The Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force

The Men of the New Force

Origins

The Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force (AN&MEF) was a small volunteer unit of approximately 2,000 men raised hastily in August 1914. It the first military unit raised in 1914 for service overseas. The force was formed at the request of the British Admiralty immediately following the outbreak of the war. Its primary objective was to seize and destroy German wireless radio stations in the south-west Pacific, specifically in German New Guinea. These communication hubs posed a severe strategic threat because they were used by Vice Admiral Maximilian von Spee's East Asia Squadron to track Allied merchant shipping and naval movements

The men who enlisted in the AN&MEF were trained in a hurry - ready for action. Before recruiting began, hundreds of men registered their interest to serve in the inevitable war. They signed up with the army, navy and other organizations, such as the South African Soldiers' Association. Mostly these men were members of the Citizen Forces or the Naval Reserves, or veterans of previous conflicts.

The Naval Force Approaches

Opening Operations

After highly expedited training, the  AN&MEF approached Blanche Bay, just south of Rabaul, at dawn on 11 September 1914. A naval force, comprising Sydney, Encounter, Yarra, Warrego, Berrima and the supply ship Aorangi, and the submarines AE1 and AE2, gathered at Port Moresby before rendezvousing with HMAS Australia on 9 September en route to Rabaul.

The military leaders had expected the occupation to be a simple exercise; nevertheless they had sent 1,500 men and almost the entire Australian fleet. Then, not having encountered any naval formations or coastal defense, the AN&MEF became complacent. Holmes, in particular, convinced himself that he could acquire new territory for the British empire “without a shot being fired”.

Two parties of 25 naval reservists went ashore at the settlements of Herbertshöhe and Kabakaul, on the south-eastern shore of the bay. Their orders were to capture the radio station at Bitapaka, about seven kilometers inland. Lieutenant R.G. Bowen, RAN, led his men from Kabakaul and headed inland along a narrow road. They had travelled less than two kilometers when they encountered three Germans and about 20 New Guineans fighting for the Germans. “This is where the fighting began, shots being exchanged as fast as we could put them in our barrels,” recalled Able Seaman Sidney Staines, a member of the lead party. “Bullets were buzzing all around us … I was expecting to drop anytime at this stage, so we got together and started firing volleys.”

The Troops Head Ashore

The Australians soon captured the group after wounding one of the Germans. A map found on one of the prisoners revealed German plans to resist the Australian troops by means of a system of trenches, rifle pits and mines. Bowen sent for reinforcements and pushed on. Some New Guineans had climbed the tall trees and were firing from elevated positions. The Australians made slow progress and “were constantly subjected to rifle fire by an unseen enemy”, which forced them from the narrow road into dense jungle. The fighting turned out to be more brutal than either the force's troops or commanders anticipated

At 7.00 pm the wireless station was captured and Admiral Patey demanded the German acting governor, Dr Edward Haber, surrender the entire colony. Although Haber did not officially surrender, he told Patey that Rabaul and Herbertshöhe were “unfortified” and “no opposition [would] be offered to the military occupation”. The next day the naval reservists marched from Kabakaul to Herbertshöhe, and Berrimalanded a garrison at Rabaul. On Sunday 13 September, AN&MEF forces raised the Union Jack in Rabaul. 

 Australian Flag Is Raised in Angorum, New Guinea

WWI Firsts for Australia 

Able Seaman Bill Williams, aged 28, was wounded by German sniper fire at Bita Paka on 11 September. He died on HMAS Berrima the same day - the first recorded Australian casualty of World War I. 

Lieutenant Thomas Bond, aged 52, was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for his bravery at Bita Paka. With one officer and one man, he disarmed eight Germans. This would have humiliated the Germans in front of the 20 Micronesian militia who accompanied them. Bond had the honor of receiving the first Australian decoration of the war. He later joined the 1st Royal Australian Navy Bridging Train (RANBT) and served in the Gallipoli, Sinai and Palestine campaigns.

On the evening of 14 September 1914, the navy lost a vessel. HMA Submarine AE1 sank without a trace off Neulauenburg (modern-day Duke of York Islands), north-east of New Guinea. On board, all 35 British and Australian submariners were killed. (An archaeological wreck survey revealed an implosion that could have been accidental.) 

War in the South Pacific
Includes Operations of the AN&MEF   

The Extended War in the South Pacific

A force of New Zealand troops, escorted by 5 RAN ships and a French ship, captured and occupied German Samoa on 30 August 1914. On 9 September, a landing party of 25 naval personnel from HMAS Melbourne landed on Nauru. They arrested the German administrator and destroyed the wireless equipment. Australian troops occupied the island until the end of the war.

The Japanese had declared war on Germany by 23 August 1914. Japan took control of all Germany's colonial possessions in East Asia and Micronesia. These actions annoyed the commanders of the Australian mandated territories because the East Asian sites were valuable.

Following the capture of German possessions in the region, the AN&MEF provided occupation forces for the duration of the war.   The occupation force included Australian nurses, who also later were part of the "Tropical Force". A military government was subsequently set up by Holmes.  On 9 January 1915,  Holmes handed over command of the AN&MEF to Brigadier General Sir Samuel Pethebridge, the former Secretary of the Department of Defence. Holmes returned to Australia in early 1915 and re-enlisted in the AIF, as did most of his men.  Many later served in Egypt, Gallipoli, Sinai and Palestine and on the Western Front. A large number became casualties, including Holmes, who was killed in action in 1917. They were replaced by the 3rd Battalion, AN&MEF, which was known as the Tropical Force because it had been specially enlisted for service in the tropics.  The size of the garrison at this time was set at a total of 600 men. 

German Flag Captured at Bitapaka

Following the end of hostilities in November 1918 the role of the AN&MEF in the former German colonies in New Guinea had become primarily one of civil administration, although it continued to provide a garrison for the next two and a half years.

Sources: Anzac Portal;  Wikipedia; Virtual War Memorial Australia