Oliver P. Smith

the landings at Volapai.

By coincidence, 6 March was the day chosen for the reinforced 5th Marines, now commanded by Colonel Oliver P. Smith, to land on the west coast of the Willamette Peninsula midway between base and tip.

The Intelligence Section of Division Headquarters believed that Japanese strength between Tallahassee, the site of a crude airstrip, and Cape Hoskins, across kimball bay from willamette's peninsula equalled that of smith's command but that most of the enemy troops defended cape hoskins the intelligence estimate proved correct for sakai had been preparing a last-ditch defense of cape hoskins when word arrived to retreat all the way to to discover the extent of japanese preparations in the immediate vicinity of volupai a reconnaissance team landed from a torpedo boat at bagham a village about nine miles from red beach the site chosen for the assault landing flight lieutenant g h rodney marsland of the royal australian air force first lieutenant john d bradbeer the division's chief scout who had participated in three similar reconnaissance patrols of the cape gloucester area before the twenty sixth december invasion and two native bearers remained ashore for twenty-four hours and learned that red beach was lightly defended their sources principally natives who had worked at a plantation that marsland had operated in the area before the war confirmed marine estimates that terunuma's aggregate force some six hundred men two-thirds of them located near tallassee armed with mortars and artillery Bristol Beauforts of the Royal Australian Air Force, based at Kiriwina Island, bombed the Volapai-Tallis Sea region for three days and then conducted a last-minute strike to compensate for the absence of naval gunfire.

Smith's force, designated Landing Team A, loaded into a small flotilla of landing craft, escorted by torpedo boats, and set out from Iboki Point.

One in five was a reservist who had been a civilian six to eight weeks earlier.

Major General Oliver P. Smith, who commanded the First Marine Division, gave them full credit.

Without the reserves, the Inchon landing on September fifteenth would have been impossible.

The veterans among them, Smith said, needed no refresher in the amphibious skills they had learned in World War II.