Dodging Nips Behind Bogia

Grim Days In the Mountains In 1943

By Dan Power - Section II

1 BECAME QIC of the area, then, and my staff consisted of two 2/6 Ind. Co. fellows, three signallers, and two police boys (Consts. Nassawan and Tiam) and seven other natives (Biaka, Matiti, Sioni, Ramiki, Damisili, Aramu and Gallimu). I had the three camps (Apanam, Karment and Kummera) to look after.

Kummera is in the Schraeder Ranges.

It was an abandoned camp of AIB, and I had the wireless set and signallers there.

I knew the Nips were getting closer to me daily. The local natives were notify ing me at all times that the Nips were here, there and everywhere. I had to go out and patrol the areas mentioned to find out whether the rumours were true or false.

The local natives were out to made trouble. They knew that I did not have the required staff to look after three camps. They were trying to make everybody panic, and leave a camp un guarded so they could steal and destroy.

The natives did manage to practically destroy Karment one day. The camp was being guarded by one of the signallers, as well as natives Biaka, Matiti, Sioni, Ramiki and Damisili. Local natives rushed to the camp and informed the signaller that the Nips had arrived at Apanam, killed me and were then on their way to Karment.

The mutton-headed signaller grabbed his rifle and made for the bush, first ordering two of the natives to bring a cartridge case of money with them. The other three natives knew what they were doing. They grabbed their rifles and walked along the track to Kummera, to see if the rumour were true or false.

When they found out that it was false they returned to Karment, and they had to find this useless individual in the bush and tell him that there were' no Nips about.

Needless to say, while stores base at Karment was left unguarded, the local natives just stole and destroyed practic ally the lot. That was the reason they said that there were Nips about.

It was at that time that a bomb was dropped near Apanam camp and wounded a couple of village natives. I had what was left at Karment camp moved to Kummera camp, and then myself and party only had Apanam and Kummera to look after We had to be on the alert at all times because of the local natives; all of us had to do our turn at sentrv duty every night. The local natives had forT toith” n 6ye fOT “ eye ’ a tooth One time, an American aircraft flew oyer the Schraeder ranges. The gunner cleaned his guns out, and some of the bullets landed in a native village. The natives maintained that they were at tacked by a white man, so they would attack a white man. I managed to get on to them in time and tell them that the aircraft belonged to the Nips.

Another time, a white man passing through my camps shot a pig belonging to a village native. The next thing I knew was that one of my houses at Apanam had some fire arrows in it, and very little in the way of goods were saved.

I had to leave half the natives at Kummera with the two signallers and half at Apanam with the other three men at all times.

I did patrols myself and had to make do with one boy on each patrol. The last long patrol I did was in July, 1943, when I walked right through to near Tangum (about 22 miles from Bogia beach). I certainly did not stay around there for too long, as the Nips knew that I was about.

It was on that patrol that the Nips sent me a note per medium of village natives to come and give myself up, or I would be shot as a spy. The reply that I sent back cannot be put in print. I did that patrol with only one boy, and I managed alright.

The local natives were too consistent with reports that there were Nips in the vicinity, and I was kept busy finding out if the reports were true or not. The two 2/6 Ind. Co. fellows certainly did a good job of work assisting me.

It was not long before natives and my self were just about exhausted.

On August 7, 1943, I was at Apanam with the two 2/6 Ind. Co. fellows, one signaller, Const. Tiam and natives Sioni, Damisili and Ramiki. There were quite a number of local natives in the camp also.

Late in the afternoon I received a re port from local natives that there were Nips in the vicinity. This time, they were walking from Madang and heading for Atemble. (Atembje was five hours’ walk from Apanam). 1 REALISED that if this report were true, I could expect a visit from the Nips in about two days. I intended to go to Atemble myself the following morn ing and find out if there was anything doing this time.

It was at 0800 hours, the following morn ing, that I found out that the report was true, alright, and I had miscalculated a little as to when they would arrive. They had already arrived and had the Apanam camp surrounded.

We were fortunate that the camp was on the bank of the Asai River and that was our means of escape.

