Pacifica Military History Free Sample Chapters.pmd

Free Sample Chapters 369
to begin loading supplies. While the supplies were being brought ashore,
the Conway, which was standing well out to sea, was sighted and attacked
by a lone Japanese airplane. The destroyer’s captain did not want to
draw the fully warranted attention of larger Japanese forces, so he
withheld his fire as two bombs landed near his ship. An Allied nightfighter
pilot, who was over the flotilla in order to forestall such an attack,
drew considerable criticism for not having been low enough to intercepy
the enemy plane.
At about 0200, as the ’Chutes were getting their gear safely off the
beach, the entire convoy stood out to sea and made for Vella Lavella.
Four LCP(R) landing craft and their crews were left with the ‘Chutes.
These craft were dispersed under cover along the shore near Zinoa Island.
C. W. Seton, who had wandered into the forest as soon as he had
landed, returned to the beach with a large group of islanders, who
immediately got to work helping the Marines get their supplies off the
beach. All the gear was safely hidden in the bush when a group of
Japanese planes arrived at dawn to bomb the recently vacated beach.
During October 28, the ’Chutes set up a base of operations about a
mile inland from the beach, on a high plateau northwest of Voza. Outposts
were established and wire communications were installed. The base of
operations was hidden by the rain forest and on defensible terrain.
While the base was being put together, a second flight of Japanese
aircraft bombed and strafed the landing beach. The islanders had virtually
obliterated all traces of use at the beach after everything had been safely
dispersed and camouflaged inland. In fact, they fashioned a dummy
beachhead several miles north of Voza to give the Japanese something
to attack and think about.
The 2d Parachute Battalion got down to business on October 29.
The day before, Seton’s scouts had informed Krulak that there was a
barge-staging base eight miles south of the Marine base, at Sangigai,
and an outpost seventeen miles to the north, on the Warrior River. Thus,
on the morning of October 29, Krulak dispatched combat patrols in both
directions to locate trails, pinpoint the Japanese positions, and become
familiar with the area. Krulak accompanied the patrol to Sangigai. As it
neared the Vagara River, about halfway to Sangigai, the patrol split.