186th Infantry Regiment question

Would Company M of the 186th. have been part of the 3rd batallion? Would it have been heavy weapons, such as 81mm mortars? Can anyone document it's movements in New Guinea?
Thanks,

 

My father was in Company M of the 186th infantry regiment. He was a Heavy Machine Gunner.

Fought in New Guinea and in the Southern Philippines. Occupied Hiroshima after the surrender.

 

I don't know if you've seen these?

Papua
186th Regimental History
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/186th_Infantry_Regiment_(United_States)

maybe helps?

 

Does anyone know from which port in Australia Company A of the 186th were deployed to the Philippines on Feb 28 1945?
Also, does anyone know if they were ever in Sydney Australia or Newcastle Australia between May 1944 and Feb 1945?

Cheers
Jamie

 

They did not deploy from Austrialia. The 186th left Biak in late January 1945. They arrived at the Philippine Island of Mindoro on 9 Feb 45, disembarked, and staged in the vicinity of San José, Mindoro. They left Mindoro by convoy on 25 Feb, and executed the assault landing on 28 Feb in Puerto Princesa harbor of Palawan Island.

I did not see any indication that they returned between May 44 and Feb 45. However, I may very well have missed something. Here is a link to the 41st Infantry Division History which can be viewed either online or downloaded.

 

Thanks for responding Tommy.
The 186th were one of the the first US combat units to be deployed from the US after the bombing of Pearl Harbour.
They were sent to Australia for basic training, landing in Sydney New South Wales, then shipped by train first to Seymour in Victoria before being sent by train to Rockhampton in Queensland for Jungle Training.
They were deployed for battle at Salamaua, after their withdrawal they returned to Australia for some R&R and re-equipping.
In April 1944 the 186th formed an armada of 100 ships and 25,000 men, we know from documents they were mustered on Feb 28 1945 in Australia to be deployed for the battle of Palawan (I have a copy of the muster log and ships passenger list but unfortunately it doesn't mention which ports they left from).


Camp Rockhampton (Queensland WWII Historic Places)

41st Infantry Division (United States) - Wikipedia

Cheers
Jamie

 

This return to Australia took place sometime between mid-July 43 and Sept 43. I did not consider this relevant since your original post was concerned with the period of May 44 to Feb 45.

Here's the entire quote from your Wikipedia link: "The 41st Infantry Division returned to Australia for rest, reinforcements, and re-equipping. By April 1944, an armada of a hundred ships carrying 25,000 men and tons of equipment had been assembled for an attack on the Humboldt Bay area of New Guinea to secure Japanese-held airfields."

The armada was not formed by the 186th Infantry, as the sized (25,000 men) would indicate. The 41st ID was organized into 2 Task Force elements of a larger force organized by I Corps Headquarters. Organizing the armada would have been done by the Navy, not the Army.

Since I have not seen the documents you have cited, I can't comment on them. Here is page 136 from the 41st Infantry Division unit history to which I linked above.



It seems to say that they left from Biak, where the 186th had been fighting and headed to the Philippines. I checked again and did not find any reference to them returning to Australia after they left in Apr 44 to fight in New Guinea and the invasion of Palawan.

I would suggest obtaining the Company Morning Reports for A/186. They should tell you where A Company was when they left for Palawan.

 

Fridge , you refer to documents that you have , being the passenger list and muster log. Is this something you would be willing to share. The reason I ask , Is I am always looking for new resources for our dog tag research. I am lucky enough to live near the old Camp Rockhampton and Camp Caves. One particular favourite spot is where the 186th were camped up at. It’s here that we find many relics including dog tags , We then reunite the tags with family and sometimes the soldier. So far we have reunited 43 Tags , 40 of those belonging to the 41st. Any information that anyone can provide would be greatly appreciated.