The three whites, and natives Sioni and Ramiki managed to escape quick and lively. I was delayed in escaping and lost a lot of skin and my glasses in do ing so. My rifle and revolver also got lost in the river.

After being washed down the river I landed on the opposite bank, and wandered around in the bush dodging Nips for the remainder of the day. I slept in the bush that night, near to Apanam camp, and it certainly did rain a great deal.

It was Sunday morning when I was sur prise-attacked, and it was on Tuesday afternoon that I arrived at Kummera.

The camp was deserted, and practically everything destroyed or looted by local natives. I had not seen such a mess in all my life. I wondered where everybody was.

Shortly after I arrived, a couple of local natives came and told me that four white men and seven natives had left the day before to walk further inland. The fifth white man had passed through Kummera just about an hour or so before I did, had found out that 'the others had gone on and had followed. I could not find out too much as to what had happened, as the local natives could not talk “Pidgin.”

I WAS in rather a bad way, very sick and sore, nearly blind, had no fire arms, had no communication with the outside world, and I decided that the best thing I could do was to follow the others.

Then I heard a shout, and five of my natives (Const. Nassawan, Biaka, Matiti, Ramiki and Gallimu) turned up, and it was good to see them.

Their story was as follows; Sunday, at 0800 hours, Apanam camp was attacked.

The three whites, and natives Sioni and Ramiki, had escaped and had met on the Apanam-Kummera track. The two natives were sent on ahead to Kummera to notify the signallers of what had happened.

They arrived at Kummera that same night, and I have yet to find out just how they did it in that time. As soon as they arrived at Kummera, the signaller sent a wireless message to headquarters, Bena Bena.

On Monday, at about 0800 hours, two of the whites arrived at Kummera; the third one (Pte. Curran Smith, of 2/6 Ind.

Co.) had been left on the road to follow on later. It appears that he removed his boots so as the Nips would not follow boot prints, and had jiggered up his feet.

As soon as these men arrived, a message was sent over the air to headquarters, Bena Bena. A reply was received shortly afterwards and, after it was decoded, the four whites told the natives that as there were Nips about they had to evacuate and make for Chimbu.

The fellows must have been in a panic because they would not even wait for lunch, which was already cooked. They very hurriedly packed up a few articles and evacuated the camp, and camped for the night several miles away. It was during the night that the local natives could be heard talking in the mountains and the four whites thought that they were Nips. My natives knew that tney were not Nips.

Anyhow, during the night the whites disarmed most of my natives, picked up their packs and ran away, leaving the natives to make their own arrangements.

THE natives were in rather a bad way; they were in hostile territory, had Nips behind them, and they had very little in the way of firearms. They de cided to make their way back to the Ramu River, try and cross it and get in with some friendly natives. They wanted to avoid all tracks, so as to dodge any Nips that were about. Tuesday after noon they found themselves near Kum mera camp, so they sent Const. Nassawan

up to see if there were any Nips about and, if the place was clear, to get some thing to eat. He came up about an hour after I had arrived. I think that they maintained that I looked better than a Nip at that time.

Of the seven who had been together, two were missing (Sioni and Aramu).

That made four boys missing, two at Apanam and two in the mountains.

The natives could not tell what was the message that headquarters sent back, but it was just after it was decoded that the walk to Chimbu started. The natives did not see anything of Pte. Curran Smith, seeing that they had avoided all tracks.

ICAME to the conclusion that the party had been ordered to go to Chimbu and all I could do was to follow on. I was sorry about having four boys missing.

We set off the following morning, each one carrying as much foodstuffs as he could. I managed to get some of the local natives to carry a patrol box of rations.

During the afternoon we arrived at the site where the four whites had so hurriedly departed and left the natives.

I decided to make camp for the night and that all natives and myself should eat as much of the rations as we could out of the patrol box. The natives who had carried it had gone back to their villages and I knew that. we could not get any more to carry the following day.

I knew that there was a place called Chimbu somewhere in the highlands, about a fortnight’s walk away. I had no idea where it was, but I was in hopes of eventually finding it. We were not very well equipped for the journey. The natives had one or two spare lap laps; about two had a shirt each; all I had on was an old pre-war shirt, a pair of shorts, a pair of

pre-war shoes and a cap that belonged to a police boy. We had no blankets or anything in that line. Everything like that was among the loot that disappeared at Kummera.

