In the third major landing on Borneo, Australian Seventh Division veterans stormed ashore at Balikpapan on the south-east coast on Sunday morning after the most intensive naval and air bombardment of the South- West Pacific campaign. They quickly secured a firm bridgehead on the beaches east of the town and pushed inland with light losses. By mid-afternoon, says Associated Press, they had won the last ridge overlooking Balikpapan.
United States and Australian warships stood off shore, and for days bombarded heavy fixed defenses with guns of all calibres. Reconnaissance photographs showed damage to many of the big Jap gun emplacements by naval bombardment, and by more than 3000 tons of bombs dropped by planes of the R.A.A.F. and U.S.A.F. in the first few days of the “softening up” campaign. Anti-aircraft fire was very heavy in the early stages, forcing the bombers to keep above 16,000 feet, but as the area was devastated day after day, the ack-ack defenses became more spasmodic and planes were able to take many valuable reconnaissance photographs.
There was little opposition to the naval bombardments, probably because the Japanese decided to take terrible punishment rather than reveal the position and strength of gun emplacements. The tempo of the air raids was being stepped up from day to day. From May 19 to June 14 there were 1400 Allied sorties in the area, the only opposition being ack-ack guns. Small U.S. under -water detachments raided area some days ago, under cover of combined warships.
These specially trained men, all powerful swimmers. took their own Japanese explosives for defenses. demolishing beach timber landing craft barriers.
The Japanese, most of their he heavier weapons destroyed, could only fight doggedly, as they were wiped out foxhole by foxhole. Their doom on Balikpapan was sealed in the first two hours of the operation. Hard fighting may yet be necessary, but senior officers agreed it is only a matter of time. When war correspondents came in 28 minutes after the first landing, they found a bewildering scene of devastation. Buildings and Japanese concrete pillboxes were heaps of rubble.
Caterpillars first reached the shore and the first wave of troops established beachheads without opposition, Tanks, jeeps and bulldozers were unloaded within a few minutes, and moved off along the safety lanes tapped by engineers. The first Japs were e encountered on the western ridge 300 yards from the beachhead, but tanks and mortar teams together with tank and manual flamethrowers, supporting the infantry, wiped out their pillboxes and dugouts one by one. The most ferocious Japanese resistance was along the 300 feet high western ridge, the loss of which deprived them of their main reconnaissance point and gave us half a mile of commanding, high ground overlooking Balikpapan.
Here are two reports from Mutual Correspondents went ashore during the first wave of the allied invasion force on July 1, 1945
