. Japanese pride was wounded.

  Inoue, in turn, believed Leahy was south of him and had before the U.S. strike advised Taiyo and Ryujo's planes to send their aircraft to search that area. The Japanese 2nd fleet, approximately 300 nautical miles west of Leahy, launched twelve Nakajima B5Ns at 08:00 to scout its enemy. Around the same time, cruiser Atago and three light cruisers launched four Kawanishi E7K2 Type 94 floatplanes to search southeast of the Louisiade, while they cruised due south in search of surface ships. Augmenting their search were several floatplanes from Deboyne Island, four Kawanishi H6Ks from Tulagi Island, and three Mitsubishi G4M bombers from Rabaul Base.

  At about midday, while his men still assessed the damage and tried to salvage the stricken ships, Inoue split his forces in two, sending Kirishima along with five destroyers southwest as escort to the landing fleet. At the same time, he reacted to the news of the floatplanes from Atago that had supposedly spotted Leahy's fleet.

  At 1315, the Atago confirmed back to Admiral Inoue that it had located a large enemy task force: "two carriers, two battleships, several cruisers, and destroyers." Another fleet was also spotted going southwest toward the Kirishima task force (and the landing ships) by the Ryujo's search planes. The Japanese admiral immediately launched all of his available aircraft. A total of 48 aircraft—18 Zero fighters, 16 Aichi D3A dive bombers, and ten torpedo aircraft—began launching from three light carriers (Zhuiho, Tyujo, and Unyo) at 1345 and were on their way by 1400 towards the reported enemy sighting. The strike force was under the overall command of Lieutenant Commander Kakuichi Takahashi, while Lieutenant Commander Shigekazu Shimazaki led its torpedo bombers.

  At 15:15, Takahashi's strike force reached its target area, sighted some of Leahy’s ships (they’d spotted task force one heading for the Jomar Passage), and searched in vain for the U.S. carriers for a couple of hours. The Americans got lucky since their ship moved some distance from the time they got spotted and thus were not where the Atago flying boat had detected them when the airstrike arrived over the coordinates. They then decided to attack the surface force that was seemingly without escorts but only in a limited capacity, while the rest of the strike force headed back to their carrier to refuel and rearm.

  Three Aichi D3A dive bombers attacked cruiser Chicago, and the rest tried to hit Iron Duke. The heavy cruiser was hit by three bombs, broke in half, and sank in a cataclysmic explosion, killing all but 14 of her 492-man crew. Two bombs hit Iron Duke. One of the dive bombers, hit by anti-aircraft fire, even crashed into the battleship. The dreadnought got away with damage that was serious enough, with several fires below decks and one of its main gun turrets destroyed. But its speed was unaffected, so it continued on its way. Once the Jap aircraft flew away, Duncan ordered the fleet to continue full speed toward the Jomar Straight, leaving a destroyer on-site to pick up Chicago’s survivors.

  Both fleets were scarred at dusk on the first day, but the Japanese admiral wasn’t happy about the results. He had already sent back Taiyo to Rabaul under destroyer escort and was faced with a choice. He needed to decide if he wanted to destroy the surface fleet heading for the Kirishima detachment he’d sent toward the New Guinean coast or continue to try and find the Allied carriers.

  Admiral Leahy, for his part, was pretty happy with the day’s results and decided that he would concentrate on its primary objective: eliminate the landing threat to Port Moresby and disregard any more duel with carriers. He would thus focus his planes on covering Duncan and turned his fleet southward to get out of the danger zone.

  As night fell on the 25th of June, the next day’s battle would decide the Second Battle of the Coral Sea’s outcome.

  Battle of Sittang Bridge

  Burmese invasion, 18th Imperial Division, June 26th, 1942

  The Japanese looked unstoppable. The 15th Army had crossed from Thailand into Burma and, in ten days, had made serious progress toward Rangoon, their campaign objective, and the Burmese oil resources. The capture of the oilfields and severing the allied supplies to China via the Burma Road looked like they would soon happen.

  Burma was critical to the entire Allied defense of the Far East. By taking Rangoon and then the Burma Road, the Japanese would cut the vital land link to China, where half of the Imperial Army was already tied down fighting Chiang Kai-Shek’s Nationalist forces. Burma was also the gateway to India, and Rangoon was the key to everything. In addition to being Burma’s administrative capital, it was a crucial communications and industrial center and had the only port capable of handling troopships. The loss of Rangoon would mean the loss of Burma and the certainty of a Japanese attack on India.

