Chapter 11 Leaping Lena; Luck Escape; Exploits of the 5th; 6th in the jungle...

Dedicated to a temperamental Jeep.

LEAPING LENA

LEAPING LENA, she's a screamer, jolting along the track,

Leaping high, leaping low, the occupants all in a stack

Midst stores and jams and empty petrol cans,

Bags of mail and gear and p'raps a mangled man.

Like a jumping Jack, thru' the kunai comes the Jeep,

To and fro and up and down, the passengers look dead beat.

Legs and arms are flung asunder as the Signals go to town,

Appearing as a travelling circus with the driver as the clown.

She takes off from the ground like a punctured plane,

Doubles up awhile then hits the earth again

With a thumping jar that shocks the lower stories

Revealing shaking Sigs. who feel like wrung-out doyleys.

Onward thru' the mud and slush, towards the distant hills,

Ploughing the track like a paddock and providing many thrills

Till at last there comes to view the shacks of Popondetta;

True, Leaping Lena's made it-but travelling has been better.

WX371660

LUCKY ESCAPE

TRAPPED when ammunition dumps and abandoned Jap bombs on a two-mile stretch of invasion beach at Humboldt Bay caught fire and continued to explode for three days, a section of an Australian Signals unit miraculously escaped being entirely wiped out.

There were casualties in the devastation that rapidly followed the first unexpected blasts, but this group of men came through uninjured.

Going ashore on barges soon after the first American landings, they were the only Australian ground troops in the struggle for Hollandia. In a three-day trip from Finschhafen by ship they had much equipment and personal gear ruined but, despite illness and further damage to their sets by bomb fragments, they established and maintained wireless communications.

For two days before they landed, the twenty men of the group sweltered in the tropical sun on the ship. Taken off by landing craft they leaped ashore and many fell into deep holes. As they waded out through water up to their necks they lost clothing, food and some supplies. They were without shelter in drenching rain until their tents arrived four days later.

The beach was piled high with wreckage and ammunition and the stench of rotting Jap food was so nauseating that they continually retched and were unable to sleep. It was impossible to move inland for several days and they remained at the landing point, surrounded by live and smoking bombs.

On the third day, S/Sgt C. M. Robbins, formerly a New Guinea shop assistant, reached Hollandia, twenty miles away and arranged for a truck to take the unit from the beach. He set out on the return trip from Hollandia by night instead of waiting for the following morning, thus indirectly saving the lives of many men. The road was made almost impassable by rain and heavy traffic, but he travelled for several hours at walking pace before deciding to stop at midnight and sleep by the roadside until daybreak.

He arrived at the beach about nine o'clock next morning and the truck carried away as much equipment and as many men as could be loaded, leaving the remainder divided into two groups. As one section moved along the beach to join the other party, the first heavy bomb exploded where they had been camped. It had been buried under the stretcher used by Sgt H. P. Mulligan, of Albert Street, Petersham, N.S.W., for several days.

The concussion set off other bombs on the narrow strip of sand and flames soon raged along the entire shore, turning ammunition dumps into raging infernos. Many scattered enemy bombs were covered by sand and debris and it was impossible to know where they were hidden. Uncertain where to move, the men piled their few possessions on to stretchers and ran in an attempt to escape the death trap. As one Australian hurled himself to the ground, two Americans were hit by shrapnel. One was killed and the other had his shoulder blown off. Another Australian was sheltering beneath a truck when a bomb exploded in front of it. The blast almost swept him away and he was covered by swirls of sand and mud.

Most of the unit's equipment was damaged, including rifles, binoculars and wireless sets. Some men saved only the shorts they were wearing when the unnerving ordeal began.

EXPLOITS OF THE FIFTH

THE story of Signals 5 Aust. Div. ranges from the days of its origin as Northern Command Signals back in the peaceful past to its work in campaigns in northern New Guinea.

With the entry of Japan into the war in the Pacific, Northern Command Signals underwent a complete change in name and nature and was reborn as Signals 5 Aust. Div. Then came the battle of the Coral Sea and, while the action was being fought at a tempo that was proving too fast and willing for the Japanese, the division moved to Queensland to guard against the possibility of an invasion. History now records that the enemy's attempt was abortive and the men began to wonder if action would ever come.

Move to New Guinea

Any fears on that score were dispelled in January 1943 when the unit found itself at Milne Bay relieving 11 Aust. Div. With the growth of Milne Bay into a big base, communication problems strained Signals resources to the utmost. Swamp and jungle were headaches. Adaptability and improvisation were the antidotes. In the perpetual rain of the "bay", line maintenance was sheer hard-work but the linemen rose to the occasion. Wireless, too, played a big part as it was the only direct means of contact with Port Moresby. It was at Milne Bay that the unit had its first association with bulldozers which, in the course of road-making, played havoc with the lines. However, by tactful liaison and excellent co-operation from the Engineers, this "terror" was overcome.

