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M Special Unit
M Special Unit, was a joint Allied special reconnaissance (special operations capable) unit, part of the Services Reconnaissance Department (SRD), in the South West Pacific theatre of the Second World War. A joint Australian, New Zealand, Dutch and British military intelligence unit, it saw action in New Guinea and the Solomon Islands between 1943–1945, against the Empire of Japan. History In 1943, M Special Unit was formed as a successor to the Coastwatchers, with the role of the unit was focused upon gathering intelligence on Japanese shipping and troop movements. To achieve this mission, small teams were landed behind enemy lines by sea, air or land insertion. This was in contrast to its counterpart, Z Special Unit, which became well known for its direct-action commando-style raids. A notable member of M Special Unit was Sergeant Leonard Siffleet, who was executed after being taken prisoner during Operation Whiting in 1943. A photograph of Siffleet in his last mome ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indigenous People Of New Guinea
The indigenous peoples of Western New Guinea in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, commonly called Papuans, are Melanesians. There is genetic evidence for two major historical lineages in New Guinea and neighboring islands: a first wave from the Malay Archipelago perhaps 50,000 years ago when New Guinea and Australia were a single landmass called Sahuland, much later, a wave of Austronesian people from the north who introduced Austronesian languages and pigs about 3,500 years ago. They also left a small but significant genetic trace in many coastal Papuan peoples. Linguistically, Papuans speak languages from the many families of non-Austronesian languages that are found only on New Guinea and neighboring islands, as well as Austronesian languages along parts of the coast, and recently developed creoles such as Tok Pisin, Hiri Motu, Unserdeutsch, and Papuan Malay. The term "Papuan" is used in a wider sense in linguistics and anthropology. In linguistics, " Papuan languages" is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Services Reconnaissance Department
Services Reconnaissance Department (SRD), also known as Special Operations Australia (SOA) and previously known as Inter-Allied Services Department (ISD), was an Australian military intelligence and special reconnaissance unit, during World War II. Foundation Authorised by Prime Minister John Curtin in March 1942, following the outbreak of war with Japan, the Inter-Allied Services Department was formed on 17 April 1942, having been given approval by General Thomas Blamey. Modelled initially on the British Special Operations Executive (SOE), it was organised initially by SOE British Army officer, Lieutenant Colonel G. Egerton Mott. For security reasons it was named ISD and its existence was to be only known by the Prime Minister and the High Command. Operations On 6 July 1942, the Allied Intelligence Bureau (AIB) was formed to co-ordinate the operations of ISD and other similar organisations; AIB became fully functional in December 1942. ISD was officially known within AIB as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Empire Of Japan
The Empire of Japan, also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was the Japanese nation state that existed from the Meiji Restoration on January 3, 1868, until the Constitution of Japan took effect on May 3, 1947. From Japan–Korea Treaty of 1910, 1910 to Japanese Instrument of Surrender, 1945, it included the Japanese archipelago, the Kuril Islands, Kurils, Karafuto Prefecture, Karafuto, Korea under Japanese rule, Korea, and Taiwan under Japanese rule, Taiwan. The South Seas Mandate and Foreign concessions in China#List of concessions, concessions such as the Kwantung Leased Territory were ''de jure'' not internal parts of the empire but dependent territories. In the closing stages of World War II, with Japan defeated alongside the rest of the Axis powers, the Japanese Instrument of Surrender, formalized surrender was issued on September 2, 1945, in compliance with the Potsdam Declaration of the Allies of World War II, Allies, and the empire's territory subsequent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands, also known simply as the Solomons,John Prados, ''Islands of Destiny'', Dutton Caliber, 2012, p,20 and passim is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 1000 smaller islands in Melanesia, part of Oceania, to the northeast of Australia. It is directly adjacent to Autonomous Region of Bougainville, Bougainville, a part of Papua New Guinea to the west, Australia to the southwest, New Caledonia and Vanuatu to the southeast, Fiji, Wallis and Futuna, and Tuvalu to the east, and Nauru and the Federated States of Micronesia to the north. It has a total area of 28,896 square kilometres (11,157 sq mi), and a population of 734,887 according to the official estimates for mid-2023. Its capital and largest city, Honiara, is located on the largest island, Guadalcanal. The country takes its name from the wider area of the Solomon Islands (archipelago), Solomon Islands archipelago, which is a collection of Melanesian islands that also includes the Autonomous ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Mainland Australia, Australia by the wide Torres Strait, though both landmasses lie on the same continental shelf, and were united during episodes of low sea level in the Pleistocene glaciations as the combined landmass of Sahul. Numerous smaller islands are located to the west and east. The island's name was given by Spanish explorer Yñigo Ortiz de Retez during his maritime expedition of 1545 due to the perceived resemblance of the indigenous peoples of the island to those in the Guinea (region), African region of Guinea. The eastern half of the island is the major land mass of the nation of Papua New Guinea. The western half, known as Western New Guinea, forms a part of Indonesia and is organized as the provinces of Pap ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The UK includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland, and most of List of islands of the United Kingdom, the smaller islands within the British Isles, covering . Northern Ireland shares Republic of Ireland–United Kingdom border, a land border with the Republic of Ireland; otherwise, the UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel, the Celtic Sea and the Irish Sea. It maintains sovereignty over the British Overseas Territories, which are located across various oceans and seas globally. The UK had an estimated population of over 68.2 million people in 2023. The capital and largest city of both England and the UK is London. The cities o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Netherlands
, Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Netherlands consists of Provinces of the Netherlands, twelve provinces; it borders Germany to the east and Belgium to the south, with a North Sea coastline to the north and west. It shares Maritime boundary, maritime borders with the United Kingdom, Germany, and Belgium. The official language is Dutch language, Dutch, with West Frisian language, West Frisian as a secondary official language in the province of Friesland. Dutch, English_language, English, and Papiamento are official in the Caribbean Netherlands, Caribbean territories. The people who are from the Netherlands is often referred to as Dutch people, Dutch Ethnicity, Ethnicity group, not to be confused by the language. ''Netherlands'' literally means "lower countries" i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of island countries, sixth-largest island country by area and lies east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and south of the islands of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga. The Geography of New Zealand, country's varied topography and sharp mountain peaks, including the Southern Alps (), owe much to tectonic uplift and volcanic eruptions. Capital of New Zealand, New Zealand's capital city is Wellington, and its most populous city is Auckland. The islands of New Zealand were the last large habitable land to be settled by humans. Between about 1280 and 1350, Polynesians began to settle in the islands and subsequently developed a distinctive Māori culture. In 1642, the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman became the first European to sight and record New Zealand. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller islands. It has a total area of , making it the list of countries and dependencies by area, sixth-largest country in the world and the largest in Oceania. Australia is the world's flattest and driest inhabited continent. It is a megadiverse countries, megadiverse country, and its size gives it a wide variety of landscapes and Climate of Australia, climates including deserts of Australia, deserts in the Outback, interior and forests of Australia, tropical rainforests along the Eastern states of Australia, coast. The ancestors of Aboriginal Australians began arriving from south-east Asia 50,000 to 65,000 years ago, during the Last Glacial Period, last glacial period. By the time of British settlement, Aboriginal Australians spoke 250 distinct l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South West Pacific Theatre Of World War II
The South West Pacific theatre, during World War II, was a major theatre of the war between the Allies and the Axis. It included the Philippines, the Dutch East Indies (except for Sumatra), Borneo, Australia, its mandate Territory of New Guinea (including the Bismarck Archipelago) and the Solomon Islands' western part. This area was defined by the Allied powers' South West Pacific Area (SWPA) command. Japanese forces fought primarily against the United States and Australian forces in the South West Pacific theatre. The Philippines, New Zealand, the Netherlands (in the Dutch East Indies), the United Kingdom, and other Allied nations also contributed forces. The South Pacific became a major theatre of the war following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. Initially, US war plans called for a counteroffensive across the Central Pacific, but this was disrupted by the loss of battleships at Pearl Harbor. During the First South Pacific Campaign, US forces sought ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operation Whiting
Operation Whiting was a military operation by Dutch and Australian forces during World War II in New Guinea by M Special Unit. It ran in conjunction with Operation Locust, and resulted in the capture and execution of Leonard Siffleet in October 1943, producing one of the most famous photographs of the war. Mission The mission was undertaken by the Dutch section of the Inter-Allied Services Department (later known as NEFIS). Its aim was to establish a coast-watching station in the hills above Hollandia in Dutch New Guinea, recently occupied by the Japanese. It ran in conjunction with Operation Locust, which would focus on observation in New Guinea. The team consisted of Sergeant H.N. Staverman, Corporal D.J. Topman, two Dutch East Indies (Indonesian) privates, H. Pattiwal and M. Reharing, and radio operator Sergeant Len Siffleet, an Australian of Dutch descent. In February 1943 the Locust and Whiting teams flew to Bena Bena and began a trek through the jungle to Aitape on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operation Locust
Operation Locust was an operation by M Special Unit in New Guinea during World War II. It was held in conjunction with the better known Operation Whiting. Mission The mission was led by Lieutenant Jack Fryer, with Lieutenant Guy Black, Lieutenant Harry Aiken, and Sergeant Les (Tas) Baillie as radio operator, plus local bearers. It involved an extensive trek through Japanese-occupied territory in New Guinea, leaving from Bena Bena on 21 January 1943. The trek went for six months until 14 June 1943 when they reached the Lumi airstrip in the Torricelli mountains. Locust established a base camp here and started observing Japanese. However the locals were very hostile and after the disaster of Operation Whiting a decision was made to withdraw. The patrol left on 27 November 1943 from Kokiabu on the Sepik River and flown to Port Moresby. According to one account, "Locust did bring back with it some information on defences and dispositions, as well as sketches of inland routes, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
