The Guns of MuschuDuring the night of April 11, 1945, eight Australian Z Special commandos landed on Japanese-held Muschu Island, off the coast of New Guinea. Their mission was to reconnoiter the island's defenses and confirm the location of two concealed naval guns that commanded the approaches to Wewak Harbour. But the secret mission went horribly wrong. Unknown to them, their presence had been discovered within hours of their landing. With no means of escape, the island became a killing ground. Nine days later, on the New Guinea mainland, the only survivor staggered back through the Japanese lines to safety. This is the remarkable true story of that survivor. |
Contents
| 1 | |
| 11 | |
| 21 | |
| 26 | |
SIXTH DIVISION HQ AITAPE 6 MARCH 1945 | 30 |
1ST AUSTRALIAN ARMY HQ LAE PNG 9 MARCH 1945 | 34 |
1ST AUSTRALIAN ARMY HQ LAE 13 MARCH 1945 | 38 |
Z SPECIAL UNIT AITAPE 27 MARCH 1945 | 44 |
SIXTH DIVISION HQ AITAPE 15 APRIL 1600 HOURS | 138 |
MUSCHU ISLAND 16 APRIL 0500 HOURS | 142 |
SIXTH DIVISION HQ AITAPE 16 APRIL 1600 HOURS | 151 |
MUSCHU ISLAND 17 APRIL 0500 HOURS | 155 |
OFF MUSCHU ISLAND 17 APRIL 1900 HOURS | 159 |
OFF MUSCHU ISLAND 17 APRIL 1900 HOURS | 162 |
SYDNEY 17 APRIL 2400 HOURS | 164 |
OFF MUSCHU ISLAND 18 APRIL 0500 HOURS | 168 |
SRD BRIEFING ROOM AITAPE 8 APRIL 1945 | 51 |
AITAPE HARBOUR 11 APRIL 1945 | 58 |
MUSCHU ISLAND 12 APRIL 0600 HOURS | 65 |
MUSCHU ISLAND 12 APRIL 0630 HOURS | 69 |
MUSCHU BAY 12 APRIL 0800 HOURS | 76 |
MUSCHU ISLAND 12 APRIL 0900 HOURS | 81 |
MUSCHU ISLAND 12 APRIL 0915 HOURS | 85 |
MUSCHU ISLAND 12 APRIL 1100 HOURS | 90 |
MUSCHU ISLAND 12 APRIL 1300 HOURS | 95 |
MUSCHU ISLAND 12 APRIL 1500 HOURS | 101 |
EAST OF MUSCHU ISLAND 12 APRIL 1800 HOURS | 105 |
SIXTH DIVISION HQ AITAPE 13 APRIL 0700 HOURS | 111 |
GAPE SAUM 13 APRIL 1800 HOURS | 118 |
MUSCHU ISLAND 14 APRIL 0600 HOURS | 123 |
SIXTH DIVISION HQ AITAPE 14 APRIL 1600 HOURS | 128 |
MUSCHU ISLAND 15 APRIL 0500 HOURS | 132 |
ALLIED INTELLIGENCE BUREAU BRISBANE 18 APRIL 0730 HOURS | 175 |
PNG MAINLAND 18 APRIL 1100 HOURS | 179 |
TADJI AIRFIELD 18 APRIL 1530 HOURS | 184 |
PNG MAINLAND 18 APRIL 1600 HOURS | 190 |
MUSCHU ISLAND 18 APRIL 2000 HOURS | 194 |
PNG MAINLAND 19 APRIL 0600 HOURS | 200 |
SIXTH DIVISION HQ AITAPE 19 APRIL 1300 HOURS | 211 |
PNG MAINLAND 19 APRIL 1400 HOURS | 215 |
SIXTH DIVISION HQ AITAPE 20 APRIL 0700 HOURS | 220 |
PNG MAINLAND 20 APRIL 0800 HOURS | 223 |
SIXTH DIVISION HQ AITAPE 20 APRIL 1600 HOURS | 227 |
EPILOGUE | 229 |
APPENDIX | 239 |
AUTHORS NOTE | 249 |
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS | 253 |
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Common terms and phrases
12 APRIL 20 metres ahead aircraft Aitape Allied Intelligence Bureau ambush Army Australian commandos beach Beaufort boat bomb Buzuki Cape Barabar Cape Saum Cape Warbu Capt Cardew Chandler checked climbed coast command cover crew defences eastern end enemy equipment fire foldboats Force further grass Gubbay Guinea Guinea campaign Hagger HDML head headquarters heard hill Japanese soldier jungle Kairiru kayaks kilometres knew landing lay-up Lieutenant Barnes Lieutenant Palmer listening looked machine guns magazine mainland McKay metres Mick Dennis minutes mission moved MUSCHU ISLAND night officer Operation Copper Owen gun paddle patrol paused personnel position quickly Rabaul radio intercept realised reconnaissance reef remained rendezvous Services Reconnaissance Department shot sighted signal SIXTH DIVISION HQ slowly staff Sten suddenly Tadji Temura Tomei track tree undergrowth unit waited Walklate Watanabe watched wave weapon Welrod Wewak who'd Z SPECIAL UNIT
Popular passages
Page 82 - I'd change it to three thousand. I'd ask my brother to pay up first. As we'd arranged, he would refuse, so I'd grab him by the scruff of the neck and the seat of his pants and chuck him in the river, splash!
Page 67 - He felt the hairs on the back of his neck begin to tingle.
Page 88 - Eager to put as much distance as possible between themselves and the...
Page 167 - They of course had no idea where he was or what he was doing: all they knew was that he was somewhere in New Guinea and that he was in great danger.
Page 190 - It looked as if it hadn't been used for some time, but he remained still, carefully checking out the surrounding area.