Moresby bound

Rumors of a forward move were in the air and morale jumped only to fall again when the move was merely to Moresby. The H.Q. of 5 Aust. Div. flew over the Owen Stanleys to press on the attack on
Salamaua. It was intended that Signals would follow but lack of transport facilities kept them in Moresby for the next five months. Some of the linemen were fortunate to be attached to the Moresby Inonda carrier trunk line construction and thus gained first-hand knowledge of the difficulties of the Kokoda Trail. Another section was attached to Signals 7 Aust. Div. for duty with that division during the Ramu Valley operations.

Change of fortunes

It was not until January 1944 that the unit's luck changed and it began to function as a whole when the 5th Division relieved the 9th Division after the latter had driven the Japanese along the Huon Peninsula as far as Sio. The 8th Australian Infantry Brigade took up the chase and the brigade's Signals section laid and maintained a main artery line of ninety-six miles during the first three weeks. There were no native carriers available and vehicular tracks were non-existent, so the linemen had to haul the cable by hand. Test points were established along the coast to keep this line in operation. The fullerphone more than lived up to its reputation and at one stage was used successfully between the advanced troops and Rear Divisional H. Q. - approximately one hundred miles.

Madang and Alexishafen

When the forward troops closed the pincers on the Japanese by forming a junction with the American forces at Saidor, the unit was withdrawn for a rest and concentrated at Kelanoa. For a few weeks swimming and surfing were the order of the day. When notice of a move back to Kiligia came, rumors about an early return to Australia filled the air. As a bolt from the blue came the order to

move to Saidor. But the stay there was also short. When our troops occupied Madang and pushed on towards Alexishafen, Divisional H.Q. was established at Mililat Plantation-half-way between those two once important German settlements. The Allied Air Forces had bombed the main road between Madang and Alexishafen with such good results that it was temporarily unusable. It was also heavily mined by the retreating Japanese and consequently the main cable route had to be cut through twenty miles of jungle and swamps.

Brigade sections

The 4th Brigade Signals section served with its brigade in co-operation with the 9th Division during the Lae campaign and later in the advance from Finschhafen onwards. The 8th Brigade took over the pursuit of the retreating Japanese when it relieved the 20th Brigade (9th Division) in the Huon Peninsula. The enemy offered little resistance and the advance was one of the fastest of all the New Guinea campaigns. This was small consolation to the brigade's Signals section who struggled on with drums of cable through mud that was sometimes waist-high.

Next came the landing at Bogadjim and then followed, in conjunction with the 15th Brigade, the capture of Madang and Alexishafen. The 15th Brigade (plus Signals section) went to New Guinea in February 1943. After a short stay in Moresby, it was flown to Bulolo to assist the 17th Brigade in the campaign that ultimately resulted in the capture of Salamaua. Capt. G. A. Williams, O.C. section, received the M.B.E. during the battle of Salamaua and three other members of the section were mentioned in despatches.

WHEN the Japanese attacked Milne Bay in August 1942, control of the natives on the nearby groups of islands temporarily lapsed. When the attackers were driven back, the stabilisation of these islands was taken in hand.

The H.Q. of Milne Force, commanded by Major-General C. A. Clowes, decided to despatch a mission to Misima Island in the Louisiade Archipelago, approximately 170 miles due east of Gill Gill jetty (Milne Bay).

The object was to reestablish control over the native population oil Misima. This was not purely a military problem, but involved the interests of the Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit.

Signals Milne Force were required to supply communications for the mission. A detachment of three operators under Lieut. Quilty went with the force to establish wireless communication on the Air Warning and Coast Watching Network.

The A.N.G.A.U. party was headed by Lieut. Mader. The vessel employed was the ketch Fauro-o Chief, commanded by Sub-Lieut. Penny, R.A.N.V.R.

The station was duly established on Misima and the Fauro Chief was tied up at the jetty at Bwagaoio, on the southern shore of the island, when a Japanese submarine surfaced and fired a small-calibre shell through the wheel-house of the ketch. Sub-Lieut. Penny was injured. but Lieut. Quilty and he took the Fauro Chief out to sea. They fitted spotlights on the rather high wheel-house to simulate searchlights and their Vickers gun at the submarine which promptly submerged. When they estimated that the ketch was directly over the submarine, several hand grenades were fastened together by their rings and dropped overboard to bluff the Japanese into thinking that they were being attacked with depth charges. Nothing more was seen of the submarine and the craft returned to Gill Gill.

The wireless station left behind later reported the death of Lieut. Mader at the hands of hostile natives on a nearby island while trying to restore order.

