Sturt and Wills PTO (id:#57935)

Heat of Battle (Tropic Thunder! ID: TT 1)   [next]   [previous]

Tarakan, east of Borneo, the Netherlands East Indies 1945-05-02 (5 others)

Overview:

In late April 1945 an invasion fleet escorted by the cruiser HMAS Hobart and the destroyers HMAS Barcoo, Burdekin, Hawkesbury, Lachlan and Warramunga arrived off the south-western coast of Tarakan. Supported by heavy naval bombardment, on 30 April engineers destroyed the tangle of defences blocking a landing at Tarakan Island. Preceded by another naval bombardment and with heavy air cover, the 23rd and 48th Battalions went ashore against only light opposition the following day. Within an hour of landing 2/48th Battalion struck some slight opposition on the feature immediately north-east of Lingkas tank farm, but continued to advance and secured its portion of the covering position later in the day. Stiff resistance held up 2/23rd Battalion on a ridge north-west of Milko, which was captured the next day. This enabled the Battalion to advance northward and eastward, one company overcoming Japanese resistance in the King's Goss area. By nightfall on the second day, apart from isolated pockets, the only part of the covering position not held was Hospital Ridge, where the Japanese were strongly entrenched in bunkers and tunnels. This hold-up seriously affected the development of the beach maintenance area, as the road to the north of the contested feature was needed to complete a traffic circuit. The same day 2/48th Battalion occupied Lyons. Against some opposition 2/24th Battalion advanced rapidly to capture two hills nicknamed Sturt and Wills . .

Defender: Japanese (Elements of 455th Battalion and 2nd Naval Garrison)  

Errata (source)