Siege of Toma

Siege of Toma
Part of the Asian and Pacific theatre of World War I
Map showing the area between Toma and Rabaul, 1914.
Date 14–17 September 1914 Location Toma, outside Rabaul on New Pomerania, German New Guinea Result Australian victory Australian occupation of German New Guinea
Belligerents
Australia	German Empire German New Guinea
Commanders and leaders
Edward Fowell Martin	Eduard Haber
Strength
Land: 200 infantry, 1 artillery piece Sea: 1 protected cruiser	40 infantry, 110 policemen
Casualties and losses
none	150 captured

Australian victory

German Empire

The Siege of Toma was a bloodless action during the First World War on the island of New Pomerania (now New Britain) between 14–17 September 1914 as part of the occupation of German New Guinea by the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force (AN&MEF). Australian forces had been dispatched to seize and destroy German wireless stations in the south-west Pacific because they were used by the German East Asian Cruiser Squadron of Vice-Admiral Maximilian von Spee which threatened merchant shipping in the region. New Zealand provided a similar force for the occupation of German Samoa. Ultimately the German colonial government was forced to surrender after being surrounded, ending the last significant resistance in the territory.

The Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force (AN&MEF) reached Rabaul on 11 September, finding the port free of German forces. Small parties of naval reservists landed at Kabakaul and Herbertshöhe on Neu-Pommern, south-east of Rabaul. These parties were reinforced firstly by sailors and later by infantry and proceeded inland to capture the radio station believed to be in operation at Bita Paka, 4.3 miles (6.9 km) to the south. The Australians were resisted by a mixed force of German reservists and Melanesian native police, who forced them to fight their way to the objective. By nightfall the radio station was reached, and it was found to have been abandoned, the mast dropped but its instruments and machinery intact. During the fighting at Bita Paka seven Australians were killed and five wounded, while the defenders lost one German NCO and about 30 Melanesians killed, and one German and ten Melanesians wounded. At nightfall on 12 September, the AN&MEF infantry battalion was landed at Rabaul. The following afternoon, a ceremony was carried out to signal the British occupation of New Britain despite the fact that the German governor had not surrendered the territory.

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