GEORGE ON THE SPOT

WHETHER "George" was a white parrot or a cockatoo, no one was ever able to decide. George himself was silent on the subject although very voluble on most other Matters. "Spotter George" was a mascot of the New Guinea Air Warning Wireless Company. When he first marched in, George attached himself to the cipher section at Coy. H.Q. After a too enthusiastic effort to digest the contents of a code book, he was forcibly ejected from the section by the clerk who had the unenviable task of reassembling the torn pages.

Changing to the NV T operating section, it was not long before George was taking charge of a "watch''. A strict disciplinarian, George was insistent on punctuality at the mess parades. When the whistle blew for the operators' mess, he would fly to the door of the control room till the men came out and lined up. Criticizing the parade, with a sergeant-major's eye from the cookhouse roof until they moved off.

He would then fall in line and go through to his meal perched on somebody's shoulder.

On one occasion, during a slack moment in the Spotter Control room, one of the operators wrote out a flash: "Two unidentified hawks flying south. Height 500 feet" and handed it to the runner with the instruction, "Give this to George." It was the runner's first day on duty, and, having no idea who George was and thinking that "hawks" was a code word for some type of enemy aircraft, he phoned the flash through to 5th U.S. Air Force before someone put him wise.

On the boat trip from Moresby to Lae, George was as seasick as the next man, but soon recovered and was given the run of the rigging. Shortly after his arrival at Nadzab, George disappeared and it is strongly suspected that he was an unwilling guest at a mess parade of some of the local natives. However, if he proved as tough as his character full revenge for his death was exacted.

THE SIXTH IN THE JUNGLE

The Sixth Division was the first of the A.I.F. Middle East divisions to know the rigors of the jungle. This knowledge was acquired, not in New Guinea, but on the rain-sodden shores of Ceylon. When Signals 6 Aust. Div. sailed with the 16th and 17th Brigades from the Middle East on the 12th of March 1942, the general guess was Australia but the real destination was unknown. Popular opinion was proved wrong when the troops disembarked at Colombo on the 25th of March.

Defence of Ceylon

The two Australian brigades were deployed south of Colombo, the 16th Brigade taking up defensive
positions in the Horana area and the 17th at Galle and Akuressa. About a week later the 2/1st
Anti-tank Regiment arrived. The reorganised division's H.Q. was established at Matugama. The unloading of equipment at Colombo was very slow and at the time of the big Japanese air raid on the
port, very little Australian equipment had been landed from the ships. Installation of communications was consequently hampered by this lack of equipment. The only roads to division and brigades followed the coastline and were therefore unsuitable. After careful reconnaissance on native push
bikes, a route for cable was found well inland.

Long cable lines

On the arrival of "B" Section's equipment, the brigades were tied in with D.VII1 single, involving the construction of eighteen miles to the 16th Brigade and seventy-two miles to the 17th Brigade. The 2/1st Battalion at Kalutara was also tied in direct to division as it had the important role of defending the aerodrome. While awaiting further supplies of cable B. Section was fully employed in constructing a crossing of 40-lb. copper over Kalaganga River, which was over a hundred yards wide and running very swiftly. Training was continuous and the Australians participated in exercises with the Indian Division which was garrisoning the north of the island. Early in July the A.I.F. men in Ceylon were relieved. They departed for Australia and after arrival in August started on fourteen days' hard earned leave.

Sanananda, Wau, Salamaua

Reinforced, the unit was now ready to tackle the Japanese in New Guinea. The 16th Brigade Group, includ ing the 2/1 st Australian Field Regiment, sailed, followed a few weeks later by the 17th
Brigade. By the 2nd of November, the last of the division's Signals unit had left. At this stage the 16th Brigade, under the temporary command of 7 Aust. Div., was beyond Kokoda and the 17th Brigade was
in the Milne Bay area. In the middle of December the whole of "B" Section and half of "D" Section were sent to Sanananda to bolster up the depleted ranks of Signals 7 Aust. Div. which was short of personnel through injuries and disease. On the 14th of January, the 17th Brigade was switched
from Milne Bay to Moresby and advance detachments were sent to Wau. Early in February, after the strenuous campaigning of the Kokoda Trail, Signals 6 Aust. Div. were relieved by Signals 11 Aust. Div. and returned to Australia.

The 17th Brigade was left behind to save Wau, participate in the Battle of the Ridges and finish a brilliant campaign with the overthrow of the Japanese at Salamaua. It was not until late in September that this fine fighting force returned to Australia. Throughout the New Guinea fighting, Signals 6 Aust. Div. had added further laurels to their crown of successes. Nine members of the unit were mentioned in despatches and praise from quarters both official and unofficial was unqualified.