It was while we were eating as much as we could, bully beef and sausages fried ud in the nan nlentv of armv biscuits tinned fruit etc that we heard some

vSsls in thp vlcinitv

vicinity.

IT proved to be Pte. Curran Smith, being escorted by two local natives. He had got lost in the mountains, and was making his way back to the Ramu and trustmg to luck that he could get in with some friendly natives who would look after him. He was hungry, and was going to bed down in the bush for the night, when the two natives found him and let him know by signs that I was still alive and was close by.

He was in a very bad way. He was dressed in a singlet, a pair of trousers, a handkerchief tied round his head, no boots, no skin on the soles of his feet.

He also had a poisoned hand and fever.

He was also very hungry; and we were able to attend to that part satisfactorily for him, I managed to find him a pair of boots and I gave him my socks.

The following day we started off into the unknown and it was during that day that Sioni caught us up. He had found natives who had told him that I was alive, so he followed our tracks and caught us up.

FOR the next eight days we just kept on and on, up and down mountains — plenty of rain and leeches, and cold as charity. Pte. Curran Smith nearly died a couple of times on the way over.

At the end of that time we arrived at Nangham, and were met by the ANGAU lieutenant and a couple of signallers who had only arrived from Mount Hagen that day. stayed a couple of days at Nangham al ? d m< ?y ed on to Chimbu and Bena Bena.

Along the road we began to collapse from exposure, one after the other, and had t 0 be carried by local natives. we were , n a dlfferent part Qf New Guinea, the natives were different and the roads were somewhat level.

It was on arrival at Chimbu that I met the four whites from Kummera, and It was then that I found out that instead of being ordered to evacuate Kummera they had deserted and deliberately left Pte. Curran Smith to his fate, and on arrival at Chimbu they had reported him killed. They also stated that I had been killed and that ah natives had deserted hafPbeen killed but RJfL tne otner two tales 1 y aw vf laise was a shock to them all when we turned up at Chimbu alive. on arrival at Bena Bena there was an inquiry into the desertion, and the culprits were sent to Port Moresby. pte Curran Smith was at once flown to Australia to a hospital.

T FULLY expected to get the opportunity J[ of recuperating and also getting my eye attended to and then sent back to carry on with the job. As is usual in a headquarters, there are generally men there who have not been out in the field and do not know what is going on, but they think they do and they make things uncomfortable for men that do do a job of work.

The same happened in this case I was given no opportunity to recuperate and I had to eventually have my eyes at tended to privately, and pay out of my own pocket. The Army just ignored me and my eye.

M°re it was the hardest thing in the world to get an issue of clothing, blanket, mosquio net or anything; it was not believed that I had been with ANGAU for eighteen a f V 8 ? 68 !'?!

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t received no Armv ration c TnotoadSf be ing sent back to my arXwhe?e I coufd have done a job of work, I was sent back t 0 supervise a line of sli useless Papuan natives cutting grass -j|/r Y natives whom I left in Bena Bena.

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thelr bard , w °rk and faithful service, they were forced to sign on with ANGAU, and were sent to work immediately and were given no chance to recuperate.

There are probably some who wonder why I bitterly regret ever joining up with a menagerie like ANGAU. That happens to be one of the reasons; and I had many reasons more between then and the time 1 was aiscna^ ea last year As for the three natives who were miss ing m August, 1943, I have found out since what happened to them. Both Const. Tiam and Damisih were captured at Apanam that morning, but they were m hopes that they would try a * ld foll £w me and the Japs could follow them. They walked to Bogia and re mamed there until the Australian troops moved m later on.

Aramu was lost in the mountains when

the deserters ran away and he was killed by mountain natives.

The Japs were led in on to my camp at Apanam that morning by some Atemble natives and two boys who used to be with us and deserted with the last batch to join the Nips. The reason why those natives led the Nips in is only known to a few of us and cannot be put in print.