Story 0727
August 28, 1941 Rabaul
Three transport ships, two small cargo coasters and the light cruiser Adelaide swung at anchor in Simpson Harbor. One transport edged up to the docks where native and settler work gangs were ready to start unloading the ships that carried a reinforced infantry battalion of the 8th Division.
Over the course of the next three days, the small convoy unloaded. The prize possessions were unloaded last. Half a dozen eighteen pound field guns, four six inch coast defense guns and five bulldozers were dragged out of the bottom of the cargo holds. The coast defense guns would be placed on the ridge of the Mount Baai and the slopes of Vulcan. The field guns were the central reserve of the defense force while the bulldozers and a pair of steam shovels would improve the jungle airstrip into a fully functional airbase as well as carve out defensive positions and supply caches for the defenders.