"Testing! Testing! ... One! ... One! Two! ... Testing!"OK, we seem to be up-&-running!
Right, this is huge. Let's see what happens.
LCM(3) A42;The forty-second Australian manufactured LCM(3) of the first production run, she was built at the Port Pirie Boat Yards in South Australia in early 1942.
Her first posting was aboard the LSA (Landing Ship Assault) HMAAT (His Majesty’s Australian Auxiliary Transport)
Austral Hakea (AH) from which she engaged in landings at Milne Bay, Goodenough Island, & in support of the Buna-Gona, & Salamaua-Lae campaigns.
A42 then underwent a short overhaul in Brisbane before being posted to HMAAT
Austral Orchid (AO) from which she took part in several landings in support of the New Georgia & Bougainville campaigns. Her final action in this region was transporting New Zealand troops ashore in the opening actions of the Battle of the Treasury Islands.
After this landing
Austral Orchid was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine but managed to stay afloat. However, she was required to sail to Sydney to receive major repairs & here A42 was again offloaded for an overhaul.
She returned to duty aboard HMAAT
Southern Ibis (SI) but, this time, she headed NNW into the Pacific, where things were quiet until June 1944, when she took Royal Australian Marines (her usual role) ashore on Saipan. This was followed by a burst of activity landing RAMs on Tinian & Peleliu.
Southern Ibis, & A42 were then rushed across to the South Western pacific region, again, for the landings on Mindanao, Leyte & the early phases of the Philippines campaign. After which she landed troops at Tarakan & Balikpapan, with the “Sandakan Dash”
* occurring between the two in early May.
A42 was damaged during the landings at Tarakan & by the time she had finished landing troops at Balikpapan was struggling. So, after being roughly repaired, spent several months plying stores from ship-to-shore or along the coast from the main stores’ depot to front-line depots during the Borneo Campaign.
However, in October 1945, the first attempt at Operation Downfall was defeated by a series of late typhoons that swept through the North Pacific, dispersing the amassing fleets, damaging many ships & washing supplies overboard.
This led to a reschedule for the 10th of February, 1946, as the new X-Day for Operation
Olympic Majestic, & to A42 returning to frontline duty.
Picked up from Tarakan by HMAAT
Austral Eucalypt (AE), which had lost almost all its LCMs during one of the typhoons, she was hastily refurbished, with most attention given to replacing her worn out .50 cal machine guns, stripping & re-building her engines (as there had been no proper maintenance facilities along the Borneo coast & the crew had had to “make-&-mend” with whatever could be found), & making sure she had a decent set of identifying markings.
Austral Eucalypt, her compliment of 4Bde Royal Australian Marines Armoured Corps & A42 were assigned to the V Corps (SW landings) reserves, along with the battle-hardened 2Div RAMR & the 2Div USMC.
The US Army forces of V Corps, after a successful landing the west coast of southern Kyushu, were stopped in their tracks, by unexpectedly fierce opposition along the Gotanda River valley & by flank attacks from the mountains south of the Mount Kanmuri area. Although their eastwards assaults were going well, there was sufficient resistance that General Eisenberg (commanding) was unable to reassign troops to bolster the northward thrust. He, therefore, directed his reserve forces to attack the Japanese north of the Gotanda River. In effect General Eisenberg's orders meant that the Marines had to land north of the Sendai River, about 9 miles up from the Gotanda.
Rear Admiral John Collins RAN was in overall command of the ships of the reserve fleet &, with his 2IC, Commodore Roy Dowling RAN, & the commanding officers of the US & Australian Marines units planned “Operation Crystal Palace” (because it was so fragile a strong breeze could see it come crashing down).
The plan called for the 2nd US Marines Div to land between a place called Nishikata, to the north, & the mouth of the Sendai River, to the south, & to push inland along the north side of the river. Meanwhile the 2nd RAM Div would land about 6 miles further up the coast, at a place called Akune as a blocking force, to disrupt any attempts by the Japanese to reinforce the units engaged by the US Marines. There would be no preliminary bombardment but the fleet would provide supporting fire as best they could & there would be limited air support
The landings occurred at first light on the 14th of February 1946, in what became known as the Second St Valentine’s Day Massacre because, despite its unexpected success – largely due to the insane courage displayed by both Australian & US Marines, the cost in lives was devastating.
A42 was, on that day, the oldest surviving Australian LCM in active service, the other two having gone down with HMAAT
Southern Brolga in Shibushi Bay on X-plus-1, when she was struck by two Kamikaze aircraft in quick succession.
She would not last much longer, however, her crew sacrificing her & themselves when they found themselves in a position where they were able to block a kamikaze speedboat targeting
Austral Eucalypt off the beaches of Sagami Bay.
The images show A42(AE) landing a Mk.VII* Churchill tank of 4Bn RAMAC on Wakimoto Beach, Akune, Kagoshima Prefecture, Kyushu, Japan on 14th February 1946.
**[
*: The "
Sandakan Dash" was an "unauthorised" action undertaken by elements of the Australian Army's 7Div 2AIF & 1Div RAMR. Whilst certain senior commanders "looked the other way" two scratch battalions of soldiers & marines, plus a few companies of specialist units, were pulled together & rushed to Sandakan near the northern tip of Borneo. Their sole aim was to rescue as many of the POWs, that special operations units had observed there, as possible. The resulting battle was short & vicious, costing the lives of over 100 Army & Marines personnel & 300 wounded, but saved the lives of a few short of 800 British & Australian POWs. The tales told by those men, & the sights witnessed by the troops who took the camp, led to a hardening of resolve & attitude amongst all arms of the Australian military.]
[
**: Yes, I know there's no tank in the pictures, but there will be! OK?]
LCM(3) Number A42(AE) on X-plus-4, Operation Olympic Majestic, Phase 1 of Operation Downfall.
Alright, here are a couple of shots with a Sherman to give you the idea.
(
Note: In case you're wondering about the Olympic/Majestic name change, during my research for this I discovered that the name Olympic was dropped & replaced with Majestic after the Olympic code name was compromised by an open, uncoded, transmission, the context of which identified its meaning.)
