South Pacific Fire Support
In the hot, humid south Pacific the dark green islands of the Solomons chain stretch in an intermittent line from San Cristobal, southeast of Guadalcanal, for more than 200 miles north and west to Bougainville and Buka.
The sea channel that flows to the north from the southernmost Solomon isles is smooth as glass. It is deep, always appears clear and reflects the intense blue of the sky. The waterway is also known as "The Slot".
Countless men of the US Navy, Marine Corps, and Army will never forget that period in WW2 when troops landed on Guadalcanal and worked their way horth bleeding, dying, and successfully hopping from one island to another...New Georgia, Vella LaVella, Choiseul. Those successes came because ships, planes, and ground troops cooperated with a flexibility not known to the enemy. Whatever ground troops needed, they got.
In September, 1943, it was time to take the island of Bougainville, the last remaining point of major resistance held by the Japanese. The tiny island of Buka, just to the north, was never a threat.
The Destroyer "G" (Grayson DD435) joined others at Florida Island (a naval base newly-established across the channel from Guadalcanal). Destroyer squadrons were now to use the Slot as an almost exclusive river to that final Solomans invasion. Fleet actions had been eliminated as the Japanese unsuccessfully attempted to throw Allied troops off each new conquest.
The "G" and three other destroyers were one of a trio of four-ship divisions which ran up the slot each night to harass Jap troops on the east shore of Bougainville. The plan was simple: Wait until dark, then blast everything on the beach with five-inch shells from a total of sixteen guns. At times the bombardment began early. At other times none of the ships fired a shot until after midnight. The Japanese never knew when it would come, and the anxiety factor had to have been terrible.
Someone then got another masterful idea and the ships took a different tack. The new plan was simple, too. Three ships would blast the beaches as usual, but the forth would lay back and wait. When the three finished, the fourth would wait an unspecified amount of time, anywhere from one to three hours or so, then begin blasting again. Now the Japanese were forced to retreat from the beaches into the black, fetid interior jungle most of the night. They got little rest and Japanese mental depression had to be devastating.
In the weeks this nightly action took place not one cannon was fired back at the ships. The operation was totally one-sided because of the range of our destroyers' five-inch.
Since we came to expect no hostile encounters, even in this area still considered high risk, jobs became habit. Some routine work actually became boring. It was true on the "G" and on every other ship in the division. The same was not true for the enemy.
Japanese on Bougainville knew they were next in line to face experienced, eager Allied troops. From previous actions in the Solomons they also knew they were going to lose.
Reconnaissance reports now indicated the enemy had lined up a large number of barges just north of their present encampment, hit so hard for so long. Thei rnext move, obviously, was a life-saving pullout before any Allied invasion. Their only target, in barges, had to be the small island of Buka.
We gave them three full nights. U.S. destroyers backed off to allow them time to get ready. Either the Japanese never realized they were being watched or they knew they had better make a move regardless of consequences.
On the night of the third "free period," the "G's" section, because the missed nights made it our turn, slipped into the area where the barges had to cross between the two islands.
"G" was second in the line of two ships, and her radar screen began to fill up with little blips as the Japs moved through the channel. In the darkness we closed slowly and silenty.
At 0240, under star shells, the division opened fire with sixteen five-inch guns and many 40 millimeters, and ceased firing only when there were no more clear blips on the radar screen. It was grandiose, unopposed target practice.
By dawn's early light we saw what we had done. We cruised gently into the action area and encountered, mingled with shredded pieces of wooden barges, th ebodies of light brown people in light brown uniforms...many, in every direction you looked. They were torn and broken. Some floated face down and some face up...some with open eyes looking back at us.
One would think after all these years the details of suh an encounter would become blurry or forgotten. But once in awhile my mind hurts gain when those dead people stare at me with dull, lifeless eyes.
The horrible devestation wrought on the barges and their human cargo did not forestall heavy fighting when Marines landed on Bougainville. But, perhaps, the "G" and her sister destroyers helped the casue and saved many lives on the island itself.
--John MacLeod S1/c 6/43-7/45
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Information was provided by Dave Craigmile, ENS USS Grayson. Copyright 2000, USS Grayson Association and Richard Angelini.
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