[SAMWolf]

The Marines landed on Bougainville in 1943. After the landing sites were bombed and shelled, the dog platoon was sent ashore just one hour after the first Marines hit the beach, under heavy mortar and rifle fire. The Devildogs were met with mixed reactions by the fighting Marines. There was one thing that quickly changed the Marines' view of the dogs to a very positive one. In landing and fighting on islands quite often the Marines were stopped for a time on the beaches. It was a common tactic for the Japanese to infiltrate the beach positions at night and attempt to kill the Marines. To prevent this the Marines were always on the alert at night. One night a Marine battalion fired 3,800 rounds, killing a water buffalo and wounding one of their own Marines. No enemy were known to be in the area. The next night the Devildogs were called in. It was a quiet night and the Marines got some sleep. The Dobes keen sense of smell and hearing could detect the presence of men several hundred yards away. In one instance, the dogs detected the presence of troops one half mile away. The Dobes' handlers always had help digging foxholes, the other Marines always wanted the handler and their dogs nearby. No unit protected by one of the dogs was ever ambushed by the Japanese or was there ever a case of Japanese infiltration.



The Bougainville Campaign was controversial, particularly with the troops. It was seen as a 'political' campaign that was not any benefit to the objective of defeating Japan. Just a clean up operation. The 42nd Battalion History reads; "In the first place the campaign was futile and unnecessary. At Salamaua the men went for the Jap because every inch of ground won meant so much less distance to Tokyo. But what did an inch or a mile mean on Bougainville? Nothing ! Whether Bougainville could be taken in a week or a year would make no difference to the war in general. Every man knew this. The Bougainville campaign was a politicians war and served no better purpose than to keep men in the fight....Every risk taken on Bougainville was one that could not be avoided; every life was begrudged. Men fought because there was no alternative. None wanted to lose his life on Bougainville....but despite all this the men did fight and fought well".

[SAMWolf]

[snippy_about_it]

Private Frank John Partridge
Australian Corps


Link to Victoria Cross citation

Excerpt;

On 24th July 1945 two fighting patrols, 8th Australian Infantry Battalion, were given the task of eliminating an enemy outpost in Bougainville which denied any forward movement by our troops. The preliminary artillery concentration caused the enemy bunkers to be screened by a litter of felled banana plants, and from these well concealed positions to their front and left the patrols came under extremely fierce machine-gun, grenade and rifle fire. The forward section at once suffered casualties and was pinned down together with two other sections. Private Partridge was a rifleman in a section which, in carrying out an encircling movement immediately came under heavy medium machine-gun fire. He was hit twice in the left arm and again in the left thigh, while the Bren gunner was killed and two others seriously wounded, leaving only the section leader unwounded, but another soldier began to move up from another position. Private Partridge quickly appreciated the extreme gravity of the situation and decided that the only possible solution was personal action by himself.

Despite wounds and with complete disregard to his own safety, Private Partridge rushed forward under a terrific burst of enemy fire and retrieved the Bren gun from alongside the dead gunner, when he challenged the enemy to come out and fight. He handed the Bren gun to the newly arrived man to provide covering fire while he rushed this bunker, into which he threw a grenade and silenced the medium machine-gun. Under cover of the grenade burst, he dived into the bunker and, in a fierce hand to hand fight, he killed the only living occupant with his knife. Private Partridge then cleared the enemy dead from the entrance to the bunker and attacked another bunker in the rear; but weakness from loss of blood compelled him to halt, when he shouted to his section commander that he was unable to continue.

With the way clear by the silencing of the enemy medium machine-gun by Private Partridge, the platoon moved forward and established a defensive perimeter in the vicinity of the spot where Private Partridge lay wounded. Heavy enemy medium machine-gun and rifle fire both direct and enfilade from other bunkers soon created an untenable situation for the Platoon, which withdrew under its own covering fire. Despite his wounds and weakness due to loss of blood Private Partridge joined in this fight and remained in action until the Platoon had withdrawn after recovering their casualties.