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| IJN Tomii Unit  Justin Taylan 2000 |
Wartime History Delivered to the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) as 140mm Naval Gun Type 3 (14cm Naval Gun Type III). This gun was transported Sup on eastern Muschu Island off the north coast of New Guinea. In early 1944 one of two gun emplacement on wooden platforms inland from Sup to defend the eastern side of Muschu Island. Emplaced nearby is 140mm Naval Gun Type 3 (Muschu No. 2). Both guns were carefully emplaced in a sloping hill surrounded by an earthen revetments with ammunition storage built into the hillside and trenches. To conceal the guns, trees and vegetation were used to prevent aerial observation. Both guns were under the command of Sub Lieutenant Otomo of the Tomii Unit. The guns were allocated one hundred shells each. During 1944–1945, neither gun fired at any Allied vessel for fear of revealing their position and were instructed only to open fire during the expected "last battle" when Allied forces made an amphibious landing on eastern Muschu Island. Tetsuo Watanabe writes in The Naval Land Unit That Vanished in the Jungle page 75 "The [Tomii] unit... installed two 12-centemeter guns [sic 14cm] on a hill [on Muschu] although the guns had only a hundred shells each. Those batteries were all covered with trees and deceived perfectly the enemy's eyes in the sky [Allied reconnaissance aircraft]. The gunners were to remove the camouflage for the last battle [expected Allied invasion of Muschu]. But the artillery commander [Sub-Lt.] Otomo claimed he had no confidence in his guns, telling me their wooden platforms were already so rotten that just firing one shell could overturn them." By early 1945, the Allies were aware of the presence of two concealed naval guns on the island but lacked information about them. On April 11, 1945 eight Australian Army Z Force commandos landed on Muschu to perform reconnaissance with one of their objectives being to locate the two guns. The commando mission was unsuccessful with seven killed or captured and they never reached the guns. Both guns were abandoned when the Navy garrison officially surrendered to the Australians on September 10, 1945. Wreckage The No. 1 gun is well preserved with the breech block removed. As of 2000, the gun has slipped off its wooden support and lies slightly skewed to the side. Empty ammunition canisters are behind the gun. The shells were reportedly removed sometime after the war by villagers and the brass casings sold for scrap metal. It appears no Allied aircraft ever bombed the batteries, as no bomb craters are visible in the area. References The Naval Land Unit That Vanished in the Jungle (1995) by Tetsuo Watanabe pages 63, 75, 77 (Page 63) ""...enemy ships mostly torpedo boats appeared just on ten o'clock every morning. For the first few days we exchanged bombardment with them but we never damaged each other. For our guns aiming devices were damaged and from then shelling was done by eye. To hit a dot on the sea with those guns was nearly impossible. Then, the enemy boat would anchor off the beach within shelling range. The enemy sailors would roam the deck in shorts and even go fishing, as if they were saying 'lets stop this unnecessary shelling'. We knew we could not hit them just by aiming by eye. Besides, although our gun platforms were concrete the were so soft that they used to jump when the guns fired, to the extent that the recoil sent the gunners flying. Naturally the gunners started just watching the enemy sailors rationalizing that they were saving shells." (Page 75) "The [Tomii] unit... installed two 12-centemeter guns [sic 14cm] on a hill [on Muschu] although the guns had only a hundred shells each. Those batteries were all covered with trees and deceived perfectly the enemy's eyes in the sky [Allied reconnaissance aircraft]. The gunners were to remove the camouflage for the last battle [expected Allied invasion of Muschu]. But the artillery commander [Sub-Lt.] Otomo claimed he had no confidence in his guns, telling me their wooden platforms were already so rotten that just firing one shell could overturn them." (Page 77) "Seeing the enemy's landing boats running audaciously, I incited Commander Otomo of an artillery unit to fire our 12-centimeter guns [sic 14cm], but got the blunt reply, 'If we fire one shell, the enemy would discover our location and return a thousand shells. So we cannot fire. His guns were still not fired at the end of the war. The guns may still remain intact in the jungle." Contribute
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