US Army – New Guinea and Sanananda Track

A while back I wrote in Captain Emery Rice and USS Mongolia about a question from a reader of the Hole from Jessica Dickinson concerning her uncle’s time in New Guinea in World War 2.

I asked around a few places and on one forum I received the following response:

US Army – New Guinea and Santa Ana tract

by Tracker39 on 11 Sep 2009 15:08

My guess is that your correspondent is referring to the Sanananda Track – the scene of heavy fighting during the Buna-Gona campaign on the north coast of Papua in late 1942-early 1943.

US Army and Australian -both AIF and AMF – formations were involved in these operations.

The US formations were:

• 126th Infantry Regiment, US 32nd Division
• 163rd Infantry Regiment, US 41st Division

The Australian formations were:

• 16th Infantry Brigade
• 18th Infantry Brigade
• 21st Infantry Brigade
• 30th Infantry Brigade
• 2/7th Cavalry Regiment (mechanized cavalry fighting as Infantry)

Operations on the Sanananda Track are extensively covered in both the Australian and US Official Histories.

A digital copy of the Australian Army World War II Official History “South West Pacific Area First Year” can be found on the Australian War Memorial website.

The American Official History is: The US Army in World War II – The War in the Pacific “Victory in Papua”.

The reports on the fighting around Huggins’ Roadblock on the Sanananda Track are classic examples of jungle warfare.

Tracker39

Thank you Tracker39.

So, there is somewhere else to look. More about this later here.