  Private Ishiro Tanaka was running on the east bank of the Sittang river, rifle in hand, bayonet fixed, and he yelled on top of his lungs. His unit had penetrated Allied lines during the previous night using the same infiltration tactics they’d used in the thick jungles of Malaya during their drive to Singapore. He was flanked by his comrades and fellow soldiers, also yelling the banzai charge. A few meters to Ishiro’s right, captain Tidiko ran, samurai saber raised high in the air.

  Several of the 18th Division detachments had gone across the Sittang on inflated boats and anything the Japanese had found locally. Wooden boats, fishing trawlers, and the likes. Burma was a rugged country with very few infrastructures or decent roads. But the tough Nipponese soldiers were used to that type of terrain and didn’t flinch one bit.

  After they crossed the previous night, they’d found themselves across the river and outflanked most of the British brigade’s defenses facing the destroyed bridge. Tanaka was amazed at the typical catatonic allied response to Japanese moves. He wondered if they would one day learn or know better. It was rather straightforward. The Japanese forces always tried to outflank and infiltrate. So why didn’t they do something about it? Tanaka was just a simple fighter, but he knew he would do it differently in the British’s shoes.

  His run ended in an enemy trench that was half-filled with water. He jumped in it, rifle in front, and hit an Indian soldier right in the chest, piercing it with his bayonet. His opponent died instantly, in a blood-burbling sound. He turned around and fired his weapon, discharging it right onto another Allied soldier’s face. It blew like a watermelon and spread blood and gore everywhere, including Ishiro.

  The rest of his comrades were doing the same, and the whole enemy's defensive position had been taken within a minute. The officer quickly reorganized the man to face, rifles reloaded, the other way. The trench they’d just stormed overlooked the destroyed Sittang Bridge and towered a little above the rest of the British and Indian forces below as it was perched on a high wooden hill.

  Once they were all installed, the officer ordered them to fire down on the enemy. It took the British units, which were facing the other way (toward the other side of the river), several seconds to realize that something was amiss, with several bullets landing amongst their numbers, killing and wounding from a direction they did not expect. They turned around, only to find out that the damned Japanese had done it again. They’d flanked their position.

  In under another ten minutes, the rest of the Allied troops retreated westward toward the large dirt road that continued into the Burmese immensity of a jungle.

  The campaign was not going well for the Allies. The Japanese offensive had started around June 16th, and ever since then, the British forces under the command of Lieutenant General Thomas Hutton (commanding officer, 17th division) reeled back in disarray. About a week ago, the Allies had been badly beaten at the Battle of the Bilin River. They’d held on against superior forces for two days of close-quarters jungle fighting. But the Japanese outflanked them because they could and because they had more troops. Faced with the threat of imminent encirclement, Hutton decided to fall back. The unit disengaged under cover of darkness and began a 30-mile (48 km) retreat along the dusty track to the Sittang Bridge.

  And there, they’d made their stand and were now being annihilated by the powerful Imperial forces. They’d blown the bridge to try and slow down the Japs, but it was only a stop-gap solution, as Japanese troops were quite nimble and hoped over rivers easily and quickly, as was again proven by Tanaka and his comrades of the 18th Division.

  The Southern Expeditionary Army Group, under the overall command of General Hisaichi Terauchi, was by any definition of it unstoppable with what the Allies had to put up against it. The army was composed of the 57th, 33rd, and 71st divisions, reinforced by the elite 18th Division and two armored brigades (Type 94 tanks). Since the British only had a division to try and defeat the Japanese, it didn’t take long for their defenses to be overwhelmed. Furthermore, the Nipponese operated under total air supremacy, had ships offshore that could support the troops with their guns, and advanced helped by light tanks, while the Allies had nothing with which to counter them.

  The Second Battle of the Coral Sea Part 2

  The Milne Bay Gun duel; June 26th, 1942

  Heavy storm systems and turbulent weather started in the early hours of the 26th of June in the New Guinea area, near Milne Bay. The heavy wind and rain seriously impeded aerial operations for hundreds of kilometers.

  Consequently, both sides’ carrier forces had no play in unfolding events that day. They thus focused on finding each other in the worsening weather (the storm system was starting to envelop the whole Coral Sea area) but didn’t find each other.

  The action that would put an end to the battle happened near Milne Bay. The Iron Duke and its escorts intercepted the Japanese task force transporting the Imperial troops bound for the Port Moresby landings.

  Battleship Kirishima and five destroyers had been tasked with escorting the transport vessels on their approach to the target. At the same time, Admiral Inoue continued his search and battle with the American carriers.