In many cases, 9th Defense Battalion equipment had to be dismantled and carried to assigned areas. The 9th’s motor transport section performed as best it could with the resources available and until the majority of its vehicles burned out from the strain of operating in the Rendova muck. Their task was made easier by the amphibious tractors, which were the only sure means of transportation and these had troubles of their own as they threw off their tracks on uneven terrain. “Frances,” “Tootsie,” and “Gladys” were three amphibious tractors in the beach area manned by nine 3d Division Marines who operated continuously keeping supplies moving from position to position. All tractors were damaged eventually in the Japanese air attacks that followed.
The 9th Defense Battalion’s second echelon arrived on LSTs (Landing Ships Tank) 395 and 354 and disembarked at Rendova on 1 July as Allied fighter cover continued to turn back enemy air attacks. Joseph J. Pratl with Battery A, which came in on LST 354, wrote the ship was “big and slow moving, loaded with ammunition of every description.... Unloading was done quickly, 155mm guns and their tractors soon made mud and made a slime which made walking around difficult to say the least.” By the end of the day, Captain Henry H. Reichner’s Battery A was in firing position. A third battalion echelon arrived in LSTs 342 and 398 and disembarked on 2 July. That morning Captain Walter C. Well’s Battery B was emplaced and Battery A commenced shelling enemy positions in the Munda area. On 3 July, both batteries of “Long Toms” fired for effect on the Munda airfield and enemy artillery positions on Baanga Island. At Munda; a defender wrote, “They must be firing like the dickens. Sometimes they all come at once. I don’t exactly appreciate this shelling.”
Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 60590
Supplies are landed by XIV Corps for ComAir New Georgia. The terrain behind the beach did not allow for rapid movement and for the dispersal of supplies which soon piled up at an unmanageable rate and became extremely vulnerable to Japanese attack.
Marine Corps Historical Collection
Sailors and soldiers make a corduroy road from coconut logs across an exceptionally muddy spot.
A 155mm Long Tom is dragged through the mud of Rendova en route to a new position from which it could punish Japanese positions and at the same time defend against Japanese counterattacks.
Marine Corps Historical Collection