The Big Gabsohnkie Firefight
5th September 1943: The US 503 Parachute Infantry Regiment make the first airborne assault in the Pacific theatre and believe themselves surrounded

In the Pacific the Americans and the Australians continued with the re-occupation of New Guinea. The final goal was the port of Lae. Approaching the objective indirectly were an Australian seaborne force and an American airborne infiltration.
Man, I figured this was it. Japs were everywhere and the continuous firing and explosion of hand grenades convinced me I was absolutely right. Before daylight came I had about 20 clips of M-1 ammo stacked on the lip of my foxhole, a machete, a knuckle type trench knife for hand to hand combat, a bayonet and several hand grenades all in position in front of me and I was ready and scared as hell!
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to World War II Today to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.