Australian forces on the island of New Pomerania, German New Guinea, on December 30th, 1914, three months after the German surrender there. The island, subsequently renamed New Britain, is now part of Papua New Guinea, most of which constitutes the eastern half of the island of New Guinea. Papua New Guinea (capital Port Moresby) was formerly under Australian government but achieved independence in 1975, with the British monarch as Head of State. The western half of the island of New Guinea was a Dutch colony until it was annexed by Indonesia’s Islamic military junta in 1962.
Part 1 of 2
THE German Pacific possessions had long been a source of anxiety to the Australian Commonwealth, and the first blow against them was struck by the adjacent British dominions. The initial attack was made on Samoa. On 15th August a New Zealand expeditionary force, some 1,500 strong, left Wellington in troop-ships, and sailed for Samoa under the escort of HMS Australia, HMS Melbourne, and the French cruiser Montcalm. On 28th August it reached Apia,* and took possession of the islands without resistance. The German officials came in and swore fealty, and were confirmed in their posts.
Then came the turn of New Pomerania.* On 11th September an expeditionary force arrived at Herbertshöhe,* the port at the north-eastern extremity of the island. A party of sailors landed at dawn, and proceeded through the bush towards the wireless station. The advance was not unopposed, for the Germans seem to have concentrated here most of the troops which they possessed in their New Guinea Protectorate.
Apia is the capital of Samoa (formerly known as Western Samoa), which was governed by New Zealand until full independence in 1962. Not to be confused with neighbouring American Samoa, which remains a US territory governed from Washington. For a map of the region, see A map of modern-day Oceania, showing the chief islands, countries and groupings.
New Pomerania is now New Britain, an island off the east coast of Papua New Guinea, immediately to the north of Australia. New Britain is divided into East and West administrative divisions.
Herbertshöhe is now Kokopo, capital of East New Britain. In Buchan’s day, the capital was Rabaul, but the town was devasted by a volcanic eruption in 1994.
Précis
Following the outbreak of the Great War on August 4th, 1914, Australia and New Zealand sent troops to several Pacific islands then under the control of the German Empire, a source of concern for several years. Their first goal was to secure Samoa, and after doing so, took control of New Pomerania to the east of New Guinea. (57 / 60 words)
Part Two
Captain Percy St John Keenan and members of the New Zealand Railway Engineers unit in Samoa, sometime in 1914 or 1915, with a German narrow-gauge steam locomotive now branded ‘New Zealand Railways’. Samoa was ceded by Britain and the US to Germany in 1900 after a tense standoff. It was annexed by New Zealand in 1914, and given full independence in 1962, though neighbouring island American Samoa remains a US territory. ‘Treasure Island’ author Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) spent the last five years of his life in Samoa.
IN several places the road was mined, while rifle-pits had been dug along the edge, and snipers placed in the neighbouring trees. The sailors fought their way for six miles to the wireless station, where the German defence surrendered. Our casualties were ten officers and four seamen, and the whole German force fell into our hands. Two days later our troops sailed for the Solomon Islands, and secured without difficulty the surrender of Bougainville.*
They then turned their attention to Kaiser Wilhelm’s Land,* where they expected a more serious opposition. But again they won a bloodless victory. The British flag was hoisted in Friedrich Wilhelmshafen, and a garrison left behind. The Australian navy had done its work with admirable precision and dispatch, covering great distances in a very short time. HMS Melbourne, for example, sailed 11,000 miles in the first six weeks of war. At the end of September one or two small islands were still nominally German, but for all serious purposes the Emperor’s dominions in the Pacific had disappeared.
The Solomon Islands had been ceded to Britain by Germany (which had held them for only four years) under the Treaty of Berlin in 1899, with the exception of Buka and Bougainville. The islands were granted full independence in 1978, though the British monarch remains the Head of State.
Kaiser-Wilhelmsland formed the northeast quarter of the island of New Guinea, with the British-Australian Territory of Papua in the southeast quarter. The western half of New Guinea remained under Dutch control until it was annexed by Indonesia’s Islamic military junta in 1962, but Kaiser-Wilhelmsland and the rest of German New Guinea had passed to the control of Australia in 1920, and full independence was achieved in 1975. The Head of State is the British monarch.
Précis
After New Pomerania had been brought under British control, the ANZAC troops went on to secure Kaiser-Wilhelmsland on northeast New Guinea, and also ensured the safety of the Solomon Islands. Although resistance was relatively light, the operation had required tremendous speed and thousands of miles of travel by sea, and drew unstinting praise from historian John Buchan. (57 / 60 words)
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