Takeover of the Pacific colony of German New Guinea
German New Guinea campaign
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The
Allied occupation of German New Guinea
was the takeover of the Pacific colony of
German New Guinea
in September ? November 1914 by an expeditionary force from Australia, called the
Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force
.
Background
[
edit
]
German New Guinea
[
edit
]
German New Guinea (
German
:
Deutsch-Neuguinea
) was an Imperial German protectorate from 1884. German New Guinea consisted of the territories of the northeastern part of New Guinea (
German
:
Kaiser-Wilhelmsland
) and the nearby
Bismarck Archipelago
, consisting of
New Britain
(
German
:
Neu-Pommern
) and New Ireland (
German
:
Neu-Mecklenburg
).
Together with the other Western Pacific German islands, excluding German Samoa, they formed the Imperial German Pacific Protectorates. The protectorate included the
German Solomon Islands
, the
Caroline Islands
,
Palau
, the
Mariana Islands
(except for
Guam
), the
Marshall Islands
and
Nauru
.
Imperial Germany had a paramilitary police force, the
Polizeitruppe
, in New Guinea; generally used to keep up order and put down rebellions. The Polizeitruppe at Bita Paka consisted of about 50 German officers, NCOs and reservists and 240 native police soldiers. Rabaul was well stocked with the coal for use by the German
East Asia Squadron
.
[
citation needed
]
Australian Military situation
[
edit
]
At the outbreak of World War I, the East Asia Squadron, consisting of the
armored cruisers
Scharnhorst
and
Gneisenau
and the light cruisers
Nurnberg
,
Leipzig
,
Dresden
and
Emden
, under the command of Vice-Admiral
Maximilian von Spee
, was cruising in the Pacific Ocean. Britain had already severed all German undersea cables passing through British controlled areas.
[
citation needed
]
Concerned about possible attacks against Allied merchant shipping in the region, Britain requested that Australia destroy the German wireless stations and coaling stations in the Pacific.
Australia hurriedly raised the Australian Naval & Military Expeditionary Force (ANMEF), consisting of one
battalion
of
infantry
of 1,000 men enlisted in
Sydney
, known as the 1st Battalion, ANMEF and 500 naval reservists and ex-sailors who would serve as infantry.
Another battalion of
militia
from the
Queensland
based
Kennedy Regiment
, which had been hurriedly dispatched to garrison
Thursday Island
, also contributed 500 volunteers to the force.
The ANMEF was tasked with the capture of the Imperial German Pacific Protectorates within six months. This included capturing or destroying the radio stations and coal stations supporting the East Asia Squadron.
Reconnaissance of the area was undertaken by the
Australia Squadron
, consisting of the battleship
HMAS
Australia
, the second-class protected cruiser
HMAS
Encounter
, the light cruisers
HMAS
Melbourne
and
Sydney
and the destroyers
HMAS
Parramatta
,
Yarra
, and
Warrego
. Under the command of Vice Admiral Sir
George Patey
, the destroyers entered
Blanche Bay
on 12 August. HMAS
Australia
captured
Sumatra
and HMAS
Encounter
captured
Zambesi
while patrolling
St Georges Channel
on 12 August. HMAS
Melbourne
requisitioned the cargo of coal of the collier
Alconda
off
Rossel Island
on 13 August.
[
citation needed
]
The destroyers entered
Simpson Harbour
and
Matupi Harbour
at night searching for the East Asia Squadron. Landing parties from the destroyers were sent ashore to demolish the telephones in the post offices in
Rabaul
and at the German gubernatorial capital of Herbertshohe (now
Kokopo
), located 20 miles (32 km) to the south-east. Unable to locate the radio station, the Australian warships threatened to bombard nearby settlements if the radio station continued to transmit, before withdrawing.
Japanese Military situation
[
edit
]
Japan's goals were simply to find the east Asia squadron and had no formal plans to occupy the islands.
German Military situation
[
edit
]
Germany had no formal plans to defend German New Guinea.
Occupation
[
edit
]
New Britain
[
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]
Battle of Bita Paka
[
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]
The Battle of
Bita Paka
took place on 11 September, during an Australian attempt to capture the German wireless station. A mixed force of German officers and Melanesian police mounted a stout resistance and forced the Australians to fight their way to the objective. After a day of fighting in which both sides suffered casualties, the more numerous Australian forces finally succeeded in capturing and destroying the wireless station.
Siege of Toma
[
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]
The Siege of Toma took place between 14?17 September, when troops of the ANMEF surrounded
Toma
. They finally brought up a 12-pound field piece to bombard it, which caused the German garrison to negotiate a surrender.
New Guinea
[
edit
]
Madang
[
edit
]
Madang was captured without opposition on 24 September by Australia.
[
citation needed
]
Nauru
[
edit
]
Australian forces first landed in
Nauru
on 9 September and it was fully occupied on 6 November without opposition by Australia.
[8]
Micronesia
[
edit
]
Japanese forces were originally told not to occupy islands but following
Tanin Yamaya
occupying
Jaluit Atoll
on 29 September Japan decided to occupy the islands not only to destroy the radio stations there but also in search of the east Asia squadron.
Rota
was the last Island occupied by Japanese forces on 21 October, ending the New Guinea campaign.
[9]
Aftermath
[
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]
Organized and completed with remarkable speed, the occupation of German New Guinea was significant as the first independent military operation carried out by Australia and the second one for Japan.
Lieutenant
Hermann Detzner
, a German officer with some 20 native policemen, evaded capture in the interior of New Guinea and managed to remain free for the entire war. After the
Treaty of Versailles
of 1919, the victorious Allies divided all German's colonial possessions among themselves. German New Guinea became the
Territory of New Guinea
, a
League of Nations
Mandate Territory under Australian administration.
[11]
[12]
[13]
See also
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]
Notes
[
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]
References
[
edit
]
- Churchill, William (1920). "Germany's Lost Pacific Empire".
Geographical Review
.
X
(2). Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell: 84?90.
doi
:
10.2307/207706
.
ISSN
0016-7428
.
JSTOR
207706
.
- Clark, Chris (2010).
The Encyclopaedia of Australia's Battles
(3rd ed.). Crows Nest, New South Wales: Allen and Unwin.
ISBN
978-1742373355
.
- Grey, Jeffrey
(2008).
A Military History of Australia
(3rd ed.). Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.
ISBN
978-0-521-69791-0
.
- MacKenzie, Seaforth
(1941).
The Australians at Rabaul: The Capture and Administration of the German Possessions in the South Pacific
. Official History of Australia in the War of 1914?1918. Vol. X (Tenth ed.). Canberra, Australian Capital Territory: Australian War Memorial.
OCLC
494426919
.
- Odgers, George (1994).
100 Years of Australians at War
. Sydney: Lansdowne.
ISBN
1-86302-669-X
.
- Parkin, Russell (2003). "Sailors and Seaborne Soldiers in the Defence of Australia, 1914?2001". In Reeve, John; Stevens, David (eds.).
The Face of Naval Battle: The Human Experience of War at Sea
. Crows Nest, New South Wales: Allen and Unwin. pp. 92?112.
ISBN
1865086673
.
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Steel, John (2015). "
'Gavman bilong jerman I pinis! Taim bilong ol ostrelya em kamap na': The Australian Military Administration of German New Guinea, 1914?1921".
Sabretache
.
LVI
(1, March). Military Historical Society of Australia: 23?30.
ISSN
0048-8933
.
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Aspects
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