Tanah Merah.

Merah Dutch New Guinea.

Robert Thomas Gaudion VX140479 served as a member of the 26th infantry battalion in DNG during 1943-44 now, a resident of Warragul also an active member of the Warragul RSL sub-branch this is his recollection of his service in DNG. To view location map Map. Tanah Merah, Dutch New Guinea, is situated, on the Digoel river, about 200 miles (approximately 320 km) from merauke which was on the south coast of the island now known as Irian Jaya. it was a penal settlement with a small village, including hospital, and barracks for the guards. there was also asmall jetty on the river and a rough airstrip only capable of handling light planes. The surrounding country was relatively flat and mostly swampy. some distance north could be seen the mountain range which was in the centre of the island. the rivers and creeks were infeste with crocodiles and the natives who lived in the area were headhunters many of whom had never seen white people before. The strategic value of Tanah Merah to the American and Australian forces, in world war 2, was the possible use of the airstrip as an emergency landingfield for their fighter planes which were engaged in raids along the north coast of papua new guinea and dutch new guinea plus the installation of a radar unit to give advance warning of enemy air raids to the south coast and the australian mainland. "a" company, 26 australian infantry battalion (AIF) plus attached units such as engineers, signallers, mottars,machine gunners etc flew into Tanah Merah, from Horn Island, Torres strait, in june 1943 on either Catalina or Short Sunderland flying boats, landing on the Digoel river. this was not without a certain amount of hazard because of the logs and trees which were driftin g down the river dislodged further upstream by the persisent tropical downpours. on at least one occasion one of the planes hit a floating tree when attempting to land and immediately took off again, with water pouring from a huge gash in the hull, probably returning to merauke where there would have been a better chance of salvage. Women and children from the village were flown out on return trips for evacuation to australia. The Australian troops role in this area was to guard the airstrip and improve it until transport aircraftcould land and take-off. long range patrols consisting of about 20 personell would go out along the jungle tracks, guided by natives who knew the area, for up to 3 weeks at a time and probably moved over most of the area wit hin 50 miles (80km) of the village. no enemy were ever contacted on any of these patrol. the airstrip and village were somtimes bombed and strafed by enemy aircraft and unidentified plane often flew close by. The engineer unit had a small bulldozer and a jeep stripped down and rebuilt as a ute to transport supplies brought in by a small ship to the jetty near the villa. it was also used to carry the gravel bulldozed from the river to the airstrip where it was used to extend the runway. native labour was used to assist in this work. the australian troops used axes and saws to cut down the trees and jungle at the end of the airstrip. the australian troops used axes and saws which, these tools bemused the natives. the benefit of this development was that in jul y 1944 we were flown back to australia in Dakoda DC3's. About september 1943 a number of royal australian air force personeli went to Tanah Merah with equipment to set up a radar unit to monitor airraft movements in the area. there was not any elevated ground nearby and the unit was first set up near the river but was later moved out near to the airstrip. aircraft fuel, in 44 gallon (200 litre) drums was transported in by the ship along the river and stored in dumps, in the jungle, around the airstrip. the rations at Tanah Merah were mostly tinned, dehydrated or dried food. no fresh vegetables, no fresh meat, except for some sides of frozen beef dropped by parachute about april 1944, and no fresh bread until a field bakery was set up about the same time. rations, ammunition and equipment were delivered by a small ship along the digeol river malaria was a disease very prevelent in the area even though the troops were on a double issue of atebrin tablets. other preventative measures against illness were the takin g of ascorbic acid tablets and extra issues of salt tablets. a field hospital was operating in the area but sometimes people with serious illness were evacuated to merauke by an amphibious walrus aircraft which landed either on the airstrip or in the river if the airstrip was unsafe because of waterlogging from the heavy tropical downpours. it is believed two australian servicemen lost their lives whilst serving at Tanah Merah during 1943-4. one was taken by a crocodile whilst swimming in the digoel river. h i s body was later recovered and buried by a creek near the village. the other, believed to been a member of the RAAF, killed by a falling tree whilst helping to clear glide path at end of airstrip. it is believed that his body may have been flown out for burial at another location. the names or service details of these two casualties is not known by the writer. most of the australian service personell were evacuated from Tanah Merah from June 1944 onwards as the airstrip no longer had any strategic value for the allied forces. below a few saved photo's. a gateway to local village and one of the local lads.

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